Russian Roulette - Got Away With It This Time by Sonia Jones

What does prevention mean to you? In conversations I have with people about health, they tell me they are really healthy. How does one define healthy? Is healthy an absence of a disease? In other words your Doctor has not given you a label, a named disease, so therefore you must be healthy. I hear things like - I have my annual check-ups and various tests every year and I am told I am 100% okay. What does this mean 100% okay?

I observe people - they eat and drink what they like, don’t exercise, are over weight and put up with many physical annoyances. Annoyances like aches and pains, headaches, blocked nose, painful digestive problems, asthma, poor quality sleep, fatigue, various skin conditions like eczema, hypoglycaemia, and more. But would definitely consider themselves’ healthy. Many people I know consider taking tests as their ‘preventative’ measure/medicine.

To me this is like ‘Russian roulette’ you are pulling the trigger until one day, bang! The tests suddenly, out of the blue come up with some ‘negative result’- you’ve taken the bullet! Just like that. Suddenly you have heart disease or diabetes or suddenly you have a thyroid that has stopped working properly. So why should you worry if the tests keep showing you are in the clear this time, the barrel was empty this time? In truth you don’t just wake up one day with a thyroid problem or a heart disease problem. It has taken many, many years to develop. Few tests give you any indication of things in their very early stages, for instance a thyroid that is struggling. The tests will keep showing your thyroid is absolutely fine. Then when ‘broken’ so to speak you are told your thyroid is under-active and you need medication, what happened in the interim, the time leading up to this problem?

It is true some cancers can be detected in their early stages of development and that is wonderful. However, most research shows time and time again that a really healthy lifestyle can protect us from cancer in the first place. And that a typical lifestyle encourages the on-set of cancer. Here is one example – you may decide to take ‘hormone replacement estrogen’ and as a ‘preventative measure’ so to speak take an annual mammogram, because artificial oestrogen is known to increase your chances of breast cancer. Many people consider the mammogram as their preventative measure, to me it is Russian roulette. To me prevention is not even considering taking something that would encourage cancer in the first place but to find herbs, supplements and a change in lifestyle to minimise the natural transition and generally make you healthier in the long run improving your quality of life.

Eat, drink and be merry, after all the tests keep telling you that you are 100%. However you know that the barrel has a bullet and eventually the gun will go off. Or maybe you think you can cheat that lifestyle of yours and not pay the consequences eventually. Many of the common diseases we suffer in the developed Western world are preventable in a truly preventable sense, with changes in lifestyles. Change your lifestyle now, don’t wait until it is serious, a negative test result, before you change things. Get healthy now.

This is where alternative medicine differs from conventional medicine. We see things differently health is not the absence of a disease, but a real state of wellbeing and vitality. We see all symptoms and signs as significant (no matter how small) as they all add up to reveal a picture about your state- which organs and systems are struggling, what deficiencies and imbalance you might have. Though alternative medicine is really good at treating chronic conditions, it is also good at preventive medicine too.

I would like to make it clear it is important to have tests, but just because your tests reveal everything is okay, don’t be complacent remember chronic conditions take years to develop, most often undetected until it is well advanced. I am saying take the test but don’t think that is all you have to do. For true prevention you need to start changing things today.

Copyright Sonia Jones ND Naturopath and Nutritional Therapist from The Haven Spa and Wellness Clinic. The Haven is a team of – Naturopath (British), Acupuncturist (British), Sports injury specialist (Australian), Chiropractor (Canadian), we see many Americans and Europeans and treat a large range of chronic conditions as a team, in a beautiful mountain resort in Panama. www.thehavenspa.com