My mother had high blood pressure caused by a leaking mitral valve in her heart. The doctors didn't want to risk operating on her because she was in her 90s. But did they ever ask why her heart valve was leaking in the first place? Western medicine in general doesn't look for root causes. It fixes the symptoms with pills or surgery.
I have atrial fibrillation which means my heart beats arrhythmically. I also have acid reflux, fibroids, thinning hair, and a bad back. All of which can be controlled with pills, shots, and surgery.
I told my primary care physician that I was having trouble sleeping. She suggested I take Melatonin to solve the problem. I did and it did. But then my nutritionist said to me. "The real issue is why isn't your body producing Melatonin?" And I realized I had once again been scallywagged by western medicine's approach which generally is to find a pill to fix the symptom. I decided to change course and research some basic body chemistry.
Our bodies produce melatonin naturally but it needs some raw materials from outside sources to do it. It converts serotonin into melatonin when it gets dark outside. Blue light from TV and electronic screens can stop this conversion. Our bodies convert L-tryptophan into serotonin in response to sunlight. We get the tryptophan from foods like chicken, turkey, bananas, and peanuts. I figured I eat plenty of chicken so I had the tryptophan. But I wasn't getting enough sunlight, so I started using a Seasonal Affect Disorder lamp in the morning sitting at my computer. I try to get more sunlight as well, walking outside when I can. In the evening, I now wear special glasses that block the blue light from my TV and phone screens. And I stopped reading on my kindle at night. Guess what? With these behavioral changes, I'm sleeping fine. I'm working with my body, not against it.
Now I want to cure all my other physical ailments.
Facts
My body can heal itself. Life wouldn't have lasted so long if it wasn't self-repairing and resilient. For example, my body sends inflammatory cells when there is an injury that start the healing process.
My intake affects my health. Some things work with my body, some work against it.
There are toxins in my body from living in today's world that include toxic heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. And chronic inflammation can occur from exposure to these toxins. This is when my body continues to send inflammatory cells even when there is no outside danger.
Western medicine has advanced over the centuries making great strides in saving people's lives. But it doesn't know everything about our bodies and is always based on an imperfect medical model of human physiology and biochemistry. It was only 160 years ago that a medical model was adopted that included germs and bacteria. 120 years ago, the field learned about blood types and vitamin deficiencies. 100 years ago it was insulin. 40 years ago it learned why aspirin worked and the medical model had to be updated once again. In fact, it was only this year that the complete human genome was published. How will that change our medical model?
Imagine what Western medicine will know in another 40 years or 100 years. But I don't have that long to wait for those answers. So I'm going to try something else.
I'm going to work with a yet unproven medical model that someday might be verified. Perhaps a virus yet undetected by western medicine is causing my afib, acid reflux, fibroids, thinning hair, and back pain. Perhaps it is living on all the toxic heavy metals, funguses, pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, and plastics in my body. And by using diet to eliminate the toxins, I can starve the virus.
I am going to look for foods, herbs and supplements that will flush out toxins, bacteria, fungi, and viruses from my body. I'm going to find out what strengthens my immune system and what weakens it. I'm going to find out what are poisons and irritants that deplete my health, increase chronic inflammation, and work against my body's natural ability to heal.
In a world where doctors work with imperfect medical models, this is as good as anything else. I proved to myself a behavioral change can enhance my health. Let's just call this stage 2. I'll let you know my progress.
Some links that relate to what I've mentioned:
MY BLOG POSTS ON HEALTH
All Because of a Dog - my journey with an acute problem and what I changed
Not Just the Physical Level - how to work at all the levels for my health