LifeStyle Revolution

Nothing to fear...

Well, except for the rapist.

One of the things that make it possible for me to live in the city is getting out of the city. Here in Philadelphia, I am able to do that without actually leaving. The Fairmont Park system is a huge network of trees, trails and water nestled inside the City of Brotherly Love, and over the years, I have spent countless hours enjoying the quiet solitude of this magical place.

I can recall being nine months pregnant with Number Two, hiking up and down snowy trails with Number One in a backpack and our dog Lucy (who was petrified of heights after a  20 foot nosedive off an icy cliff in that same park) gingerly following behind. Later that Spring, with Number One still in the backpack and Number Two safely ensconced in a front sling, we spent hours, rain or shine, watching the fiddleheads transforming into ferns in the underbrush and quietly hoping the nine-point buck would visit us once again.

Aside from the fact that Number One got frost nip on his cheek that winter, and I had to remove a deer tic from Number Two before he was a month old, the woods were our safe haven from the noise of the city.

Fast-forward a dozen years and you’ll still find me traipsing through the woods, although now that I’m unencumbered by little people, I’m logging in a lot more miles running trails and (with impressive battle scars on my elbows and knees thanks to surprise interactions with roots, rocks and slippery terrain) loving the fact that I can get my exercise, meditation and dose of the wilderness all in one handy package, just blocks from my doorstep.

Except…

for the rapist lurking in the woods who recently attacked a woman along the very route that I run. Over the last five or so years, he has violated a handful of women throughout the park and in one even more horrific incident, committed murder.

After a too-short hiatus, he resurfaced a few weeks ago on the two-year anniversary of his last attack. At 6:30 on a busy Tuesday evening, he grabbed a woman runner out of her car, put a gun to her back, dragged her into the woods and raped her.

Now what?

I really don’t like making decisions based on fear. But I really don’t want to be stupid either. So I have stopped running alone except during the busiest of weekend afternoons. And even then, accompanied by my 96 lb. black lab/German shepherd body guard, Jake, I am hyper-aware of my surroundings and staying only on the most well traveled trails…because I am afraid, which makes me really, really, really mad.

Fear and anger.  Fear and anger. Fear and anger.

Oh, how very zen of me.

Yup. How very zen. 

Well, what did I expect? This is life. And life is fraught with things that rock our worlds and move us into places of discomfort and into feelings that we’d rather not feel. And the “zen” part about it comes from staying with the feelings and observing them rather than judging or pushing them away.

Because when we stay present in the discomfort and allow ourselves to just be with the feelings, we give ourselves the opportunity to grow.

This is what happens in meditation… when we sit in meditation we are inevitably faced with emotions that we’d rather not have. Or we become aware of parts of ourselves that we’d rather not see. But if instead of suppressing those thoughts or feelings we simply allow them to arise without judgment, acknowledge them for what they are, and then let them go, we move one step closer to awakening. 

And we realize that very often, the ugly parts of life are our greatest teachers. The people who irritate us most are our gurus. And the emotions that most freak us out are the ones with which we ought to get intimate.

What I love about My Woods is that I could run for hours and see few, if any people. I could forget that I was in the sixth largest city in the United States and just groove to the sound of the wind in the trees and the waterfall in the distance.

But what I love about My Community is that people are forming meet-up groups to walk, run or bike together. And what I love about My Life is that I have a best girlfriend who loves to run in the woods as much as I do—AND who laughs at all (OK, most) of my jokes.

Yet I am still afraid. And I am still angry.

But I’m not alone. And that’s super cool.

So for now, I’m allowing myself to feel the fear and the anger while I work on letting it dissolve. And in addition to exercising my body, I am working on exercising compassion—for the victims of these terrible incidents, for our community, for myself and (on a good day) for the perpetrator.

(And, by the way, here’s a link to a previous post that offers more insight on fear and also includes a handy-dandy breathing exercise…)

Homeopathy Is Green Medicine

People say I’m extravagant because I want to be surrounded by beauty. But tell me, who wants to be surrounded by garbage?  ...Imelda Marcos

(This is the third of four in the series on Homeopathy as: Complementary, Alternative, Green and Sustainable Medicine. Check out: Alternative Universe and A Nice Complement, Indeed to read the earlier posts)

As we as a nation embark on the Ultimate Quest For Greeness, medicine shines as a beacon of golden opportunity for change—but the potential lies buried under mountains of medical waste, oceans of pharmaceutical byproducts and an attitude of inertia.

