CST and Liberty Lost

I know there are lots of people who have not heard of Cranial Sacral Therapy (CST), some who have, and many who need to. It is what I have been taking classes to learn and spending many hours precepting with an excellent practitioner, gleaning all the knowledge from her that I possibly can. Cranial Sacral Therapy is an osteopathic technique that uses the hands of the practitioner to support the client’s body in such a way that the body heals itself. It uses a very light touch. It uses the electrical system of the body. In the way I was taught, it lets the body of the client decide how much treatment it needs and when it needs it.

This past weekend I assisted my Dr. with the first class in the series that she teaches. It was amazing to hear how the attendees took what they were learning and began to apply it to their loved ones after only two days in class and get results. I myself took a fall on Thursday morning and about two hours later began to experience intermittent shooting pains in my right temple. Due to the winter storm, I could not get in to see Dr. and on Friday I had to get my husbands car back to him because mine was in the shop. By Saturday, the shooting pains had ceased but I was so very tired, out of sorts and I felt like my brain was shutting down along with my whole body. I was about to stop what Dr. was doing in her instruction to the class to tell her I needed help, like now, when the other “helper” asked me if I was o.k. I said no and we went to another room where she began to work on me. When Dr. got done with the lesson and gave the class a break, she came and worked on me. I had somehow managed to move the bones of my skull when I fell and it was affecting my brain, and I mean it was no joke. When she was done, I got up from the table feeling as if I had just had a nice nap, and I could think again. What a relief! But it really got me thinking about how, if I did not know what I do about how a fall or an accident can affect you, I could have been a very sick puppie with no clue what to do. I had heard many of Dr.’s clients say that she was a miracle worker or an angel. How she had saved their lives or helped when absolutely nothing else would. How they could not move without pain and now the pain is gone. How they could not stand up straight and now they can. How they could hardly walk and now they are mobile. Now I really know some of what they feel. I am looking forward to the day in the not too distant future when I will be leaving my 9-5 and begin my own practice. This is a skill I can take with me, although I will have to be choosy about the state I live in as some have stupid rules about what one can and cannot do for a living and the type of training you have to have before you can touch someone.

Another choice gone; another freedom we have lost. We are not totally free to choose who will help us regain our health and we cannot choose when we want to take a drug. We must go to a state-approved person and only the state-anointed can “prescribe” a med that we may need.

And if we don’t want to take a drug, we may have to put up a fight. I just had surgery and I did not want the prophylactic antibiotic they had scheduled to give me. Of course they had to check with the anointed one who agreed that I could forgo the drug unless I developed symptoms of infection. You see, I know that they (all hospitals) are working on keeping infections down in surgical patients because it prolongs the hospital stay. The hospital gets paid according to a DRG (diagnosis-related group). For example, you are hospitalized to be treated for congestive heart failure and you stay 2 days. Your neighbor is also put in for the same thing and stays 13 days. You both have the same diagnosis. The hospital gets paid the same amount for both of you. So they make more money the fewer days you are in. So these great educated medical professionals decided that they would shoot every surgical patient up with a strong antibiotic with the hope that it would stop infections. Easy solution and the drug companies make more money to boot. Good for making the hospital more money too, but not so good for the patient who really did not need the antibiotic as antibiotics are not benign.

Do know any doctors that even ask the patients if they want an antibiotic they may not need? I don’t. Most docs think they are demigods, and they certainly don’t want to waste their time explaining things to you. Or give you much of a choice. Most think patients or families that ask too many questions or don’t go along with the doctor’s every wish are “difficult.” If I did not work in the medical field on my 9-5, I may not know about this drug protocol, but I did know, and it saved me money and exposure to drugs that could kill off the good bacteria we all carry around with us that helps us digest our food and keeps our internal ecological system healthy. Please remember, you are paying the doctor/hospital which means you call the shots. You are employing them. You are paying for their expert (hopefully) opinion, but you do not have to take their advice. You can refuse all or part of your treatment. It helps to do so respectfully, but it is your body and you are the owner of your body.

Cranial Sacral Therapy is a wonderful thing for many people, but as with anything there are those who practice it that are not the best and those who are like my dear Dr. So what are you to do? Ask for references from real people. If you don’t get some really good feedback, seek out another practitioner. Some say there are not enough medical studies or enough scientific evidence to prove it really works. I say talk to some real people; the proof is in the pudding. Medical science takes way too long to get with the program. This is the profession that shamed the first guy to say you should wash your hands between doing autopsies and delivering babies. The profession that said it was harmless to x-ray the unborn. That said margarine (full of heart-clogging transfats) was better than butter. I don’t trust them; I do trust real people and their stories.

Wishing you health,

HUP