Fear vs. Love-Based Medicine

by Alexandra Gayek, ND

Twice in two days I've talked with friends who are all excited about taking some new supplement to get the mercury out of their bodies. One couple learned about it at a big health seminar. Another got it from a website.

This alarms me, though I know nothing about the ingredients of the supplements or the level of patient screening or monitoring that goes along with the recommendations to take the stuff.

Chemical detoxication used to be my medical specialty, so I know more than the average doc about dealing with mercury in the body. From the medical perspective, detox is not something to mess around with by those without proper training and experience. It is NOT a one-size-fits-all kind of treatment that can be safely given to everyone and anyone who fits the symptoms or lab results. Too much can go wrong.

What do you notice when you read this? Does your anxiety go up at all when you think your body could be filled with mercury or other poison? Do you feel nervous at the thought that you could do irreparable damage to your nervous system by taking the wrong combination of medicines for your body?

The number one reason I quit practicing the way I was trained to practice medicine is that I recognized the damage I was doing by focusing on fear-based medicine.

Naturopathic training, wonderful as it is, may include the most fear-based medical training there is. There's a huge focus on recognizing damage caused by long term behavior or exposure to nasty things and preventing things that could go wrong. My specialty, environmental medicine, was at the extreme end of that spectrum.

What do I mean?

I used to give talks on the dangers of pesticides, mercury, air pollution, water pollution, genetically engineered food, radiation from power lines, computers and cell phones. Patients would walk out of my office with small shopping bags of supplements they needed to protect themselves from all these dangers. I took between 25 and 30 pills per day myself, and went to great effort to eat only organic food, carefully avoiding wheat, dairy products, tomatoes, trans-fats, and sugar.

By the time I'd been in the toxicity specialty for two years I'd become so sensitive to diesel fumes, dust, perfume, and other substances that I developed tremors in my hands. I could barely keep a needle still enough to draw blood. I'd get sick if I sat in traffic or went into most stores.

I felt powerless, frightened, and angry about the health of the planet, which I was convinced was reaching the point of no return.

In other words, I was so focused on what was wrong, bad, and dangerous that I made myself sick.

I began to recognize the impact of that thinking and began to encourage patients to think differently back in 2000. Now, seven years later, I'm an example of the power of thinking differently.

I no longer react negatively to food or any of the substances I used to fear. Two years ago the egg-sized lump on my thyroid gland disappeared. I take vitamins occasionally, exercise because I like to, eat whatever I want, like my body more than at any other time in my life, and feel great most of the time.

When I don't feel good, my medicine is to change my thinking.

Almost without exception, the problem thoughts have nothing to do with health. I'll catch myself fretting about the raccoons eating the plants in my pond, not having enough time to do everything that calls for my attention, doing a poor job managing my cash flow, saying the wrong thing to a friend, colleague, or family member, forgetting something important, being unsure about some decision.

When I attend to whatever is really bugging me, the symptoms resolve quickly.

But what protects my long term health is practicing love-based medicine.

This means practicing focusing as much attention as possible on what and whom I love, what makes me happy, what brings me joy and peace.

It means consciously deciding to shift my attention and thoughts when they get into the worry or anger zones, and using one of the hundreds of techniques I've got in my "medical toolbox" to make peace with where I am and to feel better.

Sometimes action makes me feel better. If I feel out of control, doing something concrete gives me a sense of more control. The action itself may be useful, but I've come to understand that its main purpose is to shift my emotional state so I can think clearly. The best ideas for action come when I'm calm and centered, not when I'm upset.

All my experience with my own health and that of my patients and clients has led to this conclusion:

   More than any other medicine, treatment, remedy,
   or exercise regime, what you spend your time
   thinking about constitutes your health program.

So, what are you spending your time thinking about? what you fear and dread or what you hope for? What you regret or what you're proud of and grateful for? What's wrong with you or what's right with you? What makes you angry or what brings you peace and a sense of well-being?

It matters. You matter. You are worth the time it takes to examine the health program you've got yourself on.

Do you deserve something a little better?

If you'd like support, chime into the global discussion forum.

Or for one-on-one help, sign up for coaching.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~