My healing journey.

“I had been an RN for 16 years and felt betrayed when the medical community failed me…”

In May of 2012 I had just turned 43 years old and had just celebrated my birthday and my 16th year of a becoming a Registered Nurse. I was just enjoying my life. I was a new grandmother and was enjoying my empty nest with my husband of 6 years. I had wanted to lose a few extra pounds so I was doing the latest fad diet and exercising like a ‘crazy woman’. I have always enjoyed working out and it was literally a part of my daily life. That ‘May’ was a very pivotal month for me. I had finished my daily routine one day and the next day things had changed abruptly…I was short of breath, I was exhausted and my legs felt as if I was wearing ankle weights. Initially, I didn’t get too worried, but after 4 weeks of the same symptoms (plus some new ones like aches and brain fog) I decided it was time to visit a Dr.

Initially, I was diagnosed with constipation and peri-menopause. The Dr. ran some thyroid tests that later revealed a hyper-active thyroid and some nodules. She planned to watch the nodules through ultrasound and blamed my symptoms on the thyroid condition.

I visited two more doctors after that and was left with no ‘real’ answers.

I felt better with essential oils and Chiropractic care for my muscle and joint pain. I always felt as though I had a rib out of place and Upper Cervical Care helped with the instability that my body felt. The essential oils supported all my other symptoms as I felt they were safer than prescription meds.

This merry-go-round went on for about 3 years and my health just continued to decline little by little.

I would be neglectful if I didn’t give a shout-out to my chiropractors and explain the difference in traditional chiropractic methods and the methods used by Dr. Opal and Michael Garman from Tulsa, OK. Traditional chiropractic care is, in my opinion, too aggressive for someone with a damaged neurological system. The thought of someone manipulating my joints and bones made me fearful. Dr. Garman’s approach is called orthospinology. I believe this technique was more effective for me because concentrates on the upper cervical spinal alignment and is extremely gentle, but yet, very effective. Dr. Opal was, and still is, a prayer warrior and prays over my well-being every time she tends to me. After one year in their care, I was feeling more physically stable and my pain was somewhat manageable but my neurological system was becoming more sensitive and my body was still ravaged with inflammation. My lymphatic system was inflamed and tender and it was chronic, it never left. Dr. Opal took notice of my inflamed digestive and lymphatic system and suggested that I make some dietary changes. By this time I was suffering from gastroparesis and it continued to worsen. I wasn’t able to move my bowels at all unless I was performing at-home coffee enemas.

I started reading different books like Makers Diet, Grain Brain, Blood type diet etc. I did candida cleanses, Gut Thrive and even fasted, and just about everything under the sun. I even drank dirt!

Some things worked short-term, but my healing never came.