Peter’s Story
Section Three - Episode One
Health and Healing
Starting now on a new section of this story..... the version of the story written in
October-November 1998, for self-therapy purposes.....
I have referred to a number of therapies that I have used. Let's have a closer look at the whole subject of health, illness, wellness, etc.
Over the years, I have had my share of “health issues”. For example, I have had a long-standing digestive disorder. I first consulted my doctor around the age of 30 for a chronic digestive complaint, the main symptom of which was persistent indigestion. My doctor diagnosed an excessive production of stomach acid, and prescribed a drug that worked on the nervous system to suppress the stomach acid production. There was one noticeable side-affect, in that the drug also suppressed the production of other body fluids including saliva. By morning-tea time, my throat would be bone dry and I would be gasping for a cup of tea!
I happily took this drug for several years, putting up with the dry throat. But during a follow-up consultation I complained of the dry throat, and he offered me acupuncture as an alternative.
The first time that I had acupuncture, from my doctor, I experienced a strong reaction. I was sitting in a chair, he was needling several leg points on my stomach meridian, and I became very nauseous and faint-headed. I had to lie down, or I would have fainted. He explained that some people are quite sensitive to acupuncture, and suggested that in future I receive all treatment lying down.
Immediately after the acupuncture treatment, I remember the feeling of euphoria as I walked back to work. I felt as if my shoes had foam rubber soles at least a foot thick! I was walking on air, as high as a kite (just as well I was not driving!).
And, the treatment worked! I threw away the drugs, and my indigestion did not recur.
I kept going back to my doctor for regular acupuncture treatment for several years, and while my digestive system was not quite perfect, it was ninety percent better than when it was at its worst, and certainly at least as good as when I had been taking the drug.
After several years of the acupuncture, I began to gradually change my diet. By the time that I became a full vegetarian (around late 1987), I wondered whether I could control the digestive condition by diet alone. By this stage I was on a near vegan diet, as I had discovered that dairy products (especially cheese) were actually less healthy than meat. So I stopped the acupuncture treatment, and it worked. I remember around this time having a cholesterol test, and being so proud of myself when my doctor heaped praise on me for having the lowest reading that he had ever seen.
There was, however, another health issue that surfaced around this time. For as long as I can remember, way back into childhood, I had occasionally had chest pains, sometimes quite sharp pains, but they always went away after a few hours. Around 1986 or 1987 the chest pains became much worse and very frequent, so I consulted my doctor. He listened to my heart and lungs, asked some questions, and diagnosed that it was nothing serious, probably muscular, nothing to worry about.
But the pains did not go away, they became worse and almost constantly with me. I noticed that they were much worse when I was suffering from stress, and it was around this time that the very stressful drama with my business partner was occurring. I also noticed that the pains seemed to be diet related in that they were worse after a period of eating meals with lots of cheese but that if I stuck to a vegan type diet for a few days they seemed to get better. So I gave up dairy products and eggs altogether, and the pains gradually disappeared.
By 1991, at the time of my separation from Jeanette, I was in excellent health and was very fit from the karate training.
But by the end of 1991, another health issue appeared. I am sure that a major cause of this was the stress associated with the all the drama of the relationship breakdowns with Jeanette and then with Cynthia. I started to lose weight, and no matter how much I ate, I kept losing weight. And my digestive system was very, very gassy, at both ends.
I consulted my doctor. He ordered some blood tests, and these were all “normal”. He diagnosed that I was bordering on anorexic, but could offer no explanation or treatment, other than prescribing “a good pork chop”; or referring me to the hospital dietitian. I said “No thanks, I'll handle this myself”.
This was another defining moment in my life: another wake-up call to take responsibility for myself rather than rely on someone else to “fix it for me”. Looking back now, I can see a pattern emerging, even back then, where each time I was dissatisfied with the treatment offered by the medical system I gradually began to take responsibility for myself and found my own answers in my own way. What those answers happened to be at the time was not all that important, it was the taking responsibility for myself that was really important.
A friend of mine was a natural health practitioner, with a computer-based machine for reading the energy system of the body. It was an early model of those machines with a probe that measures the skin resistance of the acupoints on the ends of the fingers and toes. The diagnosis from this machine (of my digestive problem), was an imbalance in my pancreas. This made sense to me, as my father had a major problem with his pancreas, and I had heard that this could often be hereditary.
By way of self treatment, I kept trying to improve my diet, eating only fresh organic vegetables with lots of supplements. My weight did stabilize, but at a level well below what it should have been.
I was intrigued by the machine that my friend was using, and kept pestering her with questions. She said, “Here, read this book.” The book was “Vibrational Medicine”, a large, thick book by an American doctor who had researched many energy medicine therapies in depth. The field covered included acupuncture, homeopathy, flower essences, hands-on energy healing, and the whole theory of the energy system of the body including the meridians, the chakras, etc. I was fascinated. I had never heard of most of this, and it seemed to make sense to me. Up until this time (late 1991 to early 1992), I was still basically a sceptic regarding most things “spiritual” or “alternative”, but this was changing, and the reason for this change was my own practical experience.
I was especially impressed by the details of the double-blind experiments like the experiments on the germination percentage and growth rate of barley when grown inside a pyramid, or when watered with water that had been treated by a “healer”. Here was definite evidence that invisible forces were at work.
I became very interested in pyramids, and researched the subject. I built some cardboard pyramids; of all sizes up to one metre tall. And I conducted some primitive experiments, and began to treat all my drinking water under a pyramid. I had a collection of coloured pyramids under my bed for their healing energy to heal me while I slept.
A friend offered to swap me some Reiki treatments for me helping with her PC computer, and I experienced the Reiki as being very relaxing. When the Reiki Master visited Nelson in May 1992, I decided (at the very last minute) to do the First Degree Reiki training. I began using Reiki on my stomach area every day, and I discovered that it really did work; if I had an upset stomach, a few minutes of Reiki would settle it down really well.
After I moved to Wellington, during the latter half of 1992 through 1993, I attended the Wellington Reiki support group every Monday night, and during this difficult period of my life this group of lovely people became a very important part of life. This group helped me retain some sanity. In October 1992, I did the Reiki Second Degree workshop, and I still use Reiki often for my own healing and occasionally for others. Reiki is a very important part of my life, but it is not the major focus of my life..... the flower essences have become my major focus.
I had also become very interested in medicinal herbalism. I did a four-day beginner's course at the Christchurch School of Natural Medicine and I decided that I wanted to train to become a professional herbalist.
But, when looking for books on herbalism one day around May 1992, at the Nelson Public Library, I happened to pick up a book that was to change my life. Mary Garbely's “A New Perception - Flower Essences of New Zealand”. I can still remember clearly the shiver that went through my body as I first glanced through this book. Here was something very special! This was it! This was my thing! Flower essences!
Click here to continue on with the next episode of this section of this (1998 version) of the story......
Section Three, Episode Two..... Flower Essences, and Homeopathy.
