A friend of mine texted me last week saying “at least one of us is healthy” in response to me reporting the good news on her husband’s labs.
The thing is, she is healthy despite having an enlarged spleen from polycythemia vera.
Sure you could be like, wait that’s a big word medical condition that implies she’s not healthy.
Here’s the thing, just because you have a diagnosis doesn’t equal lack of health.
You can be healthy with the chronic condition you have going on.
It comes down to perception of your condition and a bit of programming that’s happened to all of us on this planet when it comes to the medical system.
If you perceive your condition as something that just by the presence of it makes you unhealthy, you will always have that thought in the back of your mind, even if the rest of you feels healthy.
With that thought process do you think you’d ever be able to get the body to improve the condition?
Likely not.
Yet, what if you perceived the condition as something you have and need to monitor? (of course I’m not talking about ignoring it).
What if you could be healthy despite having the condition?
Better yet, what if you are healthy despite having some abnormals on your labs?
Something I ponder on a daily basis when I review labs with patients.
What’s “healthy” to you may be something completely different to someone else.
Perhaps looking at “health” through the lens of what causes dis-ease may be a better approach.
Dis-ease occurs when blood flow and nutrients do not reach a group of cells, tissues or organs in the body for a prolonged period of time which in turn causes damage to the area.
My patient’s condition impacts blood flow through the spleen & entire body, plus I could argue lymphatic flow as well as detox though the lymph and vessel system.
Her biggest risks to her health are thick slow flowing blood that could cause clots to form.
How does she stay healthy with this diagnosis?
Ensure adequate blood flow through the spleen and in the entire body.
I have her working on myofascial release all around the spleen to help the nearby organs keep moving.
She’s exercising regularly now to keep her blood flow and lymph going.
Her health goal? Keep the blood and lymph moving as those are the things that will prevent her condition from worsening.
All we’ve ever seen be out of the normal range in labs is related back to thicker blood, an enlarged spleen and a little elevation in cholesterol.
The cholesterol’s been corrected with diet, exercise and some hormone support.
So back to the blood, spleen and a diagnosis that’s considered chronic.
Just because you have a diagnosis doesn’t mean you’re not healthy it means you have a thing you need to pay attention to and you can be healthy with that diagnosis.
The medical system uses a diagnosis to bill insurance and describe what’s off in your system.
It’s up to you to choose to embody the diagnosis or acknowledge it and discover what you can do to be and feel healthy despite it.
I’ve seen plenty of people with normal labs but they still don’t feel “healthy”.
And I’ve seen people with abnormal labs say they feel “healthy”.
So if being healthy is a perception, what could you do right now to improve how you perceive your health?
And if you are doing all the things you need to be healthy, you feel good but your diagnosis has you convinced you’re not healthy, what could you do to change that perception to focus on what you are doing instead?
Here’s to changing perspectives,
Dr. J
