Your Healing Belief Is Wrong

Far too often these days, we go to our corner in the boxing ring and we come out fighting.  We don't read or listen or attempt to understand the other person's point of view.  This is especially true in the healing world.

For several years, I despised the medical establishment.  I wrote about it and filtered it through my own paradigms in what I shared with others.  I've since come to appreciate and understand the medical world much more than I once did.

From the moment they almost took my life from me in a medical procedure until now, I have had a distrust of them.  Fortunately I came back to life, but when someone messes with you breathing in your body and taking that away, you tend to see things differently. (Read about my Near Death Experience.)

When people say that "your healing belief is wrong", they are limiting all that is possible and kind of limiting all of life.  Yes, they may have a point, but if you come out of the ring swinging as if any other thought is wrong, then you're not interested in learning more about what is possible.

I've seen plenty of things in my life that are placebos.  I've seen many procedures that only show part of the picture, not the entire thing.  We tend to look at our medical conditions through the eyes of fear, not through awareness.  When we do this, we cloud our best judgment.

Why can't there be multiple paths to the same treatment?  In treatment, I don't mean covering up and numbing the body.

Why can't there be elements of truth in every medical or healing procedure that does work?  Do we have to melt everything down into "it works or it doesn't"?

Because of our own paradigms and beliefs, we often miss the bigger picture of what is doing the healing work.  I've been in enough classes and programs to see that people build a "procedure" or a "program" around one thing they can prove which often diminishes the pure essence of it.

I believe we have far much more power within ourselves to affect real change in our lives.  I've seen it personally in my own life and that of many others.  I believe we don't have all the answers, and that in each healing modality or truth out there, there is a core truth that makes a difference.  It is the core truths that I focus on, not what the masses are led to believe.

Sometimes you can use some healing modality without subscribing to the beliefs within it.  The best way to look at it in my opinion is to test it and if it works, see if you can reproduce it again.

 
Just like medical procedures that are elevated as the "cure-all" of the world, there are many healing modalities that don't fully measure up either.  It isn't going to get us anywhere if we dismiss everything that each teaches.

If we open up to the core truths within each one, we will get farther in our own lives.  If we see our knowledge of healing as being true to this moment, it helps us go and discover more than we knew was possible.  It is all up to us, but please don't put on blinders as to what heals.  You're just limiting your options if you do.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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The Magic Pill Of Healing

All too often we chase healing modalities and pills and procedures as if they are the cure all.  Sure, they help at times and they have helped me.  However, there is much more to healing than getting lost in the cures and losing site of what really makes a difference.

Far too easily, we give up our own innate healing power to beliefs, opinions, and the latest fad of the day.  Sometimes these things are not proven or tested, but everyone believes they work.  Sometimes they do work.

I recognize fully that we cannot always quantify what works.  It is not always because it cannot be tested, but sometimes we just don't have the methods to test it.  Sometimes our knowledge has not advanced in our human civilization to quantitatively make a statistical conclusion.  I know there are people who think if it can't be tested in a scientific laboratory, that you discard it.  This is short sighted.

On the other hand, if you accept every premise that comes along without careful evaluation, you will set yourself up for chasing pretty rainbows as treatment options.  There are many things out there that people think work, but they don't even begin to understand what the "essence" of the modalities is or what truly works.

A moment of pause...

If you can't repeat it from person to person, the magic pill of healing should bring you a moment of pause.  If you become part of a group think, even if it is subconscious and you believe something is happening when it isn't, it should bring you a moment of pause.

Yes, there are elements within healing modalities that work, but far too often we build a belief system of rules and procedures around that.  We end up obliterating what is truly there that is healing in lieu of the human ego with its desire to control.

Feeling it in the body...

You can chase magic pills of healing all day long.  You can give your power up to others, but if you don't go in and connect the experience, the thoughts, and the emotions that arise with where it is felt in the body,  you're working with half a deck. There are far too many snake oil salesman selling a tonic that has no medicinal value.  The key emphasis being on feeling it in the body!

We have so much more within us that we ignore.  We have far more ability to understand and find the answers we need, then we ever allow ourselves to admit.  We have the ability to enact so much physical change in our body, but we subscribe to the fears we are born with and are taught in our life.

It is when we go into those fears and recognize our innate ability to heal that we find true healing.  We see at that moment what are just magic pills of healing and which are tonic sold by snake oil salesman.

There are just far too many things out there that don't pass the sniff test, let alone could stand up to the rigors of repeatability.  We may think our "modality" stands the test of time, but if it doesn't continue to evolve and change and grow, then please challenge what you think and believe.  Don't mislead others even if you're misleading yourself.  It harms people.

In many ways, if you want something to work, more than likely it will.  In the same manner, if you don't want something to work and think it is puff and stuff, than that will most likely be your outcome.  Choose wisely, because your own healing could depend upon it.

#Placebo

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Chronic Pain Prolonged With Painkillers?

There is nothing worse sometimes than when you hurt.  When you're in pain, you just want it to be gone as quickly and simply as you can.  If you're a highly sensitive person, pain is not your friend.

Let's face it though, no one wants to suffer through chronic pain or any type of pain.  In this country we will do just about anything to avoid it.  Painkillers often become the way we deal with life, medical conditions, chronic pain and other situations we find ourselves in every day.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2010, enough prescription painkillers were prescribed to medicate every American adult every 4 hours for 1 month.  (source:  drugabuse.gov).  We all have most likely read just how much painkillers are being abused and overused these days but that statistic is frightening.  I have seen the recent news of Prince overdosing on Fentanyl (Fentanyl Deaths Soar) . 

Pain medications among fastest rising additions...

Heroin and pain medications are the fastest rising addictions in the US according to www.addictions.com. As they discuss, there is great potential for addiction no matter what drug is used.

While painkillers seem to be America's best friend, they are dangerous and according to a new study by University of Colorado, could be more harmful than good.  In the study, they reveal that opioids such as morphine actually increase chronic pain.

Not just long term painkillers...

We are not talking about a long term painkiller that is being used, but just a few days of treatment that ended up causing chronic pain for several months.  In their study, the painkillers were triggering an immune response which caused the release of pain molecules.  Once this happens, it increases the perception of pain in the brain.

I am saddened to see just how many painkillers are being used today and how many addictions result from this practice.  It has been many years since I have taken any prescription medication whatsoever.  I try hard to keep myself healthy or find effective alternatives if something is needed.

Self-Medicating is not helping our bodies...

We cannot keep self-medicating our bodies and expect us to be fully human.  It is not helping us individually or our society, because rather than getting rid of the pain, we are just numbing ourselves to it.  Numbing does nothing but take you further into the darkness of life while helping you believe that you're doing the right thing.

