The Natural Healing Path
There are so many so-called “incurable” diseases diagnosed every single day. But if we could find the cause, wouldn’t that mean we could reverse the disease? As someone who has been faced with scary autoimmune and neurological symptoms, natural healing remedies have always offered a glimmer of hope. Since trying a variety of different approaches, without the help of conventional medicine, I have been able to discover what triggers my autoimmune reactions, and what keeps me feeling healthy and vibrant. This is why I have a personal passion for natural healing, and perhaps you can learn something from reading about my personal health adventure that is helpful for you.
Natural healing often gets pushed aside as pseudoscience, and sometimes there are so many different natural healing approaches out there that it can feel way too overwhelming to try any of them. So why bother with a natural healing approach at all, you ask? We all know that conventional approaches often come with their own set of side effects. While conventional medicine may be useful in certain situations, most mainstream doctors study medicine to treat symptoms instead of studying and teaching prevention of systemic health problems. In fact, did you know that doctors are only required to have as little as 20 hours of nutrition study to receive their degree? It is important to know where our doctors have true expertise, and where we need to start filling in the gaps to support a more holistic approach to our health.
We often believe that we need to seek answers outside of ourselves, from those with high institutional achievements, in order to know how to develop a healthy lifestyle and to heal from a previously unhealthy lifestyle. Outside perspectives can be helpful, of course, but we must know that we are our first point of knowing. Our culture is one that tends to create great detachment of our minds from our bodies, such as with encouraging habits of emotional suppression. When our bodies try to speak to us, we tend to ignore the signals by mentally brushing them off, drinking alcohol, scrolling through our cell phones, etc. As a result, when we begin our healing journey, we may initially find ourselves faced with some unwanted feelings and emotions, as well as a resistance from “normal” society out of their own fears of healing. However, in facing our deepest fears, we can develop the greatest sense of connectedness and empowerment to ourselves and others. It is from this space that we can learn what our bodies truly need in order to thrive.
Though there is certainly a place for clinical studies and research, as well as traditional medical care, we can never know what is really true or effective until we try things for ourselves. Though everyone is different, we all can learn from the anecdotal experiences of others to find pieces of information that we can apply towards our own lives. In my blog, The Health Adventurer, I share what I learn from my own personal experience, as well as recipes I enjoy, products that have improved my life, and articles and studies that have been helpful in my natural healing journey. I hope that in sharing what I have learned, that you will ask more detailed questions to your healthcare providers, do more of your own research, and ultimately, develop confidence and wisdom in your own health adventure.
My Story
Being healthy was not always something I used to care about. It was not necessarily taught to me, nor understood by, my parents. With so much conflicting information floating around all the time, it is easy to give up on trying to sort through it all. That is why I am putting my research to the test, and sharing my health journey with the world.
At around the age of five, I ate cheeseburgers, ice cream, and fries every day, thanks to my Dad taking me to a local burger joint after picking me up from my babysitter. I was a bit overweight, but I wasn’t bothered by it until I was made fun of by a boy I had a crush on in the second grade. The following summer, I went in the opposite direction and starved myself from breakfast every morning. I lost some weight, but with the internalization of body image insecurities, I would have some emotional work to do in later years. I gradually made positive changes, starting with giving up fast food. At age 10, I made a New Year’s resolution to give up dark cola soft drinks, and by age 11 I gave up sodas altogether.
By that time, I thought I was pretty healthy, until I did a food journal as a part of my seventh grade science class. I discovered that a large portion of my diet still consisted of junk, particularly white flours and breads. I looked healthy on the outside, but I was devastated that I was not truly doing my body justice. I focused intently on getting 100% whole grains into my diet, which was my main concern at the time. I even encouraged my family to make positive changes in their diet, which they successfully did and showed appreciation for.
Because I had quite a long way to go emotionally to physically feel healthier, I developed acid reflux and was diagnosed by a doctor at age 13. Despite eating the healthiest diet of my life, I was put on a very strong proton pump inhibitor, Nexium, at the time. Out of stress, I found myself eating whole-grain cereals before bed until my stomach hurt. Within a short period of time, I was having issues with tendinitis in both arms, and I was having skin issues that prompted my dermatologist to test me for lupus. My test results showed a slight positive ANA, which kept me seeing rheumatologists for years to check on blood test results. I was not diagnosed with lupus at that time, but I was diagnosed with Raynaud’s phenomenon, which was only worsened by the cold Midwest winter weather. I was put on antibiotics for acne, and I estimate that I stayed on them for about one year.
I eventually confronted my issues with overeating, and I also became a vegetarian. My mom made home-cooked meals for me to bring to lunch every day, per my request. I ate whole-grain pastas with peas, carrots, and mozzarella, as well as spinach quiches with eggs and feta cheese. I drank a full glass of milk, along with the milk in my whole wheat cereal that was topped with fresh blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. I remained vegetarian throughout high school, until I graduated one year early and began audio engineering school. I then began incorporating sushi into my diet, in hopes that my tendinitis might subside with the extra protein. It did eventually get better, but my tendinitis would come back several times later in my life.
At age 18, I moved out to Los Angeles, which helped with my Raynaud’s. I continued to take Nexium until a visit with a doctor, who suggested that it might be a good idea to stop taking it. She wondered why I had been on it for so long (seven years), and thought if I was having issues with acid reflux, it may be that my stomach was actually not producing enough acid. So I took her advice, took apple cider vinegar for a few weeks, and stopped taking the pill. I never had issues with reflux since. After a while of living out on my own, I began eating chicken and turkey again, as it gave me more variety with cooking.
