This is my second blog of a series of blogs on flawed perspectives on health. Many of us wait too long to fix health problems instead of prioritizing our health and self-care. I share the importance of not waiting to fix health issues specifically focusing on why physical self-care is so important.
Maybe this isn’t true for you, but I think it is becoming more and more common! For many of us, we end up with minor health symptoms: minor fatigue, back pain, constipation, gut pains, hormone problems, recurring migraines, and don’t search for the root cause or treat it right away. Maybe life is too busy, maybe we think these things are normal, they happen with age, or we are honestly not sure what to do about them. OR maybe you have tried to deal with the situation by turning to medication, never finding the reason why these things keep occurring.
Many people shrug off a lot of health problems deciding they can just learn to manage the symptoms since they are not completely disrupting their life. Understand: I’m not focusing on a health issue that has reached the stage of no longer being able to go about your life (work, take care of family, do chores, do fun activities, and so on). I’m talking about the pain you feel every day that might hurt, but is not so agonizing you can’t do most of your normal everyday activities.
My Story of Ignoring Migraines & Low Energy
Five years ago, I was only having some random migraines, maybe some low energy, but I didn’t recognize it at the time. Nothing was keeping me from my day-to-day life. Then all of a sudden I get some stomach flu and my whole life turned upside down (more on that in my about section). But it wasn’t the flu. The flu just pushed my body over the edge where it couldn’t fight off all the problems happening internally anymore. So loads of new symptoms started to appear.
Note on energy levels: Honestly, I had no idea what it felt like to have healthy energy levels, and many people don’t if they eat the standard American diet. It wasn’t until after I became sick and significantly changed my diet (not eating 3x the guidelines for sugar and eating a ton of processed carbohydrates) that I really felt more energized and vibrant than ever before.
Understanding Symptoms
Symptoms are the body’s way of telling you something isn’t right. We tend to think of symptoms as problems we are experiencing. But symptoms are the body’s way of saying something isn’t right, they are not the problem in and of itself. See symptoms can be super confusing because they often show up in an area of the body different from where the actual problem is.
A migraine typically isn’t where the problem is, it could be a liver problem, kidney problem, hormone problem, a lack of magnesium, an oral issue, or food sensitivity (those are some of the more common reasons).
Not paying attention to symptoms is like continuing to drive your car everywhere with the check engine light on and you haven’t even stopped to find out what the problem is. You say to yourself, “that’s okay the car is still running, it will be fine.”
Symptoms are warnings, not the actual problems with our bodies.
Waiting is also like knowing you have mold growing in the walls and you decide there isn’t that much there, so you don’t do anything about it. And mold spreads right? Just think of your body as that house where you don’t do anything and the mold just slowly spreads throughout your body. Or perhaps you paint over the mold. This would be equivalent to giving your body drugs, it covers up the problem but the problem is still there underneath the surface. Except taking drugs ongoing will often worsen the problem or cause other problems, as well.
Like many, I personally never thought of symptoms as warning signs. I always thought of them as the problem my body was having. Of course, the reason for this is because that’s how modern medicine works. Modern medicine addresses symptoms, provide pills and other treatments to fix the symptoms instead of searching for and fixing the root causes of the symptoms. They rarely address the underlying problems.
When Health Issues Take Forever to Fix
What happened to me is the medical doctors couldn’t figure out what is wrong with me. Even when I turned to alternative treatments it took years to get back to any sense of normalcy, and I’m still not 100% fixed (but I’m even better than normal in some ways). See it takes a longer time to fix something, the longer the problem is there. So when you have symptoms your body is screaming out for help, it says ” help me, find the problem now!”
Long-term toxins could be building up in your body and you could be just a handful of toxins away from your bucket tipping. Homeostasis (stability, balance, or equilibrium within a cell or the body (Open Curriculum) is only effective for so long. See we are exposed to so many toxic things, and we might all have toxins when were born. The body can become too overwhelmed, and you may just completely fall apart. Instead of one small symptom, you could have ten regular symptoms.