The more we go into the pain, the more aware we are of what is happening in our body.  Yes, when the pain gets to great, then it is very difficult to manage and I do understand that.  However, taking more painkillers is not the answer like this study suggests.  Finding ways to connect with our body and come out of numbness will yield much better results over the long term.

If you want to learn more about how the placebo effect works, take a look at the following blog post on Placebo Effect And Medical Care .

(click image to read)

Question Of The Day

What ways have you found to alleviate pain without using painkillers?

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Power To Change Our Mind And Body

Its far to easy to think we can't!   It is far to easy to think the odds are stacked against us.  All too often, we don't believe in the power to change our lives.  We think that to change requires a drug, surgery, device or new age cure.

Yes, there are times when these things are may be necessary, but many times we have not exhausted our options.  We fall for the "fear" of having to do "something" to treat whatever condition we have.  We fall for the fear of listening to the hype in the media or online of how to find some substance and cure to treat ourselves.

All too often, we chase after the placebos and yet we don't even realize it.  We look to outside sources and we look to the modern day miracle cures as if they were our only salvation.  Yet, we do not stop to look within and tap into the natural healing power we posses.

We may think we aren't smart enough or not talented enough to do this.  We may think that this only applies to a special few.  We may think it is just new age mumble jumble and only God heals us if we're good enough.

Our bodies strive for health and balance.  We have many biological processes that help us maintain homeostasis in the body.  When we input stress constantly, we disrupt the balance.  When we carry around the baggage of a lifetime, we disrupt the balance.

When we inject substances into our bodies, one part of our biological system is helped while another is short-circuited.  In that moment, we force our body to find a way to bring us back to homeostasis.  Instead of working to balance out that which is not working, we introduce yet another entity that now the body will need to overcome.

There are far too many cure-all substances out there that get pushed every day.  Many are not backed up by science and some that are, were done in research studies with so much bias that they are no different.  It does not stop anyone from pushing the drugs, miracle cures and unnecessary stopgap measures.

We have far more power in us to do that which is laughed at in modern society.  We chase too many nonexistent rainbows when all we need to do is believe in the power we have to change our mind and our body.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Creating Your Life And Self Sabotage

I recently found this video and loved it, so I wanted to share it with all of you.  Ever since the movie documentary, "What The Bleep" has aired, I have always liked and enjoyed what Dr. Joe Dispenza has said.

A company from Australia that I am now an affiliate called 180Nutrition interviewed Dr. Joe Dispenza and it was an excellent video.  I took  notes of the video and have tried to summarize them below to help you follow along with the video.

I did not realize that Dr. Joe Dispenza went through a horrible accident in a triathlon and to heal his paralysis from his broken vertebrae, he found a way to heal himself without medications and surgery.  Yes, the surgeons thought he had PTSD when he opted not to have surgery, but in the end, he conquered what life had thrown his way.

Take a look at 180nutrition, because these guys have similar views to healing and taking care of the body that I write about on this blog.  It is what attracted me to them and today I just tried their product for the first time.  It was delicious!  Here's the link for 180nutrition.

Notes From The Video

Speaker:  

Dr. Joe Dispenza with 180Nutrition Guys

Topic:  

Break the Habit of Being Yourself & Create the Life You Truly Want

Video Link (YouTube)

https://youtu.be/PYJbdOb93vo

Author Of:  

• Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself 
• You Are The Placebo
• Evolve Your Brain

1.  In 1986, he was injured by a vehicle during a triathlon and broke six vertebrae in his back.  Surgeons wanted him to have a procedure called the Harrington Rod surgery.  
• Dr. Dispenza said if it was a patient of his, he would have advised them to have the procedure.
• He opted not to go the surgery and the surgeon thought he had PTSD because no one ever opted out of this surgery for the condition he was in.
• He did not want to be paralyzed and in a wheel chair taking medications for the rest of his life.
• He decided to take the journey between the connection of the mind and body, realizing that some intelligence giving us life, if he could connect with it and surrender to it, then he felt he could heal himself.
• He went through hell and realized that this was much more difficult than he realized and much harder than simply stating this concept.
• Six weeks later he began to see changes.
• Ten weeks later he walked back into life and was doing races at 12 weeks.
2.  Meditation was a big part of how Dr. Dispenza healed himself
• Consciousness is awareness and awareness is paying attention.
• He reasoned that when he closed his eyes, he could eliminate the external environment, forget about the paralysis and the pain in his body.
• He did this for three hours every day.
• His mind would start to wander and then he would start the meditation process over.
• He stated that it took him a long time to anchor into his brain.
3. Why Do People Self Sabotage?
• The hardest part about change is not making the same choices you did the day before.
• The moment you decide to do something different, get ready because you're going to feel uncomfortable.
• To no longer think the same way
• To no longer make the same choice
• To no longer behave the same way
• To no longer have the same experience
• To no longer live by the same emotion
• You're going to feel unfamiliar.
• You are stepping into the river of change and the minute things don't feel good, that is when someone wants to return to their same chemical state.
• Going from the old self to the new self is crossing that river of change.
• It is the biological, neurological, chemical, hormonal, genetic death of the old self.
• Most people want to create a new life but they cling to the familiar self and emotions.  The moment they stop feeling the same way they always have, they feel uncomfortable.
• The body starts to send signals back to the brain that says start tomorrow, this doesn't feel right or you'll never change.  The person listens to that voice or thought as if it were true.
• The thought leads to the same choice which leads to the same behavior and the same experience and to the same feeling.  It feels right.  It is what they know.  It is what feels familiar.
• People don't believe they can go from one place to the other because when they are in that void, you can't predict the future.  The moment someone can't predict the future, they go back to what they know.  
• The best way to create your future is in the unknown, not in the known.
• Self Sabotage is what feels familiar.
4. When creating a vision of your future, are there muscles to train to keep yourself on track or faith that the outcome will be there?
• You're either defined by a vision of the future or defined by a memory of the past.
• The brain creates images and pictures which forms intention.  
• When we get clear on intention and the vision, it creates an emotion.
• You become inspired, excited, enthusiastic.
• The body lives in the future, not in the past.
• Like a garden, you have to keep feeding it and giving it life.
• If we use feelings as a barometer for change, we will talk ourselves out of possibility.
• The moment we don't feel like doing it, we turn back to our old self.
• The person that arrives at their goal and vision is because their vision is their compass.
• They will make choices consistent with their vision.
• They will get clear on the choices they are going to make.
• They will get clear on the experiences and behaviors they need to stay away from and the emotions that bring them to a lower denomination.
• People get too distracted with meaningless things that takes them to emotions that keep them from the vision.
5.  Placebo Effect
• Story of a study with cancer patients.  30% of the ones on the placebo chemotherapy treatment lost their hair).
• More than 40% on their way to chemotherapy that are told they are going to get nauseous, get nauseous on the drive there in anticipation of the treatment.
• Can we think ourselves healthy?
• If people are given a sugar pill, saline injection, false surgery or procedure, a certain percentage of those people will accept, believe, surrender to the though that they are getting the real substance or procedure.  
• They will begin to program their autonomic nervous system to make the exact pharmacy of chemicals that they think they are taking.
• Is it the inert substance or the body's innate ability doing the healing?
• In a depression study, 81% of the people given the placebo got better because they are making their own pharmacy of antidepressants in their body.
• More than 50% of people in pain studies given saline are having no pain because they are making their own morphine by thought alone.
• A pill in the quantum field represents getting healthy.  The moment you combine a pill with the possibility of an emotion such as hope, the combination of clear intention and elevated emotion takes the person from living in the past to living in their future.
• It is a scientific fact that the hormones of stress push the genetic buttons that create disease.  70% of our culture lives in stress the majority of their time.  
• You can think about something in the past or worry about the future and turn on the stress response just by thought alone.
• If you thoughts can make you sick, is it possible that your thoughts can make you well?

