There are many paths to the top of the mountain. The array of tools and equipment available for to you choose to bring on this journey are infinite. They are not limited to whatever conventional Western medical wisdom determines is the “right” approach (that’s why they call it “practicing” medicine). I’m not at all critical of Western medicine, as there is great value in the many technologies and cures that have been discovered. This is not, however, to the exclusion of the conventional wisdoms of other cultures, and “alternative” ways of thinking and seeing your body, and understanding the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit.

I chose for myself to do it all (hence the “kitchen sink” metaphor), and combined both Western medicine, Eastern/Chinese medicine with herbs and acupuncture, yoga and meditation, nutritional overhaulin’, workin’ with a medical intuitive, and then some! Everything AND the kitchen sink, dig?

Whether or not you “believe” in healing methods other than those employed my MDs (PhDs, HMOs, etc), and whether or not people truly and fully acknowledge the extent of this fact, it is already socially and culturally accepted in more subtle ways. Examples?

              "I have a headache: it’s stress, you need to relax."

              "My stomach hurts: you’re worrying too much about this or that."

              "I feel faint: you’re just nervous, honey."

              "I can’t sleep: you’re overthinking things, you need to turn your brain off."

               or even something as innocent as "An apple a day keeps the doctor away!"

See? It’s there, we’re just hesitant to apply this idea to more hard-core bodily mis-functions. You may want to consider, for example, that Chinese medicine has been around and successfully healed people of many illnesses from headaches to heartburn to cancer for thousands of years. I have personally known people who have healed themselves of all kinds of physical conditions with various permutations and combinations of nutrition, acupuncture, meditation, yoga, etc. 

For the staunch nay-sayers, I should note that even the National Institute of Health has a whole department dedicated to researching and exploring what they call “Complementary & Alternative” medicine. These “alternatives” may or may not be the thing for you, but there is value in being open to having a different understanding and perspective about your body other than what we have been taught by Mom ’n Dad 'n Doc. Even if you don’t use any of these methods, the information and perspective is infinitely valuable.

With that, I give the same (word-4-word) cautionary note as with the other resources:

These are guides, not definitive answers. I strongly advise that you have a doctor, a physician, a qualified healer with whom you can consult on all of these choices and options. These are not intended for nor do I advocate/endorse self-diagnosis, self-treatment, and/or unsupervised methods of healing. Whatever healing choices you make (Western, Eastern, other), make them fully-informed, and that means that most often, the answers may come with more questions. Having the right person to whom you can present the information and questions is vital.

Gather your team of healers and work together to make a plan. Ultimately, it’s most important to tune in to yourself and find what resonates with you so that whatever decisions and choices you make come from a place of peace, calm, and clarity.