Bullshit: An Approach to Modern Health




New Yorker. Unknown.

 Whether I like to admit it or not, at my core, I will always be a New Yorker. 

Live like a New Yorker - Unapologetic and brash.
Move like a New Yorker - A heavy, consistent beat.
Talk like a New Yorker - Always calling out bullshit.

A few months ago, someone called me, (Oh yea, you know I be using the quotes in this context) "... the coldest person." 

My first reaction was... Nothing. 



New Yorker. October 2009. William Haefeli.

 He was right... To a degree.  "Cold" is such a relative term and when it comes to patience, or lack thereof, I can see how an individual might call me, "cold".  I have a very limited amount of patience and it's something I am working on... To a degree.

I simply don't have the patience for bullshit.  There's a limit to it.  I'll keep my mouth shut, smile pretty and nod until I can't take it anymore and I end up going off.  Hand up in the air.  Neck jerking.  Earrings off.  I find my lack of patience interesting considering I want to dedicate my life to healing by providing an ancient form of medicine that requires a gigantic leap from everything I've been taught to believe was true. 

And yet, had it not have been for my own illness and TCM treatments, which not only changed my life but subsequently saved my life, I'd think all of this was one of the biggest bullshit I had ever heard.

I get it which is the reason why I consistently struggle to advocate it, particularly to my friends.  It frustrates the hell out of me to explain an authentic way of healing the body to someone who is used to swallowing a couple of pills and having the symptoms of the condition magically disappear.  No one wants to hear treating the root of an illness requires work.  Damn, hard work like finding triggers like work hours, lack of exercise or gee, um, general lack of meaning or purpose in your life.  And no one certainly wants to hear just because the symptoms went away, that doesn't necessarily mean you're "healed".  And forget about even suggesting the notion that every human body is unique and there's no "One-Size-Fits-All" for treatments. 

How do you explain the lower back pain is not... Well... Just a lower back pain? 

Health and wellness only becomes a priority when it is depleted.  I suppose, as a prospective health facilitator, the only thing I can do is to study, write up this damn blog, give out advice and wait patiently until my friends are damn serious of making their health a priority.  Awesome.

Last week, I was stuck in the elevator with my Anatomy and Physiology professor who I have claimed as a full-on genius.  He clones stuff...  For fun.  Genius.  He's a geneticist and to say the least, it doesn't get any more "Science" than that.  He lives and breathes Science.  Everything in his professional and personal life can be reduced to logical Science.  I'm convinced he could justify his marriage in a scientific manner that is purely based on evolution.  He is, in essence, a no bullshitter.  So, imagine my surprise, during our impromptu discussion on healing, my A&P professor/bio-tech engineer, agreed that the "... Western approach to healing is totally fucked-up."  Oh, snap!  Yeah, that's also a direct quote. 

Many people choose TCM as a "last resort" which kinda sounds insane to me the more I study the human body.  I'm gonna go and get that surgery... Open up my body to a host of infections... Stick foreign objects inside of me... Take some medications to further add resistance to homeostasis... And if that doesn't work... Well... I guess I'll consider a "natural" form of treatment. 

I find this paradox fascinating.  Wouldn't it make sense to try everything under the sun, that is the least invasive, on the body before resorting to something that will alleviate the symptoms which may treat the disorder but not without adding side-effects that will undeniably lead to another imbalance?  And this is where my patience is truly tested.

I'm convinced when health issues are merely a nuisance - Meaning, we can still get up, go to work and whatnot - Than it is not a priority.  It's only when it stops us from Life that we start to take it seriously; and when every pill, surgery, radiation fails, do we even consider a complementary or "alternative" form of treatment. 

New Yorker September 19, 2008

 I'm nearly finished with my grad school applications and I've realized, the reason why I'm so cuckoo for holistic health-care is because I've recognized the history of bullshit Western medicine has been feeding, "for the people".  Without sounding like a conspiracy-theory nutcase, if a disease is "cured" then there's no money to be made. 

I'm not Anti-General Practitioner. 

I'm Anti-Pharm.

My belief remains strong.  Western medicine is amazing when it comes to trauma.  If I ever get a gun-shot wound, I want my EMT to drive me to the nearest hospital and have the cockiest surgeon stitch me up.  If we ever get this stem-cell research off the ground -- I can also say, Western medicine is spot-on in terms of gene therapy.  However, for preventative care, it astounds me why one would use unnatural treatments to prevent diseases the human body is incapable of producing under ideal, healthy settings. 

Answer:  Because it takes a helluva amount of strength to take a hard look at our lives and make conscious lifestyle changes that we have been emotionally connected to for so long.  We make health decisions not because they can be logically explained to us but because we can emotionally connect to them.

Most diseases don't suddenly appear.  They are manifestations of years of neglect which often takes more than a couple weeks to heal; and then takes years to prevent it from ever happening again. 

It's a huge mental click to view and use medicine for a long-term effect... As in for the rest of our lives... Rather than a temporary relief band-aid in order to alleviate the pain.