let me preface this all by saying that i have a passion for health. i put a lot of effort into feeding my family well, i've been coined the 'sleep nazi', we're very active, with a (fabulous) chiropractor for a husband, health is always on the forefront of my mind. (although i have to say that i have a tendency to become a bit hypocritical as i ensure my girls are doing these things, while i will often sneak chocolate on the side and stay up really late.) we avoid processed items and chemicals as much as possible (we do our best, but don't beat ourselves up.) we are spiritually minded and believe that it's better to find and solve problems with our bodies rather than band-aid-ing issues.
so, here goes.
i grew up with digestive issues. i didn't really know that i had them - it wasn't until i learned how my body was *supposed* to process things that i realized my health could have been better.
i had horrific headaches when i was a teenager. really, really horrible. i have since figured out that it was due to hormonal imbalances. when my hormones are in check, i have no headaches. when they're wonky (i finally figured this out during my fourth pregnancy), they're blinding!
by the time i was in college, my shoulders were *always* sore. i thought that it had something to do with my monstrous backpack that i lugged around, (and it really had to have *something* to do with that!) but i later realized it was more than that. . .
i felt like i was healthy when i got married. i think that we all think that we're relatively healthy, right? everyone gets sick sometimes, or is often exhausted, etc. i had an early miscarriage only a few months after we got married, and then went on bed rest during the second trimester of my next pregnancy due to preterm labor. i didn't attribute any of this with my own health, just circumstances. but, after i weaned my firstborn, i got really sick. i began losing weight quickly, even though i had a voracious appetite. (so much so that i began to make sandwiches to put by my bedside b/c i would wake up in the middle of the night, starving.) my stomach hurt all of the time - like it was turning inside out. after lots of testing (along with finding out i was pregnant with my second child) i was sent to a specialist to rule out crohn's, celiac, and ibs. i was told i was borderline celiac. i changed my diet as much as i could (at this time i already began experiencing complications with my 12 week pregnancy.)
it was about this time that i first saw someone who did energy work. this could be very long (although completely interesting), and i don't want this to be the focus, so suffice it to say that she found that i was overrun with candida and i saw fast and furious results after seeing her. i felt so much better the remainder of my pregnancy (a very complicated and traumatic one - although she's a healthy and wonderful 10 year old now!). after she was born, my shoulders once again bothered me noticeably. it intensified over the years and i was finally diagnosed with t.o.s. about 4 years later. i found relief with nightly adjustments from milo, but i still could only fall asleep with an ice pack, and often the pain would wake me up. during the day, i'd grin and bear it!
after weaning my fourth child, my hormones went crazy. i gained nearly 20 pounds and developed acne seemingly overnight. (pretty, right???) i tried everything i could think to try to rid myself of the acne - diet, creams, potions, cleanses, supplements, energy work, even sleeping with a concoction of honey and cinnamon each night! (and that's not the craziest thing i tried, either!) everything worked for a while, but nothing took it away. (enter the lemonade diet below.) and it always came back as bad, or worse.
life went on, but my quest has been never ending. i finally was 'set straight' last year and i don't actually have acne - it's rosacea. no wonder my 'acne cures' didn't work - and much harder to get rid of.
last year, amongst more stress than usual, i also found myself depleted in many ways. my adrenals were 'shot', my thyroid coined 'hyper', and illnesses on top of each other. i had no energy and felt horrible. i got my first ever urine infection - which turned into a kidney infection - which turned into kidney infection-induced-stones. fabulous fun. more pain than i thought possible, really.
and then there's been. . . my teeth. ah - where to begin!! i have wickedly bad teeth. without having insurance, problems went neglected way too long. by the time i finally couldn't stand it any longer (about 5 years of not being able to chew on one side of my mouth), i finally 'shopped around' and found that i had so much work that needed to be done. 8 root canals, 8 caps (if a few of them could even be saved.) several cavities, bite issues, etc. . . we began the work 2.5 years ago. he started on the 'not as painful' side b/c he said the problems there were actually worse. so, when things went really bad, (including an excruciating surgery where the specialist had to lift away my gums and drill into the jaw bone) it left me without a 'side' to chew on. i got a bone infection after the surgery, which hasn't responded to any treatment and has been very painful. it also ate up all of the money we could come up with for my teeth, so the rest of my mouth has been left untouched - getting worse, of course. so, for the last 2.5 years, i've been using my 8 front teeth to eat. (i use my tongue to thrust and mush a lot!)
this is where i was when my friend introduced me to Reliv. so, once again, i begin another journey in hopes of finding relief to my shoulder pain, mouth issues, awful face and energy.
