Cool Change When Doctors Aren’t Enough by Melody Beattie

... Continued

As it turns out, my problems aren't even connected to my urinary tract. Two discs in my back have been degenerating for years. Now they're bone on bone, pinching the nerves to the bladder. The bladder is fine. This after six­teen wrong prescriptions, visits to five doctors, and thousands of dollars in tests. The doctors didn't discover it! One morning I remember what a doctor said years ago about the discs in my lower back degenerating, and I'd be in pain or on pain medication for the rest of my life. I had said neither option was acceptable. That's when I found alternative medicine. I'd held the prob­lem at bay so long I'd forgotten about it. Now I research degenerating discs. They can cause the symptoms I'm having‑what the doctors think is inter­stitial cystitis. I go to another doctor‑not the urologist‑and ask for X‑rays of my back. "I think that what causing the problem, "I said. He shows me the X‑rays. Yes, that's it! But it was my intuition that took us to my spine. I’m not sure if or when the doctors would have gotten us there. Do doctors make mistakes?

"Jeanne," I said. You just watched me go through a horrible course of misdiagnosis, so sick from the wrong medications I was stopping the car by the side of the road and puking. I read in the New York Times this morn­ing that doctors seriously misdiagnose fatal illnesses 20 percent of the time. It said millions of people are treated for the wrong disease, and doctors' rate of accuracy hasn't changed since 1930."

"I guess I needed to hear you say it, "she said.

Doctors. God bless them. They can save our lives. But yes, sometimes they can be wrong.

"So what can people with HCV do besides use interferon?" Bradley asks.

Four or five quality products usually do the trick, Lloyd says. Milk Thistle, Dandelion Root, Lipoic Acid, Selenium, and live‑cell thymus helped him. Other products are available for energy. People can spend one hundred a month or ten times that much. They can buy from a health food store, but quality is essential. If people do the basics, they can get off the couch, get off disability insurance, and go back to work. "Don't forget the teas," I say. The body absorbs milk thistle and dande­lion root teas more readily than pills. The people who drink the teas are the ones Lloyd sees get better.

Some people who use interferon use alternative medicine too. Even conventional doctors agree that milk thistle helps. A report by the Mayo Clinic states that while most studies are small and poorly designed, there is still good scientific evidence that milk thistle causes improvements in liver tests of people with HCV, and increased liver function and decreased number of deaths in people with cirrhosis (scarring of the liver associated with liver disease). There's no magic bullet in conventional or complementary medicine for HCV. It's a combination of things that work. Some people diagnosed with HCV think, No big deal, I'll just get a liver transplant. Liver transplants aren't fun, Lloyd says. The virus immediately attacks the transplanted liver. It's better to keep your own liver‑if you can.

Seventy percent of the people with HCV are going to die of old age or something else, Lloyd says. "People don't have to use interferon or die. They have choices. They need to know what those choices are. Most people accept what doctors say as truth. Or they stop reading the med­ication inserts because the print is so small." Lloyd doesn't just sell sup­plements; he gives hope. He listens to people, calms them. What he says isn't always good news. Some people are almost dead by the time they find him. He doesn't say there's no hope, but he discourages buying if he thinks the products won't help.

"I can't begin to tell you how much your kindness and compassion mean," Debra C., one of Lloyd's first clients wrote. Debra's frantic search for help for her husband led her to Lloyd the last week of her hus­band's life. This was a case of too little too late. She slept on a cot by her husband's side at the hospital the last month of his life. He went into his first coma on Good Friday. When he regained consciousness Easter Sunday, Jamie, their twenty‑one‑year‑old daughter, asked her dad what he saw when he was gone.

“Jamie, I know this might sound crazy, but it’s true what they say”, her dad said. "In a flash, I found myself in the most beautiful world you could ever imagine. I was dancing and playing and singing. I have never felt so free and happy in all my life. The white light was there, but it was unlike any white light you could ever imagine in this physical world."

"This was the gift he gave us," Debra said. "He let us know that his passing didn't mean he was fading off into oblivion or some deep, dark hole. It was the absolute knowing that he has passed on to some won­derful, magical world that comforts us during our terrible times of miss­ing him. No amount of money could put a price on this gift."

We're heading into the final segment of the Cool Change show. "Tell us," Bradley says to Lloyd. "How did you get the spiritual insight to develop this program?"

Lloyd tells the story of being out of hope after Western medicine failed and how the maharaja's photographer kept pushing him to see Dr. Finnegan. "I kept resisting. He kept insisting. Finally I gave in," Lloyd said. The spiritual insight Lloyd talks about is the guidance many of us get. We don't know what to do, then someone makes a suggestion. At first we say no thanks. But that person pesters until we give in. Spiritual guidance is often ordinary, not at all like we associate with getting a mes­sage from God. Guidance can come from someone we know or some­body we just met. Frequently we resist. Or we may get a gut feeling to do something. We can't explain it logically, but taking a certain action feels right. Other times, we find ourselves naturally doing the next thing. Guidance often happens when we surrender to this desperate place of no hope.

