Why I write to you

And why it matters

Some people expressed surprise that I would be as vulnerable as I have been in my recent posts. I would like to explain my relationship to you, dear reader, because it is probably much deeper and more important to me than you might think.

I started writing in college as an emotional and intellectual outlet. I started writing a newsletter (now this Substack) several years ago as I was just figuring out how to escape the hospital/conventional healthcare system that I found so at odds with my ethics.

Over the last several years, my mind and spirit have formed a kind of connection to you that surprises even me. I have a palpable, sincere, and strong affection and appreciation for you. This is not the work of my "rational" mind. This is how my subconscious has been wired over years of writing to "you," dear reader, based on your responses - opens, clicks, comments, and sharing my emails with your friends and family to grow the number of people I can help.

Even if you just hit the subscribe button yesterday, my brain and subconscious don't know or understand that. To my subconscious mind, you have been here the entire time. That might make my writing confusing, so I do my best to link back to old articles so you can get the context you need to understand what I'm writing in the present.

Why do I have such respect and appreciation for you?

Several years ago, I was an utterly miserable doctor in an atrociously dysfunctional medical system. There were no good jobs. There were only toxic, dysfunctional jobs and work environments. I tried to step into the integrative and functional medical world with job after job, but found that the people who hired me were some combination of incompetent, unethical, or downright crazy.

The stories I could tell you...

I started writing as an outlet for these frustrations. I had to tell people what was really going on in the healthcare system - both the conventional and the integrative systems. There are problems within both. Gradually, one person after another subscribed to this newsletter. Year after year, I sent email after email, with the sole purpose of helping you to take great care of yourselves and your loved ones.

Eventually, I started my own practice, and my own practice is what set me free from the hospital. You, dear reader, might be one of the hundreds of patients I've seen over the last four years. You may have purchased a premium subscription, participated in a coaching program, made affiliate purchases through my links, or shared my work with people who have made purchases.

One way or another, your collective efforts have helped me to escape my nightmare (working in the hospital) and create the life of my dreams (my own practice, married, and now with a family).

I do not take that for granted. I feel that I owe you so much, which is why I try to provide you incredibly valuable, hard-hitting, behind-the-scenes information on how to get healthy, and how to stay that way. I am so grateful for you, even if you've never made a purchase from me. Because I know that if you stick around long enough, eventually, you will.

I hope I deliver priceless information and insight to earn your patronage.

Why am I writing to you?

When I was only a few years old, I developed many common health problems - ear infections and frequent colds and flus. My mother did everything she could to help me recover, which turned into a life-long fascination with what is variously called alternative, natural, holistic, integrative, natural, functional, and environmental medicine (I am probably forgetting a few names for it, but you get the idea). We tried everything.

Fast forward twenty years. I became so fascinated by medicine that I decided to study chemistry and biology in college, and then go to medical school. Since then, I've moved all over the country practicing medicine and studying with different mentors. I've worked at boutique practices on 5th Avenue in New York and I've worked in back-woods hospitals in places like West Virginia and Alabama. The stories I could tell you...

Somewhere along the way, I developed an intense respect and love for humanity. I am deeply moved by my daily practice of medicine. I love people (see John 3:16 and John 10:10, two special verses for me). As I continued to train in and then to practice medicine, I became increasingly aware of how difficult it is to get great medical care in our world. There are so many forces arrayed against us. What is being done to us by our government and "Big Healthcare" is despicable, which was the topic of my first book, "Dying to Be Free." I found that writing about how to practice medicine and how to get great medical care gave me an outlet for all my frustrations with our medical system.

I am here to help you understand how to take care of yourself in our modern world. I hope what I write helps you, if not now, then in the future. Most of what I write about will be relevant to your life eventually. You might not need the information now, but just file it away somewhere in your brain for when you do need it. You're likely to need it when you least expect it - trust me.

Thank you for reading. Lots of love to you and yours.

Until next time, be well,

Dr. Stillman