If normal is merely the average of all the abnormals, then I am definitely on the abnormal side of the social spectrum. I don't watch television, tweet, eat fast food or flour, and repeatedly admit to being clueless when it comes to mainstream behavior. However I do fall victim to the occasional computer video games where I sometimes discover things I never knew about mainstream thinking. One such time was a while playing "family feud" I discovered 70% of people would go to the store to buy medicine for a cold and 0% would buy vitamins.
It is my belief that if we want to improve our health; cure cancer and other devastating diseases with ever increasing incidences, we need to change the way we think. Antibiotics, steroid allergy medicine, antacids, immunizations, and medications of all kinds can be lifesaving, life enhancing and necessary means to survive. BUT ALL medication is intended to chemically alter your body's normal biochemistry. Many medications are sold as treatments for things only because it was discovered during testing of the drug that it had that particular "side effect".... in other words the pharmaceutical companies have no idea how these medications will alter your body chemistry, they have no idea what they will do to you.
Most people find it shocking that my fifteen year old daughter has never taken a course of antibiotics. I find it shocking that people find this shocking. Why would you choose to chemically alter your biochemistry with a medication if your body is able to fight off the disease itself? The first step to changing our mindset is to realize that our body has the ability to heal itself.
Once you change your biochemistry with food additives, genetic modification, drugs (prescription or street), or any number of ways - most people's health will continue to deteriorate - read my blog on antacids which details out how one simple over the counter drug can lead to a cascade of problems. It is essential to ask yourself, is taking this medication essential to my immediate survival or worth the probability of gradually deteriorating health? There are many instances where the answer will be yes. However the second step to changing our mindset is to stop taking medication as the first response and allow our body time to heal.
There is an old quote, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result". So if you want to decrease pain, decrease heart risk, decrease blood sugar, decrease cancer risk you cannot expect to continue with the same lifestyle or make minimal changes and see any significant change in your health. Do you consume at least 17 fruits/veggies a day? Do you exercise at least 4 times a week? Do you minimize your exposure to food additives and other chemicals? What do you do to improve emotional and spiritual well being? If we want to change our mindset, we need to take responsibility for our own health.
Every time we choose a flu vaccine, Tylenol, or any medication we depend on pharmaceutical companies and not our own body's ability to heal. We biochemically alter our body by doing so, which eventually results in the need to biochemically alter our body more just to survive of "feel normal". Do you notice how many new drug stores keep popping up? I see more and more, younger and younger people taking medication than ever before. Many people are using antidepressants for thyroid or other unrelated problems. Studies have shown herbal remedies to be more effective than antidepressants for treatment of depression. Herbal remedies are less likely to adversely alter our biochemistry, and more likely to enhance our body's innate ability to heal. Do you think it is by accident that insurances will pay for prescription medications but not herbal remedies? Our current system is designed to sell drugs that can be pattened by select groups. Studies show people over the age of 80 will increase their risk of death on cholesterol lowering drugs but I see it being prescribed to them all the time. (A statistic most doctors don't know because they take continuing education sponsored by the same drug companies manufacturing these medications)
If we truly want to see our health as a nation improve we will not continue to use drugs as our first choice; we will not continue to do the same thing over and over and expect a differnet result. We will research all options available to us and read the plethora of new research unrelated to drug therapy. We will seek out alternatives. We will educate ourselves with more than the mass media information put out by these same pharmaceutical companies. We cannot expect our government to make the changes necessary when we ourselves do not. We can expect that government health care will perpetuate the current trend of increasing perscription drug use, increasing genetic modification and food additives, and decreasing payment and therefore quality of your medical doctors. If we are unwilling to change why would our government?
In my world I enhance my immune system instead of taking a flu shot or medication. In my world, I make health choices based on what is best for me not for for fear of getting cancer, pain, or heart diesease. I believe that no matter what ails me, it is simply my body expressing a desire to change what I think, feel, ingest, and do. I hope one day I am a little less abnormal, not because I change what I think, but because the world around me starts to believe their body is capable of healing itself.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Friday, October 28, 2011
Can Too Much Exercise be Bad?
If the title grabbed your attention because you are looking for an excuse not to exercise, this blog is not for you. If however it grabbed your attention because it seems like the harder you work out the worse your performance seems to be getting, I am writing this just for you.
