Am I Really Anti-Medicine?

A couple days ago, a client of mine asked me why I was so “anti-medicine”?  She had seen a video I had posted on Facebook that was negative towards the pharmaceutical industry. She went on to tell me that the medicine that was prescribed to her father for a recent health challenge had saved his life. I quickly agreed with her and told her that I thank the heavens every day for modern medicine, and what it can do in an emergency and a crisis. It got me thinking though that I definitely needed to explain myself better.

We talked about my daughter Savannah, who was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis at the age of 1 month.

If you Google bacterial meningitis in a 1 month old you don’t get the answers that you are wanting to see and the prognosis for survival is low.  That’s exactly what our family and our daughter had to face.One evening when Savannah was 1 month old, she acquired a temperature. Coming from a chiropractic background I understand that a fever is the body’s natural response to an infection in order to kill the foreign invader. So we watched and waited overnight while Savannah’s temperature rose and fell.  By the morning her the temperature was 40 degrees. Yvette’s motherly instinct kicked in and she took her to the local GP as I went to work. About an hour later I got a call at the clinic from Yvette telling me they were rushing Savannah to the hospital.

To make a long story short, Savannah had come down with a salmonella bacterial meningitis. To this day, neither we or the pediatrician have a solid idea as to how she contracted it.  She had a lumbar puncture in the ER to confirm this and was immediately placed on five different antibiotics. We lived in the hospital for six weeks as Savannah was hooked up to a constant IV of antibiotics. By the quick action of the initial GP, the emergency team at the hospital, the fantastic doctors and nurses in the children’s ward and mothers instinct, we have a beautiful, healthy, intelligent child. I am eternally grateful for the life saving equipment and facilities that modern medicine has given us.

So I’m really not anti-medicine. I just believe that it is crucial that people understand that there is a clear distinction between where the current health system lies, and where health and wellness lies. And, that if either cross into the others territory it is dangerous for the patient. If wellness or chiropractic, tries to get involved in emergency situations it’s dangerous and if allopaths step into wellness it’s dangerous. If however, the two have common dialogue and they each know the others place then it’s a win-win for the patient.

The best way to explain this is through an analogy that I learned from Dr James Chestnut. He compares the current medical health care system to the fire department, and your mind and body to your house. The contractors to the house are your health and wellness practitioners, chiropractors. Now, what do you do when there is a fire? You call the fire department (medical doctor). And what do they do? They come along with their two best tools, axes and fire hoses (drugs and surgery). They arrive at your house sirens blaring, kick down your door, break out the windows and spray all  your valuable possessions with water. If they get there on time and do their job correctly they can save the life of your house. True! And thank the heavens for them.

But the next day, what is left? A mess. An absolute mess that you have to clean up. Would it make sense to call back the fire department to help you get your house back in order? No, because they are going to bring the only tools they have, axes and fire hoses, drugs and surgery. The drugs and surgery don’t make you healthy but they do buy you enough time to change your lifestyle choices. If you give a healthy person drugs and surgery, do they get  healthier? No,  they get worse.  So not only do you have to clean up the mess from the fire, you have to clean up the mess from the axes and fire hoses, drugs and surgery.

What you want now is someone who can get you back together. You need to call the contractors. Someone who studies how to build a strong foundation, fix the electrical wires, repair the doors and windows. Someone who studies health and wellness, how to get fit, eat right, how to move correctly. Most importantly, someone who teaches you how to do it so that you can teach your family how to be healthy – body, mind and spirit.

Now, consider that the fire department has convinced everyone that to rate the validity of whether or not you can rebuild the house is by how well you can put out the fire. The health and wellness industry would look pretty hopeless trying to put out a fire with their hammer and nails, and a broom. And the medical doctors would look pretty silly trying to improve the house with more axes and firehoses. Unfortunately that is exactly what happens. The medical community judges the worthiness of a treatment on whether or not it can put out a fire, and then they tell you that fires are spontaneous (genetic) and that there is nothing you can do to avoid them. The health and wellness practitioners don’t want to put out fires, we want to avoid them and rebuild burnt houses. We study how to build a healthy frame, so that the body can live a long healthy life.

I hope this makes sense and clears up the position that I take when I say that the answer to our chronic health problems like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, depression, infertility, ADHD, arthritis etc is not by treating people with more drugs and surgery but teaching people how to eat, move and think right, and have a clear nervous system. If you would like more information on this topic, Dr. Chestnut has written a fantastic book called, “The Health and Wellness Paradigm.” or simply come and see me at our clinic.