Something I ran across on GodTube. I wouldn't mind working for this company some day.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
It just doesn't make sense... A Rant on the Western Medical Industry
Er - it's true that even though most of us live in a country where free speech is valued and practiced, we tend to be a bit wary of the more litigious aspects of society. I highly doubt that anything I wrote below would present a problem to anyone, but since any member of the public could come across this website, let me just be frank and say that the following material is comprised of my personal opinions. Please do not construe any of the below as advice; I am in no way qualified to advise on medical matters.
It just doesn't make sense. God designed the body; He did a fantastic job doing so, putting in place a system that regulates itself - analyzing and adjusting to the various needs it comes across, pulling from the various resources of nutrients that it has available to cleanse, repair, and optimize it's various departments in a ceaseless cycle that continues whether or not it is appreciated. This cycle continues undaunted even when the body is not given the best choices of fuel and tools with which to work. When various tools are missing, however, problems arise.
That's how it works, basically; that's the health model simplified. Now I know there's complicating elements to be thrown in to the equation - viruses, bacteria, lifestyle, hereditary weaknesses, etc. - but in general that's the system that God put in place. This is where my first big beef with the western medical industry lies - for all practical purposes it denies this basic health model. Oh, I know that every doctor breathing acknowledges that exercise is good for you and you should avoid junk food; but where the rubber meets the road - treatment - they practice a symptom-treatment program. Treat the symptom. Perhaps you have a headache; there could be a million reasons why - and you should examine them. Maybe you're dehydrated and you should drink some water, perhaps you injured your spine in a collision and you need to have your vertebrae adjusted, perhaps you're deficient in a vitamin, the list goes on and on. Now, you could analyze your situation and come up with adjustments to your situation in an attempt to rectify the situation - or you could take an aspirin. Why not? You don't have to sit down and think about the details, it's an easy fix, and the pain goes away. Never mind that your head still hurts - you just can't feel it. That's the western medical mindset. Have arthritis? Take a pain pill. Are the joints in your body still rubbing painfully on each other? Yes, but never mind, you can't feel it at the moment. Have heartburn? Take something to quell the acid production in the stomach. Why can't we trace the problem back a little further and take a look at what's causing the problem? When you take a purple pill for your heartburn - you chemically instruct your body to turn off all that acid production at the pumps. However, your body's still calling for it; thus, when you quit taking your purple pill, the pumps turn back on, and the acid is back. Your body is calling for the acid. Imagine this scenario. The next time someone has heartburn, they drink two ounces of apple-cider vinegar (I know, I can't stand the stuff either). Excess acid in the stomach, the body says "Hey, we're good on this acid stuff," the pumps turn back, and the heartburn goes away. Amazing.
"Why the rant and rave?" you ask. All of this stuff is more predominant on my mind of late because of some of my health struggles recently and dealings with my doctor. I've been having some fatigue issues as well as some muscle weirdness - and my doctor has discovered a slight elevation in TSH, a hormone which acts as the messenger when the brain wants the thyroid to produce. His solution is to take a synthetic hormone to fill in what the thyroid is not producing - the brain will see the difference has been made up, it won't call for as much, and my TSH goes back down. It's great math, and I'm sure it works that way, but it's symptom treatment. Can't we go back to the thyroid itself and ask it why it's not producing? To see what it's missing that it needs? I don't blame my doctor for his perspective, and I won't even pretend to know more about medical matters than he does - after all he's the one who went to school for how many years - but you would think that somebody would be able to step back and look at the medical industry as a whole and notice that it's been reduced largely to a pill-assigning program. I believe the vast majority of doctors mean well. I'm not nearly as confident about the motives of those behind the industry, those funding the research and education that the doctors receive.
I know for a fact that natural health works. Teri and I have changed our diet pretty radically from the standard American fare, and we've noticed corresponding changes in our health, how we feel. I've had past experiences in my life where the doctor has said "You look fine," and someone else has had to give me advice on natural health before I felt fine. Obviously there's a place for pills and surgery, obviously. You're not going to patch up a car-accident victim with dietary change, and you're not going to stop a heart attack with proper nutritional and herbal supplements; preventing a heart attack, now that's a different matter... No, I'm not dead-set against taking a synthetic hormone supplement - just almost. I'm involved with some natural remedies right now (I know some of you just read "quack" instead of the word "natural") - and if I don't have success I'll have to re-evaluate my plan of action - what else can I do? But I won't - I can't - pop the pill as my first choice. I know it's not right; I can feel it's not right; so, I investigate my alternatives.
You don't have to agree with me - most people don't - and I don't mind that. It's not my job to change your mind on this stuff, and I love you anyway; I just wanted to rant.
