February 29, 2016
It seems every time I turn around, whether I’m watching TV, the news, or online, there is a commercial or TV show or blogger that is trying to convince me that suffering is beautiful and having a chronic illness and just living with it is the socially acceptable thing to do. It seems society is forcing us to accept this ridiculous notion that there are no cures for anything anymore, and popping pills and “living with it” is your only option. Heaven forbid, you reject this mantra being forced down your throat. You will be immediately criticized and marginalized as being foolish, stupid, and *gasp!* “anti-science.” I’m seriously so over this line of garbage, I can’t even stomach it anymore.
A little backstory, my husband was diagnosed 25 years ago with type 1 diabetes, and my son was diagnosed six years ago. Almost 30 years between the two of them being diagnosed and “science” is no closer to finding a cure than they were back then. I questioned my son’s endocrinologist at his last appointment about this. Billions of dollars has been pumped into research — shouldn’t we have something by now? She told me that 30 years ago people had to carry bags of urine around to be tested, so now the testing process is more streamlined. Really? After billions of dollars, we no longer carry bags of urine around? Great. And that, my friends, is what the medical community views as progress. Never mind that we should know exactly what is causing the islet cells of the pancreas to stop working properly after nearly three decades and billions of dollars. Just keep donating to more and more research and know that your struggle with chronic illness is heroic and beautiful, and maybe someone will write an inspirational song about it that you can listen to while your health takes a steep decline.
This has to change. People have to feel empowered again and take charge of their own health and well-being. I’m upset that it’s 2016 and Western medicine has their heads still firmly planted up their rear-ends when it comes to nutrition and health. I’m bitter about the fact that now, more than ever, moms are being ostracized for daring to challenge their doctors and tell them there is a better way. There are more and more cases of parents are being threatened with CPS action if they disagree with a diagnosis from a doctor. I might feel completely differently if I didn’t see it every day. But it’s simply not the case. Western medicine has been an utter failure in helping chronically ill people get better. An utter
disappointing and abysmal failure.
I remember years ago being vilified on social media by the “pro science” community for suggesting that B12 was helping my son’s autism symptoms. Obviously, I hated my child because I was subjecting him to the tortuous B12 supplements, and I wanted to “fix” him because I thought he was less of a person, etc., etc. Well, science has finally caught up on this one, and a study came out just recently that proved the autism and B12 deficiency connection. I was tested, and it turned out I had a deficiency also. I felt tremendously better once I started taking supplements and “fixed” the problem. There is no beauty in suffering with a deficiency that is so easily remedied with a simple supplement. So why all the vitriol all those years ago? Shouldn’t we stop pointing fingers and villifying parents who are only trying to help their kids to be the best they can possibly be? It makes me upset that parents were probably hesitant to try the supplement simply because of online
bullies that use their blogs to inflate their own egos. This disturbing trend needs to stop.
That is just one example of “science” being woefully behind what parents have been researching and known for years. “Alternative” doctors, who are repeatedly called quacks by mainstream doctors who have nothing to offer, have been treating their medically complex patients with great success when they treat the patient as a unique person. Western medicine can be a good thing and can lead to greater benefits for the patient when combined with other modalities of healing. Just a few weeks ago, we had a nasty virus run through our house: fever, chills, body aches, and a croupy cough. Interestingly, my son on the spectrum was the only one who didn’t get sick because I have him on daily antivirals. Lesson learned by me that I need to take these daily to ward off illness rather than just taking them when I’m sick. When my daughter fell ill, I immediately started my kids on homeopathic remedies, loads of vitamin C and olive leaf extract. My one-year-old developed croup, and I did lots of steaming in the shower as well with some baby-approved essential oils. We all were ill for about four days and recovered fairly quickly. I love the fact that I can take charge of my kids’ health and treat them with natural and holistic methods that work for us. I shouldn’t have to feel like a bad mother because of it. I’m not harming my children in any way, shape, or form. I’m teaching my daughter that taking charge of her own health is empowering. She is learning that there is no beauty in needless suffering. She knows that nutrition is the cornerstone of health and her brother on the spectrum benefits from this every day. There is no beauty when he is in pain from real medical issues that are not simply his “autism.”
I’m so hopeful that this next generation of children will grow up and break free from this medical paradigm that has become so deeply entrenched in our psyche. They will have grown up seeing the effects of a toxic environment and the failures of western medicine. I’m optimistic that we won’t be afraid to have an honest dialogue about the true causes of disease and not turn a blind eye to them any longer. My point is, don’t be afraid to
empower yourself when it comes to your own health and the health of your children. Do your research, trust your intuition, get the opinions from those who have successfully walked this path before you. Don’t let fear and doubt deter you from being your best self. When we realize we’ve had the power all along, that will be a beautiful thing.
