Chronic Fatigue Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain

In 1998, I had dislocated vertebras in my spinal cord after lifting a heavy box at work. Within months of the trauma I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. I went on disability leave from my work as a C.P.A., and auditor for an International Public Accounting Firm. Within the first year after the injury, my immune system completely crashed. I constantly battled infections and colds. Yeast rampaged throughout my body. Pain and insomnia were constant companions. My digestive tract had shut down.

Having lost the ability to digest foods and medications, I was ingesting only shakes made from medical foods. I bloated up and gained 90 pounds in one year. Often my night sweats were so bad that my husband Pierre would have to wipe me down and change my drenched pajamas and the sheets. My immunologist diagnosed me with a T-cell defect in my immune system, and explained that I was living like someone with advanced AIDS but without the virus. I started gamma globulin treatments. It’s hard to explain, but I felt “death” in my body, and feared that my body would not have the strength to win the battle I was in.

Sometime in 1999 or 2000 Pierre and I were watching the BBC World News, and an update on the Ebola virus that had been killing hundreds in Africa was being reported. I think I paid particular attention to the report because I felt a great deal of personal empathy for the pain that they were going through. I saw the dilapidated hospitals with Ebola victims lying in crude cots. But what struck me as even more unbearable was that because of the fear of death surrounding this virus, family members were seldom present with their loved ones in hospital. And even if someone was near, the Ebola victim could not be touched because of the extremely contagious nature of the virus.

I could not think of a worse way to die – utterly alone, without even the touch of another human being to comfort you. I felt an onslaught of different emotions. Why those people? Why me? I felt fearful, but I did not want to live in fear and helplessness. I thought about people who showed insurmountable strength in the face of difficulty, and I desperately wanted and needed that strength. I believe that the human spirit inherently posses the power to overcome, if only one chooses to draw on it. But how?

I looked down at my loving husband, stroking my feet. Within an instant I felt an immense gratitude for an abundance of things: I had enough economic means to seek professional help, and I was definitely not alone. I believe that the strength of the human spirit is fueled by gratitude. Gratitude gives blossom to hope, and hope fuels the determination to keep on. Although regret is a normal human response after experiencing the losses associated with a chronic illness, I believe it is harmful to stay in this state for any length of time. When one is a victim, one feels powerless to take action. The lesson learned from watching the newsreel on the Ebola virus, and my whole purpose in sharing it with you, deals with a momentous shift in my outlook. Even in the most difficult of circumstances, I learned that the key is to look at life from a place of “abundance.”

I would love to say that after this momentous experience, my health took a miraculous shift for the better and my healing journey began, but it wasn’t quite that way. My recovery story is not one of a radical turn-around with in a short span of time, but rather a slow, continual up-hill journey. After about two years, I no longer needed a wheel chair, but I still needed a cane to get around, and I continued to experience a variety of health challenges.

I tried my best to accept my illness without bitterness or remorse and to remain hopeful and resolved to continue looking for an answer. My husband and I exhausted every avenue that we could think of to help me get better, spending tens of thousands of dollars each year in the process. Some of the alternative therapies helped moderately, but everything fell short of healing my body and giving me my life back.

My journey took me to Hippocrates Wellness in May of 2006 when I enrolled in the 3-week Life Change program. The program definitely lived up to its name as being “life-changing”. The H-Wave therapies helped me to regain some feeling in my lower leg. I opted to take the IV and hyperbaric oxygen treatments, which boosted my body’s ability to begin ridding itself of the systemic yeast. Before my visit to Hippocrates, I had only enough strength to walk around the neighborhood, but I began strength training and heavier cardiovascular exercise. And most importantly, the educational classes and emphasis on live foods helped to encourage me to stay the course.

While I was at Hippocrates I learned about the 9-week Health Educator course, and decided to return to Hippocrates a week after my initial departure. In short, I spent the summer focusing on my continual healing, while at the same time contemplating on who I want to “be” rather than merely what I want to “do” with this next phase in my life. I look at the Health Educator Program as a transfer of knowledge to others, gained from the great minds and even greater hearts of people like Brian Clement and Ann Wigmore, who have given decades of service to the cause. I feel privileged to have been a part of it.

With the education that I have received from both the Life Change and Health Educator programs, I feel I have the tools necessary to not only walk my own path in finding vibrant health, but to help others in the process. I wholeheartedly agree with the late Fred Rodgers who said about this life: “At the center of the universe is a loving heart that wants the best for every person. Anything we can do to help foster the intellect and spirit and emotional growth of our fellow human beings, that is our job. Those of us who have this particular vision must continue against all odds. Life is for service!”

Although I don’t know exactly what my next career step will be, I do believe that my life purpose is for the service of others. Educating others about the human body’s ability to heal from disease through raw and living foods will be a part of that service. For the short-term, my main focus continues to be on my own personal healing and growth. I continue to strengthen my body through raw food and exercise.

My husband and I are wholeheartedly enjoying this new life together. No matter what my day involves, whether it is taking a long overdue vacation on the beach with Pierre, or just being at home growing my sprouts and wheatgrass, I still try to make the daily decision to live life with an abundant outlook, counting my blessings daily.

Vol 27 Issue 1 page 22