It’s interesting to read about people’s “aha” moments on my previous two posts—when they realized either the deficiencies of conventional medicine, or the power of alternative therapies or diet. These aren’t necessarily single moments, but may be ongoing revelations, such as Steve Bemis’ new appreciation of heart and cellular function.
I think for me, a huge a-ha moment occurred back in 1993. I was feeling a great deal of stress because of some personal and work-related difficulties.
By the end of that year, I had begun losing patches of hair, developing bald spots on several parts of my head. A dermatologist diagnosed alopecia areata, an auto immune condition. He told me that modern medicine didn’t know what caused it.
There was no cure, he explained, so it could well be a lifelong condition, and I could lose all my hair—not a pleasant thought to a guy who took pride in his full head of hair. The dermatologist gave me a steroid cream and said it might help some, but likely wouldn’t do much. If I wanted, there were stronger steroids I could try, but they were inconsistent, and had side effects. I used the cream for a few weeks.
The medical texts I looked up were equally bleak, but did mention “stress” as one possible cause. Fortunately, I had just been introduced to yoga and meditation at a retreat. When I heard “stress,” I somehow sensed that my new teachings tools would help me.
Two months later, when I visited the dermatologist again, the spots showed some improvement. After six months, long after the cream had run out, the bald patches were completely gone. The dermatologist told me I was in “remission.” I told him about my yoga and meditation, but he merely nodded, not questioning me at all.
I’ve never had a problem with the condition since.
But I knew I had discovered something very important—that not only does the body have amazing recuperative abilities, but that it’s extremely important to question and challenge the medical authority figures, and to continually be on the lookout for alternative approaches. We really are our own doctors.
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