Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to see if anyone here has taken the organic acids test and cares to post about it. Someone I saw said it was an optional test (and then I saw it posted here under the useful tests section). I was told that if I couldn't afford it, we could try supplements instead to see if they helped because it would be 1/2 the price to do that. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Alternative medical clinics staffed by licensed NDs and Functional & Integrative MDs, DOs, and Nutritionists are serving as refugee camps for people whose conditions are not recognized or addressed by "conventional" medicine.

What is called conventional is "allopathic medicine" which can be defined as: using drugs and surgery to manage and mask the symptoms of disease without necessarily addressing the cause. For instance, a headache might be caused by dehydration, low blood sugar, stress, inadequate sleep, caffeine addiction, or a chemical exposure. An allopathic solution to any of these individual headaches might be to match the symptom with a drug with a track record for making that symptom go away with often vastly under-reported side effects.

Nevertheless, the pharmaceutical industry has rammed an impressive arsenal of over 6000 drugs thought the FDA to mask the symptoms of human disease. Allopathic surgical techniques can remove tumors and replace and restore vital organs neglected by what is now the equally conventional health-neglecting diet and lifestyle of the modern world.

Sadly, this expensive system of “disease management” has become so much the convention, that when there is no approved drug to treat a condition, the patients often get marginalized by the allopathic system. Those suffering from diseases without drug-based solutions might even be told that there is nothing wrong with them. Astonishing as this is, there is a growing list of conditions that fall through the cracks of allopathic medicine. I call them medical refugees.

Ten Health Care Refugee Syndromes:

1. Fibromyalgia
2. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
3. Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
4. Sub-Clinical Hypothyroidism
5. Adrenal Fatigue & Failure
6. Attention Deficit Disorder
7. Irritable Bowel Syndrome
8. Sick Building Syndrome
9. Gulf War Syndrome
10. Post Lyme Disease

With the focus on allopathic "disease management" with drugs as the primary approach, very little attention is being given to proven, effective lifestyle measures to prevent disease and promote optimal health. By my count, eight out of ten of the leading causes of disease-related deaths in the United States might have been prevented with healthy diet and lifestyle interventions.

Ten Leading Causes of Disease-related Death in the U.S.:

1. Heart Disease
2. Cancer
3. Pneumonia & Influenza
4. Stroke
5. Alzheimer’s disease
6. Diabetes
7. Kidney disease
8. Septicemia
9. Chronic liver disease
10. Essential hypertension

(We may well eventually learn that Alzheimer's and essential hypertension are also largely preventable making 10/10 of the top killers possibly preventable.)

What happens now is that a portion of the medical refugees and those seeking to prevent disease and promote health find their way to “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM). CAM practitioners employ cutting-edge, theoretical, energetic or otherwise underdeveloped diagnostics and therapeutic techniques. The best alternative practitioners are in this area are “complementary” meaning that they use (or at least understand) the value and limitations of both conventional and alternative medical approaches.

It’s important to understand the two major factors can make something alternative. One is that the diagnostic or therapeutic measure may be experimental and as such has not earned the “evidence-based” seal of approval showing that the measure works to diagnose, treat or prevent disease in large, double blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trials. The other is a lack of patent-ability which leads to little profit potential, marketing and awareness about the method. It's very easy to patent a drug, but it's very difficult to patent lifestyle techniques, like clean food/air/water and good sleep and exercise.

Is there such a thing as evidence based alternative care? Yes, and it's definitely the most interesting and exciting area of medicine to be involved in. In it's best application, it is the leading edge of health care.

There is a critical margin where leading-edge alternative medical methods meet evidence-based. It’s important to understand the pressures involved. Notice the motives: With patients, clinicians and companies all seeking to benefit from using, offering, or selling the alternative methods, it’s easy to lean too far into alternative and miss the importance of sound evidence-based approaches.

For many medical refugees and their health care providers, dipping deep into alternative feels like the best or only options. By so doing, we advance the evolution of alternative approaches—where those approaches that help gain support and move towards evidence-based, while those methods that don’t work get sidelined.

Alternative medicine is definitely an industry. As the number of people seeking alternative care grows, there are more and larger companies offering alternative diagnosis and therapies. Like the pharmaceutical industry that preceded it, the alternative medical industry is also imbued with an inherent profit-based survival instinct. As such, alternative medical companies are often rushing to market methods packaged in promises of delivering exactly what the medical refugees so desperately want: safe, effective, evidence-based care.

