Prescott Valley Physician Eschews Treating Symptoms, Seeks Illness’ Cause

Dan Morris, M.D., is a medical detective.

He uses technology and lab results to search for the causes of his patients' symptoms.

He also listens to them, which is not typically how it's done.

"The doctor comes in (to the exam room), looks at the computer, tends to the computer as if the computer were more important than you are, and then prints out some prescriptions and says, 'I'll see you in six months,'" he said.

"If you're lucky," he added, "the doctor may say, 'Get some exercise and watch your diet' as he heads out the door to the next patient."

That's a product of the current state of the health care system, where physicians allot perhaps 10 minutes to a visit, up to 30 patients a day.

"Primary care physicians have been squeezed to see more and more patients in order to make their practice financially viable," Morris said.

In contrast, Morris allows no less than 30 minutes per visit, and hour-long appointments are common. He takes the time to learn "the story of your health," because "there can be clues in your history and your family history, even your relationships - stresses in your life can be affecting your health and you may not even be aware of that."

Dan Morris, who has been practicing in Prescott Valley for 32 years, is an advocate for "functional medicine." It's about finding and treating the causes of health problems, which he said is ultimately more effective than addressing the symptoms.

"What we have here today is a health-care system that isn't working," Morris said. "The system is failing Americans and it's failing our health by focusing on the superficial aspects of what's going on," such as blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, weight, and body-mass index.

"All those things are being treated with prescription medications, often, when there's a root cause that's really causing the problem," he said.

He gave the example of a patient who came in and said she wasn't sleeping well, had no energy, and frequently became short of breath, but had seen all the usual specialists with no relief.

"What I'll do is go over the records, go to the specialists' reports, and then go deeper, looking for problems," he said.

One technology that was helpful in that case is a body-composition analyzer. "That tells us the amount of muscle that's in a person's body compared to the other elements of the body," he said.

The woman had a "normal" weight for her height, "and those are the two standard things you measure when you come to the doctor's office," but the body-composition analyzer showed that she had "a serious lack of muscle and an excess of fat," Morris said. 

He learned that she had been caring for her ill husband who had died, and in addition to the physical symptoms, was taking antidepressants as well.

"What she had was a serious medical condition called sarcopenia, or loss of muscle," he said. 

He was able to develop a course of treatment involving muscle building, "and she's fine now."

And he does make house calls when necessary. 

"One thing we pride ourselves in, is availability," he said.

Check out The Daily Courier's full article here.

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J. Dan Morris, M.D.