I know I mentioned this somewhere else on the site recently, but I thought I would address it here, as it is something that Dr. Weil mentions– Is your doctor open to therapies other than conventional medicine?

Personally, ours is not. I was admittedly a bit disappointed by this fact when I addressed it with her at my last appointment with her, last week. She was very quick to brush off any ideas other than those available by prescription, and was quick to advise me to be very careful. Not to say that it wasn’t good advice (to be careful), but it was a bit disappointing, especially when comparing her to my last doctor (in Tennessee) that is very interested in it. My mother is still going to our doctor in Tennessee, and she has relatively recently advised my mother to take things such as garlic and cinnamon, and to supplement with other vitamins, and has even taken her off of some of the medication that she had been taking prior to this (cholesterol drugs, ect). After all, most of our drugs have been derived from naturally occurring chemicals, haven’t they?

Anyway, Dr. Weil says, on p. 21, that “it is not too soon to be looking for a physician who knows conventional medicine and is open to using alternative treatments, for a skilled guided-imagery therapist or hypnotherapist, for a practitional of traditional Chinese medicine, or for other people you would like to have on your support team. Nor is it too early to begin learning techniquest that will help you maintain equanimity through trying circumstances, such as breath control, meditation and cultivation of calmess and acceptance of change.” He goes on to say that we are going to learn, in this book, about some of these things and how they will help us PREVENT health crises in our lives. Boy do I need that!

I hope you will join us in the group as we learn more about keeping our immune system healthy!!