Recovering from Disease

So: you got sick, perhaps seriously.
Maybe there was nothing you could have done to prevent it. What happens now?

You are under the care of your doctor, but you have a keen interest in studying the disease and learning from others' experience how your recovery can be speeded up. You spend some time reading books, magazines and health sites on the Net.

The Ontario provincial government has set up Telehealth Ontario - 866-797-0000 - to provide 24/7 access to a registered nurse for any type of medical question.

In times past these matters were strictly left to your doctor. Nowadays, more and more find that they can benefit themselves by studying what's out there. Some of them become more knowledgable than their doctor in a narrow field, seeing how the disease works in their own particular case. In fact, a significant proportion of ill health is caused as a result of legitimate medical treatment, for example the side effects of drugs.

Many suffer from pain, some to an almost unbearable degree. This site My Pain Management Tracker may help those in pain to find methods of managing it.

Whatever are the prescriptions of modern medicine, your body should eventually heal itself. What you can do is give your mind and body the best possible environment for healing. Treat your body well. Put into it the nutrients it needs, and exclude the toxins.

As a sufferer from bursitis, and arthritis in my right hip (see story below) I have found that glucosamine cream is effective in removing a lot of the pain in 10 - 15 minutes and lasting up to a day. This can give you a good night's sleep. I have recently ordered a crate of Dr. Janet's Glucosamine Cream from Dr. Newton's Naturals to get a significant price reduction. Also see here.

There is power to heal in your subconscious mind. The study of placebos shows us that we can synthesise natural healing processes more powerful than drugs. We are only beginning to understand the way the mind works in healing.

Recent work on multiple personality disorder suggests that a patient may exhibit a disease (eg diabetes) when in one personality, but not others. This is is discussed "The Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot. It is possible for some multiple personality subjects to switch their personalities at will, instantly removing and re-introducing the symptoms of diseases associated with different personalities.

Dr. Carl Simonton has pioneered the power of the mind in cancer treatment; eg. visualizing cancer cells being destroyed, and his methods are now accepted in the medical world.

Neuological disease, and Multiple Sclerosis in particular, is widespread. Research is continuing to find cures. If you have MS or know someone who has, this site covers information you need to be aware of.

If you live in Ottawa and need physiotherapy after a sprain or muscular injury, I can personally recommend the Palladium Sport Medicine & Physiotherapy Centre, tel (613) 599-0299, 1000 Palladium Drive, Box 103, Kanata, On., K2V 1A4 (Scotiabank Centre, Gate 3).

Recent research has measured how spiritual care tends to the body in the hospital environment. I have personally experienced Christian healing, both at Catch the Fire, formally TACF, and during the Billy Smith Miracle Crusade in Ottawa in February 2000. It is extraordinary to me how few people seem interested in seeing and experiencing Christian healing, particularly Christians. Yet God does heal today and the age of miracles did not end with Jesus. Visit God's Healing Word.

Pastoral care is a significant factor in physical healing. Many hospitals employ pastoral care workers, and pastoral care teams exist in all good churches to minister to people in difficulties of all sorts, including health.

Having attended the Kanata Town Hall public meeting of the National Forum on Health, I have been a recipient of many of their publications, including the video "The Future of our Health and Health system: Stories of choice" and the final report: "Canada Health Action: Building on the Legacy." I would be more than happy to lend these to interested parties. Visit the Ontario Government's Health INFOline.

Cancer New magazine: Challenge...Life with Cancer The first issue was distributed with the Ottawa Citizen in March 1997. It is published by The Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre Foundation. Tel no is 613-247-6884; e-mail is foundation_ott@octrf.on.ca. If the first issue is anything to go by, this is going to be an important source of information to cancer sufferers, and (I hope) people who don't want to become cancer sufferers.

Ontario Drug Benefit : Trillium Drug Program
If you don't have drug benefit coverage and spend more than 4% of your annual income on prescription medication, this program will absorb the cost for qualifying medications. This web site includes an application form. The annual deductible is based on income.
Trillium Drug Program

Arthritis

Since I was diagnosed in 2003 with rheumatoid arthritis in my right hip and leg, I have looked at what I might have done to prevent it. My doctor prescribed Vioxx as an anti-inflamatory, and recommended physiotherapy. Vioxx worked just fine but I don't want to be relieving symptoms for the rest of my life; I want a cure. Also, in the Fall of 2004 Vioxx was removed from the market because of concerns that it countered the effects of blood thinners and could cause heart attacks if used regularly. The physio is also effective in relieving the pain and you can get daily exercise routines from your physiotherapist. I attended a healing service at Capital City Church in Ottawa on December 19, 2003. One thing prayed for was getting off Vioxx. Three days later we left for England for Christmas. My sister Neesa gave me a wonderful book called Arthritis and Folk Medicine, written in 1961 by D.C.Jarvis, M.D. It turns out that we have forgotten more about dealing with arthritis than we have learned in the drug age. For several years I took apple cider vinegar every meal, a teaspoonful in a glass of water, with a teaspoonful of honey. More recently I switched to capsules. Apple cider vinegar has other benefits. However, medical science has not yet accepted there any benefits from apple cider vinegar. These negatives are based on lack of nutritional content; but the point is acidic content - read the book! I went again to Capital City Church for another healing service on January 23. This January the reports linking MS and rheumatoid arthritis to a lack of Vitamin D (Nature) came out, and I started drinking Nu Skin "Appeal" more often, a good source. In June 2004 I was introduced by a friend to natural anti-inflamatories, Emu Oil and Dr. Janet's Glucosamine cream. After a day (!) I was noticing distinct reduction in the residual aches that my regime had not eliminated. These products can work within minutes for some arthritic and similar problems. Neesa sent me a bottle of K.A.T. arthritis lotion, an aromatherapy herbal treatment which does give short term pain relief. In October of 2004 I switched from basic glucoseamine to Pharmanex's Cartilage Formula Glucosamine, and after two days was most impressed by the reduction in pain in my leg when climbing stairs of getting into the car. In March 2005 I bought some Emu oil from Spruce Valley Emu Farm, 609 Governors RS East, Paris, ON., 519-442-0404 which worked as well as glucosamine cream.

I am now completely off Vioxx, and not only managing the lower level of pain I now have, but have been given the other insights mentioned above. In 2009 my Dr. gave me a prescription for Cellebrex, which was beneficial but not nearly as effective as Vioxx. Then I tried Aleve, available over the counter. Wow! One tablet a day from January 2010 and I am a new man. I have had an assessment for a hip replacement, and the X-Rays clearly show the serious reduction in cartilage in my right hip, but the hospital feels that with physio, swimming and Aleve I don't need the op unless the pain gets a lot worse. Cartilage Formula may the most effective of the remedies I have yet used, since it may be preserving what little cartilage I have left.

In the fall of 2010 my friend Ron Piggott, an expert in hip problems, recommended that if I would be needing hip surgery, then I should have it asap, and recovery would be faster the younger and stronger I am. I saw my Dr., who agreed, and got me in the queue. The initial date was Summer 2011, but by May my date had slipped to November. On 20 July I had a call from the hospital. A cancellation had come up, and I could go in a week later! Details of the operation on my right hip, and recovery, are on my blog. It is now June 2012, and I can say the op was successful. I still have arthritis, but no pain in the hip joint, and what minor aches I have are fully managable with one GNC "Triflex" anti-inflamatory capsule a day. See a more recent comment about Triflex on my blog. The operation has reversed my previous decline and is one of the reasons I am still working at 73.