Choose the Alternative?

9/26/13
I'm on my new plan, recommended by my Nova Scotia Naturopath Doc who helped me years ago deal with the Prostate Cancer issue (See I Bet My Life on Alternative Medicine).  I am going to treat  this sudden and mysterious  rare disease very aggressively and proactively, but Naturally. Let me tell you first why and then how. As for the why.  I am an healthy: 76 year  old guy, living a very happy and fortunate life style, physically active, lots of interests, great family and friends, good diet, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, exercise-gym and tennis, sleep 9 hours a night (until lately), don't smoke, do drink but very little.  Then this comes out of the blue.  So you say a lot of good all that healthy
living did you?  OK,  but, now that it has, I am glad to be in great shape, other-health-wise, to try different things and expect recovery and will be able to share what works with others less fortunate who face this disease with less physical, mental, time and other resources to deal with it.  My core belief, which has served me well to get to this golden age intact, is that we are Naturally healthy. Each of us is the result of millions (billions really) of years of Darwinian evolution. An incredible and complex machine with an immune system that fights off disease and keeps us healthy and components with the fail safe redundancy of two arms, two legs, two kidneys, two eyes etc.  So whether you think this is the result of God's plan or Darwinian Evolution, the result is the same. We have a great body and mind.  Barring accidents and fate, if we properly maintain this machine most of us can expect a long healthy life. On the other hand, I believe that compared to Evolution, the development of Medical Science is quite limited. Degreed in Electrical Engineering, I have great interest in, and appreciation of, the value of Science.  Technology is expanding rapidly and at an accelerating pace here, as in every other area, but Medical Science is quite new with it's development years measured in thousands a blink of the eye compared to Natural Healing of disease with the Immune System, which has developed over millions (or billions) of years.  That's one good reason why, I believe, we should expect more from the Natural approach.  And from personal experience I've learned it works.  So why, with this sudden illness did I access the Conventional Health system first?  Well, I was headed back from Nova Scotia for a family wedding and then back to my home in Baltimore where the top ranked medical institution in the world, Johns Hopkins, is just 10 minutes from my house.  And in spite of living such an healthy life style, I got this disease. So, I guess, I  thought that  my Natural Immune System just wasn't up to the job and therefore I had no choice but to go to the Conventional.  Now I believe I got that wrong.  What makes sense to me now, is that even if you do everything right, the unexpected can occur.  You can have something happen which overwhelms your body's Natural  defenses against disease and they do need assistance. For the reasons I've stated above, I believe, however, if there is a choice between Nature and Big Pharma, our choice should be Nature.  Re-stated: our default choice should be Alternative Medicine over Conventional Medicine not the other way around. While this is my belief, I understand most people would make the other choice. And if you're one of them, I sincerely hope you can benefit from considering my views and experiences  as described in this Blog.  The great, good news for me here and now is that there is indeed a choice. Today I've started a new treatment plan,  I'll give you the details in my next post. But, briefly it's "juice fasting". For the next 5-10 days, (or longer) I'll be consuming no solid food. Just fresh fruit and vegetable juices, vegetable broths, and herbal teas.

So how do I feel?  Well my spirits are very high.  I expected them to go down from the lack of solid food, not having my coffee, which I love etc., yet they haven't. True this is early days, the very first. I also find myself whistling, something I use to do a lot as a kid. I don't know why I'm doing this now but I am quite happy to hear it (the music of Rimsky-Korsakovs Scherezdade from hearing 2 performances at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestrata just a 10 minute walk from my house).  I feel a bit light headed, almost dizzy and am going to an art exhibition tonight so I hope I don't keel over :). Beyond that I am very excited as I learn about juicing.  A Nova Scotian friend in the health field had talked enthusiastically about it and I've noticed the juice bars, but just didn't grasp what a powerful thing this is.  But enough for now.  Let's save this for tomorrow's post.

Thanks for reading!