Don Brown figured he’d be dead by now. His type II diabetes had made it so hard for him to walk that he could barely get around his house. Depressed at his doctor’s diagnosis, he felt worthless.

Then his wife, Ruth, saw an ad for a different doctor, one who could “reverse” the disease.

Six months and thousands of dollars later, Brown, 66, was 40 pounds lighter and had stopped taking insulin and medications for his underactive thyroid and high blood pressure. The retired rancher from Blanding said he felt alive again and was itching to garden.

But was he no longer a diabetic?

He and his wife were crossing their fingers before a test in February, hoping they hadn’t been sold “snake oil.”

The Browns had tied their hopes to West Jordan chiropractor Brandon Babcock, who claims to know “hidden secrets about how to reverse” the type of diabetes related to weight gain.

Chiropractors in Utah and nationwide are exploiting the surge in diabetes and flaws in how traditional medicine promotes nutrition and exercise. Often promoting “functional endocrinology,” chiropractors are treating diabetes and other diseases that traditionally fall under a medical doctor’s purview. (Many types of physicians practice functional endocrinology; this article seems to be slanted against chiropractors)

Some states, including Texas and Colorado, are reining them in. Babcock’s program was developed by Brandon Credeur, a chiropractor now accused of harming diabetic patients in Colorado and fighting to keep his license there.

In Utah— where at least three chiropractors are soliciting diabetic patients — state law says that chiropractors can treat diabetes and other diseases.

“Diabetes treatment is within the scope of a chiropractor,” Mark Steinagel, director of the Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL), said in an email.

“Professions regularly complain about each other and consider their profession to be better capable of performing certain services,” he wrote.

But Utah medical doctors are questioning state law, spurred by chiropractors’ aggressive tactics.

“Diabetes is a medical condition, and they cannot diagnose and treat medical conditions,” said Michelle McOmber, CEO of the powerful Utah Medical Association, which recently complained to DOPL. “I don’t think it’s appropriate. I don’t think they’re trained to do that. It’s something that needs to be looked into.”  (Somehow ‘medical conditions’ are proprietary property that only MDs can treat. Who cares what the patient wants and their right to individually enter into a private contract with another type of doctor.)

The pitch » Babcock, 36, has been licensed as a Utah chiropractor since 2002 and once did up to 50 adjustments a day. Diabetic care now takes up 95 percent of his time, he said recently, and he doubled his office space to accommodate the dozen new patients he said he signs up each week.

He targets people with diabetes who are ages 50 to 80 — younger ones don’t have the time to put into their health, he said. He charges $6,000 for six months of care — more when patients need financing — and his remedies aren’t covered by insurance.

Here’s his reversal recipe:

Clients start with a three-week gluten- and dairy-free diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts and beans, and drinks made with a powder that can “detoxify” their livers. They later add some dairy foods and breads. (A great treatment for most people)

Babcock claims he fixes the causes of diabetes by balancing estrogen, testosterone and cortisol hormones; eliminating intestinal infections; and improving the function of patients’ livers and adrenal glands with proprietary supplements in pills and creams.

Many medical doctors, “misdirected” about what causes diabetes, “let patients fail” by prescribing drugs that only address symptoms, he tells potential patients.

“That model usually tells [patients], ‘Eat whatever you want. Take more drugs and that’s life,’ ” he said. (This is pretty much true)

Success is “typical” among his clients, he says in advertisements and at weekly free lunches or dinners for potential clients.

“I get people off their insulin in usually the first month, depending on how much it is,” he told a group of 30 in Provo in December.

“If you’re motivated and you’re willing to change your diet, I’m going to take you on and I’m going to reverse your diabetes,” he said in his closing pitch. “I’ve seen people all the way up to [300] to 400 units of insulin get better.”

In an interview, Babcock acknowledged he can’t cite independent studies to back his claims. Instead, he points to his successful patients. Some, like Brown, give “testimonials” at the meals.

Brown said his medical doctor sent him to a class on nutrition and exercise, but it didn’t help and he had to take more medications. Under Babcock’s regimen, he ate more fruits and vegetables, took supplements, lost weight and decided to stop taking his various medications. An initial test in November indicated his blood sugar was no longer in the diabetic range.  (Obviously the correct cause of the problem was addressed and hence the patient’s blood sugar responded accordingly, imagine that.)

