[Villages PL]

I'm not sure; I've been doing some reading and trying to learn. What I've come up with so far is that MDs treat symptoms rather than getting to the root of the problem.

Here's an example: Years ago I got to know a friend of the family. His arteries where slowly getting clogged. His doctor told him he needed a stint so he complied. Every so many years he would get another stint. And finally the doctor told him he couldn't get anymore stints, he needed a bypass operation.

This is good repeat business for the doctor. He just sits back and waits for all of these procedures to be needed.

It might be the same with blood sugar issues. I always had blood sugar that was in a normal range. Then on one test, a couple of years ago, my blood test result was 100. According to the lab it was the highest it could be and still be in normal range. It was higher than usual but my doctor didn't say anything about it. I decide on my own to take action and got my number down on my next blood test.

That, in my opinion, is how medicine is practiced. The doctor just sits back and waits for trouble to unfold. When and if it gets bad enough, he/she will prescribe medication. Instead of being proactive they are reactive.

It was the same with my thyroid: I stopped using iodized salt because I thought Real Salt would be healthier. Real Salt is a non-processed salt that is available in health food stores and has no added iodine. Little did I realize that I might be subject to an iodine deficiency and proper thyroid function requires a supply of iodine. When I got tested for the first time for thyroid function, my TSH was above 8 which indicates that I was hypothyroid. He said there would be one more test in 3 months to make sure it wasn't a lab error. If the next test had the same result he would start prescribing medication that I would have to take for the rest of my life.

When I asked my doctor if there was anything I could do to get my thyroid function back to normal, he said, "No, it's just something that happens as we get older."
But when I got some library books on the subject of thyroid, I soon learned there were some things I could do. So I made some changes in my diet and on my next blood test my TSH was cut in half, a little over four.

When I first heard about the plan to build the Villages Clinics, to revolutionize health care, I had high hopes that they were going to make some changes to address this issue of just being reactive, waiting for symptoms to show up so they could prescribe medication. When I heard that the doctors would have plenty of time to talk to patients, to get to know them, I thought it meant "the whole person" - the whole lifestyle.

But now I no longer think that's the case. Am I wrong?