A Rorschach: Why is the Death Rate Among Middle Aged Poorly Educated White Americans Rising?
On November 2, 2015 an article in the New York Times reported on a study which revealed that the annual death rate among middle aged non college educated White Americans, both among men and women, ages 45-54 is skyrocketing. Only mortality due to the AIDS epidemic in contemporary times has been comparable. Death rates among Hispanics and African Americans have continued to fall, and internationally the death rate for this age cohort has declined by 30%. The cause of this rising death rate is an epidemic of suicides, overdoses of heroin and prescription opioids, alcohol poisoning and alcoholic liver disease.
The increase in annual death rate rose in parallel with higher levels of emotional distress, physical pain and poor health. A third of the study participants reported chronic joint pain, and one in seven reported sciatica. Those with the least education reported the most pain, the worst general health and the most financial distress. Many reported inability to work, social isolation, physical difficulty shopping, and even trouble walking two blocks.
No one yet really knows why this is happening, and many now have weighed in, speculating about the reasons. That is why I called this statistic a Rorschach, because it is like a projective inkblot test. Subjects interpret the stimulus according to their own psychology and preoccupations.
The following are some of the explanations:
- “The Department of Health and Human Services report identified a number of factors, “such as provider clinical practices; insufficient oversight to curb inappropriate prescribing; insurance and pharmacy benefit policies; and a belief by many people that prescription drugs are not dangerous, which is associated with increased use.” Of course, economic insecurity and stress may also have played an important role in driving the underlying demand for these drugs. Indeed, Skinner suggested to the Washington Post that the combination of an increasingly pessimistic worldview among white working-class Americans and the sudden availability of opioids had produced “this kind of perfect storm of adverse outcomes.”” John Cassidy: The New Yorker
- “A study in the journal JAMA Psychiatry last year reported that 90 percent of the people who tried heroin for the first time in the last decade were white. Three-quarters said they were introduced to heroin through the use of prescription drugs”. Bernstein and Achenbach: The Washington Post
- White middle aged Americans have lost the narrative of their lives — meaning something like a loss of hope, a loss of expectations of progress. Though African Americans as a group are still worse off overall, their quality of life has improved over the past several decades. When Hispanics look back, they may look back to where they came from, or what their parents or grandparents had. This particular group of middle-aged white Americans may have had higher expectations than others when it comes to steady employment and a bright future, and the stress of losing that could well be driving their deadly behaviors. The white non-Hispanics may be more susceptible to despair, and perhaps to the alcohol or drug ‘solution,’ especially those with less education. Angus Deaton (co-author of the study): Vox
I work part time as a psychiatric consultant at an insurance company. In this role I review medical records, speak with psychiatrists, primary care doctors and therapists, and write reports offering an opinion about the appropriateness of the treatment, the legitimacy and extent of psychiatric disability, and advise about duration of restrictions and limitations to occupational functioning. This job has given me a grim window into the misguided conventional medical care of patients around the country. I see so much despair, frustration and loneliness reflected in those voluminous, repetitive and impersonal electronic medical records.
Most of the psychiatric claims that I review involve patients who are also suffering from inflammatory illnesses, such as arthritis, irritable bowel, asthma, dermatologic and neurologic conditions. They also typically have chronic health conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, reflux and diabetes, and are treated with multiple prescription medications, not to mention psychiatric medications to address their depression and anxiety and attentional problems. Many are also prescribed opioid pain medication. It is not uncommon that someone will be taking 15 different prescription medications.
There is almost no discussion of diet or exercise, just a new prescription for every symptom, with another prescription to treat side effects. Pain medication is routinely prescribed for back problems or joint problems, which often actually results in heightened sensitivity to pain and eventual addiction. A much more effective and appropriate approach would be physical therapy.
It seems like the less educated the patient, the more likely they are to follow doctors’ orders, to be without the requisite knowledge or confidence to question medical recommendations, or to seek alternative treatments. They are more vulnerable to advertising because they have not been taught to think critically. They know little about the connection between food and health, are more likely to buy cheap processed foods, or to know how to minimize their exposure to toxic household cleaning or personal care products. They are toxic and inflamed, and feel sick, tired, depressed and in pain.
