Like any other Wednesday night, Britney*, Sarah*, Meredith* and the rest of our sorority sisters that lived together were sitting in the comfort of our home completing our homework and studying for the night. And just like any other normal night, to any outside eye, the group of us would have seemed as psychotic and neurotic as ever. A combination of screaming, crying, and mood swings -- all rolled up into one house. On this particular night, Britney had arrived back earlier that afternoon from her hometown after she had an appointment with a witch doctor. Yes, that's right -- no typos whatsoever. They are real, and they're healing a sorority girl near you!
Britney visits her "witch doctor" once a month, and this was the second visit she had with the woman whom for the sake of this article we'll call Doctor X. Six years ago, Britney's best friend was diagnosed with lupus. This girl was so far into the disease that her only option left to heal her was chemotherapy, which in her mind wasn't an option at all. Her friend went online, looking for any other solution other than chemotherapy to cure her disease. It was then that she found Doctor X online and as she was out of options, decided to give it a try. Within two weeks she started noticing improvement and within two months she felt completely better.
This year, as Britney noticed a spike in her anxiety and feelings of lack of comfort due to moving into a new environment in which she barely knew any of the girls, she reached out to her best friend searching for advice on how she could begin to feel better. Britney was traveling the two hours home almost every night, feeling left out from the rest of us and as if she didn't belong. After a while of this, she too decided to give Doctor X a try, feeling as if anything could be better than spending all that gas money due to a lack of adjustment. Doctor X believes in not being "brainwashed by the modern medical world." She meets with Britney and gives her medicine based on her symptoms. This is unlike other doctors who would look at the symptoms that Britney has, and then presume to diagnose her with a disease. Two months later, and the rest of us have definitely noticed an overall change in Britney's personality. She is more involved with us, she goes homeless, and she just seems plain happier.
When Britney came back to tell us of her tales at the witch doctor, we were all quite hesitant to listen. If there's one thing about 10 girls living together that anyone should know, it's that it's not uncommon to find us screaming loudly, crying, or some other neurotic behavior. As it turns out, Britney had some insight into our behavior that could best be described as psychotic. About a day or so before her appointment, Britney and Meredith had gone downtown to get their belly buttons pierced. When she went to her doctor, she told Britney to "be careful when piercing your belly button, because it can offset your meridian and cause you and others around you to act neurotic and out of the normal." And there you have it. A sort of eastern medicine that none of us with the exception to Britney were familiar to had explained our crazy behavior better than any of us ever could. So the next time you start acting a little crazy, or feel a little funky, or maybe feel like the typical medicine isn't working out for you, maybe you too should give Doctor X a shot.
*names have been changed
