Unstuck by James Gordon

Author:James Gordon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Depression
Publisher: Hay House
Published: 2011-02-06T16:00:00+00:00

MICHAEL MOVES AHEAD:

HOPE, HERBS, AND HAPPINESS

Shortly after I began acupuncture with him, I asked Michael if he would be willing to take Chinese herbs. I explained that my choice of herbs, and my way of combining them, would be guided by the same history and physical findings, and based on the same perspective, as the acupuncture. Because he felt immediately different after each acupuncture treatment, and generally better over time, Michael was feeling more adventurous and hopeful, and eager to add another aspect of Chinese medicine to his healing program.

I prescribed several combinations of herbs—a total of forty individual ones—that have been traditionally used to treat the specific symptom pictures that Michael presented and the organs that were involved: herbs that dry out spleen dampness, move stagnant blood, mobilize qi, and quiet shen. Some of these herbs work synergistically, each enhancing the other’s effect. Others balance out potential side effects: combining stimulating and relaxing herbs to produce a calm and yet energetic state rather than alternating agitation and lethargy. The herbs would, if properly chosen and balanced, work slowly and surely on most, or all, of Michael’s symptoms.

Within a couple of weeks, Michael’s bloating began to decrease, as did his difficulties with urination, the pain in his knees, and some of his anxiety. Now, his symptoms no longer seemed so threatening, so overwhelming. They had fit into a picture, and we were actually changing that picture. With his internist’s blessing and supervision, Michael began to discontinue, one at a time, the drugs he’d been taking. Within two months, he’d stopped them all.

As the pain in Michael’s chest eased, he became less irritable and fearful, less depressed, and more hopeful. He discovered, after five or six weeks, that he could move his head more freely. With enhanced motion, he discovered a new ability to “look around”—psychologically as well as physically—at the possibilities in his life. Before, significant changes had seemed impossible: Michael’s gut had cramped and his urinary stream had faltered when he thought about taking on more responsibility at work, or being freer sexually or losing weight. Now, for the first time, he found himself wondering what challenge to tackle first: a better diet, his job, his marriage.

With my encouragement and supervision, Michael began a lowcarbohydrate, high-protein diet that he’d tried before but that had never worked—perhaps because of the imbalances in his whole body. This time, he began to lose weight. He asked his wife to enter couples therapy. When, a few months later, a supervisory position was once again offered to him, Michael—anxious but determined—claimed it. Fear, the demon that had constrained his whole life, was yielding now to the courage that was growing in Michael, to his daimon.

Eight months after I began seeing him, Michael told me he’d not only lost weight and now felt physically well, but that a huge load of anxious preoccupation had lifted off him. The unpredictable storms of temper had dissipated, and he had far less foreboding about the future. Panic about

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