Spontaneous Healing — Dr. Andrew Weil (My Story)

Please listen to this lecture 'Spontaneous Healing' on youtube which accopanies Andrew Weil's book by the same name. He is a graduate of Harvard Medical School (1960s) and has a degree in botany. His book made a huge impact in my life and led (I think) to the spontaneous resolution of vitreo-macular traction in my eye. Go to youtube and search for spontaneous healing Dr. Andrew Weil lecture. I think it was a PBS show. I am using the same mindframe in dealing with tinnitus.

This eye condition came on suddenly as an image I saw everytime I blinked. I just woke up with it. This can happen when the natural process of your vitreous (white of your eye) comes away from the retina, usually in your 60s. You never know about it as it just is part of the aging process and they eye naturally creates fluid that fills in. This happened to me in my late 40s and the vitreous did not fully detach from the retina, pulling the retina with it as it was retracting and forming like a water ballon on a part of the retina which is the bubble I saw when I blinked. It just happened to be right smack dab in the center of my eye where the precious central vision is. It was round with a black outline and black bullseye center, like a dart board.

I had a fabulous retina specialist who previously trained and had taught at the famed Wilmer Eye Clinic at Johns Hopkins, a world-known medical center for eyes. He said that the treatment is a vitreotomy which is surgery to remove the vitreous, gently flatten the retina and recovery was 6-8 weeks of lying face-down at all times. It was a horrible thought to go through that! Standing up would remove the gas bubble bandage and could result in lost central vision. He said if the retina was pulling too much I could develop a macular hole which would be vision threatening. I was so panicked and I turned on my mode to fix this without surgery.

The doctor was supportive and my husband took me often for monitoring it. They took pictures each time and could see that the retina was stable so we took a watch and wait, however, I knew the doctor knew it was a matter of time before I would have the surgery.

The really scary part of this was my visual distortions--lines were wavey (look around right now and see how many straight lines you see--they are everywhere). My good eye compensated so I only really saw the scary stuff if I covered my good eye. Text in the middle of the page looked smeared. Peoples heads where smooshed in like hour glasses. It was the most bizarre thing!

My friend had the book Spontaneous Healing in a pile of books to donate and she told me to go through the pile and take what I wanted. The rest is history. I read with so much excitement and hope as Dr. Weil explains how our bodies are constatnly in a state of correcting and healing what is not normal. I did the exercise in his book when I got very relaxed through meditation, in a fetal position which is really comfortable, and I engaged with my symptom and asked it to go away, asked it what I could do to make it go away. In my mind I was giving answers, which I did. Focused more on eating well, exercising, other things that I focused on. That focus kept me sane, kept me occupied with the goal of healing from this naturally. This was a way to tap into myself deep down to really ask how could I live differently that could better support my body to heal itself.

At the same time I put myself on a prayer list and my friend who had been an acupuncturist also invited me to try out her virtual biofeedback--we were an ocean away. I would rest while she ran her machine. It sounds crazy, I know, however, I was in a very receptive place willing to try anything. And it really relaxed me so much I think because I was spending more time just being, resting, taking care of myself, and that I know was part of what my body needed to heal. I did this while working full-time so I had a busy life--just took more time out for myself.

From the first moment of my dreaded blink to the day I walked into the retina specialist's office saying something was different, the round dart board now looked like a black blob, was 5 months. The doctor had already seen my pictures that were just taken. He would show me comparisons on the dual monitor computers each visit and show me the changes. This time there were other medical professionals in the room and he asked if that were ok. He explained my case to them and to me and showed them pictures of each visit to show progression. Then my pics from that day showed absolutely no vitreo-macular traction! The vitreous had spontaneously released from the retina! He said without seeing the 'before pics' he would never know that I had any retina problem. I was still seeing the blob when I blinked and the crooked lines.

The doctor explained that the brain has a memory, so even though the eye issue resolved, and there was NO sign of a macular hole which was unbelieveable--that had healed too--that my brain was still interpreting that the condition was present. He said that the brain eventually gets it right and it would take time, which it did. Not sure how much but progressively better over maybe the next year. He said that in all the years he practiced he only knew of one other case like mine, that it is rare. He told me that he believed in the power of belief (another book to read by Dr. Bruce Lipton, M.D.--The Biology of Belief, about how your mind influences your body--all based on scientific research--this is NOT hocus-pocus).

I am interested in all this since I have a degree in biology and had a fantastic result with acupuncture for a long-running virus back in 1991. From then I have been convinced and not skeptical that these things can work in many cases.

So I want to apply the same approach to tinnitus. I believe I can handle this better and that it might heal. I am not a person who is 'new-age' and nuts and gravel--I do have a belief that healing can happen because that has been my experience. Doesn't mean I am not scared or that I am not anxious about this or that I won't use conventional treatments that I think might have merit. I wanted to share this to give you hope that you can do things to support your body's innate healing system. It may or may not work for you, but I think it can.