The psychotherapy that is practiced is primarily teaching coping skills. It is not uncommon that a therapist knows next to nothing about their patient’s history or who they are as a person, their hopes and dreams. Patients are taught relaxation techniques. And forget about any discussion of their spiritual lives. These poor souls cannot stand how they feel, and numb their misery with alcohol and narcotics. The lack of possibility of relief from their suffering leaves them feeling cut off from love and hope, desperate and alone, and thus vulnerable to suicide. And their medical care often makes things worse.
It sounds outrageous, but I wonder if lack of access to conventional medical care is actually a protective factor, as the standard treatment is so often toxic.
This is my response to the Rorschach of why so many poorly educated white middle aged Americans are dying. I would be really interested to hear from you, my readers, about your take on the reasons for this public health crisis.
Here is a clip from “All Things Considered” about this much discussed study.
I agree… modern health care and prescription medication of all kinds is destroying our health. This may be especially true of psychiatric medications which 1 in 5 adults currently take. It can take several years to recover from the negative health effects (including outright brain damage) that psychiatric medications can cause, even when one eats a “perfect diet” and exercises, etc. Many become physically and cognitively disabled directly due to taking these medications, even when taken exactly as prescribed, and even when tapered off of slowly and properly. They can create a kind of suffering that no human being should have to face. After seeing myself and others suffer incredible damage from taking them, I do not believe they should be prescribed at all (especially not for simple depression and anxiety!) No matter how difficult an emotional time someone is going through, it can get exponentially, torturously worse from taking these medications. The risks are just not worth it. You can read Robert Whitaker’s book, Anatomy of an Epidemic, for more information, or check out the Mad in America website. It may sound extreme, but the truth of the matter is that these drugs harm far more than they help, and very few people (including alternative and holistic practitioners) are aware of this. Anyway, this is a great article and interesting blog. Thank you.
Thank you for writing. Yes there is a need for a radical shift in consciousness about health and healing. A new paradigm that is not about pharmaceuticals as the monolithic solution to every illness. At the heart of it is a need to reintegrate the sacred into healing practice, and the need to recognize the interconnection of all beings including the ancestors. The body is not a machine, a lump of matter to be manipulated like an object, but part of a living multi-dimensional eco-system with all of creation. We are so far from that perspective at the moment and it shows. People are so sick and only getting sicker through the current standard of care. Every day there is more news of the adverse effects of another pharmaceutical. The most recent was the link of the proton pump inhibitors that are prescribed like candy for GERD. They have now been linked with dementia. That is addition to the anti-histamines and benzodiazepines that are also so ubiquitously prescribed which are also linked with dementia. I have recently heard from other integrative clinicians that they have seen a number of cases of people who have hideous chronic prolonged withdrawal syndromes from benzodiazepines. Their nervous systems have been wrecked. And there is no teaching about this. Nothing short of a revolution in health care will do. It is part and parcel of our need for the restoration of balance on the planet. Its no different.
Thank you so much for this… I agree entirely. Unfortunately your important insight is still a rarity, although I find the conversation is finally starting to shift in places. I have been personally harmed by benzodiazepines, and have endured severe physical and neurological symptoms to the point of disability for 3 years now (and yes, many of my symptoms resemble dementia, even though I am only in my mid-thirties). I am improving slowly, but it is still incredibly difficult. I hope to spread awareness about these issues once I’ve recovered more, and it is so wonderful to find another ally – especially one who works in the psychiatric profession!
I thought I’d let you know that there is currently a Massachusetts bill proposed for informed benzodiazepine use (Bill HD 4554). It would be great if you could let your professional voice be heard in support of this, so that others need not be harmed as I have been. Here is some more information (we only have until March 1st on this): http://www.madinamerica.com/2016/02/call-to-action-support-a-bill-for-informed-benzodiazepine-use-2/
Thank you again for your reply, and for providing alternatives to psychiatric medications for those in need.
Meghan,
Thank you for writing and for telling me about this important bill. I wrote to my representatives and will share this initiative on social media. This problem is not confined to benzodiazepines. It pervades all of medicine. The whole paradigm of a pharmaceutical to treat every symptom is fundamentally harmful and misguided. We are doing a great deal of damage with this approach.
