The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.
~ Jim Hightower
I took my mother to a gerontologist (aging specialist) appointment recently. It was a great opportunity to learn.
I am not a doctor. The following information is seen through the lens of someone who prefers a more natural approach to health. Changes in how we think, eat and live can be used to treat and prevent disease.
The geriatric clinic at the hospital was difficult to access. It was a long walk to an elevator, an even longer walk with meandering turns to sit at a designated waiting area and the signs to our destination were unclear. I felt compassion for the less mobile and ill-assisted patients.
The hospital may be a place for emergency disease and accident care, but it is not consistent with my vision for health care.
We all had to wear masks, which not only impaired breathing but our ability to connect, a sad reality of our times.
The intake nurses were kind, professional, and thorough, asking questions to determine my mother’s self-sufficiency, memory recall, mood, and mindset.
But, nagging at me was the question, "Are they not aware that by the time we reach them, unnecessary stress has manifested, impairing one’s ability to think clearly, thus increasing error in memory testing, and the likelihood of questionable treatment?"
The doctor was young, tall, and muscular. Like me, he has come to learn that, with age, that which we do not use, we lose.
After reviewing my mother's case and recommending some in-home care, he asked if I had further questions.
I thanked the doctor and expressed concern that Mom had been unnecessarily medicated for challenging life events we all encounter at times in our lives.
I was surprised when he said, "You’re not wrong" but quickly followed with, "If it were 20 years ago, I could do something about it, but not now."
My mother has a blister pack full of medications to take throughout the day.
Among these medications are drugs that may have traces of nitrosamines, which increase the risk of cancer. That list includes diabetes drugs, which my mother takes to lower blood sugar.
I hazarded to express that I did not believe my mother was diabetic. He quickly replied that "A diabetes diagnosis is not a matter of opinion."
His response is consistent with his training that tracks HbA1c levels and starts prescribing the highly lucrative blood sugar-lowering medications when pharmaceutical industry-influenced levels are reached.
Never mind that stressful life events and insomnia will temporarily elevate HbA1c. As may prolonged use of cholesterol-lowering medications, antidepressants (both of which my mother takes), aging or iron deficiency.
To keep his job, the young doctor has to believe in this conventional approach to care.
The cognitive dissonance is apparent, however. His training was time-consuming, challenging, and expensive. By design, he does not see the medical literature questioning the efficacy of this outdated approach. As much as I want to plant seeds that inspire change, time does not permit and I feel sorry for him.
Sadly, my mother, who once had a more natural approach to health, has come to buy what the medical industrial complex is selling. Not me. Her mother lived well into her mid 90's with no medication, other than the occasional aspirin.
Direct to consumer advertising of drugs in Canada
...someday..., we'll medicate human experience right out of the human experience.
~ Dennis Lehane
A few days ago, my husband showed me a drug ad for an injectable diabetes-type medication, repurposed as a weight loss drug. The ad was strategically placed behind home plate at a Blue Jays game, with a name that captures attention. Sports fans are encouraged to ask their doctor about it.
I thought we did not use direct-to-customer advertising (DTCA) for drugs in Canada! Clearly, loopholes are easy to find.
I do realize that it can be incredibly difficult for some to achieve ideal weight. But, sadly, there is no magic pill for this. There is a long list of side effects associated with these drugs.
Remission or cure
Universities began learning the art of turning the insights of their researchers into large chunks of money by hiring more lawyers and making new kinds of deals, becoming experts in protecting intellectual property, installing startup incubators, and building research parks. Seen from this angle, it looks like universities and scientists aren't fighting against the profit motive; they've been infected by it.
~ Thomas Hager
This week I heard an outstanding podcast featuring the work of a mind-body connection expert at Harvard, Ellen Langer. For decades she has conducted seminal research, like The Maid Study, Counterclockwise and the nursing home plant study, confirming that through the power of the mind we can change the body.
In the interview, Ellen mentions that it has become more cumbersome to gain approval and funding to do her research. She aspired to conduct an investigational study that proposed asking women on a cancer awareness walk if they thought their cancer was in remission or cured, then checking back six months later to assess their quality of life.
The review board would not allow it because they thought asking someone about their cancer was stressful.
Really?
Isn’t telling a cancer patient that they're in remission, rather than cured stressful? Thinking that lurking within is a deadly disease waiting to re-emerge sounds stressful to me.
Stress suppresses the immune system. Suppressed immunity leaves the cancer cells we all produce undetected with the ability to multiply.
Emerging immunotherapy drugs for cancer recognize the unique role our immune system plays in preventing, controlling, and eliminating various types of cancers. These drugs are highly lucrative.
Awareness helps create change. Aging need not be debilitating. Through the power of the mind we can mobilize action to create health.
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