Vitalism as the Standard of Care- Part 2
JAMES SENSENIG, ND
LETITIA DICK, ND, VNMI
This article joins a series of articles inâŻNDNRâŻthat are based on transcripts of the Naturopathic Medicine Institute (NMI)âs Wednesday morning call-in program, The Vital Conversation. The program is hosted by senior Vitalists to enhance the ability of naturopathic physicians to practice as vitalist naturopathic doctors.âŻIn this lightly edited transcript (by Emily Kane, ND), the second part of a 2-part conversation that took place on April 12, 2017, Drs Sensenig and senior Vitalist Dr Letitia (âTishâ) Dick discuss why there is such apparent widespread resistance to the obvious potency of the vital force â what we naturopathic physicians, with love and respect, call the Vis.
Dr Sensenig: You mentioned looking at blood under a microscope.âŻHow many of our colleagues and students who are graduating today have one?
Dr Dick: When I was at NCNM, it was required that we purchase our own microscope. Because of CLIA lab regulations, the primary care physicians only perform simple microscopy procedures like wet mounts.âŻSo, most of the time, doctors donât do microscope work at all any more. I donât think itâs even a requirement now for students to purchase a microscope.
Dr Sensenig:âŻBack in the last century, when one was accepted into medical school and naturopathic medical school, a microscope was required of an entering student.âŻToday, youâre required to have a laptop. Do we even use microscopes in school anymore? Or is everything online and we donât need to look at our patientsâ tissues with a high-powered scope?
Dr Dick: I understand from one of the NCNM students, who was working with me a couple of years ago, that the school had a set of slides already made up, and they would look at those slides under the scope.âŻSo, they were not taught to do their own blood counts, like we did in school with the smears. They werenât taught any of those basic lab procedures because all those things are automated at the lab these days.âŻI think itâs a worthy thing to learn, because someday we might lose those skills altogether.
The blood microscopy I do is simply the Bolin blood photos.âŻYou donât use them for diagnosis; I simply use them for following a case.âŻWhat the patients get out of it is a visual confirmation.âŻTheyâll say, âOh, I feel better; but now, look, my blood looks better, too!â That physical validation encourages them to continue on their path of making good food choices and applying their home remedies.âŻWe often do blood draws and look at numbers on a paper, but that doesnât make a lot of sense to the patients. But when they see an actual photo of their blood, it can really hit home. So, itâs a simple and helpful technique that can be used for patient management.âŻ
Dr Sensenig: Like some other techniques, the Bolin testing is consistent with the idea of improving the vital force, or improving situations by moving a patient in the direction of balance and recovery.âŻIn that regard, itâs a simple, easy, objective way to measure the vital force.âŻ
If weâre thinking about people on a continuum â moving from heightened disturbance to less and less disturbance and more and more balance â thereâs a way to follow them from visit to visit.âŻIn that sense, it probably ought to be a tool that at least everybody knows how to use, or at least understand conceptually, because itâs consistent with the idea of restoring health to the entire individual, not just treating a symptom.
Dr Dick:âŻMy dad said that the whole goal of everything we do is to build the blood.âŻIf your blood isnât strong, you canât heal anything. Everything you do, everything you support with your metabolism, everything you eat, everything you drink, everything you breathe, should be supporting that natural function.âŻIf itâs not supporting blood building, then itâs working against it. Itâs that cut and dry.âŻ
The aspirin you take is not supporting you; itâs working against you. Itâs a poison. People take a baby aspirin, thinking that they need it to prevent their heart disease. Theyâre basically poisoning their body every day. It suppresses their pituitary, thyroid, and other functions.âŻ
To educate patients to this other level takes some work in a lot of cases.âŻSome other people will fall in line pretty quickly because itâs right up their alley.âŻBut, for a lot of people, Vitalism is a brand-new concept. This is a situation that a lot of naturopathic physicians donât understand. It takes time to re-educate our patients.
Dr Sensenig:âŻDr Broadwell would have said the same thing but in a slightly different way: âThat which we put in the body, for it to be consistent with the healing process or a return to normal, has to be something that belongs in the body and can be assimilated by the body.âŻAll substances that are used allopathically are toxic.ââŻ
He would say, âIf you take an aspirin for a headache, you havenât returned to health until your body eliminates the aspirin.âŻItâs toxic, and it requires some effort on the part of the body to clear it.â How can you poison somebody back to health?
