We spoke with Dr. Xercavins, one of the best “specialists” in general medicine.
Dr. Xercavins, do you think that general medicine can be compared to a specialty?
It is not only like a specialty, but it is the queen of specialties, since it encompasses all of them. But nowadays we almost only talk about supra-specialties. And within general medicine I also have my own, that of being a general practitioner.
Do we know that you are also an expert in another very technological specialty: biomolecular medicine. But is so much technology compatible with being a classic general practitioner?
Being what you say: a “classic general practitioner” does not mean doing without the latest biotechnology. In fact, we use it in our practice at the highest level, as one of the new tools that the general practitioner already has to handle. Some patients have said to me that I am a “technological general practitioner”. Well, this should not be an obstacle to practicing traditional general medicine, quite the contrary.
And how do you combine that tradition with high technology?
With a small virtue: vocation. This is the only way to find the time to visit a chronically ill patient at home and have a cup of coffee with him and his family. Or to calmly attend to someone who is perhaps more distressed than ill. The secret to all of this will be to never look at the clock or feel the need to do so. And as for technology, it is also part of a vocation and a desire to be at the highest level to benefit the patient. But I cannot deny that there is a little bit of personal pride to be at that highest level. For all this, it is also essential to work with the best team of professionals.
We tend to associate general medicine with traditional methods of study, such as books.
I am so glad you mentioned books. Now it seems that there should only be study with computers. Of course, via the internet we can keep up to date and communicate with medical centers all over the world. But the pleasure of going over complete subjects with a good medical textbook is incomparable. And all this is compatible with the most advanced medical technology and biotechnology. It is perfectly possible to attend to the patient as a “bedside”, dedicating all the time to him, discussing details of his case with him or his relatives, etc., and then perform a check-up with a state-of-the-art Spectral Doppler in the consultation room. Or ask him for a genetic study, a determination of his superoxide dismutase or control the oxidation of his DNA with the 8 O HDG (it is a simple analysis).
But with so much biotechnology, where has the naturopathic medicine that you used to practice gone?
Well, it has been left in the first place. We use it in more than 50% of the cases. It turns out that in many cases biotechnology has brought us back to natural medicine. Our genes and our biomolecular markers in general want nothing to do with chemistry. Let me give you just one example: if I find that a patient has a polymorphic Paraoxonase gene, which indicates that his LDL Cholesterol will be more aggressive, and may cause more arteriosclerosis, I will be able to improve the expression of that gene, using Tocopherol or Ellagic Acid which are in different foods. I will advise you the most suitable ones or I will give you some supplements… and thanks to biomolecular information, I will give you natural products. So biotechnology has rediscovered and given a scientific basis to naturopathic medicine.
And with this new naturopathic medicine based on the scientific data of biomedicine, can we overcome allopathic or conventional medicine?
It is not a question of overcoming but of complementing. We ourselves in our daily work are not doing biomolecular studies to all the patients we see. If a patient comes to us with acute bronchitis, gastroenteritis, headache, etc., we will not do those studies, but we will try to heal him/her as efficiently as possible in a conventional way, perhaps using natural products, but without prior molecular studies.
To which patients, then, do you propose biotechnological studies?
This is a subject that we have well structured, we propose our revisions or check-ups periodically, according to age and circumstances. And molecular, genetic studies, etc. when there are chronic processes, without a clear diagnosis or with a torpid evolution. Whether these processes are organic or physical, or psychological.
Can healthy people also benefit from these studies, and up to what age?
We propose these studies not only in the mentioned cases, but also to the healthy and even to the very healthy to help them to maintain and increase that health. For this purpose we have developed a study called “Plan Ómnium Salud”, which covers most of those tests and which are done in principle only once in a lifetime. This study will provide us with a multitude of hidden data, all of which can almost always be improved with Natural Medicine, and which as General Practitioners we will always use more, for the benefit of that patient, since they will have left us with permanent information. We will simply continue to practice our traditional general medicine, but with new permanent information, until now hidden. As for age… I have never in our practice used this parameter. Except logically in the terminal stage. We always look for the maximum health benefit, whether the patient is young or very old. I have never thought that because we have an elderly patient, we should not do everything for him… The same as for a young person. It is precisely in the venerable years of life that the patient has every right to get better. And so, for this stage of life, the physician’s mission becomes a sacred mission.
It is clear that the most advanced medical technology can go hand in hand with the practice of classical general medicine.
I have already told you the secret: a lot of vocation and a little spark of personal pride… And put in a lot of hours. Working every day and also some nights… And some others… daydreaming about our patients.