As time passes with patients who have made it through treatment, it is easy to begin feeling like you can do anything and the symptoms wont come back. It is easy to have that drink of wine each night, to eat that dessert on a regular basis, even to take medications like birth control pills. 

This last month I had three patients come back who had been without symptoms for years. Each of their stories are different, but the common theme was….”I thought I could handle anything!” These stories involved birth control pills, sugar and alcohol.

I say this, not to pass judgement on human nature, because, it is human to forget pain and suffering and to think of ourselves as invincible, but deliver a reminder that health is dynamic. Health is changing and dependent on how we take care of ourselves. What we eat and drink, how much rest we get, how we handle our emotions, and how we handle our healthcare will all influence the state of this balance. And once balance is achieved, it is much more difficult to shift a person off that balance. So, initially, one might think to themselves that the sugar they are having again is fine, or find that one glass of wine per week was ok so one per night will also be ok, and chemical birth control is easier than other forms of birth control and that should not be a problem since the alcohol and sugar were both fine….until one day…it isn’t.

It saddens me when someone has worked so hard to be well and then has to learn the hard way that that work can be undone by not taking care to preserve that hard earned balance.

Part of this kind of work is learning how to take care of your body in a healthier way-changing your lifestyle and life practices. I can tell you from personal experience, it is an evolution that changes everything about your existence. And, it feels so much better to work hard to gain your healthy balance and keep it and feel well physically and emotionally. You are all working hard, so keep these thoughts in mind as you improve!

Dr.B