Spiritual Healing

No, not the type of healing that Marvin Gaye sang about.

I read an article in Men's Health today (if it seems like I'm totally shilling for them, I'm not. I just have a subscription and in general I think their advice is pretty useful. Although when they quote studies it often makes me cringe because they dumb down--and sometimes misinterpret--the results. But I digress). It was about spiritual healing and how it can be used to help manage chronic conditions. Apparently the author had a really nasty case of Crohn's Disease where he had over 40 inches of his small bowel resected and had been taking over 16 pills a day (!). That's a lot. Anyhow, his disease kept on getting worse (probably because he admittedly did little to manage his condition; he ate and drank and did whatever he wanted), and he eventually got so disenchanged with western medicine he went to Brazil to see a spiritual healer. Apparently a month after he went, his condition abated considerably, and it has been helpful to him. This article made me think: can we use our minds and our faith to heal ourselves?

I think so. I'm not a huge alternative medicine advocate (especially since a lot of these herbs and stuff are completely unregulated and as my Pathology teacher Dr. Meredith has told us many a time, "Nature is not benign."), but I definitely think there is a place for it, particularly with things like meditation. I can't help but think that the increased pace and stress in our lives contributes to all these inflammatory conditions (we're ALWAYS on high alert), and so to calm these things in your body by using your mind seems plausible to me. But I think that this type of stuff has to be incorporated into a broader lifestyle change: less stress, taking better care of yourself by eating well and exercising regularly and making time to relax. I don't think it's a coincidence that I was diagnosed with Crohn's after working 16+ hours/day for months at a consulting firm in Germany. I had gained 10 pounds since graduating from college (I was pushing 190 lbs; by comparison I am now about 170), didn't have time to really exercise and I always felt bad. So being able to change my lifestyle and do something that I enjoy (yay for science nerd-dom) and take time to take care of myself has probably been key in maintaining my health despite my Crohn's.

Kinda proving my point, the author gave up alcohol, red meat and spicy foods after his faith healing session. So it's a combo of mind and body (and hopefully only a little bit of meds).

When they put the article on-line, I will make a link to it, otherwise just go to the store and grab the issue with Jamie Foxx on the cover (apparently, he's a "Mens Health Guy"). In the meantime, I'm all for exploring alternative therapies that can SUPPLEMENT whatever you are doing now to manage your disease. Talk to your doctor about it.

What do you think?