Is the Swine Flu just a Self Fulfilling Prophesy?

Let me tell you a personal story about how words and thoughts can effect our physical bodies:

One morning, a couple of years ago, I was working on my computer, and I wasn't feeling very well. My son got up, got ready for work and walked out the door, saying he wasn't feeling well, either. The symptoms he described were the same as mine: a little bit of nausea, a bit headachy, some dizziness, and feeling quite lethargic. We had both been feeling that way for a couple of days. It occurred to me that, as best I could remember, those sounded like the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. I did a quick internet search and, yep, those were the symptoms. That HAD to be it. Why else would two otherwise healthy men be feeling like that? I immediately began to feel worse. I called the fire department and asked if they could come by and check my house for carbon monoxide. Then I went outside to get out of the danger zone. As soon as I got out into the fresh air I began to feel much better. Before long, a big ol'fire truck pulled up and three firefighters hopped out; one with a magic carbon monoxide detecting wand. They walked through the house, checking every nook and cranny, as well as my crawl space where my gas furnace is located. Nope...no CO. My abode was fresh as a daisy. One of them even checked the CO detector and found it to be in good working order. (I hadn't thought to do that.) I thanked these fine, brave public servants and went back inside feeling fine, and more than a little embarrased. I came to realize that I had been putting in some long hours and I was just run down. Same with my son. That's all there was to it.

The main point of the story is that my reading a set of symptoms on my computer screen, along with my preconceived suspicion that I may have CO poisoning, caused my symptoms to dramatically worsen almost immediately.

This illustrates the nocebo effect. The Nocebo efect is kind of like a reverse placebo effect, and causes a person to experience symptoms and other adverse effects based on their expectations. Nocebo, and not carbon monoxide, is what caused my nausea, headaches and dizziness to worsen on that morning.

Words are powerful. Consider how many times we have all heard the word, "pandemic," lately. We're being pummeled by it. We hear it on the news, in commercials, on the street, and even from our president. Is it unreasonable to suspect that, to a very significant degree, we are creating a pandemic with our consciousness alone? It's a possibility we all need to consider.

Because words are so powerful, I'll leave you with the same positive, empowering words I left you with last week:

You are beautiful and perfect.
Empower your potential, not your problems.
You are inherently healthy.

Until next time,
Dr. Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor, energy healer, lightworker
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho