You Never Know How It Will Get You…

Stress that is…!  

How it will get you will depend on your parents.  Stress accumulation through a lifetime triggers your weaknesses found in genetic coding.  We all have them…weaknesses…and parents for that matter.  So what do you do when they grab your attention through severe and disabling symptoms?  (Your weaknesses, not your parents)

Respond to them!  Nature provides support for all our genetic weaknesses…if you know how to listen and respond with nature’s medicine!  The following is a perfect example of how stress overwhelm causes DIS-STRESS in the form of symptoms…symptoms affecting your “weakest link” and how you can respond to your Distress signals (symptoms) through natures medicine.  

Rhonda had heart palpitations that were driving her crazy (and scaring the heck out of her)!  Her family history revealed that her parents had heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and mom had 2 strokes.  So surely her stress overwhelm would cause symptoms related to her blood pumper.  

Of course, she went to her doctor and a cardiologist to get checked.  (Natural is the alternative as I often point out!)  The doctors spent six million tax dollars (medicare) on testing to inform her that she is fine.  DR: “Nothing is wrong with you.”  Rhonda:  “But why is this happening?”  DR:  It’s probably stress…would you like to try an antidepressant?”  (The six million was a joke, but this is sadly true).

Step 2:  Consult with the supplement store owner.  Result:  Progesterone cream.  The supplement store owner, in fact, improved Rhonda’s life more than the six million dollar doctors.  She felt better!

But, as is the case when you don’t hit the top priority, it doesn’t fully resolve, and it comes back.  Still, not bad for NO diagnostics (versus the six million)…to hit at least a top five priority and help her feel better! 

The symptoms came back, and felt overwhelming…almost disabling!

When we finally got to serious diagnostics…she had overdosed on progesterone.  That complicated things a bit, but we dug deeper for a priority.  Without any diagnostics other than a pulse oximeter, we found low oxygen, which Is often caused by high adrenaline.  Well, that would cause heart palpitations, but why was her adrenaline pumping out so much?  Gotta keep asking why!!

We put her on the miracles of nature called Skullcap and Gingko.  These plants help your body to decrease adrenaline and histamine (allergies), and improve circulation.  In fact, there is a study published in the National Library of Medicine comparing Skullcap to the top selling OTC drug in the US for allergies…and kicked the drugs butt.  

More tests come back…we find an immune reaction to gluten (wheat).  We provide an enzyme that gobbles up the inflammation associated with Intestinal gluten reactions, along with Vitamin D, which acts much like an adaptogen for the immune system.  That means it helps the immune system respond to whatever stress is occurring.  Like all things, Vitamin D only works when you need it though (she did).

Then we added a Black Radish supplement.  This works to clear the intestines of the effects of an immune battle…pus, dead cells…that sort of gunk.  (Come on…is that not cool to cure a problem with a radish!?)

Next up is a plant called Shepherds purse.  This plant changes the pituitary gland hormones to “request” more progesterone production (no hormones required, plants make it happen!)  And, it will not overdose her…it will produce normal amounts.  

On her last visit, about four months after starting care, she reported just a couple episodes of heart palpitations (no instant cures here, it’s a process of creating balance, but each week and each month will feel better if we are on target, hitting top priorities).  

Unfortunately, there are side effects to natural medicine.  She was diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the left knee about 10 years ago.  This incurable condition often results in knee replacement, and the pain worsens over time.  It had caused her to be verrrry careful…the pain was in fact worsening (those doctors sure are smart)…  The side effect she noticed…. was almost NO pain in that incurable osteoarthritic knee (one short flash of pain since last visit).  

I don’t do genetic testing…in fact, I only test for things that we can change and improve.  To date, I have not found a way to improve your parents, but, I have found ways…natural ways…to support the weaknesses that we all have from imperfect parents that we all have (and are)!  

Case Study: Raven

Raven came in with a number of problems.  The first priority was her thyroid.  She had thyroid problems for 35 years, and her symptoms included hair loss, intestinal bloating, constipation, low body temperature, insomnia, and daily exhaustion.   And this was just her first issue!  You really have to see (or experience it!) this misery first hand to really understand it.  Imagine never being able to sleep for more than a few hours WHILE feeling completely exhausted.  Your body is always cold, nothing you eat digests well and your belly is always bloated from whatever you eat…then your hair starts falling out to top it all off.  Then you go to your doctor for help, and he gives you the magic pill for thyroid problems...you don’t feel any better (in fact, I’ve seen many that it makes worse)…but your doctor is out of options.  There is no other treatment for thyroid problems!  (Until now)

She also had chronic pain for the past 15 years.  This is very common with autoimmune type thyroid conditions, because it is inflammatory, and of course, inflammation amplifies pain.  She had been in a car accident, and now had headaches, neck pain, both arms were numb.  And this wasn’t a sore neck you pop an advil for…advil or not, it was there with her every morning…day after day for 15 years.  

