Third Opinion MD

The power of healing is in the “Why.” In a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes, you’ll get to join Ramey on a unique health journey. 

Ramey is a healthcare worker for eye issues. But she's also someone who's had eye problems for most of her life. She has that special insight from both sides of the healthcare fence. In this episode, she’s taking my class on self-care and prevention for the eyes. 

Now Ramey wants to become a client and dig deeper. Through my Health Strategy Consult program, she learns to better manage her health by moving beyond the diagnosis and into why and how she developed her conditions.

It starts with understanding health differently by stepping outside the healthcare expectations set for you. Witness how one person starts to reset her entire health perspective, expands possibilities, and restores hope on what it means to be healthy.

The Health Strategy Consult at Third Opinion MD is an opportunity for you to share with me everything that contributes to the state of your health. To form your own Health Strategy, you must first open your eyes and your heart to the possibilities.

It's not just about your diagnosis or about the lab tests that you're getting. So many things are involved in understanding your health story: your emotions, family upbringing, environment, nutrition then and now, and your lifestyle.

Your symptoms are not the problem, but they are messages from you about potential root causes. Good detective work requires collecting all the clues and facts into a meaningful and effective strategy.

The current healthcare systems are not doing this. Hospitals, clinics, insurance and pharmaceutical companies tend to act in their own best interests, not yours.

Blended medicine, from East and West, is good medicine and helps you form your own Third Opinion.

Join Ramey in Season 3, Episode 1 to learn why Chinese medicine is one of the most elegant and accurate medical systems to put you back in charge again.

• The definition of a complex system, and how it applies to you and your health
• How Chinese medicine is an elegant example of an efficient medical system
• Why learning fundamental Chinese theories are so important to gain more control over your health
• Start learning about two of the most important theories in Chinese medicine: Yin Yang theory and 5-element theory
• How to look at eye conditions as more preventable than inevitable

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Book a Complimentary Health Strategy consult with Barbara de la Torre: https://www.ThirdOpinionMD.org/contact

In Season three, all episodes will follow one guest's journey to understand and achieve her best health potential. Each episode is recorded in a real-time sequence over the course of a 6-week consult to show how you can address your health in a more creative and individualized way.

My client, Ramey, graciously offered to share her time and health story with you as we work together on her Health Strategy from start to finish.

This approach doesn't exist in current mainstream healthcare, which is largely about gathering the information they want and not what you truly need.

I founded Third Opinion MD so I can work with people who reach a health crossroad or want to expand their skills at self-care and navigating the healthcare system. They enroll in my Health Strategy program to get to a place of empowerment, wisdom, and hope.

And you can get there, too. It can be frustrating if you depend only on traditional healthcare's linear approach, which tends to be one size fits all. But you can achieve greater success by becoming a systems thinker.

What is systems thinking for your health? It means taking a step back to look at the big picture in your life. It's not as simple as "eat this or do that." It's really about trying to understand all of you with a comprehensive approach. This includes your medical history, family patterns and relationships, innate and acquired patterns of health and disease, your lifestyle and your environment.

Join me on Tuesdays, starting September 5, 2023, to explore Ramey’s journey through the Health Strategy Consult from start to finish. This approach to health is what healthcare should be and how you can achieve your healing potential.

Click here to learn more and to schedule a Complimentary Consultation: https://www.ThirdOpinionMD.org/contact

Self-care and lifestyle medicine are undervalued in the current healthcare systems. But I believe that you can redesign these systems that are not working for you by forming your own third opinion. When you learn how to think critically about the systems of healthcare and how to navigate through them, you now have the power to take care of yourself and be in charge of your healthcare journey. In this episode, I review the first two seasons, which helps you start the process to develop your health strategy.

The idea for Third Opinion MD started in 2020 when I decided to leave corporate medicine. I wanted to speak out on matters in healthcare that needed reform. As an employed physician, however, I had little impact despite my efforts that included working in a leadership role. I wanted to find ways to inspire change, start conversations, and promote curiosity about achieving and maintaining health according to your design. Third Opinion MD podcast was my first opportunity to speak directly to you.

