Welcome to Journey to Health. This website is intended to offer information regarding the things I have found to be helpful in my battle with myelodysplasia. I am not a doctor. You are responsible for the choices you make with regard to your health care. I just want to provide some information and resources for people who are struggling not only with myelodysplasia but dis-ease in general. My dis-ease just happens to be myelodysplasia; yours may be arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or even just fatigue. I believe dis-ease is a result of not giving our bodies the tools it needs for optimal health coupled with an overload of pollutants and toxins. I am not saying you caused your disease or that I know how to cure it. What I do believe is, if today, you make a commitment to building health rather than fighting disease, you can experience a major shift in your health. I have.
I am not making any medical recommendations and you have a responsibility to yourself to listen to your own heart when making health care decisions. When I decided to build health rather than fight disease I found information that talked about raw diets, antioxidants, organic food, probiotics, colonics, massage, acupuncture and well - the list goes on. I found myself pursuing alternative or natural medicine. The alternative folks seem to focus more on the things one should do to build health rather than just fight disease. Both can be done together by the way, it is just disturbing how much money, time, and thought is put into fighting disease versus building or better yet, preserving health.
I do not feel that we have adequate information regarding how to preserve and build health from our government and medical industry. We have been terribly misled and continue to be misled by the drug and food companies. The advertising you are constantly subjected to has created beliefs about your health that just are not true. I do not feel that our medical system is anywhere close to adequate. I choose to research everything my doctor recommends, I have turned down most of the drugs they have wanted to prescribe to me and I am constantly looking for nutritional or natural ways to manage my health. You will not find much information on this site about conventional medical approaches. I have not had much success with conventional methods and I am loyal to my practice of trying natural approaches first. I am not saying I would never use drugs, there is a drug call Aranesp I use to keep my red cells boosted. My doctor wanted me to have it every 3 weeks. I decided I would only use it if my hemoglobin drops below 12. I haven't needed it now for 8 weeks. I have been offered and even prescribed other drugs but I have not used them. Drugs for COPD, stomach issues, fevers, pain, etc. I have learned how to manage most of this stuff naturally.
UPDATE: 12/08/06 I have not needed Aranesp for 6 months and my counts remain strong!
You also won't find any magic bullet cures here. Building health means a big lifestyle shift for many people, it was a huge one for me. You cannot take a pill and expect it to solve all of your medical issues, you need to nourish your body, mind, and soul. You need to take good care of yourself and provide yourself the right fuel to perform optimally. That is a difficult task in this world of fast food, processed food, chemically laden food, dirty air, chemical exposure, mercury poisoning, depleted ozone, and disturbingly inaccurate information from the media. You are the only one that can shift from fighting disease to building health. I don't have all of the answers, please enjoy my site and also continue to seek out more information to help build your health.
I like the way you think and write. I found your site by researching alternatives to Procrit injectable blood builder, which I has been prescribed as I experienced near kidney failure back in Feb 09. Have you been able to raise your Hemoglobin to acceptable levels by diet or other form?
Posted by: Philip Deardorff | April 23, 2009 at 08:52 AM