Conclusion

There is a good chance, I've missed some other great material in this video.  I just tried to take down notes for myself and share them with everyone.  You can use the notes as you listen to the video and you will probably get much more from it. 

In my own life, I have found to be true, what he says.  I too, was paralyzed but from a Conversion Disorder.  At one time I was told I would most likely never function fully in life and I would always be on medication.  The doctors were not sure if I would ever walk and hold down a job.  I was bound and determined to prove them wrong and I did.  I take no medication and anyone around me would never know I was once paralyzed and almost no longer alive.

There is so much we can do and hopefully you will listen to this video.  This is not new age mumble jumble.  It is stuff that many of us have already discovered and understand.

Thank you to Dr. Joe Dispenza for the video you did with the 180nutrition guys.  I hope to get the chance to attend one of your events because your concepts have helped me in my life.

Do Antidepressants Work

I'm not a big believer in medication or pills of any kind.  I never have been and that started way back when I was a little kid.  Even in my career with animals, I always tried to find other ways to treat sick animals and keep them well without using medication and vaccines.  We live in an over-medicated society both with humans and animals.

While I am not a big supporter of medications, I do believe there are times that we need things to help us through difficult times of our life.  As I say that, I'm perplexed because what one person thinks is a bad time versus how another person sees these difficult moments is so different that I think it is hard to be objective.

Do Antidepressants work?  

Are Antidepressants bad ?  

These are tough questions and what I write is not necessarily based upon objective scientific research data that I can summarize.  It is based upon my own life's experiences.  I'm not speaking from a pie-in-the-sky concept, but one that has helped me in my own life. 

Do Antidepressants Work?

It depends upon who you talk to if antidepressants work.  Pharmaceutical companies and many medical doctors will claim they work with data to back up their claims.  Others in the new age or alternative industry will claim that they do very little.  Some people will claim they are nothing more than the placebo effect.

Keep in mind that the pharmaceutical companies are trying to market and make a profit off of the antidepressants.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it has gotten carried away in our day and age.  I personally feel too many medical professionals are compromised because there is far too much money and perks thrown at them by the pharmaceutical companies.  Most likely there is a great deal of peer pressure as well and many individuals also demand that their doctors give them these medications.

Some people will state that you can do the same with your mind that the antidepressant can do in your mind.  While I don't discount that, it is far more difficult for people who are severely depressed to do this on their own will and accord.  When you are in that deep state of depression, nothing matters in life and changing how your mind sees things is not something you can easily do.

Are Antidepressants Bad For You

There are many side effects from taking antidepressants and they are not fun.  Ask anyone taking medications about side effects and most likely they will tell you how awful they are.  I fully believe that any drug or pill or medication you take that alters one system in the body, damages or degrades or alters another system in the body.

If we were meant to take these pills like this, I think we would have been born with them in our hands.  On the other hand, we do have doctors that exist to help us through life's problems.  I just don't believe you can categorically state that antidepressants are bad for you overall.  It depends upon the person.

One horrible mistake we make in our society with medications and antidepressants is that we look to them as the treat-all and end-all for our condition.  We gulp them down as if this tiny drug will magically make our life better and we in no way need to do anything else to help change our life.  We don't change our ways.  We don't alter what we do.  We just take the pill and go on about our life with the same patterns, choices, and awareness that brought us to this point.

While some new age and alternative therapies want to act as if all antidepressants are bad, they are forgetting one thing.  The individual that does not have the tools or the resources to help them through a rough part of life, needs something that will help temporarily.  The individual needs something to be able to get back on their feet and in lieu of the tools or resources, antidepressants can help.  Again, I say this with the assumption that the individual is seeking out other ways to work on their life and making choices that lifts them into a different awareness in life.

My Experience With Antidepressants

When I went through Conversion Disorder, my doctor wanted to put me on medication.  I fought him hard on this because my family told me that the doctors would brainwash me if I went on medication.  So, my doctor made a deal with me that we would try it my way (without antidepressants and medication) and if it didn't work, we would try it his way.  I made it all the way until I was discharged from the hospital and once the real world hit me, I had no choice but to go on medications.

I had unusual experiences with antidepressants where I didn't know what to expect, but I thought the sensations and feelings I was getting after being on the medications for a few weeks were somehow bad for me.  Little did I know that this is how life was supposed to be and without antidepressants, I would have never discovered that part of life.  They helped me so much but at the same time, I was doing extensive therapy work on myself.  I was not just relying on the drugs and medications to be a magic wand.  I did not stay on these for more than 2 or 3 years which I think is a good thing.

Fast-forward many years where more was beginning to surface in my life and each day I was seeking ways to actively commit suicide.  I started seeing a therapist and she suggested that I start taking antidepressants again.  At this point in my life, they helped me deal with what was going on so that I would stop trying to kill myself.  It was then that I could focus more on therapy and working through the issues I had to deal with in my life.  Without antidepressants, I'm not sure I would be alive.

As I have continued my healing in this life, I have found other ways to deal with depression, anxiety, and all the issues I have had to deal with throughout my life.  It is a different form of work, but one that takes you deep internally and makes the connection between what you feel in the body and how the mind connects to it.  It has been a challenging process, but one that now allows me the tools to deal with what comes up, even if I sink down into despair for a short period of time.

Our Choices With Antidepressants

We all have to make choices in how we treat ourselves and what paradigms we hold on to or let go of in our life.  We can embrace a medication lifestyle or we can embrace a life where we get to know ourselves intimately in an internal sort of way.  The answers we need are not in a pill, medication, procedure or the advice of some other person.  These things may help us get to the answers, but ultimately the answers are within us.  We just have to stop and find them!  Unfortunately today in our society, we fail to go inside for the answers.

Feel free to ask questions if you want and I will try to answer them from my own experience.  No matter what, if you are in a bad spot in life, please seek help.  Get informed so that you make the best choices for your life.