~ Savage
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Savage,
I completely agree with your view that there is no beauty in disease. Too many people see autism as just a different way of thinking. Autism is indeed a lot like diabetes as it is typically a full body biochemical disease, and leaving severe autism untreated biochemically is morally indefensible.
I found Richard Deth’s work on B12 that you cited interesting as well. As you know he found lower than normal levels of B12 in the brains of those with autism. Another study came out recently on B12 and autism that is also very compelling and applies directly to supplementation in autism. It was a placebo controlled trial which showed with statistical significance that those with autism who were given B12 shots improved more than those who received placebo on a Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement scale. See: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cap.2015.0159
Given these results one would think that this would lead to more use of B12 in treating autism by traditional allopathic physicians, but if such a change is going to occur, I doubt that it will be soon.
Naturopathic doctors cure Diabetes 1 in one year and Diabetes 2 in 4 months.
For your son’s autism:
Sonrise Program at the Autism Treatment Center + clean food and biomed treatment. You are on the right track!
GAPS really helped my son too.
Good luck
There is no way a naturopath doctor can cure type 1 diabetes. Please inform yourself before making these kind of statements.
“There is no way” something can be healed is the kind of thing we hear a lot around here. It’s also the kind of thing we tend to completely ignore because many of us have firsthand experience healing something that someone told us “there is no way” it can be healed. Just because something hasn’t happened before to your knowledge doesn’t make it impossible. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition and like other autoimmune conditions is not inherently irreversible. Huge advances have been made in treating autoimmune conditions.
Amen….I couldn’t agree more. Every time I see a commercial or Segment on the news romanticizing a disease and how brave someone is to “carry on” I find it more and more contrived. As someone diagnoses 12 years ago with an auto-immune disease only treatable with heavy meds. I just said “No”. Did a ton of research, was fear-mongered by my PCP and neurologist. Now, my course of natural treatment is being recognized. I have 2 kids, run half marathons, work full time. I’m not suggesting my treatment is for everyone, but Allopathic medicine is forced down our throats and is the only insurance covered alternative. The history of medicine in our country tells the true story of how the AMA declared themselves the only authority on health 100 years ago. With pharmacuetical backing and a strong lobby, they have managed to become the #3 cause of death in this country. Not a great track record. I do think there is a place for modern medicine, but primarily in Emergency and acute care. NOT health care or chronic illness solutions.
Let’s face the facts, all of this is rhetorical. They’re not going to find a cure for diabetes because there’s an industry set up around it not being cured. Sorry. I say this as a type 1 who’s father passed away from complications of being a type 1, and I came to this conclusion years ago.
Not only are they unwilling to kill off the profit motive of the needle maker, the insulin maker, the endocrinologists, the test strip makers, the testers…it’s an industry, they’re also COMPLETELY unwilling to stop putting LOADS of sugar in EVERYTHING we eat.
Go look, I’m sure you have. Does Campbell’s tomato soup need 20 GRAMS of sugar per serving.
https://kurbo.com/how-much-sugar-is-in-your-soup/
We’re not even talking about soda or candy here. It’s like this across the board. And what do they tell you? You’re A1C’s are up…better take MORE INSULIN!
No matter what they make more money.
The FDA is SOO involved in our lives that they have to tell us that taking vaccines is normal and PERFECTLY SAFE. No one has ever been injured by one, you HAVE to take them if you want to be in public. Why? Because I think in 2014 in the order of 650 cases of measles one year. And that was a high number. There are currently 21,000,000 diabetics in the United States.
One would think that the FDA would have a word to say about the insane amounts of sugar they’re putting in everything.
There were only 189 cases of measles (that were not vaccine-induced) in 2015, and so far only 2 reported in 2016. Clearly, a public health crisis of epic proportions.
https://thinkingmomsrevolution.com/measles-public-health-crisis-that-wasnt/
Savage, Sorry to hear about your son with the type 1 diagnosis. My husband had late on-set and it started around 7 years ago. We also have a son on the spectrum and we also have not just sat back and accepted the diagnosis. Yes we accept it but we also have tried to give him the best life we can. Same goes for my hubby he is looking and always reading about type 1. Check into the “artificial pancreas” it is a continuous glucose monitor and an insulin pump that work together. They have been using it in Europe and it is slowing coming to the US. Also the Joslin Center at Harvard was a good place for my husband when’ he was first diagnosed. Gave him lots of good info.
Amen!!!