Metabolic over-reaching is when despite regular exercise your performance is not improving. It is associated with fatigue, depression, increased infections, and muscle weakness. After resting 72 hours your performance will return; unless of course it goes undiagnosed and you continue to increase your work outs, at which point it develops into a condition known as metabolic over training syndrome where you do not recover your performance and progressively worsen.
It is well known that you need carbohydrates before a workout to feed your muscles. If you eat too many carbohydrates, your body makes cortisol to transport the cortisol into fat tissue to be stored for later use. If you do not consume enough carbohydrates before a workout, your body makes cortisol to transport the stored sugars to your muscles. Prolonged high cortisol levels is unhealthy.
Your adrenal gland 'steals' the hormone pregnenalone to make cortisol. If your body uses your pregnenalone to make cortisol there is not enough to make many other hormones Pregnenalone is used to make the hormone DHEA which can become testosterone in men and estrogen as well as progesterone in women. If any one hormone, like cortisol, remains high your all of your other hormones will become less and less balanced.
Prolonged high cortisol levels results in degeneration of the hippocampus due to altered function of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis (HPA). Altered function of the HPA can also be caused by increased interluken-6 (IL-6) associated with over training. A person who has just finished a marathon will have 120 times the normal IL-6 levels. Increased IL-6 levels is associated with fatigue, depression, increased infections, reduced ability to concentrate (in other words the same symptoms that are associated with metabolic over training syndrome). If IL-6 levels remain high, you will gradually continue to worsen.
Prevention and treatment for Metabolic Over training Syndrome.
*Rest for at least 6 hours between work outs
*Rest for at least 6 hours after any stress or infection has resolved before you return to a work out.
*Consume enough carbohydrates before you work out.
*Adequate hydration and minerals
Supplements: Adaptogenic adrenal support, glutathione enhancers or transdermal application with Oxycell, phosphatidylserine high dosages or transdermal with Adrenacalm, Gut support.
*Sometimes it is very important to treat conditions like anemia, altered immune function, food sensitivities, or toxicity issues as well or you will not see improvement.
*Work out in your aerobic heart range (180 - your age = peak aerobic heart range)
Metabolic over-reaching is when despite regular exercise your performance is not improving. It is associated with fatigue, depression, increased infections, and muscle weakness. After resting 72 hours your performance will return; unless of course it goes undiagnosed and you continue to increase your work outs, at which point it develops into a condition known as metabolic over training syndrome where you do not recover your performance and progressively worsen.
It is well known that you need carbohydrates before a workout to feed your muscles. If you eat too many carbohydrates, your body makes cortisol to transport the cortisol into fat tissue to be stored for later use. If you do not consume enough carbohydrates before a workout, your body makes cortisol to transport the stored sugars to your muscles. Prolonged high cortisol levels is unhealthy.
Your adrenal gland 'steals' the hormone pregnenalone to make cortisol. If your body uses your pregnenalone to make cortisol there is not enough to make many other hormones Pregnenalone is used to make the hormone DHEA which can become testosterone in men and estrogen as well as progesterone in women. If any one hormone, like cortisol, remains high your all of your other hormones will become less and less balanced.
Prolonged high cortisol levels results in degeneration of the hippocampus due to altered function of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis (HPA). Altered function of the HPA can also be caused by increased interluken-6 (IL-6) associated with over training. A person who has just finished a marathon will have 120 times the normal IL-6 levels. Increased IL-6 levels is associated with fatigue, depression, increased infections, reduced ability to concentrate (in other words the same symptoms that are associated with metabolic over training syndrome). If IL-6 levels remain high, you will gradually continue to worsen.
Prevention and treatment for Metabolic Over training Syndrome.
*Rest for at least 6 hours between work outs
*Rest for at least 6 hours after any stress or infection has resolved before you return to a work out.
*Consume enough carbohydrates before you work out.
*Adequate hydration and minerals
Supplements: Adaptogenic adrenal support, glutathione enhancers or transdermal application with Oxycell, phosphatidylserine high dosages or transdermal with Adrenacalm, Gut support.
*Sometimes it is very important to treat conditions like anemia, altered immune function, food sensitivities, or toxicity issues as well or you will not see improvement.
