If you've come to this page, it may be because you have a medical condition which no one has yet been able to diagnose or adequately treat.
Perhaps no one has even been able to recognize that you have a condition.
You're frustrated, fed up, and perhaps a little desperate or even depressed. You may be in pain, exhausted, or both — from the condition or from the search. You're still looking for an answer.
To ease your search, let's examine the ingredients most likely to bring success to your quest for relief.
- First of all, you need an accurate diagnosis. Not a name. A diagnosis. Conventional medicine can usually give you a name if a problem is recognized. For instance, a common one is "arthritis," which literally means "joint inflammation." This is a "garbage can" diagnosis: it doesn't identify the cause of the condition; nor does it lead to satisfactory treatment. In fact, it quite often doesn't even accurately describe the mechanism of pain. It's just a name, and it lets the physician feel off the hook, and he/she writes a prescription.
Unfortunately, it also seems to encourage many patients to let the physician off the hook. You must have a meaningful diagnosis. Demand that your physician provide one. If you don’t get one, look elsewhere.- The diagnosis must identify the cause of the condition. We're not looking for the identification of a symptom. Anyone can do that. We're looking for the cause. Using the previous example, "arthritis," and, assuming that one's pain is truly the result of inflamed joints (quite often it is not), the next logical question is, "What is causing the inflammation?" In other words, inflammation is a symptom, not a cause. The cause might be a mechanical stress on the joint, or it might be a nutritional imbalance, or perhaps an allergic response. The true cause must be known.
- The diagnosis must be part of a comprehensive system within which there exists an effective treatment for the cause. That's a mouthful, but bear with me -- we're starting to get to the good stuff! If the diagnosis you receive is part of a system which treats symptomatically, it doesn't have the capacity to identify a root cause. Consequently it will also be unable to provide a healthy, satisfactory, or lasting solution to one's condition.
Let's take the example of "depression." Let's say that the person with depression is also experiencing very poor sleep and wakes totally unrefreshed. Digestion is not functioning well, either. Bloating is experienced, especially around menses. Bowel movements fluctuate between loose stools and constipation. Fatigue is the rule, rather than the exception. Mood swings are common, and often include anger or irritation. A persistent rash adds yet one more annoyance.
A system which diagnoses and treats symptomatically will isolate and attempt to treat each of these symptoms separately. Different drugs will be used to suppress these symptoms, and different specialists will prescribe them. The drugs will not address the cause of these symptoms. In fact, they will create additional problems of their own, and will lead to increasingly poor health for the client, because the body's systems are being suppressed.
On the other hand, a truly comprehensive, functional system of medicine has the capacity to identify a root cause (or causes) for this condition which includes all these symptoms. And a physician who understands and practices the whole of such a medical system will guide the client through a logical and systematic resolution of the condition in such a way that the client finds oneself at the threshold of truly good health.- You must find a competent physician, with whom you feel comfortable in developing a working relationship. Your chosen physician must be practicing a truly comprehensive, functional system of medicine. The systems which fulfill those criteria are usually very old, with a long history of clinical success, and they most often have evolved within cultures which embody holographic, nonlinear thinking and deep intuitive perspectives. Oriental Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine are two obvious examples.
- Once you have found such a physician, you must be patient. Embedded in the wisdom of comprehensive, functional systems of medicine, is the clear understanding that there are no quick fixes. If the diagnosis is correct, you will perceive progress fairly soon, but it is unreasonable to expect overnight resolution. Most medical conditions are the result of prolonged neglect, abuse, or poor understanding, and guiding the client to a state of good health will take time.
- You must be willing to step outside the model of conventional medicine. Please understand that mainstream medicine is symptomatic in its perception, its comprehension, and its treatment. Good health cannot exist for long within that vernacular. Conventional medicine is supported and maintained by enormous and powerful financial, cultural, and political entities which have a critical interest in seeing that they remain in control and the system unchanged. If you look for solutions within this model ...well, you have made your choice and must live with it.
One of the elements which most compels people to remain in this system is the cultural and financial pressure to rely on "health" insurance or on "health maintenance" organizations. Stepping outside of convention is a hard choice. It requires courage, clear vision, and personal integrity. More and more individuals are making the conscious choice to take that step. They have come to the realization that if you are paying for "health insurance," you can't afford health care!- Your willing participation in your healing journey is mandatory. In any system which truly engenders good health, the habits, choices, and conditions which do not contribute to one's good health will be revealed. One must be willing to make necessary changes in one's life in order to accommodate the attainment of the goal one presumably desires. Some of these changes may involve lifelong habits or pleasures on which one has become deeply dependent. One’s willingness to make wiser choices is a true measure of one’s desire for good health and for balance in life.
- Finally, you must know that all true healing begins in consciousness. Everything, including disease, also begins in consciousness. This subject is huge. For the sake of brevity, let’s accept the following truths. This is a cause and effect universe. Everything we experience in this life is a manifestation of karma — the effect of a cause put forth in this or previous lives. It is our own creation. Karma is not punitive. Its divine purpose is to teach us the things we need to learn, in order to attain higher consciousness.
Three primary implications are relevant to this truth:
The first applies to the preceding requirement. Our participation and understanding are required to learn the lesson — to resolve the karma. The karma will remain and repeat itself until that condition is met.
The second involves the client/doctor relationship, and is dependent on the first: if the physician simply “heals,” two things have happened — the physician has taken on the client’s karma, adding it to his/her own burdensome load, and the client has been denied the lesson the karma was meant to provide. (If that sounds appealing, perhaps it should be re-contemplated…. This divine system is perfect and cannot be circumvented.)
The third, and most important piece, is that resolving one’s karma and experiencing the consequent elevation of consciousness is the only way true healing occurs. It is not something one human being does to another or to oneself.
Armed with this information, one is well-equipped to begin the ongoing journey to high level wellness. At various points in this journey, other sections of this web site may be of service to you. Please return as often as you like. And remember that every step along the way is perfect.
Reading between the lines, the above information may suggest the need for not only a competent physician, but a health “tutor” as well. Perhaps you'll be fortunate enough to find one in a doctor. Who better than a Doctor of Oriental Medicine to provide ongoing guidance in making wise decisions in one's daily choices?
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