An Interview with Dr. Andrea Purcell

Why should someone choose Integrative Medicine?

Dr. Purcell talks about Natural Integrative Medicine.

What each person needs is a doctor who can take the time to listen to their story, take a good history and understand how all the parts function as a whole. Then a treatment plan based on using natural therapies to restore health is recommended. Only then can the road to health be uncovered. The road to health is different for each person. Having a good doctor on your team who understands this is invaluable. Many of my patients use me as their primary care doctor who can compile the diagnostic information from specialists and bring it all together with a fresh perspective to treat them comprehensively so nothing is overlooked.

I do what works,
Integrative medicine works.

What do you enjoy most about Integrative Medicine?

The thing I enjoy most about this type of medicine is that it provides drug free solutions to patients who are searching for an answer to their suffering. It does not suppress the symptoms; it searches for the root cause of disease and treats that. Every day with each patient I have the ability to assist in helping him or her connect the dots and change their lives for the better. New life, new perspective, better relationships, deeper understanding of their body, that is priceless.

How do I know if Integrative Medicine is right for me?

Integrative medicine can help you and the people you love. Although Integrative medicine can be used in serious medical conditions, it really shines in pre- disease states. It is the best scenario to treat people before they get seriously ill when the imbalance can be reversed and a great quality of life restored.

How is Integrative Medicine Different?

Conventional medicine is like having car insurance, when you have a wreck; you call the insurance agent & go to the ER. Working with an integrative doctor is like taking your car in for a tune up. It isn't necessary to call your insurance agent but the shop maintenance is necessary in order to keep your car running. That's exactly what integrative medicine does for our bodies. When we take our bodies in for tune-ups we can maintain health and prevent disease, this keeps our body functioning optimally long term. Really, how can we expect to live 4 or more decades without going in for a tune up? It just doesn't work.

What if I already have a primary care doctor?

If you already have a primary care doctor who you like, keep them. Having a conventional doctor can be an important link between you and specialty physicians as well as the hospital should you need it.

Why do we need a new health model?

The words I recently heard out of the mouth of a conventional physician were, "With a typical patient load of 25-30 patients/day it would probably take a physician working 22 hours/day 6 days/week to accommodate all of the recommendations made by the different specialty organizations for screening procedures during each patient visit."

Healthcare is a business. It is the business of treating sick people and it should be called sick care.

Doctors are healers and they go into medicine because they truly want to help people and repair the world. Most doctors make horrible businessmen because they spent most of their life in school learning medicine not business. Doctors become employed by Health management organizations, (HMO's), Pharmaceutical companies, & Hospitals. Business professionals run all of these entities for profit. Business professionals dictate which tests get run, who gets approved for therapy, when someone is allowed to see a specialist, and what tests are necessary for what condition.

Pharmaceutical companies subsidize medical schools and hospitals. Doctors are educated and trained in the pharmaceutical model and begin to practice medicine. Conventionally trained doctors usually join a group or become affiliated with a hospital, if they are part of an HMO, the HMO dictates how many patients must be seen per day, and which tests they will or will not cover. This leaves the physician to practice with one hand tied behind his or her back.

The conventional medical system is not set up for prevention. Prevention takes time, prevention focuses on unearthing the cause of the imbalance through active listening, and deductive reasoning, prevention means we have to change our habits and lifestyle, prevention means we need to buy, wash, and chop vegetables. How can prevention be squeezed into a 10-minute office visit? It can't.

This is why we are on the cusp of a health revolution, a wellness revolution.

Now, more than ever people want to know WHY. "But doctor why am I sick, what is causing this?" How can I overcome it? I don't want to take medication for the rest of my life. Medications have side effects."

This is where doctors who are trained in Integrative Medicine become invaluable to the patient. By listening carefully, compiling all the information, all the laboratory results and connecting the dots the integrative practitioner can arrive at the root cause of disease and develop a plan for the patient to reverse it. Integrative medicine is not suppressive; it does not suppress symptoms.