New Ideas Outside Mainstream Medicine

Interviewer: Dr. Wright, can you just explain a little bit your area of expertise and how you go into that?

Dr. Jamie Wright: Sure. I consider my area of expertise now to be in what you might call metabolic and nutritional medicine. I'm traditionally trained as a board certified OB/GYN. I spent about five years in practice and kind of realized that I didn't have the types of patient outcomes that I really wanted. I didn't really seem to be able to get people well. 

Interviewer: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Jamie Wright: Doing surgeries on them helped some people. Medications helped to a degree. But it seemed like people had some core issues that revolved around life style, their philosophy on life, their concepts about health and well being, or lack thereof, and I really wanted something more. That sort of coincided with my wife developing some kind of mysterious, complex problems that multiple drugs and multiple traditional doctors did not seem able to help us get anywhere.

Interviewer: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Jamie Wright: And at one point my 32 year old wife was on crutches, deeply fatigued. And, you know, when you've got four children and you're a solo practice OB/GYN and your wife is in trouble, it's time to make some changes. 

Interviewer: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Jamie Wright: So I sort of call myself a reformed OB/GYN. 

Interviewer: I think what you talked about is common. A lot of people don't get what they want when they go to the doctor. Why is that so common, do you think? And what do you do now that's a little bit different?

Dr. Jamie Wright: When I go to the drinking fountain I'm not upset because espresso doesn't come out. So you can only get from someone what they have to give you.

Interviewer: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Jamie Wright: What I don't think Americans really understand is how doctors are trained. And without sounding jaded or judgmental, frankly when I look at my training I was trained to do surgery and prescribe drugs. But that's not the solution to today's healthcare, or what really should be called 'sick care', problems. Now what I do is attempt to understand the patient as a whole. I'm the result of all of my choices that I made between, whenever I started making them and right now. 

Interviewer: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Jamie Wright: The painful and beautiful fact of that is that at least I can make new choices and have new ideas. And that's really what I find myself doing with people. I'm sharing new ideas with them. I'm helping them understand that they can adopt some new philosophies, the can consider some new options, they can try some new things. And instead of looking for the new vitamin or hormone fix to their complex problem, we begin to unwind that tangled web that they've created. That's a process. 

Interviewer: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Jamie Wright: It takes time. And a lot of people don't stick with it because really, I think, our philosophy as Americans is 'I want it. I want it now . . .

Interviewer: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Jamie Wright:  . . . and it should be pretty cheap.' But you know what, I really believe our well being is maybe our only fundamental human right and it's worthy of pursuit.