As most of your know, I am a student at Everglades University. The degree I am working towards (and almost ready to complete) is a Bachelor of Science in Alternative Medicine. Although I have been in school for 3 years now, my alternative medicine journey has been a very personal, twenty five year journey.
It began with unexplained pain that was agonizing at times, and culminated into a multi faceted diagnosis of overlapping autoimmune diseases and more.
It has been a journey of trial and error – mostly error that completely engrossed my life in traditional, allopathic medicine.
It has only been when I implemented alternative medicine practices did I ever find relief and in recent months what feels like, healing.
This journey led me to fulfill my biggest dream as a child – a college education in the medical field.
It has not only allowed me to be a mentor to my family, but to others as well.
It led me to find a passion about natural childbirth that found me certified as a HypnoBirthing Practitioner with dreams to pursue other certifications in the field as well.
It has given me hope in a future that often felt hopeless.
It has given me passion.
It has given me joy.
I find myself thankful, encouraged, and excited about my future.
I may be almost 50 years old, but my new life has just begun.
I thank Everglades University for the education that fueled my fire, but most of all I thank my family. I am nothing without them and attribute all my successes to their unfailing love and support.
I was given the opportunity to write about my journey for the class I am in, and thought it would be a great way to share my journey with you. I've deleted the citations (they are for my official paper), so you can read through it without the technical interruptions. Its a little long but I hope you enjoy this sneak peak into my journey. I am excited about where it has taken me and feel privileged to be able to share it with you!
My
Alternative Medicine Journey
My journey through alternative medicine
started as a personal one. It was my own
challenging health issues that pushed me back to school and I couldn’t be
happier. Growing up, I always dreamed
about going to college. I dreamed of
entering the medical field. Then, I
married straight out of high school and had my first daughter nine months
later. The next one came exactly two
years later - then a divorce - then another marriage - then another baby. You get the picture. I was so busy living my life – and happily,
too – that getting to college was extremely challenging. It took about ten years for me to complete
the equivalent of 2-1/2 years of college, then I gave up on ever being able to
finish.
I started having
pain in my body in my mid twenties. I’d
go from doctor to doctor and no one could find anything wrong with me. They passed me around to therapists and
psychiatrists. I was diagnosed with
everything from depression to bipolar disorder.
As new symptoms would arise, new medications would be prescribed. It turns out there is a pill for everything -
then another pill for each side effect and yet another pill to compensate where
the first pill fell short of the goal.
The goal, of course, was the absence of symptoms. It seems like for 20 years, there was no
absence of symptoms.
About eleven years
ago I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.
At least there was some kind of acknowledgement that my pain wasn’t all
in my head! Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic widespread pain, multiple tender
points, abnormal pain processing, sleep disturbances, fatigue and often
psychological distress. For those with severe symptoms, fibromyalgia can be
extremely debilitating and interfere with basic daily activities. Although the doctor’s continued to treat my
symptoms with traditional pharmaceuticals, this time began my journey with
alternative medicine. I was taking about
thirty pills each day and was in physical therapy. I began reading everything I could get my
hands on. I was astonished to learn the
power of food! Food can cause
inflammation. Food can fight
inflammation. Food can fight off
pain. It turns out that our “Western”
diet is missing valuable nutrients and is filled with processed foods, a lot of
animal protein, and refined carbohydrates.
These foods promote inflammation and pain.
Diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids, monounsaturated fats,
antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables, and certain spices like garlic,
turmeric, and ginger all have inflammation fighting effects.
I also discovered
that the more I moved, the better I felt.
After physical therapy, I began walking my kids to school. It was about a half mile walk. I gradually increased the walk until I was
power walking about 3 miles, 4-5 days per week.
Soon I was able to start going to the gym for some strength training. Combined with the changes in my diet and the
extra helping of sleep I was getting in the middle of the day, I began to feel
better. It took me about four years to
feel like a new person. As a wonderful
side effect to the changes I had made to my life, I lost weight and was in the
best shape of my life! This was a huge
eye opener for me. This was how I began
to believe in the power of alternative medical practices. The pills didn’t get me to this point – I did
– with just a few simple life changes. Although
I did not change my new eating habits, life’s stressors and such helped to
create another decline in my health. I
began to slowly gain weight. My pain
levels increased. I didn’t feel like
working out. It took one year to get me
back to the level of health it took me four years to get out of. I had a decision to make. The decline in my health began to
snowball. We lost our business to the
failing economy, and then had to leave our children and move out of state. The stress was unbearable. I found a new job, but was working about
sixty hours per week, under even more stress, as my husband remained
unemployed. Needless to say, I had a
complete meltdown of my health.
I sought out
medical attention. I was diagnosed with
Hypertension, Lupus SLE, and Sjogren’s Syndrome. I was given high doses of pain medications,
anti inflammatories, diuretics, and more.
Again, I was taking more medication than would fit into a gallon sized
Ziploc bag. I could not work. I could not even get out of bed. I was a mess.
