Hi there,
thank you for clicking in and wanting a read. Today I am sharing about a woman’s journey. She has given me permission to share this but her journey is very similar to a lot of us women. Her healing journey also highlights the work of a practitioner who works not only with ‘hardcore’ science-based nutrition but also with energy medicine using homeopathy. Now this energy medicine could be in the form of acupuncture, massage, yoga, tai chi, …as each one of us is drawn to different modalities of healing but the essence of a woman’s journey is still very similar. Work, overwhelm, motherhood, more overwhelm, more work, more overwhelm and then comes the shutdown or break down.
Shut down or break down can come in various disguises, from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), fibromyalgia, adrenal burnout, hypothyroidism, Grave’s disease, depression, anxiety, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), recurring chest infections, recurring stomach bugs just to name a few…so what is going on? Here is Lizzy’s story…….
Lizzy had been diagnosed with CFS 10.5 years ago. She had been through the standard NHS route since blood tests were all fine there was nothing much that could be done. Generally, if a doctor does not have a diagnosis to work with then one may find themselves at a loss. Lizzy then saw a chiropractor and an acupuncturist to address her low energy and back and shoulder pains. This continued for 2 years, lots of physical manipulations later and needles later she was back at work and also had a 4-year-old to balance her life with. Within 6 months her symptoms came back, if anything more intense.
She was now diagnosed with ‘adrenal fatigue’ and hypothyroidism by her Naturopathic Doctor. She had various medical functional tests done to confirm various ‘diagnoses’ including a ‘leaky gut’, gut ‘dysbiosis’, the presence of Epstein B Virus (EBV) and a positive test for a parasite. She started on an anti-inflammatory diet and a plethora of supplements and some NDT (natural desiccated thyroid) for her thyroid. Her health picked up and she picked up her pace but then she would drop back down again.
What she did not embrace is the healing process, the peaks and troughs of healing. Just because we suddenly have a surge of energy, does not mean we are entitled to run a ‘marathon’ (not in the literal sense) it means the body has the energy to heal, not to give out till BURN-OUT again. Lizzy was being ‘propped’ by her supplements and her regime, she was on tenterhooks, balancing motherhood, career, ‘wifehood’ as well as leading a team that involved nurturing her work colleagues…sound familiar? She was giving out from an empty vessel and no head space to see what was going on. The labels from a naturopathic perspective gave her permission to feel ‘all is under control’ and permission to continue on.
This is very common, “Hey Doc give me a diagnosis, some supplements, and a DIEt, I will follow it to a T so I can keep going full steam and not listen to my body.’ Why do we do this to our bodies? Lizzie continued to ‘push through’ for the next 5 years, she had regular tests, regular naturopathic protocols to follow and spa breaks for self-care as recommended.
It was when she ended up missing deadlines, and not being able to focus at work and started getting chronic UTI (Urinary Tract Infections) infections that she was recommended to see me by one of her new work colleagues. This work colleague had recurring UTIs for 6 years before she came in for an appointment and 3 sessions later she has not had a UTI in over a year which was life-changing for her.
Lizzie’s story is common, so many of us live in overwhelm and when we stop, some can feel like a failure, others say they feel lonely, or anxious, sad, no purpose, some even are unable to or cannot FEEL…we have gotten caught up in constantly DOing that STOPPING TO FEEL is as foreign as FEELING YOUR FEET on the ground (yes, when did you last consciously feel your feet on the ground?)
Lizzie’s story was one of great loss and grief. A grief that she felt was addressed by her psychotherapist. Lizzie had lost her second child to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). She went for therapy for 12 months and it was just before this time she noticed all sorts of symptoms arising but kept busy and DID her therapy sessions.
Now 1 year and 3 months later she is no longer on any NDT or naturopathic protocols, she started that next chapter of healing with a UTI infection. It was her UTI infection that brought her to my practice, not the grief, not the fatigue, not the ‘ADD’ (aka overwhelm) symptoms. Her whole body was in ‘shut down, survival mode’ but she could not hear it. When she came for her few sessions, she spoke about her UTI, leaky gut, adrenal burnout and hypothyroid, these symptoms/diagnoses were her safe place. With our heads, we can create logical stories, stories of adrenal fatigue, stories of candida, stories of viral infections. I am not saying these do not exist but do they exist as we are playing host to these ‘pathologies’ without knowing? Are we willing participants?
We all have our safe places, these safe places could be grief, shame, UTI, chest infections, adrenal burnout, hypothyroidism, which is ALL OK, because without these SYMPTOMS our body would just DIE, homeostasis would not be happening. These are our body’s coping strategies, our compensatory mechanisms…but symptoms do not arise because our BODY IS BORED, they arise because there is a need to listen in and FEEL. Many people will say ‘I don’t know how I feel, or how the UTI makes me feels’ that is OK, as the FEELINGs do come when the body is ready, it can take a few sessions or more. Homeopathic remedies are my tool and nutrition is just the foundation. GENETIC PREDISPOSITIONS (aka miasms) cannot be addressed without homeopathy, so I use homeopathy to reach the parts that nutrition does not. This form of energy medicine is powerful, so powerful that science cannot understand it with the reductionist view of medicine.
It took Lizzie nearly 10 sessions over the 15 months to get to a place of AUTHENTIC VITALITY and to be able to stop and FEEL and respect her body as a temple. It is not like this for everyone, for some it is a one hit wonder…but for most adults it takes time. After the 3rd session, she stopped coming for a while as she felt the ‘FEELINGS’ surface and did not like them. What she did realize was that physically she was feeling better as she was FEELing her feelings. She had not had a UTI since the first session.
Many of us are on this journey, INCLUDING ME. It baffles me when people think ‘I have it all together’, where did we get this belief that some of us are superhumans? Most practitioners who are in the field of MEDICINE THAT HEALS have our own journey and it is not easy, NO ONE IS ALONE.
Lizzie is working full time but with a different ‘energy’ and mindset and continues to be ‘symptom’ free.
To health and vitality
Khush