Why do some patients’ recovery last many years, even after stopping their medications, while others seem to sail right into robust health? My answer to this question has developed after years of carefully observing patterns of healing among my patients, and can best be explained through the following analogies:
Illness is like being in debt. Taking medications, with its additional toxicity load, can minimize signs and symptoms (like getting a loan), but it is simultaneously increasing the rate of debt accumulation (like interest on the loan). The bigger the loan, the heavier the burden of interest that must be paid in time, and the faster the rate of debt accumulation. Such is the price of taking a prescription medication and ignoring the need to heal the underlying physiological processes.
Stopping medications slows down the rate of accumulating debt, but unpaid debt that has accrued over time will still remain and must be paid in full in order to achieve robust health. Just because one is able to function without needing to be hospitalized, after appropriately withdrawing from medications, does not mean that healing is completed. Some may still owe $100.00, others, $1,000,000.00. Getting off medications is the first step. The next step is to have enough to meet one’s daily needs every day and have a little extra every day to gradually reduce the total accumulated health “debt”.
In my practice, the integration of nutritional supplements and energy medicine helps to speed up the healing process. It is like getting more cash every day to help one pay back one’s debts. In general, however, I have not seen it to act like a deceased relative leaving an inheritance of a million dollars. Energy medicine provides informational support for the healing process, and orthomolecular medicine provides the body with the raw materials to rebuild and detoxify. These processes work together to help an individual gradually withdraw from medications and hopefully stop them all together. But this is only half the journey for many.
Once a person is safely and gradually able to come off medications, the rate of healing will naturally increase. The amount of healing yet to be done, however, may remain like a looming mountain. Others, more fortunate, may only have a mole hill. It is like being able to pay more towards lowering your credit card debts, when you have paid off the car loan and mortgage. Now the money you earn every day (all the good healing from living a healthy lifestyle) can go towards fixing the roof that has a crack in it, repairing the plumbing that’s been leaking, and replacing the old windows that refuse to budge. These repairs are like the work of recovery that happens with your brain, cardiovascular, and pulmonary system respectively. You have your house now, but it still needs ongoing repairs. You will be able to sense it, because you may find that you fatigue easily, or notice that your sleep can be easily disturbed by stress.
It is important to be patient with the process and not get discouraged if one’s health still has a way to go after getting off medications. It takes time and perseverance to get all the repairs done and the debt paid back in full. It is important at this point of the healing process to continue to support the healing process by taking the appropriate nutritional supports and doing the necessary energy work. Of course, if withdrawal symptoms are prominent, the medications may have been reduced prematurely and inappropriately, and it may be imperative to get back on some medication to avoid a crisis or mental collapse.
The amount of time it requires after you have gone off medications to the time you enjoy robust health often depends on the following factors:
- The severity of the illness
- How long you have been ill
- The level of toxicity of the medications and how long you have been taking them
- How old you are at the time of treatment with medications and when you choose to begin holistic healing.
- How well you have been taking care of yourself mentally and physically while ill.
These factors determine, to a great extent, one’s ability to be well without medications and how long after stopping medications, the healing process will need to continue with close supervision by a professional. It would be a mistake to assume that stopping medications is the same as being completely well. It is not. For some, it is only the beginning of years of gradual, but true, healing.