My Story Continued…

From early on in my pregnancy with my son to his delivery, his life was hanging on the edge.  And then the day he was born he almost died again when he had an anaphylactic allergic response and stopped breathing.  He was in the NICU and by the time he came home, we could tell something was off with his body.  He was in the twilight zone, always zoned out, extremely overtired and did not experience restorative sleep.  This went on for years.  As a toddler we would take him to the park and he was so tired he would lay down on the concrete instead of playing on the equipment because he was too tired to play.  We were told that he was likely having seizures with all the blank stares and special testing and medication was recommended.  He had hives all over his body every single day that multiple doctors incorrectly told us was heat rash.  When it came time to eat solid food, he would never open his mouth.  He never wanted to eat, ever.  We had to distract him with a rotating bin of toys and sneak a spoonful of pureed food in his mouth.  This went on for years, a 2 ½ year old that never had a desire to eat and had to be force-fed.  One parent would distract, the other would sneak the spoon in.  Never did he pick up finger foods or eat the birthday cake we made for him.  He had zero appetite and was diagnosed with failure to thrive early on in the first year of life.  He couldn’t gain weight and feedings would take 1-2 hours.  We later learned that he had pancreatic insufficiency and impaired digestion – his body intuitively knew that eating made him feel bad.  Most every food he ate caused some type of allergic reaction or rash.  His stools were foul smelling with either diarrhea or constipation.  He had parasites, massive yeast overgrowth and gut dysbiosis with an overgrowth of undesirable bacteria.  There was a very very long list of foods he couldn’t eat – he had many anaphylactic food allergies, many T-cell mediated food allergies, many IgG food sensitivities, a gluten intolerance and problems with foods that were high in salicylates.  He had over 75+ foods he couldn’t eat.  It wasn’t long before he developed environmental allergies and viral-induced asthma.  There were many nights spent in the hospital, urgent care, and in ambulances when his asthma would massively flare-up.  That was in addition to the emergency room visits for his anaphylactic allergic reactions from food allergies.  He also was diagnosed with ADHD, sensory processing disorder, growth hormone deficiency and behavior problems were a daily occurrence.  We were already full to the brim with navigating life with all these health issues when he suffered a very severe concussion.  He spiraled in many ways following the head trauma – he suffered significantly for 2 ½ years, requiring daily brain therapy exercises and we spent over $100,000 recovering his life.  He developed speech impairments and had trouble remembering many words and doing basic math computations.  Sleep got even worse with trouble falling asleep, staying asleep and waking up early.  Headaches, ringing in his head, the vibration in his head from riding in the car was so bothersome that he couldn’t ride in the car.  Emotional regulation was lost, he would cry all the time over nothing.  He lost his balance and coordination and could no longer pull his legs together and swing on a swing. 

It wasn’t long before we realized that conventional medicine had little to offer our son with the array of health challenges he had.  We felt alone and our lives were completely dominated by our son’s health conditions.  We prayed for God to give us answers, a path for healing, and people along the way to help us.  He did, but it has been a long and hard path.  Nutrition, natural health, and holistic modalities held the answers for my son’s healing.  One of the interventions we did was the GAPS diet for a year and half and it was profound for restoring his energy, lifting anxiety, balancing his gut flora, healing his leaky gut and eliminating so many of his food allergies and food sensitivities.  That is when I learned the profound healing and nourishing power of real, nutrient dense food.  Not only did this intense therapeutic diet bring healing to my son, it permanently changed the way our family ate.  We became convinced of the nourishing value of a whole food, nutrient-dense and properly prepared diet.  We have done many more interventions in addition to diet and each one has played an important role in his healing.  Just to name a few…nutritional supplements, polycromatic light therapy, homeopathy, Brain Highways, Brain Balance, frequency specific microcurrent, multiple detoxification methods, neurofeedback, osteopathic manual manipulation/cranial sacral therapy, and more. 

For the rest of us in my family, we all benefited from the knowledge I learned in the realm of nutrition and natural health. 

As an infant and toddler, my daughter had serious gut problems with acid reflux, candida overgrowth, bacterial overgrowth, foul smelling stools, poor growth, sleep problems, gluten intolerance, and mood issues.  She simply didn’t like people and would hide in the corner at preschool.  As her body was balanced through gut work (supporting digestion and rebalancing gut flora) and supplementation with specific methylated B vitamins, she became a different child.  Chatty, social, engaged, healthy stools and restored sleep. 

For me personally, I hit a huge low after having mercury amalgam fillings improperly removed.  I had no energy, slept all the time, was plunged into adrenal fatigue and major hypothyroidism.  All of that has resolved for me with specific nutrition and natural health strategies. 

For my husband, life has been challenging for him with ADHD, mood issues and addictive behaviors.  He also suffered from lifelong allergic asthma, sinus pressure headaches, environmental allergies and poor quality sleep.  Each of those conditions no longer plague him and control his life.  Many say these are conditions with no cure.  I say that they don’t know the healing power of the body.   

Why do I share my family’s personal health struggles?  So that you can understand that I have been down this road of pursuing health and healing.  I know it is hard and can be defeating at times.  I also know that experiencing the benefits off achieving health and healing make the time, work and financial investment worth it.  And for the record, I have yet to meet a more complex and challenging client than my own son!  Now that I have shared my story with you, reach out and share your story with me.  You are just a step away from starting the process of experiencing what true health has to offer!