Look Who it Was Random video

Difference Between Subjective and Objective Symptoms

761 views · Published 19 November 2018 · 5:07 · Indexed 21 September 2026

Channel: CanXida · 2018 · Education

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Hi there, Eric Bakker the naturopath, thank you for coming back. I'm gonna talk about something I mentioned in a video a long time ago, about subjective symptoms and objective symptoms. This is something that not many doctors really talk about.

Subjective symptoms are very different from objective symptoms. What do you think the difference is, okay? Subjective is what you're telling me, okay? "I've got a pain in my tummy," or, "I've got a weird sensation in my head," well, these are subjective. I can't see them. I can't test them, okay? This is what you're telling me, I've gotta rely on what you're telling me.

Objective is what I'm seeing, what I know. I just did a scan on your head, and I've found you've got a small clot in your brain, yes, I know where your headache's coming from. That's an objective, okay? So western doctors primarily work with objective symptoms.

 In most cases, they couldn't care less about the subjective symptoms, especially if they're crazy ones like weird things, you know? "I get a pain from here, and it travels down there, and it comes out my butt." Or, you know, "Every time I have gas, my left eye blinks," or something like that.

Now don't laugh, because this is real. The stuff that people tell me is incredible. What about the guy, the Israeli patient I mentioned a few times on this channel now, the crazy Israeli patient, who could not talk on a mobile phone for multiple years? He couldn't. He absolutely couldn't, he had too much pain in his face and in his head. Now that's a very subjective symptom. 

Now if that man went to any kind of doctor, he'd be seen as a crazy fool, like a complete retard, right? When in fact he's a highly intelligent guy, but he was frustrated, because he picked up his iPhone, he said, "I can't use phones. Every time I use them I get like, a brain fry. I can only use an old, a really old kind of Nokia phone." 

Anyway, this man's stool report was terrible, it was one of the worst reports I've seen for years. But the thing is, three months after we cleaned up the gut, he could talk on a mobile phone. In fact, he actually FaceTimed me from Berlin, from a conference he was on, he had two cell phones. He was talking on one cell phone, and he went like that, and he said, "Eric, I could talk again with no pain."

Now you may think the guy's crazy, or he's a loser, or he's an idiot, or I don't care what you think of him. But this was a very, very real case, where I had a man with a totally objective symptom ... or totally subjective symptom, sorry, that nobody really wanted to look at, 'cause they thought the guy was a nutjob, when in fact the pain's gone now, you know? Now, we could have tested that man in any way to try and determine if this pain was real or not, and we would have come up empty handed. Is he a liar? Do I think he's a liar? I don't think he's a liar, he was sincere.

So this the difference between people like me and medical practitioners. We have to try and discern the difference between the subjective and the objective. 

We have to work out if the person is a crazy fool, or not a crazy fool. We have to look at the test results, the objective results, to see if there's any link with objectivity and subjectivity, okay? All this is going through my mind when I'm working with a patient. 

Whereas a doctor will just say, "What? You've got pain in your face with a mobile phone? You need to see a psychiatrist. You're crazy." Okay? Are people crazy, just because we can't understand? Are people crazy? I don't think so. 

I think we're crazy in making assumptions that they're crazy. That's the difference between a naturopathic doctor and a western medical doctor. We're seen as crazy too, but you know what? I couldn't care less how I'm seen anymore. It doesn't bother me, it really doesn't.

I'm coming to the end of my clinical life, I've worked with a lot of people, and I've heard a lot of stories. I've heard it all before, so I don't care what you tell me, or how crazy you think I am. It doesn't really worry me. What worries me is the outcome we get with the patients. 

And if we really take the subjective symptoms seriously when we know the patient's not crazy, then we act on those symptoms, often we get a better outcome than purely relying on pieces of paper and test results that mean nothing half the time. 

All right? Test results can change really quick. Subjective symptom can stay there for a long time, yet we choose to ignore it. Homeopaths are quite familiar with subjective symptoms. Our practice taught homeopathy for a long time, and I still do.

Naturopaths are also very familiar with subjective symptoms. Chiropractors are familiar with subjective symptoms, osteopaths are, acupuncturists are. Medical doctors send people, who, you know, come up with subjective symptoms, purely for mental health evaluation....

Thanks for tuning in.

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