I Disagree

by Patrick Flynn

  Chiropractors are in the best position to help with physical stress or trauma. What does a chiropractor really do? Remove physical stress. You may be thinking, no Doc, my chiropractor makes my pain go away. Have you ever gotten adjusted and the pain did not go away? Let me raise my hand first. Have you ever gotten adjusted and your headache did not go away? Let me raise my hand first. Today we are so dominant in the fire department medical system; we define all professionals from that perspective. That’s not true though. Chiropractors do just one thing. They are the carpenter doctor who removes that physical stress. But usually that’s not the only stress. There are other stresses our bodies are exposed to because of our choices. If the body has a symptom, it is adapting to a stress. We can find out what that stress is and remove it.

  To really understand how to keep the body in balance, we must understand each of the 3-T’s.

  What Is Trauma?

  Anything that puts the body under physical stress.

  Your body doesn’t make mistakes; it responds to stressors.

  If I run at you and attack you, what is going to happen to your heart rate? It goes up. What is going to happen to your blood sugar? It goes up. What happens to your cholesterol level? It goes up. Are you seeing a trend here? If we draw your blood at that moment what will medical and natural doctors think? They will look at the results and say you are sick. What is your body really doing? It is responding physical stress on your body. Your body doesn’t make mistakes; it responds to stressors.

  Remember that big toe example? If I smash your toe what happens to your heart rate? It goes up. Blood pressure? It goes up. Sugar? It goes up. Cholesterol? It goes up. That is a physical trauma. Your body will adapt to the physical trauma it encounters daily. No matter who you are, your body encounters trauma. Heck, your body encountered trauma coming into the world through your mama’s birth canal. Don’t try to tell me you don’t have any physical trauma.

  That’s why when people say that they don’t need to get adjusted, or their kid doesn’t need to get adjusted, I respond, “wait…. you’re telling me your child has no chance of physical trauma? Did your child learn to walk? Did they fall? Does she ever cross her legs? Does he ever lift things incorrectly?” See what I’m saying? When you remove that trauma, you leave room for the body to heal. All chiropractic really does is remove that physical trauma so the body can adapt. The body just wants to heal.

  Let me give you another example. Let’s say your plane was rerouted from Hawaii to Green Bay, Wisconsin during winter. You packed for summer, not the frigid temps of the frozen tundra. If you went outside in shorts and a tank top, you would be pretty cold. What would happen if you stayed out there in negative temperatures for a long time? Your body would send all the blood to your core to protect the vital organs. If you stayed out there long enough, could you lose your fingers and toes? Yes. That was an adaptation of the body. The body didn’t make a mistake. It tried to adapt to the stressors, and kept you alive. It was your choice to walk outside and stay out there. The body always has to adapt, regardless of your choices. Your body always makes the right choices, even when you don’t.

  Speaking of choices, our modern, fast-paced, quick and easy lives mean we make a lot of choices that expose us to toxins.

  What Are Toxins?

  When I was a kid my grandpa owned a bar across the street from our house. Every day, I would go across the street, open up the fridge, and grab a Coke. Then he’d give me a Kit Kat. To this day, I still want a Coke and a Kit Kat. No matter how healthy I eat, the memories associated with those foods make me want them still. I know now these are just one example of the many toxins our bodies encounter every day.

  Toxin exposure begins in your mother’s uterus.

  Toxin exposure begins in your mother’s uterus. Her toxins became our toxins as they traveled through the placenta, and it didn’t stop there. When you were born, you were most likely vaccinated and injected with toxins. The food you eat and even the water you drink can expose you to toxins even if you are eating really healthy. Toxins like lead in paint and toys, prescription drugs, beauty products, soaps, shampoos, and cleaning products. Toxins are inflammatory foods like sugar, dairy, and wheat. Even if you have reduced your exposure by being careful not to use toxic products, and eat super healthy foods, toxins are still in the air you breathe and water you drink.

  I know what you are thinking …but Doc, our bodies naturally detoxify. That’s true, the body is built to detoxify. Our bodies can only handle so much before it becomes difficult for the body to naturally detoxify. Toxins build up when the detoxification mechanisms cannot keep up with the production of cellular wastes, or the absorption of toxins from the intestines. In other words, garbage is coming in at a faster rate than your body can process it and safely remove it. Those toxins build up and can make us very sick.

  Exposure to xenoestrogens are very common in today’s modern society. To make it simple, let’s call this chemical, “estrogen”. Xenoestrogens are a sub category of chemical endocrine disruptors that have an estrogen-like effect. What do you think it does to the body’s homeostasis if you are throwing in a bunch of fake estrogen? These chemicals are everywhere. BPA, phthalates and parabens are common xenoestrogens. They are in plastics, household cleaning products, dryer sheets, cookware, food and beauty products. These are products people come in contact with every day, and they are building up in the body of a high percentage of people.

