If you have come to the point with your exhaustion that you realise you need some medical support perhaps your experience of medical treatment need not be what you have experienced before.
Very often people experience doctors and treatment as negative and this is often because they feel powerless and as if the treatment is being ‘imposed on them’.
In my last post I shared that a focus on the body and mind connection (through energy healing techniques, mindfulness practices, and other means of connecting to the body with a positive and mindful connection) can enhance your healing process and encourage a more positive response to medical support and treatment. Just to note in this article I am referring to treatment from a functional medical doctor, integrated doctor or naturopath.
A focus on the body and mind union leads to a greater connection to self and your needs, thus being deeply empowering, and can support your experience of medical treatment in the following ways:
1) You can position yourself as the expert on your body
Firstly, I teach clients that a big reason they became ill in the first place was because they were disconnected from their bodies. To heal they need to learn to connect back to and listen to the messages from the body. The exhaustion is a message from the body that there is imbalance in the bodymind complex.
Secondly, healing comes from a place of feeling more empowered about your own capacity to heal. Ultimately, you hold the key to the outcomes of your healing.
As you tune-in and start to trust the messages and learn to hear what your body is saying that makes you the expert on your body. While doctors have a great deal of knowledge and training behind them (and some operate with their intuition too) we are still ultimately the experts on our bodies and on our health.
This can play out in several ways when seeing doctors:
Firstly, do not be afraid to tell your doctor if you do not agree with something they think especially if they insist that a supplement is good for you and you can feel that it is not having a positive effect on your body. I was told by a healthcare provider to use magnesium and I started to notice that my blood sugar crashes were increasing. I realised it was linked to the magnesium use. She insisted that this was not possible. I stopped and started using it again and it was definitely related. I then told her that I would not be taking the supplement and agreed that I should trust my body. I later discovered what the link between blood sugar and magnesium is and that was very affirming!
Secondly, question whether you need every test the doctor wants you to have. You do not have to say yes to everything and the cost adds up quickly. Unfortunately, there are some doctors who like to throw the book at you when it comes to treatment and they tick almost every box on the blood test form! Ask, which are absolutely necessary and also which are absolutely necessary right now. There is a good chance some may not be absolutely necessary or could be put off for another month.
Thirdly, if you do not understand then ask. You deserve to fully understand what you are taking and why you are taking it.
2) Your intuition can guide you as to what’s best
As you start trusting your intuition more through connecting with your body you will also start to feel out if certain foods and supplements are in your best interest, as well as what quantities are best. Many people with adrenal fatigue and chronic exhaustion can be very sensitive to supplements and foods and/or can have adverse reactions to supplements. The bottle may say to take 3 a day but that may not be correct for you or only on certain days.
There are a number of ways to test using your intuition. Some people make use of a pendulum to find a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ answer. Some people use muscle testing (resistance for yes and weak response for no). Some people test for a yes/no feeling in the body and some people hold the medication/a number of supplements and feel if the body feels like it moves towards or away from the supplements. These methods of using the intuition can take some practice and become easier with use. I tend to use a pendulum and test for a yes/no. If I get a ‘yes’, I can test, using a pendulum, what number of supplements are correct for that day.
The crazy thing is how consistent the outcomes can be when you trust this process e.g. with my recent detox I received a ‘zero’ for how many liver detox supplements to have for about 10 days before I started to receive a ‘one’ and then more as my body got stronger.
I just told the doctor I was going to be going slowly with the treatment and she was fine with that.
3) Integrating energy work and mindfulness can speed up and ensure recovery
While having my thyroid treated I have done a lot of energy work, BodyTalk and meditation, as well as journelling around my thyroid and my fear of putting myself and my voice ‘out there’ (read about the link between fear of self-expression and the thyroid in my previous post). Despite taking my treatment really slowly, as mentioned above, I started to notice less pain and inflammation, as well as more energy, within about 2 weeks. Shifting the energy blockages and creating a regular relaxation response helped to speed up the healing process.
You can seek out the support of any practitioner who releases energy blocks using practices like BodyTalk, kinesiology, Body Stress Release, Reiki and others. Finding a way to relax can include meditation, focussing on the breath, focussing on the 5 senses or doing regular body scans and body relaxation exercises.
4) The mindfulness work can help you hold all the outcomes
A healing process is never simple and there are often steps forward and steps backwards and one can easily fall into anxiety (“Why is this getting worse again?”), frustration (“this is never going to get better”) or despair (“what is wrong with me that I cannot get better”). Holding an attitude of mindfulness can increase acceptance and can assist you to just hold the process as it is without resistance and unnecessary stress. I use BodyTalk to assist my clients with these kinds of responses.
So if you choose the route of medical treatment and support do not forget the mindfulness practices and reach out for support through energy work to really enhance you’re the healing process and encourage a positive experience of empowered healing.
