Open Letter to Doctors

(Disclaimer: My husband is a WONDERFUL doctor, and none of this would ever apply to him, of course. :)  )


Dear Doctor, 

I am paying YOU. While it may seem like the insurance company or the government is actually paying you, you wouldn't have any of that money if it weren't for ME. You work for ME.

You don't know everything; no one does. The sooner you're able to admit that, the better. The best docs I've ever been to are the ones who would look at research I brought in, who would do further research if needed if they didn't have answers on my condition, and who would give me studies to look at on specific topics. Don't treat your patients like idiots. Yes, many of them are idiots, but just because you disagree does not necessarily make the patient an idiot. The human body is so complicated, no person could ever hope to know everything about it. Furthermore, the studies coming out in medicine are so numerous, you would never have time to read them all.

It's MY body, not yours. I trust your advice, education, and experience for the most part, or I wouldn't be coming to you. But because you don't know everything (see above), don't discount my ideas or desires just because they are foreign to you. I know many docs may feel responsible for poor choices their patients make, but you're not. Advise and let your patients make the decision for themselves. Your job is not to force certain actions on the public but to give your expert advice when we ask. Along those same lines, I am responsible to raise up my children the way I think best, not you. Parent your own children. If there's no abuse involved, mind your own business.

Don't feel so threatened. Many doctors are threatened by questions, threatened by different views, threatened by natural doctors or natural methods, threatened by me asking for an additional test. I don't get this. How does it harm you? It's time for natural docs and mainstream docs to start working TOGETHER. This warfare does nothing but turn patients loyal toward one and antagonistic toward the other, which can only be a detriment to all involved (and the antagonism exists on BOTH sides). We, as patients, need both, and we need you to start being open-minded and working together.

If you can't find a reason or diagnosis for my complaint, explain that. Send me to a specialist or just admit you don't know or can't help. DON'T make me feel crazy, say it's all in my head, or suggest anti-depressants (unless there is a clear need, like, hmmm, admitted depression?) Be humble enough to admit that nobody knows everything. Admit that, and either research it more or move on. Don't be disrespectful.

Don't let other docs bully you, and DON'T gang up with other docs to bully your patients about a certain issue (pediatricians, anyone??) That's not your job. Have the self confidence to be yourself and act on your own convictions. 

-Your Patients

30 Days of Chilling Out

We've all seen the articles that litter Facebook and Pinterest, 30 days to a better this, 30 days to lower that. Sometimes we need to take a step back and rest! Rest is talked about (I don't know the #, but a lot!) of times in the Bible. It is even linked to our very salvation (see Hebrews 4, Proverbs 10:22, & Romans 4:5).

I have struggled with adrenal fatigue since high school and have come a long way in learning how to treat it, but it has hit again recently, probably just from raising 2 toddler boys. The biggest symptom for me lately is over-reacting to stress. Things that most people can take in stride just really put me over the top as far as stress goes. That rational part of my brain (which, thank God, still works) is saying, "Really? That is going to bother you right now?" but whatever other part of my brain that has spawned just takes over. This is a big clue that adrenals are an issue. It seems that it would be the opposite, and that your body would just be too tired to care about anything, but I have not the time or energy to give a scientific explanation for it right now, OK? :) 

So when I discovered this guy and his method of re-booting metabolism (and all hormones along with it), I decided to give it a try. Each of us has different stressors that set us off, so I evaluated what mine were and made some "rules" for myself, although they don't really seem like rules.

