Deception at a New Age clinic; holistic health centers emphasize caring - a warm personal touch - but do all offer expert medical advice and treatment?

Cancer?" I echoed disbelievingly, questioning the gynecologist's suspicion. How could I have cancer? Hadn't I followed all the instructions of Dr. James Berry* and his nurse practitioner? I had practiced preventative medicine as he adviced, refraining from smoking and drinking. I had yearly pelvic exams and Pap smears at his clinic.

Yet now a doctor I had never seen before was telling me I needed immediate surgery, a total hysterectomy. "If it's cancer, you don't want to wait," he urged. Whom should I trust? This gynecologist, or the health practitioners in the clinic where I had gone for 16 years?

Back in 1965 I called the county medical association and asked for the name of a general practitioner in my area. The association's telephone referral service recommended Dr. Berry. After entering the comfortable, crowded medical clinic waiting room, I was pleased to learn that my new doctor treated the whole person--body, mind, and spirit.

Dr. Berry said he believed in allowing the body to heal itself through natural processes. He and the other doctors in the clinic believed prescription drugs often produced dangerous, unwanted side effects: they prescribed them only when absolutely necessary. I was convinced illness could be averted by the common sense methods he suggested. I thought my new doctor was wonderful! His recommendations seemed like good medical advice, dispensed by a caring physician.

I asked Dr. Berry for help with an infertility problem and abdominal pain. He said my pelvic exam and Pap smear were normal. Then, rather than referring me to a gynecologist for further evaluation, he suggested that my husband and I have our astrological charts read to determine if we were capable of conceiving a child together.

Startled by this unorthodox approach to conception, I laughed, saying, "Our church doesn't believe in astrology."

Dr. Berry reproved me. "Don't scoff at things you don't understand."

I felt he was entitled to his beliefs about the stars, even if I didn't share them. I was consulting him for his medical expertise. His suggestion seemed unusual. But I though, The county medical association recommended him. Surely, they wouldn't send me to a quack!

Atlhough my husband and I never went to the astrology center, Dr. Berry instructed my husband to drink an herbal tea made with watermelon seeds to increase his sperm activity. After one "awful tasting" cupful, he refused further potions.

My abdominal pain during menses had been increasing in severity over several years. Dr. Berry recommended castor oil packs applied to the abdomen with a heating pad, to "rid the body of accumulated wastes and poisons."

I followed his orders religiously. Each month the pain disappeared--only to return the following month. Later I learned that heat alone is an effective treatment for relieving menstrual cramps.

Alternative or negligent treatment? Once I asked Dr. Berry if a cyst tumor might be causing the pain and preventing pregnancy. Soon afterward, during a pelvic exam, he found what he thought was "a small ovarian water cyst." He recommended acupuncture and performed the treatment that day in his office.

That was in 1973. Acupuncture was just gaining popularity in the United States, so I knew little about it. In time the pain recurred, and I was told to resume the castor oil pack treatment. At subsequent annual pelvic exams, Dr. Berry reassured me there was no recurrence of the cyst, even though the pain persisted.

In 1978 Betty Miller, a family nurse practitioner, began seeing me, so I rarely saw Dr. Berry. He said Nurse Miller was almost as qualified to treat me as a doctor was, and that she could better relate to my problems from a woman's point of view. If I had any serious problems, she would consult one of the doctors.

When constipation began to plague me during my menses, Nurse Miller recommended large doses of a mild laxative, stating it wouldn't harm me because it contained "only natural ingredients." She said, "Take one teaspoonful every hour until you have a bowel movement." One time I took 17 spoonfuls.

Once during a particularly painful menstrual period, Nurse Miller noted that I might have an ovarian cyst. Still, there was no referral to a gynecologist, so I assumed the "suspected cyst" was a false alarm. At subsequent gynecological exams, she again told me everything was "normal."

I wasn't getting any effective remedy for my abdominal pain, but I was, I thought, receiving helpful treatment for a "stubborn case" of iron-deficiency anemia. "Your body is out of balance," Dr. Berry had said in 1975. Although opposed to prescribing "dangerous prescription drugs," over-the-counter iron tablets were prescribed for me--in ever-increasing amounts as the anemia failed to respond.

Eventually Nurse Miller ordered weekly "liver and iron" shots; then she added vitamin [B.sub.12] to the weekly injections. In addition, I was taking three 200-milligram tablets of iron every day. (Later I learned that the normal therapeutic dose is only 200 milligrams daily.) At various times they ordered other vitamins and minerals, including 1,500 milligrams of vitamin C.

Dr. Berry had also diagnosed low thyroid activity and prescribed Atomidine, a drug that could be obtained only from the clinic. Later Nurse Miller ordered a prescription thyroid medication. Little did I realize that the photomotogram they were using is an outdated measuring device, no longer considered reliable for evaluating thyroid functions.

Instead of feeling better, I felt increasingly worse--like a spaced-out zombie.

Searching for answers. Finally in 1981 I decided to help myself by going to the library to learn more about anemia. And I decided to consult a hematologist on my own. By then I was close to physical collapse from iron and vitamin poisoning, complicated by the thyroid medication overdose. The hemtologist looked at the blood counts furnished by Dr. Berry and said that I never had iron-deficiency anemia. A bone marrow test showed that my body was satisfactorily producing red blood cells. The hematologist advised me to discontinue taking all medicine, including all vitamins.

And, on the basis of my other symptoms, he suggested I see a gynecologist. Since Nurse Miller had preformed a pelvic exam just three months before and assured me everything was "normal," I was reluctant to incur the added expense of an unnecessary exam. The nurse had thoroughly convinced me there was no gynecological problem that time and menopause would not heal.

But in 1982, when I had another severe attack of abdominal pain, my hematologist insisted I see a gynecologist at once. He even made the appointment for me.

That first visit to the gynecologist was when I learned I might have cancer. The pelvic exam revealed a large mass on my left ovary. He ordered an ultrasound and kidney and liver scans, then recommended that I have surgery as soon as possible.

Two and a half weeks later, a grapefruit-sized, blood-filled cyst was removed. The gynecologist said that if the cyst had ruptured, which it could have at any time, I probably would have died. I thanked God for sparing my life.

The surgery was performed nine years after Dr. Berry first suspected an ovarian cyst and treated me with acupuncture. The cyst was pinching off the left ureter and obstructing the bowel, causing the constipation problems.

The surgeon also found both fallopian tubes obstructed with encometriosis. Had the condition been diagnosed and treated earlier, it might have been corrected. Now all my useless reproductive organs were removed, along with the cyst--and my hopes for motherhood.

Appealing for public protection. Holistic health care emphasizes caring and human contact--a warm, personal touch as opposed to a cold, clinical approach. My holistic healers always displayed a polished bedside manner. They were compassionate listeners, sympathetic to my every complaint and unhurried in consultation. But I also expected to receive expert medical advice and treatment.

I trusted Dr. Berry and Nurse Miller, believing that if I needed more medical attention, they would initiate a referral. The only referral they made was to an astrology center. I filed a complaint about Nurse Miller with the Arizona State Board of Nursing. Unfortunately, she is still practicing nursing, and Dr. Berry is still practicing medicine; however, the county medical referral service is no longer referring patients to him. We tend to trust people who have M.D. or R.N. behind their name. In most cases they will give us competent health care. But my unfortunate experience has taught me that blind trust of medical degrees is not a replacement for using common sense.

Carolyn Copeland, B.A., is a housewife and free-lance writer residing in Arizona. She writes many letters to newspapers, magazines, television, and radio stations, hoping to curb holistic health-care abuses by raising public awareness.