I started seeing a
more-holistic doctor about 10 months ago for three main problems that my regular physician was willing to treat only through prescription drugs (not something I was interested in). The first problem was despite getting enough sleep and considering myself a generally healthy person, I was constantly dragging and felt lethargic (I had no illness or anemia causing this.) The second was that I hadn't had a period (and therefore no regular female cycle....) for about 4 years. The third was that I am at risk for arthritis and already having some joint problems and want to prevent that problem as much as I can.
They introduced me to the idea of energy flow, which now fascinates me - I'd love to learn more about it. The basic idea is that our bodies are made of matter (what you can touch and see, and what Western medicine recognizes) and energy (can't be seen or touched, generally not treated by Western medicine methods). Matter and energy work together to make you and me alive.
This is really elementary and I'm probably not saying it right, but the idea behind acupuncture is that our bodies have 12 paths along which energy travels, called meridians, and each has a different "life function" associated with it. The meridians connect all parts of our body and are the paths by which positive and negative energy, and communication, flow.
Spiritually, I really connect with this idea. Thanks to the popularity of yoga and similar practices in the US, a lot of people are familiar with the word Ch'i (closely related to other words we throw around like yin and yang, even though I never really knew what those words meant before). Ch'i is the common energy that we share with each other, with the universe, and from a spiritual perspective, Ch'i is the energy that is God, i.e. Ch'i = God. It is energy that can't be created or destroyed (i.e. it is eternal), Ch'i is the energy that forms everything and holds it together (i.e. it is the Creator), and the force that not only gives, but actually is, life itself.
I really believe that our physical bodies and spiritual entities effect each other, so as I've learned about this it naturally makes sense to me.
So, the 12 meridians all work together, think of it like a circle (eternal). If 1 meridian is blocked and energy isn't flowing, it doesn't just block that one communication/energy pathway, it blocks the whole circle. So having a problem in one area of the body can potentially cause problems in other areas that, at first glance, may seem totally unrelated. Most of the connections my doctor has made about certain aspects of my health and the symptoms I have been experiencing would have never occurred to me, but the more studying I do on my own, the more it starts to make sense.
The three main things this doctor (actually it's a husband/wife team so I should pluralize it...) has done for me, treatments I guess I could say, are:
1) teaching me about better nutrition and some of the ways certain foods have a negative effect on my body, causing reactions and blocking energy flow;
2) regular acupuncture;
3) natural supplements for "matter" substances that my body needs but has become deficient in for one reason or another (I could write another big long post just about that...).
Expanding on #1, for the past 10 months I've been working hard to significantly
reduce the amount of dairy and gluten I consume, as well as just eating a lot more whole, natural, organic foods. I used to eat dairy every day. Once I stopped and got it out of my body, I started realizing there are immediate negative side effects to eating dairy. Sour cream and ice cream are the worst, after nixing dairy I've indulged a couple times and had these and actually gotten sick. Other things just make me feel bloated and lethargic.
Ok, getting to the point of this: One of the things I've known I need to work on for 10 months is cutting back on caffeine. I decided to focus on the dairy and gluten first because I really didn't want to give up my caffeine. By the time I got the dairy and gluten thing down, it was Christmas, and I so love my hot (usually caffeinated) drinks in the winter, I couldn't bear the thought of giving it up. Then it was busy season. I have admitted this for the past two years, and will completely own up to this fact: From about February to May, I am physically dependent on caffeine. I'm not exaggerating, I'm too embarrassed to admit how much I consume during that time but let's just say there's been a few days where I've done the math and actually been scared about long term effects on my health.
I have at various times over the past 10 months tried to gradually "reduce" my intake to wean myself. But, I have one of those personalities that tends to be "all or nothing" and weaning myself from things doesn't really work. I always ended up back to my venti sized habit, downing more diet cokes during the day than I need to (and I don't even want to be drinking soda!) and sometimes on those 16 hour days, I'd find myself caffeinating at dinner time so I could stay at the office until 10 or 11 and keep busting work out.
Quick side note: I was raised not ever drinking caffeine, not even a coke, so I know it is possible to have plenty of energy without caffeine because I did it for about 22 years.
So last Sunday morning, I enjoyed one last Luxurious Smooth Rich Slightly-bitter Foamy Soothing Hot Tasty Cup (uh...large mug...) of Comfort and then called it quits. I'm happy to say on day 6 of my journey, I woke up naturally at 7 am with no withdrawal symptoms (yes, I have been having them). I fell off the band-wagon on Wednesday and ordered a diet coke, and the withdrawal stuff I'd been going through subsided after the first glass...I got weak and let the server re-fill it two more times.... which made the withdrawal symptoms return full-force on Thursday. But today? No more aching head, no more "fuzzy" brain feeling, no more "I'm dying for caffeine" feeling.
I'm very proud of myself.
Hello, my name is Elise, and I've been de-caffeinated for 36 hours. :-)
I know there are lots of de-caf versions of everything under the sun, which I may try during the winter when it's chilly in the morning. And I'm discovering there is a plethora of herbal, non-caffinated teas that are great right before bed.
I am not going to completely nix caffeine for the rest of my life, but I'm going to be very careful about only enjoying it occasionally and not "needing" it to function. Even during busy season. I intuitively know that natural energy will make me much happier and much healthier.