Who is the God of your Health?

I grew up in a very Catholic Ireland. It enveloped our culture and the environment I grew up in. I have no idea if I believed what I was told about God. I probably did. I remember witnessing questionable actions of some members of religious orders. When I vocalised my concerns, I was told my perception was probably wrong. The church could do no wrong. In the majority of Irish homes, children were 'to be seen but not heard' to differing degrees, and the undertone was always, do what I say and not necessarily what I do!  

During those childhood years, I was at the GP and on antibiotics more times than I care to remember. It was considered a 'miracle' drug at that time. Putting the doctor firmly in the God like space, with the religious orders! This resulted in a discolouration of my teeth and a destruction of any healthy gut flora I had. I can remember seeing the doctors ashtray being half full of cigarette ends, on his enormous solid wood table that separated us. Hindsight is quite the eye opener.

Moving the timeline on to the present day... I believe our society is still transitioning,  trying to live life in a more informed and open way.  Trying to be cautious around choices, given our history, and removing God like status from any figure of authority.  It is a tricky navigation. Particularly around the area of health. Only some of us are lucky enough to be able to make informed decisions, in the knowledge that nothing is 100% resolvable.   

If we are to believe journalistic headlines: antibiotic resistance will be humankind's downfall!..."Vaccination compulsory for all kids"... “Ignore statins scare stories – says expert paid by drug firms." Not quite Godlike status for the journalists. But, a God like influence on a large section of the publics health beliefs. 

Look then at published scientific literature. Scientific researchers using measurable reproducible facts. As close to absolute truth as we can get, so they must be God like, right? Funded by big pharma or government. Who to believe?  Let's mention antibiotics again, for the sake of cohesion in this blog. Scientific reviews I read say, the public are not being educated enough on antibiotic resistance, or the public not listening... Are they choosing to ignore what they are being told? The proposed solutions, better protocols and legislation. In my experience, people want to believe the scientists and healthcare practitioners. At the very least, people logicalise that there have to be measurable tools, and these people are the qualified experts after all. However, seeds of doubt were planted and are now well rooted, due to the experience of previous generations in our culture. Who do we trust? 

Finally, the modern 'God', social media. According to Reuters 2/3 of Americans get their news from Social Media. Globally 65% of population access social media. Twitter, Facebook, You tube etc... It was on Twitter, so therefor, it must be fact. This God has evolved, somewhat. It allows for two sets of believers. Both ends of a spectrum. Very little middle ground. The more extreme tweets are generally the loudest.  Antibiotics are poison to the human race. Or people are stupid and should only listen to the experts...often tweeted by the experts. I could just as easily be talking about statins, antidepressants, opioids, chemotherapy. The disease or treatment is irrelevant in this opinion piece. 

This brings me to what I observe as the ‘God’ of the publics health. For some people, it actually is their God. People who have faith generally are happier and healthier. They rely on their faith and their community and feel supported on their journey back to health if they get sick. 

For those on the fence about a God, those who don't believe in any deity, or anyone previously assigned Godlike status, it becomes trickier. Particularly, people who value and take responsibility for their own lifestyle choices, in order to stay healthy. It does not matter where they got their information. They trust their own choice. Generally these people do better, until sometimes these people get sick. Sometimes people just get sick. These people find it very difficult to resolve what they perceive as a total lack of control over their lives. There is a complete loss of faith in anything. This is, I believe, historically based. This is still insidious in our culture. People are still shocked that modern medicine does not have all the answers. Working with these people, requires a very skilled healthcare practitioner, definitely time, a partnership approach and these people can do very well. 

The other camp, live it up, have a ball, ignore any and all recommendations. They get sick. Sometimes people just get sick. These people believe they are where they are because of how they lived. They don't perceive a total loss of control. This group of people are much easier to work with. Removing blame form their situation and empowering them to make changes can really help these people. Sometimes people don't want help. It is never the practitioners job to judge. Timing presents opportunity with this group of people. 

This piece is just food for thought. It is observational and my experience of living and working with people in Ireland. Have a think though, who is the God of your health?