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Lena's Health Nightmares
Lena Sanchez Lena's life includes a fulfilling, exciting nursing career as well as opening and growing new medical practices, teaching Medical Office Procedures to doctors and dentists and Medical Assisting classes and becoming an alternative health advocate and entrepreneur while raising a family of four. 71 years of life makes for a long story but we will attempt to make it as short as possible. To get a more detailed story and follow her life experiences to discover the things she knows that you probably don't know, but should, before seeing your doctor, read her book, "Dangers & Secrets Doctors Refuse To Tell You." Or to learn about her knowledge of herbs and how they have created a healthy life for her and her family & friends get her latest book "Handbook Of Herbs To Health & Other Secrets." A mother of two sons, two daughters, 11 grandchildren and 3 great-grandsons all making for a very full life. But she managed to intertwine a career that many can only dream of. Her career was brought about when her husbands' horrific accident left him with both wrists shattered and curbed wrist movements for life and her feelings of desperation at the possibility of being left to care for her family and no immediate job experience. Over the years she had taken some college classes here and there but never received a degree so at the age of 37 she went back to college full time with the blessing of her husband and children. Got her nursing degree and a short time later her MBA, which started a long medical career. A career that she says, "I will always cherish and thoroughly enjoyed." The oldest of 9 girls and 1 boy. Lena graduated at the age of sixteen, from high school as Salutatorian and won a scholarship to a teachers college. That dream was not to be fulfilled for several years as her father, still dwelling in the 1800's mentality, felt college was a waste for girls who he felt would simply get married and have family, not requiring an education. He therefore refused to allow her to fulfill the scholarship and her dream of teaching. He enrolled her in a Secretarial College, which was not her interest and she dropped out shortly before graduation. Married at the age of 21 and immediately started a family fulfilling her father's prophecy. After the birth of her 4th child she was overwhelmed with pain all over the body, which began a search for relief from it, but never hitting the mark and multiple side effects to medications given her by multiple doctors, who could not give her answers for the pain. She says she learned to live every day in pain and searching for answers but the medical world had no answers for her. She was told she was emotional and the pain was in her head and given medications that were totally detrimental to the problem sending her into many a side effect problem. Finding her niche in life... After receiving her Masters in business, and nursing degree in 1976, went to work in a hospital rehab ward, which she left, as the hours were too conflicting with the home life and children. She then went to work as a temporary medical office nurse and surgical assistant for a General Practitioner who she felt needlessly put peoples lives at risk every day. Left at the end of her temporary assignment and went to a Pediatric Medical Clinic with nine pediatricians where she worked as back office and triage nurse for three and one-half years. Five years after graduation found her very ill and off work for nine months and misdiagnosed numerous times along that trek. She had become frustrated during those years of doctors visits, misdiagnoses, hospitalizations and medications that did some horrible things to her, physically and emotionally. And to be there again unable to get out of bed most days, but that too passed... All this before she allowed nutrition and alternative medicine to enter her life. After 25 years of pain and suffering she was finally diagnosed with Fibromyositis, also known as fibromyalgia, myositis and myalgia accompanied by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which are all autoimmune disorders and basically the same thing! (The body's immune system attacking itself.) In those early years of her painful suffering fibromyalgia was almost never diagnosed or even considered a disease by most doctors. There are still some today from the old school that refuse to accept that it exists. A condition, at that time in which a person with those aches and pains was generally given the diagnoses of malingerer or hypochondriac. Lena even saw a psychiatrist for a while, as she was sure that she was mentally ill, but was told otherwise by the psychiatrist. Given medication after medication that relieved nothing but presented side effect after side effect for her. Then along with the fibromyalgia she developed osteoarthritis. She says she soon learned to live with the excruciating pain and fatigue that accompanied it and finally settled on a couple of mediations that helped some but didn’t alleviate the pains nor prevented it from progressing. Then she developed nodules on the joints of her fingers to add to the pain and doctors visits! She states, "Keeping busy is a great alleviator of pain for me. I'm not telling you this to say, hey look at me but to help you understand that I do know a few doctors in multiple practices as both a patient, an employee and a co-worker." After leaving the pediatric medical group she then worked seven and one-half years as an internists' back office, triage and home visiting nurse as well as office manager. Making visits to patients homes who