This blog post is not medical advice.  It is more about my experience and what worked for me.  You need to seek the advice of a medical professional before making any decisions based upon the information I have shared in this blog post.

You may also want to check out my book that details some of what I went through in life.  I am working on a second book that shares a different side of the torture and trauma I experienced.  Check out my book on Amazon, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Scatter Approach To Healing

Many years ago when I was working one of my first jobs, I saw how many would treat animals that were sick.  It was the scatter approach to healing.  Even though people thought there were doing the best thing they could do, they were actually harming the animals.

I still remember when a vet told me to discontinue the medication we were putting in the water.  I remember saying, "but the animals will die".  He looked at me and said, "but right now you are killing them more by adding this to the water."  Just so no one misunderstands this, we were killing the gut bacteria by over medicating the water, even though we thought we were helping the animals get better and not die.

In healing modalities of people, I often see the scatter approach to healing.  Everyone goes for this procedure or that procedure, this medication or that medication, this philosophy or another.  They keep piling one thing on after another.  They keep going for the latest fad and sensational thing that someone says will be the magic pill.

Unfortunately, this further harms the people they are trying to help.  I've seen it time and time again.  Its like if someone can't see immediate results, then they make the assumption that what they are doing is not working.  Even though the results may be there and someone is not able to see them, it is almost like - what's next?  What's the next thing I can try.

Challenge Your Healing Paradigm

One thing I'll never understand about humans is how they think.  Sometimes I actually think humans don't think.  They just follow along with what they were taught and saw practiced.  Sure, everyone wants to act like they are free-thinkers and not following a script they were taught but the evidence does not support that theory.

Unfortunately, I don't think we see things as clearly as we do.  We see things through all the mirrors of our life's experiences, family teachings, filters, and what society expects of us.  We don't necessarily see things the way we think we do.  Society is far to quick to squash those that do and we are far too quick to succumb to it as humans.   There is power in the masses following the same plot line.  There is fear in the masses doing what they think is best for themselves.

Many years ago when I was paralyzed from Conversion Disorder, none of the medical staff could tell me what I needed to do to heal myself.  They did little things but I think they resigned themselves to the fact that I might have been in this situation for the rest of my life.  It wasn't easy to go through this and finding my way to healing was much more difficult than the paralysis. I literally had to follow my own courage in what step to take next even though I had no clue at the time.

Placebo Effect And Medical Care

The LA Times recently reported an interesting study that had been done.  In this study, the placebo effect was evaluated, but this time it was looked at from a different perspective.  Rather than just observing the effect of placebos on treatment, they looked at how the cost of the treatment given impacted the results.  The study was conducted at the University of Cincinnati. 

The patients were given treatments with one placebo costing more than another.  In fact, the patients were told that one dummy pill cost $1500 a dose and the other cost $100 a dose.  Most studies of this nature are done with evaluating placebo pills against actual medications and drugs.

Both placebo pills improved results but when the $1500 pill was given, there was a 9% greater improvement than the $100 per dose placebo.  You can read about the study more at the article in the LA Times, Expensive Placebos work better than cheap ones, study finds.

Pharmaceutical Sick Care Loves Its Drugs

How dare you!  How dare you!  You're talking smack about my drugs.  They keep me alive.  They maintain my life.  They keep me and my friends from dying.  How dare you!  Just who do you think you are?

I see all the time how people talk about pharmaceutical companies and medical care providers as being evil.  In many respects, there is much truth to it, but I still believe at the heart of all that is good, there are people who want to do the right thing.  Corporate greed and profits of course get in the way and has degraded health care into a dependence upon medications.

Are all medications bad?  I don't think any of us can answer that.  If you're a diabetic, would you consider insulin a bad thing?  Probably not.  Are all antibiotics bad?  Probably not.   Are antibiotics over prescribed and over used?  Absolutely!  I don't want to take one color and paint all medications in one light or another. 

Health Care Follies

I have to admit.  I have not had health insurance since 2003 or sometime around that point.  In fact, I've not had to go to the doctor in so many years, I'm not sure why I would start going now.  I know many people do and many people believe in this, but I'm one of the strange ones when it comes to health care.

Maybe its helped that I've done a trmendous amount of healing work on myself and I just see things differently.  I see what is possible, rather than sumcumbing to what is the norm.  I've had experiences in my life that made me doubt so much of what is pushed in modern day health care.  In all reality, I'm probably one of those that health insurance companies want on their rolls, because I cost very little.

It wasn't always like this for me.  At one time in my life, I suffered from ulcers, migraine headaches, allergies, pains of all types and of course the mother of all health care issues, conversion disorder.  Not long ago I had pulse rate that hovered around 100, high cholesterol that no medication could help and my life struggled with depression, anxiety, and a rash that covered my entire body.

Through all of this, I learned that the power to heal myself did not come from doctors, or pills or new age practices.  I learned that the power was within myself.  It took awhile to see this and it took even longer to begin learning how to fully tap what was already within me.  Now, I'm not saying I am 100% perfect and can heal any ailment within my body, but I will put myself up against any medical or new age procedure any day of the year.  I continue to play with this in my own body as I learn how this actually works.  It isn't exactly easy to repeat in other people.

Antidepressants And The Placebo Effect

Antidepressants And The
Placebo Effect

Did you see the recent program on CBS 60 Minutes that aired on 2/19/12 regarding depression? The title of this show segment was Treating Depression - Is There A Placebo Effect? Irving Kirsch, associate director of the Placebo Studies Program at Harvard Medical School states without hesitation that there is most definitely a placebo effect.

Placebo effect is when a simulated treatment is given in place of an actual medication, medical surgery or procedure. For instance, instead of giving someone a drug or medication to fight some condition they have, a sugar pill may be given. From the research that has been done by Irving Kirsch and others, it is found that placebos have the same effect as many medical interventions.

Shortly after the paralysis from the conversion disorder I went through, my psychiatrist wanted to put me on antidepressants, but I refused. I hard heard in my family that if you took those, they would mess up your mind and brainwash you. While that wasn't the sole factor in my refusal, I was one that just hated to take medication of any type and I still do. In this case though, once I got out of the hospital, things changed. I still remember sitting in my apartment, listening to people come to the next door neighbor's sidewalk sale and freaking out. I had every curtain and drape closed and was shaking uncontrollably with fear while hearing the voices. It was my first anxiety attack that I recall. As a result I started on antidepressants, of which I can not fully remember the name.

False Assumptions In Healing And Clinical Errors

Candy For Medical
Treatment

On KevinMD.com, there was an excellent article on clinical errors.  While I realize this was written more for the medical community, it applies to healing and alternative practices.  I'll let you read the full article but I'm just going to highlight a few that stuck out to me as I was reading it.  The following is my own take and perception on these items.  They are not meant to be aligned with the article on KevinMD.com that I reference. 