With almost three million podcasts out there, it’s tempting to think that making a podcast is easy. Some podcasts come with big sponsors, celebrities and teams to distribute episodes weekly and sometimes daily. When I decided to produce a podcast, I was and remain determined to produce quality content and sound. I spent time learning the tricks of the trade, including finding guests, interviewing, recording, editing, and publishing. Is this a lot of work? Yes! Has it been worth the effort? Absolutely! Podcasting for me, like other art I’ve created in the past, is a labor of love. Even if I make a difference in just one person’s life from an episode, that matters deeply to me. But I intend to share my messages of hope with as many people who want to listen.

Stay tuned for season 3 this Fall! Be sure to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast player.

Be well,

Barbara

Here are the episodes from Seasons 1 and 2:

Episode 1: An Introduction to Third Opinion MD: Time to Take the Doctor Out of the Equation and Put You in Charge of Your Health

Episode 2: Thinking Outside the Healthcare Box: Systems Theory Discussion with Guest Dr Shelly Smith-Acuña – Part 1

Episode 3: Thinking Outside the Healthcare Box: Systems Theory Discussion with Guest Dr Shelly Smith-Acuña – Part 2

Episode 4: Making Health Simple: An introduction to Qigong with Guest Master Liu He

Episode 5: The Scavenger Hunt of Your Family's Historical Past to Find Your Inner Doctor

Bonus Episode: Inner Smile Meditation: A Bonus Guided Qigong Meditation

Season 2 Trailer: Imagining Integrative Healthcare, From the Inside Out (Season 2 Trailer)

Episode 6: Taking to the Streets of Portland to Ask People About Their Experience with Doctors and Healthcare

Episode 7: How Do the Doctors of Tomorrow Train in the US Today? Behind the Scenes of Integrative Medical Education with Alisha Harrington

Episode 8: The Strange and True History of Combating Health Fraud in America: Why and How the Boundaries of Orthodox and Unorthodox Medicine were Established with guest historian Dr. Eric Boyle

Episode 9: Healing Traumatic Stress with the Integration of Modern Science and Ancient Principles of Chinese Medicine: Interview with Guest Alaine Duncan

Episode 10: Client Interview: What It's Like to Create Your Health Strategy with Dr. Barbara de la Torre at Third Opinion MD

Episode 11: Discover Yin Yang Principles for Your Best Health in the Modern World: Part 1 on the Language of Ancient Chinese Medicine

Speaker Opportunities: If you are looking for a speaker at your next meeting or event, click here to send requests and schedule a call.

Follow me on Instagram to receive updates on podcast episodes and more! #thirdopinionmd

Find out more about the Health Strategy Consult

Schedule a complimentary call with Barbara to clarify your unique health needs for a 1:1 consult

The elegant language of Chinese medicine starts with Yin Yang. Don’t let the Taiji (Yin Yang) symbol deceive you into thinking it’s only black and white. Yin Yang dates back to ancient times, and it still offers solutions for the world we live in now. It’s a significant foundation for Chinese medicine. In this episode, you will learn the major principles of yin yang and how it informs your health in the modern world.

We are all little ecosystems inseparable from where and how we live. We can refuse to learn the patterns or we can learn to live in rhythm again.

In the world of qigong and Taoist philosophy, one part of understanding the universal order, or “The Way,” is to discover nature’s rhythm, abide by it, and live in accordance with its patterns. By doing so, you become healthier, more intuitive and creative. The patterns actually stay the same. It is up to you to rediscover these patterns by changing and adapting to your environment. 

Language also holds the key to healthier living. Too often, trying to discuss your health in the healthcare system gets lost in translation. Yin Yang theory is one of the languages spoken in the field of Chinese medicine, which is sometimes misunderstood or dismissed for lack of knowledge of the foundational principles. Yin Yang analyzes the general nature of something while taking into account the constant tendency to change. 

It’s just as important to speak the language of your health as easily as you speak your native tongue. You might think it’s too hard to learn a new language, a waste of time, or that someone will translate it for you. Don’t let this mindset control your health, too! Learning the language of your health can help you live to your greatest potential. Yin Yang is one helpful way to put your health in perspective.

