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.

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.

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!

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.

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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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

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.

Understanding Homeopathy - Does It Work?

(by Natural Healing Gal, Marie)


I am not a homeopath - that requires a PHD in my mind! There are hundreds of remedies, with an incredible amount of information to learn about each one. There is an art to choosing the optimal homeopathic remedy for a specific condition.  At this point I have learned enough for first aid and home use, and that is my goal. I learn a little more with every experience. I can say that I have seen wonderful results for me and my family.

Does it really work?

For chronic or complicated symptoms however, it is important to consult with a professional homeopath. I have done so, and I can say for sure, it saved the life of one of my dogs.

If you look online, you will find those who say homeopathy is nothing but a sugar pill and the results are only a placebo effect; but I use them regularly on my dogs with great results! I do not think my dogs know what a placebo is.  

I experience the power of the remedies on a regular basis. Just yesterday my husband got an insect bite on his foot. It got warm, red, and itchy, and began to swell. Instead of reaching for an antihistamine, he took a homeopathic remedy. (Stay tuned for more information on “bites and stings” next month!)  We waited a half hour, and the symptoms began to subside. Two hours later, he took one more dose, and it improved dramatically. No more doses should be taken when there is a dramatic improvement.

An easy “pill to swallow”

Each remedy is a separate, highly diluted substance from the plant, animal or mineral kingdom. Most are referred to by their Latin names. For example, Calendula officinalis is an English marigold.
The original substance is reduced and diluted, until what remains is the "energy" form of the original substance. The sugar pill, or pellet, is a means to transport the resulting energy.

It may help to think of each remedy as if it were a drop of essential oil. Just like there are many different oils…there are many different homeopathic remedies. Each oil can be diluted in a carrier oil to “carry” the oil onto the skin…so the homeopathic pellet would be similar to a carrier oil that holds a drop of essential oil.

It is important to take the smallest dose  possible to achieve results. More is not better, and as soon as you see a dramatic improvement in the symptoms, no more doses should be taken. You body is doing the work and needs no more assistance!

If you see no improvement at all, it is probably not the correct remedy for your symptoms. Common home remedies are gentle enough, so it is safe to try a second dose a half hour to an hour apart.

In classical homeopathy, one pellet is placed in a bottle with four ounces of pure water. I have found this to be more potent than taking dry pellets directly on the tongue. Tapping the bottle containing the solution activates or stimulates the energy/ electromagnetic properties, of the remedy. Shaking the bottle is fine, but a gentle tap in the palm of your hand is more accurate.  8-10 taps is an average number for an average person using a common remedy. Someone who is super sensitive, or not in good general health, may only need 2 - 4 taps, while others who are less sensitive may need over 12 taps. Tapping should be done before each dose.

I find it interesting that homeopathy is questioned so much, and there is so much misinformation and fear surrounding it...yet we are sold on prescription drugs that have a wide range of side effects that "may" happen and we don't question it enough!

I prefer natural remedies to over the counter drugs whenever possible, and that is my choice.  I am always open to the latter when necessary… but less is better in my humble opinion!

Until the next time,

Marie (Natural Healing Gal)

For Further Reading:

1. What Are Homeopathics
2. What Is Homeopathy 
3. Documentary:  Pill Poppers (Dr. Mercola)

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Marie is a regular columnist on Mind Body Thoughts.  She writes the Natural Healing Gal monthly column.  This article is written by Marie.

To learn more about her and see all her other articles, go to Marie's Page, Natural Healing Gal.

Check her page out to see the Medical Disclaimer

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly and Marie

• 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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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?

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

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

Snake Oil Or New Age Miracles

These days I see so many things out there that make me eyes roll in amazement.  So many people claim to have new age miracles, but in many ways I think it looks more like snake oil salesman.  You might think that is harsh and you may think I'm way off base.  Of course, you are entitled to your opinion as I am.

People often look at someone who can talk big and mighty as a person of authority.  They assume and give credibility to these people without ever so much as exercising all the brain cells of common sense.  It is almost like their brains shut down and they feed upon every word as it is the living morsel of truth in the universe.  I know, I'm making a lot of flowery speech here, but I'm doing it to help illustrate my point.

Unfortunately, the claims that many make about new age miracles, cures, and practices are not backed up by science or even by an authentic measurement.  Often it is gut feeling or some limited observations of who they have witnessed gaining from a treatment or cure they gave them.  While I know full and well, that it is sometimes hard to measure everything that happens when it comes to healing, some new age practices don't even attempt to try.

Everyone Knows How To Get Over A Cold or Flu

Over the past couple of days I've been sick.  Normally I don't get sick.  I think the last time was several years ago.  If I get feeling under the weather, I'm usually up and going by the next day.  Of course I do many things to keep myself healthy.

In this scenario, I was probably weakened by the nonstop work I had to put in during December and being on the phone almost nonstop.  It was a stressful month especially with other events that transpired.  I knew my body was screaming for me to let up, but there was no way to do this.

I'm not surprised I got sick.  You can't push a body this hard and expect anything different.  Yes, we do our Whole Food Smoothies every day and I do a lot of releasing bodywork and other healthy mind balance things, but in the face of overwhelming nonstop stress, the body reacts.  Its just the way our minds and bodies work.

Are We Too Busy To Acknolwedge Pain?

I see this play out every day.  It is sad really.  Are we really too busy to acknowledge the pain of others?  Is it really that tough and hard on us?

The pain is clearly evident in the world today.  People are reaching out for someone to just hear their pain and acknowledge it.  Yet, more often than not, their cries go unheard.  Their cries get pushed aside.  Their cries get laughed at with shameful humiliation.

All people want to know is, does someone care!  All they want to know is that someone is listening and someone understands the pain that they are going through.  It is as simple as that.

