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Why I Believe in Holistic Health Care


Published December 1, 2014

I Believe in Holistic Health Care….

“Please help me doc. I just want to feel like I used to feel.”

Hardly a day goes by without me hearing this from my patients.

Following a Western medical path after graduating Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1977 I trained in general and orthopedic surgery and later worked as a flight surgeon and emergency physician for 6 years. I found this work exciting but wanted something with regular hours so I could spend more time with my family. In 1986 I decided to open my own family practice in San Diego, California. Early on in my practice I realized that the tools that I had for helping patients “feel better” were limited to pharmaceuticals to treat symptoms. My Internship and residency training had prepared me to diagnose diseases and treat them with the best pharmaceuticals available. My emergency room experience taught me how to quickly and effectively treat acute conditions with drugs & various procedures. However it taught me nothing about helping patients become healthier and feel better. My “wellness” options for them included phrases like “eat healthier, exercise more, quit smoking, stop drinking so much, and lose weight.” Details were left out because of time restrictions and my own lack of knowledge. Perhaps I might recommend a multivitamin or minerals for them. But as with most physicians who are Western trained, I was ill prepared to accurately diagnose and treat the true causes of their symptoms and ill health, especially when a patient had multiple symptoms.

I was frustrated because I realized that I was not really “healing” the patient, but rather simply diagnosing diseases or conditions and treating specific symptoms. It was then that I began to expand my knowledge base. Over the next two decades I began using a wide range of advanced diagnostic tests that went far beyond the basic blood and urine testing I was trained in. With caution at first but later with greater and greater confidence, I began using non-drug protocols, and a wide variety of nutraceuticals to address both simple and complex metabolic problems in my patients. I also became exposed to and referred patients to other health professionals such as chiropractors, nutritionists and acupuncturists. One of the turning points was taking on an associate who was an Oriental

Medical Doctor (OMD) skilled in acupuncture, herbs and homeopathy. During the two years we worked together I learned how to use herbs and homeopathics successfully with patients.

The appeal of herbal medicines to me was that they were inherently adaptogenic—rather than artificially stimulating bodily processes or suppressing symptoms they helped “balance” patients, with remarkably few side effects as compared to drugs. Gradually I developed a reputation as a physician who listened to his patients and offered diagnostic and treatment options that were personalized and ultimately effective for their specific needs. This contributed greatly to the growth of my practice.

Over time I became acquainted with many fascinating but lesser known herbs and nutraceuticals. In 1999 I began working with a high quality nutraceutical manufacturer, Earth’s Bounty, and became their Medical Director. They were able to formulate many new products that worked well for my patients and others, both domestic and foreign. I had the opportunity to travel the globe speaking to both the public and professional groups about the research supporting the use of these products and their clinical benefits.

In the 1990s I became exposed to the emerging preventive medicine subspecialty referred to as “anti-aging medicine” by attending conferences given by the American Academy of Anti-aging and Regenerative Medicine. (A4M). After looking at the clinical studies and building a collection of my own patients’ case studies, some a decade long, I began to understand how the aging process is accelerated by many factors. These include hormone decline, a diet inappropriate for patient’s genetics, impaired digestion and elimination, impaired liver detoxification, impaired neurotransmitter synthesis, nutritional deficiencies, and of course living a lifestyle out of sync with optimal wellness.

In 2001 I committed to becoming board-certified in anti-aging and regenerative medicine and had to learn my basic biochemistry all over again, including the many much forgotten chemical pathways I once learned in my years at the University of Michigan and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. My knowledge base was greatly amplified, but it wasn’t until 8 years later when I completed a 200 plus hour fellowship training in anti-aging and regenerative medicine that I really felt I had the tools to treat not only the easy patients but also the difficult ones, especially those who had seen other medical colleagues and failed to improve.

I have always enjoyed educating others and learning from my peers. I have been privileged to lecture to both the public and health practitioners on 4 continents on a wide variety of health related subjects for the last 20 years. I have had articles published in medical literature, spoken at medical conferences and written a book on an ancient natural growth factor replacement, now in a modern form, Deer Antler Velvet.

I decided that a newsletter would be a wonderful way to inform health conscious individuals like you about new options that can safely and effectively help you feel better. Congratulate yourself for reading this newsletter; you are taking an important step to your health & wellness! In future issues I will discuss stress management, improving sleep, weight management, sex, blood sugar regulation, helping memory and brain function, female and male health issues, improving strength and stamina and many more.

As an introduction to my philosophy of wellness and disease I have been using a model I developed over 10 years ago to explain all illnesses or diseases in a way that has proven very effective for my patients. I call this the “Cellular City.” I will address this in future newsletters too, but I would like to show you “The Cellular City” and briefly explain it.

When speaking with a new patient I might get the impression that they are either a thriving metropolis or a decaying tenement. Perhaps growing up in the suburbs of New York City in the 50’s and 60’s influenced the development of this analogy. I discovered something quite fascinating. I could describe almost any condition or disease using the analogy of one or more activities of a city malfunctioning.

Using this model one might describe the patient suffering from cancer as having unrestricted “civil engineering.” This means that structures are being built so rapidly and densely packed that normal life in the cellular city becomes impossible. Uncontrolled air pollution chokes out at the sunlight, back-to- back buildings create impassable traffic and prevent vehicles carrying food and water from reaching other parts of the city. Life in the previously thriving city slowly grinds to a halt.

Hormone deficiency could be described as telephones, fiber-optic networks and wireless data transmission being blocked, thereby causing a disruption of normal communication, preventing the city from functioning optimally.

Your body is like a city. No one wants to live in a crumbling city. No one wants to live in a decaying body either! That’s where the information and hints I’ll provide come in—to teach you about how you can work to improve your own “cellular city” and make it a healthier, vibrant one.

I hope you find this first “Your Center of Health” newsletter informative. I have enjoyed writing it and look forward to sharing other important information on health with you.

Best of Health,

Stephen A. Center, MD, FABAARM

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What our clients say about us

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  • "Dear Dr. Center;   I want to express how fortunate I feel to have you as my physician.  I appreciate your intellect and your caregiving,  both of which are so strongly evident every time we meet.  I've also been receiving the various nutritional support supplements you have ordered for me, and every time I dissect the list of ingredients I have…Read More
  • "Since I became a patient of Dr. Center and finally found someone who could balance my hormones, I HAVE FELT BETTER THAN I DID WHEN I WAS 20!!! I swear this is true!! Because of his diagnostic genius, the level of bio identical hormones he has fine tuned to my individual needs have changed my life and restored me to…Read More

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