  There are some toxins that knock some people right out of homeostasis. Mold can be toxic for many people. It is a hidden killer that can cause inflammation, hormone imbalance, and immunity issues. In chronic exposure it can be hard to identify. The toxicity suppresses the immune system which can trigger other illnesses. And since finding the source often means relocation if they find that their home is the source, many are unable to eliminate the source or can’t afford to. In reality, they can’t afford not to. People look at their symptoms and the illness and don’t always connect them to mold sickness. In the long term, this can lead to even more serious illness like cancer or autoimmune disorders.

  Most people don’t see the toxins because the effect doesn’t seem immediate. The body has to respond to all of your choices.

  You’re not sick. Your body is trying to adapt.

  If I give you a shot of gasoline to drink, what happens to your blood pressure? It’s going to go up. You are probably going to puke, run a fever, and get diarrhea. Your body is adapting to the toxin. You’re not sick. Your body is trying to adapt. It’s trying to bring everything back to homeostasis. You may have been the one who made the bad choice to drink the gasoline, but your body is making positive choices so it can adapt.

  All illness is a long-term adaptation for survival. We look at things that stress the body and go from there. When we assess a patient, we look for what is stressing the body. Imagine if I stressed you out like crazy and then you went for a check-up at the medical doctor right after. They are going to look at you and tell you, “your blood pressure is high. Let’s inhibit and stimulate the body to a normal level.” They’ll use drug or surgery intervention. What an incomplete way of looking at it! They never looked at what was causing the high blood pressure in the first place. Wouldn’t it make more sense to look at what is triggering the stress and remove that?

  That’s why understanding toxins and detoxification is so important. We will talk about that more later. There’s another “T” that we have to discuss and this one is a big one in today’s society.

  What Are Thoughts?

  This is the stress most people think about when they think of stresses! It’s the mental stress that I encountered when I started chiropractic school. It’s your mental stress that you encounter every day. It’s huge! Most people don’t realize the impact it makes. Now, don’t get stressed out about your stress just yet. First, let’s start with who stresses out more, men or women? Women. Who causes women the most stress? This is where the audience laughs, and calls out “Men!” Gue
ss what—they’re right! I’ll prove it to you that men are one of the biggest contributors to illness on the planet today. I’m not joking! Hang with me though guys, it gets better.

  We are up at night stressing about our stress. It’s a never-ending cycle!

  Every day we are bombarded with worries like bills, work, getting kids to school, health, household chores, and all the expectations to keep all these things afloat. Then we find out how bad stress is for us and we stress out about that. That means we are up at night stressing about our stress. It’s a never-ending cycle!

  It’s important to reduce stress because it can impact every system in your body, and when one system gets out of whack so can others. For example, when stress puts our body into the fight or flight mode it can impact our digestive system, and your body won’t be able to digest the food you ate. This can lead to acid reflux, colon problems, hormone problems, high blood pressure, and so much more.

  CHRISTY’S THOUGHTS

  That pivotal day that Patrick found me—you see, I get it now. When Patrick told me, “don’t worry, you will be okay,” he was removing one of my stressors without me realizing it. He knew that I was depleting my hormones worrying about my health and future. So, when I hear friends or some of our patients frustrated about the length of time that the healing process takes, I just need to say that I UNDERSTAND! My biggest piece of advice: Trust the process! You, as a patient, need to step back, follow the guidance of a Wellness Way doctor, and stop stressing yourself out! All you are doing is prolonging your healing process. I did not get well overnight. It took many years of continuous baby steps in the right direction and Patrick asking different questions in order to come up with different solutions to what I was going through.

  Mental stress can really impact a woman’s health starting with her hormones.

  Mental stress can make you very sick, especially if you are a woman. It is the biggest reason I see patients in my clinic. Mental stress can really impact a woman’s health starting with her hormones. I want you to think about this. You can get adjusted and pull all the chemicals out of your body and eat organic but guess what is ten times more disruptive to health than anything else. Mental stress. It will kill you. All doctors are taught this. So, back to my study. I started to study women. I studied why they stressed out so much. I polled women eighteen years ago and I still ask them today. What do women care about? EVERYTHING. But what are the top three things that cause the most stress?

  Here’s where I may surprise some women. Women, it’s very clear where we are on your stress list. Ladies, where are you on our stress list? You’re not. There’s only one way you can stress out a guy, ladies. I’m going to show you there’s a biological reason why in a few chapters if you will be patient with me. The rewards for your health and relationships will be worth it!

  Some people might call these men disgusting, perverted pigs. I disagree, and if you stick with me, for the next few chapters you will find out why there is this biological difference that comes down to hormones. Stresses impact all of us. Understanding the 3-T’s helps us understand how to mitigate that stress so that we can find and maintain homeostasis.

  Grandma has misled you on some things.

  Most of us know common stressors to our bodies. That’s when people get caught up in the idea of moderation. People say everything’s okay in moderation. I disagree. Most grandmas are a fan of moderation. You can also swap out for mom, dad, aunt, uncle or any other person who has helped shape the way you approach food including grandpas who give you a Coke and a Kit Kat bar just for crossing the street. Grandma has misled you on some things. You may be thinking, Doc, are you saying my grandma was wrong? Well, grandmas are right about a lot of things—and we love them dearly—but in their quest to indulge us, they encourage some unhealthy habits.

