Post date: Apr 24, 2010 11:28:27 PM
Today in comments, a lovely woman by the name of Sarah, a post grad in both neuroscience and neurorehab asked me if I thought that western orthodox medicine and spiritual healing “could ever be tied into a unique practice for the good of everyone” and my answer is THEY SHOULD BE, for they both have the same goal, THE HEALING OF THE SICK!
I think that there are pockets here and there where this unique blending of modalities exists, but they are few and far between. I understand that in most hospitals in Britain there are prayer registries for people who would like to receive prayer and I am told that in Japan when you enter a hospital you are given a choice as to whether you would prefer to use traditional western or alternative medicine. This is way beyond what we have going on in this country. I saw a statistic that ranked the United States #37 in health care and I can believe it.
Unfortunately, when you have a society that is ruled by money, decisions are not often made based on altruism but on pocketbooks. The traditional medical model makes its money in numerous ways, none of which include anything as esoteric as prayers, or the directing of non physical energy. One way it makes a lot of money is by selling countless medications. Another way is by performing surgeries. Cancer treatments, (unless they are alternative) usually involve either cutting (surgery), burning (radiation), or poisoning (chemotherapy). So what happens to that model if we find other ways to get well and stay well? It certainly loses business. So, this is one reason why we may always see resistance from the medical profession about integrating alternatives, prayer included.
And yet, on the optimistic side, I do think there are some medical doctors who recognize the value in complementary medicine. Dr. Robert Steinfeld is one of them. This man is truly a gem. I met him when I went to The Schacter Center for Complementary Medicine in Suffern, NY. Dr. Steinfeld was a general surgeon for 40 years. He worked within the medical community performing surgery and working within that model. For the last 20 years he has worked in alternative medicine and finding him was a tremendous boost to my confidence.
The way he works is to run some blood tests in order to see what’s going on inside and then he outlines a program designed to rebuild your health in any area of concern and to keep your health strong in all other areas. It is so phenomenal to have a doctor who can blend both modalities, understanding everything that there is to know about the two diseases I still live with, Crohn’s Disease and Hepatitis C, and still know so much about natural alternatives. This doesn’t include spiritual healing or prayer, but it includes such alternatives as herbs, diet, vitamins/minerals, acupuncture, outpatient IV’s for Vitamin C and other helpful treatments, etc. If anyone would like to know more about Dr. Steinfeld or The Schacter Center, drop me a comment and I will include the information.
But, when you ask about all the different camps tying together into a unique practice, I wonder. I think that our best chance of that happening, however, will be brought about by people like you and me who have experienced spiritual healing and know that there is something to it. The fact is that there are more and more people beginning to explore spiritual healing and alternatives because, either like myself, they have been through a lot of medical treatment and they fear it, or they have been diagnosed with something like ALS, for which there is no treatment.
Now, please don’t get me wrong. If I break my leg tomorrow, I’ll go get a cast put on it. I’m the first person to recognize how miraculous major medicine can be and what wonderful healers many doctors are. But the model is antiquated and needs to be revamped to include a whole spectrum of healing modalities. Will it happen? God only knows.
I think what we can do is to tie them together for ourselves. That’s what I do. I don’t have any doctor who uses everything I want included in my repertoire and so I decided to-in a sense-write my own prescription. My prescription is made up of a mixture of things. I pick and choose from everything and it seems to be working. I’d love to say that it is solely made up of natural things and sound all holistic and new agey, but my body has never allowed me to sit in any one camp too comfortably. I need MAJOR MEDICAL MEDICINE in order to regulate a 4 inch colon. Yup, the other 116 inches were removed in 1969 due to a bad case of Crohn’s Disease. (For copies of “Healing From The Inside Out” contact me) If it were not for this medical wonder drug which, to put it quite bluntly, is used to constipate that small colon of mine, I WOULD NEVER LEAVE THE BATHROOM! So, my prescription contains elements from all of these groups:
1. western medicine—pharmaceuticals
2. herbs—capsules, tea
3. supplements—liquid nutrition including vitamins and minerals, liquid calcium, additional vitamins
4. alkaline water—kangan water
5. meditation and prayer
6. characterized breathing—deep breathing with visualization (used for healing)
7. diet, exercise (I’m a little lethargic with the exercise these days…)
8. fun, meaningful work
These are all components that I include in my prescription of what I need to keep me going. Notice that I’ve included fun. It’s important.
I can’t say whether these modalities will ever come together on their own, but it is up to us to bring them together for ourselves. We need to keep educating ourselves and learning how to help ourselves. When I was able to eliminate a medical drug called Flagil, because I was getting more relief with my Crohn’s pain from an herb called Cat’s Claw, I also eliminated the side effects that accompanied Flagil which were headaches and nausea. Not a bad trade!
Ideally, we would love for the western medical system to embrace complementary medicine from prayer to acupuncture. But it is doubtful that we will see this happen anytime soon. But, fortunately this is a free country and there is nothing to stop us from learning and using all kinds of alternatives. It’s worked wonders for me. As a matter of fact I’ve got to call Nutrimedix right now—I’m almost out of Cat’s Claw!
If anyone would like additional information on any of the things you read about in my posts, do not hesitate to contact me through comments and ask away. And thanks, Sarah, for your thought provoking question!
Be Well,
Love,
Sheri