Don’t Let Them Amuse You to Death

I read a quote by Voltaire today:  “The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while Nature cures the disease.”

At first I thought it was funny, but true.  When I started thinking about it more I thought it would be a great topic to write on.

People go to the doctor for “fill in the blank” problem.  A symptom has gotten bothersome enough and they want it fixed.  Often a medical doctor will then prescribe some sort of medication that will make the symptom go away.

What most don’t realize is that this is simply ‘amusing the patient.’  The only problem is, that once the symptom “goes away”, the underlying problem is then never addressed.  This means that nature, as Voltaire puts it, never gets the chance to heal the disease.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a definite place for medicine.  I don’t believe, however, that we should use medications like we often do.  Medications should be used in an acute situation only to give us the time to actually address the underlying imbalance.  Many people are on prescription or over-the-counter medications for chronic issues.  Most of these chronic issues are the body telling us it is out of balance and that balance needs to be restored.  Taking a medication may seem to alleviate the symptoms but the medication often results in more symptoms because of the medication itself and the original imbalance is left to grow.

Instead of relying only on medication, get to the root of the problem.  Find out what your body is trying to tell you with the presenting symptoms.  If you are already on medications for a chronic illness, it is not too late to start correcting.  I DO NOT recommend stopping any prescription medication that you are taking without doing the following:

1. Discuss your concerns with your medical doctor.
2. Make sure you are addressing the imbalance itself and beginning correction before even considering stopping a medication with your medical doctor’s supervision.  You want to make sure that your body is prepared to handle itself well before withdrawing medications.
3. If your medical doctor agrees that you can safely stop a medication, I often suggest slowly tapering off the medication to give your body time to adapt.

Time for a Bigger Pot

I’ll be the first to admit that I am no expert when it comes to plants.  We have four plants in the office, which by the grace of God, I have not yet killed!  I had a patient last week tell me that one of the plants was root bound and would thrive if it was given a bigger pot.

The plant originally came in a small black non-descript pot and, to dress it up, I placed it in a little bit larger pot without repotting it.  It served its purpose by blending in with the décor of the office and being a quick easy fix.

Last week, based on that patient’s recommendation, I purchased a larger pot and some potting soil and today went to giving the plant more room to grow.  I jokingly placed the plant, still in that small black non-descript pot, into the larger pot and proclaimed I was done.  It was humorous and we got a kick out of it, but we knew for the plant to live and thrive the plant needed that larger pot.  Then I realized that this was a great illustration of what people do in their own lives.

Too often, when it comes to health (and many other important matters), we simply put the plant with the same small pot into a larger one and proclaim the problem solved.  This is simply dressing up the problem and covering up the symptom.  In the case of my plant, it is obvious that doing that is plain ridiculous.  Have you ever stopped to think it is more ridiculous to treat your body that way?

As just one example, let’s look at heartburn: a nasty symptom that interrupts daily life and can even make a person dread eating...or not eating…or both!  In an effort to cool the burn, people often turn to acid suppressors.  This unfortunately does not fix the underlying problem.  This is the same as taking the small black non-descript pot that has the root bound plant in it and placing it in a larger pot.  It looks prettier; the burn is no longer there but the problems remain. 

In the case of the plant, the roots will continue to be bound up, the plant will starve for nutrients and, as one site put it, “suffocate itself.”  In other words, if a root bound plant is not repotted, it will eventually die.  Human beings are the same way.  If a problem is simply covered up, the body will continue to starve for the nutrients it needs and will be suppressed (suffocated) and the body will continue breaking down.

So, the moral of the story is:  Don’t simply cover your problem up.  Get to the root of the issue and fix it so that you too may thrive!  (Pun definitely intended!)