After about a year of getting nowhere with my health, it dawned on me that
I was going about this in the wrong way.
Once again I decided to take my health into my own hands.
About that same
time I began to implement the whole foods diet, exercise, sleep regiments that
worked before. I realized I needed more
education. It dawned on me that there
were so many people just like me, who were in a vicious cycle of health issues
combined with Western medicine’s idea of the constant search to alleviate any
symptoms. Mind you, no one was looking
for the reason I was so sick. They were
just trying to get rid of the symptoms – and failing miserably. This search led me to Everglades University. I had come to believe that if I could learn
how to make myself better in a more natural way, I could get rid of the
pharmaceuticals, and maybe even influence change in someone else’s life. I enrolled in school.
About a year into
my educational journey we moved back to California. The Rheumatologist I saw eliminated the Lupus
diagnosis but added antiphospholipid syndrome.
She made no changes to my medical protocol – which did not make me happy
because the current protocol wasn’t working!
I sought out an Integrative Rheumatologist. I needed a doctor that believed in
alternative medicine. I knew I was in
the right place when on my first visit, he explained to me that all of my
symptoms we related and he was going to figure out what caused them. This was music to my ears - someone who
wanted to fix the problem and not just mask it!
He soon discovered that I had Lyme Disease. We assume this diagnosis should have probably
been my first diagnosis. I also have an
MTHFR gene mutation. This gene mutation
might also be the reason for so many of the ailments I’ve had over the past
years (including the three miscarriages I had).
Needless to say, over the past 2 years I have been on the journey of my
life.
I am so happy
today at the progress I am making. Between the supplementation my doctor has me
on and the implementation of major changes in my diet (I am now gluten free,
rarely eat red meat, and eat a diet super rich in antioxidants). I get plenty of rest and try to get some good
exercise most days of the week. I am on
a minimal amount of medications, have lost about twenty pounds and am feeling
better, stronger, and in less pain.
I started blogging
my journey several months ago. I hope
that my blog might touch someone and empower them to take charge of their own
health journey. I don’t have a lot of
followers yet, but I hope that will change someday. I talk to whoever will listen. I have challenged my family members to make
positive changes in their own lives. I
believe I have really impacted the lives of my daughters. Through seeing my own successes, they have
made successful changes in their own lives.
On the down side, three of my daughters have begun to show signs of some
of the same ailments I suffer from. The
up side it that we know a lot more now and they are making better decisions
than I ever did. It is my sincere prayer
that they will never suffer the way I did.
I recently became
a grandmother again. My daughter asked
me to be her labor companion (as her husband was 3000 miles away). She wanted to birth her baby using a
childbirth method called HypnoBirthing.
I had never heard of this before, but was very intrigued. Coming now from an alternative medicine
background, I was excited to learn that she was willing to try a natural approach
to childbirth and was all too happy to help her through it. During the first of the five classes I was
completely hooked. Over the following
four weeks I learned things about childbirth that I never knew (and I birthed
three babies!).
“HypnoBirthing is
based on the premise that childbirth is a normal, natural function for women
and that "when a woman is given the proper preparation for childbirth, she
and her birthing companion can experience a safe, serene, and satisfying
birthing, free of the fear that causes tension and pain" . HypnoBirthing teaches Mom to rid herself of
the fear of childbirth, and how to relax in such a way as to let her body do
exactly what it knows how to do – to birth her baby in a natural, calm, and
comfortable manner. I
believed in this program so much, that after my daughter had her successful
HypnoBirthing birth, I decided to become a Certified HypnoBirthing Practitioner
myself. I am proud to say that my
certification just came through:
I now look forward
to teaching other couples how to have the birth of their dreams! Through this journey I realized a few
things. First, there was a major
shortage of labor and delivery nurses at the hospital who not only had never
heard of HypnoBirthing before, but weren’t really on board with “natural
childbirth” altogether. This was very
discerning to me. I had to advocate for
my daughter. Then the so called
specialist that came to see my daughter the next day to give her breastfeeding
hints and other “new mom” hints, didn’t have anything remotely helpful to tell
my daughter. She even tried to convince
my daughter that “jiggling” her baby to ease colic cries was something she
invented! I couldn’t believe it! I realized at that point that I had to do
something more.
I have decided that
I am called to use my new education to help couples through one of the biggest,
most important, times in their lives – the birth of their children. It is something I am completely passionate
about. I hope to become a doula – both
prenatal and postpartum. “Doula” means
“a woman who serves” and is now used to refer to a trained and experienced
professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational
support to the mother before, during and just after birth; or who provides
emotional and practical support during the postpartum period. With the training required to receive these
certifications, I can combine all my education to teach childbirth classes, be
present during their birth, help with postpartum care, new mom education, and
even breastfeeding coaching. This is a
job I can do while taking care of myself first.
This is a job I can be proud of. This
is a lifelong dream come true. I am very
excited!
