| Having trained and worked in the NHS for over | | | | unresolved. At the time I had great physical |
| thirteen years I have come across more than my | | | | fitness but my mindset was none too healthy. |
| fair share of illness. For several years I worked on | | | | Reiki had brought all of this to the surface for me. |
| an acute admissions ward and a Coronary Care | | | | I went on to address all of the issues that came |
| Unit (CCU). During that time I have read and | | | | to the surface during this period and, eventually, |
| studied much around the subject of potential | | | | the chest pain went. From that day forward my |
| causes for heart disease. | | | | dealings with patients who wanted to know what |
| My initial training taught me that heart disease is | | | | caused them to have a heart attack changed. |
| caused by atherosclerosis (the building up of fatty | | | | Whilst I realised that many were not ready for |
| deposits in the arteries) and that this was a | | | | my new views on the cause of illness - several |
| progressively degenerative condition. The process | | | | were. |
| can be slowed down with certain surgical and | | | | A heart attack never happens completely out of |
| pharmaceutical interventions but once you have it | | | | the blue - there are always warnings. Sharp pains |
| - it's there to stay. | | | | in the chest will always precede a heart attack, |
| Not surprisingly, when patients had just had a | | | | usually over months or even years. Because the |
| heart attack, or acute Myocardial Infarction (MI) | | | | pains come and go so quickly, they can be just as |
| as the doctors like to call it, they want to know | | | | quickly dismissed as not important by many. This |
| what has caused it. I became quite proficient at | | | | is the body's warning system - if the message is |
| reeling off the list of physiological causes for the | | | | not taken on board then it needs to make the call |
| disease - laying blame on many factors that the | | | | more obvious. |
| patient had, apparently, no control over. Things | | | | One patient in my care had just had a heart |
| like hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, with | | | | attack and all he wanted to know was when he |
| genetic predisposition being the primary cause. | | | | could get back to work. This was a common |
| Smoking and diet could be controlled but the rest | | | | occurrence during my time in the NHS. I |
| was down to luck. At least that was what the | | | | established that his job was highly stressful and he |
| research at the time indicated. | | | | had spent most of his time in work and away |
| For years I accepted this system of relaying | | | | from his family. |
| blame elsewhere and helping my patients to | | | | I told him that he could go back to work as soon |
| become dependent on drugs and surgery for their | | | | as he was discharged but he would be back with |
| longevity as this was what I had been taught to | | | | us within a few months, if he was lucky. I |
| do. This created an environment where victims | | | | suggested that a new job would be preferable if |
| were born - blaming everyone and everything | | | | he valued his life. I advised this to many people |
| else for what had happened to them. | | | | during my years as a nurse, without knowing |
| It was only when my mother's partner, Joe, had | | | | whether it had made any difference. |
| his second major heart attack that I realised I | | | | With this man I walked in the ward the next day |
| needed to find out about some alternative healing | | | | to be hugged by his wife. He had decided to leave |
| methods. I decided to do a course in Reiki as I'd | | | | his job, retire early and spend some quality time |
| heard that it was a great healing method. | | | | with his family, since I had scared him so badly. |
| I was advised after my Reiki course that I | | | | When an acute MI doesn't prompt a change in |
| treated myself daily and abstained from alcohol | | | | thought process - something big needs to happen |
| for at least three weeks. Such was my desire to | | | | or the next step may well be death. |
| find out what Reiki could do I treated myself daily | | | | The body is a complex, bio-feedback system and |
| for the next six weeks. During this time I also | | | | nothing that it does is by chance. The work of |
| treated Joe. | | | | Deepak Chopra, Caroline Myss and Louise Hay has |
| I soon started developing my own chest pain. | | | | thrown an interesting slant on my health care |
| Fortunately, the symptoms were not the same | | | | studies. |
| as angina. Since I was working in CCU at the time | | | | Like most ideas on the subject - this is just a |
| I was in a good place to know this. I thought that | | | | different model of health. If it resonates for you, |
| I had somehow transferred Joe's heart problems | | | | find out more. If not, you will have lost nothing by |
| onto myself. Consequently, I stopped treating him | | | | reading this, except a little time. From my own |
| and continued treating myself. | | | | experience I have come to know that health is |
| After six weeks I had the insight that the ache in | | | | much more sustainable when individuals realise |
| my chest was the result of unhealed issues with | | | | that their bodies are attempting to help and |
| my family and certain friends. I'd held grudges | | | | communicate with them. Our response-ability to |
| from numerous issues in the past, which were | | | | these signs and symptoms is a choice. |