Medically, we’re not where we should be when it comes to health. I assert that part of the reason for that is we have misunderstood symptoms and what we should do about them.
Are symptoms something we should suppress? Or are they a message from the body?
Most people who visit me in my office after having visited the ER for a very serious injury are looking for resolution of their symptoms. At least at first. People, and doctors, are trained to do that. Medicine can be very helpful at keeping people alive, but beyond that, they simply suppress symptoms. They are given muscle relaxants and pain killers at the hospital. But what’s the reason for that? Are the pain and muscle spasms the real problem? Or could it be the injury that’s causing the pain and tightness in the first place?
I contend it’s the latter. Pain is not something to simply suppress, but rather a message we need to listen to, so we can figure out how best to become healthier.
When you are injured, soft tissues become damaged, contusions form, subluxations occur, and things lock down to go into a protective mode. This protective mode is a prelude to healing. Muscle spasms prevent further damage by keeping the body from going any farther into injury. Sure, it hurts, but it’s serving a purpose. When the spasm has a chance to die down, the inflammation can do it’s job, bringing blood flow, warmth, and healing to the area.
Medical doctors treat many different conditions based on symptoms. Diabetes is treated as a blood sugar problem, when really it’s the lifestyle and food factors that have led to a derangement of metabolism. Rather than work with lifestyle, doctors throw drugs at the problem to bring sugar down, barely controlling it. This does very little to stem the sequelae that normally follow from diabetes, like heart conditions and strokes, as well as neuropathies. We treat high cholesterol in a similar fashion, even when cholesterol is an important precursor to hormones in the body that affect our health, including our hearts! By taking statins, you forcibly stop the liver from producing cholesterol, but also Co-Q10, an important enzyme critical for hearth health.
A lack of symptoms doesn’t equate to good health.Just as a symptom doesn’t mean you’re in poor health overall.Vomiting is a symptom that helps to bring the body back into health. As is fever, pain, swelling, nausea, tightness, and a host of others. Suppressing them destroys your health by working against the body.
So would you rather just be out of pain? Or would you rather have vibrant health? It requires a different paradigm of symptoms and feelings in your body. If you need help with that, I can guide you. Every symptoms has a purpose, let’s figure it out together.
And really, good health or just out of pain? That’s like asking if you’d rather be intelligent or just not stupid. Would you rather be wealthy, or just out of debt? Would you rather be strong, or just not weak?
I know what I would choose. I want this life to be everything it can be, brilliant, glorious, and powerful. Are you with me?