It's not entirely doctors' fault.
..and may cause depression and suicidal and homicidal ideation in some, as well as a host of other problems.
Including that getting off them is truly awful, and any medical professional will tell you they should be titrated down (gradually weaning off).
They also over-prescribe because drugs have been advertised on TV for 20 years, and patients go in asking for them, because it "worked" for someone they know.
"Worked" could mean something as irrelevant as "I think I feel better after a week so I told my friends." (Side effects and long-term disease risk unknown, plus, any perceived benefit could be “placebo effect”).
Before I changed our diet and never saw a pediatrician again except for Scout and sports physicals, the MD would have their hand on their scrip pad, wanting to give me the value for my visit that she thought I wanted. Wanting to get out of the room and onto the next $65 office visit…
...and I'd say something like:
"I know most people come here wanting some drug, but I don't. I actually just want you to look in my daughter's ears and tell me if she has an ear infection.
You can write me an AB scrip if you want, but I'd like to address it myself first, with some natural remedies, and fill the scrip only if it gets out of hand."
(Over 90% of ear infections, an issue with one of my kids, are viral, and an AB won't work--but that's what they do for ear infections. They have zero natural remedies, and I've never given an AB for an ear infection, always resolved them in other ways.
Though I will say that a 15-min ear-tubes surgery with anaesthetic gas was one of the interventions I did use.
I will use allopathic medicine now and then, and consider that far less risky and invasive than an AB.
When I was 30 years old and had 3 little kids, I told my general practitioner MD next-door neighbor, who was in his 60's, that I avoid antibiotics because they wipe out the healthy bacteria in the gut.
He gave me a blank look and said, "I'm not aware of that being the case."
I was astonished. Why had I read this in many sources, in great detail, and never went to medical school--and he didn't know that?
That same year, when my first child was a toddler, when he was sick, the pediatrician told me to give him Sprite. I said, "Uh, wouldn't applesauce be a better idea?"
He said, "They're the exact same thing. Sugar." I told him I'd given my son echinacea (the single most studied herb in the world), and he'd never heard of it and looked it up in a book. This guy was also in his 60's.
I switched pediatricians. The next one told me that the only foods that mattered were meat and milk: "Only protein matters, anything else is just roughage and doesn't matter," he said.
His nurse later told me that this pediatrician went to J Dawgs every day for a jumbo hot dog and Coke, for lunch. This man was giving nutrition advice to mothers of children.
I am grateful to him for one thing: the opportunity to discover that these guys aren't smarter than I am. And say things so inane that I was then motivated to go learn stuff for myself.
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Thus began my deep distrust of medical doctors.
When I got kicked out of an American Fork UT peds practice for my kids not being "current," on the injection schedule, I called around and found a peds practice who WOULD take my unv'd kids, in Orem UT.
And yes, I'm happy to tell you via DM who she is. She's my age, a mother of 6, and her response to my saying, "I don't do the v's, my oldest had a life-threatening reaction, and I wonder if you'll support me," was this:
"Yes, I understand how controversial it is, and I support your right to choose."
She was our pediatrician for the last 15 years of my parenting. Thanks to lifestyle changes, I never needed her, except for warts once, a broken bone once, and Scout and sports physicals.
It’s not entirely the doctors’ fault. Many doctors will tell you that if they inform the patient that their issue is viral, rather than bacterial, and that an antibiotic won’t help them–patients demand an antibiotic anyway, and get angry if the doctor won’t write the scrip.
They have to please patients, to keep them in their practice, and what doctor wants to fight antibiotic-seeking patients all day?
The patients’ own lack of knowledge about the short- and mid- and long-term effects of antibiotic usage is part of the problem.
I have published extensively for many years, exposing the yeast infections in the short-term, immune suppression in the mid-term, and long-term gut/liver dysbiosis in the long term, of overuse of antibiotics.
I believe that antibiotics were a miracle when they were discovered, but are effectively used in a “save your life” situation against a significant bacterial infection, not as a frontline intervention for every sniffle.
My favorite “natural” antibiotics and immune-function stimulants can be found here.
They work best when they are on hand at all times, rather than waiting until you get sick, and then starting to shop for them when you don’t feel well enough to get out or start looking for them online.
Thank you for your support of this channel. Please subscribe, for bi-weekly posts delivered to your Inbox. One caveat of the above list of supplements to support the body’s natural immunity and fight infection is that I no longer believe “Vitamin D” to be an effective supplement for use against infection, except that it will have a temporary steroidal effect, because it is a steroid rather than any kind of vitamin. Please read more about that here.
Robyn....I always see pure truth in what you write! You inspire confidence in living in the Light.
thank you.
For depression:
1 exercise---no way around it! It is likely the most potent anti-depressant....or take crap pfarma pills
2 sleep---mine still sucks but, never give up experimenting and curiosity about improvement and helping others with theirs.
3 diet-- a constant curiosity and focus on our temples of Gods energy and healing inside of us, lay hands on yourself! wherever you want healing...our own hands direct amazing energy (oxytocin for one)
4 intimate friendships and groups of ppl with common interests---not sexualized (I know, that's near impossible without God) I say NO SEX or any possiblility outside of marriage--it's just a bandaid or an addiction--you're using ppl as objects (I know) fill that with helping others and seeking God. Set boundaries for yourself and others, we're all messed up here, give no room for satan sexualizing you/them and keeping us from sweet truthful conversations and praying for each other.
6 making the effort to get out of bed and get out of the house and network
7 pray for ppl to come to you who are safe to talk to about anything and everything.
8 reading bible daily and writing down your thoughts, the bible is the most amazing way to realign your brain chemistry! It zapps our narcissism and ego BS in the most amazing way.
9 EVERY DAY we must learn gratitude...looking for everything we can be thankful for, this is a must to replace all of the FAULT FINDING that we were taught since childhood...negativity and comparison is a downward spiral
10 remember, you are only human! God knows your are simply dust/dirt, give yourself grace and a break from beating the hell outta yourself....you're not that important to throw such big fits!
11 Anger is simply a mask for your sadness...unresolved, unexamined childhood traumas are what drives all of our addictions and ridiculous fits of rage...there would be no more road rage if ppl learned how to grieve their childhood traumas and allow the Holy Spirit to come in. But first have to stop and be still to hear God.
12 Sabbath rest! You'll never get to know God without stopping and resting and listening. Go hiking, ride your bike, go camping, games with friends and laughter. It's near impossible for self important narcissists...but I pressed through for 20 years and it is worth it to learn how to let go of the lie 'that you are that important'....NOT. If you rest, God will take care of you 100%. The 'world' does not want you to learn this truth. The world message is to distract you so that you'll never know yourself and peace nor truth....that you are awesome and unique and perfectly meant to be here right now at this time.
13 do not ask...'why the addiction'....ask 'why the pain'? your addiction is of no importance....it is simply the attempt to numb the pain that no one ever taught you how to look at it and talk about and bring light and truth to the situation. THERE IS NOTHING TOO BIG TO EXPLORE AND FIND THE REASON FOR THE PAIN. We are meant to learn to be good at grieving our losses, then we can help others learn how to grieve and move on to great lives with our God given purposes. The quote is Gabor Mate', find him on youtube and listen daily....great healing messages.
14 Learn to simply say to God...I am sorry, forgive me, I was a fool, thank you that we can move forward from here. God's mercies are new every day.