Thank you so much Judy. I fully agree that this problem is not at all unique to psychiatric medications – all prescription drugs carry risks (many of which are unreported by the drug companies and therefore go unacknowledged), and many cause more harm than good. But as you say in your blog post, this problem goes much deeper than iatrogenic illness. Our entire for-profit medical system is in dire need of change, as is the pharmaceutical industrial complex that both perpetuates and profits off of sickness. More importantly still, our culture has forgotten that the human condition is not without suffering, and in our desire to instantly relieve and eradicate all pain we may inadvertently be creating even more of it, often at a deeper level. There’s so much more to it than even this of course, but there can be no doubt that radical changes are needed at all levels (physical, mental, spiritual, societal)… our health (and indeed the health of the whole planet depends) on it. Thanks again.
Well said. I agree with every single word you wrote. Bernie Sanders has been saying that nothing short of a revolution will do in terms of the way the government functions. The exact same thing is true of the health care system in this country and our whole model of medicine and the way that we think about healing. I just returned from an inspiring gathering with Deena Metzger in California called Revisioning Medicine. I really resonated with the approach. I will be writing about it when I have had some time to digest.
Thanks for your website! I’ve been stopping by every now and then over the past couple years. (GAPS saved my life and my sanity.)
And thanks for the comments here so far. And Susan, thanks for the inspiration to reconsider FMT.
Here’s my comment:
This was the first generation of kids to grow up eating a significant amount of denatured & adulterated foods. Plus, these were the first white kids in significant numbers to grow up without a full-time homemaker.
Who’s cooking for the kids nowadays?
And even in those middle-class homes, sadly double-income homes nowadays, where the parents actually are willing to cook three times a day, they generally feel that they cannot afford organic & grass fed, etc. …
These are people I know, Gen X. Younger parents are even poorer, both in time and money, and their children are sicker and fatter.
Talk about a self-imposed crisis … 🙁
I expect to see similar mortality rates in the college educated crowd with ten or twenty years’ delay.
I feel poor in America. A big house & cars, a different set clothes for every day of the week – or the whole month! – and all the latest gadgets: this is not wealth! We are actually quite poor. We don’t have much real food left in America.
We have a housewife in our house only because my foreigner wife opened my eyes to a whole new way of thinking. She comes from a wealthy democracy herself, and moving to the US was actually a big step down the economic ladder for her (!) and now we’re back here in her country for a while but not permanently.
She’s aghast at how we indoctrinate children in the US in devaluing the contributions of a homemaker to middle-class life. But the negative changes are happening here, too, just as in all the other rich countries that have been following America’s lead in a denatured & adulterated food supply plus mothers working outside the home.
I expect to see similar trends in mortality in all of the rich nations with 20 – 30 years’ delay.
Finally, I want to express what I hope is just an exaggerated fear. Beyond the spike in childhood chronic diseases that we see today, I’m worried that our rich world populations will succumb to some kind of virus some day, a flu pandemic for example, and our junk-food weakened populations will fair poorly. In our fear and ignorance, we’ll submit to the forced vaccinations and other forced medications – and who knows what else – that the credentialed people tell us to do.
And that’s the main problem with my college educated Gen X peer group, and the younger generation of parents: they still trust the credentialed people 🙁
I listen only to the credentialed people like you and Dr. Campbell-McBride, etc., and my g.i. doctor, who told me not to follow the accepted medical advice for my condition because it would kill me. He said I’d have to figure out a solution for my problem (!) and he got me started in the direction of healing diets.
My peers, sadly, still look with their ears. Dr. NCM gave me the full confidence to look with my _eyes_.
It’s lonely a lot of the time feeling like I’m alone in crying “the Emporer has no clothes” 🙂 Thank goodness for the internet. Truly, sometimes I just need the inspiration that comes from surfing the WAPF, paleo, GAPS, etc. sites and reading the same old stories from a bunch of anonymous e-friends, whom I’ll never meet.
Thanks for being here!
Thank you for taking the time to write and comment so thoughtfully. That expression, “the Emporer has no clothes” describes my experience with mainstream medicine, as well as mainstream recommendation as to what constitutes a healthy diet or what is truly of value for human beings. The world is in a very difficult place and the opportunities for spiritual lessons plentiful. Congratulations on regaining your health and many blessings for 2016.
This is a very important article because it touches on issues that are usually overlooked by mainstream medicine. And it does so in an understated yet eloquent tone of voice that makes the message so much easier to take in.