Ah, that's better (although not all that could be said on the matter - by a long shot). It's getting a bit late so I'd best trundle off to bed. I'm running sound for a wedding tomorrow so I must make sure I'm looking awake and enthusiastic. It's a double wedding: two sisters are marrying two brothers. In all probability this will definitely be the only time I ever have this experience.
God bless,
--Nick
It just doesn't make sense. God designed the body; He did a fantastic job doing so, putting in place a system that regulates itself - analyzing and adjusting to the various needs it comes across, pulling from the various resources of nutrients that it has available to cleanse, repair, and optimize it's various departments in a ceaseless cycle that continues whether or not it is appreciated. This cycle continues undaunted even when the body is not given the best choices of fuel and tools with which to work. When various tools are missing, however, problems arise.
That's how it works, basically; that's the health model simplified. Now I know there's complicating elements to be thrown in to the equation - viruses, bacteria, lifestyle, hereditary weaknesses, etc. - but in general that's the system that God put in place. This is where my first big beef with the western medical industry lies - for all practical purposes it denies this basic health model. Oh, I know that every doctor breathing acknowledges that exercise is good for you and you should avoid junk food; but where the rubber meets the road - treatment - they practice a symptom-treatment program. Treat the symptom. Perhaps you have a headache; there could be a million reasons why - and you should examine them. Maybe you're dehydrated and you should drink some water, perhaps you injured your spine in a collision and you need to have your vertebrae adjusted, perhaps you're deficient in a vitamin, the list goes on and on. Now, you could analyze your situation and come up with adjustments to your situation in an attempt to rectify the situation - or you could take an aspirin. Why not? You don't have to sit down and think about the details, it's an easy fix, and the pain goes away. Never mind that your head still hurts - you just can't feel it. That's the western medical mindset. Have arthritis? Take a pain pill. Are the joints in your body still rubbing painfully on each other? Yes, but never mind, you can't feel it at the moment. Have heartburn? Take something to quell the acid production in the stomach. Why can't we trace the problem back a little further and take a look at what's causing the problem? When you take a purple pill for your heartburn - you chemically instruct your body to turn off all that acid production at the pumps. However, your body's still calling for it; thus, when you quit taking your purple pill, the pumps turn back on, and the acid is back. Your body is calling for the acid. Imagine this scenario. The next time someone has heartburn, they drink two ounces of apple-cider vinegar (I know, I can't stand the stuff either). Excess acid in the stomach, the body says "Hey, we're good on this acid stuff," the pumps turn back, and the heartburn goes away. Amazing.
"Why the rant and rave?" you ask. All of this stuff is more predominant on my mind of late because of some of my health struggles recently and dealings with my doctor. I've been having some fatigue issues as well as some muscle weirdness - and my doctor has discovered a slight elevation in TSH, a hormone which acts as the messenger when the brain wants the thyroid to produce. His solution is to take a synthetic hormone to fill in what the thyroid is not producing - the brain will see the difference has been made up, it won't call for as much, and my TSH goes back down. It's great math, and I'm sure it works that way, but it's symptom treatment. Can't we go back to the thyroid itself and ask it why it's not producing? To see what it's missing that it needs? I don't blame my doctor for his perspective, and I won't even pretend to know more about medical matters than he does - after all he's the one who went to school for how many years - but you would think that somebody would be able to step back and look at the medical industry as a whole and notice that it's been reduced largely to a pill-assigning program. I believe the vast majority of doctors mean well. I'm not nearly as confident about the motives of those behind the industry, those funding the research and education that the doctors receive.
I know for a fact that natural health works. Teri and I have changed our diet pretty radically from the standard American fare, and we've noticed corresponding changes in our health, how we feel. I've had past experiences in my life where the doctor has said "You look fine," and someone else has had to give me advice on natural health before I felt fine. Obviously there's a place for pills and surgery, obviously. You're not going to patch up a car-accident victim with dietary change, and you're not going to stop a heart attack with proper nutritional and herbal supplements; preventing a heart attack, now that's a different matter... No, I'm not dead-set against taking a synthetic hormone supplement - just almost. I'm involved with some natural remedies right now (I know some of you just read "quack" instead of the word "natural") - and if I don't have success I'll have to re-evaluate my plan of action - what else can I do? But I won't - I can't - pop the pill as my first choice. I know it's not right; I can feel it's not right; so, I investigate my alternatives.
You don't have to agree with me - most people don't - and I don't mind that. It's not my job to change your mind on this stuff, and I love you anyway; I just wanted to rant.
Ah, that's better (although not all that could be said on the matter - by a long shot). It's getting a bit late so I'd best trundle off to bed. I'm running sound for a wedding tomorrow so I must make sure I'm looking awake and enthusiastic. It's a double wedding: two sisters are marrying two brothers. In all probability this will definitely be the only time I ever have this experience.
God bless,
--Nick
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