WHY am I sick?
If a tree in your yard or a flower in your garden suddenly died or was sick, would you just chop it down or pluck it out and throw it away, or would you take it somewhere (such as the University of Idaho Extension Office Master Gardener Clinic) to find out WHY it is sick or dying and try to rescue it? If your car stopped running or was making some horrible sound, would you just take it to a junkyard and dispose of it, or would you take it to a mechanic for a diagnostic workup? Would you be happy if they just duct-taped it together and said you’re good to go? If not, why do that to your body? The number one question you should always be asking is “WHY?”
Don’t be satisfied with a duct-tape approach, and don’t be satisfied with, “you’re just aging.” Everything that goes awry in the body has a WHY. There is a reason — usually a multitude of reasons — for WHY it is behaving the way it is.
For example, if you have been diagnosed with heartburn or reflux, ask WHY. Don’t be satisfied with just taking a prescription for the rest of your life. Why do you have heartburn or reflux? If the doctor says it’s because you have too much acid in your stomach, ask WHY. Your stomach doesn’t just produce too much acid (or too little acid, which is more commonly the cause of heartburn) for no reason. You have to dig deeper. What is your body trying to tell you? Keep asking. Keep digging. Know that for nearly everything your body decides to do (which we call a symptom) there is also a remedy for it, once we know the WHY. What we are digging for are the roots — the root cause.
For nearly every condition there are several root causes that usually coalesce to become a disease. The art is in the discovery. Each symptom is a piece of the puzzle. As we fractionalize medicine, we lose this art of discovery. Each specialist tends to look at just their little piece of the body and forget that we are one being. Each piece of the puzzle, no matter how unrelated it may seem on the surface, gives a whole picture of the root cause of the disease.
Like a tree that is dying, look to the soil. Look for what is stressing the tree out so much that it becomes sick and/or dies. Are we over-watering or under-watering? Is it growing in the best light? Does the soil need nutrients? Is the soil loose and absorptive or compact and hard? Resisting nutrients? With our tree or our vehicle, we will not be happy until we get to the root cause and fix the real problem and not just prop it up and let it stay sick or broken. WHY are you doing that to yourself? Start asking “WHY?”
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Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with nearly four decades of experience. Carling is a “Health Detective.” She looks beyond your symptom picture and investigates WHY you are experiencing your symptoms in the first place. Carling is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d’Alene clinic. Visit Carling’s website at www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about Carling, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Carling can be reached at 208-765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.