Wisdom of Healing

My serious health issues, beginning in early childhood, led me to a lifetime of learning about what is truly natural, healthful, beneficial and free from side effects. Although it has often felt like an arduous road, I am ever grateful for my good health today and for the lessons I’ve learned, the journey I’ve traveled and the ability to pass this message I’ve been gifted with along to others.

I first began to realize that I had more pain than most children when I was turning six and had just begun first grade. My teacher, Mrs. Weeks, a beautiful woman who became my friend for several years, noticed that I gripped my pencil extraordinarily tightly, and that I complained that my knees were in pain much of the time. My knee pain became worse just before a storm or if I’d sat for an extended period, just as many elders experience.

I had other chronic aches and pains throughout those early years that seemed worse than other kids my age experienced. Mrs. Weeks and my Great Aunt Merle both wondered if I had Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, a condition that was not yet recognized by the mainstream medical doctors. A couple years later, Aunt Merle took me to one of her alternative practitioners who confirmed their suspicions.

Whenever I complained at home, my mother told me that it was all in my head, or maybe I had growing pains and to forget about it. My doctor suggested that I take baby aspirin as desired. It didn’t seem to help much. He told my parents that there was nothing wrong with me. I still had pain, but they told me to just go play and get over it.

Over the next few years, I began to develop more auto-immune conditions. At seven and a half, I realized that synthetic fibers, including acrylic stuffed animals, made me itch and gave me the feeling of ‘fingernails on the chalkboard’ all the way to my bones. My skin got red and blotchy. I started to feel sensitive to the smell of laundry detergents, dry cleaning and dozens of cleaning products and chemical smells constantly being generated in our home, school and throughout our lives. As time passed, I was beginning to react to dozens of things that we now know have an off-gas effect and that many very sensitive people react to. Today, this condition is referred to as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS).

I could taste those things that affected me negatively on the roof of my mouth. It felt as if I had a coating of something metallic there, and it didn’t go away easily. I also felt that the chemicals that I was sensitive to ‘pushed out my skin’ and left my skin with a dry, crusty feel and appearance. My exposure to these chemicals often gave me a light-headed feeling which began by eight years old or so to develop into chronic headaches.

By about twelve or thirteen years old, I was getting migraines, sometimes as often as two or three a week. My doctor again told us that there was nothing wrong with me, and that I was likely just complaining to get attention. To me, he suggested that I just take more aspirin, suggesting that I double or triple the dose on the label. I now understand how dangerous this recommendation could have been for me, and how it likely led to a worsening of my auto-immune issues.

I began to explore herbalism, whole foods and detoxification in my early teenage years, quite by accident. As I followed the advice of those who tried to help me, I found that my body even reacted negatively to many of the products labeled ‘natural’, leading me to further exploration. I learned that many products and most supplements found in the natural products industry are not truly ‘natural’ at all. Herbs and whole foods seemed to provide me with the greatest improvement.

I drank lots of herbal teas, moved toward more whole foods and took up the daily practice of yoga. My health continued to improve with these advances in my lifestyle. But it was still only symptomatic relief and I wanted to heal myself completely, so I searched on and explored more deeply. Stay tuned as I share with you those therapies that I found helped me to heal myself long-term, bringing me to true health, being virtually free of the decades of chronic pain I had experienced.

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