A few years ago, I developed problems with both of my knees. As an avid hiker, runner, and dancer, I attributed everything to overexercise. I went to see an orthopedic doctor, and was diagnosed with IT band tendinitis in both legs, inflammation underneath my kneecaps, and tilted kneecaps from the tendinitis. I was sent to physical therapy, which seemed to help, but I managed to injure myself again six months later, only to make the same problem I already had much worse. My boyfriend at the time introduced me to a personal trainer, who told me he could work around my injuries. He informed me on how bad milk was, so I stopped drinking it, but continued to eat cottage cheese and whey protein powders, in addition the red meats I started incorporating. I was simultaneously dealing with tendinitis in my forearms, in both arms at the same time. Additionally, my orthopedic doctor noticed that my bone density was similar to that of a 50-year-old. This was surprising, but I later learned that Nexium can cause low bone density, and given that it is now recommended not to take the drug longer than eight weeks, I feel lucky to even be alive after my seven-year course. He wanted to do cortisone shots for the tendinitis in my forearms, but I opted to use the Volterin anti-inflammatory gel once in a while and persisted with physical therapy.
After another six months of not healing, depression started to creep in. I continued with physical therapy, but it wasn’t helping much anymore. With conventional medicine seeming to fail me, I began looking into alternative therapies such as acupuncture. I tried trigger point therapy and myofascial release, both of which helped, but released too much emotional traumas at once for me to continue. It was becoming more and more apparent that there were emotional issues to heal on top of the physical ones, so I checked myself in to see a psychotherapist who specializes in mind-body therapy. During that time, I focused on resting and doing whatever I could to avoid injury, including physical therapy.
To this day, I still have to be very careful of re-injuring myself with tendinitis throughout my body, which is very easy for me to do. Resting helps, but I hope that as I learn more about health, that my body will become stronger than ever before. I am able to walk more than I could before without pain. During these periods of rest is often when I have been able to do a lot more research (thanks to voice command software, I can still rest my hands!) on health to learn how I might be able to best take care of my body.
In March of last year, I tested for low levels of complement component C3C and C4C, which my rheumatologists explained to me could indicate a disease within the lupus family. She did not diagnose me with any particular disease yet, but wanted to follow up just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. At the end of that same appointment, she talked about medications that she might put me on if it wasn’t just “a fluke” like she talked about. I was turned off by this, as I really did not want a repeat of negative side effects due to medications. According to my research, in addition to low bone density, Nexium is known to cause kidney failure and lupus. It is known to cause low levels of magnesium and other nutrients as well, which I hope to make up for with supplements and high quality fruits and vegetables.
That said, it was the last time I had seen a rheumatologist, and I have since been searching for more natural ways to heal my body as a whole. I know that it is likely I have lupus, especially because when I go out in the sun, even for short periods of time, I have zero energy, nerve pain, and have no choice but to lay down afterwards. At one point, I was having trouble where at various times throughout the day, I was unable to open my hands because they would close into fists out of what seemed like fatigue. Upon doing some research, I learned that others who have suffered from lupus had experienced symptoms like this as well.
As an experiment, I stopped eating meat again last year, and was extremely happy to have seen the hormonal acne in my skin clear up. Since then, I had gone in and out of being vegan and vegetarian, with only a few occasions of having eaten meat. I noticed grains seemed to be affecting both my face and my hands, and I cut them out completely. I thought that maybe some of my issues could be due to Candida, and the lady at the local health store told me that beans are high in fungus, so I cut those out as well. For a period of about two weeks, I ate large amounts of steamed broccoli, avocado, and some fruit, but yo-yo’d back into eating meat again.
I finally discovered the raw vegan/fruitarian diet, and since eating this diet, I have noticed my hands have gotten significantly better. They rarely, if ever, close up involuntarily as they used to. My meat cravings have nearly diminished, but I am open to incorporating it into my diet in the future if I feel it is necessary. I am continuously doing research every day to narrow down the possible causes and triggers of my condition, and I will share what I learn on this website. Because conventional doctors have no answer for lupus except to take steroids and chemotherapy medication for symptoms, which often is an experiment in and of itself, I am always looking for alternative approaches. I do respect and value certain aspects of conventional medicine, such as blood tests and controlled studies, but because of the negative side effects of most medications, and with an understanding of how money and politics plays a role into the remedies that are tested and available, I want to discover natural remedies that work for my body.
I hope that in sharing my experience with you, you will ask questions you may not have thought of before. I hope you begin to reevaluate your relationship with food, the environment, and even perhaps your personal relationship with yourself and others. I hope that it inspires you to make positive changes in your own life, whatever those may be. Writing this blog and running this website helps me to document my own experience and gain perspective upon seeing it in the words in front of me, and I am sure you have a valuable outside perspective as well. If you feel open enough to share your own personal experience or thoughts in the comments section of my blog, I encourage you to do so, because I will learn from you as well.
I am optimistic about healing, and I am willing to commit to lifelong lifestyle changes to support my health and happiness, no matter what kind of diet I choose to try. Though I may not live forever, I am dedicated to improving the quality of my life through good health and sharing what I know with others. If I learn any practical solutions along the way, or find products that seem to be useful for me, I will write about them for you to read. I am looking forward to sharing the rest of my journey with you!
-The Health Adventurer