*Work out in your aerobic heart range (180 - your age = peak aerobic heart range)
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Escape
"I need some distraction. Oh beautiful release. Memory seeps from my veins. Let me be empty and weightless and maybe I'll find some peace tonight."
When I was a child I discovered anything that emptied my mind and filled me with joy was my escape. It was lying with my sisters alongside the clubhouse pool warming my cold wet body against the hot cement and drawing cloud animals in the sky. It was climbing ladders into one cherry tree after the next with my aunt in search of the best cherries, and eating so many our bellies would cramp. It was the smell of anise cookies that filled my grandmother's house at Christmas. It was packing up the camper and heading out to explore the vast unknown world.....
Can you remember learning how to escape? We escape whatever it is we perceive as stress at that moment when our mind empties and our heart is filled with joy. Even God said the seventh day is for rest, or forty days in the desert for a deeper escape.
Stress is a significant risk factor for.... well just about every disease or health problem that exists. I could detail out specific mechanisms by which this occurs, but simply put stress is the one risk factor most people feel they have no control over.
Above I quote the song 'Angel' by Sarah McLachlan where the distraction, the escape she describes is a drug. Because sometimes we forget how to escape or worse yet have never discovered how to escape.
When you take time for yourself long enough to discover your own escape, your stress decreases. When your stress decreases, your health improves. May we all journey in the direction of healthier lives so we can better serve God and each other.
When I was a child I discovered anything that emptied my mind and filled me with joy was my escape. It was lying with my sisters alongside the clubhouse pool warming my cold wet body against the hot cement and drawing cloud animals in the sky. It was climbing ladders into one cherry tree after the next with my aunt in search of the best cherries, and eating so many our bellies would cramp. It was the smell of anise cookies that filled my grandmother's house at Christmas. It was packing up the camper and heading out to explore the vast unknown world.....
Can you remember learning how to escape? We escape whatever it is we perceive as stress at that moment when our mind empties and our heart is filled with joy. Even God said the seventh day is for rest, or forty days in the desert for a deeper escape.
Stress is a significant risk factor for.... well just about every disease or health problem that exists. I could detail out specific mechanisms by which this occurs, but simply put stress is the one risk factor most people feel they have no control over.
Above I quote the song 'Angel' by Sarah McLachlan where the distraction, the escape she describes is a drug. Because sometimes we forget how to escape or worse yet have never discovered how to escape.
When you take time for yourself long enough to discover your own escape, your stress decreases. When your stress decreases, your health improves. May we all journey in the direction of healthier lives so we can better serve God and each other.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Muscle Testing
My mom was always one of those people who just "knew". She "knew" which of my friends were good and which ones weren't. She "knew" when I was really sick and when I was just trying to get out of going to school, and worst of all she "knew" when I was selectively choosing my truths. Mom called it "intuition". I called it a completely illogical thought process, and like most teens aspired to be nothing like my mom.
So the first time a chiropractor used muscle testing on me as as diagnostic technique, and explained its effectiveness by telling me our bodies "intuitively" know what is good and bad for us - I rolled my eyes (just like I used to do for my mom) and asked for a little more "scientific" explanation. It didn't seem logical to me that holding a bottle of supplements or touching random points on my body would make me weak or strong simply because my body just "knew" what was best. In my world A + B = C, and I was going to figure out exactly what A and B were.
For years I studied and searched for logical explanations and research to explain exactly what caused our problems and exactly what would fix them. I believed only statistics based on solid research could prove something to be true. It didn't matter to me that when Koch and Pasteur founded the germ theory, a man drank a glass filled with "deadly vibrio cholerae bacterium" and never even got sick. Science had proven that specific pathogens cause specific diseases and I turned a deaf ear to the crazies like my mom and this chiropractor. It wasn't until after many years of practice that I started to realize that science was not capable of explaining exactly how our bodies function let alone heal. Eggs are good and then they are bad; one day a test is considered diagnositic and the next it is questionable; one day a drug is the cure and the next day people are dying from it - there is so much more to healing than simply science.
One patient after the next came to me claiming to be cured by prayer, by diet, by all sorts of things that had no logical or scientific explanation. It was easy to say these cures were merely "placebo", but regardless of what caused these patients to heal, the cures I saw were real. I started to wonder why all doctors know that "placebo" works but nobody could figure out why. We can no better explain why placebos work for some people than we can know all the unknowns (A's and B's). As Lipton explains in his book "Biology of Belief", our subconscious mind has a much greater influence on our health than our conscious and there is much to be learned in the field of quantum physics.