Lloyd doesn't talk about miracles with white light, but he saw a vision when he was lying in that remote field of the Santa Monica Mountains bleeding to death. It looked like angels whispering in people's ears. Who knows? Maybe what we call intuition and guidance is when the angels whisper to us. Lloyd doesn't wear his spiritual beliefs on his sleeve, but I know he believes in God and the power of prayer. I do too.

I'm eight years old. My glasses are thick and getting thicker. I hate them. The doctor says my eyesight is worsening and I'll likely go blind. One day I watch a church show on TV a minister says, "If you need healing, join me now in prayer.” I ask God to please heal my eyes. Soon my vision tests almost twenty‑twenty. I don't wear glasses again until I'm in my forties and need them for reading the way many people that age do. Now in my fifties, I spend two years staring at my liver results, frantic about HCV Then overnight I go from making peace with HCV to discovering I need surgery on my back unless I want to be in a wheelchair. I make plans to go to Germany for surgery. My friend Heather wants me to see a healer she met‑a man named Howard Wills. He lives on the East Coast but sometimes passes through town. I resist. It's not that I don't believe in healing and prayer. But sometimes I get tired of the latest hot healer or new alternative medicine craze. Or I become closed. Before I go to Germany, Heather gives me a gift certificate to see Howard. I go. He prays and talks about forgiveness. He doesn't say, "Your liver needs healing.”He asks, 'Are you ready to forgive everyone who has ever hurt you? Are you ready to be forgiven by everyone you've hurt? Are you ready to be forgiven by God? Are you ready to forgive yourself?"

What does forgiveness have to do with getting well? Howard says we get so much negativity piled up around us that we start getting sick and can't get well. "We need to humbly go to God and ask for help, "Howard says. Even recovery programs say cleaning our slate is crucial to getting well. I answer yes to Howard's questions about forgiveness. Howard prays. It's a pleasant heal­ing session, but I still have hepatitis C, and I still need to go to Germany for surgery. The surgery is traumatic, invasive, painful, but successful.

Then I return to the United States, spike a fever, come down with dou­ble pneumonia. Heavy doses of antibiotics don't help. It's two months after surgery, and I'm getting sicker every day. I see fear in my doctors' eyes. My friends and family are frightened. I'm too sick to be scared. Then Howard's assistant calls. Howard is passing through town and his assistant has a feel­ing I need a healing. "I can't, "I say.”I'm too sick to get up and answer the door."

"That's why we need to see you, "she says.

Soon Howard and his assistant are sitting in my bedroom. We talk about forgiveness again. Then Howard asks if I'm ready to be healthy. Yes!

We pray together. That's the moment I start to get well. Prayer works.

On the radio show, I interrupt Lloyd. "I want to say something to anyone who's sick, but especially to people who got HCV from using drugs. It's easy to think we deserve to be sick because we did it to our­selves. That's how I felt. It's easy to believe any illness or loss is punish­ment, but that's not true. We deserve to be as healthy as we can be."

Complementary medicine? Conventional medicine? A combina­tion? We can choose what's right for us. It's tempting to sit back and wait for a cure to come from a doctor, a pill, a healer‑something outside of ourselves. We may need what a doctor or healer offers, but healing begins within us. Are we ready to get well? Prayer can be the best med­icine there is‑the magic bullet that makes any therapy work. No mat­ter what we're going through, ask for God's help. That's when the really cool changes occur.

It's been a year since Howard stopped by the house. The back surgery is a success. I've still got HCV. I'm not happy I have it, but I'm not sick. I drink my teas and take some supplements. I listen to my intuition about what to do. "Stop staring at your liver," the lab tech reminds me when I go in for blood work. "Go live your life."

There's a promising new treatment on the horizon for HCV. Protease inhibitors are being fast‑tracked by the FDA. If approved, they'll be ready for marketing in 2007. (Fast‑tracking means the testing period is shortened.) Schering‑Plough is talking about using the new treatment with interferon and by itself. 'When I first heard about pro­tease inhibitors, I wanted to fly to Europe, where the drugs are being used, and immediately take the cure. Then I took a deep breath. Maybe I should wait. Dr. Tennant agreed. "Wait and see how it works and what side effects people get," he said.

Don't forget to read the fine print, no matter how small, because the words that are the hardest to read might contain the information that saves your life.

Lloyd hopes they find a cure for HCV even if it means he'll be out of work. He knows God will show him what to do next. Until then, he'll keep telling people what they can do to love their livers and love them­selves.

