On Hope and Healing: For Those Who Have Fallen
Through the Medical Cracks
Interview conducted 14 July 2010 by James S. Baumlin, Et Alia senior editor
J.B. In On Hope and Healing, you seem to break the mold of the typical medical practitioner, coming across as part scientist, part detective, part family physician. How did you become so diverse in your interests and skills?
N.N. The impetus came from my frustration with my medical practice. I began as a fairly traditional family physician, delivering babies, doing minor surgeries, taking care of children and adults; but, over the years, I kept having the feeling that—while useful in many instances—conventional medicine was not enough to help all my patients. As I began searching, I soon realized that the answers were out there—but not where the typical practitioner thought to look. So I studied every healing modality that I could, slowly evolving my understanding of what works for more and more patients with more and more complex/chronic illnesses.
J.B. It seems as if every generation has its own “signature” illness, whether its tuberculosis in the mid-nineteenth century, polio in the early twentieth, or hiv/aids in more recent decades. What trends do you see now?
N.N. I wish this current generation faced only one “signature” illness! The problem is that we’re battling so many at once: Lyme disease, autism, fibromyalgia, mold toxicity, and chronic fatigue are ones to which my book gives particular attention. Note that a weakened autoimmune system is a common thread throughout these illnesses and that they often accompany each other, making for difficult diagnoses and complex treatments.
J.B. Statistics suggest that we’re living longer, though not necessarily better in terms of quality-of-life. So let me ask: Is the current generation healthier than its parents or grandparents? Is our world healthier or sicker?
N.N. I think it is growingly clear that we are not as healthy as we used to be. And, for the first time in history, our life span is in fact decreasing. I strongly suspect that this is related to environmental pollution and to the marked increase in toxic exposures: to chemicals (both household and industrial), pesticides, heavy metals, and electromagnetic fields, just to name the more insidious.
J.B. Talk about your book, On Hope and Healing. For whom did you write it, and why?
N.N. The answer is given in the book’s subtitle: For Those Who Have Fallen Through the Medical Cracks. I wrote it for them, to give them hope and real prospects for healing. As I’ve mentioned, my practice had evolved into the more specialized treatment of complex/chronic illnesses. I was helping my own patients, but I realized that there were millions, literally millions, of Americans today whose needs were not being met. I felt I had found some useful treatments, so I wrote this book to let others know that help—indeed, hope—was possible. The information gathered in this book will give readers a starting-place for their own healing journeys.
J.B. There are so many medical self-help books on the market today. What makes yours different from the rest?
N.N. I didn’t want simply to repackage information that’s already available. Two things distinguish this book. First is its scope: by casting so wide a net, just about anyone who is seeking healing answers will find help. Second is its synthetic approach: symptoms, and diagnoses, and treatments cannot be pursued in isolation, but must be considered in their complex interrelations. I try to give the “big picture,” or, perhaps more precisely, I try to fit the pieces together that complete the puzzle of today’s complex illnesses. Fibromyalgia, for example, and chronic fatigue are typically symptoms, not causes: we need to identify the underlying cause of the fatigue, which may be Lyme disease, for example, or one of its co-infectants (such as Bartonella, Babesia, or the Epstein-Barr virus).
J.B. So, what kind of reception do you anticipate from the larger medical community? I suspect it will be mixed, depending on each practitioner’s “paradigm.”
N.N. Let me say, first, that I have colleagues practicing conventional medicine whom I admire; they are wise, well-trained, and do much good. But many, perhaps even a majority, of conventional practitioners wear blinders when it comes to alternative and complementary and holistic therapies, and in this respect they do their patients a disservice. I would like to think that my book can make some converts. After all, I was “one of them,” myself, once: my own training (at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine) was entirely main-stream. But I re-tooled. So can they.
J.B. And the growing community of holistic practitioners: what do they think of your work?
N.N. Many colleagues, whose judgment I trust most, have read my book in manuscript and have given their rousing endorsement. I would cite Dr. Robert Anderson, Founding President of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine, who writes that my book “makes an essential contribution” to the field. I would also cite Dr. Bill Manahan, Past President of the American Holistic Medical Association, who writes that mine is “by far the best book, the most comprehensive book, and the clearest book ever written about integrative holistic medicine.” That’s high praise, but who am I to disagree? I should note, too, that Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum has graciously provided the foreword; being a well-published author in holistic medicine, his name lends some distinction to my own work.
J.B. Tell us a little more about yourself, your family, and what the immediate future holds for Dr. Neil Nathan.
N.N. I am still driven by the passionate desire to help as many patients as I can. I am fortunate that my passion to understand the healing process is also my life’s work. So I continue to study, and do research, and teach, and practice medicine. I am delighted that the group with whom I am currently affiliated—Gordon Medical Associates of Santa Rosa, California—consists of like-minded physicians who share my interest in cutting-edge research and my passion for healing. I am blessed with the constant presence of love in my life, provided by my incredible wife and wonderful family (which includes children and grandchildren and three dogs and a cat). I live on the northern California coast, within sight of the ocean and redwood trees, so life has been good to me—for which I am truly grateful. I hope to give back and be of service in equal measure.
J.B. Can readers contact Gorden Medical associates directly?
N.N. Yes, I would encourage readers to contact them for inquiries and orders: Gordon Medical Associates, 3471 Regional Parkway, Santa Rosa, California, 95403. Phone 707-575-5180 FAX 707-575-5509.
J.B. Let me end this Q&A with the bibliographic information:
On Hope and Healing: For Those Who Have Fallen Through the Medical Cracks, by Neil Nathan, M.D. Foreword by Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D. Little Rock: Et Alia, 2010. xxxvi + 310 pp. with index. Photographs by the author.
Perfect bound softcover , $19.95 retail
ISBN 978-0-982818-40-4
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