There is an inseparable relationship between two parts of a whole. One part of your body cannot be well unless the other part is thriving. This is why you have to understand the big picture, and not just your illnesses as separate conditions on a list. The mind, body and spirit are connected to define your state of health.

In this episode, I discuss:

• The relationship between rhythm and health
• Understanding language of Chinese medicine, starting with Yin Yang
• Introducing yin yang theory and how it applies to your health
• Covering the four yin yang principles, which include:
• Opposition
• Interdependence
• mutual consumption
• intertransformation 
• States of health imbalance related to yin yang theory
• Bonus interview with qigong master, Master Liu He, on the definition of yin and yang (Don’t miss the first interview in episode 4)
• Recap from the interview with acupuncturist and educator, Alaine Duncan on yin yang and the approach to trauma (full interview in episode 9)

Speaker Opportunities: If you are looking for a speaker at your next meeting or event, click here to send requests and schedule a call.

Follow me on Instagram to receive updates on podcast episodes and more! #thirdopinionmd

Find out more about the Health Strategy Consult

Schedule a complimentary call with Barbara to clarify your unique health needs for a 1:1 Health Strategy Consult

Hill, Sandra. Chinese Medicine from the Classics., 2014.

For more information on Yin-Yang principles, go to the Third opinion MD blog post for this topic: How the Yin and Yang Principles Apply to Your Health.

A 15-minute appointment with the doctor rarely allows you to discover the root behind the decisions you make with your health unless you are prepared. This is why I approach clients with a thorough curiosity about who they are, who they were, and who they wish to be in order to live a healthy and purposeful life.

Strategy goes beyond the symptoms and diseases. It relieves the fear and stress that come with your health going out of balance. In this episode, I have the opportunity to sit with one of my clients to really talk through how we work on a Health Strategy Consult. 

My guest today is Arlene, and she gave permission to talk about her health and about her experience in developing a Health Strategy to navigate the healthcare system effectively and become the confident leader of her health journey. 

Arlene is 75-years old, and came to see me at a crossroads. Before Arlene started working with me, she struggled to communicate with medical professionals. She felt dismissed, and really hoped to have a collaborative experience. She was motivated to make changes, and was eager to learn about her health. But she was limited by her distrust and fear of the medical system, and she was not familiar with how the healthcare system worked. 

Arlene prefers to “go natural” with her medical care, but understands that traditional care is sometimes necessary. She has had life-long anxiety and fear around going to the doctor because of her childhood upbringing, experience with medical errors, side effects from medications, and how doctors treated her when she expressed interest in alternatives to taking pills.

Listen to Episode 10 to discover how Arlene develops a Health Strategy to understand and take charge of her health.

Healthcare operates, to a large extent, as a passive-aggressive system. The patient is trained to be passive, and the natural reaction of the medical system is to be aggressive in order to reach health goals. The medical marketplace adopted this model over a century ago. This system of care isn’t sustainable, and it’s actually really bad for your health.

In order to break free from the passive role, you can train your own natural leader and inner doctor. It takes a strategy, or a plan of action. You are in a perfect position to learn this strategy because you know yourself best.

Getting sick does not have to be your path or destiny. You have options to choose where and how to reach and maintain your health. Like any team sport or battle plan, a captain or general unites and takes action. Why would you choose anyone else to lead the way?

Follow me on Instagram to receive updates on podcast episodes and more! #thirdopinionmd

Speaker Opportunities: If you are looking for a speaker at your next meeting or event, click here to send requests and schedule a call. 

Schedule a complimentary call with Barbara to clarify your unique health needs for a 1:1 Health Strategy Consult

Find out more about the Health Strategy Consult: Third Opinion MD website

When a word like trauma is used frequently in society and in the media, we think we know what it means. But, when we apply more than one medical model to understand trauma, it’s an opportunity to go “back to the drawing board” to understand and treat trauma more compassionately and effectively. As we emerge from the pandemic’s toll of loss and isolation, a growing mental health crisis surrounds us. The status quo for treating mental illness is no longer sustainable. This crisis is the best time for reflection and integrative approaches to healing.