Single-use gloves, syringes, soiled dressings, tissue samples, medical devices and radioactive materials illustrate how (for obvious reasons) safety must often supersede ecology in this attempt to diagnose and treat the ills of our Western society.

But we’ve got a huge problem in that we are creating more waste than we can effectively deal with. The WHO (World Health Organization) estimates that affluent countries like America produce upwards of 6 kg per person, per year of medical waste. With a current population of 304,537,292, that gives us at least 1,827,223,752 kg of medical waste each year.

And it’s not just about volume. Much of this stuff is super dangerous. About 20% of the waste is considered hazardous (meaning: infectious, toxic or radioactive) and, again according to the WHO, we are a long way away from being able to safely deal with it all.

The same goes for the pharmaceutical industry. Alarming information about drug residue in our water supply is no joke. The latest statistics show something like 80% of our water harboring traces of pharmaceutical medications. (Check out this site for a really good look at the problem) Although we are told (ahem) that the traces are not enough to do actual harm, do you really want to be taking a bath in a cocktail of Viagra, Advil, Vioxx and Prozac?

I am by no means an expert on how hospitals and drug companies can minimize waste, but there are some obvious things that we, the Regular People, can do to facilitate change.

The biggest step that we can make is to take charge of our personal wellbeing. This includes how we eat, how we move our bodies, how we engage in relationships and how we choose to utilize healthcare.

I hate to get preachy here, but I think that many of us use the medical system as a crutch—and we are encouraged to do so. If you really want to get fired up, read this article from Tuesday’s NY Times regarding the recommendation that overweight eight year olds be given Statin drugs to lower cholesterol; give me a break!

I believe that first steps absolutely, positively need to be built around lifestyle modification and personal responsibility—with medicinal treatments being used only after all other avenues have been exhausted (obviously, critical and emergent needs are in a completely different category).

Safe and effective alternative therapies such as Homeopathy, when properly utilized, can provide a positive support mechanism to bring the body to a better level of health and vitality—without bringing harm to the environment. 

As a modality, Homeopathy is about as Green as Green gets.

First off, it doesn’t require a lot of diagnostic testing, equipment or expensive machinery. In fact, if need be, remedies can be prepared in a completely low-tech, manual process.

Homeopathic remedies are made from simple substances that, for the most part, come from the plant, animal and mineral kingdoms. For example, in the plant kingdom, there are remedies made from chamomile, nutmeg, onion and wild rice; in the animal kingdom, there are remedies from crushed bees, snake venom and dolphin milk; from the mineral kingdom, potassium, phosphorus, calcium carbonate and plain ol’ salt.

And because of the unique method of preparation used in (FDA regulated and approved) homeopathic pharmacies, only tiny amounts of any substance are ever necessary to produce high-quality remedies. This means that we are never stripping the earth of resources or harming animals in the process.

Being Green, when it comes to medicine, is about a lot more than waste reduction…

Green is the color you get when you blend a conscious attitude about your own personal health with an open eye on the bigger picture.  And that is something that each and every one of us can—and should do. 

Don't think about it as having to go cold turkey on the ways you currently live your life. Don't even think about it as being difficult or expensive or scary. Instead, think of it as being an Eco-Logical way to take charge of your own health and wellness. Right Now. 

 

 

 

 

 

Sustainable Healthcare?

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win... Mahatma Ghandi

In the science section of Tuesday’s NY Times, Abigail Zuger, MD wrote a review of two new books that look at opposite sides of the medical treatment equation. In short, one book encourages preventative tests, screenings and treatments while the other maintains a certain skepticism about over-treatment and (what I would term) fear-based medicine.

This dichotomy is something that I deal with a lot in practice and often acts as the litmus test for how people approach their health care choices.

Health is a multi-dimensional concept that has little to do with how well a person scores in diagnostic testing. Yet our current medical mandate does little to facilitate actual health individually, globally or economically.

