Hey there!
If you want to ask something nearly impossible of an introvert, ask them to write a blog about themselves. Sheesh! This is going to be a rough one for me to write.
Yes, I’m an introvert and don’t normally air my health laundry…… but my passion to promote great health is bigger than my privacy issues…. and YOUR health is just as important as mine…. so I’m here to spill the beans on how I came to be “a healthy me” at the age of 50. Perhaps you can glean some inspiration, knowledge, and hope from MY story….and then maybe you too can turn your health around. I going to dissect my life into two halves, and will post the first half today… the second will come by the end of the week.
Life is full of lessons. I have been fortunate in that my profession of choice (pharmacy) has given me the gift of continuous learning. I LOVE learning, researching, digging up and exhuming hidden facts. It took me many years to piece together my health story, but once I did, everything made perfect sense. If I had not made some conscious choices to change my life habits in my early 30’s, I likely would be one of the statistics (one of the “one in two” people in the USA with an active chronic health condition).
I was not a chronically hospitalized kid growing up, but I had my share of chronic issues. I was the kid in the family that the pediatrician saw frequently for fairly severe allergies, bad asthma, and for some odd reason, strep throat regularly. I had a steady diet of (prescription strength) Dimetapp, steroids, and antibiotics in the early ’70’s. When I hit puberty, my cycles… tho regular… were excruciating. It took a few years, but I was finally diagnosed with endometriosis. This was in the early ’80’s, and not many doctors were well studied on this female disorder. I will abbreviate the story here…. 2 surgeries later, and after being told to ‘have children quickly or good luck with that‘….. we found a way to manage the ongoing problem with a prescription. Meanwhile, I still had allergies to many things. Sadly, the things I loved the most were the things I was most allergic to!….. animals and the great outdoors (pollen, grasses, trees, etc)! My allergies were severe enough that they prevented me from entering Vet School (my life long dream). I was crushed, and after some deep thought, switched directions to pursue a pharmacy degree. Many years of college (and working while in college), poor diet, too much coffee and Diet Coke and not enough sleep eventually gave me some fairly significant stomach issues. I graduated in ’91 with my degree and a diagnosis of (ICD-10 code K59.9) ‘functional intestinal disorder, unspecified’ as an added bonus.
Fast forward…. Charlie and I got married in ’92…….. and in 2001, after 4 doctors and many months of seeking answers for my new issue (the incessant need to pee both night and day) … I got diagnosed with interstitial cystitis (a bladder condition that has no cure). Thru trial and error over the next several years ( that’s another post/another day) we found a definitive pattern regarding food triggers. Using diet modifications, I was able to ‘somewhat‘ manage my IC without the VERY EXPENSIVE drugs or the daily self- catheterizations that are common among people with this condition. Thank God! Let me tell you…. there is no incentive like the prospect of daily self-cathing to change your diet!
About the same time my IC was diagnosed, I had a fairly minor fall (tripping over a wheelbarrow) and broke my wrist. I was 33. My orthopedist suggested a bone density scan, and I was subsequently diagnosed with osteopenia. He told me to take more calcium and warned me that I would probably need to be on a medication to prevent further bone loss before I turned 40. It was the same year that Charlie and I both were told that we both had high cholesterol (over 200), and that if we didn’t attempt to lower our cholesterol levels soon we would both need to be on a cholesterol med.
So you see….. I was right on track with the “not so American Dream”…. to be good and unhealthy by the ripe old age of 40. I was set to join the ranks of the 50% who drew the genetic short straw and got to be on the losing team of the “one in two” who have a chronic health condition. Yay me! Not.
And this is where the baby steps of change truly began occurring.
Fast forward to 2017….so how did a sickly, allergic, asthmatic …..who became a young adult with endometriosis and a messed up gut…. who then became an adult with interstitial cystitis, osteopenia, and hypercholesterolemia on top of all the previous ailments (at 33) become a healthy 50 year old? That, my friends, is what comes next….. how I slowly worked my way backwards out of this health hot mess train wreck I was going to be the older I got.