were too ill to come into the office and advising the doctor of the necessary treatment plan, medication or hospitalization. That internist was and is a truly great genius, whom she felt gave the patients the best that medicine had to offer and still feels that way about him. Even though she occasionally came to a bit of odds with him as he was steeped in the traditional medical syndrome and failed to look at natural or herbal remedies as an alternative, he did his very best for the patient with what he had been taught. At the ripe old age of 37 the internist decided to leave private practice as he saw what medicine was becoming with the HMO's coming into play and said he wanted no part of it. That prediction has proven to be accurate! Lena says, "About 75% to 80% of the patients she encountered over the years were simple problems that could have been treated at home with everyday common sense, applying their brain and could have created better health for themselves. This," she says, "was confirmed by several doctors over the years." Lena wants to make it clear here that she is not anti-establishment and that she does believe doctors are a necessity. It's just that after twenty plus years of experience with patients, she believes that people are too willing to run to the doctor for every little ache and pain while refusing to take responsibility for their health, putting themselves into great danger! While managing the brilliant Internists' office, one of her vivid memories she says is of helping track & document patient studies on a couple of medications before their release to the public for pharmaceutical companies - She received all kinds of great expensive perks for it. You can find out why she feels one of those medications that is on the market should not have been released to the public in her book "Dangers and Secrets Doctors Refuse to Tell You." Also she reveals in her book other atrocities that should not happen to anyone, but did. Lena's feeling that testing is inadequate was confirmed in 2000, when information released to the public says other doctors offices, who did drug testing, falsified tests and created non-existent patient histories. She asks, "How safe can you feel taking a drug now?" She is very skeptical of prescriptions and she feels, and statistical history backs up her feelings, that the true side affects of most prescriptions will not be known for 20 years or more after release to the public and hundreds or thousands of human beings will have used them and many will die or have serious illnesses because of them. So she stresses, "Make sure the illnesses is dire enough to actually require a prescription, as one is not always necessary to heal or prevent the illness. Our bodies can heal themselves when given proper nutrients and if you can't get them from foods supplements will do just as well." During the years with the genius doctor she developed shortness of breath, swollen legs and ankles, chest pains and more fatigue. Genius sent her to a cardiologist who found a Mitrial Valve Prolapse (MVP), heart valve problem. He let her watch the ultrasound and she observed the valve flapping and not completely stopping the blood flow as it should, but was assured that if she took antibiotics with any procedures she could live a long happy life with exercise and care! More on this later and how she eliminated that problem up! Lena has listed a group of questions to ask your doctor so that you may determine the necessity of a prescription, she also included some home remedies used on her patients during her career in her book, "Antibiotic Alternatives To Preventing Mega Bacteria!" After leaving the brilliant Internist she fell into a whole exciting but as she describes, "A gut wrenching profession of setting up new medical offices along with medical consulting." She states, "I feel like a very lucky lady in that I have had a very successful life in two areas - Medical Office Nursing Administration and Teaching Medical Office Management and Procedures - greatly enjoyed both. I am now successfully combining those experiences with Online Marketing of my own Internet Home Based Business and Natural Healthy Environmental friendly products and Internet Real Estate Properties." Opening a New Medical Office Had It's Pluses and Minuses! In each of the offices she opened usually consisted of the doctor seeing patients and her as the lone office & triage nurse, receptionist, insurance clerk, PR person, and patient counselor until the office grew large enough to add personnel. That process took from three months to three years to grow into a well functioning successful office... She also founded a temporary employment agency for medical personnel while still working in a medical office and set up that business in the same medical building giving her the ability to handle both offices. She could be described as a workaholic as both offices created 18-20 hour days. She says, "There were some doctors I had to deal with in the agency which were anything but honest. I won't bore you with the nightmare tales here, but it was a hellish experience in some instances. I became very familiar with Small Claims Court due to those problems. But I soon realized that particular business wasn't my forte and the medical office was my true passion and love, I sold the agency a year later." She took on a teaching position at a paramedical school and taught Medical Office Management and Medical Assisting nights but within just a matter of weeks after starting the teaching position, she was approached to set up and open a new medical clinic in San Bernardino California, which was in proximity