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Joanne Denning's avatar

I WANT to believe my body is always working for me. In fact I have always believed this. But my faith is shaken since my recent diagnosis of an auto-immune condition. It seems like my body is attacking itself. Can you help me restore my faith?

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Johnathon Haney's avatar

All this reminded me of my first major surgery. It was three years ago at the tail end of the pandemic. Spent the whole two years before that morbidly afraid of COVID only to get brought low by gallstones. It finally made me move in with my family and take care of my teeth at last (no insurance before that, so I couldn't).

Through all that, I knew I could get better. It'd never be what it was before but did it have to be? I am probably healthier now than I've ever been in my life.

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Marion J Chard's avatar

Totally believe in this. I take charge of my health and keep a positive attitude. My thing? You can make or break your day. It's all in your approach.

My mom was one who let her health dictate her life. It was miserable for her and everyone around her.

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Chris Bell's avatar

Great article. I was recently dx’d with some moderate hip OA and a incidentally imaged labrum tear. So I’m modifying activity; not giving up on tennis, but favoring doubles and doing more swimming & cycling. I told one of my tennis pals my top goal is weight loss to ideal BMI. A reasonable goal, about 15 lbs. She asked if “that was what my doctor advised.” I said don’t really need a medical consult to know that weight loss is front line treatment for knee or hip OA! And if you MRI any number of senior citizen raquette sports players, you’d likely find many labrum tears. Imaging studies are very useful. But symptoms and function are key.

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🇨🇦Mary Ann Allin 🌻💙💛's avatar

I have always been of the “Healing Mindset”. It has gotten me through a number of things and I am so happy I did !!😊

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Erica Crall PhD's avatar

Laurie- mindset and perspective are so powerful.

Thank you for this message.

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Helen Griffiths's avatar

Wonderful article ♥️ in my own journey with CFS & Long Covid, I’ve found that doctors love to say that there’s “no cure” and “it’s just something you’ll have to manage”, which is incredibly disheartening. However, start digging around online, and you’ll find so many incredible recovery stories from people who have changed their lifestyle, their diet, their mindset, or dug down deep into the root cause of their illness and found their way back to health. These are the stories that have kept me going, and I’m so grateful to be on the path to recovery.

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Laurie Marbas, MD, MBA's avatar

Sending healing love and prayers to you.

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Dr. Julie Kellogg's avatar

I believe this and I use these principles to help program a positive healing mindset in my patients. Yet, I struggle to speak kindly to my body. Suffering allergies since childhood and now autoimmune phenomenon, I continually find myself saying “my body hates me.” And I do continue to search for answers and yet my own mindset continues to hold me back.

Keep writing!

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Laurie Marbas, MD, MBA's avatar

Thank you for sharing this. It’s incredible that you help your patients cultivate a healing mindset—you already understand the power of the mind in shaping our health. And yet, I hear the deep frustration in feeling like your own body is working against you.

What if, instead of "my body hates me," you tried a gentle reframe? Maybe something like, "My body is doing its best with what it has," or "My body is communicating with me, and I'm learning to listen." It doesn’t mean denying the struggles—it means shifting the way you relate to them.

You are already searching for answers, and that in itself is an act of self-care. The next step might be softening the way you speak to yourself. Try treating your body like you would a patient—with kindness, patience, and encouragement.

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Michael Barrett's avatar

I like what you're writing.

There's a topic that surfaced in my earlier studies when a women “spontaneously” was healed from a brain tumor.

My mentor said he was taking a shower one morning and he got a nudge, like somebody tapping him on the shoulder.

He heard the words:

“ Pleomorphic organism.'“

That's odd he thought…

Several weeks later, he was cleaning out his desk and came across an article by Dr Bruce Lipton: “Pleomorphic Organisms”.

The women with a brain tumor had a before and after MRI showing clearly that there was a tumor and then there wasn't a tumor.

My mentor asked himself:

“Where did the unhealthy tissue go?”

The tissue apparently changed from unhealthy to healthy. Only explanation.

The mindset, you refer to, is (I think) the energy that created this transformation.

Different example from yours. But same concept, I believe

Fascinating stuff.

Good stuff.

👍

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Laurie Marbas, MD, MBA's avatar

Yes, love Bruce Lipton's work. Really makes you think differently about everything.

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Michael Barrett's avatar

It does.

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NativeTx's avatar

My mom’s oncologist told her all of this on the article when she had cancer on 1978. Eighty people went in the day and my mom was the only one to survive. She had five kids and my dad traveled for work every week. She always said she would envision the tumors shrinking and kept a very positive attitude and wouldn’t leave her kids behind. She lived to be 84. The cancer never came back. I use the same things my mom did when I have something challenging come up with one of my daughters. She even taught the same skills to my 3 daughters.

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Dr. Linda L. Moore's avatar

I find a similar pattern with my clients in psychotherapy… those who are determined to solve problems and heal and those who continue to feel helpless in face of challenges… “sometimes” therapy helps those who feel helpless make the needed shift….

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Dr Maggie Wheeler DO's avatar

This post feels very osteopathic- and as a proud osteopath- I love it:)

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Kat's avatar

“❌ You place all hope in doctors and medications—while ignoring the role of lifestyle, mindset, and habits”

This is something I’ve been doing a lot lately with changes in my health and yesterday I listed all the things I’m not doing to shift my mindset and habits … I need to go back to the basics and stop relying on other things.

Thank you for this piece. I saw it right at the right time. ✨

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Laurie Marbas, MD, MBA's avatar

This makes my heart sing!

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