What a Physician Learned about Healing Himself

by Mike Bauerschmidt, MD, CCT

I have a confession to make. I’m the last person I thought would ever be practicing “natural” health care. Just imagine, for 25 years working as an ER physician, snatching people from the jaws of death, patching them up, and sending them on their way. I was the king of “acute interventional medicine.”

Then one day, a funny thing happened that changed my life. I had a terrible car accident. Of course, it wasn’t so funny at the time: the injuries to my neck, back, and shoulders were so severe that I was in constant pain. I could no longer do my job, so I went on disability. I began a steady diet of pain and anti-inflammatory pills. It was not a good time in my life.

A chance encounter with a former medical colleague changed everything. This colleague told me he was having luck using vitamin C infusions to enhance cellular health. He suggested I give it a try.

I was pretty skeptical. After all, there is nobody more dedicated to traditional Western medicine (i.e.: drugs and surgery) than an emergency room doctor. Vitamin infusions? I wondered how on Earth those could possibly help me.

But I gave it a try, and an amazing thing happened. My body responded. The pain began to lessen. But even more amazingly, my mind began to open up to new possibilities of health and healing.

Could it be that there was more to wellness than my traditional medical training had taught me?

I quit the prescription meds cold turkey. I began taking oral anti-oxidant supplements. I did massage and physical therapy. I was getting better: not just in my neck, back, and shoulders, but in my whole body. And guess what? The only side-effects were positive!

And that’s when this former ER physician realized that if a natural, whole body approach to wellness could help me recover from such drastic injuries, then I could surely also help others stay healthy and prevent disease. This line of thinking was totally contrary to what I had been taught in medical school. After all, doctors treat disease. They don’t prevent it, right?

Boy, was that wrong! By looking at a patient’s whole being—rather than just at their “sick” parts —we can help prevent disease and create total wellness. I also learned from experience that total wellness goes beyond the body to the mind and spirit. If the mind or spirit is “sick,” then surely the body will be sick, too.

I am excited with the new direction my medical career has taken me, and I’m thankful for the accident that brought me here. It has allowed me to discover that being healthy is not merely living without illness; it is wellness of body, mind, and spirit that allows us to live our lives to the fullest potential.

Are you ready to join me on your journey to complete wellness of body, mind, and spirit? I hope so, because I am certainly ready to help you live your life to its fullest potential.

To find out how to become a patient, contact the Riordan Clinic at 316-682-3100, 1-800-447-7276, or patientcare@riordanclinic.org.