I think the common element in all these Rorshach interpretations (great metaphor!) is the sense of personal disempowerment. Modern Americans simply do not know how to take control of their own health, and defer to external forces like doctors and advertisements and medications.
Inflammation is the final common pathway by which these multiple stressors affect the body, and websites like this one help people get back into the driver’s seat of their lives by using appropriate and empowering tools – diet, stress management, spiritual connection, astrology, etc. – to decrease chronic inflammation and reclaim balance. Thanks!
Thank you, Dr. Leskowitz, for your taking the time to comment so thoughtfully. I agree, there is a wide spread feeling of helplessness, not only in medicine, but with regard to all of the crises we are facing at this unique time on our planet. I am glad that you mention spiritual connection as an empowering tool. It seems to me absolutely essential for health and well being.
Hi again folks. I have just spent a week with a poltergeist in my Apple Mac laptop. This is not meant to happen. It had a very disabling effect on my life, not only in that I could not do what I needed to do, in the way I have become accustomed to doing it, but also it took up hours and hours of my and especially my husband’s time trying to put it right. Then suddenly today, en route to the Apple Shop, it went right again!
The problem with this ‘new technology’ is that one has no way of controlling it, none at all. I feel I have been suckered in to depending on it, and have then been let down by it in a big way. This is extremely disempowering, and the technology in ones laptop is paralleled by the complex ‘web’ of controls on so many aspects of our lives, which we also have no way in to, or access to, in order to control them.
For example, I recently had a speed camera clock me going too fast, at night, on a dual carriage way that has, through most of its length, a speed limit of 70 miles per hour, which is what I was driving at. But in one small section it drops to 60mph because of a side turning, and apparently there have been accidents there. No accident happened with me. No one was hurt, nothing untoward occurred, but I was speed trapped. The letter came through the post, and was about 8 pages long. I am a busy person and I decided to just pay the fine (£100) as I accept I was speeding in an area where there is a good reason to slow down. I know it was at night, and any headlights would have been easily seen if a car had been at this junction, but I accepted my slap on the wrist, and paid, even though they offered me a place on a speed awareness course and a slightly smaller fine. I didn’t read all the reams of paper, but cut to the chase and paid up the full amount. I don’t need a lesson on speed. I picked up something about sending in my driving license but at the same time heard on the radio that the paper part of a UK driving license will no longer be needed and any points to be applied as a punishment will now be done electronically. So I didn’t send my license in as one had done in the past. (Not that I had ever had to do this, but so I understood. I am a good driver, and perfectly speed aware). Then I got a summons to court, which I was told I didn’t need to attend, and then I got slapped with a £477 fine, which I could not get out of! I won’t go into any more boring details, but this is the sort of thing that is enough to make people feel trapped, tricked, caught, and helpless, and therefore hopeless.
I see the fantastic invention that we all love so much, yes, the internet, is indeed a web, as Tim Berners-Lee, its inventor, called it, the world wide web. It is like a spiders web, a web that catches unsuspecting people, and intentions, suckers them in and devours them (potentially). Who is reading our emails, and listening to us through our phones, even when we think they are turned off? What are we falling for? Who has our data?
I wonder if it is time for a mass logging off, ditching the dratted, unreliable kit, and going back to good old paper, pens, and post.
My recent computer poltergeist certainly sent me into a tail spin, but also made me grateful for what is not online, such as my patient notes, my heating system, my cooker! In other words, I coped, it was just frustrating and weird. But here I am, back on it, typing to you, whoever you are…. What is that all about???
I understand where you are coming from. The level of complexity of our lives is mind blowing, and we are all so dependent on technology that we cannot begin to understand or repair when it malfunctions. It offers us so much potential and opportunity but at the same time it sometimes can be such a source of frustration and aggravation. Its creates a whole dimension of experience that never existed previously and creates quite a bit of stress at the same time that it allows us access and power. Its really a brave new world.
I should add that I am a researcher in matters of cereal grains and many other matters, which I write about on my blog, which you can see here: www.rosemarycottageclinic.wordpress.com.
