My New Reliv Discoveries

vivien - since the beginning of the school year - has been having a hard time focusing on her work. she's good in class, but she almost never finishes her tasks. renee (her kindergarten teacher) has talked to her tons about it, as have we. renee began writing the minutes it took vivie to complete her work (as far as she got, anyway) on her papers and send them home. it was always right, meticulously neat, but just not all finished. *anyway*. 2 fridays ago, renee called me to tell me that vivien had been finishing her work during the given time for the past few days. . . and then she called me LAST friday to tell me that she's now one of the first to finish her work - and it's still very neat and correct. renee asked me what we were doing differently b/c she could see a big difference in vivs. *WOW*!!!! honestly, there's so much going on at home, that i hadn't up until then noticed that she really was doing better there, too - better bedtimes, better listening, less defiance and whatever. and the ONLY thing different is her taking a shake a day! annette kept telling me how it does wonders for mental clarity and focusing - how there are studies about how much it helps people with add/adhd - and while vivs wasn't that severe, it's really showing that she's improving! and then ella - she's pooping every day!!! i know that sounds ridiculous - but this is a *miracle*. she's used to taking all of these vitamin pills to help her be regular - and she still wasn't. sugar would also make that worse for her - and i've been SO lenient about the sugar lately. . . she even was taking prescription diuretics for a while, for pete's sake. she has never - since she was about 3 years old - had a bowel movement *every day* that wasn't painful or forced (me sitting her there with her ds or a book and telling her she can't get off until she goes.) she's going BY HERSELF, EVERY SINGLE DAY. and she told me yesterday that it doesn't hurt anymore. bowel movements have hurt her since she could talk!!!! again - we're not doing anything different with her except for one shake a day!!! as for madison and lillian - i haven't seen anything that's caught my attention yet as a result, but i'm more excited now about it, and definitely continuing on - hopefully i'll start to see my face improve at some point!

We've got a WINNER!

my face is not good right now. i told annette that and she said 'that's great!! isn't that what my friend told you? that it has to get worse before it gets better!'. hmmmm. how i hope that's true. i am seeing a few things that i'm thinking are attributed to the reliv. i'm sleeping *great*. like, really good. even on days that i'm afraid i'm not going to fall asleep for whatever reason, it still only takes me a short while. and more often than not, i fall asleep within minutes. MINUTES. that's completely unheard of for me. i don't even take a book to bed with me anymore. that's hardly happened in **years**. i'm waking up a little easier, too. not much, sadly, but i stay awake after my alarm and just lie there, instead of fully falling asleep between the alarm and 'snooze'. . . something else - while my mouth is still swollen, and actually, my teeth on my right side have really been bothering me, i've been able to eat salad *EVERY DAY* for almost a week. this is another thing that's huge, as salad is one of the hardest things for me to eat - if my teeth touch all the way while chewing, i'd be in so much pain, since lettuce is so thin that i'd inadvertently bite all the way down. . . i often try a salad, only to give it to milo b/c i just can't stand the pain. every *single* time we ate this weekend, i got a salad. and enjoyed every single one of them until they were gone. *SIGH*. lovely. last thing - i'm pretty much over my middle of the day-wish i could take a nap- thing. (however, by 7:30, i'm done!!!) normally, when it's time to get the girls from school, i'm exhausted, so this is definitely an improvement - i'm sure due at least in part by my sleeping better! but my face, not good. and my weight - sucky!! i'll be asking annette tomorrow if i could be gaining weight from reliv since i'm taking so much of it every day. if that's the case - that's stinky!!

I want results faster!!!

i told annette yesterday that i'd promised myself to do all i could with reliv until the end of march, but that i was disappointed that i hadn't seen enough results for me to be convinced it was helping. she is encouraging me to start my 3 full months from when i started taking the 4 shakes a day instead of the original 1. . . so that would put me into the beg. of may. part of me feels like i don't want to give up on something just before it works - like if i could just see the big picture and how crazy would it be to stop taking something that in just one more week it would have broken into whatever barrier my body's got going on, you know???? anyway - at this point i'm going to the end of march, but i think i see the reasoning of going longer. . . she's forwarded me a couple of emails about people that it took a long time to get results - here's one, just so that you know what i'm talking about:

Hilary, here is one message that was sent to me. Do not give up!!!! I got home way too late to get you on a 3 way call and am running to my meeting. Talk to you tomorrow

Lots of love,

Annette

Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 10:40 AM

Subject: [SPAM] [RelivDistributors] Long time results

Yes,Yes sometimes it does take a long time to see results. You have to be patient, perservere and be commited to becoming better health wise. I suffered from debitating MS [multiple sclerosis] and my quality of life was not worth a plug nickle. I started taking the basic 3 as directed on the cans for the first week then felt strongly that I needed more so gradually over the next week I increased it to 6 double shakes a day, one every 2 1/2 hours plus plenty of water. Nothing and I mean, NOTHING happened, in fact I got worse. It took 3 months and 1 week before I made a break through. And then over the next 6 weeks absolute miracles happened. I have had NO symptoms of MS. 6 1/2 years and counting. My complete story can be heard on recorded calls 24/7
1712-775-7299 pin 319321# [2nd story]`
and on 1218-339-4699 pin 103465# Encourage your people with everthing your have got to keep taking the product...some will take longer but it is sooooooo worth it. I HAVE A LIFE TODAY BECAUSE OF RELIV. Judy

Clear face

Annette sent me a before and after picture of her friend who had severe rosacea. She looks AMAZING. She suggests drinking tons and tons of Innergize. It took her 6 months to get clear skin by doing this. I'll do it! Crossing my fingers.

Persevering. . .

this reliv thing is getting me down a bit. . . annette just keeps on me about all these people it's helped, including me in on calls so that i can personally hear people's stories - but while i'm experiencing a lot of 'detox' symptoms, i'm not really feeling any progress. . . just don't know. still taking it.

Introducing Reliv

I've been on Reliv for about 2 weeks now. I'm taking 2 "shakes" a day. In the shakes, I take one scoop of Classic and a half scoop of Innergize.

I'm noticing some 'detoxing' - mild upset stomach, headaches. I'm told that by now I should be noticing extra energy, but I don't think I am. Annette is getting me on "calls" - 3 way calls with people who have had great success with Reliv. They're pretty interesting to hear - I sure hope that they aren't exaggerating, but it's a little difficult hearing these great stories when I'm not noticing any difference at all. I've committed myself to 3 months of this, so that's what I'll do. . . I have hope. . .

a hefty history

in the years since i last posted, i've continued to explore all sorts of products, systems, avoiding foods, etc, in my quest to be pain free and look my best. let me give you a brief (and somewhat personal) rundown of my history. (sharing this is harder than i expected it to be!!)

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.