1)  The Placebo is just as powerful as modern medicine.  While many pharmaceutical companies do not highlight the effect of placebos, they often heal just as well as the medication or treatment.

2)  Many diseases do not all of the sudden show up.  There is a progression over time.  They are gradual.  Identifying what is going on in the person's life prior to the symptoms appearing is critical.  Learning how to help the client change their life is more likely to offer long term healing, rather than a quick fix.

What Is Healing?

The body can perform in the way that the healer or doctor or drug company expects and predicts they will. Doctors give patients a name for their condition or an option of a test or surgery to help alleviate the person's condition. They desire to help heal the person and all too often, many people believe what the doctor or test is telling them without even ffirst getting to know and connect with their own bodies.

Pharmaceutical drug companies and pharmacists or even herbal experts and food healing nutritional experts say that if you take this "substance" or this "capsule" or this "drink mix" or this "pill" that you will be healed of your condition. How many billions get paid to these companies that push all kinds of these products in a year and yet, how many of these conditions have actually improved. If you can't find the answer to that, I'll give you a hint - not many!

Then we get to the healers that have a goal of taking people out of pain and helping them heal from their conditions. Yet, all too often some of these things work while all too often, they do very little. There is no consistency because most healers are missing the basic points of healing. They create a "system" of healing along with specific procedures and practices so that you can truly heal people and take them out of their pain. In all reality, you could give them a sugar pill and accomplish much of the same thing. So much of what we THINK works out there in the healing professions (alternative methods included) really is nothing more than a placebo.

I've been on a massage table when I noticed my body responding to the massage therapist and acting as if it was relaxing and enjoying the massage. However, my mind was on a different path stating, I don't want to feel - I don't want to sense - you go ahead body and just play along. If that sounds ridiculous or impossible, let me be the first to tell you that it is not. I've seen this happen many times in my own body and that of others that I have worked on or observed. Our minds are very powerful at protecting ourselves and they do whatever they need to in order to accomplish this. One important point to note here is that this is not a conscious thing that someone does. It all happens in the unconscious mind and the unconscious body, before anyone can usually notice that it is taking place. So if you tell someone to be aware of it or to be conscious about it, you're talking to the wrong part of the person you are trying to heal.

One time, I was in a training class for a massage technique that involved very gentle, slow movements. The person on the table had an arm that was not wanting to move and the practitioner said in these commanding words "let go of your arm"! It startled the person on the table because they were not aware they were doing this and in all reality their conscious mind was not. Yet the practitioner was talking as if they were. They were talking to the wrong part of the body and mind for the person laying on the table. If they would have just stayed there with the person in a way that offered safety and trust for them, the person's arm most likely would have let go.

I've seen people (and been one myself ) who went into a doctor and the doctor listened to the symptoms that were described by the patient. However, the doctor looked at the situation through their focused view of what healing was about and prescribed either medication or further testing to take care of the condition. At no time, did the doctor suggest that the person needed to evaluate their lifestyle and make appropriate changes. They might have alluded to this fact but did so very insignificantly. Yet, they were only treating half of the problem but failing to get at the source of what was going on.

I have had situations throughout my life where doctors believed I had the early stages of MS and began treating me accordingly with medication. Later they found out that this of course was not the case after my body had severe reactions to it. So doctor after doctor, and test after test, kept confirming one thing. The doctors did not know what was wrong with me in this situation. Each doctor would conclude they did not know and pass me on to someone else until one very wise doctor began to ask important questions. These questions were not about any medical procedures that I had gone through but were about things going on in my life. Only then, did I begin the opportunity to start healing my life.

There is far more to healing them popping some pills, following some new age concept or undergoing surgeries and test procedures. Our bodies can and they do influence how we react to various drugs, procedures or alternative treatments. The skilled health practitioner can spot this if they are looking for it but all too often, the blinders are on and they fail to see it. We are so busy in the health care world expecting to see the results that we want to see, so we feel like we're making a difference, that we miss the important stuff.

Then you get to the healing philosophies that just want to take people out of the pain or alleviate the pain. These healing professionals feel that this is the best thing because a person that feels no pain, is a happy person. My question is to healing professionals, why would you want to mask the pain? This is the body's way of getting someone's attention and trying to get them to come to terms with an issue they need to face. Taking that message away or burying it in them could cause potential side effects on down the road that are much more difficult to deal with.

Often times healers, cannot stand to see someone suffer and that is a good thing. However when it gets in the way of our healing, than it is a detriment to what we do. There are many times that we get patients and clients who come to us and their symptoms or conditions resonate with issues in our own life. So, we work to clear this from them, in an unconscious way of hoping that we heal ourselves. On one hand, desiring to help someone heal from some condition is a noble thing, but on the other hand if we allow our self unconsciously to divert that healing to our own body, than are we really there for the client? What if we worked on our self first and healed those things in our life that need to be healed? Than, we set out to help others heal from these same conditions. Consider just how much more effective and focused we would be. Consider the difference we could make in the world if we did this.

Healing is not about looking through our own blinders and having an emphasis of just masking the pain. It is much more than that. It is about connecting the mind, the body and the entire person together using all the information that we have and then working to bring about increased awareness to the person. When the person we are working with has more knowledge, more awareness and are connected to all parts of themselves, there is the potential for true healing to take place. Only emphasizing one or two of those things does not bring about true healing. Until we change the physiology and the biology of a person, we have accomplished little.

Until we do the intense healing work on ourselves that we need to do, we can only be there in a limited capacity with our clients. It is in our best interest and in theirs to work hard on ourselves and to heal ourselves. Anything less is holding our potential back as well as our clients and patients.

There are so many things out there that claim they are the ultimate in healing and yet, some of the times they work and some of the times they do not. Instead of claiming to have all the answers, we should be seeking to find out why some do not respond. What is the underlying truth that we are missing? What have we failed to see or understand in trying to help others? Healing is not about using a set of procedures and organized modalities or practices that we subscribe to. It has nothing to do with that and yet, it seems to be the overall emphasis in western culture. No one has all the answers even though I see many healers appearing as if they do.

It has been well tested that placebos often respond as well as the actual drugs given in clinical trials or various treatments. All too often though, the results of these placebos are buried so no one really knows about them. Placebos do not bring in income to companies producing them nor to health practitioners prescribing their modalities and practices. In addition, many people follow blindly, the truths expounded upon by TV advertisements as well as the claims that are passed on from one healing practitioner to another, without anyone ever verifying if these things are backed up by hard science. We can no longer sit by and just repeat and regurgitate that which we are told or hear from others. We must begin to open our eyes and see all the facts or the absence of facts in any healing procedure and treatment we subscribe to.

