The Natural Connection

Studies show that when patients go visit the doctor with a complaint, they expect to leave the office with a prescription. Some sort of little paper talisman to show their family and co-workers that they honestly were sick after all—something to hang on to just in case they really get worse after they get home. The problem is, the same studies show that less than 60% of patients will ever go to the pharmacy and buy their medication, and fewer than 50% of those who do won’t take it as prescribed.

Patients especially appreciate those small bottles of sample medication that their doctor gives them. (It’s like getting a toy in a Happy Meal, one lady told me.) But after they read all the warning labels of the potential side effects, they usually decide not to bother with buying their medicines anyway, as they are just sure that they will fall victim to some strange constellation of symptoms that are listed in the fine print. 

A few years ago I started writing prescriptions for things besides medications. I thought that maybe writing down what a patient really needed, even if it was not purchased at a pharmacy, could help them get better. Harried mothers with migraines got prescriptions for “Peace and Quiet Twice a Day”. People with swollen hands received prescriptions advising “No Mopping for 3 days” or “Stay in your hammock and don’t lift a finger this Saturday!”. Men with high blood pressure received doctor’s orders to “Go Fishing as Needed!”  or “No Wearing Ties in Hot Weather”.  

At one point in my career, I wrote so many prescriptions for a particular book on stress and heart disease that a local bookstore put in a special shelf just for me. Patients stuck the little white papers up on their refrigerators along with all their other prescriptions for the medications that they did not fill, and claimed that they did just fine. After the hammock or fishing cure, they were much better, thank you. 

Lately I have been writing prescriptions for spa vacations. I became intrigued with the idea that in a large part of the civilized world, slathering your body with mud wraps and then soaking in a tub of mineral salts or seawater is considered state of the art medicine. Many European countries, as well as Russia and parts of the Orient include spa treatments for many common medical conditions as part of their National Health program, and spa therapy is paid by their government-sponsored insurance. 

It turns out that some our most difficult to treat skin diseases like psoriasis and chronic eczema, which cause American patients countless hours of misery, and many thousands of dollars, can be nearly 100% cured by a four-week Israeli spa program with daily soaks in the Dead Sea. But for the safety of my patients, until the Mid-East calms down a bit, I’m not recommending Dead Sea Soaks this year at least. 

Arthritic conditions have been treated with thermal waters for centuries. While Georgia has it’s own famous Warm Springs, some may prefer to venture over to Hungary and dip their aching knees into the waters of a city called Cserkezolo. I couldn’t find it on a map, but randomized trials show that its sulfuric mineral waters can be curative in arthritis of the knee. 

One of the most fascinating areas of spa-based therapy is in the treatment of heart disease. A recent paper presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology reported that patients with moderately severe congestive heart failure and irregular heart rates could benefit from daily sauna therapy. 

Patients with heart failure whose cardiac function was so severe that they had difficulty with even mild exercise spent 15 minutes a day in a sauna for two weeks. The incidence of irregular heart beats decreased by over 50%. Previous studies have shown that sauna therapy can also decrease fatigue, insomnia, and shortness of breath in heart failure patients, when done under close supervision. 

Russian doctors often send their patients who are recovering from open heart surgery to mineral spring spas for a period of 3-4 weeks. The spa treatments are reported to help strengthen the heart muscle and help it recover from the surgery, and are considered an essential part of the post operative recovery period. American patients are sent home in 3-4 days after open heart surgery with a sack of medications, to recuperate on the couch.  

Thirty years ago, when the political doors opened to China, physicians trained in Chinese medicine brought wonderful “new” healing methods such as Acupuncture to share with our American physicians. Our world is made richer by the sharing of information that helps alleviate human suffering. 

I hope that for the sake of American cardiac patients in the future, during the next political summit in Russia, after an arduous day around the conference table, President Putin will invite George Bush to try a mud bath. 

For more information on the medical benefit of spa-therapy, write to The Natural Connection, c/o Pauline Bellecci MD, PO Box 777, Waycross, GA 31502 or contact us on-line at www.swampdocs.com  

©2000-2003 Pauline M. Bellecci, MD