In this episode, I sit down with my guest, Alaine Duncan, to discuss her innovative and integrative approach to understand and treat complex trauma. Alaine Duncan is a licensed acupuncturist, a Somatic Experiencing practitioner, and a very gifted educator. She has a unique approach to acupuncture that integrates modern understandings of the neurobiology of traumatic stress with ancient healing principles from Chinese medicine. She co-authored the book, The Tao of Trauma: A Practitioner’s Guide for Integrating Five Element Theory in Trauma Treatment.

Chinese and Western medicine operate from different foundations, but they are compatible with each other to give the best possible outcomes for your health. The journey to understand Chinese medicine starts with an introduction to two major principles called Yin-Yang theory and Five-Element theory. Alaine Duncan and I discuss these two principles in this episode as well as the influence of Taoist philosophy on Chinese medicine’s approach to health. 

There is an inseparable relationship between two parts of a whole. One part of your body cannot be well unless the other part is thriving. This is why you have to understand the big picture, and not just your illnesses as separate conditions on a list. The mind, body and spirit are connected to define your state of health, which is why mental illness should be treated in the context of the whole person.

In this episode, Alaine Duncan and I discuss:

• Acupuncture’s core value in restoring essential regulation in the body that becomes dysregulated from disease
• The introduction of Chinese medicine principles of Yin-Yang and Five-Element theories
• Taoist philosophy and how it pertains to the Chinese medicine principles
• Polyvagal theory and the role of the autonomic nervous system in responding to a perceived threat, which includes
• Sympathetic nervous system
• Parasympathetic nervous system (dorsal and ventral vagus nerve)
• The definition of complex trauma, sympathetic arousal and parasympathetic collapse
• The zone of resiliency and regulation that all people have and the zone that healthy people operate within
• The five steps to the self-protective stress response and how any of these steps can be thwarted from completion with experiencing complex trauma
• The role of epigenetics in creating transgenerational trauma and re-establishing resilience and growth in future generations 

Follow Third Opinion MD on Instagram to receive updates on podcast episodes and more!  #thirdopinionmd

The Tao of Trauma: A Practitioner’s Guide for Integrating Five Element Theory and Trauma Treatment, by Alaine D. Duncan with Kathy l. Kain, Berkley: North Atlantic Books, 2019. You can purchase through this link (supports independent book stores) or anywhere you choose to shop online.

Review and Join Alaine Duncan’s Newsletter: News & Views on acupuncture and integrative medicine, bridging worlds for trauma survivors.

Linear and Circular thinking explained: Western Medicine’s philosophical approach is partly influenced by Aristotle’s concept of noncontradiction. An example would be how the concepts of A (presence) and non-A (absence) cannot exist at the same time. This differs from the Eastern medical model that embraces a more circular perspective and understands duality in a more complex way around the laws of Yin and Yang. 

·      For more information on Aristotle and his law of noncontradiction, review: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_noncontradiction. 

For more information on the laws of Yin and Yang, see my blog on this topic, entitled: How the Yin and Yang Principles Apply to Your Health

Trauma effects can be inherited and potentially reversed: Here is the article mentioned in the episode by Andrew Curry called “A Painful Legacy.” This citation mentions the research conducted by Isabelle M. Mansuy, professor of neuroepigenetics at the University of Zurich and the Department of Health Science and Technology of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.

In this episode, I turn to history to find out why and how selective types of healthcare become mainstream.

Do you ever wonder how some medicines are acceptable and other medicines are alternative or fringe? Who made these decisions and how did we get here? What does this have to do with your access to good healthcare and your ability to care for yourself?

Everything.

There’s plenty of health fraud to go around since humans first tried to heal other people. In fact, health fraud was hard to manage even before the internet. Now that we live with more information than anyone could ever digest in a lifetime, it’s much harder to know what is truly good for us.

Starting with the industrial revolution, healthcare converted to a commodity. Towns and cities grew larger and when the care of the sick changed from families (the home) to professionals and institutions. Several individuals and companies tried to sell “snake oil” remedies and cures. Medical care needed to be standardized to a large extent for public safety and to make sure a drug or a nondrug treatment worked. But, casting a wide net to fight health fraud potentially limited access to good medical care that was not labeled as mainstream medicine.

