Mind/Body Medicine

Photo by Tash-C

DocTalk

With Dr. Anca Lamse

Here’s another great message from Dr. Lamse.  Today, she addresses the Mind/Body Connection and how it affects our lives and health.  Please give her your full attention; she has great wisdom. ♥Kellie

Mind-body medicine: The medical field based on the concept that your thoughts and emotions create health or disease in your body.

Prolonged fear, grief, helplessness, anxiety, anger, resentment, and other negative emotions can reduce the effectiveness of your immune system, nervous system, and endocrine system, thus increasing risk of cancer, as well as autoimmune, gut, and heart conditions.  Negative emotions that are not dealt with properly also lead to an increase in the stress hormone called cortisol, thus causing and/or exacerbating memory loss, anxiety, weight gain, insomnia, heart palpitations, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and other conditions.

One of my role models in dealing with painful situations is King David from the Bible.  Those of you of the Christian or Jewish faith may remember the story about David and Bathsheba.

David, being king, wanted Bathsheba to be his wife and therefore sent her husband to a dangerous war zone, where he was killed. This was a sin before God. Therefore, the first child conceived by Bathsheba (with David) was destined to die.

When the child became ill, David prayed that God would change His mind. However, on the seventh day the child died. Though David’s servants were afraid of what he may do once he heard the sad news, they noticed with astonishment that David got up, washed himself, and ate. He reasoned that the child will not come back to life, so David might as well go on with his life. How practical and wise!

Let’s do everything possible to prevent painful events, but if they happen, let’s process (“digest”) the events and go on with life.  A finite period of grief is also appropriate.

The medical field that deals with one’s state of mind and how it relates to the health of the nervous, endocrine, and the immune systems is called Psychoneuroendoimmunology. It’s a mouthful. German words can get that long, so those of you who speak German should not have any problems pronouncing it.

Negative emotions that are not processed appropriately may lead to pain in various body areas, such as back pain, migraines, and other pains.My colleague, Dr. Richard Halstead, D.O., who does osteopathic medicine (including body adjustments) has been telling me stories of how once a patient identifies a long-standing grief or resentment, the body often readjusts and some medical conditions are resolved.

There is a saying in osteopathic and chiropractic medicine to the effect that “the body remembers.” It remembers the negative emotions, and translates it into pain. Aligning the body helps the mind, and processing emotions in the mind, help the body recover.

What is the moral of the story, then? We need to process, or “digest,” as it were, the painful events of our lives. We need to find meaning in hurtful circumstances. We have to figure out how that event made us a better person, maybe more compassionate, maybe stronger. A lot of breast cancer survivors tell me that the breast cancer was a gift to them, which opened up their eyes to enjoying every day. Why not try to do this BEFORE we get diagnosed with a serious disease?

♦ Take time to rest. If you don’t, your body may get sick and indirectly get access to that rest.

♦ Create, compose, and find activities that make you lose track of time.

♦ Let go of resentment; that hurts you, and not the person you resent.

♦ Set them free, pray for their well being, wish them well.  That way, you will set yourself free.  Moreover, the body resources and energy that would go towards resenting that person and reliving the hurtful memories will go towards your own healing.

♦ Cancerous cells are always present in your body. The cancer diagnosed last year may have been there for 10 yrs, growing silently. Let’s keep our immune system strong by healthy eating, healthy thinking, exercising, resting when needed, so that the body can kill the errant cancerous cells that are floating around before those cells multiply enough to become a tumor.

♦ Get your body adjusted by a chiropractor or a an Osteopathic Physician when you are under a lot of stress.  Your body fights better that way, and you may avoid getting sick.

♦ Getting a massage, if that is very relaxing for you, may accomplish a similar purpose.

♦ Remember: take time now to rest, exercise, eat well, be kind, or you may have to take time to be sick in the future.

I learned how to adjust my body from Dr. Halstead, from seminars, and from my private studies. I use that knowledge whenever I feel stressed (in addition to taking herbs that help my adrenal glands). I adjust my body when I feel like I’m coming down with a bug. Many times I am able to prevent getting a full-blown cold that way.

 “prevention is better than cure, because it saves the labor of being sick.”

I agree.

Wishing you all the best of health,

Dr. Lamse

For more information about Dr. Lamse and the services she provides, contact: Lamse Wellness Clinic, LLC