Tuesday, December 8, 2009

There are more things on heaven and earth, Horatio....

Welcome back to another edition of AcuNut's Health Watch.

In the midst of the ever-present debate about the national health care system, I felt the need to explore the idea of health and healing as a commodity in our society, the notion that health and healing can be packaged and bought.   The baby boomers are beginning to hit their "senior" birthdays, and have been raised in a culture where technology and the advances in medicine seemingly had no limits, particularly with the miracles of vaccines and antibiotics.  Add to that the introduction of the HMO and the idea of a $10 copay and we have a fundamental shift with regards to personal responsibility, and a relinqushing of personal power over to HMOs.   In bygone days, when health care was less ubiquitous and not readily paid for (or you had a high deductible), I think more emphasis as placed on prevention - stay home when you are sick, eat your vegetables, have 2 prunes a day, the daily constitutional, and my personal favorite - nap time (so civilized).  In addition people had to save for their annual deductibles, and this could be a few thousand dollars annually.  There was, on some level, an understanding that health care was part of the family budget.

The fundamental health crises in our country may be less about the ability for us to save lives or even prevent disease then it is about personal responsibility, about being proactive with your health and not necessarily accepting the MD's word as final or the only option.   Technology has a price, not only in $$ but in quality of life. The basics of preventive medicine have been sacrificed to feed the beast of technology because insurance companies cannot afford to pay doctors for the time it takes to council patients. It is quicker to just give them the little purple pill and move on. And the pharmaceutical companies will make far more $$ from you as a diabetic over 25 years than if you use diet and exercises.  There is no financial incentive for wellness as a culture at present in the US.

As an ancillary provider (alternative to conventional medicine such as chiro, acupuncture, naturopathic, massage, etc.) many times I see patients only after they have had their condition for months or years, have tried multiple trips to the doctor, and been put on a potent mix of medications.  If there was one message I could impart to the general public, it would be to seek help sooner, that they have the means to live a pain-free or more energetic life, the downside being that they may have to pay for some of it outside of their conventional medicine. 


As to the arguments that these modalities have not been "scientifically proven"  I would encourage people to become their own scientists with regards to their bodies.  The advantage of working with a licensed and credentialed provider of alternative medicine is that you will experience far fewer side effects or  permanent injury than with many conventional therapies, particularly drugs.  (It may come as a shock to many people that in the Physician's Desk reference, that for over half the meds, they don't understand the mechanism of action, which is med speak for they don't know how the drugs work in the body.  This may also explain why they cannot explain the side affects associated with the drugs).

In general, with a provider with whom you have a poor fit, or with whom you have a bad exeprience you will just not get better rather than experience lasting harm.  I have seen quite a few lame ducks in my own journey to wellness.  Although it seemed like wasted money at the time,  my experience has been that with persistence I eventually am lead to a great provider, one with whom I have a good rapport.  Trial and error is part of the scientific process.  

The Journey of a thousand miles....
begins with one step.   I had a teacher who likened the search for the right provider to a pilgrimage of sorts - a refining process that happens when we become willing to search for our recovery and perhaps to go to any lengths to get better.  She likened it to a sword being tempered by fire, sharpened, the blade made perfect.  Furthermore, the journey to health is seldom simple because we are often unclear in our intentions.  While we may want this or that to be "fixed,"  sometimes we are not ready to work our side of the street, to take the steps to achieve health.   The journey, the longing for recovery is sharpened by the suffering,  and we find our ego being whittled away in the process, creating an energetic opening through which grace can pass.  For me, the search created willingness to do what was asked, perhaps to abstain from certain foods, to exercise more, meditate, to take foul tasting herbs.     

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 159–167).

Perhaps it was my background as a research scientist that caused me to look outside the box when confronted with my own health care crises back in the 80s, where the answers I heard from my primary care didn't work for me and neither did the idea of taking Vicodin for the rest of my life or walking with a cane.  It took several years to find a combo of modalities that worked and then several years of treatment before things were a lot better.  Have I been cured?  Gosh no, I manage the structural issues by regular bodywork and I have to budget accordingly, because like many of you, my insurance does not cover ANY of my ancillary services. 

Given that I have spent the better part of the down-payment on a house on my health in the last decade, you may want to ask if it was worth the investment...  Absolutely.  And now when there are periodic flare-ups - and trust me, at least once a year I manage to mangle myself pretty badly to where I am laid up again and I have to get a lot more bodywork ($$), at least now I know how and what to do.  That may be the biggest difference with my clients is that I know with certainty that within a few months things will be better.  It is an empowering thing to feel like I have a choice, that I am not locked into the HMO having the last word, that I can make my own choices with regards to my health care as an educated consumer. 


Consider that no treatment or practitioner can fix you - all physicians, no matter what style of medicine they practice, merely help make it possible for your body to heal.  With the health care consuming a great deal of the airwaves at present, it might be a helpful to consider what aspects of our health we would like to improve in 2010 and what we are able and willing to pay for that care. 

Contact me directly at jmoffitt@acunut.com.