How to Become Your Own Best Medicine

The One Thing Ultra Healthy, High Energy People Do That Separates Them From Everyone Else

If you are like most people, you probably grew up believing that your body was “none of your business,” that whenever you had an ache, pain, or fever you needed to either take some kind of over-the-counter medicine immediately, or rush to the doctor to find out what was wrong, and get the right medications to make it go away. I know that was the case for me.

So, when I started to develop all kinds of strange and scary symptoms in the year that led up to my diagnosis of MS, I started running from doctor to doctor to find out what was wrong and what medication they could give me to make those scary symptoms go away so I could get my life and sanity back.

Sadly, it took almost one year to find out what was wrong, and then, they had nothing to offer me except palliative meds and worse-case scenarios. Then, the callous manner in which I was diagnosed left me feeling even more afraid than before the diagnosis, not to mention devastated and hopeless.

Fortunately, I chose not to accept that pessimistic prognosis. I CHOSE to take control of my disease and my life. Within days, I had gotten a recommendation to a group of integrative medicine doctors. Considering this was 1984, that in itself was miracle.  Instead of loading me up with medications I would have to take for the rest of my life, these natural medicine doctors educated and supported me to become my own best medicine. The result: I reversed most of my symptoms within 5 months.

This life changing experience was the seed of my lifelong passion to help others take control of their health, reverse their symptoms, and live the life they were designed to live – the one their creator intended them to live.

Quick-Fix, Toxic Medications are Not the Answer

While modern medicine definitely saves lives every day, and sometimes medications are exactly what is needed, such as an antibiotic for a serious infection or emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix; what I’ve discovered since reversing my own “irreversible disease”, becoming a licensed psychotherapist (to work with the mind-body connection), a nutritionist (‘cause food truly is the medicine and your fork is the fastest route to good health), and a certified health coach (a supportive professional who holds you accountable, makes it all a lot easier and more fun!), and working with literally thousands of people over the past 20 years, is this – many people still think medications (or other, quick-fix approaches) are cure-alls for their health problems.

Oftentimes, even when someone embraces acupuncture, or spends hundreds of dollars on “natural” supplements, shakes, etc., they still see the cure as something outside of themselves.

The Biggest Predictor of Health and Healing

This is the biggest block to creating true health, and becoming an ultra-healthy person because the biggest predictor of health is believing that the mind (your thoughts, feelings, attitudes, beliefs) is the most important piece of the illness picture. Your mind is the intermediary between your soul and your body – and it is the necessary link to creating true health and happiness.

You Are Your Own Best Medicine

There is a fast-growing number of people who have decided to make their bodies and minds, and souls their business in a serious way – and who are doing things (aka: healthy lifestyle behaviors) that have lifted them from being an unhealthy, low-energy person who struggles with anxiety and depression to an ultra-healthy, high energy, and authentically happy person. Below, I share one of the 6 key pathways to becoming an ultra healthy, indestructibly happy person.

The One Thing – The Placebo Effect (aka: Believe Yourself Well)

For me, the single most important thing that allowed me to turn my MS around in just 5 months was this: the words of my holistic medicine team of doctors on my first visit with them. They gave me hope and confidence about the medical piece of my illness.

My Naturopath looked me in the eye on my first visit, and said, with absolute certainty, “you can reverse the symptoms of this disease and feel good again. But, to do that, you will need to trust us, work with us and put our advice into action consistently.”

My response in my head was “I’m in.” I chose to get well, and was willing to do whatever it took. I did not hesitate, because here’s the deal – I had a clear vision of myself and my life – and it didn’t include being sick and disabled for the rest of my life – or dying within the 20 years my doctors gave me. I was determined to not let this disease destroy my life or my happiness.

I also had a total, complete trust that God would have my back in this fight. My faith was key to my recovery – but my willingness to believe, trust and take better care of myself was my part in the deal. I knew that expecting anyone or anything else to save me, without doing the work, was not the answer.

What both these doctors knew even then, was that the placebo effect is the most important first step in healing. You have to believe that you can get well. With autoimmunity, there is a common belief they are impossible to reverse, and most conventional physicians communicate this to their patients, fomenting doubt and disbelief in the body-mind-spirit’s ability to heal itself. They erase any possibility of living a normal, healthy life. 

Proof Your Body Can Heal Itself

There is a large body of research that proves this wrong – and that proves that the body can heal itself of all conditions, except where changes in bone structure, scarring, or other obstructions to nerve communication or movement have resulted.

Dr. Joe Dispenza, says this about the placebo effect in his book, You Are the Placebo,

“It’s been discovered in the laboratory that intention does have physical effects. At least ¹⁄₃ of all healing has to do with the placebo effect: a person can override their biology simply by believing that they are healing.”¹

Lissa Rankin, M.D., writes in her book, Mind Over Medicine,

“In studies using placebos (sugar pills or sham medical treatments) the following results have been documented:

• Nearly half of all asthma patients get symptom relief from a fake inhaler or sham acupuncture.
• Approximately 40% of people with headaches get relief when given a placebo.
• More than half of patients studied for ulcer pain have resolution of their pain when given a placebo.
• Sham acupuncture cuts hot flashes almost in half.

These are all self-reported by patients, but, proof that actual physiological changes occur in the body in response to placebos has also been found in studies where:

• Bald men grow hair
• Blood pressure drops
• Cholesterol levels drop
• Brain dopamine increases in patients with Parkinson’s disease

In fact, when compared to morphine, placebos are almost equally effective at treating pain.”²

Ancient shamans and healers have known for centuries that the body is a self-regulating, self-organizing, and self-healing organism, and that if given what it needs to perform optimally, the human mind-body-and spirit will self-heal and thrive. But, somewhere along the lines we forgot all this. Mostly this was due to Cartesian Science developed after Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist, declared the mind and body were separate around 300 years ago.

Fortunately, research is proving Descartes wrong. And, millions of people who are preventing and reversing disease are also proving this separation of body and mind wrong, and discovering that the spirit and soul also play a crucial part in preventing and reversing disease.

This week, I hope you will examine your own beliefs about what creates optimal health. Until next time, take good care of yourself, and have a beautiful, peaceful week!

Look out for the other five posts in this series where I explore the other root causes of illness – coming soon!

To Your Well-being,

 

 

 

 

¹ Joe Dispenza , You Are the Placebo, 2014, Hay House, Inc.
² Lissa Rankin, MD, Mind Over Medicine, 2015, Hay House, Hay House, Inc.