All Is Well: Heal Your Body With Medicine, Affirmations, and Intuition (11 page)

hormones can cause everything from irritability to pain to fi-

broids and ovarian cysts, not to mention weight gain.4 In fact, one

group of studies showed the connection between chronic pelvic

pain and sexual abuse. Sexual trauma, especially in childhood, is

known to help set the scene for pain in the genital and urinary

tract, as well as the third emotional center issues of eating disor-

ders and obesity.5

Women with cervical dysplasia and cervical cancer are likely

to have had more sexual relationships at an earlier age, a higher

number of premarital sexual experiences, extramarital affairs, or

several marriages and divorces. More than half of these women

grew up in homes where the father died young or deserted the

family.6 Essentially, these women never had adequate love from a

man as children. It’s quite possible that their later sexual behavior

is a cry for love, an effort to find what they couldn’t find at home.

Without an internal representation of love, they constantly try to

fill up the empty hole inside with an abundance of unbalanced

relationships. Very frequently these women enjoy the sex they are

having, yet they tend to be selfless and do whatever pleases the

man, physically and emotionally.7

The influence of financial struggle and a poor economy can

be seen as a burden on the backs of the country’s workers—liter-

ally. A number of studies have shown that backache and increased

muscular tension occur when people become depressed or unhappy

about their finances, especially if they hate their jobs.8 For example,

one study found that job dissatisfaction increased the risk for back

pain nearly sevenfold.9 Lower-back pain is the number one cause

of workplace disability in the U.S., not just for furniture movers or

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dock workers, but also for white-collar workers. And the incidence

of lower-back pain doesn’t necessarily decrease even in ergonomi-

cally appropriate conditions. You know what I mean . . . all those

pillows and devices that OSHA and companies have devised to pro-

tect our spines. A recent study showed that educating office workers

in ergonomics did not significantly reduce cases of lower-back pain

and disability.10 Doing a job you enjoy may help, however, as it re-

leases opiates that are in fact relievers of chronic pain.

Interestingly, lower-back pain has also been associated with

problematic relationships. Improvement in a present marriage, for

instance, can help alleviate chronic pain, especially in the lower

back. When someone with lower-back pain and marital problems

undergoes marriage therapy with his or her partner, the lower-

back pain often improves significantly without the benefit of sur-

gery or medicine as the relationship improves.11

Now that you know the science that supports Louise’s affirma-

tion theory, how do you actually heal health problems?

Bladder Problems

Folks who experience bladder problems are generally very

emotionally sensitive when it comes to relationships, and this

makes financial independence difficult. They are so focused on

maintaining loving relationships that the skill required to maneu-

ver a business deal or focus on the monetary bottom line isn’t

necessarily developed or used on a regular basis. These people are

likely to put their finances on a back burner or cede all control to

a partner. However, these actions often spawn bladder illness be-

cause they bring about feelings of anger and resentment—either

by establishing complete dependency on a significant other or by

the requirement to pick up some financial responsibility.

So let’s look at a prescription to bring a little more balance

to your love and money lives. We’ll jump right in by looking at

the affirmations that can help you change negative thought pat-

terns that may be causing your bladder problems. Urinary tract–

related infections—whether cystitis or the more serious kidney

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infection—correlate with being pissed off, usually at the opposite

sex or a partner, and blaming others. So we have to get rid of that

anger. A good healing affirmation for urinary tract infections is “I

release the pattern in my consciousness that created this condi-

tion. I am willing to change. I love and approve of myself.” Uri-

nary incontinence (an involuntary leakage of urine) is associated

with keeping emotions in check over a long period of time; the

healing affirmation for this is “I am willing to feel. It is safe for

me to express my emotions. I love myself.” Affirmations will differ

depending on the condition. For more specific affirmations, look

up your particular ailment in the table on page 183.

Look at your past relationships with money. Did you ever be-

come so utterly devoted to someone that you didn’t pay attention

to your finances? If you were in a relationship, did you cede all

control of your money to your significant other? Do you feel out

of control when it comes to money? If you answered yes to any of

these questions, you are at risk of developing bladder problems.

If this sounds like you, the most important issue to address is

your view of money and the importance it plays in life. This isn’t

going to be easy. To bring about this balance between love and

money, you should start small.

If you currently have no financial independence, figure out a

way to get some. For example, take control of paying just a few of

the household bills: just write some of the checks. If you’re feel-

ing really strong and adventurous, look at your personal passions

and see if you can find a part-time job around these interests. The

important thing is to be responsible for something financial. You

need to familiarize yourself with the language and beneficial power

of money. This lessens your dependence on your partner and helps

stem the resentment and anxiety that could come from being

in a totally controlling relationship or being forced to step into

a big financial role. No matter how much you love and trust

someone in your life, you should always keep a hand in your

financial outlook.