• Eat a big breakfast very soon after getting up- this starts the metabolism and turns off your stress hormones that carry you through the night.
• Eat whenever I'm hungry. (I had actually stopped getting normal hunger cues and would go straight to low blood sugar symptoms right out of nowhere, so I had to start planning my meals ahead of time so I'd be ready before the crash (the crash stresses the adrenals!)
• ...without worrying too much about WHAT I'm eating. Eat what I want. (This was interesting, because when I pay attention to what I really want, I realize a lot of it is healthy. I don't feel deprived, because I can have the frozen pizza if I really want it, but do I? Or do I want a big chicken salad with veggies, nuts, cheese, and avocado? When you don't feel deprived, you're free to make better choices.)
  (for more on what to eat, see the link above)
• Wean off of coffee. (OK, I take that back! This one DID seem like a rule, a very difficult one! I only have one cup a day, but it makes me feel bad. I get shaky and jittery and just feel ug. I was still chasing that high I used to get from it when I was more healthy. That reaction is another sign of adrenal fatigue, by the way.)
•  When my 2 YO is whining (big stressor for me!), STOP what I'm doing and listen and play with him or do whatever he needs. 
• No internet after dinner. (I need this time to wind down, and the internet winds me UP.)
• No debating. (only for 30 days, not forever, bwahahaha!)
• No talk radio. (Again, a personal stressor for me. For people who don't ever listen to it, I would SUGGEST it, ;) )
•  Nothing suspenseful on TV.
• Take some time each day to meditate and kind of turn my mind off, maybe a power-nap.
• Rest one day per week. (Turns out, the best day for me right now is Sunday, duh! :) But I usually rest a little on Sat, and little on Sun, and a little the day the boys go to their church program. My goal is to work harder on Saturdays so I can have one day to chill!)
• Get lots of sleep at night. 

I'm doing this for the month of April.

Vaccines, Part 2- Dangers

The vaccine debate is getting pretty crazy. My advice: stop debating and start researching. That's what I did shortly after my first was born, and I am finally gathering enough info to feel comfortable sharing some of it with you. This is a complex issue which each family needs to look into for themselves. Anyway, I hope this helps someone make a more informed decision. Check out Part 1 here.

1. If you're concerned about abortion, you should be informed as to which vaccines
are made using tissue from aborted children. These vaccines do not contain the tissue IN them, but the ingredients are cultured in fetal tissue. For some, you can ask for an alternative brand, but some have no alternative. This may interest anyone who's pro-life.


http://www.christianpatriot.com/vaccines.htm 

2. This is the government's table of possible, although rare, serious reactions with a timeline that they would happen in after vaccinations. This is what they go by when deciding whether to compensate for a vaccine injury, but it gives a blunt view of what can occur.

And here are the actual reported symptoms from real people for each year.

3.  Hepatitis B:

Risks outweigh the benefits of Hepatitis B vaccine at birth.

Also, autoimmune disorders linked to Heb B vaccine.

(NOTE: Mothers who have Hepatitis B should most likely have their babies vaccinated, as the disease can be transferred to the baby at birth.)

4. Aluminum in vaccines linked to auto-immune issues. 

5. The chicken pox vaccine has 2 dangers. One is that older people who have already had it need to be exposed to it every so often to boost their immunity to shingles. This doesn't happen nearly as much because children aren't getting it anymore, so the incidence of shingles is rising among older people.  The second is that it might shift the incidence of disease to adults (we don't yet know how long this vaccine lasts), where the disease is much more dangerous and more deadly.   LINK

6.  HPV vaccine: 


Can cause infertility, permanent neurological damage, and even death in many young people. As of August 13, 2012, VAERS has received 119 reports of death following HPV vaccination, as well as:

894 reports of disability
517 life-threatening adverse events
9,889 emergency room visits
2,781 hospitalizations
(I can get the source on this is you need it. I forgot to copy it while doing my research.)

7. MMR Dangers Explained (and the "debunked" study that linked it to autism.)

8. And... Unvaccinated Children 500 times Healthier (if you believe this study)

 

Trim Healthy Mama review + other books...

One of my New Year's resolutions was to read one book per month in 2013. Here is what I've read so far + reviews... :)

1.

C  I guess I just have a different sense of humor, but I stopped reading this about half way through. Just not that good.