“I know it works,” Brown told the lunch crowd.

The pushback » It’s true that diabetes can technically be reversed when it is connected to a patient’s weight, said E. Dale Abel, medical director of the Utah Diabetes and Endocrinology Center at the University of Utah.  (Most Americans are overweight and eat terrible diets. The treatment therefore seems pretty self-evident. This doctor fully acknowledges the problem, but does nothing to solve it.)

But much of Babcock’s treatment is based on “pseudoscience,” Abel said, after reviewing information provided by the The Salt Lake Tribune about his plan and parts of his sales pitch.  (As if giving someone insulin when he/she is insulin resistant isn’t pseudoscience? Evidence-based practice is defined as the product of three things: the published evidence, the doctor’s clinical experience, and the patient’s choice. All three of these must be considered to be considered evidence-based practice. If the patient wants the treatment, is getting objective results, and those results are repeatable clinically when administered by a doctor, then this is the definition of evidence-based practice. Who cares if the endocrinologist doesn’t like it.)

For example, while obese people will have low testosterone or estrogen, those shortages occur independently of diabetes, he said, and there is no proof that addressing hormones or infections will affect diabetes.  (Nothing in the body works independently; all of the body’s systems are interconnected. This mindset is exactly why people are becoming so dissatisfied with their endocrinologists; no concept of whole-body medicine)

And when Babcock says the cause of type II diabetes has “nothing to do with the pancreas” or diet or being overweight, Abel said, that is “patently false. He is completely confused.”  (He’s right, it has very little, if anything to do with the pancreas. It has almost everything to do with the fact that the body becomes resistant to all the EXTRA insulin produced by the pancreas due to prolonged high-carbohydrate, high-sugar diet and extra fat accumulation.)

Most diabetics are overweight or obese and their pancreas cannot produce enough insulin, he explained. The hormone is key to transforming glucose, a sugar, into fuel for muscle, fat, and liver cells. (See above)

Such marketing pitches from chiropractors, he added, are akin to financial scammers who promise unrealistic investment returns. “He’s just taking people’s money,” Abel said. “This absolutely has nothing to do with protection of turf. It has to do with protection of patients.” (This could be considered libelous)

It is not standard for medical doctors to tell diabetic patients not to change their lifestyle, Abel said. But he concedes that traditional health care is not set up to effectively help them eat right and exercise. Since insurers pay little for weight loss management and nutrition education, such care is a money loser for doctors, he said. (At least he admitted it; it’s all about money)

“The only thing that he does that will have any benefit is this very restrictive diet,” he said. “You do that to anybody and they will lose weight and their diabetes will get better.”  (If it’s this easy why aren’t more MDs doing this)

Babcock said he uses the diet, supplements and laboratory tests developed by Credeur, his former classmate at Parker College of Chiropractic in Dallas. “Just like if you bought a McDonald’s franchise — you know exactly how to make the french fries,” Babcock said.

Credeur and his wife, Heather, now run the Functional Endocrinology Center of Colorado, where their care and claims are under attack.

The state Board of Chiropractic Examiners has charged Credeur with 25 counts of violating various rules and laws, including unethical advertising, substandard care and practicing medicine for which he is not licensed. It recently filed similar charges against Heather Credeur and is seeking to revoke both of their licenses.

The board accuses Brandon Credeur of luring in diabetic patients and women with thyroid disorders with false and misleading advertising guaranteeing success. Five patients — one of whom didn’t know Credeur was a chiropractor — have allegedly been harmed. (Nobody gets harmed by drugs, right?)

According to the board: Credeur misdiagnosed an 82-year-old woman with diabetes and celiac disease. A woman with bipolar disorder became suicidal after taking his supplements. One woman’s thyroid condition worsened after his program. Another woman said she was told to stop taking her thyroid medication without consulting her medical doctor.

The board also targets these issues with how Credeur promotes his plan:

» The name of his business suggests he has credentials he hasn’t earned.   (How So?)

