If
possible I would reproduce every word of a New York Times best seller
”Love, Medicine and Miracles” by Bernie Siegel, MD for everyone living
in Trinidad, our diseased society.
This
book advances the cautious acceptance of medical researchers that there is
a definite link between our minds and our illnesses be it diabetes,
cancer, arthritis, or heart disease. We can bring it on and we can get rid
of it. Its a mind blowing concept in a culture where we believe most
diseases are God-given and suffering and death pre-ordained.
Before
you switch off thinking it’s some heebie jeebie unscientific stuff,
consider that this is written by a respected surgeon, a professor at Yale
University, who has witnessed countless cures of the seemingly incurable,
does not believe in the word ”terminal“ and this from decades of
personal experience with cancer patients who decided not to die. He
doesn’t believe in the word dying. You’re either alive with all its
pain and possibilities of the living or dead.
One
of the first stories Dr Siegel tells us is that of a man who was so ill
that doctors were reluctant to waste an experimental drug on him because
they thought he would be dead the next day. Dr Siegel decided to give him
a shot of the drug.
His
recovery was instant. Curious about the patients recovery that bore little
relation to the drug the doctor gave the patient another shot—of
water—which he told the patient was a double dose of the
cancer—fighting drug. The patient felt so well he was discharged.
However when the patient discovered a newspaper article saying that the
drug didn’t work, he got sick again.
In
this book crammed with evidence of the power of the mind, Dr Siegel says a
surprisingly simple act, can change the physical reaction of a patient to
her illness and cure. One patient always used to throw up immediately
after her chemotherapy. Her husband would always have a bag ready for her
to throw up in as she got into the car. But one day she opened the bag and
found a dozen roses. She never threw up after chemo again.
Dr
Siegel’s mission is to let people know of their own healing potential.
He believes that the immune system can affect the mind and vice versa.
There are as many techniques to controlling the mind from meditation and
visualisation to support groups and therapy.
He
records a study in a California hospital shows that meditation increased
blood levels at three important immune system hormones by 100 percent. The
power drive with its constant anxieties, keeps the fight or flight stress
response of the body continually switched on, diminishing the body’s
ability to fight illness.
Siegel
gives the example of Garrett, a young child who had an inoperable brain
tumor that didn’t go away after radiation. His parents took him to the
Psychophysiology Centre at the Menninger Clinic where he learned how to
control his body with his mind.
The
child decided he liked the idea of rocket ships as in a video game, flying
around in his head shooting at the tumor. Months later it disappeared
entirely.
Although
Siegel admits that wishing away tumors, visualisation and meditation
doesn’t work for everybody he does believe that the real antidote to
disease is to ”grow up, and turn the power drive into helping others.“
Here’s
how Siegel separates the survivors from the rest.
