Healthcare?

Ok, sometimes I just have to rant.

This morning at the gym, talking with one of my workout buddies, he mentions how much money his wife owes in co-pays. Goes on to tell me that his wife has been receiving test after test for the past 5 months due to a variety of problems. They end up at Mayo in Rochester and its determined that all of her symptoms/problems were a result of the Influenza vaccine she received 5 months prior. All the test, the money spend and owed, for what? Now this isn't a vaccine issue, so keep your peace, this is the fact that every medicine out there may have a benefit, but they also always have a consequence attached to them too.

Everyone knows someone who is on multiple prescriptions because one pill helps them, another pill helps the side effects of that pill, and the next one helps the side effects of the second pill, etc. Our bodies DO have a natural ability to heal, STRESS (physical, emotional and chemical) weakens our bodies ability to heal and function at an optimal level. Yoga, meditation, exercise, chiropractic and so on help the body to perform better. Studies show how after clearing nerve interference (a chiropractic adjustment), ones immune system can function up to 200% better than it had prior to the adjustment. The medical profession has its purpose and is needed, but is grossly overused and grossly FOR PROFIT.

Until everyone becomes accountable for their own health, they will continue to profit and thrive in their model. HealthCare as we know it is SICK CARE, they do very little to promote true health within an individual, good example would be high blood pressure or high cholesterol, most simply prescribe pills to lower ones numbers, when in truth, they should be teaching the person better health habits, lifestyle changes, exercises, mediation, nutrition, etc.. Think of the mentality of this method from this perspective. 50yo guy is in the doctors office for yearly physical, doctor says your blood pressure is a bit high, so here is a pill to take to lower it. The guy says well thats not hard, thanks. Now the guy starts taking his pill everyday, stops in to walgreens and gets his pressure check a week later, bam, its lower. The man continues to eat, live and do everything he usually did and 3 years later at his yearly physical, now his cholesterol is high, bam, another pill, another easy fix. Now a year later the man, who remember hasn't changed his lifestyle, starts having chest pain, ends up in the ER and has suffered a mild heart attack. You see the problem here?

I know some things are genetic (so don't jump on me), but most things can be changed with lifestyle, a fat family often blames genetics, but they all share the same lifestyle, they all grew up in the same house, eating the same things, doing the same things, etc.

I think the correct way to work the problem above would have been for the medical doctor to explain the causes of blood pressure, teach or enroll the man in classes that teach exercise, nutrition, stress reduction, etc. Give the man 3-6 months to change his lifestyle, habits and diet and then follow up with him and see if it helped. If it did, GREAT. If not and the man truly implemented what was taught, then re-evaluate and try again or start treatments.

If we don't make people accountable for their own health, they will never truly be healthy. When I ask new practice members how they know if they are healthy, they most often answer because I feel good. The correct answer in my opinion is THEY FUNCTION GOOD. Feeling healthy doesn't mean you are healthy, being thin doesn't mean you are healthy, health comes from within your body, its a state of function, how well is your body functioning not feeling determines how healthy you are.

Ok, this started as a small rant on facebook, I had to move it to the blog because I just couldn't stop. Sorry, but what I know of the body and health is common sense, you cannot get health from the outside in, it has to come from the inside out.