A Little More Ranting about Modern Medicine

I wrote this awhile back.  Like, sometime last year awhile back.  It's been sitting in my Drafts box for many months and I just read back over it and decided to post it.  It's so funny how my writing has changed since I originally wrote this.  I used to get so worked up and angry about Western or conventional medicine, and now I've come to a place where I'm at peace simply with how myself and my family live our lives, and pleased to help anyone I can when they're interested in getting well for real by turning to safer alternatives rather than pumping themselves full of drugs.  As a warning, some of my old anger and frustration comes out in this post, but I like the points that I made and I still believe what I wrote so I'm going to share it with you anyway.  Besides, I spent some time writing it, and I wouldn't want that to go to waste!  I have a few more posts in my Drafts box, too, so eventually I'll post those as well...


So I was going back through my book Homeopathy for Pregnancy, Birth, and Baby’sFirst Year by Miranda Castro, and I had to highlight a few paragraphs from her first chapter, which is basically the overview of homeopathy – the history of it and how it works, which I shared with you in my homeopathy post.  She made some wonderful comments on today’s medical system, though, that I feel really speak my beliefs and feelings on the subject, only worded better than I could have done.  That inspired this blog post.

I’ll start out with one of her quotes about disease:

I believe that disease is neither good nor bad.  The disease we succumb to provides us with information about our personal weaknesses, about how we are living our lives and how we are coping with stress.  It alerts us to the existence of something that needs attention.

I really like that outlook.  It has a more “take-charge” feel behind it, that if something is wrong with our bodies, it is our responsibility to see to it that we correct those problems.

Unfortunately, though, most people wind up with something wrong with them and either freak out about it, or don’t WANT to take responsibility for it, and end up running to their doctor.

The danger here is that, in looking outside ourselves for the answers and in asking too few questions, we experience a loss of personal control with consequent feelings of helplessness.  We give up responsibility for our own health to the people “in charge” and we become real patients, or, as I see it, victims.  We find that we feel unable to confide misgivings, to express our instincts about our own health, or to explore other options.  We become passive consumers of medical care.

I see that a lot.  Isn’t that pretty much everyone?  Even you?  I’ll admit, it’s been me before.  When I ran to the doctor because of whatever that bug was that I caught and couldn’t fight off on my own, but he only spent 5 minutes with me.  Clearly not enough time to get to KNOW me, what’s going on with my body, and what to do about my situation.  My instincts were telling me he was going off of guesswork.  My heart and my gut were telling me I shouldn’t trust that.  My brain was tired of my body feeling like crap, though, and I jumped into blindly trusting him and taking the prescribed antibiotic, hoping his guesswork would be right and I’d feel better.  I paid the consequences for years after that.  I think I still am.

I felt that way, too, when I wound up in the hospital in labor with Harlee.  It was almost like the environment itself was that of surrender, which is why I wanted to birth him at home.  The hospital is where people go to relinquish control of their bodies.  My brain automatically switch over to the thought that this is what I must do too.  I remember the nurses suggesting I try an epidural to help with the contractions hurting Harlee so much.  I had enough mind left in me to say that worried me because epidurals slow down labor, and the nurse said, “Actually, usually they speed it up.”  My whole body went on alert mode – this woman is nuts!  She’s clearly undereducated, and you’re trusting your body to her??  But what could I do?  I didn’t know what was wrong and why Harlee’s heart rate was dropping so much, and so I had to do SOMETHING, and here I was in a hospital, so I guess I had to just go with it, right?  I didn’t argue with her.  I let her think that was the truth.  I let her think I agreed with her.  And sure enough, the epidural f@#$ed everything up and made things worse.

You’ve been through similar situations too, right?  Where you just blindly trusted what your doctor said because they’re SUPPOSED to know best?  And sadly had to pay the consequences for not taking control of your own health like you should have in the first place?  We all have.  It makes me angry that the medical system has this much CONTROL over us.  What’s really frustrating is having conversations with a number of different people, venting frustrations about conventional medicine and Big Pharma, and they say they KNOW conventional medicine isn’t trying to make us well, and that the medical field doesn't truly care about us, and that the stuff prescribed to them and their children is actually hurting them.  The frustrating part?  They go with it anyway.  They get their prescriptions, trot off to the pharmacy, get them filled, and take them.  All the while knowing full well it’s dangerous to their overall health.

Who has done this?  Let me get a show of hands!  I just described a lot of people, I know, because I’ve had these conversations with a lot of people.  I will say it's refreshing to know that I’m not alone in my distrust for conventional medicine, but I've come to realize I might be somewhat alone in my avoidance of it...  But I’m not the only one who believes doctors don’t REALLY care, they’re just looking to make money.  I’m also not alone in my belief that the pharmaceutical industry has no intentions of making us well.  I’m a bit of a conspiracy theorist on this topic, which I'll post a little more in-depth about later – I truly believe they’re just trying to keep us in a limbo – healthy enough to function, but unhealthy enough to be dependent on their drugs.  Cha-ching cha-ching.

Sometimes I like to tell myself I’m just paranoid.  Surely the people operating Big Pharma aren’t evil, right?  Surely SOMEBODY’s gotta care…  But, I’ve seen what money can do to people first hand, on several accounts.  I’ve seen it second hand too, in the stories my clients or friends have vented to me about inheritance wars.  Who here has experienced that?  When large sums of money come available, and you MIGHT have a chance at receiving some of it, it gets you a little excited doesn’t it?  I’ve seen it make people plumb crazy.  It tears families apart.  It blinds you to what really matters in life.  I’ve been in the middle of it.  That being said, yeah, I believe the people in Big Pharma are just blinded by their riches, to the point that they really don’t care about our health, or anything else for that matter.

An example that I think proves this:  I’ve heard doctors who administer chemo to patients say they wouldn’t administer it to their own loved ones.  How sad, and scary, is that?  Another issue is insurance.  I’d just as well not deal with it.  Anytime I’ve seen someone who accepts insurance, I’ve been in and out in a few minutes.  They. Don’t. Care. They just want money.  Anytime I’ve been to somebody who doesn’t or can’t accept insurance, I’ve been in there forever, discussing my history and symptoms, my feelings and expectations, and I’ve gotten well from their help.  I feel like those care providers, well, care.  They're not just in it for the money.

While I’m on the topic of insurance, I want to share a thought I’ve recently had that supports my belief in the Big Pharma conspiracy theory.  Notice how not many companies seem to cover dentists or optometrists?  Chiropractors are iffy too.  Hmm, why is this?  Maybe because dentists, optometrists, and chiropractors don’t deal as much in pharmaceuticals?  So Big Pharma isn’t making any money off of them…  But doctors and practitioners who DO deal with pharmaceuticals usually aren't as much of a problem as far as coverage goes... hmmmm…. Food for thought.

I’m trying to get as far away from conventional medicine as I can.  I don’t trust the people in charge of it, and I don’t like what it’s doing to people.  I know a lot of people who want to do the same, but don’t know where to start.  Hopefully this blog has been helping, or at least provides some inspiration.  Take charge of your health.  It is YOUR body, therefore it is YOUR responsibility.