Yet, far too many times, someone offers them a happy thought or a positive thought or a platitude as if this is the placebo they need.  Far too many times, they just ignore someone as if they are bothering them.  Far too many times, there is a mockery of anyone that cries out in pain.

Inflicting more pain upon them...

Yes, seeing someone hurting and in pain is difficult.  Just telling people to not be negative or only be positive is inflicting more pain upon them.  It is like someone having a cut on their finger and you take a hammer and whack their finger over and over.

Are we failing that miserably in compassion and care and love?  Are we just going around with a puffed up chest and proclaiming how much we love other and how much we care, only to not even attempt to show this to anyone? We are pretty good at saying one thing but when push comes to shove, we're running as quickly away as we can.

Are we truly human?

If you can't be there for someone when they just need to know that you care, are you human?  Are you truly human?  If we can't sit with those in pain and offer a listening ear or a arm that extends with support, I'm not sure we even know what human means.

You can't say one minute that I care and I love others and I have all this love in my heart, then go on in the next minute and let your actions prove otherwise.  When people are in pain, they just need someone to acknowledge the pain.  They need to know someone cares.

It doesn't have to be a grandiose display of solving and healing their pain.  It just requires that you be there with them, holding the space for them as they find their way through that difficult moment of pain.

It is called being human to acknowledge someone's pain and right now I don't see it being practiced anywhere in our world.  It is if we just hate and despise one another while claiming we don't.

I think it is time we truly wake up and either get out of the way for others, or begin to truly learn what it means to be human.  We'll never solve the issues in the world if we only stand opposed, spouting rhetoric that is not backed up by action, real love and compassion.

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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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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. 

Silver Gel For Rashes and Itching

Many years ago I went through a condition that I thought would never show up again.  If you suffer from rashes or itching, you'll want to pay close attention to this post.  If you've ever been through a rash like what I have that about drives you crazy with the pain and itching, this product might be for you.  It worked for me! (based upon my own personal experience)

And no - this wasn't a placebo!

Most things out on the market never helped me.  Most over-the-counter products may have given a moment of temporary relief only to rebound and make the problem much worse.  I'm sorry if you're an over-the-counter product company and believe your products work, but they don't!  I've tried them and I'm not going back to try them again.  The last thing you want in a situation like this is something that makes the situation worse.  Yes, I'm sure you have all kinds of studies and marketing to prove your product works, but they don't!  At least they didn't for me. 

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.

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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Pursuing Symptoms In Healing

One thing we do in healing that is misguided is trying to heal the wrong things.  I don't mean to make it sound like a mistake, even if it is.  I mean that we focus and pursue healing symptoms more than we do in healing the entire mind, body, and spirit.

Every licensing year in the massage world here in Florida, I see the "new" modalities and classes come through.  Everyone out there is promising relief from pain, relief from this situation or that situation.  Use this electrical stimulation device and get rid of the pain.  Use this technique and alleviate the pain.  Provide pain relief with this modality.

While there's some truth and benefit to all of those things, many of them are so misguided.  Sometimes they offer a placebo effect all the time proving to you that the system works.  They get so caught up in their own paradigms of what is going on that they miss the bigger picture.

It meant painful discoveries...

Take, for instance, if I would have focused only on the symptoms of Conversion Disorder that I was experiencing, I would have not made it very far.  No, I had no clue how to heal my life, but it was in that never ending questioning that I found ways to heal.  The symptoms of paralysis, seizures and a numbed body were not where I needed to focus to heal.  I had to go to the core of those issues and yes, it meant some painful discoveries.

Another instance of when this applies is when I had a full body rash.  I could have focused on the symptoms only but little progress would have been made.  While I was trying to find anything that helped alleviate the itching of the rash, I knew that something was kicking it up.  Through deep work into the mind and body, I soon discovered what was fueling the rash.  No, it wasn't easy to go into this space of healing, but without it, I would still be fighting the symptoms.

Stress to a Physical Stressor

One time I was working with a client, doing to their office and doing weekly chair massage.  One of the ladies would often complain how torqued her back felt and how painful it was.  I would work on the symptoms while I was there and often alleviate it.  However, the next week I went back, it would be as if I had done nothing.  I soon discovered that the way she had her computer positioned on her desk was twisting her back.  When you apply the stress of the day to a physical stressor such as this, you're going to get pain.  If I would have just focused on the symptoms of pain in her back and not observing what was behind it, I would have missed the healing part.

There are times of course that you have to focus on the symptoms because you or others need relief.  We need to know that we can get out of that pain.  Sometimes, it is just a moment of "please take the pain away".  Unfortunately, if we're just treating symptoms, we're going to miss the bigger picture of healing.

I kept asking the questions...

I would have never made it out of Conversion Disorder and paralysis if I would have not kept asking the questions that I needed or searching for what could help.  I looked for ways that would physically help me and make a difference, noticing that they helped me heal to my core.

Sometimes we just get caught up in the symptoms as we so badly want them to go away, but more often than not, this does very little for us.  It numbs us.  It helps us disconnect from it, but it doesn't go to the core issue of what is causing it.

Medications and medical procedures don't always do what we think they are doing.  I knew a lady that had 52 surgeries in 48 years.  No one stopped to think about the overall big picture.  They were treating the symptoms.  When she started on healing her core mind and body, it is then that her body started to heal and surgeries and medications were no longer needed.

I know this probably sounds too easy to be true.  I know some will read it and say, "but you don't understand my condition" and "you don't know what I have to live with".  To that, I can only say, no I don't.  I just know what I've seen in my own life and that of many others and I will urge and prod you to go deeper, dig further, and work toward healing the symptoms, not necessarily treating the symptoms.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

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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.