Book Suggestion (Mind-Body Connection)

[Guest guest]

Folks- I have recently found a new doctor, whom I love. I don't know if any of

you have done this, but this particular doctor has a retained practice. In other

words, I have paid her $5K/year to retain her services as my personal physician.

She is on call to me 24/7, will make house calls, etc. It is seriously like I

have a new best friend that is my doctor. She calls me, emails me, etc.

I met with her the first time a few weeks ago, and we discussed my entire life

and health history and a multitude of reasons why I might have CMT and a spinal

cord tumor. There is more to it than just genetics. You can't blame genetics on

it entirely, as there are others with defects in their f Simple gene that

are not experiencing what I am currently experiencing. It is the same thing with

smoking. I don't smoke, but People say that cigarettes/smoking kills, but that

is not entirely true...not everyone who smokes regularly gets lung cancer and

dies...there are a multitude of reasons for disease, which brings me to my

point....

This doctor that I am seeing encouraged me to read a couple of books. I told her

that I was really struggling with thoughts of dying young (I am 38). My maternal

grandmother died at 38 of Lymphoma and that, along with my most recent health

situation has made me a little paranoid about every weird feeling in my body. I

have not been depressed, but I cry a lot more than I ever have...sometimes, once

a day. It always is in grieving the " old Amy " in a roundabout way. She thinks I

might be depressed...or having a hard time getting beyond this health situation.

So, she and I are both concerned about my thoughts...wanting to keep my internal

talk as positive as possible...apparently, you can really use that powerful mind

that God has given you, and either talk yourself into giving up and dying or

talk yourself into living an

incredible life despite this adversity. I want the latter.

So...she referred some books to me that I have read and have really enjoyed, and

I wanted to pass them on to you too. This first is called " Love, Medicine and

Miracles " by Bernie S. Siegel, MD. He is an Oncologist, so it revolves around

cancer, but just slip CMT into the slot and there ya go. He totally believes

that the mind is perhaps the most important factor in whether you get cancer or

not and once you have been diagnosed with cancer, whether you survive it or not.

It is very interesting and I highly recommend reading it.

The second book is called " When the body says no " - Understanding the

stress-disease connection. This one is by Gabor Mate, MD. He reinforces a lot

of what Dr. Siegel said about the mind/body connection and how it is really more

instrumental in our health than

genes, diet, exercise, environmental factors, etc. In the book, he summarizes

the latest scientific findings about the role that stress and individual

emotional makeup play in an array of diseases, including heart disease,

diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, MS, arthritis, cancer and ALS, among others.

He talks alot about those who repress emotions all their lives and how that

suppresses our immune defenses.

For me personally, I am a Type A personality. When I was in corporate America, I

was stressed beyond belief. I did not suppress my emotions, but I did get into

quite a bit of conflict in both my personal/professional life....too much. Both

of these books totally

spoke to me and made me realize what harm I had and was doing to myself.

Anyway...If you are sick and tired of dealing with doctors that can't give you

the time of day because the insurance industry is sooooo greedy that it forces

the doctors to churn patients all day, I would highly recommend retaining a

physician. So far, I am very impressed.

The books are great. If we are going to survive CMT and live long, healthy,

productive, happy, joyful lives, we have to get out mind 'right " . It is

difficult to see the bright side of this disease sometimes, but there is joy to

be had despite this ugly disease.

Good luck friends!

Amy Hodge

[Guest guest]

Amy,

My father died when he was 59. The whole year I was 59 I had a kind of

nightmare where I would wake up, knowing I had violated the rules for waking

up, and therefore I was dying. These occurrences were bothersome although I

sort of almost got used to them. The strange thing was that when I reached 60 I

stopped having the dreams. I now don't have to worry, I guess, until I reach

88, the age at which my mother died.

Elinor

[Guest guest]

Hi Amy,

Your new doctor is practicing what we (in Calif.) term " Concierge

Medicine " . I'm pleased it works well for you, however, when a doctor of

mine jumped to CM, I got off the ship and found a new doctor because I

didn't feel CM was right for me for several reasons.

Yes, yes, keeping a positive frame of mind is most powerful. I read

Bernie Segal years ago. You may want to read some of Norman Cousins'

Anatomy of an Illness " and Jampolsky's " Teach only Love: the Twelve

Principles of Attitudinal Healing " . Also all of Larry Dossey's books.

Some other books listed in our Database section may also be helpful to

you as well.

About the year after I was diagnosed, I started to fear dying young - partly due

to a warped idea of what CMT was (I was a kid, not much known about CMT then,

nor much explained to me). On one hand this fear made me a very driven

individual, on the other hand, I also drank too much to suppress that fear. It

was about 16 or 17 years later that I

confronted that fear, changed my attitude, and in turn changed my life.

Gretchen

[Guest guest]

Amy,

I think it is wonderful that you do have a doctor who is treating the whole

person and giving you options besides medicine. I know of Bernie Siegel's works

also. When my father was dying of pancreatic cancer, he would listen to his

tapes when he was going to sleep to keep the mind positive. He did live 18

months longer than the doctors predicted, so I feel fortunate to have been given

the extra time with him.

The mind is a very powerful thing and can take you to the lowest of lows and

back up to the highest. Of course, this therapy works well in conjunction with

traditional medicine.

Jackie