A false sense of security

I hear it regularly. Those newly diagnosed with a serious disease saying, “I’ve always been so healthy – and now this!” In this post I look at one reason so many people get cancer and other serious diseases. They believed they were quite healthy – but now they find they are actually very ill. The reason is that they have been lulled into inactivity by a false sense of security.

Those case histories

When I was a trainee nutritionist, I had to practice taking people’s medical histories. I asked each individual about the various injuries and illnesses they’d had over their lives. I also asked about medications they were on or had taken for some time in the past.

The first time I did a case history was a baptism of reality. A person who looked quite healthy on the outside actually had several serious diseases. She was taking medication for them all.

You may think I was very naive, but I had not expected this. Had I taken stock myself of my own earlier use of over the counter medications, I would not have been surprised. But after many years of a healthier diet and lifestyle, I had forgotten this normal Western way of life. That taking regular medication was indeed an accepted way of life.

Over my years of nutritional practice, I have realised that a large percentage of people are actually being propped up by surgeries and medications. These they need to survive and live normal lives.

Perhaps you fall into this category. If so, please read on. There is help available!

And the first thing many of these people say when they come into my office is, “I’ve really been quite healthy, until recently.” This is the understatement of the year.

Having read dozens of case histories in my specialist complementary medicine cancer studies several years ago and having taken many other case histories of people who have had or have cancer – one thing is patently clear – that the vast majority of people who get cancer have suffered from chronic diseases for years and years. You can read more about this phenomenon <here>.

Cancer and security

Sadly, my mother was one of these people. 

The year before her first cancer diagnosis, she had done an interview on ABC radio in which she listed the reasons she believed she would not get cancer.  She felt good at the time she did the interview and put her sense of wellbeing down to her positive outlook, fresh farm air, happy life and relationships and her faith. She believed she had good health as a result of these things.

The fact was that she had suffered with increasingly debilitating arthritis since I was in early primary school. The pain eventually led to a hand reconstruction by an orthopaedic surgeon which helped her greatly.

She had also had thyroid disease for decades (there are links between thyroid disease and breast cancer, to do with iodine storage in the body).  Note that the slightly increased risk of breast cancer is associated particularly with hyperthyroidism and with Hashimoto’s autoimmune thyroiditis – not with hypothyroidism as was once thought. You can read more about this association <here>.

Furthermore, she had had much invasive treatment for an infectious liver disease contracted on an overseas trip as a young woman, and, previous to this had endured several serious surgeries for neck problems that involved many powerful X-rays around her chest. X-rays were much stronger in those days before anyone knew what cancer risk they carried.

This may have all been necessary – but she also did not receive advice on how to restore her immune system after all this barrage, putting her at further risk of disease later in life. She was left with a false sense of security.

My mother was stoic and would suffer greatly before she would take a drug. But the fact was – she was not in great health, even though on the day of the ABC radio interview, she felt well.  She was a perfect example of a person living with a false sense of security.

The disease groundwork

So many people who get more serious diseases already suffer from other diseases.  Most have managed them with regular pharmaceutical drugs which all have undesirable side effects if taken for an extended time. So even though they may feel quite well – they are not. The drugs are merely masking symptoms of progressing disease. 

It hardly seems fair that a person should have one chronic disease, and then acquire another more sinister chronic disease.  And yet – that is the pattern – one disease, when not dealt with through serious behavioural and lifestyle changes – sets up the body for another chronic disease. 

Disease-causing diseases

Perhaps you are thinking at this stage that you have never had a disease in your past which could have caused bodily changes or weaknesses that could predispose you to anything bigger in the future. Perhaps you had a health issue – but now it is no longer a problem. This is extremely common. So insidious is this false sense of security caused by drugs and surgery.

Here is a list of things I commonly see in people’s health histories that have, indeed, predisposed them to their more serious current problems:

• Childhood asthma
• Tonsillitis
• chronic constipation with regular laxative use
• reflux with the use of antacids or other drugs
• appendicitis
• glandular fever
• Epstein Barr virus
• chronic sinusitis
• hayfever with use of antihistamines
• acne, treated with antibiotics, the contraceptive pill, or Roaccutane
• Irregular or painful periods treated with the contraceptive Pill; or untreated
• chronic pain, treated with NSAIDs (eg. Advil, Nurofen, Voltaren)
• IVF – hormones
• several surgeries requiring hospitalisation (any type)
• any thyroid problems
• high protein diets for more than a few months
• long-term antibiotic use for any reason (more than 2 – 3 courses in a row at any time)
• use of anti-depressants or anti-anxiolytics
• being on oral contraceptives for more than a few years

This is not a complete listing. These are simply ailments that I see typically cropping up in the histories of people who now have a more serious chronic health issue. All of these conditions indicate either a weakness in one or more body organs which is most likely still there or else a vitamin shortfall that caused it in the first place.

There is a wealth of research that has already gone into the relationships between every one of these diseases.

Unless we can deal with the underlying weakness, a person is unlikely to be able to get on top of the current chronic condition.

Action stations needed!

The first disease is a learning platform  – which should springboard us into learning how we need to live to both get rid of the disease – and prevent its return. Yet from infancy, we learn to cover up the symptoms and get on with life as if the disease no longer exists. 

If we fail to learn from our discomfort – another chance will come. Each time, however, it gets harder to turn things around. 

How we need a lot more people who can teach young mothers how to treat simple childhood ailments naturally.  Because that is when the pattern is set for the child.   

We also need health professionals who can teach patients how to eat and live to make themselves strong against disease.

If you need to reach regularly for medicines for health problems – don’t be fooled – your body is crying out for help. If you don’t respond adequately – it will eventually break down further.

Breaking the Cycle

Almost all diseases can be significantly improved and may be completely reversed, naturally. Don’t be lulled off to sleep by drugs.

Find someone trained to guide you through the process of healing. You want to aim to be so well you no longer need drugs (or at least, need fewer than before).

This may be a nutritionist, or it may be someone who specialises in body mechanics, such as a chiropractor, osteopath or physiotherapist. It may be a specialist dentist or an exercise physiologist.  It may be a psychologist.

Ask around and someone will be able to point you in the direction of someone trained to help. But don’t remain in your condition a moment longer – begin the journey to recovery.

And please, don’t reduce or stop taking your medications till your doctor has given you the OK. Work with a qualified health practitioner to get healthy safely.

Postscript

The process of improving your health so much that you reduce a medication with your doctor’s blessing involves much life change. And this change must be kept up to a large extent after you are ‘better’. Otherwise, most people end up back at the same place in time.

We all have different weaknesses in our bodies and disease shows that up. It’s still a weakness, so we have to look after it more – with a healthy diet and lifestyle. So once you are well, don’t let a false sense of security trip you up again.