It is time for us as healing practitioners to really begin to learn that healing is so much more than we currently know and are aware of. It is time for us to begin to learn that if we fail to heal ourselves, working to heal others becomes like dog chasing its tail and never quite catches it. Healthcare is not about spending billions of dollars or making treatments that cost $200-$300 a session to give them value. It is about making biological and physical changes in the life of our patients and clients so that their life can change and grow and evolve. Anything less than that, is not healing.


*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Unneeded, riskier spinal fusion surgery on rise

As reported on MSNBC.com, A study of Medicare patients showed that more complex spinal fusion surgeries have increased 15 times between 2002 and 2007. Although simple fusion surgery declined during this time, hospital charges grew by 40%. In the article, it is suggested that aggressive marketing of devices used in the fusion surgeries is playing a role in this increase. There have been allegations of financial kickbacks to doctors using the spine surgery products.

Conditions that spinal fusion surgery is used for includes common lower back conditions caused by aging and arthritis. The findings suggest that these more challenging operations are riskier and they lead to complications and deaths.

About 5% of patients who had simple or complex fusion surgery, suffered major complications such as stroke. This is compared to decompression surgery patients that stroke was a complication because of the surgery, 2% of the time. The risk of death 30 days after the surgery was .6% for complex fusion surgery compared to .5% in simple fusion surger and .3% for decompression surgery.

When you read articles like this, does it make you stop and think a little? Does it just make you question why one surgery over another is more dangerous? Maybe it makes you wonder why people resort to surgery in the first place? Hopefully, at least you are asking one of those questions.

Our body gives us warning signals that something isn't right and usually this is through pains in our body. All too often, we ignore those pains and we deaden them through all types of pain relievers, hoping that they will just go away. Pain is one of the ways that body says - hey, I'm trying to get your attention. Often, there are things we need to change in our lives and yet, we fail to heed the call of the body.

So after some time has gone by, where we have ignored our body, we then seek medical care as the answer to all our problems. We fail to look inside of ourselves and look at what may be causing the condition. We just want someone to take the pain away which is usually nothing more than masking the pain so we don't feel it. If drugs and medications don't work, than surely surgery must or so we think. And for the new age, alternative therapy people - we think that if we put electrical stimulus in our muscles or we do this or that form of bodywork, nutritional supplements and or some type of flavored drink mix, than we will be cured! And alternative therapy people are a little more smug about it because they are doing it naturally they think. Please don't get me wrong. There are many alternative therapies out there that are very beneficial but don't be blind sided by them. Don't mask the pain in exchange for another therapy.

At the end of the day, we are still ignoring our body and what is sending the signal up through our body. We've learned all our lives that pain is not good and so we do things to "avoid" the pain, not fix the pain. Its easier that way, we tell ourselves. Again, at the end of the day, we are still ignoring what the body is trying to tell us.

Looking to others, whether it is alternative therapies or medications and surgeries, for the answers is only going to keep us searching, and wanting relief. It is only when we look deep inside that we will find the answers that we need. Yes, there are people who can help us get there but until we look within, the body will not fully heal itself. At the minimum, there will be residue of the pain lying in a dormant state within our body.

All too often, we fool ourselves into believing that we need to get rid of the pain. If we just spent the time going into the pain and becoming consciously aware of what was causing the pain, it would go away. It would not just go away temporarily either. If we shined the light of truth on it, we would find the pain running for the hills trying to get away from us as fast as it could.

It bothers me so much when I turn the TV on and see the constant barrage of ads on medications. While they do claim this medication does something positive for us, they also enjoy listing all the harmful side effects that each one has. Yet, in alarming numbers, we continue to purchase and consume these medications as if they are giving us life. In reality, they are taking life away from us. I do not want to state that all medications are bad and should never be used. That is a decision you need to make with your doctor but make the decision in an informed way. If you do not go searching deep within yourself and just turn to the surgeries or the medications as your salvation, than you are truly robbing yourself of being human.

There is a concept called the "placebo effect" that has extreme healing power for us. In fact, when many of these studies for medications and surgeries are done, the placebo affect often does just as well, if not better than the medication or surgery. However, these things are often just not written about because they would take millions and billions away from the medical establishment. What company would really want you to know that you could basically heal yourself, if your mind was convinced that it could? That would take a lot of money from the drug companies and surgeons and hospitals. Think about it. Don't take my word for it. Try to prove to yourself if this is true or not.

Health care is not about taking drugs, doing surgery or finding someone to tell you that if you do their therapy or take this supplement, you will be healed. There is just so much of that thinking out there and if it truly worked, these people would work themselves out of a job. The way you become healthy is to get in touch with yourself and to truly travel deep into your mind and body, through the fear and controls you put in place in your life. Anything less than that and you are robbing yourself of truly being human.


*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Antidepressants - Expensive Tic Tacs?

According to a Newsweek.com article published on Jan 29, 2010, "The Depressing News About Antidepressants", studies suggest that popular drugs are no more effective than a placebo.

While I know that statement may come as a surprise to many and many may completely disagree with it, I'm actually learning just how true this is. At one time, I was on antidepressants as well and I actually believe they helped me during that time. It was a time where I was so depressed and suicidal that I needed something to help lift me up from that. During this time, I had very little support but did start to see a therapist on a regular basis. To me, the medications helped lift me up enough that therapy could work and I could begin moving forward in my life. Until that point, I was on a downward spiral.

My Own Medication Experiences
Than if I go back to some of my own experiences and that I've personally witnessed, I saw where drugs were the crutch and without them, the mind was much stronger than anyone wanted to believe. We often turn to the medical doctors, tests and medications first instead of taking inventory of all aspects of our lives.

I still remember when my grandfather needed pain pills after a car accident and since we lived in a rural area and it being the weekend, no medications refills could be obtained. My mother however, took some of our little candies from Halloween and convinced my grandfather that these were super pain pills. He went from being cranky and complaining about being in pain to falling asleep and having no pain. Little did he realize, that he had been given sugar candy and yet in his mind, these were pain pills.

In my own life, I've reached for medications that I thought helped but in fact, without them I could accomplish the same results. Of course that meant, I needed to address certain issues of my life and make changes in my life but in the long run, this was much better than a continued dependence upon drugs. I'm not talking minor physical complications either but situations involving allergies, migraines, stomach ulcers and some of the latest things that I experienced involving severe itching and rashes. Actually the more I tried the regular medications and drugs, the more some of my situations worsened.

Long Term Medication Harm
One thing that is important to note is that when you take medications, in order for it to alleviate some symptom or situation, you are suppressing something else in your body. Some normal process that helps keep your body in balance is now suppressed and that has implications on down the road at some point in your life. So, just because something seems to work on the surface, it may be doing untold harm to your body in ways that you're not even aware of. Most of the drug commercials on TV talk more about all the side effects than anything else, which I believe is very telling and proves the point that I'm trying to make here.

