Why I Stopped Viewing Pharmaceuticals as Evil
I’ve been struggling for the last decade with daily chronic pain. When I say pain, I mean so debilitating there have been days I could not get out of bed, barely function in the world.
Being diametrically opposed to the pharmaceutical industry, several years ago I embarked on a long journey to find answers. To be transparent, to find a ‘cure’.
I tried many holistic healing methods. Acupuncture, medical mediumship, Ayurveda, eliminating inflammatory foods, leaving a stressful job to work from home, chiropractic, talk therapy to heal old wounds, meditation, emotional release, walking in nature, gong baths, ecstatic dance, and chiropractic.
I found value in each modality. Slowly, the relationship with my body moved from avoidance and hatred…
…to connected and nurturing. I’m so grateful for the amazing practitioners who supported my journey and taught me so much.
After three years on the path to seek better health, I ran into a plateau. Regardless of how many things I tried, the pain was still omnipresent.
Each January, I set a powerful affirmation for the entire year. 2019 invited me to ‘hold my current beliefs lightly.’
It would take a novel to describe the opportunities I’ve had so far to step into this affirmation. Suffice it to say, one of the most important beliefs calling out for my attention was that ‘pharmaceuticals are evil.’
A product of companies whose only motivation is to amass great wealth on the backs of the ill and vulnerable.
Because I know some of you reading might agree with that statement, I want to acknowledge the rejection of laboratory-created medicine has valid roots. When you consider that medicine for thousands of years of human history was what our ancestors dug up from a field or grew, the idea that synthetic pills are going to solve every ailment seems a little idealistic.
There are bad actors in pharmaceuticals, just like in any sector of society. There are also incredibly caring people who are driven, often by personal or family experiences, to find ways to reduce or eliminate suffering.
Do I prefer to use plant-based medicine and holistic modalities first?
Absolutely. I grew up in a household that grew and canned our own food, where herbs were the medicine of choice.
So, it took a lot for me to overcome this bias and schedule an appointment with an allopathic rheumatologist. Otherwise, I was facing what it would mean to be 46, to stop working and apply for disability benefits.
At the end of the appointment, as I anticipated, the doctor recommended trying out a daily medication for my fibromyalgia. I gave my ‘inner resistor’ a pep talk and went to the pharmacy to fill the prescription.
The first week, I experienced intense nausea. ‘I told you so’, shouts my naturopath within. ‘But it’s working’, says another voice, ‘the pain is dramatically reduced.’
Ah, I can’t believe I finally found something, and I won’t be able to take it!
‘Not so fast’, states my doctor. ‘Try changing the dose and the time of day you take it’.
Then, everything changed. My body adjusted and the agonizing pain I had endured for so long began to tone down. Not completely, but enough to make it possible to have restful sleep, gently exercise, spend time with my spiritual communities again and have the energy to run my business every day.
For that, I’m so grateful to the chemist who developed this medication and the pharmaceutical company who brought it to market.
Healing is a complex process, that often requires several different approaches over time. When we automatically reject a certain modality, we limit the possibilities.
Do I still have further to go? Sure.
But the process of holding my beliefs lightly opened a door for a new lease on life…
