Fast Confession - Doctor Jan Vojáček: About incurable illness theory, the coronavirus and more
Not all doctors are the same. Jan Vojáček tries to look at his patient as a whole. To help them, he tries to understand their story. He doesn't heal symptoms, but causes. He works as a lifestyle consultant at the Prague clinic Endala. Using functional medicine he leads his clients towards healing and mental balance. Sometimes it's a thorny road, but the former football goalkeeper with a medical degree is successful even with treating civilization diseases such as diabetes.
What's your opinion on the current panic regarding the coronavirus?
1500 people die from influenza in the Czech Republic every year, but it isn't talked about. Sometimes it happens that some more aggressive mutating strains of viruses or bacteria cause a certain degree of panic in people. I'm convinced that while it is necessary to take certain precautions, everyone should try and deal with their fear at the same time. Fear can weaken one's immune system, which is the deciding factor in whether one gets sick or not, and whether an illness can endanger their life. Fear should protect us too, but everything is about moderation. And you have to look for that in yourself.
Would you travel to Asia at this time?
I would personally travel to Asia at this time, given that I had a very good reason to do it that would override the existing risks of the epidemic currently happening there. Which means that I'm not crazy enough to tour the countries where risk of infection is high at the moment, no. But if there was a special occasion, let's say my friend had a wedding in Vietnam, I'd go.
What kind of patients visit you?
People who visit me are falling apart in some way from a certain point of view, both mentally and physically, because living in the present day is very harsh on maintaining long-term health. When you take a look at the current society from a physical and psychological standpoint, we can see that the inner quality of life has been going down over time. That's why people come to me with chronic illnesses in the realm of their physical bodies. At the same time there are always aspects present that relate to their psychological and emotional bodies too and their quality of experience.
What are the most common chronic illnesses that make people visit you?
Autoimmune diseases are very frequent, multiple sclerosis, Crohnn's disease, autoimmune thyroiditis, but also metabolic illnesses such as diabetes, or illnesses that are of functional nature, so to speak. Meaning they are not connected to any diagnostic unit, these people simply suffer from recurring malaise. That may be nausea, bloating, various pains, limited physical or mental performance, low libido, insomnia and many other things.
But when a person comes to you who's suddenly developed diabetes, you can't treat that. Diabetes is incurable.
That's something that I personally do not agree with. I do not agree with the theory of incurable illnesses, because there actually do exist studies that disprove the theory of diabetes being a progressive, incurable disease. Diabetes is considered an incurable illness these days, and that's how the approach to more and more other illnesses has been gradually changing too. Not everyone can be cured, because recovery is a process, a road that is covered in thorns. You cannot be cured using medication, medication should help stabilize the condition for some time, recovery is a journey to realize why the illness happened, and remedying that.
I don't believe in the dogma of incurability, it goes against the dynamic of the body's function and its continuous renewal and the ability to heal. A chronic illness is only one of these dynamic symptoms based on certain circumstances, both inner and outer. And those can be described, understood and changed. It's not easy, but recovery is possible.
Now tell this to all diabetics...
I do tell them that.
A huge number of people get sick every year. Is it because they don't know about the kind of healing that you do?
It's not just me, these days there are doctors, be it here or all around the world, who do studies on how to stop diabetes using a specific diet. But the diet is only one of many puzzle pieces. 95 percent of people don't want to do anything about this though, because it's not about medication. One has to change their lifestyle, diet, sleep schedule, thinking and values. And a great number of people do not want to do this. People prefer to have a donut and give themselves an insulin shot after.
Many people don't want to get into solutions to their life situation in the realm of work, relationships. Meaning that in a situation where you are chronically under a lot of stress, nothing will change about it, you probably will not get rid of your diabetes.
But not all stress is the same. It's crucial to understand the whole context of unhealthy living and finding the strength to change it. Hormones play a big role in diabetes and the stress axis is influenced by the stress hormone cortisol. That contributes greatly to so-called insulin resistance, which is diabetes. Recovery is simply one of the existing options under certain circumstances that one has to strive towards.
How many diabetics have you already cured?
Several individuals, up to tens of people, because it's not our principal activity. We're all about individual approach. For example, I see four people a day, because I spend one or two hours with them. With my team of other specialists and guides we show them the journey they can take to support their health.
A thing that I really dislike is slapping diagnoses on people. People then often identify with their illness and it becomes a part of their identity. Such a person can hardly get better. It's not just Peter or Jane anymore, it's Peter with diabetes or Jane with multiple sclerosis, and it's for life.
