Your body needs a deep cleanse, so it can begin to "grow" good health once again. What seeds will you plant to start the healing process?

THE BASICS IN A DETOXIFICATION CRISIS OR “SICKNESS”

It’s important to become sensitive to your body; to your normal energy level and natural physical/mental rhythms.  Not when there is a change in these.  The most common symptom of an upper respiratory infection is a sore throat.

A detoxification event and “sickness” feel very similar.  The symptoms are often mistaken for the “flu”:  headache, fatigue, joint aches, and bowel disturbances.  The body has to have enough energy to throw off toxins, and when it does, these toxins can be eliminated through many channels.  The most common five eliminative channels of the body:

1. Respiratory system (experienced through the lungs and nose: colds, flu, pneumonia, bronchitis.)
2. Skin (boils, pimples, eczema, dermatitis)
3. Urinary system (Kidneys, bladder: stones, bladder infection)
4. Digestive system(through the colon and intestines: Polyps, tumors, diarrhea, gallstones)
5. Blood and lymphatic system (fevers, immune system dysfunction)

When the body throws off toxins or fights infection, inflammation results.

There are many reasons why people get sick.
There are thousands of sicknesses.
Everybody gets sick at some time.

Biochemical imbalances, stressors, genetic weaknesses, lifestyle and environmental factors all contribute to disease.  When you become “diseased”, body balance is upset—the “dis-ease” is the body’s attempt to restore balance.  You can either help your body or hinder it (suppression).
It’s much easier to prevent disease than to heal yourself once you’re sick.
If (and when) you do get sick, you can turn that sickness into an opportunity for rest, rejuvenation, balancing, insight, and detoxification.

The following procedures are usually helpful for anyone experiencing detoxification symptoms or a sickness.  These help the body restore balance:

1. Stop eating your normal diet at least 1-2 days.  After the second day the body needs protein (especially to fight infection), so small amounts of high quality, easily digested protein or amino acid capsules are useful.  Increase liquids: pure water, fresh, raw fruit/vegetable juices, broths, and teas.  Fasting properly is helpful in almost all acute sicknesses.
2. Begin to open up the channels of elimination:
3. Open up the bowel and make sure that you are not constipated.
4. Start skin brushing and hot baths/teas to induce sweating
5. Increase fluids
6. Begin deep breathing/use essential oils to open lungs
7. Use blood purifiers and move the lymph fluid
8. Start a protocol of therapeutic agents, depending on your condition.  They are usually some combination of vitamins, minerals, homeopathics, enzymes, herbs, etc.  Take enough to make a difference.
9. Begin using the power of touch and your mind for healing:                                       Healing touch, hugging, massage.      Visualization/affirmation/color therapy
10. Use drugs as a last resort—remember healing versus suppression.  Drugs  suppress symptoms and have side effects.  Food is also often used to suppress inflammation.  Be persistent in using the natural modalities of this section.

Remember, in natural healing, you need to support MOTHER NATURE.
Your body knows how to heal itself if you get out of the way and support the healing process in an ecological manner.

Remember, there are times to use crisis intervention and modern, standard medicine because either natural medicine is too slow or it is not appropriate for the sickness. For example, severe infectious disease, accident and trauma, emergency situations.

Wisdom in this area is knowing what to do and when to use the appropriate intervention for the best results—and least negative effects.

Just Some of the Conditions That Respond Well to

Functional/Natural Medicine:

· Weight Management

· Diabetes

· Stroke and Heart Disease Prevention

· Hormone Imbalances

· Fatigue

· Pain and Inflammation

· All Auto Immune Diseases (Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Thyroid disorders– such as Graves’ Disease & Hashimoto’s, Crohn’s disease, Diabetes Type I, Celiac disease, Lupus, Pernicious anemia, Rheumatoid arthritis, and many more)

· Infertility

Think of functional medicine as the tool that will help fix many chronic and psychological health conditions. What other tools might you need along this journey into Health?

· Acne

· Gastrointestinal Disorders: Gas, Bloating, IBS, IBD, Parasites

· Anxiety and Depression/Mood Disorders

· Sleep Disorders

· Allergies

· Immune Suppression/Prevention of Cancer

· Osteoporosis

· Endocrine Disorders

· Cancer

· Asthma, Bronchitis, COPD

· Neurological Diseases

What Is Functional Medicine?

The term “functional medicine” was coined in 1993 to describe the medicine of the future. In fact, today many complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners use a functional medicine approach that includes the following:

1. Patient Uniqueness: Each individual is unique. This uniqueness encompasses voluntary activities such as decision-making, personality development, and emotional response, and involuntary activities like metabolism of nutrients, cellular processing of information, and communication among the body’s organ systems. Functional medicine professionals realize that all individuals have unique metabolic patterns that affect their health needs, and thus, the concept of individuality is central to every aspect of functional medicine, from clinical assessment to the broad spectrum of treatment modalities.
   

   After you make the choice to work with a functional medicine practitioner, you are the artist helping to create your picture of perfect health.

2. Whole Body Approach: Functional medicine practitioners use a patient-centered approach to support wellness. This means that in addition to considering the overall health of the patient, functional medicine practitioners consider the beliefs, attitudes and motivations, as well as the physical, mental and emotional aspects of the patient.
3. Preventive Care: Optimal health is not just the absence of disease. Even the most minor symptoms can foreshadow more serious conditions later in life. This often happens via the “snowball effect,” in which a “minor” imbalance within the body produces a cascade of biological triggers that can eventually lead to poor health and chronic illness. For this reason, functional medicine focuses on the prevention, instead of just the treatment, of even the most minor imbalances.
4. Finds the Underlying Causes of Imbalances/Symptoms: Functional medicine explores the hidden roots of disease through in-depth questionnaires, laboratory testing and genetic assessment.

Through changes in lifestyle, environment, and nutrition, functional medicine professionals rely on their knowledge of key physiological, genetic, and biochemical processes for establishing an innovative form of total patient wellness amidst the diversity of interests in health care today.