Question:
My wife is considering seeing a nutritionist at a holistichealth center. She is troubled by periodic dizziness,muscle soreness (arms & legs) and some headaches and generalfatigue. (I attribute most of the fatigue to our 2-year oldson). She's also interested in what this holistic centercalls `colon irrigation', since she suffers from theirritable bowel syndrome (also called spastic colon).

My question is this (pardon my ignorance):

Has anyone had success with treating any of these problemsby dietary changes and food supplements?

What are your experiences with these holistic centers?

Has anyone gotten their insurance company to pay for the testingdone by these places? (The place we're looking at says thatthey have an MD who completes the necessary forms. Mycompany already told me that they won't cover the servicesof a dietitian)

I'm hoping that this place can help her. She's hadurinalysis, brain scans, heart checks, something called abalance test (by an E&T doctor) and has regularly seen achiropractor and an allergist. No one can seem to findanything wrong with her.

Answer: If your wife has exhausted most traditional medical methods withoutsuccess, she has little to lose other than time and money to try what isoffered by a HHC, *PROVIDED* that the particular therapies recommendedhave not been shown to be harmful by the medical/scientific community.Other therapies might be considered useless or ineffective by traditionalstandards, and some are likely perfectly compatible with orthodoxhealthcare. Every medical consumer should attempt to determine the risksand benefits of a therapy against their current condition before making adecision. This, of course, holds true regardless of what school oftreatment you feel most comfortable with.

I would be quite wary of going to a HHC which offers treatments which havebeen outright condemned by traditional medicine, because they are usuallynot only based on faulty theories of physiology and disease, but are quitedangerous. Colonic irrigation is one of these. It was mentioned a fewmonths ago on this website, and several people, including myself,enumerated a number of facts: a number of deaths have occurred due tofulminant infection through the use of contaminated irrigation solutionsand instruments. Sterile technique may not be followed, and ordinarycleanliness does not suffice to avoid such contamination. The colon is abig osmotic bag, and the irrigation solutions are not only absorbed throughthe colon wall, but deplete the patient of vital ions like sodium andpotassium. Chronic (and even acute) administration of colonic irrigationhas been associated with low blood pressure, dizziness, and serious heartdisturbances. For these reasons, its practice has been outlawed by thestate of Massachusetts except by an M.D., which effectively eliminated suchtreatments from the state.

Check, too, on the diet which is recommended. It might be consideredstrange (or not), but it is prudent to verify that it provides a well-balanced set of nutrients. If it is grossly deficient in any particularnutrient category, and they recommend that you follow this for longerthan a few weeks, an alarm should sound, and I would recommend gettinga second opinion.