We've had a long standing skepticism of western medicine. We initially sought the care of a pediatrician for our daughter, since that's what everyone did...then she had two recurrent ear infections from stagnant fluid build-up behind her ear drum. The pediatricians in the practice immediately started to talk tubes. That meant surgery, and putting our tiny baby under general anesthesia. When asked why the fluid was staying in the first place, the pediatrician shrugged their shoulders. We took her to what we describe as our first 'voo-doo' doctor. He used muscle testing and Brimhall to determine that she had a yeast problem, causing her body to be out of balance. One month on a low-glycemic diet and she NEVER had another ear infection. That permanantly changed our thoughts on nutrition, and began a LONG journey of research...aaaannd a greater distrust of most MD's approach to health care.
My personal frustration with western medicine started when I was 9. I had a skin infection on my ear. Doctors threw stronger and stronger antibiotics at it, until they decided I needed to be hospitalized for IV antibiotics. It resolved after nearly a week in the hospital, but in hindsight, now it appears that it was my first experience with cold sores. My parents were in the middle of a divorce, so in all likelihood, I was stressed beyond what my little body could tolerate. BUT, they were certain it was 'cellulitis'...the catch all for inflammation with no explanation. Fast Forward 11 yrs...
I am 20 yrs old and I have excruciating low back pain, despite being healthy in all other ways, and very active. I go to a neurologist, orthopedist and physical therapist. They offer pain medications, and exercises only focusing on my low back. The end result? FIVE YEARS of chronic low back pain and only prescriptions to manage it when it was really bad. Chiropractic helped a bit...until...I encountered a knowledgeable massage therapist. Two weeks after getting muscle care my back pain is GONE...never to return that way again (it's been 11 yrs, a marathon and two children ago). They finally addressed what the problem was: chronic postural strain, with muscle tension down my legs that caused an immense amount of pressure on my back. My question: Why is it that someone with extensive education and many years in practice can't recognize muscle tension? This is the reason we do what we do for our life's work. Since people come into our office every day having experienced wacko care from their doctors, ignoring basic biomechanics and anatomy, it's reinforced our concern for people seeking what we've come to call flow-chart-medicine. This prescription -> that prescription-> heavier prescription-> and in some cases scalpel. Many folks come to us in the same boat I was in...as a last resort.
I went into massage school soon after I was out of pain. It changed my life, so I needed to find out how to help others with this amazing tool. In massage school, my experience expanded to learn about other types of holistic healthcare, in addition to the presentation about natural childbirth. A Bradley Method(R) Educator shared with us the happenings of standard medical birth practices. The quick way they judge something to be abnormal, and the reality that OBs are trained as surgeons, which is why births they attend so often end in surgery. She also lit a fire in me, recognizing how other countries, with practitioners who actually believe the body is capable of giving birth, have significantly lower intervention rates. Including but not limited to induction, drugs for labor, episiotomies and more. Hmmm...so...another reason for me to become a consumer when it came to my healthcare.
Neither of our babies were born at a hospital. We had midwives attend both healthy births, with personalized, informative and knowledgeable care. We attended the presentation of a holistic pediatrician when I was 30 weeks pregnant with our first child. He shared the steps of a full immune response. When a virus is introduced to the body naturally, it's through the GI or respiratory system, and one of the first responses is a thyroid hormone...followed by immune response. He explained that when a virus is introduced directly into the blood stream, we have an incomplete immune response, jumping over the first natural reactions. This frequently causes a chronic-lifetime inflammatory response (allergies, asthma, auto-immune disorders), without lifetime immunity. The vaccines also contain toxic chemicals and metals which can affect the body in dramatic ways. We personally know people who have been unfortunate enough to have children who had life-altering reactions to vaccines. We ALSO know people who have actually dealt with, and supported their children through childhood diseases like pertussis (whooping cough) and diptheria. They did it naturally...with supplements, homeopathy, acupressure, enhancing circulatory response, lots of fluids, and other tools to support the body's natural response. For these reasons and MORE, we have not vaccinated our children. It is not a decision we took lightly. It was a decision we made after months of research and consulting with health professionals. In addition to this decision, we VERY rarely medicate our children to get through common colds, we take supplements, spend a lot of time outside, exercise and pay close attention to our nutrition.
SO, all of these reasons are why we have chosen a holistic route in caring for our children. We see Naturopathic Doctors as our 'regular' doctors, eastern practitioners and chiropractors. Some people think these choices equal insanity. The fact of the matter is that these doctors know nutrition and the basis of health, and they don't prescribe medications that get yanked off the market for killing people. If you don't think your doctor's office has a vested interest in prescribing the peddler's drugs, look around the office. Our most recent visit to a doctor's office, when I broke my arm, revealed everything from the paper on the exam table, the clock, the tissues, the soap and hand cream to be provided to them by drug manufacturers. Your doctors office 'gets schwag' and a lot of lunches from the people who make a lot of money on those prescriptions. Big Pharma owns a lot of real estate in those offices...it's unfortunate that our health insurance covers more care to those offices, than the healthcare offices we visit more regularly.
Our standard medical care in our country is generally disease care. They do emergency care REALLY well. I want to be in the US for any trauma care, believe me! BUT for anything chronic, or for childbirth-which is treated like a trauma but shouldn't be, I want to be in the office of someone who knows how to support my body in healing, not throw prescriptions at the symptoms, which can compromise my body further.
THIS is why the solutions on the pages of our blog are not filled with visits to the allergist. Yes, we have an epipen. Unfortunately we've even had to use it. When we did, we went to the Emergency Room at our local hospital. We are guarding our child from the foods he's allergic to, and supporting his system as much as we can. This, we believe, is why when we took our little guy to an MD Homeopath who works with a lot of tough allergy cases (much worse than ours), he told us that most children like our son are already having issues with chronic inflammation, such as asthma and are on nebulizers. Other than a small bit of eczema behind his knees and hives when he is reacting to a food, he shows no other signs of illness. We do NOT regularly medicate him, in case you were wondering. We DO: give him fish oil and some other supplements to support his GI system. We have reduced his overall chemical burden on his system with filtering water, air and eliminating the carpet in his bedroom. We also, unfortunately, felt it necessary to adopt out our cats and dog, since he was reacting to them.
We will continue to find holistic and healthy, nutritional ways to support our family's health...and look forward to learning more from people who are seeking holistic solutions for their families as well.
