Hushing Symptoms
No matter who you are, how old you are, or what journey you’ve been on with your health story, you probably know what it’s like to experience uncomfortable or unwanted symptoms.
Perhaps you’ve been diagnosed with an autoimmune condition and told that your body started “randomly attacking itself.” It’s genetic. Out of your control. You’ll probably be on these meds the rest of your life and you’ll just have to live with it.
Maybe you’ve struggled with hormonal issues, using up all your sick time in the fetal position each month popping painkillers, or burning through your life’s savings on fertility treatments.
Maybe you’ve been slowly watching your blood pressure creep up as you’ve done your best to follow a sodium-restricted, low-fat diet and your doc tells you that you’re at risk for stroke or heart attack unless you take the blood pressure prescription.
Maybe you’ve been battling your weight for years, and for some reason counting calories and heavy cardio just doesn’t seem to be enough anymore. Now your doctor is telling you that you are insulin resistant and you need metformin or you’ll end up diabetic.
Maybe you developed reflux during a really stressful time of your life and your doctor prescribed omeprazole, but you had no idea that you wouldn’t be able to come back off of it without rebounding heartburn. Now he’s telling you that you’ve got esophageal damage so you can’t possibly stop the meds or you’ll end up with cancer.
It all feels pretty hopeless, doesn’t it?
I want to help shift your perspective here. Experiencing symptoms doesn’t mean that your body “hates you,” or even that it’s not working right. On the contrary, symptoms are messengers, warning you of deeper dysfunction.
Symptoms are signs that the body is doing all it can to get you back to homeostasis. If all we ever do is hush those symptoms and do not address why the body is screaming for help, the underlying pathology keeps on festering and you keep getting sicker.
Even if you’re new to functional or foundational medicine, I’m willing to bet that you never really wanted to be on a bunch medications in the first place. Even if you’ve been trying to “eat better” or you’ve been taking supplements to target certain symptoms in an attempt to avoid harsher drugs, it’s not your fault that you're not seeing the results you’re looking for.
The system is pretty much rigged to keep you sick. The prescriptions that keep multiplying aren’t making you any better, they’re just like putting a band-aid on and may help you buy a few months or years without symptoms before the next disease comes calling.
Some medications have their place, for a time. Many of the medications that people get stuck on for years, maybe even indefinitely, were only designed to be given for a few months while addressing dietary and lifestyle factors.
The deeper I get into the research and the literature, the more saddened I am by the realization that much of what is promoted as traditional healthcare is the complete opposite of what the body truly needs to heal. You would be shocked to know–or maybe you wouldn’t–that many of the drugs most commonly prescribed today are not only masking the symptoms instead of addressing the root cause, but they’re actively causing bigger issues.
Much of it is even out of your prescribers hands. For your doctor to get compensated for your visit, your insurance company dictates that certain symptoms or abnormal lab markers require certain interventions or prescriptions. They don’t have much leeway these days to use their clinical judgment or have much time to come up with a more personalized approach.
The dietary advice that many of them are following (if they even take the time to give you dietary advice) is usually terrible and, on average, about two decades outdated. It takes roughly 17 years for research to trickle down into clinical practice, and that’s assuming the research was any good to start with. So they write you the script, ask if you’ve got any questions, and when you can’t come up with anything on the spot, they send you on your way.
No wonder everyone has resorted to Dr. Google to try to figure out a better path forward. I don’t blame anyone for advocating for themselves and doing their due diligence to find better alternatives for themselves than what is currently being offered in most primary care offices.
But Dr. Google won’t tell you that you cannot heal in a toxic environment.
Dr. Google won’t tell you that your body is innately designed to heal itself.
You can gather a ton of information by staying up late at night searching the internet for answers, but nothing can replace someone who is experienced to come alongside and to guide you.
Someone who has been down the road ahead of you.
Someone who cares deeply about the fact that YOU have slipped through the cracks of a broken medical system.
Someone who knows what your body is capable of, even if you don’t quite believe it yet.
Someone who will show you, step-by-step, how to care for yourself- mind, body, and soul- so that you can experience true and vibrant wellness.
I have been there. I have been the patient. I’ve spent years educating myself to better understand my own health challenges, and now that I’ve overcome many of them, I can’t help but share what I’ve learned in the hopes that I can save you a few steps.
When you’re ready to dive in, I’d love for you to check out my FREE Detox Essentials Guide, which I created to give you some tangible first steps in your healing journey. The five wellness practices that I teach you in this guide will help to support your body’s natural ability to detoxify by supporting its elimination (or drainage) pathways. It’s the first step to healing no matter where you’re starting from.