Opioids vs. natural pain relief

How to become an opioid addict

Sally was a college student who was prescribed Nicodin (an opioid) by her doctor after a surgery to repair her foot.  At first, she just took it to relieve the pain.  But then she noticed the buzz she got and the confidence that came with it.  She started taking it simply because she liked how it made her feel.  It wasn’t long before she found she needed a higher dose to get the same effect.  So she ran out before she was due for a refill.   She went to another doctor to get more, but as she had to keep increasing her dose to get the same effect, she had to keep finding new doctors to keep up with her growing demand.

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Forgive But Don’t Forget

I think the pressure to turn the other cheek (forgive) is damaging.

Why?

Yes.. Jesus turned the other cheek.

But Jesus wasn’t an abused wife of a narcissist who had been lying to her for decades about his infidelity or whereabouts.

Jesus didn’t have drug addicted or sociopathic parents, that chronically abused him.

Jesus didn’t grow up in a Romanian orphanage without loving touch, adequate food, with barely any stimulation.

And Jesus wasn’t a woman.

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A Cause of Sundowners and Psychosis

Generating a theory of psychotic episodes and epilepsy

After watching a couple of episodes of medical mystery shows on TV, I developed a theory that episodic seizures or dissociative behavior might have to do with parts of the brain going into a hyperflammatory state.  In the show Diagnosis, little Sadie developed frequent seizures after an infection.  And in another show, several sweet children turned into periodic monsters after another infection.

This theory made sense to me because there is evidence that inflammation is being implicated in an increasing number of psychiatric conditions.   Also while low level inflammation helps cells repair, once inflammation gets too high, it can get very destructive for the surrounding tissue.

I wondered if I would get a chance to test my theory with my clients.

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Why We Need an Integrative Approach to Brain Health

Many unanswered questions

During my graduate degree in Neuroscience in the 1990’s, the more I learned, the more I realized how young the field was.   While the lectures were comprehensive, when I’d start to try to take what I learned into real world scenarios of how these mechanisms affected the individual, there were more unanswered questions than answers.    No wonder the solutions to so many mental health, psychiatric and neurological conditions felt so inadequate!

So as a patient, when doctors would tell me that I would have to learn to just accept my condition, or alternatively that “it was all in my head”, I knew both answers meant that the doctor didn’t know how to help me.

And because they didn’t have solutions, and I wasn’t crazy about taking the drugs they were peddling, I started looking to see what Alternative Medicine had to offer.

My Search for Integrative, Holistic Brain Health

I tried acupuncture, chiropractic care, cranial sacral therapy, Body Talk, Neurofeedback, brainwave entrainment, yoga, meditation, herbs or supplements.  I adjusted my nutrition to optimize my mental and cognitive health, and maintained a well balanced exercise regimen.

But other than addressing diet and exercise, none of these methods, addressed root causes.   I believed root causes had to be addressed from more than just the traditional Western medicine point of view.   Whatever I was searching for, it had to be embracive of the wisdom imparted by healers from a variety of schools of thought.

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Her Secret to Reverse The Aging Process

Getting Older Fast

When I first met Diane seven years ago, I was attracted to her warmth and her engaging stories.  She is an animal communicator, and practices Healing Touch, and I keep telling her she should write a book with all the interesting stories she tells!    But I was concerned for her.  She has several autoimmune diseases.  She struggled with walking more than a few yards due to pain and difficulty breathing.  She was taking pain medications three times a day.  She seemed old for her age, and she was in her late 50’s.

Her Secret to Reverse the Aging Process

Then a couple of years ago, after not seeing each other for months, we got together  for dinner, and I was stunned by her transformation. 

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