Life occurs in the grey area, the gradients. We live in a society of extremists. We think only black or white exists. But what about all those grey areas? That is truly where life is.
Let’s take health care. You are considered perfectly healthy as long as your lab tests say you are. You disagree. You feel something is wrong, but the lab tests (or interpreters) say you’re fine. So you go about your daily activities feeling lousy until one day the tests agree with you – you have a problem. You now have a disease. But what happened to that grey area that occurred between feeling healthy one day and being diseased the next?
Does the body just decide one day it will be diseased? No! It takes days, weeks, months and even years for the body to degrade into poor health. You may not notice it until one day it’s so bad it slaps you in the face and you can no longer ignore it. Then you go check it out. But what would happen if you paid attention to the little signs as they appear and handle it in the earlier stages? Would you avoid costly surgery or medications? With rare exception, yes!
Unfortunately, when we pay attention to the little signals the body gives, we’re called hypochondriacs. When labs say we’re okay, we’re told it’s all in our head. Worse yet, we’ve not been taught what to do to reverse it before it gets bad.
Another example of our extremist nature is diet. We excitedly advocate the Atkins diet of high protein, high fat, relatively no carbohydrate diet, while the vegans and vegetarians actively promote the opposite – high carbohydrate, low protein diet. Then we have the high fat proponents (Atkins again) and the low fat everything proponents. You have one group saying to avoid sugar and promote artificial sweeteners instead while others strongly advise the avoidance of artificial sugars. Although we are mostly in agreement that we consume far too much sugar, there is a group out there promoting the need for more sugar! So who do you believe?
Because of the type of society we live in today, we have access to things to help in a way unique to our society. If your doctor says your condition is in your head, you can go on the internet and research your symptoms yourself, bypassing the advice you feel is inaccurate. This can be both good and bad. While many patients have accurately diagnosed themselves this way, many have inaccurately done so, delaying appropriate and timely care that could potentially be life-saving.
You can also run to the health food store and buy a variety of herbs and supplements based on marketing propaganda, your next door neighbor or a friend’s suggestion, or the recommendation of the sales people at the store. This too could be either helpful or not enough.
The answer, as you may expect, lies in the grey area, in the gradients, in the moderation.
When it comes to your health, it also lies in the choice of health care. Conventional medicine is based on crisis management. Your disease or illness has to be in a state of crisis before there is a solution – based on AMA-approved protocols. These generally include an operation, medication, radiation or rehabilitation. The tests used are based on crisis management because that is where their skill level, their education, focuses. But there is help in between being healthy and diseased. That’s where your alternative medicine practitioners are mostly positioned. These include acupuncturists, chiropractors, massage therapists, nutritionists, etc. They are trained to diagnose and treat the grey areas and to differentiate between what is truly grey or when invasive measures are needed (a medical crisis), and refer out accordingly.
New ideas, therapies and diagnostic means follow certain stages. First it is considered preposterous and vehemently denied. Second it goes through a stage of tolerance. Third it is finally accepted and becomes a normal part of life. We see that again and again in life. The earth being round and not flat is one poignant example. But in nearly every area of medicine from the Germ Theory to health care solutions such as Chiropractic and Acupuncture, we see it too.
If you’re sick and tired of feeling sick and tired, are tired of being told you’re fine when you know you’re not and tired of sitting in the grey area feeling like there aren’t any solutions, have heart. There is much that can be done. You just need to find the right practitioner that specializes in finding the not-so-obvious, low grade, non-medical-crisis health issues that can be effectively treated. You can live a life free of pain and with Vital! Energy!
©2005 Holly A. Carling, O.M.D., L.Ac., Ph.D.
