Show #188 – Dr Diva Nagula – his remarkable, non-traditional battle with cancer

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Love our new show tune in the intro/outro? It’s talented Australian independent artist Melanie Horsnell’s song “Birds”. So proud to support this wonderful Aussie artist and have her grace the show with her wonderful words and song!

 

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And onto this week’s show!

Have you ever had a health diagnosis or life event that floored you? Stripped you to your core? A cancer diagnosis isn’t just a personal health crisis. It’s a call to develop the unhealthy areas of your life into a more authentic wellbeing. Those are the words of Dr. Diva Nagula, this week’s guest. Dr. Nagula is a physician who was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014. By integrating a holistic, functional approach to his traditional treatment regimen he beat the disease into remission and kept it there. His new book FROM DOCTOR TO PATIENT: Healing Cancer through Mind, Body, and Spirit takes readers inside his remarkable journey through heartfelt narrative passages that highlight the importance of balancing the mind, body, and spirit for optimal health. AND we also receive mini Medical Crash Courses that will give valuable information on topics such as inflammation, the difference between chemotherapy and immunotherapy, the role of gut microbiomes, and the importance of immunoglobulins. These call-outs provide valuable building blocks that will be useful to readers both fighting a medical battle of their own or simply trying to live a smarter, healthier life. 

Dr. Nagula’s story paints a picture of hope that’ll empower everybody to look carefully at their lives and create change that matters, and I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did.

 

 

The Questions I asked Diva:

• Did you always want to be a doctor?
• Do you think being a young doctor ‘saving the day for people’ makes you feel a little invincible?
• So… when a cancer diagnosis came for you: What was that day like?
• How did you initially decide on a course of action? Was it challenging to switch to the role of being a patient?
• You believe a pattern of high-anxiety and poor-self-care that began when you were just a child led to your cancer diagnosis. Can you share why you feel this pattern was the biggest contributor? What does the science tell us about anxiety/physiology/inflammation etc?
• You state on the back of the book that a cancer diagnosis isn’t just a personal health crisis but a call to develop unhealthy areas of your life into more authentic well-being. What did you initially feel called to address first when it came to those old patterns you believe led to cancer for you?
• In the book, you talk about hitting rock bottom – but not at the point most of us would have expected. Can you explain?
• You relied on a combination of traditional western medicine and Functional Medicine to not only chase cancer into remission but to change your entire life. How were you able to do that?
• What challenges did Functional Medicine bring to your battle with cancer in the American healthcare system?
• What aspects from the functional medicine approach do you feel made a difference on your journey to remission?
• The book is part narrative biography and part informative “Medical Crash Courses”. Did you intend to advise and guide as a suggestion for what people do on their own journey?
• Inflammation is something of a recurring theme. Can we talk inflammation 101 / different types and why we should pay attention to it more closely?
• Major themes in the book are mindfulness, mindset, and spirituality. And sometimes people might put these at the bottom of their list ‘if they had time’ – if you could share something that would ensure people bumped them up the list of priorities, what would you say?
• Let’s talk psychedelics: You spent nearly a year in the controversial world of psychedelic therapy. Ultimately it was a positive experience for you, but it wasn’t always, and you learned a lot. What did you learn?
• What do you wish you could go back and tell your younger self?
• What would you share with someone who was on a cancer healing road right now?

 

Other helpful links:

Find out more about Diva and his work: https://fromdoctortopatient.com/

Join him on Instagram @FromDoctorToPatient and on Facebook.

You can grab a copy of his wonderful book over at Booktopia.

 

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