Cart Before The Horse
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
by Adam Killpartrick, DC, CNS
I had a patient the other day talking about feeling lethargic, needing to lose weight and generally not feeling that great. When I looked back at her intake, which was from some time ago, she indicated that she drank two diet sodas per day. When I inquired about the soda, she said she still drinks that much soda, then asked, ‘...but what does soda have to do with fatigue and losing weight?’. The answer may be common sense to us but not to her. From that one question I succeeded in opening up an incredible conversation on foundational health, nutritional gaps and the connection to her symptoms.
So after her appointment, I looked at the intake again, it was entirely geared toward symptoms and conditions. I failed to dig down into her ‘foundation’, including dietary habits, cravings she has, digestive and physiologic responses to specific foods and it certainly didn’t create a strong connection to her existing symptoms.
The soda, by far, wasn’t the root cause for her original symptoms, but it served as one of the many ‘cracks in her foundation’. Upon opening up that discussion it turned out that she consumed varied ‘boxed’ foods, most of which say ‘Lean’ or ‘Watchers’ on them. Then we begin talking about digestion and the response her body has to food and she indicated that she needed to take between 6 and 8 antidiarrheal medications to get through the day. Obviously my approach to this patient’s care plan shifted a bit from strictly musculoskeletal therapies to a broader, more integrative approach for the arthritic joint discomfort she was experiencing.
When it came to this patient, I simply put the cart before the horse. I started chasing down her symptoms rather than first assessing her foundational status and identifying the root cause of her symptoms. And as much as I preach that healthcare providers shouldn’t fall into the ‘chasing symptoms’ mentality, its exactly what I did. But its not entirely my fault (I’m more than happy to deflect blame) as when I reviewed my intake, it was completely devoid of foundational information and focused exclusively on symptoms.
This is exactly why I’ve been so excited about the ‘Foundational Solutions’ dietary intake that INNATE has put together. It provides key information about your patients’ everyday habits and yields clinically relevant information to help guide a foundational approach that can ultimately be used in tandem with the therapeutic protocol your patient needs to be on.
Since this patient presented in my office and made me aware of the gaping holes in my intake, I’ve refined my intake and included the Foundational Solutions Dietary Intake as a standard form. This is serving two purposes for me so far. First, its providing me with that key information I referred to earlier and secondly, it allows me to open up a discussion with patients that educates them on the role and the connection that foundational health has relative to their symptoms.
So after her appointment, I looked at the intake again, it was entirely geared toward symptoms and conditions. I failed to dig down into her ‘foundation’, including dietary habits, cravings she has, digestive and physiologic responses to specific foods and it certainly didn’t create a strong connection to her existing symptoms.
The soda, by far, wasn’t the root cause for her original symptoms, but it served as one of the many ‘cracks in her foundation’. Upon opening up that discussion it turned out that she consumed varied ‘boxed’ foods, most of which say ‘Lean’ or ‘Watchers’ on them. Then we begin talking about digestion and the response her body has to food and she indicated that she needed to take between 6 and 8 antidiarrheal medications to get through the day. Obviously my approach to this patient’s care plan shifted a bit from strictly musculoskeletal therapies to a broader, more integrative approach for the arthritic joint discomfort she was experiencing.
When it came to this patient, I simply put the cart before the horse. I started chasing down her symptoms rather than first assessing her foundational status and identifying the root cause of her symptoms. And as much as I preach that healthcare providers shouldn’t fall into the ‘chasing symptoms’ mentality, its exactly what I did. But its not entirely my fault (I’m more than happy to deflect blame) as when I reviewed my intake, it was completely devoid of foundational information and focused exclusively on symptoms.
This is exactly why I’ve been so excited about the ‘Foundational Solutions’ dietary intake that INNATE has put together. It provides key information about your patients’ everyday habits and yields clinically relevant information to help guide a foundational approach that can ultimately be used in tandem with the therapeutic protocol your patient needs to be on.
Since this patient presented in my office and made me aware of the gaping holes in my intake, I’ve refined my intake and included the Foundational Solutions Dietary Intake as a standard form. This is serving two purposes for me so far. First, its providing me with that key information I referred to earlier and secondly, it allows me to open up a discussion with patients that educates them on the role and the connection that foundational health has relative to their symptoms.
© 2010 Innate Response
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