I frequently get asked about alternative laboratory tests. There are many out there including: tests for food sensitivities, adrenal stress profiles, neurotransmitter metabolites, heavy metal challenge testing, organic acids, and many more. The science supporting the clinical utility many of these always looks promising, and is also still developing. For better or worse, the FDA has the job of assessing the clinical utility of these tests. Almost invariably, there are some useful bits and also some claims that don’t quite measure up to the evidence. The best alternative laboratories offering this testing are investing money to identify the real clinical utility out of the field of promise.

My two-part guide to any laboratory testing (conventional or alternative):

1) Only order diagnostic testing to CONFIRM or rule out a diagnosis suggested by a thorough health history and physical examination.

2) Don’t spend money on a test UNLESS the results are going to change the treatment plan.

A little known fact, is that many alternative laboratory tests offer the providers a kickback whenever a patient orders the test. I recommend that you ask about this, and if the answer is yes, it’s not a good sign. The validity of a diagnostic test should stand for itself, and laboratories that bribe doctors into using the testing are usually at the bottom of the barrel. Ask your health care provider about this potential conflict of interest directly.

On Supplements

A good multi-vitamin can help ensure that the average person will not be deficient in a particular nutrient, but in general I’d rather have my patients spending their money on fresh, whole & local nutrient-dense food than vitamins. High-quality vitamin supplements are available, but they can be expensive. There are lots of cheaper vitamins available, but there is little guarantee that they actually provide what the label suggests, and the quality of the ingredients may be questionable.

While random mega-doses vitamins can actually be harmful, a nutrient-dense diet is not. Looking for the answer in a pill bottle (whether it is filled with vitamins or drugs) is the product of our modern quest for convenience and a reluctance return to a natural (and sane!) lifestyle that provides our bodies with they require for optimal health.

When I do prescribe them, I do so sparingly. Many of my patients are pleasantly surprised when I tell them to stop taking many things they are on and put the focus on their diet and lifestyle. I do not sell supplements out of my office, because I want to avoid the temptation to prescribe anything in order to make a profit.

The foundation of my recommendations to promote optimal health:

1) Avoid processed foods, refined sweeteners, and artificial ingredients, and avoid or minimize alcohol and caffeine intake.

2) Focus the diet on vegetables & fruits that are fresh, local & organic; animal products that are wild, free-range, organic, grass-fed (or fat free); whole hypoallergenic grains (like brown rice and quinoa); and drink plenty of clean water.

3) Avoid unnecessary chemical and environmental exposures, take steps to support strong digestion and regular elimination, get adequate good-quality sleep, and find exercises you can safely enjoy every day and gradually increase the duration.

4) Focus attention, speech and thinking on being well and strategies and successes toward getting there. This means consciously avoiding victim-based thinking, excessive commiseration, negative language & thought patterns. Along with this high-minded attitude, I want my patients to both know and communicate their health history and to track improvements and setbacks alike.

When patients follow these four suggestions, many patients (including the medical refugees), we often see dramatic improvement or complete resolution of their conditions.

The Limits of Compassion

I do feel strongly that we would all do well to be aware that there is a distinct limit to the benefits of getting attention and other positive feedback for being sick. This goes for patients, practitioners, support group leaders, friends & family alike. At issue is that we all tend to go (or stay) where we put our focus, and if that focus is on telling ourselves and everyone who will listen about how terrible we feel, then there is a very real danger of getting attached to that reward-pattern and slowing our progress toward health.

Likewise, a good attitude can be taken too far. I would never suggest a patients stay with a doctor that encouraged them to ignore symptoms completely and only think good thoughts. There's room for balance. Sadly, there are alternative medical practitioners that have committed to selling narrow ways of diagnosing and treating the medical-refugee conditions.

If any health care provider only has only a few tools to use, they may have fallen into the trap of overly simplistic thinking. The unfortunate "symptom-to-drug-matching game" that many allopathic providers use is one example. On the other side are doctors like an MD I recently heard about that went "alternative" with little training and who now uses some very flimsy muscle testing to "diagnose" >90% of his patients with candida overgrowth. Either one of these types of provider is unlikely to care a lot about what the particulars of a case is. They are in the practice of hitting all the different nails with the hammer they have in their hand and collecting the money whether or not they are helping anyone.