» An ad for a “free gourmet dinner” to discover “hidden secrets about how to reverse your diabetes” with “limited seating” was false, exerted undue pressure and “created unjustified expectations or guaranteed a cure.”

» His claims that “98 to 99 percent our patients get better” and that it is “standard” for patients to no longer need medication were unethical because they improperly promised a cure and couldn’t be verified by standard lab tests. (I agree his advertising methods sort of ‘walk the line’ a bit)

Told of the charges against Credeur, Babcock distanced himself from his consultant. “I pay him but I don’t need him, really.”

Babcock maintains that he doesn’t guarantee the reversal of diabetes and he doesn’t tell patients to stop using medication, which the Browns confirm.

But like Brown, many patients have chosen to take that step, Babcock said.

“My license doesn’t allow me to take somebody off medications. I can instruct them: Here’s ranges and where you should be,” he said. “I’d say a high percentage of patients go off on their own. Their doctor doesn’t see them but once a year.” (This is exactly why chiropractors should have prescriptive authority)

But Utah County patient Betty McElroy said Babcock “told me I could stop taking all of it [insulin], so I did,” she said.

The 75-year-old licensed physician described Babcock as having a Ph.D. in nutrition — which he doesn’t. Babcock said he didn’t tell her to go off her insulin and he doesn’t know why she thought he had a doctorate.

She’s pleased with her 20-pound weight loss so far and higher energy, she said. “I am putting my body out on the line to see if this was helpful and so far it has been very helpful.”

Here’s the real issue (in my opinion):

$1.2 billion » The estimated tally of direct diabetes medical costs in Utah, including $27 million on outpatient care and $23 million on medications.

Source: Utah Department of Health

Cures will never be allowed as long as there’s money to be made off of prolonging the problem. Maybe the doctor in question went about his advertising wrong, but it doesn’t change his results or make his claims any less valid.

Natural Wellness and Pain Relief Centers of Michigan - Results, naturally | Flint, Grand Blanc, Genesee County Bio-Identical Hormones, Scoliosis, Autism, Fibromyalgia, and Chiropractic

Modern medicine has become nothing more than a convoluted maze of deductibles, copays, HMOs, and preauthorizations. What has been lost in our system of health care is the basic act of a doctor and patient sitting across from one another, with the patient explaining his or her problems in complete detail. However, in order for the doctor-patient relationship to develop in this manner, it can only be done outside of the current health insurance model. Why? Because insurance companies aren’t interested in getting people healthy. Rather, they are only looking to get people asymptomatic. They believe, despite the level of published evidence to show otherwise, that restricting patients’ access to medical care will lower costs.
Here is a perfect example of why our offices and doctors do not participate with insurances. Yesterday a goon from Blue Cross/Blue Shield walked into our Richmond office and proceeded to strong-arm our medical assistant, Callie. The goon basically attempted to railroad Callie by chastising her because the doctors send “too much” bloodwork to out-of-state specialty laboratories (you know, the ones that actually identify the origins of various diseases). She told Callie that BCBSM would sanction us if we kept referring to these specialty labs instead of those that BCBSM likes.

This is exactly what the public never sees. Even with an insurance company like BCBSM, where you can choose your doctor, you are not truly free to select the type of medical care you want.

Anyhow, Callie ultimately directed her to me, and I promptly spoke to this goon and told her that we don’t participate with BCBSM at all (for exactly this reason). Hence, sanctions cannot be administered, and BCBSM cannot tell us how to treat our patients.

WE CARE ABOUT OUR PATIENTS ONLY. WE DON’T CARE WHAT INSURANCE THEY HAVE, WHAT IT COVERS OR DOESN’T, OR WHAT THEIR DEDUCTIBLE IS. WE WANT TO HELP OUR PATIENTS RECOVER FROM THEIR ILLNESSES, AND NOT JUST “MANAGE” THEM. WHATEVER LABORATORY STUDIES WE NEED TO IDENTIFY THE ORIGIN OF A PATIENT’S ILLNESS, WE WILL USE.

If you want to get better, come see us. If your insurance deductible and copay is your primary concern, then call BCBSM and get a referral to an office where they don’t really care about getting you better.

