Alternative Medicine

My daughter would not be here today of it weren’t for alternative medicine. My doctor had labeled me a “spontaneous aborter,” meaning my body wouldn’t hold a pregnancy, six miscarriages in four years. I was going crazy and when I asked my doctor why, he just said “it just happens to some women. ” Really? What was wrong with me? A friend of mine referred me to a chiropractor. “What can a chiropractor do? ” I asked myself. Despite my skeptism I went to see her. Cindy Clayton, a quiet little blond woman with a little office in Silver Lake, CA, was who I went to see.

Through the various tests she performed we discovered the source of the problem was my adrenal glands, and the fact that my body was hormonally depleted from high stress, awful diet and too much work, (at the time I was working seventy plus hours a week). So with regular adjustments and various supplements we corrected the issue. Now four years later I have a little pixy princess named, Taylor. *** “…the conventional doctor who has 20 patients with asthma will often provide each of them with the same protocol, thus treating the condition and not the patients themselves explainthe factors that affect access to complementary therapies.

An alternative practitioner realizes that asthma has many causes. Perhaps the cause is an allergic reaction or a viral infection or diminished nerve supply due to a misaligned spine. The practitioner will try to find the cause for each patient's condition and treat each differently. This difference between approaches is the cornerstone of alternative medicine. ” (Angel) *** “Pharmaceutical industry. According to IMS Health, a company which provides market intelligence to the pharmaceutical and health care industries; the estimated worldwide sales for prescription pharmaceuticals was about $400 billion in 2002.

Americans spent roughly 200 billion dollars on prescription drugs in 2002, accounting for approximately half of all sales world wide. Yet, as of 2006, the U. S. infant mortality rate ranked at 21st in the world (under Greece and South Korea and slightly higher than Poland). U. S. life expectancy ranked at number 17. [1] By 2008, IMS Health reported that sales for U. S. prescription drugs had reached $291 billion dollars a year. [2]” (Lisa Graves) *** I’m sitting here watching people walk by. Some have ailments I can see: a limp, obvious discomfort, or a dazed medicated look.

But what about all the people walking by who’s problems are less obvious: chronic headaches or migraines, fatigue, depression, ADHD, high blood pressure, heart irregularities, etc… The list goes on forever. How many suffering from these issues know that there are simple solutions that don’t involve taking some sort of pharmaceutical drug? How many know that vitamins, minerals, and diet are enough to handle many, if not most, of these issues; probably not many. What’s worse is that lower income populations, such as Stockton, are even less educated in alternative medicine.

These people who are struggling just to survive are being given medications which at best only cover up problems and at worse are killing them. *** My mother has so many ailments, from emotional issues to chronic pain in various places on her body. She had been to doctor after doctor and was prescribed all different types of medications from anti-depressants to opiates for the pain. None of these gave any solutions and many made her life and symptoms much worse. Recently, she had started seeing a new doctor who tested her vitamin D levels and low and behold, she had a major deficiency.

Shortly after she began taking a supplement to handle this she, as well as others around her, noticed a huge change in both her mood and level of pain. This is from the correction of ONE vitamin imbalance! The difference she would experience if she corrected all vitamin and mineral imbalances and was receiving regular chiropractic adjustments would be profound. *** Magnesium is an essential mineral and when there is not enough in your body, bad things happen. Some of the common symptoms of a deficiency are: “leg cramps, foot pain, or muscle 'twitches' can be the first sign.

Other early signs of deficiency include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness. As magnesium deficiency worsens, numbness, tingling, seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart rhythms, and coronary spasms can occur. ” (Sircus) Things start getting really scary the more and more deficient you are, “insomnia, anxiety, hyperactivity and restlessness with constant movement, panic attacks, agoraphobia, and premenstrual irritability. ” (Sircus) There are also major cardio-vascular effects, “palpitations, heart arrhythmias, and angina due to spasms of the coronary arteries, high blood pressure and mitral valve prolapse.

” (Sircus) All this from a mineral. Who knew? *** Me: “I think I need to go to the hospital. ” My mom: “Why? What’s happening? ” Me: “It’s my heart, I’ve been getting palpitations for days and my chest is tight. On top of that I’ve been getting numbness in my arm and swelling. ” My mom: “Wow that sounds scary. You should have your sister take your blood pressure, if it’s a heart attack your blood pressure will show it. ” Me: “Tricia can you take my blood pressure? My chest hurts and mom said my blood pressure would show if anything is wrong. ” Tricia: “Oh, you’re fine. ” Me: “Jesus Christ!

I’m not a fuckin’ hypochondriac! Something is seriously happening to me! ” *** April 3, 2021 It’s seven in the morning and I’m just getting to the office. I’m a little nervous about the day for two reasons, one: we just hired Mike for office assistant and two: it’s our first free clinic. I hope all the promoting is going to bring a good turnout. We got the whole team on board today: Chiropractic (covered by myself), Kate covering homeopathy, Jennifer doing kinesiology, Cyndie our herbalist, and our recent addition Tricia (our very own Nurse Practitioner) who will be helping us in general medicine.

We have been promoting this event for months to various clinics and schools. I mean free holistic care is a big deal. This is going to be so awesome, actually providing a service like this to people who cannot afford it. My goal is to influence many of the local chiropractic offices to offer free or at least sliding scale services. I guess we’ll see how well this one goes…Oh, wow people are already getting here! We don’t even open till nine! I am so excited! *** •Because my whole life I’ve wanted to heal, help, and make a difference in people’s lives.

•Because not enough of the people in the world, who can do something, do, do something. •Because my family and friends need solutions and remedies not prescription after prescription. •Because I want my children to have an example of working for a dream. •Because Stockton needs help and education in and with alternative medicine. •Because there is so much false and misleading information about what people are going through physically and mentally. •Because I have felt and seen the difference alternative medicine can create. •Because people that have low income need help too.