Stay tuned…. You truly ARE what you eat….. and drink…. and expose your body to (or deprive your body of)! In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about some of my lifestyle choices my family and I have made, join me here!
Hugs and Love~ Liz
9 Feb 2017 at 9:47 am
Thanks for sharing this!
In many respects, have gone through a similar journey myself, with Ulcerative Colitis myself. Won’t make an overly long story short, but diet and better choices helped me gain control of my health, and my life. And like you state in your blog, would have become a statistic myself had these changes not been made.
Am really glad you’re sharing this, because many people don’t realize how much positive change can take place in health until they start reading accounts of people who have been through it. It’s refreshing hearing this, and am sure it’ll give others inspirations to perhaps at least research other possibilities and see what’s there.
Great piece!
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9 Feb 2017 at 10:40 am
Thank you for your kind words! And yes, you are absolutely correct. Comebacks can definitely occur from health challenges (just like SuperBowl 2017!) if efforts are made to eliminate those things in life that cause destruction and dysfunction. It’s just one of the many reasons I try to stay as far away from all chemicals as possible, and have chosen to use and embrace Young Living products. It is a passion for me now to help people find ways to avoid chemicals in their lives whenever possible. God Bless!
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10 Feb 2017 at 10:27 pm
It is extremely difficult to avoid chemicals because they are everywhere. Everything contains traces of substances which we would not imagine being there, starting with soap, toothpaste, shower gel, dish soap, laundry soap, cleaning stuff, preservatives and taste enhancers along with all kinds of sweetening ingredients are in foods one would not believe. Living on a farm, one can at least grow clean vegetables, collect herbs and grasses, etc. Grocery stores sell something very doubtful. However, any pill, any vitamin and any supplement is chemical by its nature. Synthetic things do not have the same structure and characteristics that natural substances have. DNA has its own program and the body might not recognize quite a lot of foods with synthetic additions, so, people are mostly not allergic to diary, for example, they are allergic to the artificial form the diary is presented to them. Diary products only look and somewhat taste similarly to real ones, but they are not the milk we were programmed to absorb and use. The same happens to any foods that can be “improved”.
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11 Feb 2017 at 7:17 pm
I agree with you on most of what you say…. however, there ARE companies who produce supplements and holistic options that are chemical free. This is one of the biggest reasons I manage most nearly all of my health and wellness protocols for myself, my family, and my farm with Young Living Oils and Supplements. Concentrated nature… in a tiny bottle. I’ve used them long enough, and have seen the ‘magic’ they are capable of in a myriad of health situations. They are worth their weight… and then some! In a toxic world (as you described), we need to become the gatekeepers for ourselves and our families… and this company is a great place to start…. they provide wellness and health options as well as options for detoxing your home. If you’d like to learn more, please contact me! I’d love to help you navigate what this company has to offer…. God Bless~ http://oilyfarmgirl.com/
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11 Feb 2017 at 5:11 pm
Self-cathing! OMG. But I can understand the need. I’ve only ever had a couple of operations (plastic stapes bone in right ear, tubal ligation and a rectocele repair) and each time I would be so tensed that I would hardly pass any urine during the fasting period. After the last op, I was in so much pain I begged for catheterization when nothing was happening with the bedpan. The nurses were skeptical but eventually they brought me a commode and once I started I couldn’t stop! And they were amazed how much I produced.
I’m 62 this week and take meds for high blood pressure. My last two years of effort has gone out the window. I starting again on my birthday. I’m looking forward to reading more of your blog. Thanks for dropping in on mine. 🙂
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11 Feb 2017 at 6:18 pm
I know, right??? the prospect of daily self-cathing ought to be enough to scare anyone into eating ‘on the straight and narrow’! Blessings to you new friend 🙂
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