Welcome to my channel. This is the first episode of A Modern Healer’s Journey and I would like to share my story with you about how I got into this field. If you have questions or ideas about what you want to see on my channel, comment below!
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Transcript
Tammy Bennett 0:01 Before we get started, I want to tell a personal story about Lifeline Screening. You might have heard me talk about this in my other interviews, where my mom got her peripheral arterial disease diagnosed very early, because we went to a pop-up screening event at Lifeline Screening. They're a company that's been around for quite some time. I've been going to them for at least 10 years, and they were able to catch something early for my mom. And we were able to go to the cardiologist and treat it naturally, so she didn't have to take medications. So my husband and I started going. It's really convenient. You don't wait in lines. You pay one fee. It's very inexpensive. You don't have a bunch of co-pays or specialist appointments. And what you'll get for $149 is the following: carotid artery screening, abdominal aortic aneurysm screening, afib, or atrial fibrillation, screening, peripheral arterial disease screening, or what's called PAD, osteoporosis screening; and you can add on other options, like liver and kidney function, and A1C, which is a marker for diabetes. My husband and I have done this for a number of years. I can't encourage you enough to go check it out. It's well worth it, painless, convenient, very inexpensive. My listeners receive $149 discounted service for the services that you'll find at Lifeline. You can call 844-558-0996. That's 844-558-0996, or click on my show notes, and contact Lifeline Screening anywhere in the United States. And for $149, you can get all of those tests done. Tammy Bennett 1:46 Hi, and welcome to my channel. I'm Tammy Bennett, OMD, which stands for Oriental medicine doctor. I'm on a journey with you to talk about things related to health and wellness. We're going to explore different avenues of healing. They could be traditional, non-traditional, acupuncture, chiropractic, self-care, herbs, things that you've been curious about, that I've been curious about, that we can explore and understand the science behind it, how it works, and how we can employ those things in our day to day lives. The journey is going to be fun and exciting. And this is my first show. So let's go together. Tammy Bennett 2:36 My journey started just about 30 years ago, and I had a situation occur with my ex-husband, Aaron. He was involved in an accident at a job site. He was in construction, and he was basically holding this footer, which is a heavy piece of concrete, and somebody was holding it in front of him. And the guy in front of him slipped, and he took the brunt of the weight on his back. So the basic information from a work-related accident was, you go to a CentraCare, and you get assessed, and then they treat. So I got the phone call from the CentraCare where they said, "He's got a muscle sprain. He's on some medication. You need to come pick him up." So I did, and he was in rough shape. He kind of hobbled his way out and got in the car, and he was already on some medication, and still fresh, the injury itself. He was diagnosed with a muscle sprain, and we were told to let him go home and rest. So that night we got home, he did his resting, woke up the next morning, and was very much in excruciating pain. It pained him to even get up to go to the bathroom. As a matter of fact, we were basically stuck in the bathroom for a while to try to get him out. So it was a problem. We ended up going to an emergency room where they rechecked him and did an MRI, which they hadn't done before, and the MRI showed a herniated disc; actually two herniated discs in the lower back. It was L2 and L3. So they suggested that he see a specialist for surgery. And that wasn't really something we were interested in. It strikes fear in your heart when you think your loved one is going to be cut open. We had already had a situation in the family where someone had had a surgical intervention, and it didn't go well. He ended up in a wheelchair. And I'm not saying that happens to everybody, but it was a deep concern for us. And we really wanted to do something different. So we looked at chiropractic, we looked at a doctor of osteopathy for adjustments, and they all said the same thing, which was, "We're not going to touch you. Herniated disc is outside the scope of what we're willing to do." So I went to an acupuncture office; it was actually a school. There was an office within a school. So there was somebody practicing, and then the students as well. And when we got there we felt very comfortable, because the people that were there were being supervised by medical doctors. And so they assessed his situation and started doing the acupuncture. And it was weird for me, because, you know, when you have somebody laying there, and they take these little pins, and they start putting it – and they're tiny, so tiny – and they're sticking them in. And the person laying there, my ex, Aaron, was laying there, and he's like, "I don't really feel anything." You know, it wasn't like anything major, but he was able to stand up straight. He was hunched over to start. And you could see in each