There are a few things that have to be determined in order to set up a cogent thesis about this. First, there needs to be a good definition of “health” and what it means to be healthy. And second (this is the part that is most difficult to explain) is the need to see health from a wider perspective and to understand how our standard model—which operates on the idea of being sick, not well—is not sustainable and is working against us in terms of our states of health and well-being.

I recognize that it is impossible to deeply explore these complex concepts in one post, so I’ll settle for planting some seeds in hopes that meaningful conversation will take place and further learning will ensue. As such, I leave you with more questions than answers…and encourage you to post your comments.

So…what is health?

I like to think that health is freedom. It is a state of being where one is not focused on discomfort or illness but rather has the capacity—both mentally and physically—to lead a meaningful life with energy to create, to work and to engage in community.

But given that we are human, and are ultimately going to die, how do we deal with the inevitable bumps in the road?

Can a person be "healthy" if they have cancer? Auto-immune disease? Bi-polar disorder? AIDS?

Can health be attained—and sustained—by simply re-thinking the paradigm of how we live? And how we utilize our medical resources?

Would it be easier to be healthy if we had a society that put as much energy into understanding body, mind and spirit as it did in watching television, playing video games and shopping?

What if we got to the point where the industrial food lobbies didn’t have carte blanche to mis-educate the public with bogus claims about the "safety" of genetically modified, irradiated and chemically concocted foods?

Are some of the ways that we currently treat illness more dangerous than the diseases themselves?

Is it possible that the exponentially increasing occurrences of diseases such as cancer, asthma, autism, allergies and depression are a backlash to the last few generations who have been over-vaccinated, over-medicated and weaned on a diet of chemicals and preservatives?

Is it possible that medical tests are sometimes done with a nod toward avoiding possible malpractice suits?

Is it probable that when a doctor has only 15 minutes with a patient it is nearly impossible to get a comprehensive understanding of the situation and as such, (expensive) testing is sometimes used to complete the job?

In the same vein, is the over use of pharmaceuticals a way to “do something” when no other options are available to the practitioner? (When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail...)

If our medical “authorities” were trained to give care in a more holistic way (i.e. the way that a family doctor operated fifty years ago), would they have more to offer than simple medicinal suppression of symptoms?

How can we do all this when our ailing economy is dependent on broken systems like health insurance, pharmaceuticals, big-box stores, subsidized farming, etc.?

Is radical change possible for the average American?

There you have it folks. I can hear the wheels spinning and the ideas beginning to percolate. And I hope that forward-thinking people—which you must be if you’ve read through to the bottom of this post—will continue to give their energy and ideas to bring our world to a healthier and more sustainable place.

Be the change you want to see in the world…. Mahatma Ghandi

 

 

Alternative Universe

Well, the stuff that has become more commercial doesn’t have any edge…Iggy Pop

Think about this: an actual alternative to the current medical paradigm. An alternative that seeks to strengthen the overall health of the individual in a way that is cost-effective, has no side effects and doesn’t taste or smell bad.

Is that actually possible?

I contend that it is and that Homeopathy really is an alternative (a truly viable alternative) to other more invasive medical protocols being used today. And I’m not alone. The World Health Organization says that Homeopathy is the most widely used form of alternative medicine in the world and estimates that about 500 million people currently receive homeopathic treatment.

In this post I’d like to explore the trajectory of Homeopathy from its role as a Complementary modality to the stand-alone realm of being “Alternative”.

The word “alternative” has a few definitions; it can be understood as a “black/white choice between two options”, but it can also be understood as being “preferable to the existing state or form of something, very often with the connotation of being less conventional, less materialistic, more in harmony with the environment and the natural order of things.”

I want to blend those two definitions together and say that when it comes to medicine, a person needs to make the choice that is appropriate for their given situation. For example: if your appendix bursts, you need surgery. If you have a compound fracture you need to have it properly set, maybe install a pin or two and then have a cast. If you have long unexplained pain, perhaps an MRI is the best diagnostic option.

In these situations, as explored in a previous post, Homeopathy can provide a fine complement to the necessary treatment protocols—but it is not what you would call an “alternative”.

