I have to give credit where credit is due. When I look at my life, it has been saved many times by western medicine and alternative care. I know I need the ability to source and access what will best help me heal.
Western Medicine To The Rescue
As a child, I suffered from chronic infections in my throat. Antibiotics saved me several times; I had my tonsils out when I was very young two. Was this ideal? Maybe not, but in the time before targeted antibiotic pharmaceuticals and throat surgery, I might have died.
When I was nine, I was in an accident at cheer-leading tryouts. I did a split into a broken glass coke bottle. It was terrible, the blood just gushed everywhere. The cheering coach wrapped my knee in clean cloth diapers, a couple of sweaters and I was rushed off to the hospital for surgery. Several hours and fifty plus stitches later, I was on the mend. While I didn’t make the cheering squad, I have a fully functional knee. Chances are I would have bled to death limped for the rest of my life or died of infection without the surgeon’s help. An acute injury repair is a testament to medicine working at its best.
So why do I fight for the freedom to choose medicine and alternative care?
Medicine, by design, identifies and treats symptoms, then manages them going forward. It doesn’t look at health issues holistically or work to identify and correct the root cause of the problem. Medicine zeroes in on the physical body and often neglects the mind and spirit in treatment. In complex and chronic health issues, a broader approach can enhance success. I have used medical treatment and in alternative care for the complicated health issues in my life.
Weight Gain
My experience with my weight issues and Lyme disease are two examples where the medical paradigm alone did not help me. I needed medicine and alternative care to succeed. I have struggled to maintain a healthy weight for most of my life, gaining and losing hundreds of pounds.
Doctors offered diets, exercise plans, medications, and surgery. I tried the first three but drew the line at surgery. Feeling physically full might not necessarily stop me from overeating. An operation like the gastric sleeve means irrevocably altering your digestive tract.
I know people this has worked for and yahoo. On the other side, many people eat a new large stomach and regain all the weight they lost plus extra. I honestly felt I would be in that category. Overeating for me is a way I avoid my feelings, conflicts and integrity gaps rather than facing, resolving and digesting them.
Look at the way I am living and make changes to help me deal with my eating more honestly. I needed to honor what Geneen Roth says.
“How you eat is how you live. How you do anything is how you do everything. “
Geneen Roth
Lyme & Western Medicine
Lyme, in its chronic form, is also a complex condition that medicine barely recognizes and struggles to treat. Herbalism and energy medicine leveraged my ability to control the multiple infections associated with my “Lyme disease.” Ayurveda, meditation, and yoga gave me the diet and lifestyle practices I needed to live a healthier life and rebuild my Lyme ravaged body. Medicine does not directly connect what you eat digest and do everyday to health and wellness.
Alternative practices added critical value on my healing journey. I deeply value the freedom to choose healthcare that works best from me. The combination of alternative and western medicine is a powerful arsenal to address problems and build health.
My doctors didn’t help me in any permanent way with weight gain issues or heal my Lyme disease. Alternative practices were more successful. Ayurveda, yoga, and meditation have given me tools to uncover, see, and deal with how I face my choices in life. Shift my focus more and more towards self-care. Nourish and love my body and live more healthily in my day to day choices. Self-care is a work in progress, the work of my life.
The purpose of this article is to share and educate on Lyme disease recovery strategies. The information provided in this article is not a substitute for professional medical care, treatment, or advice. All the material here is for information purposes only. Always share strategy and work with your health care team.