Saying Goodbye to the Crooks and Quacks

In a recent post, I announced that I was going to give the Nutritional Balancing program another try for 3 months to see if it made any difference in my healing. Well I'm announcing now that I'm abandoning the program.
I was really excited about starting the program given all the great things I heard about it through friends. As I said in my last post, the science really did make sense to me. I received my lot of supplements and was ready to go. Being that I am so incredibly sensitive to EVERYTHING, I decided to start with 1/4 dose for the first couple weeks and then gradually build up to the full dose. Unfortunately this only lasted for 2 days and I crashed so hard that I felt like I was back to square 1. Common sense told me to stop taking the supplements, which I did, but it still took me 3 additional days to recover. I've always been really sensitive to supplements and medications (I've baffled a large number of medical professionals due to my inability to take prescriptions), but this was a bit much.

To add insult to injury, I phoned my new "caring" practitioner and explained what had happened. Her first response- "you must have not been doing it right". How could I "not do it right"? I ingested 1/4 of the recommended dose (actually 1/4 of a dose that I was supposed to be taking 3 times daily) and felt like death was breathing over my shoulder again. Although I felt like verbally impaling this woman, I was polite and said, "I just don't think this is for me. I would like to send you the unopened bottle of supplements that I have for a refund." Her normal "caring" demeanor quickly changed into survival mode as she snapped back at me. "There's nothing I can do for you, you have to call the lab. The supplements were only ordered in my name so you could get a discount." And before I knew it she hung up on me!

Now I've been working very hard on the way I deal with stress. There's no doubt that this woman had me pretty ticked off, but instead of calling her back to tell her what to do to herself I decided to call the lab and see if I could at least redeem some of my money. The girl over the phone was actually quite rude as well and sounded very irritated that I wanted to return the product. She said that the only possibility of refund would be a store credit that could be used on different supplements. Different supplements!! I'm trying to give the crap back why would I want more of it?

I hung up the phone feeling very disheartened. I had high hopes for this program...I really did.

I know lots of people who strongly believe in this program, and they continue to take these supplements even though it makes them feel like hell in the name of "detox". Some of them even have very young children on it. Judging by what these supplements do to grown adults, I can't imagine what they do to babies. As adults we make choices on what to do with our bodies, but it is my humble opinion that  assuming a 3 year old is in "burnout" because some "healer" told you so based on a non-medically recognized test, even though the kid appears pretty healthy to the eye is just insane. How can a 3 year old possibly have experienced enough stress in their lives to already be in adrenal burnout? Many of these "practitioners" don't even know how to read these tests properly! Oh yeah, and they tell you that you have a slew of "hidden" problems and that it could take over 5 years for this miracle program to take effect. Bravo you geniuses of marketing! In my previous life in advertising, a part of me might have actually admired these people for their stealth tactics. Nowadays I'd love nothing more than to see them burn (in hell).

My point is I've been through the mill with doctors and hospitals. I've seen the seedy underbelly of the healthcare system and been allowed to slip through the cracks many times. I've been shuffled around from endocrinologist, to neurologist, to cardiologist, to renal specialists, to infectious disease specialist and back around again. I've sent entire medical teams to the corner scratching their heads. I've paid for these specialists with the pocket change that came from the giant piggy bank (money I was saving to go on a month long vacation one day). One thing I will say though is that the corruption doesn't stop there. Oh no, I wish it did.

Flip side of the coin- the alternative medicine community. Just because they are Naturopaths, Chiropractors, and "Practitioners" doesn't mean that they aren't willing to bleed you dry like the MDs will. I once had a kinseologist claim to know what was wrong with me based on touching points of my body and doing some strange sort of counting. He would sit these little clear bottles of liquid on my stomach and then do this counting. He told me that it was my pancreas causing all the trouble, and that there was nothing wrong with my adrenal glands or kidneys. He then would give me acupuncture and ordered me to eat nothing but vegetables. Twice a week I would see this man, at $80 per visit. I guess his magic touch didn't tell him that I was in a severe catabolic state and in desperate need of extra protein and fat. Back to the hospital I went.




After this was when I had my run in with the first Nutritional Balancing practitioner. The one who ordered me to shove coffee in my butt and sweat in the sauna every day. Had me on the same horrible supplements. The one who's instructions threw my sodium down so low that it put me back in the hospital. Again.

You'd have thought I'd learned my lesson right? Wrong!! Next I put in a call to an "adrenal specialist" who charged a whopping $300 for a 30 minute phone call (not even with him but one of his "representatives". All to tell me that I needed to consume inhuman amounts of synthetic vitamin C and pantothenic acid. Oh yeah and I had to buy it all from his store because no other brand in the world works but his (averaging $50 for an 8oz bottle that would have lasted me 10 days on his protocol). I explained to them that my wallet was in serious pain and that I am very very sensitive. They then told me that they were rejecting me as a client because I couldn't "commit" to the protocol! As disgusted as I was at the time, my guardian Angel was sure looking out for me. I know a few people, particularly someone very dear to me, who got really screwed up by this guy and his shotgun approach.

6 months later brings me to the last and most recent attempt at an "alternative program". After this last one I'm done. I'm over it. I will no longer contribute to these crooks taking advantage of sick and desperate people. I've learned enough, and I trust in God and my body's own ability to heal. Time to kick it old school and LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE. Grams would be proud.