If moving toward financial involvement seems difficult, one

problem could be a perception that money is not spiritual—maybe

even the root of all evil—and that caring about it automatically

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makes you shallow or materialistic. To this, all I can say is, snap

out of it. With the structure of our society today, money is neces-

sary for life, just like food and water. While those with money and

power can (and do) misuse them, this bad behavior is not intrinsic

to their existence. You need to realize that being financially re-

sponsible means having a healthy independence. Nothing more.

Nothing less.

So the goal is to find a way to balance money and love. Don’t

sacrifice your financial well-being to an important relationship.

By taking control of your own financial situation, you are showing

respect for yourself and the people around you.

From the Clinic Files: Bladder Disorders Case Study

Elise, 55, reported that she wasn’t truly happy until she met

her husband in her mid-20s. She had been completely focused

on her career—attending business school and working as a book-

keeper—but she felt something important was missing. All of that

changed when Elise met Gerald. They quickly fell in love and got

married, and Elise finally felt at peace. Once headed to a career in

business, she turned over management of all finances to Gerald,

quit her job, and became a stay-at-home mom to their growing

family.

Elise felt happy and fulfilled for a long time—until Gerald was

laid off from his longtime job. He adjusted quickly to this unex-

pected early retirement, but it was a more difficult transition for

Elise. After almost two decades as a stay-at-home mom, not deal-

ing with any financial obligations, she was forced to go back to

work as a bookkeeper to supplement their income.

Soon after Elise started her job, she and Gerald started arguing

about money. She felt resentful and overwhelmed, at times angry.

Work had at one time fulfilled her but now it only underscored

how much she had changed and how much she had given up. She

began having health problems. At first her symptoms seemed to

point to premenopause—she developed urinary urgency, erratic

menstrual cycles, and bladder infections. However, after months

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of suffering with urinary tract infections that would not be cured

with antibiotics, she ended up in our clinic.

When we started helping Elise with her urinary and menstrual

cycle problems, the very first step was to demystify this mysterious

pelvic region. I feel that it’s important for people to understand

this because if we know what our equipment is and how it works,

we are more able to visualize health there.

I explained to Elise that our urinary system consists of two

kidneys, two ureters, one bladder, and one urethra. Kidneys fil-

ter toxins out of the blood, balance our sodium and water levels,

and then produce urine, which is sent via ureters to the bladder

and then out of the body through the urethra. Since the urethra

opening is near the anus where bacteria are, infection can readily

ascend, producing the common urinary tract infection. If you are

immunocompromised, diabetic, or have a catheter or some other

predisposing factor, the bacteria can climb from the bladder up

the ureters to the kidneys and cause a dangerous kidney infection.

After we’d cleared up how her urinary system worked, we sent

Elise back to her physician who had her get her urine checked,

to verify that she actually had a bladder infection. When a blad-

der infection is present, white blood cells are present in the urine

along with a very large quantity of bacteria. While it’s normal to

have a certain number of bacteria living in the bladder, this num-

ber skyrockets when an infection is present. In Elise’s case, she

had no white cells and minimal bacteria, so she didn’t actually

have a bladder infection. Then what was causing her pain?

The bladder is a muscular organ that can contain up to a quart

of urine. So if you feel a sense of urgency to urinate every five min-

utes or so, yet you only produce a few ounces of urine, you have

bladder or urethral
irritation.
This was the case with Elise, but her

OB/GYN had to figure out just why. There were three basic reasons

to consider:

1. Post-hysterectomy effects: After a hysterectomy there

can be “stress incontinence,” which means that

surgery has “bruised” the bladder nerves that control

urination.

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2. Fibroid uterus: If a woman has large fibroid cysts in

her uterus, these may compress the nearby bladder,

making the bladder fill with smaller amounts of

urine, which then leads to frequent urination.

3. Irritation from vaginal dryness and thinning: When

estrogen levels drop during perimenopause, the

vaginal and urethral tissue thins and gets irritated.

This creates the same symptoms as a bladder

infection, but you have no infection. You simply have

urgency and pain during urination.

Since Elise hadn’t had a hysterectomy, we knew this wasn’t

the problem, so the next stop was the gynecologist. Elise had

been having heavy, erratic periods, and from the gynecologist

she learned that she had two large fibroids—one of which was sit-

ting directly on her bladder. At this point, Elise had two options

for dealing with the fibroids. She could go to a fertility surgeon

and have them removed. Or, if she didn’t want surgery, she could

choose to simply wait. The end of menopause brings with it a drop

in hormones that often leads to the shrinking of fibroids. This

would help relieve pressure on the bladder.

Elise’s doctor also looked at the third possible cause for pain:

irritation from vaginal dryness and thinning. Elise’s periods had

the erratic characteristics of perimenopause, and she had started

to experience vaginal dryness and pain during intercourse.

Elise decided not to get the fibroid surgery and instead focus

on treating the irritation to see if that would be sufficient to help

her bladder problems. To address the dryness, Elise looked at a va-

riety of lubricants that can help and found the one that was right

for her. Her physician showed her both prescription and natural

ways she could address the problem. Elise decided to start with the