Eric Bakker: Eric Bakker, the naturopath.
Thanks for coming back. Why doesn't my medical doctor order a comprehensive digestive analysis,
stool test analysis for me? I mean, why are they just fudging me off with
a really simple test to check for one or two parasites perhaps, or maybe Campylobacter or
maybe Nova virus, so they're just checking for one thing. Why aren't they casting a wide net and
looking at all the parameters that you always talk about out? Well, it's not part of their
training. They didn't train to do that. Okay. I wasn't taught on how to put a roof on a house,
or I wasn't taught how to overhaul a diesel engine. So don't let me near your car
because I'll stuff it up. Okay. I don't know what I'm doing with diesel engines.
Any more than a doctor, hasn't got a clue about a digestive stool test.
Doctors are not fools. They've got limited time and they're highly trained, specialized medical
people. I am not here to say any disparaging things about medical people. In fact,
I've got a lot of friends that are specialists and medical doctors. I've got a lot of respect
for these people. They're really under the pump now with COVID, really under the pump.
So a lot of doctors, I also know do these tests. So you'll find these guys or gals
on the registers, even in America, if you go to the Functional Institute of Medicine,
or you type in integrative doctor or functional doctor, you will find medical doctors that have
got a lot of skillset in my area. And even skill sets way beyond what I do,
because they've invested way more time and money in it than I have. They've got bigger clinics.
Some of them even got their own labs. So doctors rely on path testing. So
pathology testing, doctors are looking for disease. They're looking for bacteria,
they're looking for virus. They're looking for, exactly that they're looking. So,
people like me tend to look more at the function of the person's gut. We also look for bugs,
but we look at the function, meaning we look for inflammation. We look at immune markers,
we look at cancer markers. There are many things a test can find out about a person's gut,
but it cost time and it cost money. And it's something a lot of doctors haven't got
at their disposal. They can't just throw a bill at you for $400 or $500 and say pay it.
And I'm not sure if insurance companies are even subsidizing these tests in some countries.
And a lot of doctors don't want to pass that cost onto the patient. And even here in New Zealand,
Australia, a lot of naturopaths still don't do these tests because they say the patient can't
afford these tests. What a load of baloney. The patient can't afford to be sick. That's
what I say. So, what else have I written here? Comprehensive stool tests are functional tests.
Meaning they're used to assess the health of the gut and what could be lurking underneath,
that the person is unaware of. Like a candida or bacterial infection.
So it's incredible how many times we picked up bugs on a test that the patient was not
even aware of at all, until the test revealed them. And the patient was thinking they had a
completely different type of health problem until we found a huge three or four plus
yeast infection in their gut, and they would pass it off for something else.
An autoimmune disease or whatever name or diagnostics a doctor would give it. Now this is
not lying. I'm telling you the gospel truth here too. On several occasions, I have sent a patient
to a gastroenterologist after a comprehensive stool test for a scope, for a colonoscopy.
And on more than three or four occasion, the gastroenterologist picked up
ulcerative colitis with the patient. I could clearly see it on the stool test. I could see
the occult blood there. I could see the high inflammation marks there. It was all there.
And of course, patient gets sent straight for a scope and it comes back as positive.
Now this has happened on at least five or six occasions, just probably in the last five,
10 years of my practice. Now that's not malpractice on the medical doctor's part,
because in a five minute consultation, you haven't really got time to go over a lot of results with
the patient, but it shows you how good a stool test really can be in picking up things. And to me
it's all about prevention, better than treatment, if that makes sense to you. Thanks for tuning in.