Mountain Musings by M.I. Lee
Yesterday I was the recipient of one of the best compliments I have ever received. It came from my esteemed physician who has cared for me and the state of my health for over five years and who is moving on to a career of research and lecturing. Her background and skills are phenomenal, so I was deeply moved and honored by these words from her “I am honored to have been your physician. You are one of only a few patients of mine who take responsibility for their own health."
Taking Responsibility for One’s Own Health-Getting Answers to the Why?
One would think that every person would have a self-serving interest in his/her own state of health as to take responsibility for it, but, alas, that is not the case, other than for a few. Good health is not limited to being able to function adequately, see and hear reasonably well, eat food and get some exercise. These are the easy ways out that may enable us to slide by without major health problems for a few years, but when the boom drops, then what?
We have a pain in our chest, so we go to a cardiologist, who gives us pills to keep it from getting worse. He tells us to cut down on eating fats and get more exercise, but he never brings up what the root cause or causes are, and what we need to correct the imbalance in our lives. We depend on him, so we don’t check further into the “why?”.
We feel a lump or have difficulty urinating, so we go to an oncologist, who finds evidence of cancer and prescribes radiation, chemotherapy and/or excision. Again, he doesn’t tell us why it happened, so we meekly follow his recommendations.
We break out in a rash that itches constantly, so go to a dermatologist who gives us a prescription for an ointment that causes our skin to thin and peel off, but gives only brief relief to the itching. We ask “Why?” and receive the trite answer that it’s because of “our age”.
We keep getting the flu, winter and summer, and ask our doctor for antibiotics to help us heal, but we continue to smoke, breathe contaminated air, and eat tainted foods that caused the problem initially. Additionally, we build up a resistance to antibiotics in the process so that when we really need them for pneumonia or similar conditions, they are useless.
I could go on and on with these examples, but believe you see where I’m heading. The “Why?” is the thing we ignore. Why is that? Because we are led to believe that we don’t understand our own bodies enough to figure out the “Why?”, so we need a medical practitioner, who still doesn’t answer that question. Why is that? Simply because it was never addressed in the medical schools they attended, so, to them, it is of no consequence.
The Internet is slowly changing this picture for those who may not be satisfied with pat answers. That is how I found my initial practitioner in Alternative (Integrative) Medicine some 10 years ago. That is where I go when I (age 84) or my husband (age 93) have a symptom I cannot readily identify. There I check out the causes of the problem, and if there is something he or I can do simply and naturally to improve the situation, then we do it. If not, we hand the matter over to our highly skilled and knowledgeable doctor (M.D.) who tests the elements in our blood to determine if we have too little or too much of any of them and gives us individualized supplements, if needed, to restore the balance in our systems. I take no pharmaceuticals, and my husband only a few.
Then it is up to each of us to follow what is required to regain control of our own health.
There are three online newsletters by highly respected and skilled Integrative and/or Alternative medical practiitioners: Andrew Weil, Chairman of the Department of Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona School of Medicine; Dr. Joseph Mercola (D.C.), who has made it his life’s goal to learn as much as possible about the human body and the ways we can care for it and have it function as nature intended; and Dr. David Williams, also highly skilled and keenly interested in our well-being.
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