Not more than 30 years ago, when we visited a doctor and said that we had
this ache or this pain or were constantly tired for no obvious reason, we
were told to snap out of it and get on with life. It was all in our heads.
Psychology was not well known by the public then and many ailments seemed to
be figments of the imagination. Most people didn't know how depression
actually worked on the brain and what the results were.
Now, researchers have found that psychosomatic illnesses are real and not
manifestations of unbalanced minds. They may be a result of short circuits
in the brain and the latest news is that brain and body function work so
closely together that we cannot say that an illness is a result of a brain
malfunction, as opposed to a brain malfunction being the result of a body
deficiency. Brain nutrients are definitely coming into the mainstream with
Ginkgo, Galantamine, Arginine, St. John's Wort and many other brain helpers.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome comes to mind. It was an illness that many people
(especially women) have experienced over only the last 15 years or so. For a
while I was wearing a wrist brace because the tendons from my elbow to my
hand were so sore that I couldn't hold my arm in the air and couldn't pick
anything up...due to overuse and poor ergonomics. The point is, though, that
after millions of people quit jobs, took workers' compensation and had
operations on their carpal tunnels, very few cases are coming to light any
more. Did the people imagine they had serious pain?
Was it a fad disease or were we (or the medical profession) too quick to
coin a new syndrome? To me, rather than calling people whiners and
malingerers, I believe that with proper education and usage of effective
furniture, the condition slowly diminished to the point where savvy computer
users knew what to do when their wrists and arms started to hurt cause
trouble. However, it has been lumped into the "mental" group of passe
diseases.
Along with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, over the last 20 years or so, we've
learned more about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fybromyalgia, and Lupus which
have become household words because of the thousands of people suffering
from these conditions. Many doctors still believe that they are mental
conditions rather than physical ones because many different symptoms occur
in the people affected. Not so common to the ear is RSI (repetitive stress
injury) and MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity.)
These illnesses are now in the forefront of medicine and education is
improving but doctors know very little about the latter. MCS has reared its
ugly head only in the last few years, and it seems that CFS and Fybromialgia
may be related. The new branch of Environmental Medicine is finding out that
many of us, over the years, are developing these multiple chemical
sensitivities. Our world is full of toxins in the water, air and ground.
Our food is bombarded from seeding to harvesting with dozens of chemicals
and we're not even aware of them. We think that the food we eat is going to
be digested and turned into energy and nutrition for our bodies to be able
to work and play. It seems like we're getting to the end of our physical and
mental rope (as these chemicals all lodge in fatty tissue of which the brain
has lots) and are unable to combat the assault on our physical wellbeing.
Dr. Josef Krop was sued about 10 years ago in Ontario by the College of
Physicians and Surgeons for practicing a form of medicine that doesn't
exist, namely Environmental Medicine. It is now on the cutting edge of
modern day medicine and is not a figment of the imagination. Dr. Krop was
recently almost completely exonerated. Many medical professionals are now
searching and turning to this avenue to explain many of the unexplained
symptoms and problems coming up in their clinics every day.
What it boils down to is that when thousands of people from different areas
and walks of life complain of a similar situation that makes them ill and
depressed, it's time to look at it in a different way and find out if there
might be other causes.
Alternative therapies are there to help find the root cause of these types
of conditions and to bring the body back into balance. I just picked up an
alternative health magazine the other day and was wowed by the variety of
treatments available to us as questers for good health. Color Therapy,
cleanses, Reflexology, Nuad Bo-Rarn (an ancient Thai massage,) Biofeedback,
Infra-Red Sauna Therapy, Body Detoxification, Light Therapy, Pyramids, Yoga,
Feng Shui, Acupuncture, Aromatherapy, Accupressure, meditation, food as
medicine...and the list goes on and on.are all valid programs that will
benefit the body if a person believes in the treatment.
Part of the healing system of the body is belief. If we take a medication
from the doctor that we don't think will work, we might as well not take it
at all. Drugs work very quickly as compared to herbal remedies and many
alternative treatments, but in the end, the condition will come back as the
drugs are palliative, and rarely curative.
Let's get with the program and start believing in ourselves, our bodies, our
minds, and our futures and start healing ourselves. Before the cancer gets
to us, let's become healthy in mind and body and believe that we can be well
and happy and live to be 120!
Copyright © 1999-2004 Monika Dery, All Rights Reserved