However, if you have acute gastroenteritis, or chronic fatigue syndrome, Lupus, or long-standing depression, or maybe your child has recurring ear infections or even ADD/ADHD,…Homeopathy may provide the alternative you need.

Homeopathy is a modality that works with the body’s innate ability to heal itself. It looks at the whole of the disturbance, including the mental, emotional and physical manifestations of symptoms, and through judicious use of the remedies, works to return the body (the whole person, actually) to a state of health.

Way back in the day, Homeopathy and what we now call “conventional medicine” existed side-by-side. There were homeopathic medical colleges, homeopathic hospitals (i.e. Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia), and many medical doctors were also practitioners of Homeopathy. For reasons mostly political and probably financial, a rift between the Homeopaths and the “medical doctors” took hold.  And so, the guys that teamed up with the pharmaceutical companies became the ”norm” and the rest of us, the “alternative”.

That’s cool, and anyone who has had bypass surgery, or a liver transplant or been in a burn unit will tell you to thank god that the medical guys studied their stuff. In countless ways, over the years, this system has served us well.

But if you sniff around a little, you may also see living, breathing evidence that although people are living longer, many of them might not actually be living better. We’ve got a lot of weird stuff creeping up; a lot of chronic illnesses that aren’t getting resolved by surgery and that may require a lifetime of (not particularly optimal) pharmaceutical intervention.

That’s tough. And expensive. And the treatments aren’t necessarily the answer to the problem. And sometimes, if you take a few meds for a long time, you need a few more meds, and the side effects take their toll, and you may wind up in worse shape than where you started.

This is one time when you can clearly see the need for an alternative—like Homeopathy.

And here’s another: A person has symptoms so they go to the doctor. They get a bunch of tests that all come back negative. But the poor guy still feels like s**t. It’s great that the tests don’t measure any frank pathology, but if the person still doesn’t feel well, then what? Sometimes they are referred for test after test after test. Sometimes they are prescribed a few courses of steroids or an antidepressant. And sometimes they are told it is all in their head and are sent away to deal on their own accord.

To my mind, this is when Homeopathy has a chance to shine: The time between when the person feels that something is out of whack—and when there is actual, quantifiable pathology. It is in this state that we see a body that is struggling to regain equilibrium…and is expressing the need to get things back to normal. And that is what Homeopathy does best.

Homeopathy, because it is about understanding the Individual, seeks to identify that which is out of balance and then to find the remedy that best matches the whole of the disturbance in order to right the imbalance. This means that two people may wind up with the exact same medical diagnosis and yet need a completely different Homeopathic remedy. Conventional medicine looks at what is similar and Homeopathy looks at what is unique and individual.

(Exactly how this works and why are fodder for another post; see the sidebar “About Homeopathy” for some more information.)

Homeopathy has had many hey-days over the last few centuries where it kicked some serious butt in treating influenza, cholera, typhoid and Diptheria. (Check out this article). It has a mean track record in fighting acute ailments, including food poisoning and stomach virus, whooping cough, strep throat and Lyme.

But for clarity (and liability), I am saying VERY CLEARLY: Homeopathy does not “CURE DISEASE” (that is the domain of the “conventional doctors” and we are NOT ALLOWED TO SAY THAT) it simply realigns the energy of the body such that it becomes inhospitable for disease to manifest. In other words, Homeopathy makes you a bad hostess.

Many clients ask if they should have regular check-ups and tests if they are under Homeopathic care. Sure, why not. It  (This does not, in any way, discount the efficacy of Homeopathic treatment—rather it points out the shortcomings in the way that our system is currently structured.)

In America, Homeopaths are not allowed to perform physical examinations, to diagnose or to prescribe medications. (In other countries, this is not necessarily the case; i.e. in England and India there are Homeopathic hospitals, etc.) So it is important to have a partner in the healing process.

Here in America, where we are fortunate to have access to some of the most groundbreaking treatments available, we tend to be a bit overzealous about what we do and how we do it. Kind of like using a machine gun when a water pistol would be just fine.

