By JODY BOWES

Hernando Today correspondent

Published: July 7, 2011

Updated: 07/07/2011 01:56 pm

It’s not a part in your engine, CAM stands for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and continues to gain ground in Hernando County.

Complementary medicine is used in conjunction with conventional medicine. Alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine.

Integrative medicine refers to a practice that combines both conventional and CAM treatments for which there is evidence of safety and effectiveness.

Dr. Natalie N. Ellis, M.D., is a Weeki Wachee physician and is a Diplomat of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine (ABIHM). Through her experiences as a Navy physician and in a dermatology practice, she observed that “Patient care was very much conventional, with short visits and a lot of prescribing of medicine.”

Ellis wanted to spend more time getting to know her patient’s environmental stressors and other information she felt key to total wellness.

Ellis noted integrative medicine is becoming increasingly mainstream.

“You see people like Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a CNN chief medical correspondent and Dr. Mehmet Oz a TV talk show host, talking every week about what’s used in holistic medicine,” she said.

CAM focuses on the whole person as a unique individual as well as the energy of the body and its influence on health and disease, the healing power of nature combined with the mobilization of the body’s own resources to heal itself, and on the treatment of the underlying causes, rather than symptoms, of disease.

Ellis combines traditional medicine with holistic healing. Unlike a more conventional doctor’s office, hers has a large central room used for seminars and to display nutritional supplements. There are only a couple of examination rooms because patient visits are longer. Comprehensive initial visits can be up to 90 minutes.

“The wonderful thing about holistic medicine,” added Ellis, “is that hopefully you can help the patient as their primary care provider and not send them to lots of different specialists. There are so many approaches that can help. If it’s beyond our practice, we send patients out. We should be a gateway doctor to take care of all problems.”

CAM embraces a large group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices and products not presently considered part of American (Western) conventional medicine. These systems of diagnosis, treatment and prevention often develop from traditions of medical practice used in non-Western cultures.

Ellis provides a list of more than 40 conditions she claims to successfully address using an integrative and complementary approach. The conditions range from allergies, aging and arthritis to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, lupus and osteoporosis. The list can be found on her website at www.drnataliesnaturalhealth.com.

She provides bio-identical hormone replacement; supplements; allergy desensitization; intravenous therapies (high dose vitamin C, Meyer’s Cocktail, etc.); oxidative therapies; diet and nutrition counseling, detoxification programs, homeopathic remedies, adjunctive cancer treatment support, healthy aging and longevity programs, and immunorestoration therapies.

Ellis stresses that integrative medicine is evidence-based. “This is tested, just like in conventional medicine. We’ve gotten the government to up the standards on how supplements are manufactured. Supplements from our clinic are regulated, and of the highest possible quality.”

Many techniques are the subject of controversy and have not been validated by controlled studies.

The NCCAM (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, nccam.nih.gov) is the U.S. Federal Government’s lead agency for scientific research on CAM. They note many Americans use CAM in pursuit of health and well-being.

NCCAM classifies the branches of CAM in five major groups (with some overlap):

• Whole medical systems, for example: Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, Homeopathy and Naturopathic Medicine

Mind-body medicine (holistic approach; the mind affects bodily functions and symptoms)

Biology-based practices (natural herbs, foods, and vitamins)

Manipulative and body-based practices (chiropractic and osteopathic manipulation)

Energy medicine (biofield and bioelectromagnetic therapies)

NCCAM’s extensive master list of more than 200 alternative medical systems and therapies includes things like aromatherapy, herbal therapy, dietary supplements, exercise, chiropractic, craniosacral therapy, acupuncture, acupressure, massage, dowsing, ear candling, magnet therapy, reflexology, Qigong, prayer, Feng Shui, hydrotherapy, journaling, meditation, hypnotherapy, music therapy, Tai Chi, visualization and yoga.

Hernando County CAM practitioners include conventional medical doctors incorporating naturopathic principles into their practice; doctors of chiropractic partner with conventional medical doctors and herbal remedy providers; and many strictly naturopathic specialists.

All employ a holistic approach, working with patients toward the goal of balanced care for the body, mind and spirit.

Holistic medical practice focuses on the patient as a whole, integrating physical treatment with mental, social, emotional and spiritual needs.

Naturopathy uses therapeutics as an alternative to surgery and prescription medication. It focuses on treatment and prevention of disease through vitamins, nutritional supplements, herbs, natural foods, light, fresh air, water, massage, chiropractic, acupuncture, exercise and other natural agents to enhance the power of the body’s natural processes to heal illness.

Homeopathy is called “like cures like” because it treats disease through minute doses of a drug that, in large doses, produces the symptoms of the disease it is treating.

Allopathy is what we consider conventional (Western) medicine: treating disease with remedies that treat the symptoms of that disease. Conventional medicine is practiced by holders of medical doctor (MD) or doctors of osteopathic medicine (DO) degrees, and by their allied health professionals including physical therapists, psychologists, and registered nurses.

Ellis’ new Family Medicine practice on U.S. 19 in Weeki Wachee opens Monday, July 11. For more information visit .

This is part one in a two-part series on Complementary and Alternative Medicine offered in Hernando County. Please check next Thursday for the second half of this series discussing more medical and health alternatives.

Jody Bowes writes regularly for Hernando Today. She lives in Spring Hill and can be contacted at [email protected].

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