My guest and historian, Dr. Eric Boyle, shares his research on the history of trying to control health fraud, also known as quack medicine. The title of his book is Quack Medicine: A History of Combating Health Fraud in Twentieth-Century America. He reviews the attempts to eliminate health fraud while exposing the strengths and weaknesses of managing healthcare in the medical marketplace.

I confess that I first judged this book by its cover. I grew up in a household with an integrative doctor who practiced both traditional and nontraditional medicine. I heard some doctors, who never studied Chinese medicine, judge this type of medicine as quackery. I also trained in two models of medicine to be a doctor, and one model was acupuncture.

But Dr. Boyle’s research opened my eyes to how we are influenced to judge medical models that are not mainstream like acupuncture, osteopathy, naturopathy, and chiropractic medicine. He said, “I’ve always thought of myself as a little bit of a medical agnostic…I'm always fascinated by the way that people's world views unavoidably, in ways that people don't really understand, end up shaping their approach to medicine and how they think about medicine.”

Read the Full Show Notes and Transcript on my Website

In this episode, Dr Eric Boyle and I discuss:

• definition of quack medicine, or health fraud
• how boundaries between orthodox and unorthodox medicine were established
• reasons for sectarian (nontraditional) medical groups forming in the 1820s as a response to “heroic” medicine
• combative relationships between different medical groups like traditional physicians, osteopaths, chiropractors, naturopaths
• anti-quackery operation launched by the American Medical Association and the reasons for their efforts (protect the public, political and economic gains)
• self-reliance for one’s health and how it’s changed over time
• the challenges in combating quackery in the twentieth century

For more information on the topic of quackery in 20th-century American healthcare, read: Quack Medicine: A History of Combating Health Fraud in Twentieth-Century America by Eric Boyle

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This marks the beginning of season 2 where I explore how to make integrative medicine possible in our healthcare system from the inside out. In this episode, I sit down with my guest, Alisha Harrington, to talk about how doctors are trained today, how we combined two models of medicine in our training to deliver whole-person care, and how we imagine changing medical education to create the integrative physicians of tomorrow.

Alisha and I are each trained in Chinese and Western medicine, but we had to gather our training in different ways. Alisha is currently a fourth-year medical student at Western University COMP Northwest, an osteopathic school in Oregon. She is training to become a board-certified family physician after practicing as a licensed acupuncturist for nine years. I, on the other hand, went to medical school and residency, first, to become a family doctor, and then trained in Chinese medicine to become board certified in both fields.

 Rethinking Medical Education 

Imagine a healthcare world where you have the choice to get healthcare from one doctor with training in both traditional Western medicine and Chinese medicine. I’m not talking about a wellness clinic because most of these clinics are made up of practitioners trained in different ways and they bill you separately. If you have struggled to coordinate your healthcare team or spent as much on your health from both conventional and unconventional practitioners, you are not alone. In fact, this problem has been around for decades. 

A 1993 landmark study from the New England Journal of Medicine reported that in 1990 “Americans made an estimated 425 million visits to providers of unconventional therapy. This number exceeds the number of visits to all US primary care physicians (388 million.)” Nearly 30 years later, little has changed in the demand for additional types of care and there are far too few medical doctors who practice more than just traditional medicine. 

 The Impacts on Your Third Opinion 

Integrative medicine is an approach to healthcare that brings together conventional ( or Western medicine), lifestyle and complementary medicines (like Chinese medicine) in a strategic way to address the whole person. That’s like giving your auto mechanic more tools and knowledge to choose from when working on your car rather than having to take your car to two different mechanics to fix it. If your doctor knows about other types of medicine, especially ones you are seeking, they are more likely to listen to you and guide you to a healthier self.

 If you want your physician to be able to practice integrative medicine, a lot needs to change in the healthcare system. The most fundamental changes have to start with the way people are trained as doctors. Did you know that there are no medical schools in the US that offer both kinds of training unless someone does this on their own by completing separate programs? That’s not only expensive, it’s preventing most physicians today from even considering it. The history of this is really complex, the separation of these types of medicine was intentional, and it’s worth knowing about how and why it happened.