The Placebo Effect
In this Newsweek article, the following was stated which again lends credibility to what I am talking about.

But ever since a seminal study in 1998, whose findings were reinforced by landmark research in The Journal of the American Medical Association last month, that evidence has come with a big asterisk. Yes, the drugs are effective, in that they lift depression in most patients. But that benefit is hardly more than what patients get when they, unknowingly and as part of a study, take a dummy pill—a placebo. As more and more scientists who study depression and the drugs that treat it are concluding, that suggests that antidepressants are basically expensive Tic Tacs.

I'm Now Drug Free
For me, I am no longer on any medications. At one time, I was taking Zoloft for depression, Claritin for allergies, Imitrex for migraine headaches, Tagamet for my stomach problems and Tylenol for daily headaches. While I was taking these, I was told by medical professionals that most likely I would be on many of these for the rest of my life considering all that I had been through. Even though I had no clue or real understanding that I would one day be able to kick these drugs out the window, something deep inside of me urged me to keep searching. It was that little tiny voice inside that told me there was more to these things than I currently understood. The only thing I am currently taking is Fish Oils and there is a wealth of benefits that this naturally occurring substance helps our body with.


How Did I Do It?
As I went into some intense therapy where I started to face down the fears in my own life and let go of all that locked me into events of the past, my body began to change physically. So many conditions that I and the medical establishment thought were untreatable, were in reality something that could be changed. It wasn't a magic pill or a miraculous healing that did this. It was going into the fears of my life and the hidden corners of my mind to release all that was there. We all have situations in our current life or our past where things have happened to us and unless we find a way to allow that energy to exit, we hold it in the cells, muscles and tissues of our body. It is not until we fully release those things, that we truly get our lives back and function the way our bodies are meant to function.

Designed For Health And Balance
Our bodies are designed for health and balance. Our bodies are currently changing. In the book by Mirka Knaster, "Discovering The Body's Wisdom" on page 46 it says, in less than one year, we replace about 98 percent of all the atoms in our bodies. When I read that, I am astounded at just how much power our bodies have and how they biologically can change. If we continue to suppress their functions with the same information that we have relied upon all our lives, than we inhibit the change in our lives. Humans are evolutionary in that we should be changing and evolving. It is built into our biology. Let us not be content with the status quo because this is what we were raised to believe or what society offers as a total explanation to life. Let us all go beyond that and see the potential that exists even when we cannot begin to see a glimpse of it through our eyes.

*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Health Care

I continue to be amazed at what our country, society and world views as "health care". If you say "health care", the first thing that comes to the mind of most people is going to a doctor for check ups, tests, medications and procedures. Ok, it might include a few other things to a few other people, but mostly that's what is portrayed in this world.

While there is a need for doctors and medicine and health care as described, that is only half of the picture. I know the medical association, the doctors, the pharmaceutical companies do not want you to think otherwise. For if you do, their corporate profits will go down.

Contrary to what 99% of the population thinks, there are so many other things that one can do to take care of their health. Yet, those things are in the minority and somewhat sampled on an occasional basis. And if you do not agree, just take a moment and look around you to see what the vast majority of people are doing for medical care. That is where the proof is to what I am saying.

In order for us to shift the paradigm that we have all fallen into, we have to examine some basic facts.

• #1 Much of our life experiences including our past, influence our present moments. If we do not deal with the past, it will deal with us. That is a plain, pure and simple and a proveable fact!
• #2 We often ignore the true message of the pain or health condition we are facing because it is easier to pop a pill, than to deal in the nitty gritty stuff of our life. Sometimes pills are needed in certain situations but they should not be the first thing we turn to.
• #3 We often make much more out of the situation then we need to because often (I'm not going to say always or 100% of the time) but often there is some emotional, mental or spiritual side to whatever medical situation we are facing. There is more to the picture than meets the eye.
• #4 We often feel solace and comfort in placing a label on the condition we have. However, the danger in this is that now we live up to that label after we find out all we can about it. We may not realize we do this but often labels we put on ourselves or our conditions hold us back more than they help us.
• #5 The mind is extremely powerful in healing our body if we allow it to do this. The placebo effect is now being found through research to do as much healing in physical ailments as the actual drugs themselves.
• #6 As a culture, we have relied on research to provide us with the answers and solutions that we need to either help treat ourselves or our loved ones. Yet, research is a big business with many dollars being thrown around and in order to evaluate the research, we need to follow the money trail. In following the money trail, analysis of the research results can be evaluated more accurately. Research and statistics do not necessarily mean that the conclusions are 100% accurate.
  
• #7 Fear is one of the most common culprits for making seeing eyes blind and by that, fear rules this world in so many ways and it blinds us to what is really and truly going on. Fear is valid when you are running from the tiger but fear has no place when you are trying to discover the intricacies of your body, the world around you and the universe.
  
• #8 Being with pain is very difficult whether it is your own or someone very close to you. As humans (especially when we have allowed fear to come into our lives), we struggle to be with someone or our self that is in pain. It is a natural part of our biological lives but when it becomes the sole arbitrator of our life or our loved ones, than we have lost site of the possibilities that exist.
  
• #9 Supplements and health drinks and potions and snake oil are widely used in the world by people who believe they will work. Often they cost so much money and while there is much science and research to back up the claims, these products fail to live up to the expectations. Remember the placebo effect? Remember to, that even in these so called "alternative health" means, you need to follow the money trail and evaluate them accordingly. Even with expensive price tags and miraculous claims, these things are not always what they seem to be. Look at them and evaluate them through open eyes that do not close.
  
• #10 Possibilities are endless! Let me repeat that. Possibilities are endless! Be careful, locking yourself into one paradigm thinking that this holds all the answers for you. For when you are thinking this way, you have given up on the possibilities that exist.
  
• #11 The answers we need are within us. In our society we fail to listen to ourselves, our bodies and our thoughts. We fail to connect to that which is within us. Within each one of us is a master healer. When was the last time, you listened to yourself and I mean truly listened to yourself? For when we do not listen to ourselves (to thine own self be true), we give our power up to someone else and we lose so much of the potential that is right within our bodies, our minds and our spirits.
• #12 Consider what is going on in your life the next time you get an ache or a pain or something seems off. Often what is happening in your life will show up in some physical way within your body. Have you ever heard someone say, "my back is killing me" as they over exert themselves without rest, or maybe my "legs are tired/hurt to move" when they are struggling to make a decision of their path in life? Do I need to say any more or is the picture clear?
  

Each one of us needs to evaluate what is best for our lives. If we do not take the time each day to listen to our bodies, to go in and clean out the closets of our lives and to give ourselves rest, than how can we expect to be healthy inhabitants of our own bodies?

Health care is not about procedures and taking pills. Health care is about getting to know your body in every way possible and then listening to your inner self in finding the most potential for your life that you can. There is so much more out there than the advertisements show us each and every day. We've become people with eyes that are closed when we so badly need to open our eyes and claim everything we can.

