STRAIGHTEN UP - Natural Awakenings

and utilize active steps of self-care and empowerment.
The Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR), the medical world’s
bible—used for teaching medical students—is a commercially published
compilation of information on prescription drugs. It is filled with
disease names that are updated annually whose approach is purely
medically based. Strangely—in my opinion, lacking integrity—it’s
financially supported in part by pharmaceutical manufacturing corporations
which create the drugs listed within its pages.
One of the interesting aspects of the PDR is many, if not most,
of the diseases mentioned in its pages are caused by a unique
name called “idiopathic.” As grand as it sounds, idiopathic
literally means unknown cause. In the medical world, an idiopathic
diagnosis is often met with a Russian roulette approach.
A blindfolded scenario of experimentation using pharmaceutical
drugs approved for other disease processes in hopes they will
also impact the current symptoms a patient is experiencing.
It’s a gamble many people opt to take as both they and their
medical physicians are often ignorant of any other option. The challenge
is each drug mentioned in the PDR has pages upon pages of
what are termed side-effects. In actuality these are the direct effects of
the pharmaceutical that for some people stay under the radar, causing
no apparent damage and for others the physical and emotional
consequences are catastrophic.
For example, many people (if not most) suffer daily with
symptoms they learn to tolerate. Symptoms such as low grade
headaches, fatigue, bloating, muscle and joint pain and an underlying
feeling of anxiety and depression are commonplace,
rather than rare occurrences. Upon visiting their physician—who
runs a battery of diagnostic tests—patients are often told all of
their results show to be within the normal reference ranges. They
are commonly suggested to wait and watch the symptoms as,
“Maybe they will just go away,” or even to take specific medications
that are targeted at eliminating the particular symptoms. This
often leads to further symptoms—caused from the effects of the
medications—to which they are told to take more medication.
By the time a person finally decides to go the holistic route,
they are often taking a handful of medications, knee-deep in
medical bills and insurance papers, and nowhere closer to getting
to the root of why their body has been speaking to them in the
first place. As a holistic physician, I am grateful when a person
chooses the natural route. However, waiting until all mainstream
approaches are exhausted prior to seeing a holistic practitioner is
also a limited approach to utilizing the fullest potential of what
holistic care has to offer. It’s not that holistic care won’t benefit a
person that is in a degenerative process. Rather, my purpose is to
help bridge the gap between these equally valuable paradigms
so the end user—you—are empowered with a conscious way
to approach health care verses sickness care.
Growth is a natural byproduct of enduring stress. Just as the roots
of a tree grows deeper because of facing strong winds, so do we. I
encourage you to respond to the call of action that we’re all being
asked to answer. Let’s come together on all levels and create not only
the health care system we know is possible, but peace in the world
that we also know is possible—it begins by building a bridge.
Darren Weissman, DC, is a Chicago-area holistic physician,
author and developer of The LifeLine Technique. For more
information, visit DrDarrenWeissman.com. See ad in the Community
Resource Guide.
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