You can learn about it in an upcoming season 2 episode. Stay tuned!

 In this episode, Alisha Harrington and I discuss: 

• The definition of an osteopathic doctor
• The difference between how medical and osteopathic doctors are trained
• The difference between training as an acupuncturist and as a physician
• How rigorous medical training is for traditional doctors and the sacrifices they make to their personal health, which leads to:

1. Increased rate of physician suicide
2. Poor lifestyle
3. Not being a good role model for patients

• What makes integrative training so beneficial for patients and doctors
• How integrative medical schools might be possible
• More reform should happen in the way doctors are trained in order to:

1. build resilience
2. prevent burnout
3. Address patients needs on a more holistic and individual level

Resources 

My blog post helps you understand the different types of medicine like osteopathic,

traditional Western, and Chinese medicine

New England Journal Of Medicine report in 1993 on the patterns of use of nontraditional medicine in 1990 compared with traditional medicine: Unconventional Medicine in the United States --Prevalence, Costs, and Patterns of Use

Season Two of Third Opinion MD launches on May 10, 2022. For this second season, the overall theme is the true integration of our healthcare system, from the inside out.

I’m excited about where this theme will take us! I'm bringing guests to share insights about how doctors are trained today, and give you an idea of how integrative healthcare can happen with how we train doctors. I'll be talking with an expert on how to take an integrative approach to trauma. And I'll be digging deeper into the history of how we inherited the healthcare system we have, and why some medicine is considered traditional while other medicine is considered alternative. I will take a look at who decides which label (“traditional” or “alternative”) gets placed on certain types of medicine, and how a type of medicine is determined to be mainstream or fringe.

Join me next week, when I have Alisha Harrington join me to talk about how doctors are trained today, as we take a look at the potential for integrative medical education.

Part of my mission in starting Third Opinion MD is to offer you a blended perspective about healthcare, and to provide you with simple tools to restore and maintain your health. In this short guided meditation, I’m introducing you to something that I learned from my studies with qigong: the Inner Smile Meditation. I first learned this from qigong master, Lee Holden, who had learned it from his mentor, Mantak Chia. In this bonus episode of my podcast, I’m sharing my version of this meditation with you.

The Inner Smile Meditation

As part of the introduction to this meditation, it’s important to keep your mind focused and listen to my voice as I guide you through it. You will be smiling just slightly on the outside, and you will be sending your smile to five important organs in your body. I think this meditation is one of the most loving and adorable meditations. Why? Once you’ve smiled at your organs, your organs will start to smile back at you. Each of them has a life of their own, they're a part of you, and you will get to visualize them in a new way as you smile at each other. 

There’s research that shows that doing this type of visualization work helps with mind-body work. It also helps quiet the “monkey mind,” which is what Qigong Master, Liu He, calls the racing thoughts that are often taking up space in our heads. I like the Inner Smile Meditation because it provides a single thing for your mind to focus on, while also setting the “Yi,” or intention, to guide your Qi (your life force energy) in a positive and healthy way through your body.

If you have felt challenged by meditation in the past because you’ve been told you need to empty your mind, I invite you to try this approach. In this guided meditation, I’ll walk you through the steps, and I think you’ll find it to be very beneficial and quite different from other sitting meditations.

Please find a quiet place when you are just starting out. When you’re ready, I invite you to join me for the Inner Smile Meditation.

If you love this meditation, and would like to have me speak about health or teach a workshop for your group or organization, please reach out. I’d love to learn more about your group and find ways to best serve you. You can go to the speaker inquiry page.

Here are key timestamps to refer to when you listen to this episode repeatedly for practice:

• 00:15  Introduction
• 02:49  Inner Smile introduction
• 03:04  Preparation for meditation
• 04:35  Inner Smile guided practice

I hope you enjoy this meditation, and may you have many days of smiling inside.

You can find the full show notes, and learn more over at my website by clicking here.

– Barbara