Natural Wellness and Pain Relief Centers of Michigan - Results, naturally | Flint, Grand Blanc, Genesee County Bio-Identical Hormones, Scoliosis, Autism, Fibromyalgia, and Chiropractic

On September 24th, 2011, the Natural Wellness & Pain Relief Centers in Richmond will be hosting a Grand Opening!

The day’s events include a ribbon-cutting ceremony, featured health workshops, and tons of free information and prizes.

As part of our community health awareness program, in partnership with the Michigan Health & Wellness Initiative, during the Grand Opening we will be offering FREE blood pressure checks, breathing tests, and FREE laboratory tests including intestinal flora, antioxidant status, 10-parameter urinalysis, and H. Pylori testing (a common cause of ulcers and autoimmune disorders).

We will be taking $15 donations, all of which will be given to a local charity.

Laboratory testing is on a first come, first served basis until test kits are gone.

Come and find out why the Natural Wellness & Pain Relief Center in Richmond is the most comprehensive integrative medicine clinic in Macomb County.

For more information, please call 586-727-7500.

Media contacts: Please call 810-694-3576 for interviews with Dr. Megan Strauchman, Medical Director.

Natural Wellness and Pain Relief Centers of Michigan - Results, naturally | Flint, Grand Blanc, Genesee County Bio-Identical Hormones, Scoliosis, Autism, Fibromyalgia, and Chiropractic

This is a bit of a departure for me in terms of how I write my posts on our clinic blog. Today, my family and I went to breakfast at a great place in Ortonville called Dan’s Country Coney. They make the best omelets.

Anyway, as we were there eating, another family came in a sat a couple of tables from us. When they ordered, the father ordered a Coke for his 6-yr-old son (I’m guessing his age based upon his size)!

Frankly, several things ran through my head. First, as a doctor I consider this child abuse. They might as well have let him eat a pack of SweetTarts or M&Ms for breakfast along with it. Heck, why not let him go outside with his dad for a smoke? As a parent, I wanted to say something to the parents, but I figured it would come out incredibly rude.

The reason I’m blogging about this is because I hit a breaking point in my head. This was the third incident of this that I’d seen or heard secondhand in the last week. We as a society have to understand that these habits are going to SEVERELY reduce our children’s life span and quality of life. I actually am starting to have a rough time finding children running around the mall who aren’t clinically obese.

Back to the story at hand. All of the fat cells that we produce as human beings will be made by the time we hit around age 8. Thereafter, we don’t increase the number of fat cells; our fat cells just inflate as we take in too many calories. Giving children sugar, and especially high fructose corn syrup, increases the number of fat cells their bodies produce. Hence, as adults, they are more prone to developing diabetes and other obesity-related disorders because they have more fat cells with which to store fat.

To take this a step further, our bodies cannot process high fructose corn syrup because it is a laboratory-created chemical. However, that doesn’t stop our bodies from trying to break it down. In this process, our pancreas produces much higher amount of insulin in an effort to break it down. Insulin, as most people don’t realize, is a fat storage hormone. Many researchers believe that over the course of one’s life, the less insulin he/she produces, the longer he/she will live, and with a much higher quality of life. Once insulin is created, it binds to sugar and high fructose corn syrup and transfers it to fat cells to be stored, either as fat (sugar) or as a toxin (high fructose corn syrup). Yes! High fructose corn syrup is a toxin!!! I don’t care what the TV commercials say (you know…the ones produced by the corn growers associations) about how it’s okay in moderation. No it isn’t! That’s like saying rat poison is okay in small amounts. I don’t think the rats would agree.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Dr. Morningstar

Natural Wellness and Pain Relief Centers of Michigan - Results, naturally | Flint, Grand Blanc, Genesee County Bio-Identical Hormones, Scoliosis, Autism, Fibromyalgia, and Chiropractic

http://www.activistpost.com/2011/03/fda-comes-to-rescue-of-big-pharma.html

Natural Wellness and Pain Relief Centers of Michigan - Results, naturally | Flint, Grand Blanc, Genesee County Bio-Identical Hormones, Scoliosis, Autism, Fibromyalgia, and Chiropractic