After being in OB/GYN practice for 20 years, I was like a lot of physicians that noticed that patients are not satisfied with their health. They leave our offices with the same unspoken worries: “I don’t want to get Alzheimer’s Disease like Mom.” “I am so afraid to get cancer like my brother.” “I wish I didn’t have to take my anxiety pill.” They may have been given a good checkup or been told that they don’t have cancer, but they don’t leave with any tools to help themselves be a whole person. They usually feel frustrated because another medication has been prescribed, or they feel rushed and aren’t given any practical tools to help themselves keep from getting sick again.
After my second year in a row of having debilitating arthritis, two hospital visits for pneumonia and developing an irregular heart rhythm, I went to see Dr. Chris Link. (Since my cardiologist and primary care doctors found nothing serious with me, I thought that Dr. Link would be a good next step to see why at the age of 45, I felt so very old). He discovered that I had severe allergies to gluten and kidney beans and was deficient in several vitamins. Within one week, I felt 100% better. In fact, after the next visit, I didn’t even need to see him anymore. A couple of months later, my husband told me that Dr. Link had graduated from the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine (now known as the “Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine”) and that we could apply to get in. We both applied, were accepted and graduated together with the Spring Class of 2019.