For all the Medical Medium fans out there, put your pitchforks down before you read this post, ok?
This is not a call to for cancellation, because- crazy concept- I don’t believe in cancel culture. Trust me, as someone who’s been on the receiving end of a cancel-happy mob, I wouldn’t wish that upon my worst enemy. But that’s really a whole other story, for another day.
Back to the Medical Medium and celery juice.
I’ve refrained from sharing this story for YEARS, because it took me getting fully healthy to actually understand how I felt about this whole experience. It also took me getting fully healthy to have the brain power to be able to share about it.
So, here we are. Three years later, and I can finally put it all into words.
Before I dive into my story, I do just want to remind you that this is just that…MY story. I know that the Medical Medium protocols have worked for a LOT of people around the world over the years. Hence the cult following.
I am in no way discounting your experience if you’re one of the people who has benefited from his protocols. And, honestly, I’m happy for you! I really am. Because we all deserve to be healthy, and feel as good as possible on a daily basis. The thing is with charlatans, or cults, or abusers, or WHATEVER evil is out there in the world- often times there is SOME truth to what’s being pushed. And the partial truth is what makes people stick around, or even become super fans. Again, I’m not discounting your experience if you’re one of those people. All I’m saying is there’s more to consider when it comes to this guy, and his protocols.
Put on your critical thinking hat, and dive into it with me.
Why I Started Drinking Celery Juice
Like so many of us with chronic illness, I was suffering in silence and confusion. I had no answers for my pain, my brain fog, or the rashes and abscesses all over my body.
I had tried so many things, from allopathic options to totally natural. Nothing worked FULLY. Sometimes I’d feel some relief in certain areas, but nothing really helped me long term.
Whenever I’d share about my health struggles on my Instagram page, so many of you would reply to my story telling me to try the celery juice protocol. Or, at the very least, you’d tell me to follow the Medical Medium, to buy his books, to cling onto his every last word for advice.
The way I was living made the celery juice thing impossible because:
There wasn’t any celery where I was living (a tiny island in the Philippines).
I sure as shit didn’t carry a juicer around with me in my backpack (everything I owned belonged in my backpack at the time).
This is 2019, by the way. Probably should’ve started with that.
The year is important, because this is really the year that the Medical Medium started to POP OFF. Like really, his whole celery juice protocol was viral. Actually, maybe it was a few years prior. I don’t really know, because I was always a little behind the times when I was living in the jungle.
Anyways, fast forward to 2020, and I’m back in the States during Covid times- living in a quaint little surf town, where guess what? There was no shortage of celery.
I just got a juicer that I was in love with. Plus, this is like peak Pandemic times where homemade everything was all the rage. So, I was juicing everything I could get my hands on, and then making food recipes out of the juice pulp.
I decided to try drinking celery juice on an empty stomach every morning, because “what’s the worst that can happen,” ya know? It’s just CELERY. It’s just JUICE.
And this whole communicating with Spirit thing this guy has going for him is clearly legit.
Wrong.
What Went Wrong
Most people write about how it just cleans you right out (digestion-wise, that is). So much so that it can be uncomfortable. Yeah, that happened more times than I could count, but that wasn’t even too bad comparatively.
Other people talk about how it tastes horrible. And yeah, the taste isn’t GREAT. But again, not the worst part about it.
On a pain level (if you have chronic illness, you know that dull, moderate pain well), my body felt worse right away. Now, I couldn’t necessarily link this back to the juice, because my pain was always shifting from good to bad, and (at the time) it was hard to pinpoint my exact triggers.
Then there was my skin.
A lot of irritation expresses through my skin (if you’ve read my Skin Healing blog then you know). Everything from hives, to rashes, to boils and abscesses. When I started drinking celery juice- holy shit. Everything exploded.
My face was so painfully broken out with this deep, hot, painful rash-like thing all along my jawline and throat- I didn’t even want to go out of the house, because I was so self conscious. This went on for maybe 2 or 3 weeks, until I finally thought about the celery juice additive, and decided to read some other’s blogs about their experience with it.
Everything I was reading (much of it was from their affiliates, mind you) was saying:
This is normal. It will get worse, before it gets better. This is how the detox process works.
As someone who has undergone extensive detox protocols for all the yucky stuff lingering in my body, I knew there was some truth in this. In fact, similar things happened to me before when it was too much, too soon.
But, I think the most fucked up part was reading things like:
This is actually a GOOD thing. This means it’s working!
Because then, guess what, I’m associating pain and suffering to what? To healing? To success?
Ugh.
I’m embarrassed to say that I kept at this for NINE MONTHS. Maybe it’s the Taurus bull in me, but the thing is that I hate quitting. And once I commit to something, I really give it my all.
I didn’t want to quit, because it was hard. I didn’t want to quit before I received the *magical* results that everyone was raving about. But most importantly, I didn’t want to quit on my health. I wanted to feel better. I was desperate to feel better. And that desperation clouded my judgment big time (more on that in a bit).
