Have you ever felt that your health was spinning out of control and there was nothing you could do about it? Have you ever been told that your “only” option was a risky surgery or toxic medications?
I have been working on a little woodworking project at home the past few days. Believe me, it’s a very simple and introductory woodworking project, but I have enjoyed working at it. I was doing the work in our garage which serves as our parking spots, toy-a-porium, and overall kids’ stomping grounds when playing outside. This particular day, however, it was my workshop. The cars were in the driveway, the toy boxes were pushed to the side and the scraps of wood and dowels were laying around the floor. My 7-year-old, in all his imaginative creativity, decided to use two scrap dowel rod pieces to direct traffic…much like landing a plane. When the project was done, the garage swept and my tools put away he had to run out and help direct me pulling the vehicles back in. He stood in the garage holding the dowel rods and guided me in just like they do when taxiing planes into the gate.
While he was doing this I was thinking about the trust I was placing in my 7-year-old son. He could see the front of the car…I couldn’t. I thought about the trust of the pilot while taxiing a huge jetliner into a gate. He is placing trust in the individual on the ground that can see the obstacles the pilot does not see. Now the pilot is still in control. He could turn the plane whenever he wanted. He could ignore the advice of the taxi and maybe he’d get by, but maybe he’d strike something causing big problems. Since nothing bad happened this time, he may think it is a waste to listen to the guy on the ground.
That’s his perogative. It’s his plane…he’s in the cockpit…he’s controlling the direction. I thought about my interaction with patients. I thought about my interaction as a patient. Then I thought…your doctor shouldn’t be your pilot.
No, your doctor should be the guy on the ground that is aware of the obstacles that could harm you, direct you and lead you in a path that is safe and clear. What it really boils down to though is you. You have to choose to trust your doctor. You have to choose to direct your vessel in the direction that he is leading you…with the knowledge that you always have your own choice.
In conventional medicine, often times patients are made to feel like they have no choice, as if they are not in the driver’s seat and someone else is calling all the shots. There are some inherent problems with not being in charge of your own health.
Forced Into A System That You Have No Control
By not being in the driver seat of your health you can feel that you’ve lost all control and things begin to tailspin out of control. Before you know it you’ve had your gallbladder removed, your appendix removed, and 16 inches of your intestines removed for some abdominal pain before anyone addressed your diet and lifestyle…which was the problem in the first place. Think that doesn’t happen? My practice is literally full of patients just like this only to find out that all the problems were not solved by the surgeries and now they are left with the same pain and a $60,000 hospital bill. By changing their diet, providing some gut healing nutrients and working on bowel transit their pain goes away, their function improves, and they may have a bill 1% or less of their current medical bills.
You’re Never Forced to Change
By taking a passive approach to your health and never taking initiative to take control of your health, you are never forced to make the necessary lifestyle changes required to be healthy. The majority of illnesses that are plaguing us are lifestyle related issues and drugs and surgery are not the answer. Don’t get me wrong…in times of emergency you take the backseat and let the experts do what they need to do to keep you alive. We are one of the highest ranking countries in the world in emergency and trauma care. The problem is that the current system tries to apply this same type of medicine to diseases of chronic illness. This doesn’t work and places us at the bottom of the list in all industrialized countries in our overall healthcare ranking. That should give you pause for concern. The majority of the time you need to make the changes day in and day out to rebuild your health. You need to work with someone that understands the systems of your body and looks at you as a whole person…not compartmentalize you into a series of specialists that ignore everything else.
Knowledge Is Power
When you take the time to understand you…understand your health…and understand wellness you are equipping yourself with knowledge. Knowledge is power. The power to heal, the power to regain health, the power to improve mental health, and the power to achieve your individual goals.
Trapped By Someone Else’s Belief?
Too many people are forced into believing someone else’s plan for them:
- its normal to feel like this
- its normal to feel depressed
- just wait until you get diabetes and then we can start drugs
- you’ll never be off these drugs
- you’ll never walk unassisted
One of the most powerful videos I have seen is of the gentleman in this video. A man that was told he wouldn’t walk unassisted again. For 15 years he listened to that..then he climbed back into the cockpit, he took control of the plane and found someone that could guide him into the place he wanted to be. The results? Simply amazing.
Your health is just that…your health. You need to be in control and you need to work with someone that you trust. You need to commit to learning about wellness. Study what you want…if you want wellness study wellness, if you want a positive mood study ways to make your brain healthy, if you want a better body study ways to exercise healthy. Too many times people come in with pages and pages of research on the “diagnosis” they spent thousands of dollars to get but none of which provides any useful life-changing information. Stop focusing on disease, start focusing on health, and get back in control of your health.
Ouch!! I am convicted!! Thanks for the post good stuff!!