Do you need to take back your power?
Personally, I will not let the US Medical System take my power away. In my humble opinion, the US Medical System is broken. No, this is not late-breaking news. Thousands and thousands would agree with this statement. The break down goes well beyond insurance companies and national health care policy. The doctors themselves are broken. They are trained too heavily in some areas and not enough in other areas. Most of them are overworked and exhausted by the mandates of insurance companies. Many of them have lost touch with both their humanity and that of their patients.
The system that trains traditional western doctors is broken. These doctors are trained into a corner. They are taught to see the body in bits and pieces rather than an integrated system. So many become so specialized that they either forget or never learned how to see the big picture. Some no longer know how to think outside the box they are in. Most aren’t ALLOWED to think outside of their box, their specialty.
Have you ever hear the phrase “Horses before Zebras?” It’s a phrase that medical practitioners are indoctrinated with that emphasizes looking for the common over the special. While I can understand this to an extent, in my experience this line of thought morphs into “What’s the easy answer here?” and “How do I get the patient out of here as quickly as possible?” This interpretation seems to be primarily because they are allotted very little time by the insurance companies to spend with each patient. Unfortunately, many doctors are so consumed by this phrase that they can’t see anything but horses.
Furthermore, the gender bias inherent in the medical system can cause serious problems. Most doctors base their conclusions about presenting symptoms based on their training and the latest research in their field. Why is this a problem? It’s a problem because the training and research still skew heavily towards males. In fact, the average research patient is a 165 lb white male. At the most basic level, you and I both know that the bodies of men and women are very different.
Related to this, I blame Freud for propagating the idea of women as hysterical. I don’t mean funny. I mean the diagnosis of women as crazy because the doctor doesn’t understand their bodies and symptoms. Still today, women are more often misdiagnosed and mistreated because of this inane gender bias in the medical system and culture. This is an extremely important reason to take back your power!
On another note, I will absolutely give you 100% that doctors train for years and years. But that does not give them the right to assume they know my body better than I do. Nobody knows your body better than you do if you are paying attention and listening closely.
Back to the insurance dictated system traditional western doctors work in. Most of these doctors are forced to turnout patients every 15 minutes and then have hours of paperwork once they are finished with the patients. I don’t blame these doctors for looking for hacks and pressing the easy button as often as possible. However, I do take issue with doctors losing their humanity in the process; their compassion and kindness. Way too many are forgetting to look their patients in the eyes; to see and hear them, to recognize them as more than a number.
Why am I talking about this now? What does this have to do with needing to take back your power?
As you may know, I have been fighting a mysterious neurological illness for over 1 ½ years now. I have seen a wide range of doctors. With the exception of a select handful, these doctors have been arrogant, rigid, and cold; cruel even. I have just returned from my latest attempt to get answers from doctors at a renown clinic. These doctors, stuck in their box, failed me, talked in circles, and slapped the easy button.
As a result, part of me is incredibly deflated.
Part of me is not surprised; I have been here before.
Even though part of me feels more resilient than the first several times this happened,
Still I wept.
AND there’s a part of me that is rising even stronger and louder than the last time. That part of me is ready to kick ass and take names. That part of me says screw them, I’ll figure it out myself. That part of me is returning to the wisdom of my inner knowing; listening harder and more deeply. That part of me is building a strategy to master my own brain, my own body. That part of me recognizes with immense gratitude that I do have a small team of local doctors who see me, hear me, and are truly trying to help. These are the doctors I need to continue to work with closely. This is my plan; deep listening, mastery, gratitude, and collaboration.
The medical system is broken.
I am not broken.
You are not broken.
We are wise.
We are powerful.
We are not alone.
How will you use this knowledge?
How will you take back your power today?
Who else needs to hear this message?
May it be so!
