Where do breakthroughs come from?

I have been reading about health stuff for over 20 years now as I have tried to find the pieces to my own, seemingly strange health puzzle. 

My book, WELLNESS PIECE BY PIECE, is my effort to document what I have learned so far.  My goal was to encourage people with chronic conditions that there is HOPE! They can feel better! I write in the book that I don't feel I have yet found ALL the pieces and am continually looking for new ones.  (That's also why the sub-title of my blog is "Piece By Piece, The Story Continues")

Recently, I believe I have come across yet another new puzzle piece.  At this point, I don't know for certain if this really is a piece, but it sure feels like it!

I came across Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker, MD, by reading two of his books, "Mold Warriors" and "Desperation Medicine."

Dr. Shoemaker lives and practices in Pokomoke, Maryland.  You almost can't even get to Pokemoke, but thousands of people with chronic conditions now find their way from all over the world just to see Ritchie (as I found out he prefers to be called).  I was so impressed with his books and research, that I called his office and scheduled an appointment to travel Pokomoke. 

(I made the trip last week and it's still too early to know for sure if I really found another piece or not.  I will share more of what I learn in the coming months as I work through the things that I have discovered.)

While I was there, I was interviewed by a Baltimore TV crew that was there to do a story on Ritchie.  She asked me why in the world I would come to Pokemoke from Scottsdale to see a Family Physician?  I told her that it was because I strongly suspected that he had discovered a breakthrough in the diagnosis and treatment of certain chronic conditions.

She asked me how could it be that a doctor in Pokemoke could discover a "breakthrough" instead of a place like Johns Hopkins, Duke, or Mayo Clinic. 

I said that coming from the computer industry it was not at all surprising to me that breakthroughs were happening in a place like Pokemoke!  The entire computer industry in the early 1980s was radically changed by two "nerds" working in a garage in Cupertino, CA.  Steve Jobs and Steve Wosniak invented the first real personal computer and called their company Apple Computer.  At the same time Digital Computer, Prime Computer, IBM and others were researching all kinds of computing technology.  Today, only IBM still exists.  The personal computer literally destroyed the other large computer companies.

When you look at most breakthroughs that have taken place in medicine over the centuries, they usually have happened because someone made an astute scientific observation and then followed doggedly where that observation led.  That is Ritchie's story!

Usually, the mainstream persecuted and ridiculed the discoverer before they finally woke up to the fact that they were right all along.  Then the breakthrough would finally be adopted and become mainstreamed!  It is just the nature of how things work.  As I quoted last week:

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
       -- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860) courtesy of The Quotations Page.

And so it continues today!  Arrogance is SOOOO dangerous because it prevents those in the mainstream from rapidly recognizing something incredibly significant.  And arrogance typically plays a factor if the discovery does not come from a "prestigious" location.  But history should teach us that places like Pokomoke are exactly where we should be looking!!

Keep in mind that 2 centuries ago, people in the Israel said, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"  It certainly seems to be a pattern!

Comments

[Joanna]

What does Dr. Ritchie think he has discovered?

[Pat Sullivan]

Ritchie has found several things, but the most important is a hormone called MSH which is basically the "boss hormone." His entire practice/protocol is based on increasing MSH levels. I've been communicating with him over email as my test results come back. I'll blog on this more in the near future.

[Sara]

So how are things going with Dr. Shoemaker? Has he found anything he thinks is significant?

I just had a Lyme disease blood test done today, but was told by my doctor that Lyme really doesn't happen where I live -- very rare. I expect it to be negative given what he said, but I have heard about false negatives... and also there are other chronic neurotoxic organisms Dr. Shoemaker is investigating, right? I'm trying his online VCS test, but if that turns out negative, I'm not sure if it's worthwhile going to see him. So if you could relate your experiences in your blog, I'd appreciate that.

[Pat Sullivan]

Sara, I am learning quite a bit from Ritchie! I'll keep you posted on the developments.

[Steve]

Pat - Do you have any MCS or SBS doctors that are familiar with a biotoxic illness in Arizona? My fungal hypersensitivity is getting worse by the day, and MCS is also kicking in. So my body's detoxification system is heading in the wrong direction.
Help!