Self Care is Super Important!
We can’t take our health for granted when we are seeing an increase in just about every health issue out there. When we have ongoing fatigue, back pain, monthly or more frequent migraines, ongoing constipation, or diarrhea, we should try to find answers right away. Even if you are not experiencing any problems, keep this in mind because someday you might be.
In our society, we tend to be busier than ever! Many parents often are too busy taking care of their kids and don’t do enough to take care of themselves. But, taking time to take care of yourself – finding exercise time, relaxing time alone, time for meditation, time to investigate a health issue, will be helpful not only to you but to your whole family. As they say, you can’t pour from an empty cup. You can’t take care of others if you fall apart. But you also set a good example for them by making time for self care.
Somewhere between 75 to 90 percent of all physician office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints (PsychCentral). Stress is a major factor in heart disease, cancer, lung problems, liver issues, and accidents. Many of the leading causes of death.
When Answers Seem Impossible to Find
At this point, some of you are saying, “well I did go to the medical doctor and they couldn’t find anything wrong,” or “I’ve gone to multiple doctors,” or “I just had no idea where to go or how to find solutions.” And people I’m with you. I get that. The information is not readily available or easy to find. Web searches don’t always return the results that you are looking for, and are often favoring medical sites and pharmaceutical information. It is a HUGE problem, I know!
I Can Help with Information
I’m obviously, not a health practitioner, don’t want to be one, and don’t pretend to be one. I don’t have solutions for fixing any health issue. However, I plan on having a whole section of my blog devoted to different tests, treatments, and natural practitioners to investigate various common health problems. Additionally, I will also point to different resources for finding more information around some specific common health symptoms.
I read and research a lot and have connections with many alternative practitioners. I’ve researched over 40 different alternative treatments and natural medicine practitioners. I know a lot about finding answers to more common health concerns. And I don’t want you to get sick or be in pain and feel lost with no path, and have things continue to escalate. No one deserves to have to live in pain. The EARLIER you can address a problem the BETTER!
Don’t Wait!
I hope that I have encouraged you not to wait to fix any health problems! Don’t put them off, take care of yourself because you deserve to not be in pain. You also do not want your problems to escalate to the point where they keep you from enjoying and truly living your life.
Receive My Free Guide:
Affirmations and Tips to Developing Healthier Perspectives
View ALL my Flaws in Healthcare Blogs:
- Flaws in Healthcare Making & Keeping People Sick
- Perfect Weight Doesn’t = Healthy – Cellular Health Matters More
- ILLNESS is RARELY JUST PHYSICAL Problems
- How to Strengthen Your Immune System & Defend it When it’s Weak
- Facts on Germs & Immune Health to Uncover the LIES
- Cure vs Treatment & The MULTIPLE Problems with “CURES”
- Shocking History of Modern Medicine
- Expecting A Quick Fix & Relying TOO Much on Modern Medicine
- How We Focus More on Short-Term Health vs Long-Term Health
- Health is Deteriorating in the U.S. (Health Conditions Becoming Common)
Resources
Open Curriculum/Homeostasis and Regulation in the Human Body. Retrieved from: https://opencurriculum.org/5385/homeostasis-and-regulation-in-the-human-body/#:~:text=Homeostasis%20refers%20to%20stability%2C%20balance,keep%20a%20constant%20internal%20environment
PsychCentral/How Does Stress Affect Us?. Retrieved from: https://psychcentral.com/lib/how-does-stress-affect-us#1
MedlinePlus/Back Pain. (2020, December 30). Retrieved from: https://medlineplus.gov/backpain.html
I have a Wellness Coach Certificate, I'm an entrepreneur, an innovator, writer, and artist. My expertise includes over 7 years of marketing, research, and developing content for holistic health businesses. Plus, my own personal journey of becoming chronically sick: understanding what went wrong, and finding a way to heal and live a healthier life. I have a passion for wellness with a wealth of knowledge surrounding: wellness, flaws in healthcare, root causes for chronic illnesses, and alternative treatments.
