What If The Body Already Knows How To Heal

A single tick bite can flip your life upside down, making a normal meal feel risky and unpredictable. That’s why we invited Malisha D. Crane, a naturopathic doctor and integrative health practitioner at Clear Pathway To Health, to talk with us about what “integrative” really means in day-to-day care, and why she sees her work as complementary to your MD rather than a replacement.

We walk through the practical difference between chasing symptoms and chasing root causes, including why real healing often takes time, discipline, and the right support systems. Malisha explains how she collaborates with local physicians, nurse practitioners, and even out-of-state specialists who want a wider toolkit for patients dealing with chronic stress patterns, stubborn digestive issues, inflammation, and hard-to-pin-down triggers. We also talk about her faith-centered approach, how listening changes outcomes, and why she frames healing as a partnership with God as the ultimate authority.

Then we get into the issue showing up more and more in Morgan County and surrounding areas: Alpha-Gal syndrome, commonly linked to the Lone Star tick and allergic reactions to mammal products like red meat and sometimes dairy. Malisha breaks down what symptoms can look like, why it can go undiagnosed for years, and how she uses nervous system-focused support like auriculotherapy, along with other strategies, to help people move toward relief.

If you know someone dealing with unexplained reactions, brain fog, digestive chaos, or sudden food fear, share this conversation with them. Subscribe, leave a review, and send us your biggest question about integrative health so we can keep bringing you local stories that help you live better.

Transcript

Welcome To The Good Neighbor Podcast

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Tim Serber.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Well, good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Good Neighbors Podcast. I'm Tim Serber, your host, and this show that puts a spotlight on people, businesses, and stories that make Morgan County, Indiana a great place to live and work. Today's guest is doing something a little different. She's not treating symptoms, she's chasing root causes. A neuropathic doctor, an integrative health practitioner, and those are probably the biggest words I'll be able to use in everything that she does. So cheer me on. She's, you know, she uh is a woman of deep faith and believes the body was designed by God to heal itself. And I 100% agree with that. We give them the right support. So, Melissa D. Crane, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

What Integrative Health Really Means

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Yeah, I'm excited about this because I have used your service. I I really and my wife both are very interested in this type of stuff. And we believe also God has provided everything to heal our bodies, to make our bodies great. Um man helps, but God itself, I mean, I just I believe you 100%. And I think we we we hold too much to the norm out there that doctors know best. And and uh I'll tell you to be honest with me, uh the the the uh pandemic really ruined my faith in in the medical world. And I think this is got traction when that happened, this kind of of health care. And I think it's awesome. I think there's great results there, and you you hear about it all the time. So let's just jump into this. Can you walk us through what an integrative health actually means and how it differs from what most people experience in the traditional doctor's office?

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Sure, I would love to. That's an important question. Um, I like to look at this maybe a little bit differently than some uh natural health practitioners do. I consider my practice to be complementary, not alternative. So in my practice, I like to come alongside an MD because, like you said, our medicine is important and our our idea of Western medical treatment is sometimes very, very necessary. If you break your arm, I don't want you to come to my office. I want you to go to a doctor, get that set, and then I can help you with the healing, I can help the body recover. But there are certain things that major medical does for us that I cannot do. So I do not look at my practice as being alternative. Integrative gives me the idea that I am integrating, I am complementing Western medicine. Um, I am also integrating with the natural process of the body rather than trying to circumvent the natural process. Again, like you said, instead of looking for just treating the symptoms, let's look at the root. What is the body doing? God has created it to heal. So why is it not? So we have to look deeply into that. So it's more holistic. Um, I look at it um in uh really the integrative health as being um a partnership between me and my patient. So you as a patient will understand and notice things that are going on in the body that I I will not clinically be able to address or notice or even think to notice. Um, so I'm partnering with my patients to look holistically at the body and then complementing that with anything that they're already doing with their major medical doctor.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

And you have uh developed some relationships with some medical doctors in the area, haven't you?

SPEAKER_02 4:17

I have, I have. Um, I have um four MDs, uh, a nature, um, not a nature path, um, and nurse practitioner that work very closely, that refer patients to me. Sometimes doctors don't have the time and they they think, oh wow, I really think that this person would benefit from maybe some herbal treatments or maybe something different than medicine, or maybe their patient says, I don't want to take any more medicine. And these MDs can say, Okay, well then call militia. Uh, and so we do work well together. I did just get an email this morning from a nurse practitioner in Tell City, Indiana, um, asking to collaborate and partnership on a couple cases that she's seeing down there that I am already treating up here. And so it's really exciting. Oh, and an infectious disease doctor in South Carolina has contacted me. Wow. So, yes, we're uh what I hear from them is that they feel like their traditional medical training might have sort of left out some of the concepts of natural health. And so again, instead of the idea of alternative, either you choose your doctor or you choose me, if we can complement each other, I think we have a much more powerful force to be able to help all of our patients.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

