What’s Broken with the current model of “Health Care”? A Whole Lot!
This is a little bit of a rant, but hey, if it serves you on some level, I have done my job.
There’s a quote (I don’t know who first said it) “Doctors aren’t for health care, they’re for sick care”.
And, it couldn’t be more truthful.
When you visit any medical facility, with mainstream medically based doctors, they are trained to find out what is wrong, and treat it with either drugs, or surgery.
In the third scenario, they can’t find anything ‘wrong’ and you’re told everything is normal, and are nudged out the door.
Here are a few common health concerns women experience and the typical recommended treatments that most doctors will recommend:
- Heavy / irregular periods Treatment options: Birth control (Synthetic hormone replacement), hysterectomy, Endometrial Ablation. All of these treatments have their risks (do the research) and even ore importantly, they don’t resolve the underlying root cause of the condition which is most often hormonally related.
- Depression and Anxiety: Treatment Options: Medication
- Thyroid Disorder: Treatment Options: Medication or in some cases with an overactive thyroid or enlarged thyroid gland, Thyroidectomy (partial or full removal of thyroid gland) or Radioactive Iodine (Kills thyroid gland to render it inactive). Both of which will leave the patient lifetime dependent on thyroid medications with their own set of unwanted side effects.
What all of these health conditions have in common is that there are deeper root causes for the manifestations of them in the physical body.
When we medicate or remove body parts, we aren’t addressing the root cause triggers for the condition.
If it’s related to immunity issues, gut imbalances, food sensitivities, adrenal health, chronic stress, emotional imbalances or past trauma, taking these harsher approaches will only cause the body to create new symptoms.
And, with many of these “cures”- most often -when the treatment is stopped, or the surgery preformed, relapse of symptoms is common.
Last Summer, after some scary symptoms were rising up, the biggest one being a racing resting heart rate of sometimes 120 BPM, I decided to go to the doctor.
I was more worried I had a heart issue than anything, and wanted to get it checked.
The results showed that my thyroid was overactive with suppressed TSH levels.
His prognosis, “it’s likely Graves Disease”. As soon as I heard that my heart sank. I didn’t know what this even was at the time, but I knew it wasn’t good.
“You’ll have to opt for thyroid removal or ablation at some point, or you’ll just continue to get worse”. And he went on to explain this condition could even lead to death if I was to go into a Thyroid Storm.
I left the office that day holding back tears, in compete fear of what I just heard. Once I got to the car with my husband and girls, I broke down.
Here’s the other thing about medical doctors as well: they have no clue that the words a patient hears, and the type of space they hold for a patient when they give a ‘diagnosis’ is everything.
Putting fear into their patients (rather than empowering them) is why so many feel like they don’t have options. That they are powerless to change their health.
They tend to be black and white with their approach. They usually don’t listen. And they believe that they know best.
And, when a doctor puts fear into their patients, they are also taking their healing power away. The body can’t heal in the fear (fight and flight) response.
This is another reason why medical care is NOT conducive to HEALING.
But, just as that voice told me years ago, that I can heal myself when I was so sick with stage 3 Adrenal Dysfunction, I knew inside, I was not going to be heading down that path.
Since then, (6 months ago now) I have forgone the monthly follow up testing and hospital visits to monitor my condition.
I told them I am not going for the radioactive iodine, and that I am not having my thyroid removed. That I am going to take my time to research my options and holistic treatment.
Even with a negative antibody and Graves test, they still tried to convince me to kill or remove my thyroid. Hell. No. I ran out that door as fast as I could. 🤣
Speaking up to an ‘authority’ figure can feel a little daunting and intimidating. Especially in a setting where our health is concerned and we already feel vulnerable and afraid.
I am not an easy patient. I am stubborn. And I don’t follow the crowd. Never have. Never will.
When others zig, I like to zag, when everyone else is going left, I want to go right.
And, I challenge you to start listening to yourself as well, rather than following the heard and buying into ‘group think’.
Here’s some of what I have been doing to bring my body back into balance:
Nutritionally I have been following a gluten free diet, and strictly avoiding the foods I am sensitive to.
Taking key thyroid and adrenal nourishing herbs and supplements.
Resting whenever I need to (which means I have had to set limits with my hours and how I am growing my business).
Speaking up, and voicing my truth more and more (open up that throat Chakra as it’s the energy center of the thyroid)!
Dealing head on with any and all aspects of my life that have been ongoing stressors for me.
Invested in some counselling (via Skype video chat so I could get support from the comfort of my home) to move through some emotional crap when this all came up as I was going through this.
Deepening into my spiritual healing journey.
Deepening more into the mind-body-metaphysical healing teachings and practices.
Simplify anything and everything possible.
Have taken a hard stand within my marriage and set some strong boundaries that require change from my partner.
Basically, I have been doing what I teach all of you to do.
The deep work.
The inner work.
The hard work.
The messy work.
The shit most people don’t want to deal with.
It’s perceived to be easier to take a pill or get surgery than to look deeper….
I’m not anti-doctor, totally. They have their place in emergencies and life or death circumstances. And thank goodness for the life saving procedures and options, and even medications that exist in those cases.
But when it comes to chronic diseases, they can only help so far.
So far, my heart racing symptoms have improved, which is a good sign.
I will have my lab testing done again just to see where I’m at, and to give these results to my Naturopath who is treating the physical root causes.
But the takeaway I hope to give you is this.
A diagnosis is only information.
We each get to choose what we will do with this information.
Feel powerless to the medical system, or choose to blaze our own trail.
I will bring my body back into balance. I believe I will. I know I will. And I will do whatever it takes to get there.
As I said, I am stubborn. I’ve always been told that many times, and it always had a negative connotation attached to it by others. But, being stubborn can actually serve us quite well in some cases!
Rather than stubborn, I see it as determined, tenacious, empowered.
An important thing I want to highlight here: I am not in any way advising you to do what I am doing if you have a diagnosis and are considering surgery or medications.
We each must do what we feel called to do. Go where we feel led to go.
My message is that if you decide to go that route, have done the research of all your options, and have decided to go ahead, don’t stop there.
Keep going. Embark on your own holistic self healing journey to address the emotional root causes so that you don’t manifest another condition somewhere else in the body.
