Your Health Is Not Something to Be Earned

Actress and singer Selena Gomez recently revealed that she underwent chemotherapy for Lupus, which is the same treatment that I endured in 2010. My personal journey in pursuit of wellness has been, and continues to be, long and arduous. In my pre-teen years, I began having uncontrollable nose bleeds that would last for hours coupled with shooting pain through my chest and left arm. I spent several years thereafter poked and prodded -- bone marrow samples, seemingly endless tubes of blood, EKG tests and beyond. It wasn't until four years later that I received the fateful diagnosis: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. SLE, as it is commonly referred, is an autoimmune disease where the body cannot recognize its own cells from foreign invaders -- thereby turning on itself and attacking healthy parts of the body. SLE manifests in each individual differently, warranting a highly customized treatment path tailored to one's bodily response -- and often remaining at the whim of medical insurance approvals. This has become the roller coaster ride that I never wanted to be on, and has altered the trajectory of my life. I write this from a place of medical privilege, as I have now experienced autoimmune care in three different countries, on three different continents -- the United States, Germany and Taiwan. The Taiwanese people ought to be boastful about their highly effective government-run, single-payer, nationalized healthcare model. Yet, they largely remain humble of its remarkab...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news