Homeopathy is like the light mist that puts out the big fire. It is safe, effective and economical and sometimes, a much better Alternative to firing the machine gun. 

Nosey Parker

If you want to collect pearls, you have to dive deep. So don't confuse your mind by sitting on the beach and expecting pearls to come sit in your basket...Baba Hari Dass

There are two things that I repeatedly recommend to my clients: journaling and using a neti pot. And, funny enough, these two seemingly different practices actually have a lot in common.

The Neti Pot is like a cross between a gravy boat and a genie bottle. This little masterpiece is also known as a “nasal bidet” or “respiratory irrigation system” and it works wonders for people with allergies, chronic sinusitis, the common cold, snoring, and a cloudy third eye (wha?). 

When allergy season gets sticky, and people begin calling out in desperation to the demi-gods Claritin and Zyrtec with eyes watering, noses itching and trash bins overflowing…it is Captain Neti to the rescue!

The neti pot works by flushing out the nasal cavity with a salt-water solution: Water goes in one nostril, crosses the bridge, and comes out the other side (as does all the gunk).

But there is more to the neti than meets the eye, or the nose for that matter. The neti pot is a dear old friend of the yogi and has been used for thousands of years as a part of the ritual purification known as “shat karma” or the “six purificatory methods”.

As a discipline, yoga actually goes way beyond pretzel poses. In fact, the physical practice of yoga that most westerners are familiar with is only one small part of the larger system. The real story on yoga is about achieving union with the “divine source.” (Regardless of religious proclivity, union with the divine source is a pretty good goal.)

The way that one goes about achieving this state is multifaceted, as you can well imagine, and much too much to explain in this post. Suffice it to say that acts of ritual purification lead the list in how the mind, body and spirit can achieve a meditative state (kind of like when Dorothy and her crew were prepped for meeting the Great and All Powerful Oz), and neti is one of these rituals.

While neti does wonders for opening the sinus passages, cleaning out mucus, clearing the eyes and improving sense of smell, it is also believed to stimulate the pituitary and pineal glands, both of which are key in regulating the hormonal system.

In yogic terms, neti cleansing is connected with the energy center behind the forehead that is called the “ajna chakra” or “third eye”—an area thought to be important for clearer thinking, improved concentration and achieving higher states in meditation.

So what does this have to do with journaling?

Personal writing is a potent form of meditation and a great way to move stuckness in the body: visualize the energy going from the head, through the heart and out the hand onto the page… Regular journaling is like exercise for your emotional body.

The goal of the journaling process is to get to know your true self. Not your “personality,” not your ego, but your actual true and authentic self.

This is done by spending time weeding through the mind spam and learning to hear your inner voice more clearly. This is the voice that needs to be in charge. This is your bus driver. Listen to this voice. Heed the command of the inner bus driver.

Journaling doesn’t need to be structured writing. There are no grades for spelling, punctuation or sentence structure. It is all about the flow. And in the end, you don’t need to read it—or even keep it. In fact, you could shred it, burn it or flush it and the outcome would still be the same.

Journaling is about looking inward. And the way we look inward can be through our “third eye.” In esoteric terms, the third eye is associated with states of higher consciousness and is sometimes used to describe the “gate to inner realms.” Clean as a whistle after you neti and just the place we want to go with our journaling, right? 

So whether you neti to help with your snoring or journal to get over a difficult break-up, you are using age old tools to facilitate your healing and wellbeing and, hopefully, opening up connections to your most authentic self. 

 

 

 

A Nice Complement, Indeed

Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live...Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I got an email today from a friend (let's just call her "Katie") who recently moved to Philadelphia from LA. She and her husband are in the process of re-building their “pit crew” and she was looking for some health-care recommendations. Here is an excerpt of the email:

"I'd like to introduce Homeopathy into our lives but I'm not sure if it replaces medical Dr. visits.  My initial understanding of Homeopathy is that it treats symptoms to cure not mask them.  So, if you're not showing symptoms and just want to make sure all systems are go, where do you go?  I usually go to a GP for a yearly physical, an OB/GYN for a yearly pap and a dermatologist for body checks.  I'll go to my acupuncturist when I feel sick or I have pain.  Would Homeopathy be used in conjunction with the medical Dr. visits or would it replace the need for those doctors?"

