So here I am, my first post on my first blog. How do I take that first step? Just dive in? Perhaps I will proceed in a more confident, self assured manner like I’ve been doing this forever. No, that would be a lie. This is a big step, putting myself out here, so it’s important to be real. If I begin acting like I have been doing this for years, it would in fact be a lie. And a lie is what brought me here. Not a lie I told, but one I bought into. The lie the medical community and drug companies have been telling my parent’s generation, my generation and now my children’s generation. I pray my grandchildren’s generation won’t buy into it, and perhaps I can have an influence over that.
Let me share a personal story about a health scare. More appropriately I should call it a health frustration. You see it seems something bit me. Maybe a spider, no one knows, but what is for certain this mystery bite triggered itching. Not mosquito bite itching, but Mad Dog Itching. Maybe you have seen a mad dog itch, it’s uncontrollable, everywhere on the body itching, lose your mind itching. The doctor visits over the next couple of agonizing months resulted head shaking “I don’t knows”, a blood test for Lyme Disease, a variety of antihistamine prescriptions and the collective belief that I had an allergic reaction….wow, I needed a doctor to tell me this?
The final cocktail of drugs prescribed by a dermatologist were a scary combination that consisted of a name brand antihistamine you see on TV for seasonal allergies, with a well known drug that is used primarily for acid reflux, but will also work as an antihistamine but through the stomach? Come on who will fall for that….oh yeah, me. And finally (and this is a good one) an anti-depressant that has a “cascade effect” which serves additionally as an antihistamine as well as a sleep aid…. yep you heard right. And to top it all off a shot of hydrocortisone. So here I am, got my allergy medicine (no known previous allergies), my acid reflux medicine (never had heart burn) my antidepressant (ok, but I was happy before I got bit) and finally the shot in my butt and I STILL ITCH….like a Mad Dog. So here I am putting all these scary drugs in my body, not to mention the wide array of side effects. After two months of drug after drug and doctor after doctor, and let’s not get started on the cost, I still have the Mad Dog Itch. I must say in all honestly, the sleep aid portion of the “cascading” antidepressant was a relief to the itching and my sanity, but I stoically moved forward and took control of my dilemma.
I began researching and discovered a plethora of information that opened my eyes to the world of alternative medicine and natural cures. Now the irony of my story is that a small amount of research led me to a resolution to the Mad Dog Itch. Turns out my mystery bite set off a hormone imbalance resulting from a weakened immune system. Wow. This was corrected by three simple vitamins and supplements. That’s it, for less than the price of one co-pay and a few short days later I regained my sanity, stopped itching without the help of a single drug! I vowed then to change my whole approach on health. It will be an ongoing process of education and lifestyle changes, but it brings me to this point:
Why do so many of us buy into whatever is fed to us by professionals, in this case the medical community? Why do we accept at face value that we need a drug to manage the symptoms of a chronic “disease” or condition when often, we just need to change our diet, exercise and take the appropriate supplements and vitamins to make our bodies healthy enough to fight off disease. Are we that caught up in our “give it to me now” world that we want the instant fix of a pill instead of ideal health? Are we truly too busy to take time to read and educate ourselves about life’s important issues? Or perhaps it’s a “bury our heads in the sand” situation, meaning we don’t want to know what’s really going on out there. Maybe we would rather not find out about the lies we are being told or the lies we may be living. I have to admit, the education process is time consuming and lifestyle changes are challenging. I certainly gulp at the word change, particularly when it affects my lifestyle. My heals dig in while my head shakes Nooooooo. But after living the Mad Dog Itch, realizing the ridiculously simple solution and going through the fiasco of all those doctor visits, I am up for the challenge.
Perhaps you too have a health dilemma or have a loved one who does. Are you are thinking of taking that first step to change? Are you ready for the challenge? There is so much information out there. My mission is to bring information here to you. I hope to help, educate, and perhaps provide a new outlook that will empower you to change and improve. Perhaps just a little. Maybe you are already there, light years ahead of me. Please share your wisdom, I welcome the direction you might give me. And finally as an added bonus, I might even entertain you a little. Thank you for being here for my first post. I hope you enjoy the future ones.
1 Comment
February 21, 2009 at 12:11 am
Thank you so much!!! I love all your blogs!
Sincerely,
triz from High Quality Picture