Dr Dick:âŻA young boy was brought to me for his follow-up visit. He was 10 years old. Initially, his blood microscopy showed that he was incredibly anemic.âŻHis chief complaint was that he had a stomach ache every day, at school and at home, and his mom just didnât know what to do for him. He was pretty pale, with allergic shiners.âŻHe came back in after the diet change I gave him, which he had been following since our first visit. I think he was potato intolerant, if I recall.âŻ
He didnât have hydrotherapy.âŻShe had 7 children; it was hard to get this boy in for therapy, and money was a concern. So, they were basically just following the diet.âŻFor nutritional support, because his blood looked so anemic, I gave him a chewable iron in the form of buffalo liver capsules (which is one of my favorite ways of giving B vitamins and iron). He was happy to take the capsules.âŻ
After 3 months, he came back in.âŻHis blood was 90% improved, he had energy, and he had no more stomach aches.âŻ
His mom said, âDo you think this would also work for bedwetting?âŻBecause he hasnât been wetting his bed.ââŻ
I said, âYou didnât tell me about that. Has that been a concern?â He was 10 years old and was still wetting the bed.âŻ
I said, âIf I would have known that, I would have suggested some other things to do.ââŻ
She said, âNo. Heâs not wetting his bed now. Could this affect that, too?ââŻ
I said, âObviously, it has.ââŻ
She said, âCan you look in his eyes again? You initially said he had a kidney problem.ââŻ
I looked back in his records, and I had marked on his iris information that he had a lesion in his left kidney. I looked at the left eye, and then I looked at his right eye, because I thought that I might have written down the wrong eye. I said, âYou know, this doesnât stand out now, but if I look really closely at the left eye, thereâs a slight area where I can see that there was a lesion.ââŻ
In 3 monthsâ time, that kidney lesion had healed, as far as the fibers in his iris showed. And he was no longer wetting his bed.âŻThat wasnât anything I was directly treating. That healing was just simply from bringing up the nutritional status of this child, decreasing his inflammatory gut problem with good diet and support.âŻThat was a side effect of the natural therapeutics.
Dr Sensenig:âŻIf you live in the mechanistic world, you would struggle to figure how this case worked because you wouldnât see the relationship between food assimilation and increased vitality.âŻBut if you live in the Vitalist model, itâs self-explanatory because youâre basically affecting the economy of the whole body.
Surprisingly, when I make recommendations, people will occasionally ask me if there are any side effects.âŻI would say, âYes. There is a side effect of this intervention, which is robust, good health.â Because everything is moving in the direction of cure or balance.âŻ
Dr Turska was very outspoken about this blood analysis issue, as were the predecessors in this profession. He said, âThat which finds utility and is of benefit to patients and to mankind almost guarantees that the âregulatorsâ are going to go after it.â The legal ramifications of what weâre talking about could be different from state to state, if not at the federal level. This is one of the problems that our profession faces, especially when the professionals are not on the same page with respect to various therapies and interventions. I suppose there has to be a cautionary note, depending on where people are.
Dr Dick: In the process of seeing patients, I say, âIâm going to look at your blood under the microscope. Letâs just compare it to the chart here. Letâs see how you fare. Weâre just going to follow your case this way, because my whole goal is to improve your blood.â Thatâs all I do. I donât advertise blood analysis as a service in my clinic.
Dr Sensenig:âŻFor the record, just because the technique weâre talking about is not widely accepted in conventional circles doesnât mean that it doesnât have value.âŻIt actually probably means that it does have value. And this example serves to convey the bias of the regulatory system and the people who control it.âŻ
Many years ago, when I was at National College in Portland, we had a guest speaker â a Native American medicine man â who did a workshop at the school.âŻIâll never forget the day that he was off and running about something in quantum physics. He saw the faces of the group, and said, âOh. Youâre surprised. Let me tell you something.âŻI read many of your scientific journals. Thereâs something you need to know. Someday, your scientists will know what we know.ââŻ
I feel the same way about medicine.âŻSomeday, conventional medicine will know what we know, and the techniques that weâve learned and the ideas that we have espoused will be the dominant medicine of our culture.âŻBecause it just makes so much more sense. But, weâre not there yet, and it may take another couple of centuries to get there.âŻ
I was sent an article by one of my patients a few weeks ago, describing researchers at Oxford University who have come up with this novel idea where they think that you might be able to get some information about a personâs nutritional status by analyzing their urine.
Dr Dick:âŻWow, what a concept. Isnât that something weâve been doing for 200 years?
Dr Sensenig:âŻTheyâre saying in this article that someday this will be a way to tell what people are eating or not eating.
Dr Dick:âŻWell, thereâs the urinary indican test right there.
Dr Sensenig:âŻYouâve mentioned several times that youâve used the 50s and the 42s; these are herbal capsules â gentian and skullcap, for example.âŻWhere do you get your herbs, or how do you make them?
Dr Dick:âŻFor years, weâve gotten our botanicals already powdered from a good company in Index, Washington. If I donât get them from there, I will wildcraft or grow my own and process them.âŻAs I was showing the young doctors and students I was teaching these past couple of weekends, the difference between what I can purchase, even from a high-quality company, and what I can wildcraft and dry in my food dehydrators and process myself is astounding.âŻItâs always optimal to grow your own medicine; the quality is so much higher.âŻ
For instance, I have a little bottle of shave grass, also known as horsetail, rush, or equisetum, which we use for our kidney teas.âŻThatâs easily found. I wildcraft that here in the Spokane area. I go and collect bags and bags of it, then dry it. Then I have it for the year.âŻThe herb I get from the company is kind of a pale gray. The herb that I process is a bright green. I asked a rep at the company if she was selling me older herbs.âŻShe said, âNo. This was this yearâs batch.ââŻI said, âBut this doesnât look like mine.ââŻAnd she told me that it has to come to her already steam processed.
