Jessica Flanigan - The Loving Diet: Going Beyond Paleo into the Heart of What Ails You

JESSICA FLANIGAN

GOIN G BEYOND PALEO IN TO

THE HEART OF WH AT AILS YOU

DOCTORS AND TESTS

Your heart holds the healing.

Modern medicine saves lives. Thats not up for debate. Thats a fact. My ex-husband is a Type 1 diabetic. If he didnt have insulin to manage his autoimmune disease, he wouldnt be alive. Think of all of the scenarios in which medicine has saved lives: C-sections, emergency appendix removal, antibiotics, chemotherapy, and open-heart surgery. This list is endless.

People become frustrated with their doctors and with traditional medicine because they dont feel better working with them. Often, they find alternate practitioners and start to ignore their doctors orders, or they stop taking their medications. Its important that you dont do that: Do not take yourself off your medication. You have to work with your doctor when you are prescribed medicine. Discontinuing any prescribed medicine could make everything much, much worse.

To be clear, Im by no means asking you to ignore modern medicine. In fact, Im asking that you make it the third prong in The Loving Diet working with doctors in conjunction with the mind-loving element and the food protocol. Still, that doesnt mean stop questioning.

Autoimmune disease is a chronic disease. In some cases, doctors dont have the skill to naturally treat it. That doesnt mean that theyre ill-intentioned or that they dont care, but Ive noticed that people who want to take a deeper look at their disease, like we are in this book, often move past the wall theyve hit with a traditional doctor or are asking for more information than their doctors can offer.

I want to suggest to you a new approach to creating a health-care plan if you have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. It requires that you take some control, ask questions, and be in charge of your health care. Or even that you become a partner with your doctor. It might feel odd to question a doctor or change altogether if you dont feel okay with what you hear, but I want you to know you can. You know your body. You want to find someone who is aligned with your needs and gut reactions. Start with these three steps:

1. Always start with the question Is this path the most loving to me? Then begin hiring your team. It is important to keep in mind that you always have a choice and you get to hire (and fire if you need to) your whole team.
2. Doctors play a very important role in your health-care plan, and being sure that your team has your best interests at heart, listens well, and advocates for you is critical.
3. When you look at your team and start to build it from scratch, consider consulting more than just doctors, including:

• Pharmacist: Your pharmacist is a wealth of information about drug interactions and ingredients.
• Spiritual advisors (minister, priest, rabbi, guru): This person will help you put your disease in perspective and give you strength to work through the hurdles.
• Alternative medical practitioner: A concrete and complete healing plan is important and, oftentimes, an alternative practitioner will round out that plan, adding to what a medical doctor will provide you with.
• Friends and family: The day-in-day-out cheerleaders are important to your journey. Keep them informed and lean on them.

I want to suggest to you a new approach to creating a health-care plan if you have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. it requires that you take some control, ask questions, and be in charge of your health care.

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR DOCTOR

There was probably a time or an era when people went to the doctor and did what they were told without questioning the diagnosis or prescribed fixes. Today, things are a bit different. There are more alternatives available, probably more diseases and illness we know of, and more opportunity for you to be an active partner in your own health care. You may also have some flexibility to find the right doctor to fit your needs instead of sticking with one who doesnt.

If youre at the stage where youre completely frustrated and youve tried all the advice of your doctor, thats okay. Keep on it. Keep asking, keep pushing, keep finding a like-minded caregiver and practitioner. Its frustrating. You want to be heard and maybe you feel like youre not.

Having said that, I understand if you wind up going down the rabbit hole with a doctor who charges fees not covered by your insurance, who has had you buy supplements and prescriptions, and who has given you a battery of expensive tests. Still, you have to trust your gut and keep looking if you feel like its not working. I suggest asking yourself continually Is this the most loving path for me? and seeing what develops. Theres one way to ensure your practitioner is the right fit. Its almost like trusting that youre going to find the right people by having the intentions that you will. And as you make your way through all the prongs of The Loving Diet, perhaps a clearer picture of who can best help will emerge.

If you have a frustratingor even baddoctor, you just have to trust it and believe that whatever comes forward is meant to come forward. Every experience that we have has some kind of wisdom for our life, whether it be a bad experience or a good experience.

I tell people to find what and who resonates for them and their own personal philosophy. Sometimes, that is a medical doctor. Sometimes, its a naturopatha doctor who has medical training at a naturopathic medical university. Sometimes, its an Asian medical doctor. Half of it is finding out what you feel aligned with and, when you find it, trusting it.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN YOUR PRACTI TIONERS

• They let you ask questions.
• They continue to ask questions on your behalf.
• They have a true willingness for your health to improve.
• They dont put you down or discount your ideas and opinions.
• They freely admit when they dont know or understand something.
• They are open to working with others on your healthcare team.

MANAGING YOUR OWN MEDICINE

Start a file of everything relating to your disease, so that you can easily find all of your information when you need it.

• Get copies of everything, so that if you hop around or go to a specialist, you have all of the information at your fingertips.
• Dont leave your doctors office without labs in hand.
• You can do out-of-pocket testing at places like DirectLabs.com and others like it and then bring your labs to doctors until you get answers. See my Wellness Panel.

MY PERSONAL WELLNESS PANEL

Every year I do a battery of tests on myself. this list of tests looks at thyroid function, blood lipids, levels of iron in the blood, and general inflammatory markers. this blood work is my suggested starting place to truly find out your basic physiology. on Directlabs.com, this is called the APEX 5 Panel. Youll need a doctor or nutritionist to interpret the results. Heres my list:

Comprehensive Metabolic Panel w/ eGFR

Complete Blood Count w/ Differential

C-Reactive Protein

Ferritin

Hemoglobin A1c

VLDL (very low density lipoprotein)