And I think that's important. And I'm glad to hear, you know, uh, because if a doctor is reaching out to you, that means they have an open mind. They are looking at in my mind that says, Hey, I care about my patient. So maybe I can't provide this service, but I know somebody that can actually help, probably.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

So that's that's an important point because there have been some doctors that are very aggressive and very closed-minded. And my typical phrase is I think maybe we just have a difference in understanding and a difference in motive. Um, my goal is that my patient feels better. It doesn't matter if it's me that helps them or somebody else. Um, if I need to find another treatment that helps them, my ultimate goal is that my patient feels better. There are some people that their ultimate goal is to keep the patient and to keep the income. Um, and so I think that's just that really separates um an MD with a heart for their patient or just a traditional MD that really doesn't care.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yeah. Yeah. And I and I think that's what's, you know, that seems prevalent in my mind. It probably isn't. I'm sure there's lots of doctors out there, but um, you know, once you get that in your head, it's really hard to let go of it. And be able to have an alternative, though, I think is really important.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

So you describe yourself as a vessel with God as the great physician. How does that faith foundation shape the way you work with your clients?

SPEAKER_02 7:22

Well, it doesn't just shape it, it is absolutely the foundation. Um, and that settles so many things. It takes all of the pressure off of me. I don't know everything, I can learn a lot. And I literally just had a patient an hour ago that asked me a few questions and I had to say, let's figure it out. I think you're on to something. It looks like it might be a trigger. So let's figure this out. So I can always um learn, and with God's help, I have access to all of his healing. So I have the option of prayer for my patients and with my patients. As a matter of fact, I have a box of tissues right here, and I go through them a lot because people cry. When we're talking about some deep medical issues that nobody can help them with, and then I say, Well, let's ask God about it. Um, you just wouldn't believe the walls that fall down and um the tears. Um, it also keeps me humble because when we do see a miracle, it wasn't me. I wasn't the healer, I just got them to the right person. And so it makes more of a partnership between me and my patient with God as the authority rather than I am the in D, because I'm a naturopathic doctor, the N D that's above and telling the or prescribing what the patient should do.

Building A Whole-Body Treatment Toolkit

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Yeah, I think that's that's beautiful that you you put God on on the list and it and it's you know, that's the great best, you know, that's the great physician. And I agree with that. You know, I and and I think it's neat when you when you talk about people breaking down crying during your prayer, it's because they don't get people to listen to them in the medical field, right? They're not used to that. So when I actually have somebody that's wow, you're listening, that means a lot. Uh and that that can help also with you know their whole uh I don't want to say personality, but their whole attitude about what's going on, you know, where they feel like, oh wow, maybe there is something we can do. Um, I know that uh, you know, I hope I get that feeling with my MS issue I have once in a while. And I really liked what we did, and I'm and I'm anxious to get back to trying it just to see maybe this is gonna help it. Because it's not, you know, like my wife already always reminds me, there's not a pill that's gonna change it all, right? You know, it's it took years to get there, it's gonna take you some time to get back to where you were or to get better. Yeah, so you're a lumus digestive health professional. Uh again, I'm not gonna pronounce that word. What was that again? Auriculotherapist. Auriculotherapist and certified in infrared or infrared light therapy, right? Right. Which I think is really kind of interesting. I like to learn more about that too, and among other things you do. So, how can how did you come to build such a deserve this diversive toolkit and how do they work together?

SPEAKER_02 10:40

That's that's exciting. Um, in 2018, I left the teaching profession. Um, I have taught grammar, literature, uh public speaking, debate, all of that for years. And um there was we were missing something in in healthcare, in my family, um, in society around me. And um, and so I decided to go back to school and uh went more of the medical route, which was quite a stretch to go from English and grammar back into um biology and chemistry and all of these things that ooh, it was a stretch. Um, but I earned my N D in 2018. I look at that as the umbrella. So that is my general degree. Um, but then there underneath that umbrella, I have these specialties. Um, in order to treat the whole body, I needed to know a little bit about everything. But then I started seeing these um uh typical things pop up with my patients. And so I started specializing in a few things. So digestion, because the gut is the root of everything. Uh, so lumus health digestion um or digestive specialist is um was kind of my first specialty that I added. But changing the digestion takes some time and it takes some discipline and it's hard. And so I needed something that would just sort of aid the body and allow people to get a boost, um, allow some positive changes a little more quickly. And so I started looking at the nervous system. How can I calm down the nervous system while treating the digestive? And that's when I came across auricular therapy. And so um I took the training, became certified. It's all about these 200 places on the ear that we can literally affect the nervous system. And oh my lands, it has absolutely transformed my practice, well, become a part of nearly everything I treat because we can tap the ear and tell um the the nervous system to calm down with allergy responses, or and we'll talk in a little bit about alpha Gauss syndrome and um all digestive issues and skin issues and um tinnitis and headaches and ADHD and stroke issues and the nervous system, it's everywhere. You cannot separate a an issue from the nervous system. And so auricular therapy was very, very instrumental in um encouraging my patients to stick with the hard work of changing their digestion. Um, and then um the light therapy. Uh I I have children, we they play sports, they get injured, and we needed um, I needed something for um sports injuries, is really where that started. So um I have uh light therapy here. Many times I'll hook somebody up on the light while we're doing the um auricular therapy treatment or while we're discussing the digestion. We'll go ahead and put them on the light for 30 minutes. Um, it's great for joint healing, uh, muscle repair. Uh, just an amazing um treatment for pain and injury kind of be good for like lower back stuff. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Be good for like lower back issues.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Oh, yes, yes. As a matter of fact, I have it on my chair some often for my low back as I'm sitting a lot. So it's really, really something cool. Um, I also have a blue light setting on it. Now, clearly I don't use it, but it does remove wrinkles. Um I could go more of the beauty side of things, um, but um I'm a little more interested in those deeper health issues. Um and then I I'm a homeopathic as well. So I use homeopathics, um, strep throat, ear infections, sort of. I think of those as my antibiotics or my sick visits. Um, so all of those I felt were necessary in order to treat the whole person. I needed a little bit of training in each one of those.

