CHAPTER ELEVEN PRISON OR POWER

CHAPTER ELEVEN

PRISON OR POWER

My oldest brother, Gordon, passed away much too early because of his alcohol addiction.  He was 68 years old when he died.  He was admitted to the hospital in California, in critical condition and died a horrible death, bleeding from every pore. He was having chemo therapy for cancer but his body was too weak and damaged from alcohol to handle the chemo treatments.  There wasn’t enough time for us to get there,  so I said goodbye to him on the phone. It was hard to believe that he was gone so fast.  I always loved him and tried hard to please him.  He was a strong man with a gentle heart and an iron will, but he could never conquer the alcohol addiction.   I wish he had believed in alternative treatments and a raw diet instead of chemo therapy.  His death was so tragic to me, and his struggle with alcohol was really hard on his family.   

                                   My last visit with my brother in California.

It's been said that more men die of their medicines than their diseases.  

“The human body is a marvelously designed living organism with the ability to grow, regulate, repair, and defend itself when given natural high-quality living nutrients.  Nutritional medicine doctors believe that “cleansing and supporting the GI tract and the liver can clear the body of any and all degenerative conditions.   Illness can be directly related to problems in the digestive and liver detoxification systems and their influence on immune, nervous, and endocrine system.  The degradation of the GI tract is one of the primary points at which health is lost.  When the liver is clogged the body cannot clear itself of toxins.  When liver overload occurs toxins are passed on to other organs.”

For a long time heavy metals and other toxins have been overloading my liver.  It is critical that I address the health of my digestive and liver detoxification systems.  When they are taken care of the body has the opportunity to reverse almost all degenerative conditions.  I hope that includes Parkinson’s.  When the body receives enough good nutrition, including whole food supplements that improve the GI tract and take the stress off the liver, then everything starts to work better.

We attended a Parkinson’s meeting at the University of Utah and tears came to my eyes when I saw what this awful disease has done to so many people.  The Parkinson’s patients looked like walking Zombies with blank faces,not just from the disease but also the affects of the drugs.  The meeting was all about drugs, there was no support for nutrition or alternative healing.   I am very blessed to know about natural healing because most people don't know!   

My sister has that same blank look after many years of taking prescription drugs for seizures, depression and anxiety.  After years of drug therapy and shock treatments she started having seizures, so she was given medication to stop the seizures.  When she refused to take her medication the court ordered her to be admitted to the State Mental Hospital.  When I visited her I saw that same look on the faces of the patients walking through the halls.   It was awful seeing my sister locked up with the other patients, and especially hard to leave her in that place, but  I was very grateful I could walk out of those locked doors into the sunshine and freedom.  I was even more determined to stay off drugs as long as possible and try to slow down the progress of the disease. 

Drugs can make people prisoners inside their own bodies.  Dr. Ann Tracy, author of “Prozac, Panacea or Pandora” has thoroughly studied anti-depressants.  Her research brought her to the conclusion that one of the many side effects of these mind altering drugs are seizures.  She wrote:  

“These reactions can be so bizarre that they can make us question reality.  The primary reactions are typically mental and emotional reactions brought on by interference with thought process and brain function, affecting the patients responses, judgment, behavior, cognitive reasoning, decision making abilities etc.  Physicians keeping patients on anti-depressants long term is becoming a widespread practice in spite of the evidence that they can set off episodes of mania.  Mania is an extreme and often psychotic state in which the brain is racing.  The kindling of epilepsy appears very similar to manic depressive illness.  Kindling is the term used to describe this process because the effect is similar to the kindling produced by adding wood shavings to a fire.  Kindling is also a term used in conjunction with seizures. The stimulus induced in the brain produces a seizure like effect causing abnormal excitability in the brain.  The brain becomes so sensitive to stimulation that even mild stimulation can set this kindling process off.  The brain develops a hair trigger response.  Kindling rewires the brain…..the brain reshapes itself anatomically in response to small stimuli.” 

Depression and anxiety are common in these stressful times and many people are taking anti-depressants, but this shouldn't be a long term solution and may cause devastating long lasting effects. Depression is a flashing red light, a warning that our bodies need help, just like the oil light in a car says it’s urgent to change and refill the oil.   Depression can be a warning that our life force and vitality are in need of help.  It’s time to check in with our bodies to see what is needed.  Dr. Deepak Chopra says in his book “Ageless Body, Timeless Mind”  that whether we like it or not a symptom is something the body wants to express;  it is a message and drugs suppress that message. If multiple drugs are prescribed for each symptom new imbalances begin to pile up.  The body cannot help but react to painkillers, tranquilizers, sleeping pills, beta blockers and all the medications commonly prescribed.

