Embracing Life: Joe Coughlin’s Holistic Health Journey
How can you show up for yourself when you get a life-threatening diagnosis?
In this episode of Prevention Pioneers, Corporate Risk Solutions’ CEO and founder, Joe Coughlin, is back for the second time. He and Laura discussed his holistic health journey and how he took care of himself following a diagnosis of prostate and lung cancer.
A potentially fatal diagnosis makes a major mental and physical impact. For Joe Coughlin, it meant clarifying how he wants to live. It also meant taking an active role in living through naturopathic medicine alongside traditional treatment.
Let’s explore Joe’s journey with holistic medicine for cancer treatment and the lessons he’s learned along the way.
The Mental Impact of a Cancer Diagnosis
Joe’s cancer diagnosis was a wake-up call that helped him clarify his purpose and his priorities. Regarding his diagnosis and the availability of treatment, he said, “I feel like I have been tapped on the shoulder…I’m given a chance to say, What are you going to do with your life…while you have it? What are you going to achieve? What are you going to advance or advocate for?”
Laura recounted that just after his diagnosis, Joe told her, “Every day right now I’m waking up, and I’m making a decision if I’m living or if I’m dying.”
Joe ultimately decided that he wanted to be an active participant in living, so he put his effort into an open-minded, holistic treatment approach.
Three-Legged Holistic Health Approach
While sitting in the podcast studio, Joe regarded a camera tripod and said, “It’s kind of like the way that I look at medicine currently, or wellness.” He used the metaphor that, like a tripod, medicine has three legs it needs to stand on: Traditional (allopathic) medicine, naturopathic medicine, and mental health. Holistic medicine for cancer treatment should include all three.
Traditional Medicine
Joe explains that traditional, or allopathic, medicine is modern medicine. Someone goes to a doctor, gets a diagnosis, and typically receives a prescription to treat it.
Naturopathic Medicine
Naturopathic medicine uses natural, empathic medicines to treat people. Joe leaned into this approach to supplement traditional medicine.
Mental Health Treatment
Preventative mental health goes a long way towards resilience, especially when handling a life-changing diagnosis.
Supplementing Traditional Medicine to Treat Cancer
The traditional approach to cancer treatment is choosing a pharmaceutical drug to treat it and hoping that the drug works, which Joe did. However, he realized he needed more than his traditional doctors were offering. So, he added naturopathic medicine doctors to his care team.
He said, “I went into the naturopathic side in a big way, because I realized that I needed to be involved in my own health…when you’re involved, and you’re trying, it’s different than sitting on a couch at home and doing nothing and just saying, geez, I hope the medicine works. And what do you do when the medicine stops working?”
Opening his mind to supplementing traditional care gave Joe a stronger sense of agency. He explored lifestyle changes and holistic medicine for cancer treatment. Even if some of the treatments weren’t effective, at least he was trying everything he could.
His biggest lifestyle change was diet, cutting out sugar to stop feeding the cancer cells. Watch the full episode to learn more about his naturopathic treatment approaches.
Preventative Health Care and Advocating for Yourself
Preventive health care is key to preventing and detecting major illnesses early, while there’s still time to intervene. However, Joe stressed that, “You have to advocate for yourself, and you have to assume that you’re the only one making these decisions or looking and doing the due diligence on anything.”
There were moments in his healthcare journey where he felt his doctor’s missed something. For example, not catching something on a scan that led to his lung cancer a year later, or not asking about his diet in cancer treatment.
Use these tactics to advocate for your health:
- Stay Informed – Before appointments, list what medicines and supplements you take, your conditions, unusual symptoms, allergies, family history, etc.
- Name Your Concerns and Goals – Name these to keep appointments focused, such as “I want to confirm I’m up to date on screenings and understand my risk factors.”
- Ask Questions – Ask questions to understand your doctor’s suggestions and next steps, such as: “What am I due for?” “If these symptoms aren’t caused by X, what are the other likely causes we should rule out?” “What results would prompt action?” “At what point do we repeat testing or refer out?” “If we’re not doing that test, what are we doing instead to monitor this, and when?”
- Request a Documented Plan – Request a documented plan (in writing or via your patient portal), including what they’re doing, why, and when follow-up will occur.
- Bring Backup – If you tend to freeze or forget details, bring a friend or partner to your appointments.
- Follow Up – Confirm that your referrals, tests, and follow-ups actually got ordered and scheduled. Reach out through the portal if any results weren’t clearly explained or if symptoms change.
- Ask for a Second Opinion if Needed – When stakes are high, or uncertainty is persistent, seek out a second opinion.
Final Thoughts on Holistic Health
Whether you get a major or minor diagnosis, you have agency in your healthcare. Traditional medicine provides a solid foundation for treatment, but advocating for yourself and seeking additional treatment modalities may help. To learn more about Joe Coughlin’s journey, listen to the full episode. Plus, check out Joe’s first appearance on our mental health podcast to learn how to spark resilience across a workforce.To learn how our preventative mental health platform, Spirence, can support your mental health, book a demo.
