Western Medicine

The book I'm reading right now is one that Trina gave me for my birthday called 'Dancing Naked in the Mind Fields', it's by this Nobel Prize winning biochemist. Haven't gotten too far but I definitely like the guy so far. I read 'Spontaneous Healing' a few months ago by Andrew Weil. He's actually pretty famous for his natural medicine approach to health and you might even recognize his face. I really enjoyed the book, mostly for his optimism in the healing systems of the body. He had lots of stories of patients coming to him with any number of terminal diseases after they'd tried contemporary doctors, but hadn't gotten any better. In every single situation, regardless of how soon they were supposed to die, they ended up fully recovering. In the book, Weil makes a very strong case against western medicine based on a number of reasons. The medical pessimism of most doctors is a big deal, especially when they're dealing with patients whose lives are in their hands. However, to avoid liability and guilt, they oftern (if not always) underestimate the patients' chances of survival. This pessimism is then transferred to the patient who in reality, needs all the positive support they can get. Western doctors are also very skeptical of any instances of spontaneous recovery, writing it off as a medical anomaly, instead of investigating and learning something. It's something we all do: "Oh that's totally a fluke, it doesn't mean anything". Another major strike against doctors is their philosophical approach to health itself. Our society puts WAY too much emphasis on treatment, instead of prevention, which has a great number of disadvantages, besides the obvious ones. Prevention doesn't require you to take pills, treatment usually does. I don't do medication. Not cough medicine, not tylenol, fuck it all. Covering up the symptoms is the WORST way to figure out what's wrong with you and by suppressing these symptoms, you're simply driving the illness/cold further into your body. I'd rather have a rash on my face than in my brain. Doctors take a reverse approach to health by examining the symptoms of what's wrong with you. This way, much money can be made of of pills and creams and scans and all that bs, plus they make sure you come back every time, since we're not pro-active enough about our health to make sure we don't have to come back. It's a scam. Just like the dentist, just like chiropractors. I mean, western medicine does have SOME useful aspects of it. No other system deals with emergency trauma (car accidents, broken leg, poisoning, etc), but we've got to start reverting back to the systems of the world that actually SOLVE our problems. Sure cancer is random, by definition. But we're increasing those odds with every poor decision we make. Cell phones, microwaves, tv, computers (my only vice), non-organic food, smoking, make-up and most other so-called beauty products, fake tanning, etc. These days, 1 in 3 females, and 1 in 2 males will get cancer in their lifetime. But what does modern medicine focus on? Cures. How about we start living a more natural life, instead of relying on such drastic measures as liposuction, chemotherapy, and all these fucking chemicals that are just compounding the problem. there's a natural cure for anything and everything. From cancer to acne to diabetes, there's a natural way to manage anything. Prescriptions are a very slippery slope. We live in a toxic environment and we face two options. Give up and accept that a chemical-induced fate awaits us, or really start to pay attention to what we allow near and into our bodies. It's very tough and requires many lifestyle changes, but hey, it's your body. Here's some stuff paraphrased from Trina's blog....

"Surprisingly, fluoride has NEVER been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Additionally, a 1990 study stated that fluoride has been shown to NOT reduce cavities, and scientists are now linking fluoride to dental deformity, arthritis, allergic reactions and about 10,000 unnecessary deaths each year from cancer. (From 'Fluoride, an equivocal carcinogen'. National Cancer Institute)"

"FD&C Blue Dye # 1 & 2: Are you eating crude oil for breakfast?
Recent studies indicate that FD & C Blue Dyes 1 & 2 can trigger a wide number of behavioral, learning, and health problems. FD&C color dyes may also cause potentially severe allergic reactions, asthma attacks, headaches, nausea, fatigue, nervousness, lack of concentration, and cancer. (From 'Formation of carcinogenic aromatic amine from an azo dye by human skin bacteria in vitro' & 'Skin discoloration with blue food coloring' )"
(ALL artificial coloring are evil)

"Triclosan: A pesticide found in many types of toothpaste
While the companies that manufacture products containing triclosan claim that it is safe, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has registered it as a dangerous pesticide. The EPA gives triclosan high scores both as a human health risk and as an environmental risk."

"Hydrated Silica: A whitener that damages tooth enamel"

"'Popular shampoos contain toxic chemicals linked to nerve damage'
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found a correlation between an ingredient found in shampoos and nervous system damage. The experiments were conducted with the brain cells of rats and they show that contact with this ingredient called methylisothiazoline , or MIT, causes neurological damage. Methylisothiazoline – a plant-derived preservative." Head & Shoulders and Pantene Hair Conditionar both contain this ingredient (as well as others, no doubt)
"The chemical causes these effects by preventing communication between neurons. Essentially, it slows the networking of neurons, and since the nervous system and brain function on a system of neural networks, the slowing of this network will suppress and impair the normal function of the brain and nervous system. These finding were presented December 5th at the American Society for Cell Biology annual meeting."

oh yeah, another thing: stop wearing make-up, it's unhealthy on so many levels