There are times we simply can’t get our stomach and intestines on track.
We rush up and down the toilet in finding solace in that stimulating squatting position to release these inconveniences. Or we resort to more pharmaceutical solutions, sold over the counter and as advised by a certified pharmacist in the blink of an eye. Our sleep and appetite are off-balance, and our mood may be dropping below acceptable levels.
Nothing new or dauntingly surprising, I guess.
In some cases, a visit to a hospital or a doctor is next on the agenda when discomfort persists. We often see a 5-minute visit to a medical professional as a last resort when we are desperate and previous actions to alleviate the internal nuisance. Especially here in Thailand, it is fairly common (in almost 95% of the cases) to receive medications to battle the illness. Done and dusted. And in the same amount of time as when you order your favourite coffee while on the go.
“Come back in 2 weeks and let me know the results,” is followed with a new appointment schedule, a bill to pay, and a list of pills and ointments as the cure for what you have described. In approximately 5 minutes, a possible conclusion is drawn as to why you feel the way you feel.
The result? An assumption of what medicine you need to take with a prescription of how and when to swallow it.
For many hospitals and clinics, time is money.
And I cannot blame them.
A complete analysis of what churned your insides 360 degrees in the wrong direction is not on their agenda. Time is one thing; the other is that many private hospitals in Asia have stockholders and owners to please.
This is completely understandable. After all, many of us work for companies to make money.
In a large number of cases, clients tend to forget that parts of their upset stomach or rumbling intestines are a part of what they eat. We often possess the lack of knowledge of the outcome when following specific nutritional habits. When we don’t feel right – be it feeling dizzy; a lethargic mindset; an upset stomach, headache, or other slight ailments – we tend to blame it on being tired or stressed out. We rest and try to digest; we grab hold of an over-the-counter solution to see whether this turns that irritable feeling into a thing of the past.
Medications can provide comfort once the diagnosis is accurate. The accuracy of what is causing this sees an incremental amount of clients reaching out for pills. Or making an appointment with a medical specialist. The side effects of prescribed medication may even increase the number of discomforts, in favour of getting rid of that annoying discomfort.
We all see the prescriptions. Yet, we still go for it. As long as we can get rid of that unwanted guest in our body, we are happy.
Studies have shown that not only chronic diseases are on the rise because of our eating habits. Also, the amount of smaller, superficial treatments with medication is profiting the medical industry. The results may be financially beneficial for them, and you feel that your visit has been a successful one.
People take more medication for short-term solutions without looking at the root cause of these (re)occurring ailments.
Our diets have dramatically changed over the past decades. Our DNA is evolved over centuries to be aligned with what we have foraged, hunted, and scavenged during humanity’s younger years. All this was part of our lives before a new wave of palatable food joints decorated the streets and motorways. From our stomach to our intestines, it is not always easy for our body to place these newly introduced foods in a specific nutritional chapter.
The advances in the medical world are impressive. What we can achieve in such a short time to get the seriously ill and the wounded back into society is very impressive. Researchers are spending a huge amount of time and effort finding new ways to cure the human race of all these modern diseases. My hat’s off to the medical world. I mean this.
But ample cases of the sensation that we are physically and mentally off track does not always have to result in grabbing a strip of 12 pills and a bottle of whatever interesting name they’ve come up with.
Can it be our overall diet? Or our sleep pattern? Maybe your daily movement is the cause of it all?
Is it perhaps possible to avoid spending time and money going to the drug store or meeting a medical practitioner to ask for a 5-minute consultation without knowing more about your diet and lifestyle?
Isn’t it worth pondering about this, consider the fact that today’s society is going through caloric changes which our ancestors have never been through?
Can that 5-minute consultation you may have to pay for also be used for a 30-minute consultation to see if future visits to a medical specialist can be avoided?
Good health is not something we can buy. However, it can be an extremely valuable savings account. | Anne Wilson Schaef
Important:
By no means and under any circumstance will and can I make medical suggestions or advise treatment. I am neither licensed nor qualified to assess and advice recommendation about any physical ailments you may have. I am bound by my own Code of Conduct in not providing medical advice. However, I may recommend clients to see a physician or specialist when I notice off-balance health markers.