There is nothing better than having smart friends with impeccable timing. This email completely encompassed the topics I was working on for my next entries.

Ultimately, I want to communicate why Homeopathy is Sustainable Medicine. But until we are all clear about what homeopathy is (and what it isn’t), what it does (and what it doesn’t do), when it is helpful/appropriate (and when it isn’t) sustainability remains a bit of an outside concept.

So here’s the plan:

I am going to break up the topic into four chunks and talk about Homeopathy as: Complementary, Alternative, Green, and finally, Sustainable.

Here we go.

Homeopathy is Complementary Medicine.

That means that it does not interfere with other forms of treatment and can be “a complement” to the healing process.

Some examples:

• A person undergoing chemotherapy takes a homeopathic remedy to help relieve nausea
• A homeopathic remedy taken to speed the healing of radiation burns
• A child with ADD/ADHD takes Ritalin and participates in constitutional homeopathic treatment at the same time
• A person undergoes surgery and uses homeopathic remedies to speed the post-surgical healing process
• A broken arm is set in a cast and remedies are used to facilitate the bone-knitting process
• A person with depression sees a psychotherapist while undergoing constitutional homeopathic care.

From the above examples, you see that homeopathic remedies can be used along side of other therapies to either palliate (lessen suffering) or to work on deeper issues while the other treatment protocol is used as the palliative. In either case, the two modalities are “complementing” one another toward a more efficient end result. 

Because there are no known side-effects of remedies, they do not adversely interact with prescription medications. However, this is one of those times when home prescribing is not the best option. A qualified homeopathic practitioner should be consulted when remedies are used in conjunction with another therapy.

This all sounds hunky-dory, right? For the most part it is. But this is America in 2008 and we are a nation addicted to pharmaceutical drugs and lawsuits. So the next bit I have to say is a little risky…but here goes:

When people are healing from a deep, constitutional level, they might not need all the meds they are taking. (Uh oh, I hear the Merck gods rumbling from the underworld). But this makes sense, right? If (as I have mentioned in previous posts) symptoms are the body’s way of venting what is out of balance, and if we put the body back into balance, there is no longer a need for the drug.

{For liability purposes, I am stating Loud And Clear that a person should never (NEVER NEVER EVER) be pulled off of their medication without the consent of their physician.}

But, for the sake of understanding, it makes total sense that if a person whose out-of-balance-state manifested in them having high blood pressure, and then they got back into balance, and their blood pressure returned to normal—they actually run the risk of suffering from low blood pressure if they continue their medication.

So it’s really important to have a medical doctor who has faith in the healing process and who understands that pharmaceutical medications are not the only means to the end. 

It’s even more important to look at the most complementary modality of all: Personal Responsibility for your Lifestyle Choices. We’ll call it PRLC for short.

Yes friends, the best complement of all is taking care of your body from the inside out. Eating really good, real food. Getting out in nature. Engaging in healthy relationships. Doing things you love. Moving your body through yoga, or tai chi, or dancing, or golfing with a booty wiggle. Whatever.

Got it?

And please feel free to post questions if there are aspects of this post that you would like to see go a little deeper...

 

 

The Boiled Frog, Revisited...

“Sometimes I'm confused by what I think is really obvious. But what I think is really obvious obviously isn't obvious...” Michael Stipe, REM 

In writing this blog, my primary goal is to get people thinking about what is happening in our society that is making people sick—and to explore various roads toward a path of wellness. 

A few posts ago, I introduced the concept of medicinal suppression. This is a topic that comes up again and again (and again) in my practice (and in my personal relationships) as people wrestle with the inevitable reality of not being well and trying to find a way to manage their symptoms. 

Following is an excerpt from an email exchange I was having with a friend who was really suffering from hormonal symptoms (excessive blood loss leading to anemia leading to heart palpitations and anxiety that wound her up in the ER). She had not used Homeopathy or any other alternative modalities up until this point and was struggling with the medical system, not getting relief, yet not sure where to turn. This particular email was in response to her questions about the hormone replacement therapies that were recommended to her. 

