{"id":29,"date":"2010-10-31T23:01:38","date_gmt":"2010-10-31T23:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/medicinetomoveyou\/2010\/10\/the-social-price-of-becoming-healthy.html"},"modified":"2010-10-31T23:01:38","modified_gmt":"2010-10-31T23:01:38","slug":"the-social-price-of-becoming-healthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/medicinetomoveyou\/2010\/10\/the-social-price-of-becoming-healthy.html","title":{"rendered":"The Social Price of Becoming Healthy"},"content":{"rendered":"

We care for a
\npatient who suffered from panic attacks, social anxiety, tremor, weakness,
\npain, headaches, muscle pains and the list goes on.  <\/span>She had made countless attempts to correct
\nthese symptoms by a variety of ‘natural’ methods before coming to see us.  <\/span>Before that, she had tried the conventional
\nway, seeing specialists, trying lists of medications… but it did not work for
\nher.  <\/span>She could almost bet that she would
\nget one or more of the major side effects listed on any medicine any doctor
\nprescribed.  <\/span>She forced herself to try
\nthem hoping to attain that elusive ‘quality of life’ she and every normal
\nperson desires.  <\/span>Hopeless and seeking
\nreprieve, she, like many others, found herself doing things she knew were not
\nlikely good for her body.  <\/span>Alcohol, lack
\nof sleep (from her party lifestyle) and a rollercoaster of good and bad eating
\nhabits defined her efforts to distract herself from her chronic mood and pain
\nsymptoms.<\/p>\n

When I first met her and analyzed
\nher case, she was ‘textbook’ for signs of poor detoxification.  <\/span>(Stay tuned for my next post on
\ndetoxification.)  <\/span>Hearing her issues with
\nside effects, we initiated a gentle (starting low dose and going slow with
\nincreases in dose) detoxification strategy. 
\n<\/span>But, that was even too much for her body.  <\/span>It’s like her house was so full of toxic garbage
\nthat it became easily overwhelmed at the initial efforts to start the long
\nprocess of clean-up.  <\/span>We aborted mission
\nand decided to wait until her body and her confidence was ready to try
\nagain.  <\/span>Now, remember one of my favorite
\nmottos- ‘Patients Powered by Knowledge.” 
\n<\/span>Education is THE biggest motivator for positive change.  <\/span>Lucky for all of us, during her first
\ndetoxification attempt she was fully educated on how she makes garbage and how
\nher body has to work to get rid of it. 
\n<\/span>She used that awareness and started adjusting her lifestyle.  <\/span>She understood that her lifestyle choices
\nwere worsening her chances for recovery. 
\n<\/span>So, the story continues when she came back to the office ready to try
\nanother go at detoxification.<\/p>\n

Eureka! We hit gold… ‘we’ meaning
\nthe patient and our team!  <\/span>Today, this
\nwoman’s life is completely transformed. 
\n<\/span>Getting those fat soluble toxins out of her system has resulted in an
\nover 70% improvement in her symptoms. 
\n<\/span>That’s it… 70%, you might say. 
\n<\/span>For her, that was the difference between living and existing.  <\/span>Her body, mind and spirit have been so
\ndramatically changed because she is finally feeling good… real good… and
\nnothing like feeling ‘real good’ to give you hope to work even harder.  <\/span>When I heard this, I was ecstatic for
\nher.  <\/span>However, change is never that
\nclean.  <\/span>I learned that she now has to
\nface the next chapter of her transformation. 
\n<\/span>She has to figure out what to do with the entire social life she had set
\nup for herself- the one that fed her illness. 
\n<\/span>Finding the freedom of good health, she no longer wanted to participate
\nin that way of life.  <\/span>She did not want to
\nreturn to that anxious, weak, painful person she used to be in years past.  <\/span><\/p>\n

When we achieve true health or
\nnotice that a previous behavior was harmful to our body, it can be challenging
\nto face the culture we created that supported our sickness.  <\/span>I, myself, became gluten-free over 2 years
\nago and still feel awkward at times seeing old friends and family and having to
\nexplain why I can’t participate in devouring pizza on college football game
\nnight.  <\/span>But, I connect with how good I
\nfeel and use it to push through the process. 
\n<\/span>Sometimes, friends welcome, embrace and support this new ‘Me’ and
\nsometimes, a small gap may develop in our relationship.  <\/span>I think that healthy people making healthy
\nchoices make some people uncomfortable. 
\n<\/span>It’s as though I was making a  <\/span>non-verbal statement like “I am working to do
\nwhat it takes to be physically and mentally fit and I am not letting anything
\nget in my way.  <\/span>How ’bout you?”.  <\/span><\/p>\n

I respect that this connection
\nwith people or gapping between you and them will occur over and over again.  <\/span>Either your community members (family,
\nfriends, neighbors, restaurant owners, school administrators, etc) will support
\nyour efforts, or you will have to forge a new path around those who do
\nnot.   <\/span>By the way, the ones that do not
\nsupport you may not be doing it with ill intent; likely, it’s just innocent
\nignorance that is perpetuated by our society’s prioritization on unhealthy
\nliving.  <\/span>Hopefully, when your investment
\nin your health starts to reap dividends, you will have the fortitude to stick
\nwith it.   <\/span>Enjoy its benefits amongst the
\nclimate of people who might sway you from your course.  <\/span>There are others like you around- you just
\nhave to keep looking.  <\/span>In the meantime, I
\nwill be doing my part to make this health-minded community grow exponentially
\nand gain momentum with ‘Medicine to Move You.’ 
\n<\/span>Do your part and pay it forward with what you are learning so we can
\nenjoy a society prioritizing optimum wellness for our children and
\ngrandchildren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We care for a patient who suffered from panic attacks, social anxiety, tremor, weakness, pain, headaches, muscle pains and the list goes on.  She had made countless attempts to correct these symptoms by a variety of ‘natural’ methods before coming to see us.  Before that, she had tried the conventional way, seeing specialists, trying lists…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-embrace-change","category-integrative-medicine-patient-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Social Price of Becoming Healthy - Medicine to Move You<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/medicinetomoveyou\/2010\/10\/the-social-price-of-becoming-healthy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Social Price of Becoming Healthy - Medicine to Move You\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We care for a patient who suffered from panic attacks, social anxiety, tremor, weakness, pain, headaches, muscle pains and the list goes on.  She had made countless attempts to correct these symptoms by a variety of ‘natural’ methods before coming to see us.  Before that, she had tried the conventional way, seeing specialists, trying lists…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/medicinetomoveyou\/2010\/10\/the-social-price-of-becoming-healthy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medicine to Move You\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-31T23:01:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. Shilpa P. Saxena\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Social Price of Becoming Healthy - Medicine to Move You","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/medicinetomoveyou\/2010\/10\/the-social-price-of-becoming-healthy.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Social Price of Becoming Healthy - Medicine to Move You","og_description":"We care for a patient who suffered from panic attacks, social anxiety, tremor, weakness, pain, headaches, muscle pains and the list goes on.  She had made countless attempts to correct these symptoms by a variety of ‘natural’ methods before coming to see us.  Before that, she had tried the conventional way, seeing specialists, trying lists…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/medicinetomoveyou\/2010\/10\/the-social-price-of-becoming-healthy.html","og_site_name":"Medicine to Move You","article_published_time":"2010-10-31T23:01:38+00:00","author":"Dr. Shilpa P. 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