For years I refused to use muscle testing as a diagnostic tool, as even I thought it smelled a little bit like quackery. Today I use science to make my basic assessments, and will often use muscle testing to help guide me in the treatment of patients. There is an "intuitive" nature that helps me when doing muscle testing and for that I reluctantly thank my mom.
God chose my parents and every person who has touched my life especially for me. God controls the universe, knows all the A's and B's - not me. I was like a salmon swimming upstream until I figured out that there are some things that we just "know".
So the first time a chiropractor used muscle testing on me as as diagnostic technique, and explained its effectiveness by telling me our bodies "intuitively" know what is good and bad for us - I rolled my eyes (just like I used to do for my mom) and asked for a little more "scientific" explanation. It didn't seem logical to me that holding a bottle of supplements or touching random points on my body would make me weak or strong simply because my body just "knew" what was best. In my world A + B = C, and I was going to figure out exactly what A and B were.
For years I studied and searched for logical explanations and research to explain exactly what caused our problems and exactly what would fix them. I believed only statistics based on solid research could prove something to be true. It didn't matter to me that when Koch and Pasteur founded the germ theory, a man drank a glass filled with "deadly vibrio cholerae bacterium" and never even got sick. Science had proven that specific pathogens cause specific diseases and I turned a deaf ear to the crazies like my mom and this chiropractor. It wasn't until after many years of practice that I started to realize that science was not capable of explaining exactly how our bodies function let alone heal. Eggs are good and then they are bad; one day a test is considered diagnositic and the next it is questionable; one day a drug is the cure and the next day people are dying from it - there is so much more to healing than simply science.
One patient after the next came to me claiming to be cured by prayer, by diet, by all sorts of things that had no logical or scientific explanation. It was easy to say these cures were merely "placebo", but regardless of what caused these patients to heal, the cures I saw were real. I started to wonder why all doctors know that "placebo" works but nobody could figure out why. We can no better explain why placebos work for some people than we can know all the unknowns (A's and B's). As Lipton explains in his book "Biology of Belief", our subconscious mind has a much greater influence on our health than our conscious and there is much to be learned in the field of quantum physics.
For years I refused to use muscle testing as a diagnostic tool, as even I thought it smelled a little bit like quackery. Today I use science to make my basic assessments, and will often use muscle testing to help guide me in the treatment of patients. There is an "intuitive" nature that helps me when doing muscle testing and for that I reluctantly thank my mom.
God chose my parents and every person who has touched my life especially for me. God controls the universe, knows all the A's and B's - not me. I was like a salmon swimming upstream until I figured out that there are some things that we just "know".
Thursday, June 2, 2011
What Does It Feel Like to be Autoimmune?
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.
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.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Alternative Health Care
Have you ever had one of those moments where truth seemed to be screaming in your face and all you could think was 'this can't be right'? One of those moments came to me when I first thought of myself as an 'alternative care provider'. For years I wondered how chiropractic could be considered 'alternative' when we used x-rays, MRI, lab work, orthopedic testing, and have an education quite similar to most medical doctors. What makes chiropractic so alternative? Or probably a better question would be what is 'alternative care'?
Alternative care providers believe in and assist our body's innate ability to heal itself given the right nutrition, thoughts, energy, care..... When I get cut or catch a cold it is easy to recognize the innate ability my body has to heal from the inside out. When it comes to cancer and more serious illnesses it becomes more difficult to recognize that my body is capable of healing itself from the inside out. And if my leg gets cut off, send me to the hospital for some outside in treatment.
Allopathic health care, otherwise known as the traditional western medicine most Americans seek, is based on the belief that healing best occurs from the outside in. Drugs and surgery are used instead of nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle to restore function to the body. Diet, exercise, or any alternative health care are occasionally used in conjunction with drugs and surgery, but rarely instead of. For the most part allopathic medicine treats the body as if it is not capable of healing from the inside out. It is the band aid approach to health care, and wouldn't it be nice to have everything fixed so easily without any effort of your own?