My four basic recommendations (above) are just the foundation of my treatment plans. They are all about what is called the “determinants of health” and removing the “obstacles to cure.” Every one of my patients also get a highly personalized treatment plan that is built on upon this foundation. Nutritional and herbal supplements, conventional and alternative lab tests, and even drugs all have their place, but they should never be considered the foundation of your care.

Grandiose promises from alternative health care practitioners and laboratory and supplement companies abound. These messages can be inspiring, and they might well indicate a great new therapy or diagnostic method. They may also be a hallmark of someone who has strayed too far into the wide galaxy of alternative methods and who is (knowingly or not) capitalizing on the desperate needs of medical refugees providing little benefit other than fleeting hope.

My fundamental advice: make sure that your care is being guided by a qualified and unprejudiced health care professional who understands and judges the values and limitations of both conventional and alternative methods. A good provider will take the time to understand their patient's history, select appropriate diagnostics, and put the patient in the drivers seat of a personalized treatment plan based on realistic dietary and lifestyle interventions designed to promote optimal health.

Tim - Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I especially liked how you pointed out that if the treatment isn't going to be much different with or without the test, that's something to consider. You made a lot of good points.

I know this is off topic, but I need to address one point that you made in your post (I agree with 99% of what you say in it).

I'm glad that you've had success with your patients, I can't say I agree with number 4 in your recommendations though for everyone. I feel I must mention my experience because I wasted valuable time when I could have been healing. I spent the first 2 years of my illness doing positive thinking techniques and the speech changing that described (with the encouragement of an alternative practitioner). This actually made me ignore obvious signs that my body was getting worse & wasting away (I was so sick I couldn't get out of bed in the end, but I was still plugging away with the mental techniques that you described). Later, I found that connecting with my feelings, whatever they may be, to be very powerful because it meant listening to my body. I also found commiseration and connecting with others compassionately through understanding to help tremendously. Having my reality validated healed me emotionally so much.

I especially liked Marshall Rosenberg's non-violent/compassionate communication book and techniques.

Yes, many thanks for your input Dr. Morris. Taking the time to contribute such an in-depth post is much appreciated.

Airy - Perhaps number 4 is more of a personal thing than the other points. Everyone has different default coping styles when they are sick and I believe from my own experience with chronic illness that we all get by in our own ways. Personally I find myself intune with Dr. Morris. Not to say that I don't accept my illness and where I am right now but I am still focused on being well one day and truly believe I have everything within me to make that happen. Daily meditation has helped me greatly in adopting a more pro-active approach but I understand that meditation might not be for everyone.

I'm glad you have found your own methods of coping

Hi Maff,

I agree that everyone finds their own way to cope emotionally with chronic illness. I wanted to point out that there are other ways to cope emotionally. When I was doing these techniques described in 4, the practitioner had the attitude that if I wasn't getting better, I was doing them wrong and that the only way that I was going to heal was to fully devote myself to this.

After two years of doing the methods that are outlined in 4 and not getting physically any better (but worse), I was being blamed for my illness. I found this to be very detrimental to my healing. I found another practitioner who was able to help tremendously after this ordeal.

I agree that meditation is very helpful to some, but I do believe that we all find our own ways for emotionally coping.

I would really like to go back my original topic.

Does anyone have any experience with an organic acids test?

This isn't to say that I don't hope I'll be better some day, but that I take each day at a time with whatever challenges they present.

Hi Airy,

Sorry to hear you had to go through that ordeal with the first practitioner you mentioned. There is definitely no one size fits all fix for these illnesses we're dealing with so a doctor or other practitioner with such a rigid attitude is no help at all!

I have always had a natural tendency to be stubborn and single-minded and one important lesson I have learnt through suffering with ME/CFS for 20 years is to have an open mind and be willing to adopt new ways of thinking and explore things you might have instinctively rejected in the past.

Anyway, sorry we got a bit off topic! Unfortunately I can't help out much with the organic acids testing. I have had everything it is used for tested in other ways or as part of other test panels so haven't had the need. If you have had no other testing previously though I would say it is a decent initial screen that could potentially identify a wide range of areas that require more in-depth attention. I would agree with Dr. Morris' extensive analysis from a scientific point of view.

Hopefully tohers who have had the test will offer some thoughts soon...