tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9079966692589146930.post4336167745745674250..comments2014-03-08T07:21:38.098-06:00Comments on The Long and Winding Road: Weighing InSonja Gerstenbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08704329939875919094noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9079966692589146930.post-46972787097189872092013-10-19T18:30:16.179-05:002013-10-19T18:30:16.179-05:00Thanks for reading, Andy, and for reposting!Thanks for reading, Andy, and for reposting!Sonja Gerstenbergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08704329939875919094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9079966692589146930.post-2679772375753853342013-10-18T22:38:17.776-05:002013-10-18T22:38:17.776-05:00Wow! You are well written. Excellent and thought...Wow! You are well written. Excellent and thought provoking for this republican Christ-follower and thinker. Thanks!<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18184632842125643975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9079966692589146930.post-58792549440177780342013-10-18T10:57:39.126-05:002013-10-18T10:57:39.126-05:00Cont. 2 ...Do I think we have a long way to go for...Cont. 2 ...Do I think we have a long way to go for medical professionals to begin coaching all of us on lifestyle changes as well as providing access to medicine when necessary? Yes.<br /><br />Do I think that just not providing access to medicine to persons who cannot afford it will get them to live a healthier lifestyle? No.<br /><br />I am beginning to see greater efforts from my insurance company to provide access to lifestyle related information and coaching as they begin to anticipate insuring all Americans.<br /><br />Maybe, by including everybody, we will actually end up with a more balanced approach to health care. <br />In the meantime, people still have heart attacks, people still go into diabetic shock, people still have life-threatening cancer, and people still get in car accidents or other trauma-related injury and need medical care to put their bodies back together again before we can begin to talk about lifestyle. And kids are born with birth defects that result in lots of necessary treatment, often not covered as preexisting conditions. <br /><br />And if we are really going to talk about lifestyle than we need to figure out how healthy food can be more accessible than junk. But that, also, might take government intervention and it also might challenge our free enterprise. So it is certainly not simple, something on which I think we agree.<br /><br />Do I think there needs to be balance? Yes. Do I think excluding an entire population of people from the equation will achieve balance? No.<br /><br />But I do believe that we, as a nation, are a sum of our parts. We are no healthier than our least healthy member. So, as long as we insist that each person is responsible for themselves only, we will be less than our potential.Sonja Gerstenbergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08704329939875919094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9079966692589146930.post-55801031165047407862013-10-18T10:57:10.413-05:002013-10-18T10:57:10.413-05:00Cont ...As to the debate about whether medicine is...Cont ...As to the debate about whether medicine is the “answer” I tend toward a balance of both medicine and lifestyle. I realize the example I used was that of a diabetic, and in many instances diabetes is a result of lifestyle choices. However, I don’t agree that all of medicine pushes drugs and ignores lifestyle. <br /><br />My children’s well-child visits both track their physical, social and emotional development as well as serve as an opportunity for my pediatrician to take stock of our lifestyle choices via a questionnaire we fill out. She then coaches me and/or my child based on the information provided (how many fruits/veggies we eat, how often the family eats a meal together at the table, how much takeout/fast food, servings of water/milk/juice/pop/Gatorade, etc./how much screen time/how much physical activity.) The only element that is medical are our vaccinations. I realize we probably disagree fundamentally about vaccinations, but I can live with that (as long as you don’t bring your unvaccinated child who has caught whooping cough to my school, wink). <br /><br />On the other hand, I have struggled with anxiety most of my adult life. It is a pervasive anxiety that does not respond to diet/exercise/rest/lowered stress. It just sits on my chest as if at any moment I’m going to take the biggest test of my life, even when there are no stressors present. I become angry and snappish with everyone around me and just want to vanish I’m so ashamed of myself. Medication has brought me relief and allowed me to be a contributing member of society. Do I think my anxiety is entirely inherited? No. I spent many years living under the constant scrutiny of an adult parental figure, trying my best to no “trigger” an outburst that would lead to me being the outcast member of the family for weeks on end until, for no particular reason, I was all of a sudden accepted again. I believe there was conditioning of my nervous system during that time that led to my current anxiety. A PTSD of sorts. No, I don’t believe it is unresolved emotional baggage about the trauma because I have explored the issue ad nausea to the satisfaction of therapists. It just is.<br /><br />My mother and my grandmother both also struggle with depression/anxiety. The choice to medicate was certainly not easy for them in a time when mental illness was hugely stigmatized, and it was only the gentle guidance of my grandfather that kept my grandmother continuing to seek care. I appreciate the position that genes do not determine our health entirely, but once again, I am not willing to say they play no part at all. In fact, I suspect many, many illicit drug dependency issues are at root mental illness undiagnosed and the ramifications for the children those parents care for become health problems down the line.Sonja Gerstenbergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08704329939875919094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9079966692589146930.post-47350254022889141522013-10-18T10:54:42.270-05:002013-10-18T10:54:42.270-05:00Erik, Thank you for your response and the kind ton...Erik, Thank you for your response and the kind tone of your comments. To answer your question, “Is it the responsibility of religious ‘organizations’ to take care of the least of these?” My answer would be no. I believe that religious institutions should serve only as meeting places and as conduits for the actions of what is, truly, the church, the body of Christ, its people. And as the body of Christ I believe we bear the responsibility to care for the least of these …Without determining first whether they are deserving of said care. Our job is just to continue to extend ourselves in love and service, and sometimes that comes through advocacy for needs.Sonja Gerstenbergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08704329939875919094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9079966692589146930.post-68476414446545005072013-10-18T08:57:14.939-05:002013-10-18T08:57:14.939-05:00Sonja, I appreciate your comments on this topic. I...Sonja, I appreciate your comments on this topic. It certainly is not an easy one to unravel. As a chiropractor, I see the health care debate in a slightly different light. Health problems are not caused by a lack of medications, access to timely medical care or "bad genes". In fact, our heath care system is the 4th leading cause of death - mostly attributable to adverse drug reactions. My kids' generation is the first in the history of this country to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. <br />Health problems are caused by lifestyle choices that we make day in and day out. Kids learn poor lifestyle choices from their parents. When they succumb to diseases like diabetes due to poor lifestyle choices, doctors give them medications, but do little to address the underlying "cause" of the disease. We've created a chemically dependent society that is constantly waiting for the new "miracle drug" instead of examining their own choices - as if disease is something that attacks from the outside and we're helpless to do anything about it. <br />As I said in the beginning, this is not an easy topic to unravel and I could type for another 17 hours on this topic, but I believe the answer begins with personal responsibility, not with legislation, increased access and increased spending. Is it the government's job to take care of "the least of these" or can that be done more efficiently by faith-based organizations?<br /><br />Dr.Erikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11130918866687492128noreply@blogger.com