Doctor's orders: Take care of self

I asked my doctor to write an essay for you. He is so good and understands our health issues. This essay is long, but please read it all because it is full of great information. We are trying to talk the good doctor into helping our ladies more with his wealth of knowledge. He is a very busy man, but we all know what we can do in just 15 minutes. He and Leanne are working together on my menu plan for my diabetes. With a few changes in my eating habits and losing a lot of weight I can control it without medication.

I need your help in telling my wonderful doctor that more people need him. He could help 255,000 people instead of 30 a day. I have been explaining to him that my ladies could use a house call from a wise doctor that understands women's health issues, even if it was just via e-mail once a week, but he says he has to make a living and does not have very much time to write. He works very long hours at a regular medical clinic three days a week and the other two days he is at his own Wellness Clinic. Do you have any ideas how we can encourage him step out in faith to pursue his passion for helping women get well? If you do then please send an e-mail to me at FlyLady@flylady.net and put Dr.Neal in the subject line.

We are going take care of ourselves this year and with Dr. Neal's Housecalls, we will have the information to guide us. — FlyLady

Dear Friends,

When I first met Susan, she was 40 years old, struggling with a bad marriage, 50 pounds overweight and feeling as though life was hopeless. By the time she reached my office, she'd been to at least four doctors with her complaints of bloating, weight gain, achiness and fatigue. No one was able to help. They had wanted to put her on antidepressants and told her to get out and walk. She'd tried to exercise but just couldn't drag herself out of bed early enough in the morning to make a go of it, and the drugs had side effects.

She worked as a secretary in a manufacturing plant where they used a lot of thinners in the production line, and while she was not right next to them, as time passed she seemed to be able to smell them more and more. Eventually she got headaches and recurrent sinus infections. She had been treated with multiple rounds of antibiotics for those infections with only temporary improvement.

We took an hour to go over all these issues, and finally I told her that her problems are solvable. The biggest issue is inflammation in every aspect of your life: your personal relationships, the food you eat, the doctors you've seen, the job you work, and in general the life you live. We've got to look at these one at a time.