She wasn’t a quitter though…she had been to so many doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, alternative practitioners.  And she was still battling to find that answer when she met me.  The typical physical treatments she had with chiropractors and physical therapists does not combat inflammation, does not get to the source of the problem, and as she relates, sometimes made her pain worse.  

Somehow, she knew there was an answer to be found somewhere out there.  

Just to fill in the whole picture, she also suffered from severe brain fog, weight gain, sensitivity to sunlight, blurry vision, allergies, sharp pains in her hip and knee, and feet pain.  Can you get an idea of the misery her life has been!?!

So what do we do different for someone who has been “everywhere” and tried “everything?” 

Full system analysis.  Nothing can get well if the immune system is off…inflammation trumps everything else.  Start at the top and work down.  If we meet her greatest need, which is what I call the “right diagnosis,”  her health and life will begin to change for the better.  

Everyone she had been to was a specialist of some sort.  Specialist in thyroid, specialist in bones and joints, muscles…none of them evaluated or addressed the immune system.  

The immune system uses oxidation to defend…so oxygen was Raven’s first step.  We used a supplement with Gingko in it, along with Reishi to rebuild the immune system.  We took her off dairy, gluten, and MSG (which is found in sooo many foods).  We used a transdermal glutathione cream to rub right over her thyroid to decrease inflammation and balance her immune system.  We detoxified her lymphatic system with powdered vitamin c, and her liver with a pretty standard liver formula.  We added some B6 to help detox estrogens.  We had her brew up some ginger tea and drink that for a week.  

We reset her muscles and chronic injuries, and used a simple exercise for the discs in her neck. 

We added fish oils at a pretty high dose to work on inflammation.  We added selenium which is critical for thyroid function and immune function.  Then passion flower to slow down her body (a very soothing plant that actually changes adrenaline levels).  Then an adrenal exhaustion formula plus a couple bottles of magnesium to soothe her tight muscles.  

Nothing too earth shattering, is it?  The key is the timing of it all.  First things first, and next things next.  And, every visit we used acupressure to balance her energetic systems.  (Even Mayo Clinic is now using acupuncture and acupressure for pain!)  

The results are fairly earth shattering however.  Her energy is up 75%, and her pain is nearly resolved, the only bad days being when some MSG slips into her diet.  (It’s challenging to avoid as I mentioned!)  Now, when she takes her thyroid medication, she gets a headache…so of course she is listening and dropped it completely.  And that is what I would expect…if you take drugs when you are healthy, it makes you feel bad…and that is what she experienced.  She is sleeping again, which allows her body to heal.  It also means her body is no longer in survival mode…we have met her needs!  

Listen to Raven as she describes the changes she has experienced…!!

The "Ladder of Cause"

“I feel tired all the time…I’m so constipated…my hair is falling out…and I can’t lose this belly!!”

The understanding of why these symptoms exist is often… “I have a thyroid problem.”  I challenge you to wonder why you have a thyroid problem.  Why is the problem there?  This is the “one more question” concept I have written about for years that has allowed me to help people recover from having the problem. 

Let’s take it even further and keep asking why, like the little child who just won’t quit.  You know the one… “why is the sky blue…why does water reflect blue…why do our eyes see blue…why does the retina read it that way…why…why???” 

Rung one:  Why do I have these symptoms?  A: Your thyroid is broken.  They don’t say it quite this way, but that’s the just of it.  Call it hypothyroidism, a thyroid problem…whatever…it means your thyroid is broken.  

Rung two: Why is my thyroid broken?  A: Your body is in stress overload, and when the internal environment detects stress that is overwhelming and not being addressed, it slows down.  You are experiencing the slow down of thyroid function as a survival mechanism to deal with your stress.

Rung three: Why am I in stress overload?   We all have an individual stress threshold, which I call our “stress bucket.”  When this bucket is full, the body slows you down and gives you a smaller bucket…to protect your heart and brain.  (Most people know exactly what I mean…decreasing stress capacity… declining ability to handle life…that’s the overflowing and shrinking bucket)  What fills the bucket of course, are life’s little (and big) stressors, but oh, so much more.  This bucket is also filled by inflammation, blood sugar ups and downs, circulation and oxygen delivery problems, infections, food allergens, chemical sensitivities, and toxicity.  Plus, when you are stressed, your body gets more effective at producing stress hormones, so eventually, a little stress results in a BIG effect.  AND…stress causes inflammation… and… inflammation causes stress.  So, eventually, the negative process going on inside your body is “feeding” itself!  Sounds hopeless, but with a little understanding of how it works, we can step in and pull the “right” domino and stop the whole process! 

