04/08/04 Doctors Trained in Western Medicine Make Room for Ancient Eastern Ways

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FINDING ALTERNATIVES Doctors Trained in Western Medicine Make Room for Ancient Eastern Ways Democrat & Chronicle 8/4/2004 By Chris Swingle, Staff Writer In a Greece living room, Dr. Brian Dailey stands over the padded table on which Joyce Attardo lies. He tapes a half dozen golf ball-sized crystals to her shirt from her neck to abdomen. Daily spins a crystal pendulum several inches above Attardo and hovers his hands over her, all to sense the strength of energy at different points, or chakras, in her body. Daily is performing reiki, an ancient healing based on affecting the energy fields said to surround and penetrate the body, to try to boost Attardo's white blood cell count and health. She has cancer and undergoes chemotherapy, but also gets weekly reiki treatments. As more patients look to alternative treatments, some local physicians such as Dailey are adding strategies they weren't taught in medical school. Dailey, who has a medical degree from the University of Rochester, doesn't wear hospital scrubs to his reiki sessions. Likewise he doesn't bring out the crystals when he works nights treating gunshot wounds and broken bones at Rochester General Hospital's emergency room. Typically, he integrates some reiki without mentioning what he's doing. One day he was treating a crying toddler who'd lost a fingertip in a car door. The baby's mother was hysterical. Daily put his own hands on the toddler's head, thought healing thoughts, and the baby stopped crying and soon went to sleep. The mother then calmed down. He and other beyond-the-medical-bag doctors say they embrace the complementary approaches because they work (even if they're not sure how), they're less invasive and they can be less expensive than Western medicine and patients want them. More than one-third of 31,000 U.S. adults surveyed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention use complementary and alternative medicine, according to a study released in May. The treatments were most often used for back pain or problems, colds, neck pain or problems, joint pain or stiffness and anxiety or depression. Among the local doctors who use non-conventional techniques: Pediatrician O.J. Sahler uses biofeedback to treat migraines, and she has studied the use of music therapy at Golisano Children's Hospital a Strong to ease pain for children with cancer. Family doctor Vincent Silenzio encourages interested patients to use herbs for certain conditions. Dr. Jeff Harris, an ophthalmologist, also offers energy therapies such as qi gong and reiki. "I got interested because I saw patients getting better using modalities I didn't know anything about," says Harris who leads the Monroe County Medical Society's integrated health committee. Through that group, he's seen that the integrated approach is still rare in the Rochester area. The group, which is about six years old offers monthly educational and networking sessions for its members. Alternative practitioners welcome the change to speak and network with doctors. But, Harris says, "It's incredibly poorly attended by physicians. Even discussing these issues takes time and doctors aren't paid for that." There are many obstacles to integrating Eastern and Western medicine. Training is one. The UR School of Medicine and Dentistry doesn't require any coursework in alternative approaches but offers some electives. The lack of certification for approaches such as reiki makes it hard for doctors to make referrals. Lack of insurance coverage is a major issue. Insurers here typically cover acupuncture, massage therapy and chiropractic care because these practices are the only complementary approaches licensed in this state. Critics of alternative medicine say there's no scientific proof that it works. The federal government's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and its predecessor, the Office of Alternative Medicine, have spent $596 million over the past 13 years to evaluate the determine the effectiveness of alternative medicine. Yet many approaches are still unproven. Sahler, who is also medical director of the BodyMind Center at F.F. Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua, admits she can't explain how music therapy helps, but it's been found to increase the antibodies secreted in saliva and to diminish awareness of pain. Les Moore, a naturopath and licensed acupuncturist at Clifton Spring Hospital in Ontario County, says that just because something isn't proven by science doesn't mean it doesn't work. "Science means to know," he says. "There are many ways of knowing." He notes that prunes haven't been studied but people still know they ease constipation. Dr. John Shang, who was an orthopedic surgeon in China and is a licensed acupuncturist in Perinton, has found that Western medicine is good for acute treatment and diagnosis, while the Chinese approaches - including the herbal products his wife and fellow acupuncturist Jin Fang makes - speed healing. So when he operated on patients with broken bones, he sent them home with herbs to heal faster. Silenzio, a physician at Family Medicine Center on South Avenue in Rochester, found herbs were common among patients at his earlier Manhattan practice. "If you embraced it, they came back to see you a second time," he says. These days, he says, it's easier to advise people about drug-herb interactions, thanks to handheld digital guides. His medical background makes him question such approaches as crystals and iridology (studying the iris of the eye to diagnose disease throughout the body). And yet, he says, the medical anthropologist in him wonders whether the problem might not be with the method but with the lack of a scientific theory yet to explain it. Silenzio's bottom line: "Will it hurt to give it a try?" The National Center on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health: (888) 644-6226 or TTY (866) 464-3615 The local Mental Health Association's Herb/Supplementary information life: (585) 325-3145 When considering complementary of alternative therapies, ask the health care provided: What benefits can be expected from this therapy? What are the risks? Do the known benefits outweigh the risks? What are the side effects? Will the therapy interfere with conventional treatment? Is this therapy part of a clinical trial? Will the therapy be covered by health insurance? Tell your primary health care provider what health treatments or approaches you are using, both for your safety and so your provider can develop a comprehensive treatment plan.
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