Three parts of a four part series are now published called Why No One Should Eat Cereal Grains. The first part ‘The Tip of The Iceberg’ can be read here: https://rosemarycottageclinic.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/why-no-one-should-eat-grains-part-1-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/) and the others found from the site. We love receiving comments on that blog, by the way, so feel free to let rip (as I did on Judy’s blog a few minutes ago).
Thanks for reading and thanks Judy for your truly wonderful work.
Your article is an excellent Judy, a concise exploration of some possible causes of the rise in suicides in my generation.
I think one of the factors not fully mentioned is the pressure of having to keep up with the crazily rapid technological advances that has taken place. For people who were never interested in such things when they were in their teens, say in the late 1970s, but were into music or football or something non academic, how are they supposed to find the interest in new computer based stuff, let alone have the money to buy into each new generation of wizardry? And then they see the 20 somethings functioning with ease in the computer world, doing seemingly spectacular things, and they just feel useless in comparison. Useless and disheartened from even trying to catch up. No wonder they just think they are failures. No real value is put on being a loyal football team supporter, or really into prog rock, for example, as these things cannot be monetised. I recently had my house redecorated by a chap just like this, only the music he still listened to wasn’t even clever prog rock, it was crappy pop songs that no one in their right mind now would even call music! I felt pretty sorry for him as he is an anachronism. He kept doing the only work he’d ever been able to earn a living from, but it was obvious to me that it no longer held any value other than keeping him going from day to day. I only employed him as a friend recommended him but I, like many other people, probably won’t have him back to do other work as he’s very uninspiring to have around!
Now, to Susan’s experience with her own health and in her role as a nurse, I, like Judy, am interested in what changes in diet made the difference that she hinted at. I am going to guess that it was removing gluten, or maybe all cereal grains, from her diet. Am I right? I see a great many patients who have no idea that their symptoms are actually due to eating cereal grains. Just today I had a young woman with two little kiddies, who is going crazy with paranoia about electro-magnetic fields. Now, she might well be super sensitive to them, and does live in between four masts (!) but I have identified a very high likelihood that she is actually reacting to cereal grains, as she has a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, has gut bloating, wind, depression, extreme anxiety, up twice per night to pee so has disrupted sleep, and has a rash on her face. The Hashimoto’s is the real clincher, but all these symptoms point to an immunological reaction in the nervous system, thyroid and gut to whatever is in the dratted grains which, for want of knowing for sure, we will call ‘gluten’. Grains contain a great number of compounds that can disrupt human physiology, but ‘gluten’ is the word we can all comfortably use, and so, again, for want of a better word, I will just say this woman, until proven otherwise, should be considered ‘coeliac’, and have a diet free from ALL grains, and instead eat proper, natural, real foods, with no ingredients lists needed because they are what they are, a chicken, a fish, an egg, a cauliflower etc. Once she does this, properly, I am sure I will find that her super sensitivity to WiFi, computers and phone masts will calm down, she will calm down, her relationship will improve, her in-laws will fully embrace her, and her mothering style will become relaxed and sensible.
She had NO idea that food could even be the problem, and we will have to wait to see just what pans out in this case, and whether I am right or not, but it is all too common for symptoms like arthritis, mental derangement, or mysterious pains somewhere inside to send people into a downward spiral of dreadful, toxic drug treatments for very poorly taught doctors, and I am not surprised that, under the onslaught of the not unreasonable depression that ensues, people can end up killing themselves. It is utterly tragic and I feel for them all.
So Susan, can you enlighten us as to what you changed in your diet that made all the difference? I look forward to hearing it.
Wow, Fifi, thank you! That is such an excellent point about the technology. Even for the bright and highly educated, it is a challenge to keep up, not to mention an expense, as you rightly point out. It could be overwhelming and depressing to feel unable to keep up. I am also really looking forward to hearing what the dietary changes Susan made are, and like you, have quite astonishing experiences in my practice when people stop eating gluten, dairy and sugar. Many have severe detox reactions initially. Then they report a level of calm and well being that is really different. I have also witnessed remarkable weight loss without change in diet in terms o calorie restriction or change in exercise. It is because those foods cause so much inflammation in some people.
Hi Fifi…yes! I failed to include that, per gaps, I removed all grains from my diet, too.
At this point, I do have some starch and grain occasionally …but never gluten.
