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Loading...2 Questions More Important Than a Diagnosis
- Dr. Frank Lipman
- January 31, 2010
- 5:05 pm
- 113 comments
The total load is the sum of the factors that influence a person’s life and health, including diet, exercise, job stress, relationships, state of mind etc. Individually, each of these elements might not cause a problem, but their cumulative effect can overload our normal functioning and cause harm. Everyone’s tipping point is different and each of us manifests or experiences overload in our own unique way.
For example, several patients may all be diagnosed with IBS but the individual factors underlying their illnesses may be varied, meaning that each requires different treatments to address their specific problems. Simply diagnosing these patients with IBS, obscures this critical fact.
When working with patients, I always assess their total load and then try to reduce it by slowly removing the factors that could cause harm. At the same time, I will add new elements that will nourish them in order to enhance the healing process.
Some examples of what may need to be reduced or removed from your diet are, sugar, chemicals, caffeine, or alcohol. Or you may need to lessen the burden of responsibilities, your work load, or how much tension you carry in your muscles. Examples of factors that may be lacking and need to be added are nutrients, sunlight, sleep, down time, play time, love or joy.
To understand the concept of total load, think of yourself as a ship floating in the water. Depending on the load you’re carrying, you are either riding high above the waterline or sinking beneath the waves. And just as you can save a sinking ship by tossing some ballast overboard to lighten the load, your health can be improved by reducing the overall number of factors that cause stress to your system. The good news is that frequently you may only need to identify two or three factors to toss overboard in order to feel better.
Read more: Colitis, Crohn's & IBS, Conditions, General Health, Health, diagnosis, functional medicine
Dr. Frank Lipman
Frank Lipman MD is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of Integrative and Functional Medicine. A practicing physician, he is the founder and director of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in NYC, where for over 20 years his personal brand of healing has helped thousands of people reclaim their vitality. To bring his approach to a wider audience, he created Eleven Eleven Wellness, Guided Health Solutions. He is the author of Revive (previously called Spent) and Total Renewal. To hang with Frank, visit his blog, follow him on Twitter or join his Facebook community today.
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people are talking
That kitten sounds just like a goat. It's very funny.
Thanks.
Thanks!
boy that really sounds good on this hot humid day!
Thank you Joan! I always think leech when I read leek, so I am happy to find I was WAY off!
113 comments
+ add your ownFrank Lipman is such a breath of fresh air in the stodgy world of drug-obsessed medicine. When was the last time your doctor asked you about the presence of something as "unscientific" as joy in your life?
An excellent article! Good common sense.
This is what I want to go back to. Why I want to be a naturopath. I want to get people to the true level of healing.
Medicine in the 50s and 60s did treat the "whole" patient - not just the symptoms. I had a great family doctor "GP" who treated my whole family when I was in high school. He knew ALL about us. With the 'wonderful" HMO revolution in the 80s/90s that all changed to "get them in and get them out". Healthcare will never be the same until the HMO system of medicine is eliminated.
Great story. I think your attitude puts faith back into Dr's. I've always thought Dr's deal with symptoms not the cause or more importantly, the source of the problem. Fix the source, the symptoms go away too.
the doctor i used to have never took the time for any questions. i told him thesymptoms and he started prescribing sometimes up to 5-6 different medications.
I totally agree. We have socialist medicine in Canada and quite frankly it makes people more desperate. People make being healthy very difficult very difficult.
On the other hand the paradigm of modern medicine is about disease, not health. In the words of Wallace Wattles:
"To look upon the appearance of disease will produce the form of disease in your own mind, and ultimately in your body, unless you hold the thought of the truth, which is that there is no disease; it is only an appearance, and the reality is health."
Wallace wrote these words in 1903. He understood. Choose medicine that is focused on well being.
And prevention IS NOT early detection. That's another weird philosophy about modern medicine. Preventing is working so you never have any symptoms in the first place. So it's not about catching symptoms early on, it's about never having them in the first place. It's about taking the steps now to change yourself. that leads you to the health you want. Much simpler and much more positive than to have to start from the stand point of fear.
Fear is a powerful emotion and can spur someone in one of two directions. Some people beat the darn prognosis by themselves and heal. But many more succumb to fear negatively and give up. But you choose.
very well said Juanita!
Thank you Dr Lipman for your article. I agree totally. We're to quick to want to label so we have an excuse to be ill. When in fact we can change illness to health if we and our health care providers are willing to look at the whole picture and the multiplicity of it.
Regarding healthcare insurance, who needs it? I haven't had health insurance for 15 years and I don't want it. It wouldn't cover anything that I would do to be healthy. I still have my freedom to choose and pay who I want I want to be involved in my health. All insurance does is give us an excuse to NOT take responsibility for our own health. Too many people are looking for a parent to take care of them, whether it's a Dr. an insurance company or whatever. Then they're mad when they don't get better and it's not paid for.
Health insurance is not about life or death. We are all going to die! The question is "How are we going to live?" I'd rather be drug free with all of my bodily parts in tact. The way I came into this world.
When you have made a firm decision to become well, then you will find the money to do it. That's when you KNOW you are committed to your goal. When you really want something, you will always find the money to do it.
Money is a barrier that a lot people throw up against their won healing. Even when the solution is right in front of them, they are afraid. But it doesn't have to be that way.
By choosing health over anything else, you'll receive it. But you must be open to the possibilities. And that's what my medicine is all about. Possibilities and healing. It's a very positive thing. A very powerful thing. And you've changed for the better in ALL aspects of your life. There is only health, not disease. There is only wealth, not poverty.
But you choose.
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