Good Energy

Means describes her increasingly narrow focus as she advanced through her education and entered her career in medicine. She reflects on a patient, Sarah, who suffered from unexplained migraines. Instead of prescribing Sarah yet another medication, Means decided to investigate further, searching for the cause of Sarah’s symptoms rather than just treating them.

By asking questions and searching for answers, Means discovered that Sarah had excess inflammation—the immune system’s response to “anything foreign, unwanted, or injurious” (6). However, Sarah did not have any injuries or infections to account for her inflammatory response. Upon reflection, Means realized that almost every case she saw in her ENT practice involved inflammation. The medicines and procedures Means used temporarily relieved symptoms but did not address the underlying inflammation. From there, Means questioned whether all of Sarah’s symptoms—not just her ENT symptoms—were caused by inflammation. She found that chronic inflammation is correlated with chronic diseases.

Means asserts that the activity in individual cells combine to make life—”Each cell is a little universe of buzzing work and activity. And the result of all that activity, simply put, is our lives” (8). With this awareness, Means left her residency and began researching, eventually opening a functional medical practice where she provides comprehensive care to her clients, who often see drastic improvements from following Means’s advice.