‘Cured’ by Jeffrey Rediger, M.D.
A book review of ‘Cured: Strengthen your Immune System and Heal your Life’ by Jeffrey Rediger, M.D.
I recently read ‘Cured’ by Jeffery Rediger and found the ideas expressed in this book to be incredibly helpful as it explores many of the questions I have been pondering regarding health. I wanted to share this so that others can consider these ideas as well.
Prior to becoming a physician, Dr. Rediger writes that he studied philosophy where he was encouraged to ask good quality questions. He learned that ‘the quality of your questions determines the quality of your answers.’ However, he notes that when he began his medical training, the asking of questions was discouraged.
As he practiced medicine, Dr. Rediger became aware of cases where patients experienced ‘spontaneous remissions’ of diseases where it was expected that they would get worse, not better (i.e., pancreatic cancer). He started asking questions…
Over the past 17 years, Dr. Rediger shared that he has studied medically verifiable cases in which there was evidence of disease followed by no evidence of disease. In his book, he asks more questions than he does provide answers. He does not promise that these ‘spontaneous remissions’ can be replicated but does share that his studies have led him to what he understands to be ‘the four pillars’ of health: (1) healing your immune system, (2) healing your nutrition, (3) healing your stress response, and (4) healing your identity. I’ll give you a brief overview but would encourage you to read it yourself as it is filled with very interesting research, as well as hopeful stories.
Healing your Immune System – Dr. Rediger gives readers an overview on how the medical community has understood disease, illness, and germs. He shares about how once believed theories of illness have changed over time in response to new evidence, as well as many interesting historical case studies.
He writes “the body – if you can get out of its way – is a brilliant self-correcting organism that wants to get better. Cases of spontaneous remission, as unique and individual as they are, offer clues on how to get out of your bodies way and give it everything it needs to build and maintain a thriving, smart immune system.’ (p. 65)
Healing your Nutrition – Dr. Rediger writes “After years of interviews and research, I have come to believe that, depending on its nutritional value, food can be medicine or it can be poison, and that although healing ultimately comes from a higher place than food, it’s still not a small issue.” (p. 72-23)
As a clinical counsellor, I am not qualified to say anything on the topic of nutrition. Personally, I find it challenging to know what to eat, and when to eat, to best support my health. I am aware that I have more questions than answers when it comes to nutrition. However, one thing that stood out to me in this section is that some of the cases Dr. Rediger reviewed didn’t have the time to make dietary change yet still experienced spontaneous remission.
Healing your Stress Response - Dr. Rediger writes about the importance of the nervous system, as it is our bodies ‘electrical wiring’ between our brains and our bodies (p. 152). Our somatic nervous system is the ‘wiring’ between our brain and our skin/muscles, which we have conscious awareness of. Our autonomic nervous system is the ‘wiring’ between our brains and our visceral organs (heart, stomach and intestines) that is involved in unconscious activities. It is noted that “when it comes to spontaneous healing, our focus is mainly the autonomic nervous system” (p. 153).
I like the analogy Dr. Rediger gives of our autonomic nervous system working like a car engine, which has different gears we can shift into as a response to ‘driving conditions’. Our autonomic nervous system has two gears: (1) fight or flight (or the sympathetic nervous system) which helps us when we are in danger or under stress and (2) rest and digest (or the parasympathetic nervous system), which is the resting state where our body should be most of the time (when there are no dangers or immediate threats to our wellbeing). Dr. Rediger writes that “healing demands that you learn to recognize when you’re shifting into fight or flight and do everything you can to grab the gearshift and recover back to homeostasis” (p. 157).
When we think about stress, it’s important to remember that we are living very differently than our ancestors did as our inventions and pace of life may be moving faster that our ability to adapt. Dr. Rediger notes that “humans evolved for a specific set of circumstances that, for the vast majority of us on this planet, are no longer our reality. At every turn, our biology clashes with the new world we’ve build for ourselves” (p. 156). Unfortunately, many of us live in some level of ‘fight or flight’ and are not aware of how to fully and completely enter into a relaxed state where our body can experience rest.
If we are sticking with the car analogy, it’s like revving your engine all the time, even if it isn’t necessary and then wondering why the car needs frequent visits to the mechanic shop to diagnose problem after problem. Dr. Rediger suggests that maybe we need to consider how we are driving the car.
If we want to re-learn how to ‘drive’ and shift into our parasympathetic nervous system, what helps us shift? One way is through love and connection! It was noted that “whether it comes from a therapeutic session, a loving relationship, deep meditation, or focused imagery, love touches and heals something that medications can’t touch” (p. 54).
Dr. Rediger shares that “for years, research has been accumulating [that] showing love – both for others and for yourself – and connecting with other people keeps you healthier, while an absence of those relationships and connections can spell trouble for your immune system” (p. 174). A huge take away for me from this book was that it wasn’t just our deep connections with others, but that moments of ‘micro-connections’ are enough to help us shift into our parasympathetic and “keep it fueled up and running” (p. 174). From a counselling perspective, there are lots of different ways to manage stress. It is important that we find stress management strategies that we can practice daily.
Healing your Identity – This was the most interesting factor for me personally because of my work with patients who have been diagnosed with cancer. Dr. Rediger considers the importance of each person’s story and notes that each of us has a ‘black box’ which is our ‘default mode network’ (DMN). He asks “so what happens when your sense of self – when your blueprint identity – is built upon ideas that are negative, damaging, or limiting? What do your self-imposed negative beliefs or limitations do to your brain chemistry? To the cycles of stress and fight or flight in your body? To your likelihood of developing disease and to your capacity to heal from it? What’s in your black box that could be keeping you from healing or even making you sick?” (p. 271).
In this chapter he shares about the adverse childhood experiences (ACE) study and the correlation (or relationship) between what we experience in childhood and our health as we age. He notes that although “the ACE study was a blunt tool; it was a place to start, but it didn’t encapsulate the whole story of how our past experiences shape our current identities and also our health. I had to wonder, what about all the experiences we haven’t yet studied? Experiences that the ACE study didn’t look at – like the ideas we received about ourselves early on about who we are, what we deserve (or don’t), what might be bad or wrong about us? What about grief and heartbreak, or the grudges we hold against those who have hurt us? How do those experiences affect us, working their way through the body over the course of months, years, decades? How might they shape the map of our default mode network, determining how we think about ourselves and how we define who we are?” (p. 275).
In conclusion, Dr. Rediger writes “based on many years of researching spontaneous remission, my biggest takeaway is that most of us need to go deeper. We need to dive down to who we are at the bottom of it all. Because ultimately, healing your identity may determine whether or not you’re able to use all those tools and tactics we’ve gone through to live in the parasympathetic and support your health and recovery.” (p. 285).
You may ask, ‘How do I heal my identity?’ I know, it can sound intimidating. One way that we can explore our identity and the impact that past experiences have had on us, is through EMDR therapy (see https://www.joannanicholsoncounselling.com/faq for more details). When it comes to traumatic experiences, it is the negative belief we can develop about ourselves in relation to what happened to us, that can negatively impact our identity. Please reach out if this is something that interests you.
Overall, I personally found this book to be incredibly hopeful. From a counselling perspective, there is a lot of control that we have in terms of how we manage the stress in our lives, how we interact with others, as well as how we perceive our interactions with others, and how we think/feel about ourselves.
If any of this is interesting to you, it would be a privilege for me to help you explore how you could integrate these ideas into your own life, to support your health and wellness.
Glad you found my blog…
Check back soon…
I am excited to have a place on my website to share what I am reading and thinking about, as well as resources I have found to be helpful. Please check back soon as I am looking forward to posting here as time permits.