Why My Body Hates Celery Juice
I am the first to admit that I was influenced hard into this trend. And just because something is trendy, doesn’t mean we should trust it (even though I stupidly did).
The thing is that when it’s something as seemingly harmless as freaking CELERY, you’re not really going to think: hey, maybe I should do a blood test or an allergy text first. Also, those tests are expensive! And I was living in a era with pretty shitty health insurance, trying to save every penny, because Covid made me lose multiple jobs. So there’s also that.
When I finally did some blood work and allergy tests, I found out that I’m highly intolerant to celery. Which essentially just means my body gets inflamed when I eat it (or drink it, in this case). Not the end of the world, by any means.
However, the sheer volume of celery juice I was drinking…every day….for nine months straight. Well, I think you can imagine why my body was so upset with me.
It was like, “YOU’RE NOT LISTENING!”
And I wasn’t.
Until I was.
Thank god.
Is The Medical Medium Unethical? My (hot?) take:
In short, yes. I think the Medical Medium is unethical.
And, not because of his “communication with spirit” for wisdom. No, I’m not here to judge whatever ANYONE’S spiritual beliefs or practices. What I AM here to criticize is that fact that these alleged spiritual practices and systems are HARMING people.
I know what you’re thinking:
You were a consenting adult who chose to drink the damn koolaid.
Again, partial truth here.
Let’s break it down.
It comes down to power, as manipulation often does.
The Medical Medium holds power over his audience, clients, and followers because so many of us are SICK. He targets people, especially WOMEN, who are unwell in some way shape or form.
He’s even critical of other industries and systems that have ignored women’s pain in the medical system. He speak extensively about how frustrating it must be to have autoimmune issues, or live with chronic illness- because of how UNHEARD our community is.
And guess what? He’s right. It is increasingly frustrating, isolating, and confusing to get answers in our medical system. It’s, sadly, all too common to be blown off by doctors time and time again.
So when someone with authority, someone with POWER and PRESENCE, is bringing light to this isolating experience you know all too well- you feel seen. You feel heard. And you trust his intentions. Because maybe, just maybe, this will be the thing that finally makes you feel better.
Hope is a tricky little bastard that way. Sometimes blinding us from reality, instead of shining light on the truth. And when hope gets so big, it can even turn into desperation. A feeling chronically ill folks know all too well (myself included).
There was a time where every time I ate figs it had to be 9 at a time. If I ate more than 9, it had to be in multiples of 9. But definitely not less than 9. Ever.
Wait, what?
Yeah, because the Medical Medium says that Spirit told him this is the way we’re meant to eat figs to get the divine healing from them, blah blah blah, I can’t even remember the reason why anymore.
The truth is, it’s embarrassing to admit that. I’m not proud of it. But that’s how deep I was in it.
Remember in the beginning when I said it took me three years to figure out how to say what I wanted to say? That’s because the last 3 years have been dedicated to healing on a holistic level. Including unpacking a lot of diet culture bull shit.
This is a prime example, because sometimes I was full before I ate the ninth fig. I would eat them in multiples of nine, even if my stomach hurt, because some dude on the internet told me it would heal me. Instead of listening to the wisdom of my own body.
Again, I CHOSE TO DO THIS. I’M THE IDIOT. I know, I know.
But, what I can say with certainty is that I never would’ve made that choice if I was in a desperate place to feel better. When your body is failing on you, you will fight for it. You’ll take risks. You’ll hand your power away to people in white coats, or crazy mediums on the internet.
And, if you don’t understand that, chances are you’ve never experienced chronic illness or chronic pain.
It’s hard to stay discerning and critical when you’re DESPERATE. It’s like you’re in survival mode, which means sometimes rational goes out the window. Of course, it is still the responsibility of the consumer, the client, the audience to do their due diligence.
AND.
It’s the responsibility of the “caregiver” to not take advantage of people in a weakened, or at the very least ALTERED, state of mind. Otherwise, it’s an abuse of power. Is it not?
I’m writing this post, because I know there are many, MANY of you out there who deal with chronic health issues, too. I’m not saying don’t do the Medical Medium’s protocols. Because that’s for you to decide. I’m just urging you to consider your mindset when you make health choices.
Are you in desperation mode?
I get it.
Pause.
Take a beat.
Listen to your body, and notice how it’s actually responding to these treatments, diets, rules, WHATEVER.
It’s complicated. Because there’s plenty of times where people in white coats DO know more than us. And “listening to our body” might result in something undiagnosed for years, because we never got the scans, or the tests- because we felt fine. GOOD, even.
As with most things, it’s about balance. Your balance will look different than mine, and vice versa.
Listen to your body.
AND
Ask for help.
You’ve got this, my friends.
xx,
K