My aim when working with people is supporting health and increasing the quality of life and experience. The moment diabetes is caused by an unhealthy lifestyle and long-term overexertion of the body, be it on the level of nervous or hormonal system or metabolism, it contributes to worsened quality of life. And the fact that they have diabetes on top and take medication for it will only change it a little. My main goal is to help restore the quality of life experience, not getting rid of illness.
How long is this process?
Weeks, months, sometimes years. The minimum is three months. It really is a process that isn't fast, which is exactly the reason why not everyone will undergo it. Not everyone will have the time, opportunity and will to look truth in the face, to see what is going on with them.
You've gone through something similar?
I was lucky that it didn't develop into any serious illness, I just started to show various symptoms in the form of muscle twitches all over my body, which could have lead to some autoimmune neurological illness. That did not happen, I was lucky enough to be able to start doing what I'm doing, and in the first place help myself, of course, because that is the best way to help others.
Do you think you recognized it because you're a doctor?
I think so. and at the same time, I think I wouldn't have had to just be a doctor, because most of the aspects of my solutions eventually appeared on the level of the subconscious and emotions. In order to go down the road of examining my underlying conflicts and patterns of behavior, thinking and belief systems, I don't have to be a doctor to do that. Medicine helped me in a way because it cleared up various circumstances for me, what's happening to me, down to the level of physiological processes within the body.
Is it true that you have to develop an almost friendly relationship with your patients in order to understand what's happening to them?
It's a relationship based on trust. With some of them we could say friendly, with some of they we can say professional still, but definitely based on trust. I often tell them my inner and intimate thoughts, but only to a degree that is safe for them.
Do people who suffer from cancer seek you out? Do they want you to help them as a last resort?
They don't. I try to inform people that functional medicine works best as a form of prevention and in the beginning stages of chronic illnesses, aka the longer the process lasts, the most cyclic the changes get and the harder it then is to get out of it. I don't want to get into these actions because in order to be fair to people, I definitely cannot promise them that they will be cured.
Under these circumstances I can promise that we can look how to boost their health, because the treatment itself is in this case often very tasking on the body. I can offer a sort of complementary journey that can support their body, but I definitely do not discourage anyone from treatment and do not promise them recovery.
How do other doctors such as surgeons see you?
There are many different opinions. For some it isn't medicine, it's this "soft" way of doing medicine, not the invasive kind that that quickly treat a symptom. For some it's not scientific, or not scientific enough. Then there's another group that's starting to see a lot of sense in it, because they start to see the limits in their work with people who keep coming back to them, their condition worsening, more health problems are piling up, that only require more drugs. They usually endorse this work and see the purpose in it. And some are even joining us.
How long have you spent waiting for that?
About five years. Over the last ten years I have been able to observe a growing interest in alternative approaches. One reason is disappointment in modern medicine and the other one is specifically the falling quality of people's health. By which I don't necessarily mean cancers and serious illnesses, but also burnout, inner dissatisfaction with one's self, with life, relationships, exhaustion and living with a low amount of life energy. Considering the fact that modern medicine does not deal with any of this, that's why people are interested in different approaches, not just the regular ones. It should go hand in hand.
So when your family catches a flu, are you considering which medication to administer? And whether to do it at all?
Everything has its place and that includes medication. I always say that it should be treated very carefully - prescribing it in the smallest dose possibly for the shortest time possible, when there is no other option. I use this discretion with myself, my family and my clients as well. If it can be done a different way, using rest, soups, herbs or homeopathy, I am able to manage 95% of situations, mine or my family's. Those five percent is exactly the mode in which I am no extremist and the moment my daughter has had a high fever for four days, I won't let her suffer on the fourth day, because she's already been through it for three days and she's exhausted from it, so I'll give her medicine to lower her fewer. In the two years of her life I have done it twice.
What are your personal bad habits? You talked about a lifestyle change, that people shouldn't smoke and eat fatty foods...
Quality fats are good.
You're talking about avocados, but I mostly mean smoked meat.
Even high quality fat or lard are considered beneficial food these days. These concrete myths are "dissolving". Regarding my bad habits, sometimes I go out to have a beer with the guys, sometimes I browse social media, sometimes I watch a silly series on TV to relax.
Those aren't bad habits...
Those aren't? Then I don't know what those are.
Half the nation watches series all the times.
That doesn't mean that it's not a bad habit. (laughs) I understand that it's a form of compensation. My well-known rate is seventy to thirty, meaning that I like to dedicate seventy percent of my time to keeping myself healthy, be it through quality food, sleep, exercise of staying hydrated. Those remaining thirty percent can be something that disturbs this. When the guys and I travel to the World Medical Football Championship where we play and party, they always laugh at me and ask me how I make up for those seventy percent when I party there until morning. I say that that's exactly it, here we're partying and after that I go sleep at 10 pm. Everything's about balance.