…In most cases, I advise against hormone replacement therapies (whether they be synthetic, natural or bio-identical) for several reasons. The main reason is that they don't take care of the root problem: When troublesome symptoms arise, they are rarely (if ever) solved by "filling in the gaps where the hormones went missing" as the symptoms are simply an outward expression of the deeper internal imbalance. 

In the case of perimenopause and menopause, the body is going through natural hormonal changes that are a normal part of the aging process; when the body is in relative balance, these symptoms are quite manageable and the discomfort is minimal. 

When we start to suppress symptoms (for example: putting a topical steroid on a patch of eczema) the imbalance remains but the external expression of the symptom is forced underground. What happens with the imbalance? Well, if its most convenient path is blocked, it will take the next best route to deal with the energy that results from the original imbalance. Thus, suppressed eczema often reappears in the form of upper respiratory inflammation (asthma). So then we treat those symptoms (with a steroidal inhaler) and the asthma is controlled; but a few months later (or maybe years if the person is really healthy) we might see GI disturbances (chronic diarrhea, IBS, colitis, Crohns). Now we need a systemic steroid... You see where this is going, right? Each suppressed symptom has a corollary in the body, typically in a deeper and more vital place. And if you want more proof, read the "warning books" that come along with any pharmaceutical product. Many of the "long term side effects" are actually results of suppression. 

Just to be clear: I'm not saying that all medication is bad. But you can look at it as a loan from the bank—ultimately you have to pay it back, with interest. When you're pretty healthy and you take a Tylenol every now and again, or maybe an antibiotic, no biggie. Think of it like a low-interest mortgage. When you step it up and start to rely on meds regularly, (blood pressure regulators, thyroid replacement hormones, migraine meds) it's like bad credit card debt--much harder to get out of. And when you get to the level of the steroids and antidepressants, it's like a loan shark ready to breaka-you-kneecaps. 

The only way to really deal with chronic issues properly is to step up and manage the stuff from the inside out. Your last email when you mentioned taking control of your life with diet, exercise, etc. is really the smartest choice. I can't tell you how many people I have worked with who have done just that (and used Homeopathy, Acupuncture and other non-suppressive modalities to move them through the rough patches) and who have experienced really profound healing--on many levels. 

You know this, but I'll say it anyway because I can: health is a three-dimensional expression. It involves your body, your mind and your emotions. You know that when you are anxious, you feel like s**t. When you are sick it is hard to have a clear head. When you have stress it can make you physically ill, right? So it stands to reason that getting well is about dealing with all of these aspects of being. 

There are loads of things that you can do to start the process and turn around your health. And they aren't even bad, yucky or smelly. Lifestyle changes can be empowering and energizing--even delicious. (If I couldn't eat good food and drink wine, I'd give it all up in a nano-second). 

So think about hormone replacement as a big suppression. The hormones are the body's main regulating system. Those suckers are large and in charge. Monkeying around with them is like asking a kleptomaniac to house-sit. So if you need to take HRT for a short time, do it, but know that sooner or later, Joey Bagadonuts will arrive to collect! 

So there you have it. Some more thoughts about suppression, medication and the state in which people often arrive on my doorstep. Healing is a long, evolutionary road. It’s not like you get to the end, ring a bell and collect your prize. And it’s also not as if the state of health is equal to being without pain or suffering.

Ahhhh but that is another paradox that will be explored soon, here at LifestyleRevolution.

Boiling a Frog in Viagra

Back when I was a kid (I’m 42 now) we got the mumps and chicken pox, had a few sore throats, threw up every now and again, and when we were really sick, we got a shot of penicillin in the booty. 

For the most part, the kids I knew were pretty healthy. Sure, there was the occasional asthmatic kid and I knew one boy with a peanut allergy. (Now that I think about it, he had asthma too). 

As far as behavioral issues went, I was in a classroom with 35 kids and one teacher; there was no ADD, ADHD, ODD. Nobody had an IAP. Yes, there were kids who were slower and kids who were brighter, and there was the occasional disruptive kid, but for the most part, school was school and everybody did what they could. 

But over the course of the last 20 years, things have changed dramatically in terms of the health, vitality and behavior of our children. 