My tremors are getting worse so I need to accept the fact that drugs will be a part of my life.  My neurologist  at the University of Utah Clinic, Dr. Thulin.  helped me understand Parkinson’s and what the medical profession can do to help.  She said  I need to take dopamine drugs and the clinic would help me regulate the drug support I need,   She said I should have 10-20 good years because I’m so healthy.  There are lots of people with Parkinson’s who do well on medication, but it takes time to balance the medications before they work well.  I tried different medications, dopamine agonists, to see which one was best for me.  The side effects were very unpleasant and some made me so sick I couldn’t even function.  The most common drug for Parkinson’s, Levadopa, made me really sick, with nausea and headaches and I felt like a zombie.  Even with the drugs I couldn’t see much difference in the tremors.    

I took the medication the day we went to the Jordan River temple.  We were asked to be the witness couple, but I declined because I felt so sick.  During the session the spirit whispered to me, “You cannot be a witness when you take this drug, do not put yourself in the hands of an enemy (pharmacology) but the Lord would lead me and give me strength to bear my burdens, so I can be a witness for truth."  I went home and looked up enemy in the scriptures.  In the Doctrine and Covenants 42: 43 it says:

"And whosoever among you is sick, and have not faith to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food, and that not by the hand of an enemy.  And the elders of the church, two or more, shall be called, and shall pray for and lay their hands upon them in my name;  and if they die they shall  die unto me,  and if they live they shall live unto me." 

I stopped taking the drugs and waited on the Lord for further instructions. There are many voices claiming to have the answer for healing.  I need the Lord's guidance so for now I will choose herbs, diet, and faith……At the top of the list is faith;  the faith to be healed.  Faith is much more difficult to obtain than a prescription,  but “he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed.” (Doctrine & Covenants 42: 48)  We can be healed through our faith in God.  It takes faith to make a priesthood blessing work,  both the faith of the priesthood holder and the sick person.  This is God’s appointed way of healing the sick, drawing light down from heaven through priesthood power.  The scriptures teach: 

"It is by faith that miracles are wrought;  and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men;  wherefore if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.” Moroni 7: 37

For those who have not yet “sufficient faith to be healed” God has given “herbs and mild food.” My heart overflows with gratitude when I see the wonderful herbs growing wild in the fields around our home, as well as those in my garden, free for the picking.  Even the poorest person can have herbs if they have knowledge.  Knowledge is power!   Many of the cures of modern medicine originated from herbs.  I believe that God will lead me to the right things to heal my body.  He is the great physician and healer, and he can heal me, in his own time, if it's His will!

                                       Field of Dandelions, excellent for the liver.  

An old Chinese Proverb says, “He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes the skill of the physician.”  We give our power away when we choose drugs over controlling our diet and the end result is prison.  When healthy and balanced the body makes its own hormones and heals itself.  Drugs are created from a synthetic base, and they confuse the body about how to function.  There are many wonderful healing modalities that can help fill in the need for synthetic hormones and drugs.  Dr. Elmer Green said,  “Patients must begin to change from passive recipients of medical care to active, self-responsible participants.”

Parkinson’s is a terrible dis-ease, but It’s my flashing red light to change and take care of my body.  Some people believe that 95% of dopamine is gone when the tremors appear and it can never be regenerated, but I don’t believe that.  The body is a wonderful gift that heals itself.  I watch my cuts and scrapes mend and my energy and life force have returned with the wonderful living foods I eat.  Why can’t dopamine regenerate?  Why can’t the brain and nervous system heal?  Exercise and nutrition are crucial!  Music can help speed up recovery of both physical and mental health.   A Chinese doctor, Wang HsuTong,  believes music holds great promise as a non-invasive treatment and is superior to drugs, which he feels should be used only as a last resort.  

                                            Our daughter's gift of music.

“The power of music to integrate and cure is quite fundamental.  It is the profoundest nonchemical medication.” Dr. Oliver Sacks said this when he testified  before the U.S. Senate about  the therapeutic powers of music in treating neurological disorders.  He described a patient with Parkinson’s “who was motionless most of the day but could play the piano beautifully  for hours and when she plays her Parkinson’s disappears and all is ease and fluency and freedom and normality.  Music liberates her from her Parkinsonism for a time, not only music but the imagining of music.”

                                             Our dancing grandchildren!

There is an epidemic of overuse of prescription drugs.  Drugs can take away our personal power and our gifts, as well as our opportunities to serve.  We can choose a different path and ask God to lead us to the answers to wholeness and health.  When we choose a better road, perhaps the harder path, God will give us power to do what he sent us here to do!  The scriptures teach:

“Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.”   Doctrine & Covenants 10: 5

I stopped taking the Parkinson’s drugs.  The next time we were called to be the witness couple in the temple,  I accepted, and God blessed me to do it, even with the tremors.   Perhaps I can be a witness for truth, even with Parkinson’s!  I have faith that God will give me the power to do all things he sent me here to do.  Jesus Christ is the healer and the great physician.  It’s faith in Christ that will make me whole.  Our mission scripture in Cambodia has become my “life’s mission” scripture: 

“And Christ hath said; If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.    Moroni 7:33  

         Visiting the place of my brother's ashes with his daughter, Nicki.