I love solving puzzles and I would love to put the pieces together for you – the one about the reason for your symptoms. I love getting to the root cause by putting all the puzzle pieces together. This includes the history of your health, family, mental and emotional symptoms, and any possible triggering events. That is why I love Acupuncture and Functional Medicine.
How did it all begin?
Well you know when you are in Standard 9 (Grade 11) you are faced with the decision about what to do, for the rest of your life?
I have always been fascinated with biology and the mind – in short, medicine. So to make an informed decision, I decided to spend time with a general practitioner. My dad drove me 4 hours away to spend a week with a kind doctor to let me experience the ‘doctoring’ bit. After 3 days I phoned my dad and said please come and fetch me, this is so boring. Every second person got a similar script for the medicine to treat their symptoms.
Next, I had the opportunity to spend some time with a homeopath. I was hooked immediately. What I loved was the individual approach – each patient was treated as a unique being. Think about it for a moment – however many similarities there are, yet we are not the same and we are all inimitable individuals. So this is part one of the story. After the 5 years of studying homeopathy, a course becomes available on Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine.
I was excited – “I am here, first in the queue”, and I’m still enthusiastic about any new courses that I feel will give me a greater chance of knowing more about ongoing discoveries and developments, and thereby helping you. Yes, I am a bit of a nerd qualified Cum Laude.
After delving deeper into the root cause of a disease I discovered functional medicine. A thumbnail description about this development in medicine is that it takes into consideration all the different biological and functional characteristics of the body and understanding more about what symptoms these aspects lead to where all these varied aspects come from.
Chinese Medical pulse diagnosis was the next tempting morsel to study. This has traditionally been a great secret in Chinese Medicine. Only if you were a family member or had close links would you be privy to this information. So I eventually found a mentor who has had the privilege of being exposed to this wisdom. Now I bless my mentor, Dr. Doane; he believes that this knowledge should be shared and used to help more and more people. His philosophy is that if the student is willing the teacher will appear.
So that was a mouthful. What I do when you come to see me, is that I use a blend of ancient (Acupuncture, Chinese medicine, Homeopathy) modern techniques (Functional Medicine), as well as taking your individuality (mental and emotional) into consideration for the best experience and outcome.
In the 20 years, I have been in practice my goal has always been to help a person feel better in the shortest possible time. My own experience of breaking my arm very badly in 2000 and again in 2015 makes me very empathetic to your needs. I also understand it does not need to be a case of conventional medicine versus complementary medicine, but it can indeed be beneficial to integrate the modalities. In the 15 years between similar, and equally severe, injuries, I have realised the benefits of the new and rediscovered developments in both kinds of medicine – stem-cell transplants for one thing, and light therapy for another.
I have been invited to appear and present on the following shows: Street talk with Nolene, SABC1 YOTV, MIX FM, and Massive metro.
You don’t need to understand x-rays to understand the next story. More about the healing journey of recovery of my broken arm below the Official Bio.
Appearances
Mix FM, heath24, YoTV, 3Talk, MassivMetro, Radio2000
Dr Debbie Smith
Dr. Debbie Smith qualified as a homeopath with an M.Tech. (Hom.) Cum Laude from the University of Johannesburg. Registered with the South African Allied Health Professions Council as a Homoeopath and Doctor of Chinese medicine and a member with the Homoeopathic Association of South Africa.
Dr. Debbie has also completed the compounding and dispensing courses required by the South African Government and is certified as an Acupuncture Practitioner. She consistently studies the latest techniques and findings in the alternative medicine arena and often provides input to leading health columns, radio, and news articles.
She advocates a healthy lifestyle and enjoys sport and being active. She is an avid adventure racer and has completed the Absa Cape Epic and Ironman South Africa, and most recently, the one in Denmark.
Her passion is finding the root cause of her patient’s disorders and disease. Medical pulse and tongue diagnosis as well as functional medicine testing are all part of getting to the root cause.
In October 2010 I nearly broke every bone in my Right arm during a car accident whilst cycling. I have first-hand experience of what it is to have pain, how to treat it effectively, and speed up recovery.
Straight after the accident, my hand was swollen 5 x its size so the Orthopaedic surgeon had to cut my hand open by 3cm just to release the fluid. I ended up with 54 pins and 3 plates after the surgeon did an excellent job fixing the multiple fractures. 3 days after being released from the hospital I stopped all pain medications.
I treated myself with acupuncture, herbal medications, and homeopathy. In February I did my first event being the Midmar mile (a 1.6km swim). I strengthened my arm with appropriate exercises whilst treating with acupuncture and continuing my neutraceutical protocol. Since then I have completed 4 full Ironman events (3.8km swim, 180 bike, and 42km run), ABSA Cape Epic (mountain bike event over 8 days 800km), and Comrades marathon.
Acupuncture is very effective in treating muscular and skeletal problems as you can see!
Living life to the fullest – Ironman, Cape Epic, Reunion Island
