Melanie O'Shea
Let me say, right off the bat, that I have a healthy respect for modern medicine and for medical professionals. I was raised by an old-school nurse, and I was a nurse myself. I lost my mum at a young age to cancer. I am a mother to a 16 year old daughter with a disability who has had so many diagnoses and medical procedures that I always struggle to fill out the ‘Medical History’ section for her. And, finally, I myself have suffered from a chronic health condition.
So, yeh, I respect the whole Western medicine deal, and I believe it has a place when it comes to health.
However, because I have experienced our one-size-fits-all medical system in all of the ways mentioned above, I know without doubt that it is far from perfect.
We have been taught, encouraged, and even forced to accept that the doctors in our community are amazing, incredible, great big know-it-alls. We have been taught that when we are sick, in pain, or something doesn’t feel right, we go to the doctor. We go to the doctor and if he or she can’t put a label on our symptoms, and can’t prescribe a pill, surgery or other medical intervention to ‘fix’ us, then there’s nothing to be done.
“Learn to live with it then,” I was told by the rheumatologist I paid $400 for a 10 minute consultation about 10 years ago. Chronic pain and chronic fatigue, symptoms of the condition I was diagnosed with – fibromyalgia – had caused my life to grind to a halt.
The very expensive diagnosis came with a “we don’t know why you have it. There is no cure for it, not really any treatment either. But I can write you a script for an anti-anxiety or antidepressant if you want, it might help.” I told the very well-educated specialist that I know those meds can cause fatigue in some people, and I didn’t want to take the risk, seeing as I was already dealing with unbelievable fatigue and brain fog, and she couldn’t tell me if they’d help with my symptoms anyway.
“Learn to live with it then. Thank you, and see reception on your way out to pay me a ridiculous amount of money for giving you a diagnosis and zero hope for a better life. Byeee!” (or words to that effect).
I did try to live with my symptoms for a while. Until one day, when I was on the verge of signing over full custody of my daughters to their dad because I was too unwell to care for them properly, I decided “not fucking good enough doc”, and I set about researching for anything and everything besides drugs that could possibly help with my symptoms.
Now, I’m about 7 years without symptoms. No symptoms from an ‘incurable’ health condition that a doctor with probably close to 10 years of university studies told me there was nothing I could do. I wrote a book about how I healed myself because I want others to know that there is hope for recovery, and I give it away to anyone who wants a copy.
I’m not interested in getting on my soap box, or dissing on the medical profession, or claiming I have all the answers and can cure everyone.
I am interested in changing the way we do our health though. Doctors don’t have all of the answers either and they certainly can’t cure everyone. Doctors are really only taught about medication and surgery as treatment options, and the majority of them don’t consider any ‘alternative’ medicine or other treatment options for their patients.
Plus, doctors are taught to consider physical symptoms, and results from tests and scans to form a diagnosis. That diagnosis then comes with ‘valid’ treatment options produced by pharmaceutical companies, or surgery, or ‘learn to live with it.’
We need to stop looking to our doctors for all of the answers, and stop accepting that just because the medical profession can’t provide a pill or ‘quick fix’ then we are without options (and hope).
We all need to take responsibility for our own health and that means looking at Western medicine and medication as mere pieces of a puzzle, rather than as the entire health picture. We need to learn about our own bodies, about the unique physical, emotional, mental and spiritual influences on our own health, so that we can learn to treat ourselves.
Being responsible for our own health requires each of us to put ourselves in charge of our health, and that may feel overwhelming and maybe even wrong at the moment. Trust me though, the first time you respond to something your body tells you and the results speak for themselves, you’ll feel empowered in a way you never have before.
When was the last time you left a doctor’s office feeling empowered?
To be clear, I am not saying we should all stop going to doctors or we should throw out our meds – what I am saying is ask questions, look for other treatments, give yourself hope for a healthier, happier you.
There are so many options beyond what modern medicine gives us, and yes, there are dodgy scams and charlatans out there too. But if you think all medical professionals and pharmaceutical companies are honest and more interested in genuinely helping people than they are in their annual profits, you’re kidding yourself. Sorry, but you are.
Never in history has medicine and our knowledge of the human body been so advanced, and so much money invested in medical research, yet our health systems are in gazillions of dollars of debt because our hospitals and GP clinics are consistently overrun with unwell humans. Huh?
No, doctors don’t have all the answers. No, pharmaceutical companies aren’t interested in curing people (that would be terrible for business!).
Yes, you do know what is best for your body.
Yes, it is your job to heal yourself.
Yes, you are an intelligent, intuitive, wise being.
And yes, you can and should be in charge of your own health.
It’s not as hard or time-consuming as it sounds, I swear. Start today, right this minute.
Close your eyes, ask for your Spirit team to help you to listen (yes, we all have a team in Spirit ready and willing to help us), take a few deep breaths and draw all of your energy, attention and awareness inwards, and allow your body to communicate with you.
To start with, your body might only tell you ‘hungry’, ‘tired’, etc. Don’t be discouraged – this is your body communicating with you! Don’t question or discount what comes, just accept it.
Create a habit of checking in with your body multiple times a day, and soon you will find communication becomes a great deal easier and deeper – ‘hungry’ might become ‘hungry for protein’, and then that might become ‘hungry for plant-based protein’.
You may find you’ve already been communicating with your body more than you thought you were. Trust what your body tells you, respond accordingly, and voila, you are taking charge of your own health! So easy right!
Now, go tell some doctor how to do their job better!
Just kidding! Sort of.