Bradley? He tested positive for HCV. "How you knew I had hepati­tis C I'll never know, but I'm sure glad you suggested I get tested," he said. "I was clean and sober eighteen years at the time. I hadn't used drugs, alcohol, or needles since 1987. As far as I was concerned, I wasn't even a candidate for HCV. Getting tested changed my life."

Hepatitis C is one of five identified hepatitis viruses‑A, B, C, D, and E.

Hepatitis A, B, D and E are different from C.

Hepatitis A and B are highly contagious. A is spread prima­rily from fecal matter. It's usually contracted from contami­nated drinking water, food, or direct contact with an infected person. Most people recover in about a month. Hepatitis B is highly contagious and is spread by contact with body fluids. B can become chronic. Most people who get B will recover within six months and can never get it again. Once they recover, people with B aren't contagious, although their blood will always show they had it. They can­not donate blood. Other people with B become silent carri­ers. They don't get sick, don't know they have the virus, and unknowingly transmit it to others.

Hepatitis D usually occurs with B.

There are blood tests to diagnose all hepatitis viruses and vaccines for A, B and D.

Hepatitis E rarely occurs in the United States and is spread by contaminated water and food.

In one survey reported by the National Institutes of Health, 39 percent of the people surveyed with HCV said there’re turning to alternative medicine for treatment by itself or in combination with conventional medicine.

According to a Vancouver survey of people attending an outpatient clinic, 60 percent of HCV clients said they’ve used complementary medicine for HCV.

The majority of people with HCV will not die from the virus, but with the virus.

Chronic HCV can cause liver disease, cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), liver cancer and liver failure. Serious illness or death from HCV is not inevitable, especially if people take care of themselves and get the health care that they need.

Drinking alcohol is the worst thing to do for the liver or HCV, according to all private, public, governmental, conventional and complementary sources for liver health and HCV.

HCV is the most common reason for liver transplants in the United States. There are now more than 20,000 people waiting for a liver in the United States. Only 4,900 livers become available each year. The HCV virus can live at room temperature (in dried blood) on environmental surfaces at least 16 hours, but no longer than 4 days. Blood spills can be cleaned with household bleach diluted with water at a 1:10 bleach-to-water ratio. Wear gloves. One in fifty Americans test positive for HCV. Eighty-seven percent of Americans believe in heaven and 84 percent say they believe in miracles.

ACTIVITIES

Are you at risk for HCV? Did you have a blood transfusion before 1992, shoot drugs (even once), or share a cocaine‑snorting device (even once)? Did you have an organ transplant prior to 1992 or receive hemodialysis? Did you ever use the razor, toothbrush, or nail clipper of someone who has HCV (or might have HCV but doesn't know it)? Are you a health care worker exposed to needle sticks? Did you have an inva­sive procedure or one involving blood products done in a hospital prior to 1992? Did your mother have HCV when you were born? Was your mother at risk for HCV when you were born but hasn't been tested?

Remember, most people with HCV don't know they have it. If you might be at risk, get tested. The sooner you know, the sooner you can take care of your liver so you can die from old age instead of HCV. The only way to determine the presence of HCV is a blood test done by a doctor's prescription. Contact the American Liver Foundation at 800­465‑4837 or www.liverfoundation.org for information about where to get tested (if you don't have a doctor) or for information about local HCV support groups.

2. Take the next steps if you're HCV positive. Get a liver panel (AST and ALT) done to determine how well your liver is functioning, and get tested for amount of viral load. These blood tests are different than the blood test that determines if we have HCV. Many doctors recommend liver biopsies. A liver biopsy is an invasive procedure with possible side effects. The federal government is currently funding research to develop cost‑effective, noninvasive alternatives to liver biopsies. Do your home­work. Research the treatments. Read the fine print. Talk to people. HCV progresses slowly. If you have HCV, the sooner you discover it, the more time is on your side. Unless you've waited until you're very sick, you can take the time you need to find the treatment that's right for you. Remember, our doctor doesn't have to live with the medicines we take and the procedures we undergo; we do.

3. What's your opinion about medicine, treatment, and healing? Allopathic or conventional medicine sees the body as a machine. It's either sick or well. If it's sick, you give it pills, give it treatments, or oper­ate on it. Or you take pills so the symptoms don't bother you as much. Alternative medicine wears a different pair of glasses. It sees the body as a somewhat mystical apparatus that's connected to thought, emotions, and beliefs and sees it as either in balance (well) or out of balance (sick). Complementary medicine seeks to assist the body in regaining balance. Are there emotions that need to be released? Is the body deficient in a particular substance? Does it have too much of something or is it being exposed to a toxicity it doesn't like, such as aluminum, smoke, or emo­tions? My opinion is that the best approach to health is a sane combination of conventional and complementary medicine. Complementary medi­cine includes chiropractic care, acupuncture, herbs, nutritional supple­ments, Chinese and Eastern medicine, hands‑on healing, Reiki, homeopathic remedies, ozone therapy, massage, prayer, and more. Even conventional medical institutions like the National Institutes of Health recognize complementary medicine as valid and important forms of health care. We each have our own take on the body, illness, what con­stitutes health, and how to maintain it. What's right for another person may not be right for us.

