Night Plane to Nova Scotia

Wednesday Nov 20, 2013 9:30 PM

Yesterday, it was just after midnight, dark and rainy with the streets almost deserted as my daughter and I drove from the airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia to the B&B downtown where we were to spend the night, before my appointment with my Naturopath Doc. Fortunately, the appointment was much later in the morning, just before noon.  Once we arrived at the B&B, being over stimulated from the flights from the US, it did take a while to get to sleep, but I did get 6 or 7 hours and so was alert and eager to go the next morning.

The first thing that struck when we arrived at the Doc's office was that it was sunny and cheerful, unlike conventional Docs' offices which, in my recent experience have all been dark and gloomy.
This environment creates an immediate positive feeling, great for healing.  Another odd thing is that the Doc faces you, not the computer as occurs in Conventional Medicine offices today. Communicating with the live patient here is obviously still considered important.  And my appointment is for 45 minutes, not the 15 minutes (or less) that Conventional Medicine prides itself on. (For new patients the appointment with the Naturopath lasts an hour and a half.)  And none of that Conventional Medicine tradition of making the patients wait for up to two hours to see the Doc which is unhealthy, a sign of poor management and disrespect for the patient IMHO.  The Naturopath Doc is on time.  Oh and you deal directly with her.  No subordinate intermediary asks you a bunch of questions and takes your vitals.  Kind of like medicine use to be. Conventional Medicine sure has a lot to learn from Alternative Medicine.

First the Doc took a look at the rash .. still quite a big deal though I told her it was 50% improved .. (she had not seen it before .. in fact I had not seen her in years).

We discussed recent history and I was particularly glad my daughter sat in as she brought up the events that preceded my rare disease (PRP): my visit to Turkey (different food), the urinary track infection (never experienced before), anti-biotic treatment for that and a rash on my arms in reaction to the antibiotics. Being immersed in PRP current events I had neglected to mention these prior occurrences.  The Doc speculated that these events could have provided a perfect storm for releasing a dormant gene  of which, she says, we have many which can be triggered into activity by unusual events.  Although, she hastened to add, this was merely a conjecture of a possibility since so little is known about PRP.

As we talked the Doc hand-wrote out a number of things for me to do including taking supplements. We discussed the Diet (vegan) .and Juicing which I still need to do but less of it (Still -- since the amount of nutrients is so large, and Less -- because of the time it takes to do).  The need for a stool analysis from which she will be able to see the composition of good and bad bacteria in my gut. (It is possible the good bacteria is greatly depleted.) Olive oil and Shea Butter for my feet.  Smoothies with protein powder to get my energy level up. Cup of organic beans per day, etc. 

So there is a lot here for me to do.  But, it all makes sense to me, whereas I can make no sense out of the Conventional Docs robotically pushing dangerous drugs which, at best, just attempt to suppress the symptoms, not deal with the cause.  And from what I read on the PRP mailing lists (where people with PRP discuss their experiences) these drugs seem to be ineffective except in their production of side effects (including damage to the liver).   The approach I am pursuing will, if successful, cure the underlying problem: an unbalanced physical system, most likely an unhealthy gut.

As I see it, the guiding principle is that the body naturally fights disease and cures itself, but sometimes needs a little help. Or needs to be so loaded with good stuff (diet and nutrients) that it can focus its repair efforts exclusively on the disease.  And loading the body with great nutrients (diet and supplements) together with getting the level of good bacteria in the gut to where it should be, if it's not, should all help and in any event won't cause harm.

One other thing, I believe is crucial to the cure is Mental Attitude.  I spent a good bit of the plane ride up and back to Nova Scotia reading "Mind Over Medicine" by Lissa Rankin, MD.  If you don't know that your attitude is an important (perhaps the most important) factor in your health, you should read this book. Dr. Rankin sites all kinds of studies that show that happy people are healthier and faster to cure than unhappy people. So much so that it seems that may be the most important factor. I've long thought this but this book really shows the proof..  As for me that is a bit of a challenge here as this PRP is getting a bit old and losing its charm as a novelty issue :).

The very last thing the Doc told me as we were about to head out the door is that her target is to cure this in a year from when we started her treatment (2 months ago).  Given the nominal time for PRP is 3 years (with some having it much longer) that could be quite a good thing.  I know she wanted to make sure I didn't have unrealistic expectations that would set me back if not realized.  Still I told her I hoped to do better than that.  The key?  Do all the stuff she outlined plus get my attitude back to the euphoric state I had when I was on Prednisone.  Well. OK.  Not that high.  But back to my old self before PRP.  I have some thoughts on that and will tell you more as they evolve.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Thanks for reading!