by Dr. Connie Hernandez, ND
How much of what we believe about the world comes from our own experience?
I suspect many of the stories we believe are absorbed from a mix of reliable information, misinformation, and outright disinformation.
These mis/interpretations can color our understanding and even shape our future.
In medicine, personal stories that aren’t aligned with the truth can often be dangerous.
Source A believes the data support X, while Source B says the opposite. Both may be so attached to their beliefs that they discourage others from rooting-out the facts for themselves.
And then, of course, those beliefs are spread by an army of followers who want to force-feed us their views on social media, the news, and the internet.
Did you know that the success of an advertisement
increases the more it’s repeated?
It was the basis of Hitler’s propaganda machine. If you tell the Big Lie often enough and loudly enough, people will believe at least some of it, until it discredits the opposition.
Hence the dangers of conspiracy theories and the heated suppression and censorship of opposing views by the powers that be.
Sometimes the inaccuracies are based on simple misinterpretation of valid findings. We occasionally see this in our clinic.
- Patients suffering with adrenal fatigue insist that they’re in the final stages of adrenal failure.
- A high TSH (which represents LOW thyroid) is anxiously interpreted as a dangerously overactive thyroid.
- Patients who’ve read about some dire condition that seems to match their symptoms want to be treated for a condition they don’t actually have.
- Patients panic over impossible blood pressure measurements taken with inaccurate cuffs.
(Stay tuned for our upcoming article on wearable medical devices such as fitness trackers and smart watches.)
Patients sometimes tell self-defeating stories based on unfortunate interpretations of their own experiences.
“Nobody could ever help me, and nobody ever will!
There is no solution for my problem!
I never sleep!
I’m so sensitive, there’s no medicine I can take!”
Sadly, their stories sometimes prevent them from being helped with real solutions.
Our powers of reason should equip us to question the sources, stay open to alternate opinions, and calmly and objectively observe what we’re experiencing in the present moment.
Keeping open to a variety of possibilities, instead of grabbing the first one that feels right, can free us from unnecessary suffering and open us to promising solutions.
For information about the services we offer at Pacific Naturopathic, please give us a call at 650-961-1660, use the convenient Contact Form to get in touch, or follow the link to: Consultations – Pacific Naturopathic. Thank you!