The potential exists and the possibilities are endless. How much will you close your eyes to? How much will you allow yourself to open your eyes and see?

The Placebo Effect

Placebo in Latin means "I shall Please" and has its origins in medicine that was used more to please the patient rather them benefit them. Today, placebos are used in many forms that most of us would not even recognize. While many of the regular health care procedures we gravitate towards appear to be backed by scientific studies, many of the same positive results can be done without these routine health care procedures.

Placebos are anything from a sugar pill to an inactive or fake medication or treatment which is designed to mimic a drug or medical treatment and given in the same way. After a placebo is administered, any improvement in the health and well being of the individual whether felt, observed or measured is called the placebo effect.

In 1955, the work of Henry K. Beecher, titled "The Powerful Placebo" was published. In 15 trials, he claimed that 35% of the 1082 patients documented, were satisfactorily relieved by the placebo alone. Some researches now suggest that placebos can be just as effective as any medical treatment.

When I was a kid, my grandparents had been involved in a car accident on the way to our house. They were not seriously injured and were released after being checked out. While they rested at home, the doctor had prescribed some pain pills for my grandfather to take if needed. He of course needed them and so he took them as if they were treats. Unfortunately, we lived in a rural area, so he quickly ran out and because it was the weekend, there was no place to obtain these from until Monday. My mom, growing tired of hearing my grandfather complain about the pain he was in and how badly he needed the pain pills, devised a plan to treat him. She took the little sugar candies we got at Halloween called smarties and told him that these were very high powered pain pills. She convinced him that they were much better than his regular pain pills even though he questioned her that they looked like candy. And believe it or not, they worked. I actually remember him remarking to my mom that these pain pills were the best things he had ever taken.

When I worked around farms and would make visits with the Veterinarians, we had what we called the "boiling water option". Sometimes you needed to treat the people taking care of the farms as much as the animals. So often I would run into situations where some of what the care takers would see was not real. They perceived it was but from an objective mind, you just could not isolate what they saw. So instead of wasting money on medications that were not needed, we would find ways to make it look like we were doing more than we were. Often, we joked that we were "boiling water" so to speak but in all reality, it was a placebo. It worked every time!

In many clinical research trials, placebos are given to all test subjects prior to the start of the test without any of them knowing this. If there is a positive response during that time, then this test subject is kicked out of the trial results. In fact, more often than not, the prefrontal regions of the brain showed changes in activity as a result of the placebo.

Consider how many times you go to a doctor and you tell them your symptoms, which of course results in them giving you a "name" for the condition you have as well as a "medication" or "treatment" to get rid of the condition you have. While there are situations where this form of medicine is necessary and critical, much of it is interfering with not only the function of the mind and body but with the messages the body is trying to alert the person to. There is great power in having a name to put to our condition but often times, it becomes a hinderance because we tend to vibrate towards the condition instead of vibrating to heal it.

In our society, we are so closed off and shut down to all the messages that our bodies put out in a day. We barely listen and if we listen, we have almost inactivated that part of us which is there to help us. Instead we want to numb that which we feel and get rid of it so we do that through many different methods in our days including medications and medical treatments. If only we learned to listen to our bodies and listen to the messages from the pain or from what we felt, we would offer ourselves so much more than we could possibly imagine. The mind is very powerful and the body has the ability to heal itself from many of the conditions we face. Please don't get me wrong in that I am suggesting medicine or medical intervention plays no role because it does. However, until we learn to listen to ourselves first, we are only short changing life for ourselves. The more you interupt the normal balance and homeostasis in the body with the introduction of outside cures, the more you inflame the situation and force the propagation of it into other areas of your life.

While there are scientific reasons and research for medicine to suggest certain procedures, more often than not, the person may alleviate the symptom only to find the onset of another symptom or condition. Yet, in our society, this is the way we view things because as I say again, we have shut ourselves down to listening to our bodies. Some of the messages and pains coming through are more than we have the tools to deal with and so it is easier to just turn everything off. The only thing is, it is much more dangerous in the long term for our life.

I remember one lady I know that told me how she had suffered from a severe stroke at one point in her life. Talking to her and getting to know her, you could not tell that she had suffered from this condition. What astounded me more though was when she shared with me that she did not go through the normal health care routine to recover from it. She used alternative methods completely and recovered fully. She did not use conventional means to recover. There are many stories like this that I'm sure we have all heard and yet for some reason, we chalk them up to being some sort of miracle (which sometimes it may be) or we think that it only happens to others. We are the ones in control of our bodies and our health and we need to take that role much more serious than we do.

When I was paralyzed in 1991, the doctors didn't fully seem to know how to treat me or get me beyond my physical limitations. It was as if they were going to let time takes it course in whatever way it turned out. My impression was that they really didn't have a clue on how to get me from the point I was to the point I am at today. For years I struggled to fully regain all parts of myself even though most people would have not noticed what I saw in myself. At first, I had no clue how to get there and it took much discovery, searching and time for me to find my way.

Today we are blessed with the internet and especially google searches. There is a wealth of information out there and a wealth of experience that many people share about the conditions they have experienced. Many times, if we look long enough through the internet, we will find alternate ways that others have used to treat their own conditions and illnesses. Many times, these are not through conventional health and medicine that our society subscribes to.

So my challenge to you is if you are going through some type of health condition as long as it is not life threatening, consider the following points. (if you are in a life threatening situation, than by all means find qualified medical help. Use your common sense here, please).

1. Listen to what your body is telling you and see if there are any current, past or just prior events that may be going on in your life. See if these events have any connection to your situation in the moment because many times they do. We just have to listen to our bodies.
2. Search and seek out information through the internet, others or your higher power to help you find the best course of treatment for yourself. This could include the use of medical help and it may also include forms of treatment that you have never tried or are not aware of.
3. Don't stop there! Keep searching for more information, discovery and knowledge because as you find one piece of the puzzle, it will open up more of what you know. You may not have any knowledge of how to get past this in the moment, but if you start searching, you will find the way through.
4. Realize that pains, conditions, illnesses are often situations that are designed to get our attention and tell us something. It is our body's feedback mechanism and all to often, we ignore this. Start listening to it. Start allowing it to help you harvest more from your life and experience as a human. We are much more than we currently know.
   

I have seen conditions in people healed that I didn't think were possible and I have had this happen within myself as well. It isn't far fetched and it isn't some new age mumble jumble. This is real and it happens every day. Our bodies are wonderfully designed and they constantly work towards balance or homeostasis. It is what we do to our bodies and how we respect and listen to them that takes us out of balance. Stress, trauma and daily events in our lives do impact them as well, but we are designed to be much more than we currently are. Embrace that part of yourself and see youself for all you are, not what you aren't!