  Let me explain. Grandma comes to you after you’ve started to eat healthy. She brings a plate of chocolate chip cookies with all the unhealthy, highly processed ingredients and she sweetly says, “Here honey, I have some cookies for you,” and you say, “No thank you, Grandma, I’m not going to eat those.” And Grandma says, “Everything is good in moderation!” Grandma loves you, but her perspective is wrong. I disagree with moderation. Your body doesn’t know if something is good or not. It knows if something is inflammatory and creates stress or if it is not inflammatory. It doesn’t know moderation. It doesn’t stop the inflammation process just because you only eat that food once in a while.

  Eating is one of the most emotional things we do. Let me give you an example. Let’s say I gave some health advice to a married couple; don’t have sex for a week. Now the guy will be kinda mad, the gal will be just fine. Right? But here’s another angle. If I tell that same couple to fast for three days, they’ll both hate me. Food carries a lot of emotional influence. Just to help understand this point, I’ve defined moderation for us:

  Moderation is your emotional justification to eat something bad for you.

  It’s just emotional, that’s all it is. In the end it all boils down to your choices.

  Your body responds to your choices, regardless if they are good or not. So, you say, “Oh come on, it’s just one cookie!” But the body still has to do what? Adapt to your choices. Is not getting a regular chiropractic adjustment a bad habit? Yes, it is, so your body is going to adapt to not getting adjusted. If you eat a bunch of processed sugar cookies, your body adapts. If you are mentally stressing out about your in-laws visiting, your body has to adapt to it. Picture yourself getting away from people stressing you out, and locking yourself in a room for an hour. What happens to your blood pressure? It goes back to normal. Blood sugar? It goes back to normal. Cholesterol? It goes back to normal. What stresses out the body? Trauma, toxins and thoughts. Your body will respond to those. Your body will adapt to those.

  Do we respond to the symptoms or do we respond to the triggers?

  That’s how disease happens. Do we respond to the symptoms or do we respond to the triggers? It seems pretty simple to me. Where it gets a little more complicated is that there is usually more than one stressor and people respond to triggers uniquely. This is especially true if we are looking at the differences between a man and a woman. In this politically correct world, we don’t talk about stresses the way they need to be talked about. Men and women are different. Yes, men and women need to be valued equally; however, in that argument we must understand that valuing them equally does not mean they are the same. We need to be able to appreciate and empower both, along with their biological differences. For our health and our relationships, this is absolutely necessary.

  CHAPTER 5

  Don’t Kill the Messenger

  Men and women are different. That doesn’t mean one is of less value than the other. It just means they are biologically different. I understand how women are biologically made. I don’t try to make them something they’re not, and I hope the women in my life don’t try to make me into something I’m not. It would be a difficult task though—my testosterone is high, which makes me confident in who I am. You’ll learn more about how this works later. For now, we need to understand that it is not only okay, but necessary for women and men to be recognized as different.

  We live in a time when everybody is saying we (men and women) are the same. I’m going in the exact opposite direction. I disagree! It’s not because I’m a male or a chauvinist; it’s because what they are saying doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t make any clinical sense. When it comes down to it, we are confusing people. We are treating them all the same and it’s leading to sickness. All these women are coming in sick as can be, and it’s the same for the guys. Everyone is sick. Why? Because they don’t understand who they are or how they are biologically made. We got away from understanding the differences between the genders somewhere in the midst of trying to make them equal.

  Now for those ladies who are getting uncomfortable about this, please, let’s slow down a bit and hear me out. I never once said you are weaker. You can h
ave a baby. I can’t. You’re nurturing. I’m not. You dominate in a lot of things that guys can’t. Equality can’t happen simply because we’re not equal. However, valuing each other for our individual gifts and what we can bring to the table is possible. We can’t be like you and you can’t be like us. Here’s an example: if a woman has a sex drive like a man, she is going to end up with cancer. Why? Because that woman has high testosterone, which isn’t normal for a woman. If a woman has a sex drive every day, then clinically I’m out of my mind worried about her. I want to get her tested to find out what is triggering her hormones out of balance. It’s a signal that she has PCOS or some testosterone dominant hormone going on that will leave her very sick and potentially with cancer. It’s biologically impossible for a lady to be healthy and masculine, the hormones simply don’t allow it.

  Have you ever seen little boys and girls play together? They get along just fine.

  Have you ever seen little boys and girls play together? They get along just fine. Their hormones are quite similar and consistent. Then, that magical time called puberty comes about and turns the whole relationship upside down. They don’t know if they love each other or hate each other. Throwing two cats in a burlap sack would be more peaceful than watching two pubescent adolescents of the opposite sex try to interact. What happened? They still have the same genes and phenotypes, but something has changed, and it’s changed dramatically. Their hormones have started to change their childhood bodies into the bodies of a man and a woman. They may not be able to describe or explain it, but they can sure feel it—and so can everyone else around them.