Integrative medicine and successes with cannabis, homeopathy, bach essence and chiropractic.

It’s been a fun week for Dr. Mirman at Life Medical!

“Practicing integrative medicine allows me to find the best treatment types for my patients and their success stories are what make my work so much fun.”

My name is Dr. Jacob Mirman and I practice at Life Medical where we are truly specialists in integrative medicine. The beauty of integrative medicine is that it brings together different treatment methods to get the best effect for each individual patient. Our patients get the benefit of customized treatment plans that include conventional and complementary therapies. We combine all possible treatment options, whatever may help the patient in the most effective and safest way.  We are seeing great results using integrative approach.  Let me brag a little…

CANNABIS

Some of the most remarkable successes we’ve had lately are from patients using medicinal cannabis (marijuana).  I have been thanked profusely and blessed by patients using it once they have been gotten the necessary certification provided by our Life Medical clinic.

Dr. Mirman at Minnesota Medical Solutions marijuana farm

In my opinion, medical marijuana (cannabis) is the best pain medication of any pain medication available today either prescription or over the counter. I am not kidding here.  It is much safer than opioids, and even safer than over-the-counter drugs like Ibuprofen (Advil) and Tylenol.  That may seem hard to believe but it is true, and I have proof!  Not only can cannabis be incredibly effective there are few if any side effects and no risk of overdose. I feel so strongly about this that I recently sent an email to the Minnesota Department of Health telling them that in all my years of practicing medicine I have never seen a drug that has such a remarkable effect on patients with almost zero side effects.

In the last few months we’ve not only had more patients than ever come to our clinic to be certified for medical cannabis, many of these certified patients have returned for follow ups. Patients call and tell us how happy they are to have found us to use for their certification. The success stories that I have been a part of with these patients are nothing short of inspiring. I am literally blown away by them, which is making my job really fun.

Cannabis is made by a state-approved pharmaceutical lab and prescribed by a pharmacist. It comes in a variety of forms including pills, oil or as an inhaled form used with a vaporizer. People respond differently to each formulation. Patients work with the pharmacist to find the best form for their situation. There are eight dispensaries in the state of Minnesota run by two different companies.

CANNABIS PATIENT ONE:

I have a patient who is a 73 year old woman who was certified for medical cannabis because she had fibromyalgia, neck pain, back pain, headaches, and general chronic pain. She is now on cannabis and as a result said she is much more able to relax and was happy to be experiencing a great reduction in her level of pain, including a much better sense of general well-being.

CANNABIS PATIENT TWO:

A 53 year old man who was experiencing fibromyalgia, and chronic pain from multiple injuries came in to see me. When I first met him he was taking an opiate called Oxycodone five times a day and he was also taking Naproxen which is a fairly dangerous drug. These drugs were not ridding him of pain and had also lowered his testosterone to a problematic level. He started with medical marijuana in August and by October he was completely off all of his prescription pain medications. His pain level is now manageable, his testosterone level is back up to normal and he has not experienced any side effects from the cannabis. For him this has been a completely life-changing treatment.  And his success seems to be the norm vs. the exception.

CHIROPRACTIC PATIENT:

I have been working with a chiropractor Dr. Rodd.   Although we have excellent chiropractors  at Life Medical, Dr. Rodd specializes in NUCCA, a better approach in some cases.  I not only go to him, I refer other appropriate patients to him.

A patient of mine had migraines that were not responding to other treatments, including our Neuro Research Protocol which usually works very well in migraines, as well as conventional chiropractic treatment from her regular chiropractor.

So in keeping with our philosophy of integrative medicine I referred this patient to Dr. Rodd as well.  My exam indicated that there was a possible structural cause of her migraines that might be best handled by NUCCA chiropractic practiced by Dr. Rodd. I know that if the first or second modality that I try doesn’t work that I have to just keep trying to find the answer.  If I find a modality that is very effective I try to bring it into the clinic, but if that is not possible I am glad to refer to outside doctors. Whatever it takes to get the patient the best results!

So I was at Dr. Rodd’s office for my own follow up last week and met the patient there.  She was very happy to see me and thanked me for the appropriate referral.  After treatment by Dr. Rodd she has now been migraine-free for 11 weeks and has been able to stop all her migraine drugs including Imitrex and some others

BACH ESSENCE PATIENT:

I had been treating an 88 year old woman with homeopathy for many years.  Homeopathy is one of my favorite modalities.  When she called in for a recent appointment she complained that she was under a great deal of stress due to an impending move to a senior living apartment and she said she was feeling completely overwhelmed.

A conventional approach might have been to put her on some tranquilizers or anti-depressants or just to let her continue to be anxious.  We could’ve considered an acute homeopathic remedy to help her deal with the stress. However, I felt that homeopathy would be too powerful and deep acting in this case.  I wanted some therapy that would produce just enough response to help her deal with the current situation.  Bach Flower Essences is a modality I use fairly often in such cases.  They are gentle and often very effective. I prescribed the essence of Elm for this lady overwhelmed by her impending move. Elm is given whenever somebody is overwhelmed.  I received an email from her this week, thanking me because it is working and she is more able to deal with the stress and get on with her move. Magic of Nature in a bottle!

BACH ESSENCE PATIENT TWO:

I remember a case a few years ago, when an older Ukrainian man complained of severe insomnia.  He lay there every night, unable to fall asleep and thinking of home he missed so much.  I gave him the Bach essence of Honeysuckle.  A month later in follow-up I asked him about his sleep.  He said, “Oh, I sleep just fine”.  When asked about his homesickness he said, “America is great, why would I miss home?”  This is not an unusual response to a well chosen Bach essence.

HOMEOPATHIC PATIENT:

A 7 year old female patient of mine was being treated for health issues with homeopathic remedies. She got sick with the flu and was coughing. I spoke with her mom over the phone. She already had our homeopathic flu kit for just this sort of a situation. I prescribed phosphorus which is often used for severe coughs, and is included in the flu kit. The child took one dose and fell asleep. The next day the mom called to tell me that she was feeling much better.

Homeopathy can be extremely powerful in cases of infections and epidemic diseases.  In most cases, when a well chosen remedy is used, the patient gets better much faster.  Even bacterial infections can often be resolved speedily without antibiotics with the help of homeopathic remedies.  Our Homeopathy For Influenza  website is a fun and useful read.  We cover the history of homeopathy in epidemics, including treatment of cholera, typhus, diphtheria, the infamous Spanish flu of 1918. We even used it to treat ebola in Africa a few years ago.  Throughout history homeopathy saved thousands of lives.

“My work as a doctor specializing in integrative medicine involves listening carefully to the patient, trying to figure out exactly what the health issues are and then finding any and all treatment types that are possible cures. I enjoy what I do and get great satisfaction in the sometimes spectacular results that are achieved.”  – Dr. Jacob Mirman –