The statistics are astounding: 

Autism: Current estimates show that one in every 150 children in the US is now autistic. It is considered to be the fastest-growing developmental disability 

Asthma: One out of every four Americans suffers from asthma and allergies. That means that more than 20 million Americans have asthma, including nine million US children under 18. 

Food and environmental allergies/multiple chemical sensitivities: Approximately 11 million Americans live with food allergies, and one in every 50 children has a potentially life-threatening allergy to peanuts. This number has more than doubled since 1997. 

Behavioral disorders (ADD, ADHD, ODD, etc): More than 3.5 million American children suffer from ADHD and its related diagnoses; a 400% increase in the last 20 years. (No wonder American children consume 90% of the world’s Ritalin!) 

Is it possible that we are like the fabled frog in the pot of water? 

The story goes that if you want to boil a frog and you throw him into a pot of boiling water, he’ll jump right out. But if you put him into tepid water and slowly turn up the heat, he’ll make the necessary adjustments until it is too late… Have there been such insidious changes over the last 20-40 years that we have actually reached the boiling point? And if so, to what can we attribute this de-volution, how can we understand it, and what can we do to preserve our health and wellbeing? 

My belief is that that there are a great number of factors affecting this decline of overall health and wellbeing. From a more processed food supply (Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto is a must-read) to increased numbers of childhood immunizations (in 1980 infants were vaccinated against 4 diseases, while in 2008 the CDC recommends 19 shots, inclusive of 10 different vaccines for 15 different diseases by the time they are 12 months old) we are definitely changing what we put into our bodies. 

On top of that, we now have untold numbers of chemical compounds inundating our environments in the form of household cleaners, fragrances, bath and beauty products—not to mention reduced air quality and environmental pollutants—that are increasing the toxic load on our bodies. So it is no wonder that we are seeing the ill effects of this on our children. 

And we see it in ourselves as well: increases in cancer, autoimmune disorders, diabetes, obesity, hormonal disorders, fibromyalgia, depression, infertility, erectile dysfunction, the list goes on and on. So why aren’t we doing anything about this? 

I have one word for you: Viagra. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to tell you that the pharmaceutically-enhanced erection is the bottom line problem. I have always maintained that if deleterious changes in our environment stopped men from having erections, things would come to a screeching halt. But, true to form, we have found yet another way to look past the underlying problem and apply a band-aid (or (forgive me), two popsicle sticks and some tape) to the problem. 

When we treat symptoms, without regard to what actually causes them, we have a problem: “suppression.” And suppression is the one causative factor in this pot of soup that has yet to be heralded in the mainstream media. Suppression is best understood as treating the symptoms instead of the cause. In other words, every time we take an “anti-“ anything, we are probably performing some sort of suppression. If you have inflammation, you take an anti-inflammatory. For fever, take an anti-pyretic (like Tylenol or Advil). Depressed? An anti-depressant. 

But are these drugs actually dealing with the root of the problem? Unlikely. 

Symptoms are the body’s way of letting us know that there is something wrong, an imbalance. Making the symptoms disappear through medicinal suppression is not a cure. (I know I’m repeating myself, but this is a very important concept). 

Imagine that the body is like a balloon being slowly filled with water. If this balloon continues to be filled, at some point it will spring a leak. The leak will occur on the weakest point of the balloon. Should a band-aid be placed over that leak, ostensibly reinforcing the weak spot, it will stop the leak—but as long as the water continues to fill the balloon, the problem remains the same and the next weakest point will be affected. Patch up this spot, and you’ll move to the next weakest point. 

So it is with the body. What the body wants is to achieve balance (aka homeostasis). When something is out of balance the body reacts by producing symptoms. When we shut off this “vent” for the imbalance (i.e.: “curing” eczema through use of a topical steroid) it is not unusual, after a time, for a new symptom picture to present itself. If, for example, a child has eczema, and this eczema is “cured” through the use of a topical steroid, it is not unusual for this child to develop asthma. The asthma represents a deeper manifestation of the original imbalance. 

What do we do? We stop trying to cover up the problems and we go deeper to the core of the matter. 

How exactly do we do it? Stay tuned…