A friend of mine once told me that if we were able to dump all our troubles onto our front lawns and have the pick of whichever set of troubles we wanted, in the end we would choose our own.
Of course there will always be moments I doubt such a statement, when a single donut will send me spiraling into a vortex of pain, loosing touch with reality. One day simply walking to the top of my stairs sends my heart rate soaring to almost 200, while the next day I can run a mile uphill and my heart rate never reaches 120. Proper diet and exercise are essential for everyone, but I am filled with doubt when it seems I have to work so much harder than most people to stay healthy.
Tears of anger fall down my patient's cheek. Last week she was thrilled to be diagnosed with Hoshimoto's because after seeing at least 40 different doctors who told her nothing was wrong, she finally knew why she felt like "a dead fish carcass". But this week she tells me her husband, her kids, her friends, and even her doctor do not understand how she feels - what it is like to live with the pain and fatigue. In her heart she knows visible physical limitations are no easier to cope with. She knows what it is like to see a loved one in pain and want to take their pain away. My patient cries out in anger not for their lack of understanding, but her own.
Another patient cries tears of frustration when she realizes that although a healthy lifestyle can help her significantly, she will never attain the health she had before. She knows that any minor stress to her immune system can cause a dreadful attack of her own immune system against her own body. The immune system communicates with every system in the body so cycles can vary from MS affecting the nerves, Psoriasis affecting the skin, Hoshimoto's or Grave's Disease affecting the endocrine system, Celiac affecting the gut, Rheumatoid affecting the joints and the list continues to grow the more we learn about autoimmune diseases. Worst of all, typically once a patient has one autoimmune disorder they will likely develop others as well.
So what could possibly be worse than your immune system attacking your own body? How about your immune system attacking a virus, parasite or bacteria that is attacking your body? Fortunately our immune system is typically capable of fighting off such problems in a short period of time. But sometimes it doesn't because either the pathogen is too virulent or your immune system is compromised by diet, lifestyle, autoimmune disease, or many other things. These patients will feel much like someone with an autoimmune disorder. But unlike someone an autoimmune disease which is typically cyclic, these patients will suffer almost constantly. Although mainstream medicine recognizes things like Hepatitis, Herpes and Shingles there is no treatment to eliminate them. Most American medical doctors rarely test for parasites and if they do, they typically only check for a few. I have seen many patients who were told they did not have parasites to have Metametrix Laboratories discover some unidentified aggressive parasite in their stool. Chronic forms of Lyme Disease, Parvovirus, Ebstien Barr or many others are not even recognized by many American medical doctors as real pathologies. (great documentary on Lyme "Under Our Skin")
There will always be people better or worse than us on all levels at all times. Life is a journey filled with lessons in each tragedy or disease. Maybe that pile of troubles is actually a pile of treasure waiting to be used to enrich your life.