progressive treatment – we did probably 20 or 30 treatments before we saw something that was incredibly changed in him. But, each day, you could see a little incremental improvement. And this gave us hope that we were doing the right thing. And over the course of a month and a half or so, we started to see tremendous changes, and we were so grateful. And I spent a lot of time in their school library, because I was bored half the time. You know, he's in there having acupuncture, and I'm twiddling my thumbs trying to figure out what to do. And I'm reading some of the books, and I got very interested in the history of acupuncture, Chinese medicine as a whole. It just seemed very natural for me. And I got really excited about it. I met the director of the school, Dave. He approached both of us, my ex husband, Aaron, and I, and he said, "Are you guys interested in changing professions?" And something I didn't mention was that the recommendation was that he not go back into construction. So all the work that he had done, and all the progress that he had made with his company was basically lost. He had no other options, because he would go back to the same heavy lifting, and they suggested that that wasn't a good idea for him. So we opted to go to school there. So we ended up becoming students at the acupuncture school that treated his back pain. Tammy Bennett 7:15 Originally, when the first diagnosis came, which was the muscle sprain, that was a CentraCare. That was an x ray situation, and they just kind of sent him home. When we went to the hospital and had the MRI, that was when it became a little more real; you know, when they said herniated discs. And back then, that meant, you know, like a crippling life injury. And it was scary. So we went to a bunch of different places. We first landed at a doctor of osteopathy office, or a DO office, and she was very kind, and she was very interested to help. But she said the tool set that she had wasn't quite enough to help him. So she was suggesting acupuncture. And then we went to a chiropractor, a traditional chiropractor, and he suggested acupuncture as well. So with two recommendations, we were pretty sold on it, but we couldn't afford to go to private acupuncture. That's why we ended up at the school. Because of the fact that if, like in private pay situation, it could have been thousands of dollars that the work comp wouldn't cover. They weren't covering acupuncture at the time, so we had to go out of pocket, and that's why we ended up at the school that we ended up in. And it was a really cool experience there because of the fact that the people were so genuine. They cared so much on the outcome, and they had students and doctors working side by side together. And that's how we landed on acupuncture, and that's what really convinced me; the compassion and the level of knowledge that they had. I didn't know anything about acupuncture. I was the last person that would have been in line for that. It just didn't register in my realm of existence. So that's how I got there. And it's stayed with me as a healing art. It truly is an art mixed with science, but there really is that healing art property to what someone's doing when they're doing the acupuncture. And we actually did incorporate some massage therapy. In traditional Chinese medicine there is an element of bodywork that's really helpful to loosen up some of the muscles, because your muscles try to tighten up to protect an injury area. So you have to work with the fascia and the muscle groups as well. Tammy Bennett 9:46 I actually thought that way too. When I first walked into the room with him, it wasn't like a sterile hospital environment, and I wasn't used to that. You know, when you go to the doctor's office there's a smell, there's a vibe when you walk in. And it's really disconcerting, especially if your senses are alert to that. Almost feels like post traumatic-y, in a way, especially when you're fearful of going to the doctor. So I first noticed there was no antiseptic type smell, more like an incense. And I learned later on what that incense is. It's part of the treatment. It's called moxibustion. I'll talk about that at another point in another video, I'm sure. And the way that the people that come to greet you – the juniors and the seniors in the classes, and then the medical doctor that's supervising – they all come in the room with you at the same time and assess, but the assessment is actually done a little differently. So they do a physical exam. But they also do something called "seeing, smelling, touching". And so, a lot of people aren't used to anymore, a doctor physically touching you in an exam, especially even now with telehealth. But back then – and still, with traditional Chinese medicine – it's a very hands on practice. They're observing everything that you're doing; when you're walking in the door, the way that you sit down, the color of your eyes, the coating on your tongue. They check your pulse; and it's not a traditional 80 beats per minute, write down the respiration, and that kind of thing. It's more of the quality of the pulse, which is the constitution of the person. So the assessment process is very different. And that's the second thing that I noticed, was the attention to detail, which I didn't see, in the other places that we went. The chiropractor wasn't as detailed. You