Over the years, I’ve had countless women assume that because they are coming to “alternative” doctors, that we somehow have a crystal ball and can predict whether or not they will/will not get cervical cancer. It’s great that they have confidence in us, but foolish in thinking.
Case in point: I once had a 70 year old woman that had been coming to our clinic for over 30 years. She is a long-time client of the doctor that I work with. She came in to see me because she was experiencing “spotting”. This is not something that is normal in a 70 year old woman. We gave her a variety of homeopathic remedies and some herbal therapies. In 2 weeks, it had not stopped (it hadn’t gotten worse either) nor had anything that we gave her helped. So in our next appointment, I told her I thought she should visit her Gynecologist to see what is going on. Her reply: “I don’t have a Gynecologist. You all have been my doctor for 30 years.” I *gently* informed her that was irresponsible; she needs to have annual checkups. I insisted that she visit my gynecologist and I gave her my doctor’s card. After her visit and a Pap Smear, she got the diagnosis: Stage 3 Cervical Cancer. Now fortunately, they caught it in time; they treated her aggressively with chemo and surgery. And we helped support her during that process by boosting her immune system with natural therapies specifically designed for cancer therapy. Today she is alive and healthy and well. But that was a very important lesson for her. I use her as an example to show you that things like this can happen.
As much as I love alternative and natural medicine, we do have our limitations. Except for certain states, Naturopaths cannot perform Pap Smears on women. We do not possess the training, nor the medical equipment that is necessary to perform this important test.
The Pap Smear (named after the Greek Doctor, Dr. Georgios Papanicolaou), is a test used in Gynecology to check for the presence of pre-malignant or malignant cells found on the cervix.
As a Cervical Cancer survivor, I can attest to the importance of this test. And whether you’re 15 or 70, if you still have a cervix, it is important that you go in to your Gynecologist and have an annual test. I know it is not our favorite visit to the doc….these tests are invasive and not so much fun. But do it anyway!
My prior post on Taking Responsibility for Your Health talks about that very thing. Don’t leave it up to your current medical professional to make sure you are doing all you need to do. It is up to YOU to make sure that you are doing all you need to do to ensure your health. Even if you have a long-standing relationship with a nutritionist, a Naturopath, Acupuncturist or Chiropracter, those practitioners cannot take the place of a regular visit to the Gynecologist and they can’t perform this all-important test.
So be sure you schedule that visit. It’s 15 minutes, once a year….do it for your health!
Tags: Alternative Medicine, Natural Therapies, Naturopathic Doctor, Women
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