Readers of this blog will be well aware of the health issues I have been dealing with over the past year. I was diagnosed with diabetes at about the same time I began developing stiffness/pain in my fingers and thumbs.
This has progressed to stiffness/pain in most of my joints, as well as carpal tunnel symptoms in both hands.
My blood sugars were under control very quickly, but this other problem lingers, and I wait...and wait...and wait...like refugees in Casablanca.
I used to be skeptical about the true benefits of chiropractic medicine. However, in the months following my episode with pertussis (whooping cough) three years ago, I turned to chiropractors to help with my worsening back pain (from all the coughing). Not only did they correct the back pain, they corrected the sciatica symptoms I had been experiencing, the periodic numbness I would have trailing down my leg. In fact, within a year I was no longer taking my asthma medicine.
That last point can be attributed to a number of things. However, one of the areas that they have continued to adjust involves spinal nerves that feed the lungs. As I said, "I Am Keeping An Open Mind."
The chiropractor has been recommending B Complex supplements for the carpal tunnel and has added magnesium supplements to try and address the problems with my tendons (causing the stiffness in the joints - x-rays/blood tests were unremarkable and didn't indicate inflammation). I have added both of these supplements in the past two weeks.
I friend from high school swears by organic apple cider vinegar and other friends have concurred that this has been a home remedy for generations in this country - in particular with honey. I have added that to my morning dose of cod liver oil. I can see my brothers shaking their heads already.
The most recent alternative treatment I am trying is something called VidalCell - basically a rice bran supplement. A very dear friend who is a breast cancer survivor - now two+ years past the "you have six months to live" when she refused further chemotherapy - and she swears by this product. I called it a product deliberately because I remain skeptical. My internet research suggests that rice bran is indeed a very healthy nutritional supplement. The primary issue then is simply cost - a rather high price for what you are getting. However, it appears that it is not easy to simply go out and get rice bran either.
Once again I am thinking about atheists and rationalism and medicine and faith and God and Nature and all that stuff...
I believe there is a relationship here between my faith and spirituality and my open minded approach to alternative therapies. I have little patience for dogma and absolutism from either end of the argument.
My rationalist/atheist family members and friends will likely scoff at my venturing off the traditional western medicine path. Their all powerful deity is the human brain and what they see is the infallibility of science. If there is no proof that it is not true.
They ignore the fact that science and research is often quite contradictory. Heath care and medicine continues to evolve and is heavily influenced by market capitalism. Why would we want people to get better? We can't keep selling them are pills then? We're about to lose our patent on the drug? Well, lets tweak the ingredients a bit, add a yellow stripe to the purple pill and give it a new name and charge even more!
I find it amazingly ironic that those same rationalists will often put their complete faith in the system and consume the garbage food we are being sold and swallow the expensive magic pills that are being developed.
I have ranted a bit here and have tried not to make absolute statements about my atheist/rationalist loved ones. Mainly I believe they are simply afraid - afraid of the unknown - afraid of ambiguity. I would simply wish them an open mind. Rather than adamantly declaring "There is no God!" I would rather they say, "As of yet the mysteries of the universe are unknowable - your interpretation of the Bible is of no use to me - I am holding out for a different answer and will simply keep an open mind." Peace.
This has progressed to stiffness/pain in most of my joints, as well as carpal tunnel symptoms in both hands.
My blood sugars were under control very quickly, but this other problem lingers, and I wait...and wait...and wait...like refugees in Casablanca.
I used to be skeptical about the true benefits of chiropractic medicine. However, in the months following my episode with pertussis (whooping cough) three years ago, I turned to chiropractors to help with my worsening back pain (from all the coughing). Not only did they correct the back pain, they corrected the sciatica symptoms I had been experiencing, the periodic numbness I would have trailing down my leg. In fact, within a year I was no longer taking my asthma medicine.
That last point can be attributed to a number of things. However, one of the areas that they have continued to adjust involves spinal nerves that feed the lungs. As I said, "I Am Keeping An Open Mind."
The chiropractor has been recommending B Complex supplements for the carpal tunnel and has added magnesium supplements to try and address the problems with my tendons (causing the stiffness in the joints - x-rays/blood tests were unremarkable and didn't indicate inflammation). I have added both of these supplements in the past two weeks.
I friend from high school swears by organic apple cider vinegar and other friends have concurred that this has been a home remedy for generations in this country - in particular with honey. I have added that to my morning dose of cod liver oil. I can see my brothers shaking their heads already.
The most recent alternative treatment I am trying is something called VidalCell - basically a rice bran supplement. A very dear friend who is a breast cancer survivor - now two+ years past the "you have six months to live" when she refused further chemotherapy - and she swears by this product. I called it a product deliberately because I remain skeptical. My internet research suggests that rice bran is indeed a very healthy nutritional supplement. The primary issue then is simply cost - a rather high price for what you are getting. However, it appears that it is not easy to simply go out and get rice bran either.
Once again I am thinking about atheists and rationalism and medicine and faith and God and Nature and all that stuff...
I believe there is a relationship here between my faith and spirituality and my open minded approach to alternative therapies. I have little patience for dogma and absolutism from either end of the argument.
My rationalist/atheist family members and friends will likely scoff at my venturing off the traditional western medicine path. Their all powerful deity is the human brain and what they see is the infallibility of science. If there is no proof that it is not true.
They ignore the fact that science and research is often quite contradictory. Heath care and medicine continues to evolve and is heavily influenced by market capitalism. Why would we want people to get better? We can't keep selling them are pills then? We're about to lose our patent on the drug? Well, lets tweak the ingredients a bit, add a yellow stripe to the purple pill and give it a new name and charge even more!
I find it amazingly ironic that those same rationalists will often put their complete faith in the system and consume the garbage food we are being sold and swallow the expensive magic pills that are being developed.
I have ranted a bit here and have tried not to make absolute statements about my atheist/rationalist loved ones. Mainly I believe they are simply afraid - afraid of the unknown - afraid of ambiguity. I would simply wish them an open mind. Rather than adamantly declaring "There is no God!" I would rather they say, "As of yet the mysteries of the universe are unknowable - your interpretation of the Bible is of no use to me - I am holding out for a different answer and will simply keep an open mind." Peace.
2 comments:
Prayers for better health, symptom management, pain relief and effective treatment.
Did I miss anything?
Thanks, DP! Have made gains in all those categories so your prayers must carry some weight!
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