Personalized healthcare: blending aspects of Western and Eastern medicine

Personalized medicine is an art that advocates for the patient, not the pocket or convenience of the medical system.

~ Melissa Cady

The future of healthcare is a more personalized approach that treats the patient not the condition.

For the most part, the Western medical model has trained physicians to diagnose diseases and prescribe a standard one-size-fits-all treatment plan.

For example, if you have hypertension (high blood pressure), a blood pressure-lowering medication is prescribed.

The doctor waits for evidence of something becoming abnormal before treating. The insurance system leaves little room to practice the art of medicine.

There is minimal time or incentive in the current medical model, that profits from disease management, to treat the whole person in the context of where they live, learn, work, play, and worship.

Treat the person, not the disease

You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you’ll win, no matter what the outcome.

~ Patch Adams

A core aspect of Eastern medicine, such as Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine, is that despite ancient practitioners not being aware of molecular pathways to disease, they were experts at determining constitutional types and treating the person, not the condition.

With modern technology that can identify genetic predisposition to disease, determine how genes are being expressed, map the microbial composition of our gut and how well we break down and absorb food, we are now in a position to transition to a medical model that brings a blend of the best in modern Western and traditional Eastern approaches.

Imagine a simple, non-invasive scan assessing your genetic predisposition to certain diseases, food sensitivities, nutrient deficiencies, and ability to metabolize drugs, which then provides a customized treatment plan including the proper diet and exercise program - no bias, no hit-and-miss one-size-fits-all approach. I look forward to that day.

Many legal and ethical issues have yet to be determined and resolved for the privacy of personal health data.

We do not yet have the full capability to create drugs, diagnostic and treatment plans, or medical devices unique to the individual but, I have faith that we will get there.

Knowledge is power

I'm a big believer in what's called personalized medicine, which refers to customizing your health care to your specific needs based on your physiology, genetics, value system, and unique conditions.

~ David Agus

I have already had my genetics mapped out. I look forward to partaking in the human gut project to assess my inner ecology.

In future blogs, I will share what I have learned so far, some results confirming my experience, others challenging my beliefs.

The more data we accumulate, the more informed decisions we can make, personally and collectively.

Although I have concerns about how ethically and responsibly this data is collected and accessed, I want my children to benefit from a compilation of unbiased scientific evidence.