So that was that! Also I have been studying for and just finished my Final ever Shiatsu Theory Exam! Wow which was more difficult than expected and not helped by the fact I got
quite hungry part the way through and there was no food in site! Anyway, after
a couple of days to think about it I keep thinking of questions I've got wrong!!
Let's hope I do better with my point location
exam coming up, which is a challenge because, essentially there is no easy way to remember Point locations and their functions, just read, repeat, memorise. Still it hasn't stopped me trying, I have made flash cards, recorded the points onto my iPhone, written them out in books and
drawn all over other books.
On other matters, my interest in corporations and the role they have in our lives,and in particular
healthcare has been reawakened, thanks to a doctors day on our course, the Film
The Corporation, the Book
Dirty Medicine. Thinking about the issues raised in these made me think of incident that happened to me.Many years ago now, when I got a very sore throat and swollen glands, I wasn't feeling so well, so I went the doc's . The doctor seemed only concerned that I got out of his office as quickly as possible. He took a look at me , asked if I had
eaten anything hot, prescribed me a painkiller and anti-
inflammatories, got me out of there. After two days I was feeling worse, totally spaced out and
unable to eat
anything, even slivers of cucumber are too
painfull to swallow, so, another visit to the doctors and I am
rediagnosed,
tonsillitus, that had now gone septic, septic
tonsillitus woohooo. I also find
out that the two drugs I was
presribed shouldn't be taken together, not only did my visit to the first doc's not make me
bettter, it made me more ill!
Now this illustrates a few things, not that doctors are bad, on
the whole
their intentions are good, they mean well. They are just limited, by time, by money and sometimes by the scope of the medicine they opporate within. The other things
that it
illustrates is where the power is. You feel ill, you go to the doctor. But what if the doctor is pushed around by so many opposing forces and regulations that their intention becomes not what can I do for this person but, how can this person help me meet my targets? Obviously this results in a 'health' system that is fundamentally flawed.
What to do?
Well this brings me to the film the Corporation, the way to tackle this problem is the same as the way you deal with corporations. Corporations illustrated
in the film are
sociop
athic monsters only interested in the bottom line. The way to combat them, is local groups, becoming informed of what they do, support local industry and take back what corporations have taken.
How does this apply to medicine, well the big problem in my story was that I was ignorant of what was happening to me. I was
dependent on this other to know about that
which is fundamentally mine, my health. If I had known what the symptoms were for
tonsillitis, if I had been more aware if my health, and finally if I had been aware
of other modalities of health care (Chinese Medicine for example)Then I would have been more
empowered, I could have have (possibly)
prevented the
occurrence, or once it had broken I could have self-medicated, or at least known enough to not trust
doctor number one's diagnosis.
None of this is to say that
allopathic medicine is wrong or bad, it's not. It does great things for an enormous
amount of people and here in the UK is under so much
bureaucratic and financial strain it is a miracle that it still functions.
The conclusion is that there
a lot of options for health care,
Allopathic health care in this country at at least, should be reserved for crisis medicine, whilst the strain be taken off an ailing health system by encouraging people to
search out different modes of health care, have an emphasis on prevention rather than cure and to empower people to know about themselves and what to do or at least what is most
effective when things are not right. Finally a whole being approach to health,
nbody, mind and soul is important.
All
thse changes require more than placing blame or pushing for structural change. They require a truly integral approach , individuals, groups, institutions, minds, bodies and souls. In short a change of consciousness when it comes to
healthcare of which
I hope I can play a small role.