Alpha-Gal Syndrome And Tick Bites

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Yeah. Well, we are we are at our 15 minutes, but I want you to touch on the one thing that you really were wanting to talk about. So I'll give you uh a few minutes on that. And then we'll we'll wind this down and and hopefully we'll come back with another session because uh we only got through really five questions, if that. So go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

Okay. Well, the big thing that is affecting Morgan County, Owen County, Hendricks County right now is the Alpha Gow syndrome. And this is the infectious reaction to red meat. Um, well, I guess not just red meat, it's any mammal, um, any mammal. So um even dairy, uh sometimes um cosmetics may have some animal products in it. Uh, so we find that when somebody gets bit with the lone star tick and they have an immunoglobulin E rage against that tick bite, um, which inserts a molecule, a sugar molecule into our system. This is a molecule, though, that we don't have an enzyme to digest. So the immune system goes into high alert. There's a molecule I don't recognize, I can't digest it, and it throws off all these horrible digestive issues, um, skin issues, brain fog, um, vomiting, and serious anaphylactic shock when the throat actually closes up. Um, some people have been struggling with this undiagnosed for years and years and years, and it's becoming more prevalent. The issue is that galactose one and three galactose molecules that are found in that tick inserted into our body that we can't digest. So I am using auricular therapy on the ear, four weeks of treatments. We absolutely, well, 99.9% success in the last three years, um, removing the symptoms completely. But I was worried that maybe that molecule stayed in there. So we now have an enzyme supplement of galactosidase that actually breaks apart that molecule and digests it. So it removes, it removes it from the body. So right now we have people out there sounding the alarm. This is incurable, this is this is life-changing. You'll never be able to sit on a leather couch again because because of the leather from the cow. You can't go to a steakhouse and even order just chicken because steak is being cooked. So the the fumes and I it's awful. I mean, people are just hurting over this. And I am excited that one of my friends who got this syndrome contacted me and said, You have to do something. And I said, I don't know how to do this. This is out of my wheelhouse. He insisted I practiced on him and believed and we found it. We found a way to calm the nervous system. All the symptoms go away. I suggest four weeks of treatments, but most people after the first or second treatment can start eating what they want. Um, some of them after the first week, they're done. They're like, Yeah, it healed me. It's gone. Um, I have people that have had the treatment and not had um another reaction for three years now. Um, I'm keeping a close eye on them to make sure it doesn't reoccur. Um, or if they get rebit, um they call, I'm the first person they call. What do I do? And we watch it and there's not been reactions.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

So I'm I'm pretty excited about Alpha Gal right now.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Yeah, I I don't doubt it. And we're getting into the season of the ticks, so you sure are be getting pretty busy.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Yes, absolutely.

How To Book And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_01 19:40

What uh what is the easiest way for people to get in touch with you and find you?

SPEAKER_02 19:45

Well, my website is www.clearpathway to health.com. So you can go there, get a little bit of information, make appointments right there from that calendar. Um, or our business line is 765-410-7755.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

All right. Well, Militia, thanks for being such a great neighbor and for bringing this kind of thoughtful, faith-centered care to Morgan County. That's that's awesome. And and folks, if you want to learn more or schedule your free 15-minute consultation, visit Militia's website, uh www.clear path health to health. Clear path to health. Clear Pathway Pathway.com. Yeah. And uh schedule time with her. Um, we have the we'll we'll put the link in the notes uh of the show. So uh thank you again. Uh and I'm Tim Serber. This has been a good neighbors podcast. And until next time, take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and keep being a good neighbor. We'll see you, Melissa.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show. Go to gnpmorgancounty.com. That's gmpmorgancounty.com or call 317 743 2058.