2,
C   Again, maybe I wasn't in a the right mindset, but I didn't really get a lot out of this one either. If you are really new to mothering or children, then you might get a lot out of it; it just seemed really basic, maybe, and not super well-written. I also did not finish this one, so I counted both of these for one month. :)






3.  

A   This book will reeeeally benefit you if you have sugar issues, meaning, if you are constantly craving sweet foods or refined carbohydrates. It also talks about how sugar sensitivity is linked to alcoholism and other addictions. (After all, alcohol turns STRAIGHT into sugar in the bloodstream, and many alcoholics cannot succeed until the also give up sugar.) Cutting WAY back on sugar is something we ALL need to do, no exceptions, and I have recently done that. (Search for "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" on Youtube for an excellent video on the subject.) But if you are very sugar sensitive (which I found out I am not really, even though we all are affected by it), then you have to get rid of ALL of it, plus all sweet things, even Stevia. This book takes you step by step through the process without beating you over the head about it.

4.

A+   This book is amazing, wonderful, glorious, and all the other good adjectives in the dictionary, lol! It's the perfect eating plan/weight loss/ healthy eating for life book. It's written by 2 Christian moms with large families who did a ton of research on nutrition (one my FAV topics as well). One even used to be a Vegan. It follows pretty closely the philosophy of Weston A Price/Nourishing Traditions if you're familiar with that. I was always a fan of that farm fresh, whole food philosophy myself. It's not strict in that you can use some convenience and processed foods (or not if you so choose); you don't have to make everything from scratch and spend hours in the kitchen. You never go hungry or count calories. The books has lots of recipes, but once you learn the concept, you can adapt almost any meal to make it fit and research and find tons of recipes. The basic premise is separating your fats from your carbs and then getting rid of processed sugars and starches (simple carbs). There are very few "off limits" foods. It also has chapters on other health topics as well which I found enlightening: hormones, sex, exercise, etc. Love it. I use it all the time for reference, and even though I cheat way too much, I have lost 7 lbs! woohoo.

5. 

 A+    This is an excellent book! I highly recommend it!










6.  
B   I have not seen the movie yet, but this is an incredible story. The book does have some slow parts, and I personally thought the husband was pretty, ummmm, slow to learn in dealing with his wife. It seems like common sense to me that if your wife doesn't remember who you are, you have to woo her all over again and try to get her to fall in love with you, not push her away by making sure her physical therapist is pushing her EVEN harder than he normally would have and trying to be her coach and father. Yet someone had to tell him all this. Maybe it's just because I'm a woman that I think this way. Still a great story.  
 

7.

B            This book is full of tips for running a household, and it's not just for large families. I do think you need to go into it realizing that her EXACT methods may not work for you, and you may need to tweak a lot. I wish her tone was less "the is THE way to do it" and more like, "These are some ideas that have worked well for me." That's my only complaint about the book. It has a legalistic tone even if that isn't the author's intent. I really enjoy her blog, so I don't know that it was intentional. Just read it with the mentality to take what works for you and leave the rest. I do think it's a valuable resource!



8.
A+  This book is excellent! It's not a practical tips book (although there are some of those) but gets to the heart of issues moms deal and struggle with. While it probes deeply, it comes off with grace rather than condemnation. It's challenging and encouraging at the same time. Each chapter is so short you could read it as a morning devotional. I need to go through it again. It was so good I wanted to finish it quickly, but I need to read it more slowly to be able to digest the points she makes.


9.

A+  This is a Bible study I did with some friends. It goes through various issues like fear, discontent, anger, etc and teaches us how to deal with them by seeking Christ and His power to overcome them. It's full of grace and void of striving/try-harder theology that really cannot lead to lasting change. I like that she keeps the correct focus and gets to the real heart of these issues rather than sticking a behavior management strategy on them.



10.