to the Paramedical School making it feasible to do both. Being overworked set up a situation to create crises flare-ups with her fibromyalgia and another step in searching for alternative treatments that the average traditional medical profession could not offer, in order to alleviate the pain that the prescriptions were unable to control, without heavy sedative effects. With the prescription medications came drowsiness inability to think rationally and only a slightly lesser degree of pain anyway, leaving her feeling unable to work at times and sure that there was something else, if she could just find it? She was forced to leave teaching a little over a year later. Simply because sitting in faculty meetings, of which about 1/3 of the instructors smoked, she would develop horrific histamine headaches and weeks of pain because of it, so she soon found faculty meetings intolerable, as they would not forego smoking during the meetings. One positive did come from the headaches though. The prescriptions given for the histamine headaches left her nauseous, vomiting and unable to function from the horrible side effects and the inpatient IV treatments given for the headaches, were equally as bad. She accidentally found the headaches could be alleviated with chiropractic treatment and herbs in minutes. Upon leaving her first organized medical clinic in San Bernardino, California three and a half years from the onset there were then nine doctors and 17 employees in a very large clinic of over 3000 patients of which about 99% were HMO insured. This clinic initially opened with her, a receptionist and a doctor. She says, "The HMO patient load made for a great education in juggling treatment protocol and insurance company protocol. They collide with a loud crash for the most part, and since I was the gatekeeper and patient advocate as chairman of the Quality Control and Quality Assurance committees along with my Medical Director, it was a real dance and challenge to balance the patients needs and the insurance companies rules. Just guess who is the loser there?" She says, "I wonder how many people actually do receive the care they need since most people simply want to do their job and not rock the boat. Each clinic/office should have someone sitting as a caring sensitive advocate in each medical facility with the capability of keeping the patient first and not the HMO/PPO. But that isn't happening" For the next fourteen years she set up 44 clinics and medical offices throughout Southern California. Getting them up and running onto strong footing and moved on to do it all over again. She says, "Each was a real feeling of accomplishment with the successes and ability to learn and pass it on. And I became very familiar with the freeway system." One Sports Medicine Clinic that she sat up had both alternative and traditional medicine, which required a great deal of study on her part and truly awakened her to the real conflict that exists in medicine and doesn't have to. But proved to be a turning point or, as she calls it "a wake up call to what other methods exist in medical treatments that truly work and is much healthier with little to no side effects." She says she diligently studied under the nutritionist and chiropractor absorbing everything she could. Her disillusionment with the chemical medications, that never seem to cure a problem, found her more interested in nutrition as a means of healing. She then took nutrition courses adding to her ability of helping people find cures and preventions of many diseases... Over those years she managed to receive her MA, MBA and Medical Office Administration Certification, and studied alternative health & healing treatments without a degree, which rounded out her career. But also made for a very busy person growing and consulting with many medical practices and clinics throughout Southern California. While managing a clinic in Palm Springs California for a very difficult and demanding doctor, she began to experience more extensive chest pains, more frequent shortness of breath and problems walking up stairs and short distances without almost passing out... After having a battery of test she was diagnosed with 75% to 80% blocked heart arteries along with her existing valve problem making it perilous, according to her cardiologist. Her cardiologist scheduled her for angioplasty with probable bypass without her permission. She refused that mode of treatment and left the hospital AMA and found Whitaker's Wellness Clinic in Newport Beach California where she underwent successful Chelation Therapy and corrected the blockage and even corrected the MVP she had experienced all those years. She says that anyone who has a heart problem and doesn't try the Chelation Therapy is missing the boat in natural health and healing. Non-invasive, no side effects, less expensive, long lasting repair and no-life threatening surgery to contend with so why would they not try it if they know about it? After finding healing she then went to work for a friend in Irvine California and the first day in the clinic she ended up firing a doctor and reported him to the state Attorney Generals Office for gross malpractice, of which she later spent a week in trial to successfully remove that doctors medical license… She says, "that's a whole other story in itself…I can only say he was the worst of the worst!" Her position as Personnel Director, along with administrator of the company's clinics, was evaluating medical offices and clinics that were for sale, and helping to convert them into HMO clinics -- She says, "See I went to the enemy's camp for a short while as a favor to