In 1993, I left mainstream medicine to open my own private practice, where I could treat patients in alignment with my beliefs, as well as drawing on my 
training in family practice, nutritional and herbal medicine, and 
environmental medicine. My passion became the search for the underlying causes of each patient’s illness, and then addressing the source directly. Over time, word spread about my passion for solving medical mysteries. 

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Some of my patients referred to me affectionately as “The Health Detective.” Without ever advertising my services, I eventually had a full-to-the-brim practice with patients who came from the
 surrounding area, as well as throughout the country, in search of an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. 

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I developed some relatively simple tools for approaching medical mysteries, starting with talking to the patients, listening for clues as they
 relayed their medical history, developing a timeline, and trying to determine
 what changes happened around the same time that the patient developed the symptoms.


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One of the easiest cases to solve involved a man who developed sudden onset
 of mild dementia for no apparent reason. He had been to a neurologist who
 did a comprehensive evaluation, including a brain scan and tests to confirm
 the dementia. With blood tests, he ruled out deficiency of B-12 and low
 thyroid function. The neurologist gave the patient a medication that did not improve the patient’s symptoms​.

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When the patient came to me, I took a detailed history and discovered that the dementia occurred shortly after he hurt his back. Naturally, I thought that 
maybe the pain medication could be interfering with the functioning of his
 brain. When he discontinued taking the pain medication, the dementia 
remained the same.

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I asked him more than once if anything changed around the time he hurt his back. After persistently quizzing him for any change, including diet, medications, mold, toxic chemical exposure, or sleep disturbances, he
 remembered a key piece of information. Ever since his accident, he could only sleep while lying on his back. The pain was significantly worse when he slept in his usual side position. His wife said that he snored loudly while sleeping on his back, and sometimes gasped 
for air in his sleep. That was precisely the clue I needed! 

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I sent the patient for an overnight sleep study test, which showed that he had obstructive breathing, as well as sleep apnea, which refers to several-second episodes in which the breathing stops. His average oxygen saturation 
throughout the night was alarmingly low. The brain requires high oxygen levels in order to function at full capacity.

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The patient was fitted for a CPAP that gave him continuous positive airway pressure. Within 3 months, his cognitive function was back to his former 
baseline. He and his family were greatly relieved.

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(A work in progress, publication date unknown)