How did I get to where I am today? To a place where I feel a passion for natural health and sharing it with you? It has been an unexpected path that began three years ago. Actually, it most likely began long before that but it all came to a head three years ago.
It’s important to let you know that as you get older you do not have to feel progressively worse. How many times has your doctor said to you that you are getting old? The first time my doctor said it to me I was about forty. That is not that old but if I were to listen to him, it was time to resolve myself to the decline of my health with no recourse. Just throw your hands up and accept my unknown, but imminent, health issues. I thanked him for reminding me of my age. But I actually felt pretty good.
That was not the case in the summer of 2011. My leg, right behind my knee, started to ache on and off. I thought I had probably just strained something and it would work itself out. As I mentioned, it was summer. I love summer and being in the pool or jet skiing, but that summer I did not feel good. There wasn’t one big issue, but, to me at least, several things adding up to a big issue…me not feeling well. Here are some of them:
Hypothyroidism – this was already known and I was taking a prescribed medication for it for about a year.- Fatigue – like everyday too tired to want to get out of bed
- Muscle aches and weakness – mostly in my hip and legs – a few months earlier the doctor had sent me for an x-ray. He didn’t really see anything except maybe some possible minor arthritis so he prescribed a medication for that, which I didn’t end up taking after reading the possible side effects. (I didn’t hurt bad enough to risk all that.)
- Nausea, headaches, ringing in my ears, and, the latest issue, a weird break out on my chest and neck. My doctor said it looked like bug bites to him. (I really would have noticed if bugs had bitten me that much.)
After examining me and listening to my complaints, the doctor told me I had a sinus infection. Really? That may have been true, but what about everything else? It didn’t make sense to me, but I picked up the antibiotics for my sinus infection and went home.
This very same doctor had also misdiagnosed a serious condition in my husband that landed him in the hospital for 5 days so we thought it was a good time to find a different doctor.
The new doctor sent me to physical therapy for my knee pain. He also did a round of blood work. (And of course reminded me that I was getting older.) When I saw the results of the blood test, I noticed that one of my levels was pretty high. Really high. I had no Idea what that specific test was measuring so of course I turned to Google. Google informed me that it is an indicator of autoimmune disease. That didn’t seem good to me. When I called the doctor’s office to ask for an appointment to discuss my blood work I was told that if they had not call me to set up an appointment to go over my results everything was fine. Everything was not fine. Not at all fine. As luck would have it, my knee pain had gotten worse so I was able to convince them to give me an appointment based on my knee.
When I saw the doctor, he wasn’t the least bit concerned about my out of whack blood results. He said that could just be “my normal”. In fact he told me we would re-test it in three months and if it was the same that was just “my normal”. Well, ok. That made sense. It did make sense to me at the time. It DOES NOT make sense to me now. Of course it would be the same if you do nothing to change it! Well, maybe it could have gotten worse. Would he do anything about it then? We’ll never know.
About that time my husband suggested I try finding a chiropractor or acupuncturist. The physical therapy wasn’t working. The knee pain now included a numb foot. I could not sit comfortably. The new doctor ordered an MRI. I consulted my good friend Google and fortunately found a holistic doctor who does acupuncture. This really was great luck.
This was my first experience with acupuncture and holistic medicine. It was also what changed everything.
Dr. Wendy knew before looking at the MRI that the problem was my back, not my knee. The MRI just confirmed it. The results showed: disk bulge L3/L4, and a pulled ligament; herniated disk L5 & S1 as well as arthritic changes. The back surgeon of course wanted to operate. Dr. Wendy told me she could fix it. If preferred to give Dr. Wendy a try. If that didn’t work I could always have surgery.
Well, I did not have surgery. I’m not going to tell you that it was easy. In the beginning I went for acupuncture twice a week. Dr. Wendy gave me exercises to do at home, twice a day at least. She didn’t stop with my back though from the beginning she asked about my overall health. I was already on thyroid medicine. She changed that to a natural medication and did blood work of her own. She started me on vitamins and supplements. She gave me books to read about my conditions. Yes conditions, including adrenal fatigue and hypothyroidism (possibly Hashimoto’s Disease which is an autoimmune disease). She told me to stop eating gluten and limit dairy.
This was a completely different approach to medicine than I had ever experienced. She seemed to want to fix things and cared that I got better! This instead of handing out a prescription to mask the symptoms of whatever is really wrong.
I still have not had back surgery and I feel better than I have in a long time. My most recent blood work showed that the one level that was really high has come down and is almost at a normal level. I can’t imagine what condition my health would be in today had I not found a holistic doctor. Based on how bad I felt three years ago, it couldn’t be a pretty picture.
This has been, and continues to be a learning process and an eye opener. I continue to have regular visits with Dr. Wendy for acupuncture and to monitor my health through blood tests. I’m not going to tell you that everything is perfect. It takes time and there are still things I’m working on.
It wasn’t a journey I intentionally took but because of it I realize that we can feel good as we get older, and what we eat matters to how we feel. This has inspired me to learn more and in fact, I have just completed The Institute of Nutritional Leadership with Dr. Josh Axe. It is my goal to share what I’ve learned so that you will also feel good, naturally.
Here are the books Dr. Wendy recommended and I found informative:
How to Deal With Back Pain and Rheumatoid Joint Pain
Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome
Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health
The Miracle of Natural Hormones, 3rd (third) Edition: 3rd (third) Edition
Drugs That Don’t Work and Natural Therapies That Do
Cool article, It was practical.
Thanks! Glad you liked it.