 So I think in the modern world where we are so used to going to the primary care physician, getting lab work done, right? We have blood work and then we see our ranges for LDL, HDL, you know, we see all the major things that are supposedly the main metrics we need to know to be healthy. But so often what happens is people come in and they show me their blood values and they're all within normal range or within normal enough range that the PCP is not concerned. But the person says to me, I don't really feel that well. In fact, I feel terrible. What's going on? And I think it's very important to consider that there is more data than just this mathematical data on a piece of paper that is essential in your healing journey. What's up, you guys? Dr. Alex Hine, Doctor of Chinese Medicine and Licensed Acupuncturist. So before we jump in here, there's a very important link right below this video. If you would like to become a patient of mine locally in Los Angeles or virtually via telemedicine, check out that link right below, which is to contact my private practice. So in a world of lab work and all this very clear, objective mathematical data, we often don't trust the inner data. And I think in my own story of having lifelong GI problems, you know, it was very discouraging for me to go from nutritionist to dietitian to GI specialist to all these alternative practitioners after that and to feel like I had to go through the entire modern medical system to get to the alternative practitioners who are the ones that actually were able to help me. And I was just so confused by this, this Duke and Ivy League trained GI specialist who didn't really give me much useful information or much useful treatment. And that's pretty common I see in my patients. It's actually very, very common. And I was also confused by the fact that all my lab values looked good. And he's like, maybe you just have anxiety and here I would recommend this script for, you know, like people are often given antidepressants for gut problems and IBS these days. And I was a little frustrated and discouraged that this guy that reached the upper echelons of Ivy League trained medical education ended up just giving fiber recommendations and antidepressants. Like that was the best medicine had to offer felt a bit underwhelming to me. So it was around that time where I still felt unwell. So I was back to the drawing board and had to figure out what to do next. And it was around that time where I started just writing down all my gut impressions, like, what do I feel may be underlying this? I mean, I just went the maximum logic, right? We just went through the highest tier of Ivy League trained specialist, not a lot of help, good people, but didn't really help me that much. So where do I go from here? You have a couple of options. One is more logic, which is more research on the internet, which is dangerous these days. The other is trusting your gut and trying to see if I can lead you to anything that can help. And I was just doing everything. I mean, if you're ill, you'll do anything to get better. So so many people in similar to my journey, get all these tests and they can give me this thick stack of data and all these people they saw, but they're really not any better. And I think often what I see in this case is that what's missing is their own ability to trust themselves to realize that maybe if things are that chronic and you really are eating that well, maybe you really are in the wrong job and you really should have changed your career a long time ago, or maybe guess what? You shouldn't be in that marriage. It's killing you. That's why you feel like you're dying every day, because every day you're encountering this massive friction internally to wake up to a life you don't even want to have. It doesn't even feel like it has a purpose to wake up. Or maybe you are the single parent who's at your wits end with a couple of young kids and you are the breadwinner and you don't need that antidepressant necessarily. What you need is someone to take this load off your back, should be able to give you two hours every other day just to yourself in silence, right? I think it's highly underrated, trusting your gut when it comes to the healing journey, because when I talk with so many people, it's often not me giving them this information, it's me asking them this information. And then they have this conversation with themselves out loud, that is some of the most profound healing advice they've gotten in terms of the actual healing that they get. And I think so often, when we're lost and scared of when we're sick, we sacrifice listening to our gut. And we over emphasize this objective data from the authority figure that's supposed to have all the answers. In my opinion, why not do both, right? I'm not saying don't go to the doctor, do both. What does your gut say about the situation? And what is your doctor or your alternative practitioner or all 10 of them say? Use all of that as data in your healing journey. But especially trust yourself with what you think you actually need to heal. So sometimes in your healing journey, your gut is giving you the most accurate data, especially if you've run the gamut of the specialist and you're not getting much help. You know, for me, it was Chinese medicine that made the biggest difference in my life in terms of my own problems. And I see that for many, many, many of my patients who say, you know, I wish my doctor knew about this stuff or could refer me to someone like you. Or this was a part of American healthcare because it helped me more than anything I've done. So I feel both inspired and incredibly depressed that so many patients have told me that and it's not taken seriously by conventional medicine. But what I will say, if you are the patient in that seat in the healing journey, really sit down one day and just write down what do I think I need to heal this? What do I think this is really coming from? And use that gut information from your body as one of the healing pieces of advice that you take in addition to whatever practitioner you're seeing. Because just like it was me, my gut that said, you know, this guy said, Hey, I'm seeing this Chinese doctor for autoimmune hepatitis, you know, it's helped me more than anyone I've ever seen. I've been to the Mayo Clinic and I've done everything. And I was like, I don't really know. I lived in China speak Chinese. I don't even know what what it really was. And it helped me more than anything I've ever done and put me on my Dharma path to go all over the world and to become a doctor of Chinese medicine and to dedicate my life to this. It was never even on my radar, but it was that little inkling of a feeling. Yeah, maybe I should just do this. Maybe there's something here that set me off onto a totally different path of healing. So don't undervalue the data that your gut gives you and don't overvalue the data that your blood values give you, especially if they're not telling you anything useful. Make sure you evaluate both in your healing journey because I have seen so many times where people have been to all the specialists, all the experts, and then they decide, screw it. It's it's over for me unless I do something different. I'm just going to trust what my gut is saying. And that's all I have left. So what do I have to lose? And that is the thing that produces the healing. So take that inner data your body is giving you. Take it seriously because it may be the advice that helps you the most. But that's what I've got for today. Before you go, I have two other related videos for you right there. I'll catch you in the next video.