The first time I met him he sat back in his chair, smiled and said, "You're a warrior."
I asked him to elaborate and he explained that another doctor friend of his says that there are two types of patients...warriors and wizards.
I understood the warrior part, but needed explanation on the wizard, to which he said something along the lines of, "Oh, those are the ones who want ME to fix them. They don't take any personal responsibility. They're just looking for the magic pill."
I understand wizard patients. I was one for many years.
Many of you have asked for information on how to treat MS and other auto-immune diseases through diet, lifestyle changes, and supplements.
This post (and perhaps a few to follow) will be my personal testimony to the above.
It's likely going to be a long read, as there's much to share...so grab a cup of tea and pull up a chair.
Or, print it out and save it to read when you have time.
Here we go...
After the birth of my daughter, I never lost the baby weight. I also didn't eat well for many years. I tipped the scales at 192 pounds, which is quite a bit for someone who only hits 5'5" if I'm in traction!
I'd wake every morning wondering how quickly I could get downstairs to guzzle 1/2 of my 2 liter of Coca-Cola to start my day. As soon as breakfast was over, I'd be planning what I was going to eat for lunch. As soon as lunch was over, I was wondering what dinner would be.
At the time, we lived in a master planned community and my kiddos were little. We spent countless hours at the pocket parks in our neighborhood and my husband would often drive straight from work to meet us at the park. Then we'd all pile into the van and head to Denny's, or the Mexican food restaurant, or Subway for dinner.
Fried chips. Fried fish tacos. French fries.
Fried.
Fried.
Fried!
I didn't KNOW...I had NO idea what those horrible oils were doing to my brain and to my cells.
I didn't know that the optimum ratio for Omega 3s to Omega 6s in a cell is 1:2, and that my diet was so creating an horrific imbalance of 1:50!!
One day a friend of mine and I were talking about the prevalence of adultery in our churches, and she shared that she had been really thinking about the sin of gluttony...and seeking God about it in her own life.
God used her words to PIERCE my heart about the sin in my own life. I was drowning in gluttony!
That night I cried out to God and confessed my sin, and asked Him to please give me an undying hunger for His Word. I told Him that I wanted to wake in the mornings thinking about dining on Scripture, and I wanted my last thoughts at night to be a longing for His Word as well.
He so graciously answered that prayer and within no time, and truly by no doing of my own, I had dropped 20 pounds.
When people would ask me how I'd lost the weight, I always told the truth...that I confessed gluttony in all sincerity, and God in His lovingkindness removed 20 pounds and changed my cravings.
It always amazed me that even after hearing those words, people would inevitably say, "But you had to be obedient. Good for YOU!"
Bless their hearts, they either just didn't GET it, or didn't WANT to get it.
In 2005 I had a surgical hysterectomy that took FOREVER to heal from.
In 2007 I had sinus surgery that took TWO FOREVERS to heal from.
I truly didn't heal from the sinus surgery. It was terrible!
In 2008 I got terribly sick with what we thought was the flu, but we never did get a clear diagnosis. We flew to Denver to visit my brother and his family that summer, and the higher we went into the mountains, the sicker I got.
We returned home at the end of July and I was sick ALL. SUMMER. LONG!
I took antibiotic after antibiotic and nothing helped. Finally, I was put onto Levaquin and within a day I took myself off it because the side effects were so heinous.
The very next day, Shane packed me into the car and we drove to the ER because we thought I was having a heart attack. I didn't THINK I was dying, I KNEW I was!
The whole way to the ER, I was telling Shane through my tears what to look for in his next wife. I was begging him to make sure that she was totally in love with Jesus, and that she'd be a tender and sweet Mommy to our babies.
I didn't know it then, but I do now. What I had was a terrible reaction to Levaquin.
ALL of our medical files now say, "NO QUINOLONES!"
If you want to know more about how horrid these drugs can be, just do a Google search on them...or Google the word "Floxing."
From that point, around September 2008 through June 2009 when I was diagnosed with MS, I saw a Naturopath and just tried to get healthy...but I felt HORRID!
(To be continued. My Sweetheart is ready to hang out with me!)
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