Yours Truly, Meg's Health Story

Book Snob - Yes that’s me and I pray that I pass this wonderful gene to my offspring. I know what it’s like to not have the answers and feel incredibly frustrated on not being heard and then I realized I do have the power to find answers it just may come in a different form then what I had been looking for.

I expected doctors and professionals to tell me things about my body or Harlo’s that were happening but never did I think maybe there isn’t just one answer. Instead I turned to researching blogs, books, people, literally anyone who would talk to me about things I had been going through. No one cares about your body as much as you do and no one knows your body as much as you know so educate, educate, educate.

You may find a healthcare professional that is willing to take the time to learn your body however you still have the power to help yourself heal. When we see our doctors we have maybe 15 minutes with them and if we're lucky maybe we found one that will sit with us for an hour who asks questions, pry's and digs for clues and is willing to think outside the box without giving us a medication to mask our problems. Or maybe you don't, maybe you have a long line of medications you are currently taking and you have no idea what half of them do. Educate yourself and find someone to build a a team with.

We have talked a lot about how Zuzas Way has been a major part in our healing journey but another person who has gone out of his way is someone Jeb has been going to for quite sometime - Dr Aaron Beck. If you know him he and his wife are truly genuine human beings. Jeb switched over to Aaron a few years ago after bouncing between doctors and trying to find people to help him make some big decisions in regards to his ulcerative colitis. My older two girls and I have seen his mother Dr. Mary Beck for several years as well and she is just as kind and sweet as Aaron. So we certainly don't need to travel far to find some good people but sometimes it takes building a team to cover all of our health concerns.

Here's my story (33 years packed into a summary):

As a child I had aches and pains in my joints and went through years of x-rays, MRI's etc. to find out I had Rheumotoid Arthritis. Fast forward to my late teens it takes me seeing a Homeopathic Thyroid Specialist to find out I have Hashimotos Hypothyroid. Shortly after meeting that particular doctor I realized I had a long list of severe sensitivities so I went through my first Elimination Diet. At that time I was 18, living in a dorm at college and to say it wasn't easy to sustain is an understatement.

Move ahead to age 20 and I'm still struggling with joint pain, tiredness, hair loss etc and I end up meeting a Reiki Master who also was a Spiritual Medium - this would be the first time I met someone who was a "Healer" and my life forever changed. During this Reiki session which my mom took me too after we had exhausted all of our options I was incredibly skeptical and honestly nervous to attend. My fears were quickly replaced with joy and gratitude. I ended up meeting an incredible women (who later married Jeb & I) who became a dear friend and confidant throughout Jeb & I's early relationship stages along with being a staple in my healing journey.

Fast forward to age 24 - All hell breaks loose. I slowly started noticing small rashes on my back, feet and stomach. This very quickly took a turn for the worst. I had severe hives for one entire year. They would come on at anytime, they would take over my entire body to the point I couldn't walk or see and eventually had to take time off of work. So I started reaching out to doctors, people, literally anyone I came in contact with to ask if they had every experienced hives or knew someone who did so I could get help to stop them. I made appointments and I hit walls, I met with 10 different doctors in different areas who all told me Hives are unknown and that I needed to take a steroid. I wanted to scream. I didn't want to cover the problem, I wanted to address the problem which seemed like the craziest idea in the world apparently!

Week after week it continued - I had a one year old who didn't like to sleep, a husband who was working around the clock to provide for a family of 6 and 3 older kids in every sporting and school event possible. I could only take cold showers because hot ones triggered the hives, I took 2 Benedryl every 2 hours to keep myself from crawling out of my skin and I spent hours researching, emailing and trying to find someone or something to help me. At one point I broke down and took the steroids that one of the doctors prescribed and it did absolutely nothing. So I read every blog out there and tried every crazy thing but nothing worked. I eventually came across a women who experienced hives and ended up doing the elimination diet again but this time I followed Alissa Segertsen's Nourishing Meals guide. http://www.nourishingmeals.com/

So I did it, I went all in. Three days of pure green veggie smoothies to detox the system then start adding foods in a certain order. I still remember the day that I added my first foods it was roasted brussel sprouts. I kept a log of everything I ate, how my body responded, how I felt and strode ahead. I remember having a complete fear of eating something that would trigger my hives and that I not only needed to heal my body physically but mentally as well.

Not only did my hives affect my eating but it affected my everyday life, I carried Benedryl everywhere I went. I had to leave weddings early and there we're days Jeb wouldn't know what to do because I couldn't stop crying because my body ached and itched so bad. As the months went on and I made my list of foods that we're safe slowly my hives started to fade. I later realized what happened - my body had gone into a toxic shock. My body was so overloaded in toxins that it turned on itself and reacted to everything little thing. At the time that everything happened I was not following the dietary restrictions I knew I should have been (gluten being the number one), we we're renovating the basement of our home to make more bedrooms for our growing family and we we're building the space for our new salon. So I was constantly surrounded in environmental toxins and my body had had enough and could no longer fight everything off.

Now jump ahead to today - I've been hive free for 8 years. Shortly after my body started to heal did I enroll myself into The American College of HealthCare Sciences for Holistic Nutrition. I knew that I wanted to learn more about nutrition and the body after everything I had endured. ACHS has beautiful programs that you don't see in traditional schools and their way of teaching and learning was all about the student. I highly recommend their online program if your looking for a new path, this was by far the best educational experience I ever went through.

https://achs.edu/

Yes I am on the right track, yes I practice a lot of what is needed to heal my body but I have a long way to go. My inflammation has now moved internally and I'm back to the drawing board. From hair breakage, migraines, swollen tongue/face, fatigue, night sweats to drops in blood sugar my body has started attacking itself again. After purchasing the Medical Medium books years ago I recently got the Medical Medium Thyroid Healing book and I believe between this and the help of Zuza's Way that I can figure this out. In the book it speaks about the Epstein-Barr virus and in short in summarizes everything that I have and continue to experience. So here we go again, I'll be going through another form of elimination diet and praying that I can relieve myself of all these symptoms.

https://www.medicalmedium.com/

So I will share my journey as I go through it. I will share the foods I'm eating, the changes I'm making however at the end of the day like I've always said everyone - your body is a temple and each of us is different. What works for me may not work for you. But I do know that when I was at my lowest and had a small amount of hope that the websites I researched and the stories I read of complete strangers who we're going through similar experiences is what got me through. So if you are one of those people please don't hesitate to reach out because that was me years ago.

#healingharlo #healthandwellness #integrativemedicine #westernmedicine #books #continuededucation #holistichealing