Rung four:  Why am I inflamed, oxygen deprived, or up and down with my blood sugar (or all three)?  There is always a first domino…sometimes it is life challenges, sometimes it is immune challenges, and sometimes it is lifestyle.  Life shows up inside us as cortisol and adrenaline, our “stress” hormones.  Immune challenges show up as a vast array of inflammation chemicals that I won’t even begin to bore you with specific names (although I do in other articles).  Lifestyle shows up as blood sugar and insulin problems, from eating the “wrong” foods too often, too much, and for too long.  (We all know “enough” about right and wrong foods to know if this is our first domino…sugar, white flour, processed fats, chemical laden foods…not natural foods.)

Rung five:  Why did I get stuck in such a harmful stress, inflammation, or insulin pattern?  We are all symptom suppressors.  It is taught to us as kids.  Our mainstream health care system practices symptom suppression medicine.  Our culture teaches us to work through the pain, and that suffering is virtuous.  Not absolutely…not in every family…but generally.  And if you have the above symptoms, or others, you most likely (in fact, I’ll take a big fat bet on it) approached your life and health this way.  You are probably much more aware now, probably eating healthy foods most or all of the time.  You did listen, and you did learn…but you have this stress/inflammation/insulin process feeding off itself inside you, and more than likely (another big fat bet), you have one or more organs that are completely exhausted and need reviving.  The kind of reviving that only targeted natural medicines can achieve.  

Rung six…seven…eight.  We could go further…Why is our culture and environment like that?  Why don’t we listen to our symptoms and try to nurture them?  What life patterns drain my reserves?  Why…Why?  

We have gone far enough (down the rabbit hole as they say in quantum physics) to attend to your specific needs.  AND…right now is NOT the time to concern yourself with culture issues or any issues outside yourself.  It is time to focus entirely (or much more so) on you…so that one day you can give that energy to your favorite and most passionate cause.  (Exciting thought isn’t it!)

How far do you want to go down the rabbit hole?!?  Your future depends on your willingness to dig and learn…and respond! 

I'll Give You Something to Cry About!!

This classic parenting comment is called invalidation.  “Your sadness or upset is not appropriate,” it says to the little one.  Meanwhile, the child feels certain their upset is very real, and very important!  

What does this have to do with you and your health?  I see it every day.  Grown adults being told their symptoms are not real...that there is “nothing wrong.”  

Your doctor is “Dad.”  You are the child…Dad reports that your upsets (symptoms) are not valid.  “Look at this test… I can prove your symptoms are not real.  You are supposed to be feeling just fine.”  

It has the same authoritarian feel too!  Does it feel like two adults talking about solving a problem?  No!  There is one “superior being” invalidating another person’s experience.  Meanwhile, you are certain your symptoms are very real, and very important!  

Here’s the good news…you are an adult.  You can choose a different “Dad.”  Maybe you choose someone who is not a dad at all, but an equal human who will get involved in solving a problem with you and for you. 

Not to make light of the pain of your experience, but I find it hilarious that people come to me after “experts” find nothing wrong with them…and I easily find sooo many things wrong with them.  So many things that are easily measured and evaluated.  But not measured if you are evaluating “by the book.”  (What insurance protocols allow)  

Maybe ridiculous is a better word than hilarious!  

How about an actual example…I had a patient recently suffering with IBS symptoms, chronic headaches, and severe fatigue.  Full medical work up (15 years worth!) revealed nothing wrong.  Let’s look at the list of measurable and verifiable “wrongs” we came up with…

Thyroid problems…they never checked because she was an “IBS” patient and not a thyroid patient.  And it was the basic thyroid problem that they would have picked up on, but GI specialists don’t check for endocrine problems.  It would take another 3 month wait to another specialist to check that box on a lab test.  

Intestinal parasites.  Yes, the GI specialist missed checking for intestinal parasites in a GI patient.  Hmmm?

Very low cortisol production from the adrenal glands.  Cortisol is one of the stress hormones, but it functions in healthy people to balance blood sugar (chronic fatigue and headaches??), and has a powerful effect on regulating Intestinal motility (yes, that’s moving the bowels).  

High adrenaline.  Think about the adrenaline rush of a close call or “almost” accident.  If you had to go to the bathroom prior to the close call, it either goes away altogether (constipation) or you soil yourself right there in the car (urgency).  That is IBS by definition!!  

Those were the biggies.  And there were several more imbalances we noted.  I got a kick out of her reaction to the parasites…she was relieved, almost excited, almost happy!!  Was she thrilled to have a parasite?  No…she was thrilled to finally, after 15 years (next stop was the psychiatrist…seriously), BE VALIDATED!  It was real…it was important.  She could PROVE it!  

If you have a symptom…and I mean ONE little symptom…that is your body trying to tell you something…something important!  DO NOT let anybody tell you it is nonsense.  If someone tells you there is nothing wrong, and you CLEARLY feel something wrong…there IS something wrong, and you need someone who will listen to that message(symptom)…listen to you…be willing to dig deeper and ask MORE questions and test MORE systems and organs!

IF you ever want to feel validated!  And…if you ever want to put this health problem behind you!