Thanks for ‘coming out’ with that Susan. I felt certain that it would be gluten that you removed, as in my experience it is by far the most important physiological derringer in the diet, so from what you said this must have been what you changed in order to achieve the major improvements in health you described. Nice to know I was right (as was Judy of course).
Sugar, in many ways, is an easier challenge for people to rise to, as it does not take any long conversation for all to agree that sugar is just an unnecessary addition to our food, providing no nutrients, just calories, and so they find the process of reducing it then removing it from their diet more simple than they do the grains, so I spend more time on the grain issue than the sugar issue. Interestingly I do not find dairy products to be anywhere near as big an issue as the grains or carbohydrates (sugar being a carbohydrate), but in the USA I have a feeling the milk quality that is generally available is very much worse, than it is in Britain. I don’t know what they are doing to it or the dairy cows, but it must be very bad. Here, most of our cows are out on pasture, and all organic milk is, which is sold in every supermarket. However, I will quite frequently shift all of a patient’s dairy products to full fat goat’s rather than cows, for reasons of the protein size, the A2 structure of the peptides released (which is more in line with human milk which is also A2), but this will usually be in those demonstrating excess mucous, or classic atopic symptoms (asthma, eczema or hay fever). Occasionally I find a patient who cannot take any dairy products, which I work out by a one month trial of removal of all dairy.
I actually have a lot of respect for dairy products, and do not consider the rather blanket ‘milk shouldn’t be part of an adult human diet’ argument to be backed up by experience or science. In fact a recent paper published just two weeks ago in the Journal of Nutrition titled ‘Total and Full-Fat, but Not Low-Fat, Dairy Product Intakes are Inversely Associated with Metabolic Syndrome in Adults.”(here is a link to the paper: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26511614) the authors concluded that dairy products, especially those with a high fat content, are associated with less metabolic dysregulation, which supports my general approach which is to keep thick cream, cheese, butter, ghee, yogurt and kefir and full fat milk in the diet, but to eschew semi or fully skimmed milk, or all milk and yogurt, obviously, if lactose is not tolerated. Lactose, being a sugar, is not something to have much of for anyone.
So my approach is usually one of low carb, high fat and grain free eating, and for most people this is an excellent and easy diet to keep to. And often I find that once the gut is stable through the removal of grains, any reactions that were happening to dairy or egg will settle down again, as they were not the primary cause of the problem. Invariably, the grains were the original cause.
I am always interested in other people’s experiences, especially when they concur with my own but I probably learn more when they do not.
Thanks again for the opportunity to discuss this subject.
Fifi
Fifi, in response to your question about milk in America. ..we kill it! Milk here is homogonized and ultra – pasturized which has an end result of dead milk. Gaps strongly recommends raw milk. If not available then use pasturized only. But never homogonized or ultra – pasturized.. . Or god forbid both! It’s such a shame that we here in America are so fearful of bacteria, when they are actually our allies ! It is we/ourselves we should fear! We ignore the signals our bodies send us
as a nurse, and also one who has a chronic health condition, I feel I have some insight into modern medicine. With that said, I have essentially healed myself from CFS, leaky gut, and all that goes with that. That’s right…I healed me. I suffered for over 5 years from debilitating pain from red and swollen joints and also awful fatigue before taking my health into my own hands. I have spent literally tens of thousands of dollars going to different doctors and specialists, including alternative medicine practitioners. Throughout all that, I continued to worsen on a weekly basis.
I’ve seen that practitioners sell what they know…there is no individualized treatment. Some use acupuncture, some use herbs, some utilize heat/cold paks, some prescribe medication. From my experience these are attempts at symptom relief; I was never offered a goal of healing.
I’ve also learned that the simplest answer is most commonly the right answer. For me, this meant that thousands of dollars spent on acupuncture, herbs, prescriptions, or a combination of these etc. never were going to be my cure. It was diet, along with a determination to heal that cured me. Oh, and time. My healing was a long process. Once I stopped looking for a miracle cure I began to piece together how I could heal.
I agree that this group of individuals being discussed today have less to look forward to than their parents. This stress, along with a modern day diet of highly processed non-food, and a dose of modern medicine (prescriptions with awful side effects) is enough to send anyone to the brink of despair. I agree those without critical thinking skills tend not to question their doctors. As a nurse I see individuals every day who present with chronic ailments and ask for help. They keep coming back bec they continue to worsen. More and more rx’s with no improvement. Modern medicine makes those with chronic illness suffer a long and painful death. We might live longer in some circumstances, but the quality of life is not improved.