When a patient tells their medical doctor and they have been cured by prayer, chiropractic, acupuncture, nutrition, or any number of other things, western or allopathic medicine will typically conclude that the patient is either wrong about being healed; it was a misdiagnosis; or at best that it was a rare instance in which placebo worked and that patient somehow has a superior ability not held by everyone to heal themselves from within. Maybe healing is no less subjective than the pain or disease itself.
I have come to believe that the real joy of healing is not putting the band-aid on, but taking it off to discover our body's ability to heal itself. It is the truth screaming at me, telling me that no matter how good the band-aid is, true healing comes from within. I realize now that everything our body needs to heal is already within us. I no longer shy away from being labeled an alternative care provider, but embrace the thought of creating a new way of thinking for Americans.
Alternative care providers believe in and assist our body's innate ability to heal itself given the right nutrition, thoughts, energy, care..... When I get cut or catch a cold it is easy to recognize the innate ability my body has to heal from the inside out. When it comes to cancer and more serious illnesses it becomes more difficult to recognize that my body is capable of healing itself from the inside out. And if my leg gets cut off, send me to the hospital for some outside in treatment.
Allopathic health care, otherwise known as the traditional western medicine most Americans seek, is based on the belief that healing best occurs from the outside in. Drugs and surgery are used instead of nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle to restore function to the body. Diet, exercise, or any alternative health care are occasionally used in conjunction with drugs and surgery, but rarely instead of. For the most part allopathic medicine treats the body as if it is not capable of healing from the inside out. It is the band aid approach to health care, and wouldn't it be nice to have everything fixed so easily without any effort of your own?
When a patient tells their medical doctor and they have been cured by prayer, chiropractic, acupuncture, nutrition, or any number of other things, western or allopathic medicine will typically conclude that the patient is either wrong about being healed; it was a misdiagnosis; or at best that it was a rare instance in which placebo worked and that patient somehow has a superior ability not held by everyone to heal themselves from within. Maybe healing is no less subjective than the pain or disease itself.
I have come to believe that the real joy of healing is not putting the band-aid on, but taking it off to discover our body's ability to heal itself. It is the truth screaming at me, telling me that no matter how good the band-aid is, true healing comes from within. I realize now that everything our body needs to heal is already within us. I no longer shy away from being labeled an alternative care provider, but embrace the thought of creating a new way of thinking for Americans.
Monday, April 4, 2011
"Should I Take Cholesterol Drugs?" - what I think of...
The following is a true story, though the names have been changed to protect the privacy of my friend "Mary" who did grant permission to publish this blog.
Part of me still regrets never visiting my friend Rob in his final days of life. I find myself wondering why I did not have the courage to do so. Maybe it was thinking that the patient, loving care his wife Mary offered was enough. The last time I saw Rob, Mary offered herself as his crutch because the muscles in his legs and arms were wasting away from ALS. She translated his grunts into words like a mother would do for a young child. I could remember Rob once telling me that he hoped I would one day find that life companion and love he had found in Mary.
Maybe it was thinking Rob would prefer to be remembered as the strong healthy man who once stood so strong. Rob did everything his doctors told him would improve his health including daily exercise, excellent dietary habits along with whole food supplements, and unfortunately taking a triglyceride lowering medication. About a year after being placed on the medication, Rob was noticing significant wasting of his muscles, he had gone from walking five miles a day to no longer being able to get up out of a chair without assistance. His doctors poked, prodded, and ran him through hundreds of tests but were unable to offer any answers. Eventually I told Rob that although it is not within my scope of practice to make recommendations regarding medications, as his friend not as his doctor I suggested he try going off his medication. Within weeks there was a notable improvement and within a year he was walking his five miles a day again. This is how I wanted to remember him, as a patient who could conquer the odds.
Maybe it was thinking that I could have done more, because five years later Rob's symptoms returned along with a mind numbing diagnosis of ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's Disease). I had read that cholesterol lowering drugs work by increasing the receptor sites which allow for reabsorbtion of LDL's, and even when a person stops taking such drugs that those receptor sites do not disappear. But for five years Rob had done well, and I had hoped that maybe since his was a triglyceride lowering drug maybe his case was different. I wondered if I had learned about the high fat, specific targeted nutrition for ALS patients sooner if it would have made a difference.
