We care for a
patient who suffered from panic attacks, social anxiety, tremor, weakness,
pain, headaches, muscle pains and the list goes on.  She had made countless attempts to correct
these symptoms by a variety of ‘natural’ methods before coming to see us.  Before that, she had tried the conventional
way, seeing specialists, trying lists of medications… but it did not work for
her.  She could almost bet that she would
get one or more of the major side effects listed on any medicine any doctor
prescribed.  She forced herself to try
them hoping to attain that elusive ‘quality of life’ she and every normal
person desires.  Hopeless and seeking
reprieve, she, like many others, found herself doing things she knew were not
likely good for her body.  Alcohol, lack
of sleep (from her party lifestyle) and a rollercoaster of good and bad eating
habits defined her efforts to distract herself from her chronic mood and pain
symptoms.

When I first met her and analyzed
her case, she was ‘textbook’ for signs of poor detoxification.  (Stay tuned for my next post on
detoxification.)  Hearing her issues with
side effects, we initiated a gentle (starting low dose and going slow with
increases in dose) detoxification strategy. 
But, that was even too much for her body.  It’s like her house was so full of toxic garbage
that it became easily overwhelmed at the initial efforts to start the long
process of clean-up.  We aborted mission
and decided to wait until her body and her confidence was ready to try
again.  Now, remember one of my favorite
mottos- ‘Patients Powered by Knowledge.” 
Education is THE biggest motivator for positive change.  Lucky for all of us, during her first
detoxification attempt she was fully educated on how she makes garbage and how
her body has to work to get rid of it. 
She used that awareness and started adjusting her lifestyle.  She understood that her lifestyle choices
were worsening her chances for recovery. 
So, the story continues when she came back to the office ready to try
another go at detoxification.

Eureka! We hit gold… ‘we’ meaning
the patient and our team!  Today, this
woman’s life is completely transformed. 
Getting those fat soluble toxins out of her system has resulted in an
over 70% improvement in her symptoms. 
That’s it… 70%, you might say. 
For her, that was the difference between living and existing.  Her body, mind and spirit have been so
dramatically changed because she is finally feeling good… real good… and
nothing like feeling ‘real good’ to give you hope to work even harder.  When I heard this, I was ecstatic for
her.  However, change is never that
clean.  I learned that she now has to
face the next chapter of her transformation. 
She has to figure out what to do with the entire social life she had set
up for herself- the one that fed her illness. 
Finding the freedom of good health, she no longer wanted to participate
in that way of life.  She did not want to
return to that anxious, weak, painful person she used to be in years past. 

When we achieve true health or
notice that a previous behavior was harmful to our body, it can be challenging
to face the culture we created that supported our sickness.  I, myself, became gluten-free over 2 years
ago and still feel awkward at times seeing old friends and family and having to
explain why I can’t participate in devouring pizza on college football game
night.  But, I connect with how good I
feel and use it to push through the process. 
Sometimes, friends welcome, embrace and support this new ‘Me’ and
sometimes, a small gap may develop in our relationship.  I think that healthy people making healthy
choices make some people uncomfortable. 
It’s as though I was making a  non-verbal statement like “I am working to do
what it takes to be physically and mentally fit and I am not letting anything
get in my way.  How ’bout you?”. 

I respect that this connection
with people or gapping between you and them will occur over and over again.  Either your community members (family,
friends, neighbors, restaurant owners, school administrators, etc) will support
your efforts, or you will have to forge a new path around those who do
not.   By the way, the ones that do not
support you may not be doing it with ill intent; likely, it’s just innocent
ignorance that is perpetuated by our society’s prioritization on unhealthy
living.  Hopefully, when your investment
in your health starts to reap dividends, you will have the fortitude to stick
with it.   Enjoy its benefits amongst the
climate of people who might sway you from your course.  There are others like you around- you just
have to keep looking.  In the meantime, I
will be doing my part to make this health-minded community grow exponentially
and gain momentum with ‘Medicine to Move You.’ 
Do your part and pay it forward with what you are learning so we can
enjoy a society prioritizing optimum wellness for our children and
grandchildren.