Hands Off the Pepto-Bismol

Did you know I once saved someone’s life by giving them that advice? Okay, well, maybe 'life saved' is an exaggeration, but I think it is fair to say I changed her life trajectory for the better. Altered its course such that she has, for three decades, successfully avoided the health traps that her friends and family have succumbed to. And it all stemmed from very simple advice.

The Bottle in the Medicine Cabinet

Let’s call her Astrid—Astrid Reefluks—preserving her anonymity to protect the innocent. When we first became acquainted, I was surprised to find a big bottle of Pepto-Bismol in her medicine cabinet. Surprised because, growing up, I had never seen one before. Oh, sure, I’d seen the commercials for it. I knew the product existed. I had just never witnessed anybody use it.

“It’s because I often experience indigestion after eating,” Astrid explained when I asked her about the bottle of pink liquid.

I was speechless for a second. Dumbfounded even. Have you ever had a moment when you understood something so obvious, yet no one else seemed to see it? It makes you doubt yourself for a moment. But I didn’t let my moment of doubt get in the way of saving a life (or at least improving it by large degrees).

“Why not, instead of medicating yourself for indigestion, just stop eating things that give you indigestion?”

Cure by Subtraction

Now it was she who stood dumbfounded. She’d never considered treatment via negativa. That is, cure by subtraction rather than addition. My proposal was simply that, rather than using medicine to mask symptoms of poor dietary choices, she remove the poor dietary choices. How did I know that they were poor dietary choices? Because they were giving poor Astrid heartburn. You don’t need a medical degree to make that determination.

That is how it works. Your symptoms are your body telling you something. Ignoring them and masking them while repeating the behaviours that caused them is damaging your health. That is exactly what Astrid’s friends and family have continued to do. And in recent years, this pattern of behaviour has led to some seriously painful problems requiring medical intervention, such as kidney stones, gallstones and pancreatic cysts, among a host of other lesser, chronic digestive complaints that suck the joy out of life.

Astrid? Well, she saw the wisdom in my approach to removing causes rather than masking symptoms, discarded the bottle of pink stupidity, and began paying attention to which foods triggered digestive unease and removed them from her diet. And 58 years old at the time of this writing, older than many of her sick friends and family members, she is enjoying a life of health and vitality, proving that no, digestive problems do not run in the family, but sometimes, maladaptive behaviours and questionable dietary choices do.

Before You Add a Cure

Now, my question for you is, what’s in your medicine cabinet? What is necessary, and what is there to mask the symptoms of unexamined habits? Is there anywhere in your life that you are using interventions to mask the damage you are doing to your body, and have you really considered the long-term consequences of habitual abuse?

Sometimes the best cures come through subtraction rather than addition. Before you add a cure, try removing the cause first.