PHOTOS BY DANIEL LIPPITT

The Alternatives

Medical specialists
are increasingly
looking at
nontraditional
approaches
to health care.

RUTHAN BRODSKY
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

S

erious stomach problems
plagued Dr. Noemi Eben-
stein, Ph.D., for several
years. Specialists were un-
able to diagnose a cause, let alone
a solution.
She rationalized that she had
probably picked up some rare
virus that caused discomfort and
hindered her ability to digest food
on one of her many trips to Israel,
her birth place.
"I was examined and reexam-
ined and underwent every con-
ceivable test, some of which
caused more discomfort than my
condition," said Dr. Ebenstein of
Southfield, "and the most I could
find out was that I was under too
much stress or I was allergic to
some food."
Last summer, Dr. Ebenstein

lost a lot of weight in a short Dr. Jeffrey lacks good quantitative
time; she was very con-
and qualitative studies and
Nusbaum
cerned. "Again, I went to a stands next to is a reason much of the
gastroenterologist who put a reflexology medical establishment
chart.
me through the standard
objects to many of the
series of tortuous tests, in-
non-traditional, centuries-
cluding an upper and lower GI old medical practices associated
which provided no new answers." with acupuncture, vitamin and
She was referred to Dr. Jeffrey mineral supplements, hypnosis,
Nusbaum, M.D., who uses tradi- massage and manipulation, her-
tional and nontraditional med- bology and biofeedback.
ical approaches to treat patients.
Despite the fact that the Food
"He listened," said Dr. Eben- and Drug Administration esti-
stein. For several months, mates that Americans annually
through trial and error, they ar- spend $500 million on acupunc-
rived at a solution that included ture treatments alone for prob-
a special diet and enzyme sup- lems as diverse as infertility,
plements. "This treatment is chronic pain and varicose veins,
working," she said.
many medical professionals con-
According to general surgeon sider holistic medical approach-
Dr. Herbert Bez, the use of al- es as quackery.
ternative approaches to medicine
"I don't object to alternative

medical approaches as possibil-
ities for treating patients," says
Dr. Bez, of Farmington Hills. "I
do object to those approaches
when their use interferes with
or tends to discourage other,
more successful traditional med-
ical modalities for treating dis-
eases."
Dr. Jeffrey Nusbaum uses al-
ternative medical treatments in
his practice but his beliefs about
what makes a good doctor and ac-
curate diagnoses are similar to
Dr. Bez's viewpoints.
Dr. Nusbaum started looking
into the possibility of alternative
treatment when he was unable
to help one of his patients who
suffered from panic attacks. He

ALTERNATIVES page 70