Is it Inflammation? Finding Your Way Back Home
When I was sick I consulted with one of my family members who is a physician at The National Institutes of Health. I asked her about the most recent research into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and her answer was that they had not found much about the etiology of CFS ( although they had a group researching it), and that the one common denominator that they had found was inflammation. This wasn't much help to me, as I was already eating foods that were said to be "anti-inflammatory", and that would "fight inflammation." I was already meditating every day...at this point I had increased my mediation time to an hour a day, in order to combat stress induced inflammation. As an aside, one of our local doctors runs an integrative medicine clinic, specializing in chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and CFS. He recently published a book, which I was very eager to read. It was called Total Recovery, and promised to reveal the "true cause" of chronic pain and other difficult to treat illnesses. I was disappointed. Because, according to Dr. Kaplan, the "root cause" of these issues is...wait for it...inflammation. Sigh. I get it. An anti-inflammatory diet is helpful. Managing stress to avoid inflammation is helpful. But why on earth do some people have depression and chronic pain, and show signs of inflammation, and others have inflammation, but no signs of illness? I do get that inflammation is the common denominator in these syndromes, but what is causing the inflammation, and why can some people have terribly unhealthy diets and lifestyles, and show no signs of inflammation or illness? So I don't buy the inflammation theory. It's simply an indicator that doctors can point to. I do buy the autonomic nervous system dysfunction theory. I could find at least one medical doctor who knew this to be true, and one of his treatment goals for his CFS patients was to re-set the nervous system. Other doctors who I've explained this theory to believe it is spot on. They just don't know how to treat it.
I think modern traditional medicine is wonderful. It saves lives. But it's an art. And the problem is that traditional medicine is based on the mechanistic model of man. If we were machines, we would all respond the same way to the same treatments. If a drug were to have a side effect, we would all experience the same side effect. We are not machines! We are so much more...we are information processors. We are constantly processing information from the inside and outside world, and our nervous system is the mediator between the world within, and the world without. It tells us where we are in relation to our true self within, and our outer self. When the true self is compromised, our nervous system lets us know, in the form of negative emotions, or physical symptoms. It sends us information, in the form of strong energy, to let us know when we have strayed too far from who we really are. When we've gone astray, we get sick, and when we find our way back home, back to our true self, we get well. It is simple, elegant, and natural.
Maybe people who suffer from mystery illnesses like CFS, Fibromyalgia and Adrenal Fatigue are a step ahead of everyone else on the evolutionary scale. After all, people who get these illnesses tend to be highly sensitive, empathic, and intuitive, more so than the average person. They are more aware of the world beyond the five senses, of the "unseen" energy that flows and connects us all together. Maybe they are the ones that will bring in a new perspective of who we really are...powerful and sacred beings. Your body is your subconscious, it holds so much wisdom. Like an oracle, it speaks in dreams, metaphors and sensations. If you can learn to follow it's guidance, it will always take you back home, to who you are.
I think modern traditional medicine is wonderful. It saves lives. But it's an art. And the problem is that traditional medicine is based on the mechanistic model of man. If we were machines, we would all respond the same way to the same treatments. If a drug were to have a side effect, we would all experience the same side effect. We are not machines! We are so much more...we are information processors. We are constantly processing information from the inside and outside world, and our nervous system is the mediator between the world within, and the world without. It tells us where we are in relation to our true self within, and our outer self. When the true self is compromised, our nervous system lets us know, in the form of negative emotions, or physical symptoms. It sends us information, in the form of strong energy, to let us know when we have strayed too far from who we really are. When we've gone astray, we get sick, and when we find our way back home, back to our true self, we get well. It is simple, elegant, and natural.
Maybe people who suffer from mystery illnesses like CFS, Fibromyalgia and Adrenal Fatigue are a step ahead of everyone else on the evolutionary scale. After all, people who get these illnesses tend to be highly sensitive, empathic, and intuitive, more so than the average person. They are more aware of the world beyond the five senses, of the "unseen" energy that flows and connects us all together. Maybe they are the ones that will bring in a new perspective of who we really are...powerful and sacred beings. Your body is your subconscious, it holds so much wisdom. Like an oracle, it speaks in dreams, metaphors and sensations. If you can learn to follow it's guidance, it will always take you back home, to who you are.
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