a valued friend." She would go in evaluate an office that was for sale, look at the medical records and financial records to see if it was truly worth buying and decide whether the doctor was an effective physician then advise the Company as to it's worth. Would handle the change over, set up the computer system and manage the employee patient ratio to correspond properly and write office protocols to interact with the HMO. She says, "I met some more really off-the-wall money-grubbing doctors while doing that!" adding, "I cannot stress enough to people how careful they must be when seeing a doctor - Be informed and take charge of your own health and let the doctor be a partner…Do not give him/her free rein with your treatment, medications and testing…you could become one of the dreaded statistics sooner or later!" Statistics found in her book "Dangers & Secrets Doctors Refuse to tell You," are pretty gross! Painful Experience Lead to More Information! In 1996 on Christmas Eve she went to a chiropractor to realign her TMJ (temple mandibular joint) and the Chiropractor ruptured her C-7 – neck vertebral disc. He failed to acknowledge a problem and proceeded to ground the material into her spinal cord afterward causing her to have several surgeries creating damages to her spinal cord and lost temporary control of her legs virtually ending her abilities to get out and work full time. Lesson learned she says, "If a chiropractor is rough stop in mid treatment and run out of his/her office and don't look back!" Having controlled the fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis with herbs and mineral nutrients for several years prior to the ruptured C-7, that event came as a devastating blow and sent her autoimmune disease into a tailspin again, because of all the anesthesia and antibiotics administered for all the surgeries. Having even dissolved the arthritic nodules on her finger joints with the herbs she now had to start all over again in order to bring it back to remission... This came close to sending her over the edge! But she states, "Out of bad things can come good, if you look for them and I have looked and found them. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" Fibromyalgia flare up was due to so much anesthesia and chemicals put into her body during the course of all the surgeries that followed the neck injury...which led her to use natural treatments to overcome and correct the situation... But she feels she had a great experience with a fantastic doctor at Barrows Neurological Institute in Phoenix, AZ and feels that St. Joseph's Hospital is a place every hospital should be patterned after. "Make lemonade out of lemons," she always says. Now she has become experienced with the system of justice, because of this incident, and she says, "It's not at all fair nor just." Her Most Fulfilling But Frustrating Life Position! She feels that the medical office triage nurse was the most fulfilling of all the areas she has handled in her career. Also the most frustrating! She states, "I
do not take the world at face value without doing some analyzing
of my surroundings... I cannot be accused of being a follower
for the sake of following, I need to know why I do things
and found that disconcerting to most physicians I worked
with." She says that the later years of her career she says she walked a fine line between natural medicine and traditional medicine and the doctor. She added, "Sometimes if I knew the patient well enough I would suggest stopping the prescription and tell them of a home remedy or suggest herbs that would take care of the problem. I always prefaced it with, - "The doctor does not recommend this and if you tell him I will be fired." - I never had a patient tell but I did have several who dubbed me Dr. Lena, because the natural treatment worked." Lena feels that there is an alternative healing treatment for most all simple and some not so simple illnesses and preventions that should be practiced by everyone. A combining of traditional and alternative medicine does exit and is out there for you if you are willing to risk finding it. She feels that the traditional and natural medicine practitioners are working against each other to the determent of the patients and she wants that to change. Her hopes are that she can be an instrument in helping that change come about. Her dream is to see both traditional and alternatives used together for the betterment of every human being. She sees that happening a little more now. Her philosophy is, "Yes, there is risk in everything. Medicine and medical treatments has never been an exact science even though the profession would like you to believe it is! She feels that she is now in a position to really help people in both physical and financial situations. She says that natural healing remedies and prevention can save a person thousands of dollars a year and possibly millions in a life time besides lengthening their life considerably while giving them quality as well as quantity of life. Find out how she got
to where she did and what alternatives she discovered and how
you can prevent those dangers from impacting your life. Find out how natural alternatives could possibly change your life and health as well as give you deeper insight into what led Lena to learn and practice the way she does. Find out what doctors know and practice but do not pass on to their patients, read her book, "Dangers & Secrets Doctors Refuse To Tell You" and "Antibiotic Alternatives To Preventing Mega Bacteria." Lena says, "Take
Charge of your health and become better for it. PS:
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