4. Learn to speak up to your doctor. Ask questions. Do your homework. Get a second or third opinion, especially when you're dealing with in­vasive procedures, powerful medications, and serious or life‑threatening illnesses. If you have a difficult time talking to your doctor, write your questions on a piece of paper, then bring your list with you. Don't leave until the questions are answered to your satisfaction. Or bring a friend or relative to your appointment who will help you talk and give you the support you need. Make sure you understand what your doctor is telling you. Take notes on what the doctor says. If your doctor can't explain to your satisfaction, find someone who will help you understand‑an advo­cate. Research any procedures, surgeries, or medications before you sub­mit to the procedure or take the medicine. Find out if the procedure will hurt. If it will, you have a right to pain medication or anesthetic if you want it. Many doctors prefer not to give anesthetics or pain medications because of the time and liability involved, even though the procedure hurts. Remember, it's your body, and you have a right to refuse medica­tions, refuse treatment, and get the care and pain meds you legitimately need. Report any side effects from medications‑alternative or conven­tional‑immediately. Remember that there are side effects from comple­mentary (holistic) medicines and procedures too. Complementary medication can interact with conventional medicines. Check out what you're putting into your body. Watch for interactions between drugs. Take an active and informed role in your health care.

5. Add the power of humble, sincere prayer to whatever medical treat­ments you use. It's easy to forget to pray. Many people make sure to bless food before eating. People are beginning to recognize the importance of blessing any medications or treatments they use too. One alternative medicine professional told me she worked with people using interferon. She prayed and asked God to bless them and protect them from any side effects of the interferon, and it appeared to help. We don't need to save prayer for medical problems. Ask God or the Higher Power of our understanding to help with any problem. Write a letter to God. Specifically ask for the help we need. Then put the letter someplace pri­vate. Prayer is one of the most effective medicines we can use.

6. Wait for guidance. Learn to trust your intuition about what's right for you. When we get a problem, our first response is often to tell our­selves it's a mistake and frantically try to make it disappear. The worse the problem, the harder we try to make it go away. Before we know what's happened, the problem has sucked us in and we're obsessively try­ing to control it, fixated on it instead of fixing it. It's like the Chinese finger cuff thing‑the harder we try, the more entangled we become. One of the hardest things to do is step back and wait for guidance. It's hard not to know what to do next. It's hard to have an illness and no cure. It's hard to trust what we don't know yet. Sometimes immediate action is called for, but other times backing off and waiting are the most powerful actions we can take. Living in the mystery and trusting it means being comfortable saying, "I don't know what to do next." The more relaxed we are, the easier it will be to hear the answer when it comes. Trusting ourselves means we trust our sense of what feels right for us instead of obsessively trying to do anything and everything sometimes all at once. Some people live only by intellect‑by rational decisions. Some live by intuition. The best response is a balanced com­bination of both. If we're not sure what our body needs, ask it. Then lis­ten for the answer. Watch for the guidance that comes.

7. Do you believe you deserve to have an illness or the loss or problem you're going through? Go over your Master List of Losses. Are there any losses on that list you believe you deserve or that you believe are pun­ishment for something you've done wrong? If we're in prison, our loss of freedom is a consequence or punishment (unless we're truly innocent). Sometimes loss is a consequence of something we've done. Are you will­ing to forgive yourself? If you're sick, are you ready to get well? Sometimes when we've been sick for a long time, we begin to identify with our illness, calling it "my HCV" or "my cancer." Some alternative health care professionals say it's very important to stop claiming the ill­ness as ours and begin to claim our health. In the book The Worst Is Over by Judith Acosta and Judith Simon Prager, the authors talk about the power of words and how our bodies respond instantly to them. Tell your body that it's healing, that it's okay to heal. My acupuncturist, Hank Golden, recommends talking to our bodies, telling our bodies that it's okay to stop hurting and time to get well.

8. What do you believe about life after death, or life after life? Someday we all will die. Many people know that knowing what they believe about life after death helps them to deal with the loss of loved ones and face their own death. If you’re unsure what you believe, begin a search for Truth.

Purchase Melody's Book OnLine The Grief Club The Secret to Getting Through All Kinds of Change
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