This is how I deal with the mystery of my body these days... Part of learning to listen to the body has depended on my employing the witness position of my own experience. That's meant that not believing I know anything has been my modus operandi.
As we take over our own health care and come to know our bodies we are changing the world.
I have a long history of being gravely harmed by MDs and western medicine. It started in early childhood with multiple courses of unnecessary antibiotics which primed my immune system and gut for later auto-immune disease. Later, as a teenager, my pediatrician told my mother I could only have gotten crabs by sexual transmission. I was a virgin.
There are good doctors out there that understand what has happened in the medical system. This is an opportunity for both lay people and professionals to learn from some of the most cutting edge medical practitioners who understand that we are holistic beings and that medicine as it's widely practiced is very harmful. This is the future of a medicine that can truly heal rather than harm. … [click on title to read more]
What is happening in our country and around the world too is tragic and we need to demand it stops. Those harmed by psychiatry sometimes think these issues are particular to psychiatry, but far too much of it is system wide in standard western medicine. The collection of information here is coming from several different sources. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
I actually woke up this morning thinking I'd arrived. I'm well...even if still disabled by conventional standards. From the outside looking in I'd be perceived as ill in many regards. I have many practical limitations. I remain unable to make most commitments that most people take for granted, for example. Also, I need a lot of support to manage what might be called activities of daily living. All the critically mundane tasks one must get done to survive. I need help. But from my standpoint I'm well. I'm in touch with what I need to do to live consciously...that is being well as far as I'm concerned. I know what I need and I know what sort of boundaries and limits I need to make for myself. I am privileged to have certain critical supports I need. Other needs remain unmet. We are stretched to the max financially and emotionally. The razor's edge follows me everywhere. Not having society or extended family support in a family of two with one member disabled is rough. And given it feels impossible sometimes, I'm always thinking of those who have far less than I do. Still knowing what I know...this is good stuff.
Update: this statistic remains true in 2016 as again featured in this MedScape article from May 3, 2016 Medical Error Is Third Leading Cause of Death in US and NPR covers it here. This is the original source: BMJ 2025 - National Library of Medicine is still saying this is true as of 2024: Medical Error Reduction and Prevention
To refer to SSRIs as no better than placebo is misleading because while it's technically true in clinical trials -- they are also very different than placebos...they are NOT inert...they are very active and they make EVERYONE feel differently.
People who are very depressed like to feel differently. Different can sometimes feel better even if only for a while. Sometimes different feels much better and sometimes different feels really bad and even dangerous (think homicidal and suicidal--SSRIs are associated with both).
They are not inert and they will act in all manner of ways in different people. And, then of course, yeah, they also cause iatrogenic damage...often severe... … [click on title to read more]
"The cost of feeding U.S. youth has declined by 19% since 1960, the cost to keep them healthy has risen by almost 150%." In other words there is an "Ugly Truth Behind Cheap Food"
And then:
"Sugar is actually a form of addiction. It's just as hard to get rid of the urge for sweet foods as of smoking" -- When I shared this on twitter and facebook yesterday people were telling me it's been a harder habit to break then both illicit drugs, alcohol and psych drug addictions. I think that is true for many folks [click on title to read more]
Part of informed consent is telling patients they might not ever be able to come off psych drugs without getting seriously ill. If you're the MD handling a withdrawal it's important that your patients know at the outset how gravely serious withdrawal syndromes can be. (and first the doctor has to understand this as well) [click on title to read more]
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