Itâs sterilized with a steam process, then dried, then baled.âŻSo she gets it in big bales. She knows itâs certified clean; it doesnât have any bacteria, mold, etc.âŻIt has to be pre-sterilized for these herbal companies to certify that itâs okay for your consumption. Basically, thereâs already been a tea made out of that herb, and Iâm getting it already denatured; it doesnât have the superior quality of fresh dried.
When I harvest or grow my own botanicals and dispense that from my medical dispensary, those are potent plants, potent medicine.âŻMy Echinacea root is a whole different level of effective compared to buying Echinacea tincture from someone.âŻ
Itâs so imperative that we keep our legal identity that allows us to grow, wildcraft, compound, and make our own medicine.âŻAs far as I know, thatâs allowed in just about every state licensing law. I know it is in Washington, and itâs been that way for a long time.âŻBut that was another thing the young doctors and students didnât know. They didnât realize they had the ability to do that with their license, especially here in Washington. They thought they had to purchase the capsule, or something already compounded, from a nutraceutical company.âŻ
That shocked me, because as long as I can remember, my dad would always make his own herbal teas.âŻI buy the powders and blend them, and then I encapsulate them myself. It seems like a dying art now.
Dr Sensenig:âŻWhen I was a student, most of our teachers and predecessors were growing, wildcrafting, and collecting their own medicines, at least the ones they were able to find or grow locally.âŻ
This is an example of what happens when we lose touch with our basic understanding of what a naturopathic practice is.âŻAs we become more and more regimented, or less and less eclectic, as we start buying these medicines from pharmaceutical-like companies, companies that are manufacturing them â and Iâm not impugning the quality of what weâre getting â but as we access these from sources that have them already manufactured and packaged for us⊠if weâre talking about botanical extracts, supplements, and other nutrients, and we lose track of the knowledge of how these work and where they come from, weâre also going to lose the ability to source them.âŻ
Anybody who knows anything about biology or genetics would have to agree that we have become more and more homogenous as practitioners, not only within the profession, but also related to the medical profession. Itâs at our own peril;âŻitâs the diversity in which we have strength.
Dr Dick: I was talking to Robert May at the WANP, and he said that one of his goals is to keep the licenses as broad as possible.âŻAny time he feels that the licensing is becoming too restricted, he tries to push that back open. Itâs only through that broad diversity of having this big scope of practice that we allow these things to still occur.âŻIf weâre not mindful of that when we go for a new law or to change our laws in certain states, we will lose scope. That is imperative to our ability to practice as naturopathic physicians, because we are each specialists in natural therapeutics and we are the ones who know how to harvest and compound and dispense these proprietary botanicals.âŻMaybe we can buy them, but they may not be the best quality, or as potent as we like them to be. I think itâs very important that we keep that broad scope as big as possible in our defense of our medicine.
Dr Sensenig:âŻI couldnât agree more. Lindlahr would also agree that when the practitioner is preparing the therapeutic intervention, the homeopathic remedy, and the botanical remedy, some of him- or herself is in that remedy.âŻAll the more reason for the practitioner to have that kind of personal ownership or relationship with those things that he or she is using in a way to restore health.
Dr Dick:âŻI can tell you that when I choose my herbs, sort them, and clean them, I throw out the bad stuff. I donât want that in the mix. I only choose the best quality of what Iâm going to compound or make into teas.âŻI put an intention into it that is very specific. I might even say, âLet this be the strongest botanical I can make for my patient.â I often say that when I make my herbs. I donât know that other people, such as corporations, put that intention into their botanicals.
Dr Sensenig:âŻThat could be another entire talk â intentions.âŻJust the fact that you have that kind of personal relationship with the remedy, and you have an intention for what it is going to do for the person, has to inform them what itâs doing in whatever way that happens. Intention is key for a truly vitalistic practice.
James Sensenig, ND was a 1978 graduate of NCNM in Portland, OR. For over 40 years he maintained an eclectic practice in Hamden, CT. Over the years, Dr Sensenig held prominent positions in the various naturopathic colleges and the AANP. A champion of classical naturopathic medicine, Dr Sensenig received an Honorary Doctor of Naturopathic Philosophy degree from CCNM, and received numerous awards for his dedication to teaching the principles of naturopathic medicine.
Letitia Dick, ND, VNMI, earned her doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine in 1990 from NCNM. She then completed a 3-year residency with her late father, Dr Harold Dick. After his passing, she continued his classical naturopathic clinic in Spokane, WA, now over 60 years old. Dr Letitia has been in practice 30 years; is past adjunct faculty at Bastyr University; co-founder of the Carroll Institute of Natural Healing (a non-profit, post-graduate institute teaching the healing methods of Dr Otis G. Carroll); author of The Ultimate Text In Constitutional Hydrotherapy: A 100 Year Tradition of Clinical Practice; founder and senior Vitalist of the Naturopathic Medicine Institute; and an international speaker / medical educator.