Health Care Crisis: Pt. 2

Health Care Crisis: Pt. 2

America's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system.  

–Walter Cronkite

Last week’s Impetus discussed the dilemma our nation’s health crisis due to the increasing burden of treating and managing chronic disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), treating people with chronic diseases accounts form 86% of our nation’s health care costs which is currently $3.2 trillion per year, or nearly $10.000 per person.

The Milken Institute issued an important benchmark report October 2, 2007 recommending a major overhaul of how America deals with chronic diseases. The most profound of these findings and recommendations were that “doctors and other health-care providers should be paid to manage and prevent chronic illnesses, instead of getting most of their income from treatments.” 

Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal, a medical journalist who formerly worked as a medical doctor, warns that the existing health-care system too often focuses on financial incentives over health or science. Rosenthal's book, An American Sickness, examines the deeply rooted problems of the existing health-care system and offers suggestions for a way forward. She notes that under the current system, it's far more lucrative to provide a lifetime of treatments than a cure.

"One expert in the book joked ... that if we relied on the current medical market to deal with polio, we would never have a polio vaccine," Rosenthal says. "Instead we would have iron lungs in seven colors with iPhone apps."

Here is a good analogy that a friend of mine expressed to me a few days ago that really puts things in to perspective. Imagine taking your car to a mechanic and being told that the “treatment” for your automobile is going to be $1,200.

The problem won’t be fixed, but the treatment if continued will help the car function. However, the treatment may not be for every car and some cars may experience several side-effects.  But don’t worry, we have another treatment for the side-effects when you bring your car back. And then to top it all off, what if you learned that the third leading cause of total mechanical breakdowns were a result of the procedures performed by this garage? I trust many of you would seek alternative solutions for your chronic car conditions. We could always just get a new car. This is the same methodology that many of us are experiencing with our health, the problem is we can’t just get a new body, but we can change the way that we are sustaining and supporting it.

If there was ever a time for a Self Care Awakening it is NOW.  

How about not having the problem to begin with? How about having a preventative maintenance program? How about more natural and less invasive ways to help with a condition than just treating and masking the problem? How about solutions with side-benefits instead of side-effects?

The four main principles of the Self Care Awakening are not a panacea for all chronic conditions. There are many other factors involved depending on the disease being examined. However, these principles are vital to the health of us all irrespective of our current status of health.

All can benefit from reducing our body burden of toxic chemicals, being hydrated, well rested and maintaining a healthy weight.

Chronic disease is not a normal part of life. Up to 80% of chronic conditions can be prevented. My hopes are that this information and corresponding Self Care presentations have enlightened and empowered anyone to employ and share our battle cry for the Self Care Awakening,

Be Healthy by Choice, not by Chance.

My Personal Self Care Awakening

This Sounds All too Familiar

Some 20 years ago, I came to an awakening regarding my own health and well-being. I was in my mid 40’s and was starting to exhibit some health challenges that many other people do at that age. I was overweight, over worked and over stressed. I was dealing with signs of hypertension and just didn’t seem to have the energy I was used to. I had trouble sleeping and at best 4 or 5 hours was all I could manage or had the time for. My joints ached and I suffered from a whiplash injury that short of pharmaceutical intervention or surgery I was told by many physicians to learn to live with. Does this sound all too familiar?

By happenstance while working and traveling in Asia, I was introduced to a Japanese company, Nikken. The physical therapist that was telling me about it said that their products in his experience may be able to help me. As a physiologist, I was very skeptical as to any “alternative” modalities, although I’m not sure why I was so skeptical, other than my science brain saying show me the research.  I politely, or maybe not so politely, told the young man, that I was not interested in what he was selling. Upon returning home from the trip, I noticed a short article in our weekly newspaper talking about this same Japanese company helping people all over the world with their products. I found this more than coincidental and it sparked me to at least check out what they were talking about. It also made me wonder, why did I have an opinion about these products and technologies with no real knowledge of them or their efficacy. This second exposure to Nikken prompted me to do a literature search on magnetic therapy and the results were astounding to me. I also noticed that aver 60% of the papers I read were published in veterinary journals. I thought this very profound as animals cannot experience a placebo effect. 

I purchased a few Nikken magnetic products just to see if they could help with my neck issues. I had experienced very little flexibility, discomfort and radial numbness down both arms for over three years.  My injury was a classic whiplash, and doctors had told me that by the time I was fifty, I would want a surgery due to increase arthritic complications and conditions.

My Personal Self Care Awakening

I must honestly say, that I didn’t think the products would work or at best they might help a little. Much to my surprise, a few short weeks after using the products my neck had more flexibility and my hands and arms were no longer numb. It is nearly 20 years later, and no surgery and no neck problems, no arm or hand numbness.

This experience gave me a good appreciation for natural methods to help deal with health issues or more importantly prevent them all together. It fostered the idea of the Self Care Awakening.

I appreciate the honor of been called the Self Care Ambassador by my peers, I also appreciate being an advocate for products and technologies to accomplish our goal of Being Healthy by Choice, not by Chance.

Self Care Awakening is about a few very simple concepts. It is about Being Healthy by Choice and not by Chance. The reality is, if we leave our health to chance, chances are that we are not going to be healthy.

The major impetus for the Self Care Awakening is to bring this and other aspects of good health to light.

First, that chronic disease is not a normal part of life. How many times have we heard someone say, “That’s just part of getting older”, as if the headaches, joint/back problems, weight gain, blood sugar problems, memory problems (and the list can go on and on) are just a “normal part” of life.

Here is a paraphrase of a recent advertisement from what use to be our corner drug store and is now called your local wellness center. The advertisement says, “there are 26 million Americans with diabetes, and 74 million are at risk, don’t worry, we can treat and manage your diabetes so you can lead a normal productive life”. I almost fell out of my chair when I first heard this commercial. Then I got angry. It is a brainwashing, inferring that chronic disease is a normal part of life. It is not. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease control (CDC) estimate that as high as 80% of our world’s biggest killers can be prevented. I concur and am of the belief that just a few simple self care principles can lead to a vibrant heathy life.

Be Healthy by Choice and not by Chance