B+   I was excited to do this study, as I love Jen Hatmaker's blog and listened to a seminar she did that literally changed my life. Her story of how she and her husband left "churchyness" and the Christian, comfortable sub-culture and moved to South Austin to start a church which focuses on meeting people where they are and helping the "least of these" is amazing. I think that the book that goes along with this study tells that story. We only did the study. It was good and challenging in a way unlike most studies I have done. It will stretch you! The reason I gave it a B instead of an A was because it didn't seem to come from the grace standpoint I wrote about in the previous review, but from a, "we're doing it wrong, we simply need to do better," standpoint. It also was not nearly as well written as some of her stuff I've read, included almost everything in her blog. The other reason was because she is misinformed about some political things and wrongly equates liberal politics with Biblical practices. She doesn't harp on it or speak very much about it, but some things written in passing I was shaking my head at. Overall, worthwhile, though.

Tested Natural Remedies

I have to admit, these results are purely anecdotal, but sometimes it's nice to hear what has worked, in real life, for others.

Valerian Root

for... anxiety & insomnia.

This calms me down and helps me sleep without making me super drowsy. I take the NOW brand.

L-tryptophan

for... anxiety & insomnia, mood improvement.

I also use NOW for this one. The side effects are almost non-existent, even less than with valerian. This is simply an amino acid, so very natural. It helps your body produce melatonin. (& when I'm in a real pinch I take actual melatonin which works even better but is not as good for you.) You can even take it in the wee hours of the morning if you can't get back to sleep, and you still won't be drowsy the next day.

Andrographis

for... various infections

The last few times I have felt a doozy of a cold coming on, I popped 6 of these each day, and within 2 days, I had no symptoms. It works against many different types of infection, but I have only used it with upper respiratory-type stuff.

St John's Wort

for... anxiety & depression.

This is one of my favorites. It helped me overcome post partum depression. It makes me feel SO much better. It does have a couple of side effects, but none as serious as the typical anti-depressant drugs. I use Finest Naturals brand from Walgreens.

Calmicid

for... upset stomach

You have to use this brand, and I think it's only available through people who sell Melaleuca products (kind of like Mary Kay or Avon.) It works SO quickly anytime I get an upset stomach from something I shouldn't have eaten. I ran out and had to take Pepto, and it didn't even touch what this stuff does. Plus, it doesn't have any of the artificial stuff that Tums & Pepto has.

Clove oil

for... teething

This seems to be the best teething gel I've tried. You can find it at most stores.

Fish oil

for... moods, mental clarity. 

And my dad claims it really helped his eyesight. If you only take one of these recommended supplements, this needs to be the one! It is vital for good health for everyone and especially nursing and pregnant moms. Carlson's is a really good brand.

DSF Formula

for... fatigue associated with low adrenals

I think this is the only brand that makes this stuff. It's a pretty potent treatment for overworked adrenals, which can lead to all sorts of problems. My mood & energy both went way up when my nutritionist put me on this several years ago.

Colloidal Silver

for... ear infections

I have cured 2 of my kids' ear infections with this stuff.

Lemon juice & honey

for... cough

The best thing about this one is it's cheap! I had a bad cold/cough years ago, and my step mom made me chug this stuff. You have to make it strong, with at least a half a lemon and hot water. It's not great, but surprisingly,  it did work! It really only lasts up to an hour, but sometimes you're desperate and that's all you need to be able to fall asleep.

Raw cocoa

for... caffeine-like effects

This makes me feel like I drank a half a cup of coffee, and it's full of anti-oxidants too!

and last but not least, my fight-off-a-cold cocktail...

Airborne

+

Emergen-C

Put them both in a glass of water and chug it down, twice a day, at the first sign of a cold. When I started doing this each time, my life changed! I was sick so much less often. I wish they would come out with version that don't have artificial color & sweeteners, but it's still worth it! I keep both on hand at all times.

Disclaimer: I am not a health professional. Please consult your doctor before beginning any of these treatments. :) 
Also, please research these before starting, as there are things you need to know about each one. This is just a drive-by post to let you know some things that have worked for me. I can also try to answer any of your questions in the comments section!