know, they're looking at MRI, CAT scan, tests but not the person. So that was different. They were looking at the test results as well, but more to the person that's sitting in front of them. So I thought that was quite unique and quite interesting. And that's mentally put me in a different space. Right? So already I'm much more comfortable with what's happening. And then – of course, I can't speak to his experience, because I'm not him – but the fact that he would smile, or had hope, had some vibrance about him that he hadn't had for the weeks prior; ruminating on, "I won't have a career. What am I going to do? How is this going to play out?" Depression, heavy depression. So all of that started to lift ever so slightly. And that convinced me even more that this was a field that I would feel comfortable in. Because I'm not a sterile, doctory, surgery, don't-like-looking-at-blood kind of person. And that was a very different experience for me. Tammy Bennett 13:02 I'm not a needle person. I've always been a needle-phobe myself. So it was very hard for me to sit there and watch him get the treatment at first. When I saw how small they were, and how gentle the people were, it didn't bother me as much. And when I started talking with some of the people that were coming in and out, having treatment as well – it's a full working clinic at the school. So when you walk in the door, it looks like you're in a little mini acupuncture hospital. So you've got people coming in and out, and I'm hearing their stories. One guy had a skin cancer on his forehead, and they were doing herbal treatment for him, and he was having really good results. And I remember another woman she came in, she had severe alcoholic fatty liver disease, and they were treating her using herbs and acupuncture for that. And I remember her telling me that the doctor said to her, "Get your affairs in order. We don't think that in six months you're going to be around." And she had been going there for a year, and she was progressively getting better. So I was seeing miraculous things in the waiting room, and it didn't scare me as much; because when you think about needles in the back or you think about – what was that guy, the actor, that had the needles. There was a movie where he had a bunch of needles in his back and it kind of makes you feel uncomfortable thinking about that. And then I was brave enough to have them do acupuncture on me, and I'm a big wimp. And it was not anything like what I thought it was. It was really easy, and it didn't hurt. I felt different afterwards. I felt lighter, if that makes sense. So I felt like I could help other people who were needle phobes like me feel comfortable and get well. Tammy Bennett 14:54 So for all the people that are coming with me on the journey of learning about holistic medicine and holistic medicine practices, I want you to know that originally my intention was to work with people and help them get well. But I didn't realize how incredibly powerful the one-on-one relationship is, with treating clients and becoming a part of their journey. It's very hard to describe. I want to give an example. That's the best way that I can share this with you. A client of mine, who I've known for 20 years, she was one of the first people that walked into my practice, and she has this beaming smile. Her name is Jane. I'm changing her name for HIPAA compliance. But Jane suffered a post traumatic stress syndrome disorder from a situation that happened to her when she was a child, and it manifested in her grinding her teeth and having these horrific migraine headaches from grinding her teeth overnight. I call it battling the dragons in your sleep. But that's kind of what was happening with her. And I remember the day – it's probably two weeks into her treatment. So she'd come twice a week for two weeks – and I'd taken the needles out of her. And she got up off the table, and she held my hand, and she said, "I think you fixed me." And I just said, "Okay, how do you know?" She goes, "I don't know. I just have a sense that you fixed me." And I said, "Okay, well, I'll see you next week. We have a scheduled appointment. Let's see what happens." And she came in and she said, "You know, I know I'm grinding my teeth, that's for sure. But I didn't have a headache all week, and I think we're on the right track." And shortly thereafter, I treated her mom and her stepdad and her daughter. And over time I've treated the whole family. I actually even treated the dog once with a laser that I had. Because you learn to feel what's going on with someone. And you make a difference – with the needles, with the science, with the hardcore "This is where the needle goes. This is how it works." But the connection that you make with someone, or that I made with someone, is what I'm achieving with every single patient that I work with. And I'm imparting the wisdom of those clients and their experiences with you. Tammy Bennett 17:47 So now that you know a little bit about me, let's go ahead and stay connected. You can follow me on Rumble. You can go ahead and subscribe on YouTube. You can find me on the web at TammyBennettOMD.com, and receive emails with valuable information, and you can also exchange information with me and give me show ideas. So until the next video, I'd like you to stay healthy and stay curious. See you soon.
