How to Reverse Chronic Disease: Ten Characteristics of Successful Patients
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Paul A. Goldberg MPH, DC, DACBN, DCBCN
Founder and Consultant to The Goldberg Tener Clinic
The Goldberg Tener Clinic website features hundreds of written and video patient success stories involving people who came to us with a wide variety of chronic health problems.
After decades of working with patients suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis, Autoimmune Disorders, Allergies, Digestive Diseases, Chronic Fatigue, Metabolic Disorders, Skin Conditions and other chronic health problems, an important question arises:
Which patients are most successful in regaining their health and vitality and why?
The answer is important for anyone struggling with chronic disease.
Success is not simply a matter of luck, wishing, having the “right genes,” or being young. While factors such as age, duration of illness, previous drug and surgical history, stress and the severity of a patient’s condition can influence recovery, there is another critical factor:
The actions of the patient.
Patients who make meaningful improvements in their health tend to share certain characteristics. Here are ten characteristics we have repeatedly observed among successful patients during nearly five decades of working with people suffering from chronic disease. Click here to see our Success Stories.
Successful Patients Avoid Treatments and Address Causes
Successful patients understand that being medically labeled with chronic disease does not mean they can’t get well but rather that medical treatments will not restore their health. “Medically Managing” chronic disease is equivalent to saying...”you will be sick your entire life but we’ll provide “treatments” to make you less uncomfortable as the disease progresses. The successful patient rejects this failure mindset. They understand that simply because the Medical Profession cannot reverse their disease does not mean they cannot get well if they follow the right path.
Rather than “treat” disease, the successful patient identifies and addresses the causal factors behind the disease. We refer to this as “Clinical Epidemiology,” an integral part of the Bio-Hygienic ApproachTM to Chronic Disease Reversal.
The successful patient understands that medicine fails to uncover and address causal factors and that this same failure is reflected with practitioners referring to themselves as practicing “Functional, Alternative, Integrative or Naturopathic Medicine.” In these practices “diagnoses” are bandied about such as SIBO, Candida, Hypoglycemia, Leaky Gut Syndrome and Dysbiosis. These titles do not reveal why symptoms are occurring. Treatments given are therefore non-specific to the individual and fail to bring about lasting results.
Successful Patients Take an Active Role in Their Recovery
The passive role that patients take in most offices is not a part of the successful patient’s action plan. They know that while the doctor must help identify causes and develop a program to address those causes, the patient must fully engage and take responsibility for implementing the program without excuses or delay.
Successful Patients Put the Past Behind Them and Focus on the Present
Their past failures whether financial, health, marriage, or other prior decisions go by the wayside. They do not waste time feeling sorry for themselves or try to get others to pity them. They move forward knowing that getting well takes focus and the successful patient places their focus on the present.
Successful Patients Accept There Will Be Bumps on the Journey to Getting Well
Uncomfortable symptoms are part of the recovery process. Successful patients take both the good days and the bad days in stride knowing that both are necessary parts of returning to health. When there are symptoms the patient does not run to suppress them but rather supports their body with the essentials of health, particularly increased rest and sleep, and works to create the right conditions for health renewal.
Successful Patients Use Supplements Conservatively
Supplements are just that...supplements to a program and should not constitute the foundation of any health program. They have overcome the pill mentality whether in the form of drugs, herbs or other supplements.
The Successful Patient Knows They Need Guidance from a Skilled Practitioner Who is Well Educated, Experienced and Attentive
The successful patient knows he or she must take primary responsibility for their health but that someone is needed to view them from the outside, be objective and guide them appropriately through the good times and the uncomfortable ones.
The Successful Patient Makes Their Health a Priority
Everyone is busy. There will always be holidays, birthdays, vacations, work obligations, family responsibilities and unexpected events. Successful patients recognize that regaining health requires consistency. They organize their lives so that the behaviors necessary to improve their health become priorities rather than activities they pursue only when convenient. This does not require perfection. It requires commitment.
Successful Patients Recover Quickly from Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes. A patient may stay up too late, eat something outside their dietary recommendations, become emotionally overwhelmed or fail to follow another part of their program. Successful patients don’t turn one mistake into a week of mistakes. They acknowledge what happened, learn from it and get back on track. They don’t waste valuable energy blaming themselves or someone else. Progress requires persistence—not perfection.
Successful Patients Follow their Entire Health Building Program
Successful patients are careful to avoid putting excessive emphasis on a single part of their program such as diet or supplements. They implement all aspects of their program fully.
Successful Patients are Patient
They do not seek quick fixes; they go for the real, understanding that just as it takes a good deal of time to evolve into chronic illness it takes time to re-create the body and become healthy again. They know that health cannot be recovered by ignoring causal factors or by plying themselves with pharmaceuticals, potions, pills, nostrums, hormones and therapies unrelated to why they became ill. The successful patient is a person who puts a value on their health, takes the right path and makes the needed effort to become victorious.
Fifty Years of Success
For fifty years, the Goldberg Tener Clinic has been helping the chronically ill improve their health. Shown below are a series of before and after pictures of patients who have sought our assistance, illustrating the excellent outcomes that are possible. Press the arrow on the right to move through the series.
📞 Contact the Goldberg Tener Clinic:
If you are struggling with chronic health issues, contact our clinic to schedule a complimentary phone consultation with Dr. Tener to learn how we can help guide you through the recovery process. Click here to learn more about becoming a new patient at the Goldberg Tener Clinic.
Learn More
👉 Visit: www.GoldbergTenerClinic.com and www.RheumatoidReversal.com
👉 Read More:
1) Inflammation is NOT the Enemy