Maybe it was anger.... Towards the pharmaceutical companies for not admitting to such risks (it has been said that the only time a drug is recalled is when the suspected loss of income from settling lawsuits exceeds the loss of income from the sales of the product); Towards lawyers and a political system who have already made it illegal for anyone in America to sue pharmaceutical companies for any adverse reaction to an immunization, and in some states are making it illegal to sue a pharmaceutical company for any drug which has been approved for use. These same lawyers will also sue a doctor for not suggesting cholesterol drugs or any other indicated drugs to their patients; Towards doctors who take the majority of their continuing education in classes sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies and are not able to recognize the muscle weakness, increased pain, and decreased quality of life that I hear from my patients taking cholesterol drugs; Towards a media that promotes the latest a greatest drug, and bases their choices on money instead of the greater good of society.
Maybe it was realizing how powerless I am, that I could not have done more. We all have our own journey in life, and it saddens my soul to see victims of greed. But in the end only God truly has the power to heal or call us home. Maybe in the end I will always wonder why I did not have the courage to visit my friend in his final days.
But I do believe each and every person who touches my life serves a purpose. Maybe it was Rob's purpose to make me realize that no doctor, pharmacist, drug company, or chemist can possibly understand all the unique biochemical reactions that occur within our body. Surely there are instances where drugs can save lives, but as for me I'll take my chances and stick to what God made as much as possible.
Part of me still regrets never visiting my friend Rob in his final days of life. I find myself wondering why I did not have the courage to do so. Maybe it was thinking that the patient, loving care his wife Mary offered was enough. The last time I saw Rob, Mary offered herself as his crutch because the muscles in his legs and arms were wasting away from ALS. She translated his grunts into words like a mother would do for a young child. I could remember Rob once telling me that he hoped I would one day find that life companion and love he had found in Mary.
Maybe it was thinking Rob would prefer to be remembered as the strong healthy man who once stood so strong. Rob did everything his doctors told him would improve his health including daily exercise, excellent dietary habits along with whole food supplements, and unfortunately taking a triglyceride lowering medication. About a year after being placed on the medication, Rob was noticing significant wasting of his muscles, he had gone from walking five miles a day to no longer being able to get up out of a chair without assistance. His doctors poked, prodded, and ran him through hundreds of tests but were unable to offer any answers. Eventually I told Rob that although it is not within my scope of practice to make recommendations regarding medications, as his friend not as his doctor I suggested he try going off his medication. Within weeks there was a notable improvement and within a year he was walking his five miles a day again. This is how I wanted to remember him, as a patient who could conquer the odds.
Maybe it was thinking that I could have done more, because five years later Rob's symptoms returned along with a mind numbing diagnosis of ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's Disease). I had read that cholesterol lowering drugs work by increasing the receptor sites which allow for reabsorbtion of LDL's, and even when a person stops taking such drugs that those receptor sites do not disappear. But for five years Rob had done well, and I had hoped that maybe since his was a triglyceride lowering drug maybe his case was different. I wondered if I had learned about the high fat, specific targeted nutrition for ALS patients sooner if it would have made a difference.
Maybe it was anger.... Towards the pharmaceutical companies for not admitting to such risks (it has been said that the only time a drug is recalled is when the suspected loss of income from settling lawsuits exceeds the loss of income from the sales of the product); Towards lawyers and a political system who have already made it illegal for anyone in America to sue pharmaceutical companies for any adverse reaction to an immunization, and in some states are making it illegal to sue a pharmaceutical company for any drug which has been approved for use. These same lawyers will also sue a doctor for not suggesting cholesterol drugs or any other indicated drugs to their patients; Towards doctors who take the majority of their continuing education in classes sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies and are not able to recognize the muscle weakness, increased pain, and decreased quality of life that I hear from my patients taking cholesterol drugs; Towards a media that promotes the latest a greatest drug, and bases their choices on money instead of the greater good of society.
Maybe it was realizing how powerless I am, that I could not have done more. We all have our own journey in life, and it saddens my soul to see victims of greed. But in the end only God truly has the power to heal or call us home. Maybe in the end I will always wonder why I did not have the courage to visit my friend in his final days.
But I do believe each and every person who touches my life serves a purpose. Maybe it was Rob's purpose to make me realize that no doctor, pharmacist, drug company, or chemist can possibly understand all the unique biochemical reactions that occur within our body. Surely there are instances where drugs can save lives, but as for me I'll take my chances and stick to what God made as much as possible.
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