After four generations of poor diet is when we see changes in our structure as humans. We are way past that and our consumption of processed food is rapidly increasing as there is so much more of it and it’s also affordable. We have less time for cooking, too. When I was growing up it was rare to see obese kids…now it’s common…it’s actually the norm. Chronic illness is the new killer disease and modern medicine has no idea how to help.
I agree blacks and hispanics have it better now than in the past. Whites used to have the American Dream to look forward to, but no more
What a wonderful thoughtful comment! Thank you for taking the time to write. You have a unique insight as a nurse and also one who has suffered with chronic inflammation and tried alternative therapies. I am curious about what worked for you ultimately in terms of diet?
amazing as it may seem, the GAPS diet is what started me on my healing path. Importantly, I ate low fiber, no starches or carbs…and primarily animal protein and fats. (Needed to heal and seal the gut). I lost a ton of weight which was concerning for a time, but looking back I believe it was the detox process. During this time I did daily coffee enemas and took MTHFR supplement. After a couple years I plateaued; felt better but not fully healed. I went back to GAPS website and read it might be due to parasites. I determined that I might have chronic low grade infection (stool tests were negative) but I started taking GSE, garlic oil, and oregano oil and had die off. After a couple months of this …still on gaps diet…I started diy FMT (which I first read about on your site!) .I started seeing big improvements. I did daily Fmt for about a month. Now I do them a couple times per week. Because of all this, I’ve come to the conclusion that illness stems primarily from poor diet which has many results: vitamin and mineral deficiencies, compromised gut lining and micro biome, poor or non-functioning immune system. Bad bacteria and yeast take advantage and wreak further havoc. This used to be what we call old age. Now it’s called chronic illness , and that’s bec we see it in young people now. It’s more devastating in the young bec they live longer and suffer throuout. Also, they must continue to participate in society (working, school, raising families, etc). The old people would just slowly wind down with this ‘chronic illness’, remove themselves from society (isolate) bec they could no longer participate, then die. It’s a natural condition, and expected, in the old. Unfortunately, modern medicine promotes this onset of chronic illness by continuing to prescribe drugs that don’t help, and they do not address diet. Big pharma is making new drugs faster than they can be prescribed, and the doctors Prescribe as fast as they can, and the white, middle-age, uneducated masses are blindly following bec they don’t know what else to do.
Another brilliant comment, Susan, thank you. Very fascinating. And I am so delighted that you read about FMT on my website and that it has been helpful to you. Its a really interesting point about younger people and chronic illness. And yes, I agree, the undereducated have no idea what to do except follow doctors’ orders. Very sad and dangerous.
Your assessment of the problem is EXACTLY right Suan! It is a derangement the whole system due to wrong foods, subsequent malnutrition and opportunistic microbial effects. And the medical profession are, effectively, another parasite that take advantage and feeds off the same sickened people.
Young people undoubtedly have a worse time in that their horrors go on for longer as they start earlier. The older generation at least had the benefit of better nutritional status, for the most part, in their younger days, but we have a generation of kids growing up without the right raw materials to have a hope in hell of ever functioning properly (think autism and the developmental windows that are missed). Of course people like Judy and I can make a vast difference to the futures of these patients, but in many cases some deficits will be lifelong simply due to these windows of developmental maturation being missed.
Well done Susan for covering so much ground in your assessment of the problem!
I think you’re onto something with the idea that standard medical care is a cause of this mortality.
Personally, I resonated strongly with the “loss of narrative” interpretation. Even though I’m more educated and more secure financially, I still struggle and feel the despair of perceiving myself to be part of the first not doing better than our parents. I also feel despair for my children; I’m not sure how they will survive financially in our corrupt society. They have grown up in a world where dystopian stories like The Hunger Games are seen as a quite realistic depiction of their likely future.
I read separately about the epidemic of veteran suicides, and I’m surprised nobody has commented on this and whether veteran suicides are a significant fraction of the suicides in the study cohort as a whole.
Thanks for your comment. It’s a good point about the Veteran suicides. I don’t know, but that is another huge and terrible problem.