I may be getting over an illness. I’ve been coughing for a couple of weeks. Daily I seem to think I’m better, only to relapse. For the last couple of days, I have had low energy. Fortunately, my wife picked up the slack at home. Today my energy is back. Cough is better. Maybe I’m close to recovery.
There is nothing like illness to give us pause. If extreme, we can’t even think. Mine was not extreme, so I had plenty of thinking time.
I was reminded of a medical physician I met at a seminar. We became friends and decided to trade services. Eventually I took x-rays and made him more of a chiropractic patient. He came in after having low back pain for several days. He said, “It is all I can do to keep my mind off of all the possible pathologies. I’m not here for my perspective. I’m here for yours. Just fix it.”
Then, as he got on the table, he said, “It’s probably my axis.”
That made me smile. He was right. I adjusted his axis and his low back pain improved immediately. He knew from experience what many chiropractors never know. A high percentage of chiropractors are now trained to look where the pain is to treat the condition. Often, the problem is elsewhere.
However, what reminded me of my friend was that I too was having trouble keeping my mind off of all the possible pathologies. Was I just fighting a virus? Was my low energy due to my heart or my lungs? Last year I had a cough for a couple of weeks and wound up in the hospital with pneumonia and collapsed lung. Could this be a repeat?
I thought I was getting better, but I did last year too.
Those are the thoughts that can happen to us when we’ve lost our confidence in our ability to be well. I had been having trouble sleeping. I thought that lack of sleep was the most likely cause of my weakness, along with fighting a virus. I checked my blood oxygen level. It was 100%.
I am reluctant to take any medication. I have seen how often it interferes with the natural healing process. I decided to take a cough suppressant to help me sleep.
My energy is back. Cough is better. Maybe I’m on the mend.
However, the point of this article is that I am much more empathetic to people with chronic illness. I have a friend who lives a limited life because he doesn’t feel well. I wonder how much of his problem is that he has limited his life and part of the problem is depression. Money is not a concern. That is one worry he doesn’t have.
It is amazing how much our mind affects our health. One of the things researchers are finding about the benefits of chiropractic care is the effect of changing the brain. My friend talks about seeing a chiropractor but hasn’t done it. Talking about it doesn’t quite do it.
Which gets me to another point. I’ve talked with several people who seem to have problems that might be helped by a chiropractor, yet they don’t try. Or perhaps they try one chiropractor and give up. There are many different chiropractic techniques. No one chiropractor does them all. Trying one chiropractor and giving up on chiropractic is like refusing to go to a drug store because you tried aspirin once and it didn’t help.
Having seen that is another reason I have become more open to medical intervention for myself. I don’t want to discard medical care the way some people discard chiropractic. There is a place for both.
When we are sick, we can all agree that we want to feel better. We want to be out of pain. We want to be able to move freely. We want whatever is necessary to help us achieve those results. We all become equal.
When we feel better and can move freely, it is difficult to agree on how to stay that way. It seems that everything is a probability function. It is difficult to apply probability functions to individual cases.
For example, I am working on my spine. My wife is not. I got sick. She did not. My wife got vaccinated. I did not. Perhaps, I should not be working on my spine and should have gotten vaccinated. On the other hand, our children were vaccinated and suffered more than me. Vaccination might not be the answer. Perhaps I am benefitting from my spinal rehab.
Each of us gets to choose how to live our lives. It is important for us to be able to choose what we believe will keep us healthy. It will always be difficult to prove what any individual needs. We can argue but facts are difficult to find.
Unfortunately, even when sick, the appropriate care can be difficult to determine. It can be a combination of care that is ultimately the answer. I’ve seen many patients whose doctors convinced them of a diagnosis. The doctor’s rationale had them convinced that the treatment was appropriate. Yet, they came to see me because they weren’t getting better. They often improved under chiropractic care. We must never lose our ability to choose.
If you are feeling well, have some empathy for those who are not. Realize that when we are ill, we all want the same thing. Realize that offering advice is great, but often your advice will not be taken. People have to choose for themselves.
Be supportive. Let it go. Don’t take their lack of follow up on your advice personally. It may just be a time of growth. A time for reflection. You might be surprised, as I sometimes am, that the patient gets better without following your advice. It can become a learning experience for you as well - a time of reflection.