Echota is crafty, geeky, a right good cook, Earth Mother, unschooler, cat and pug Mama, knitter, artist, researcher, pursuer of personal growth and natural living. Healing from chronic illnesses including EDS, Mast Cell Activation Disorder, POTS, migraines, fibromyalgia, SEID, and more using the Medical Medium protocols. Former spoonie. Former full-time RV family. Former beekeeper and chicken keeper.
Lots of detox, lots of sleep disruption, lots of emotional detox. A bit of adrenal fatigue. I started doing the Pocket Gym last week, which was so exciting! Still not enough energy to do it daily, but doing it at all is a huge #victorycheck because I couldn't do movement really at all before.
More of my weekly update in the video. Lots of resting this week! Sometimes you have to just rest and allow the resting to happen.
A beautiful thing happened the other day. A beautiful thing disguised in an unpleasant, uncomfortable thing. A thing that at first felt like dread and panic, and a rush of heat in a column in my body. Usually that thing turns itself into action - action that will vindicate the feeling but later leave me wrecked and full of regret and pain. Then a crash both physical and mental where I lose myself for however long to its effects.
But this time, no ill effects, no crash afterwards, and no pain caused for myself or others - at least nothing permanent and that couldn't be healed quickly. I was able to think enough to tell myself to step back and breathe, and I was able to recover from the adrenaline rush by dissipating it altogether. I didn't fall inti its trap. I wasn't held hostage by it while it wreaked its havoc on me and whomever was in my path at the time.
I breathed it away. I apologized for letting it get out even a sentence. I healed myself and my relationship before anything happened. For the first time in years, I was able to be in control, it didn't have me. And I owe it all to my healing. To the emotional tools and the support of the healing foods and supplements I eat daily. I am healing my life in ways I never thought possible. I am so grateful for this opportunity to grow and heal this thing that has had a hold on me for so so long. A million thank you's to Anthony William the Medical Medium and ALL of his books, blog posts, radio shows, love, healing energy, and dedication to all of us for our continued healing.
I've written about this before, how celery has saved me from migraines. Today I talk a little more about celery and other things I do when migraines threaten.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to support your adrenals while healing. I am only recently getting the depth of the importance of this, because our adrenals are everything. If our adrenals are stressed, we cannot heal properly. If we are not supporting them properly by eating a balance of potassium, sodium and natural sugar (from fruit), eaten every 60-90 minutes, they will have to work extra hard, secreting adrenaline into our bodies to keep us going. More adrenaline into the body means more food for the viruses that keep us chronically ill.
The world we live in puts undue stress onto our bodies constantly, so it is even that much more important to keep our adrenals supported. This means keeping out the foods not to eat: gluten, dairy, eggs (even free range, even duck. Yes, ALL eggs, even quail), soy, canola, corn, MSG in ALL of its forms, pork, farmed fish, artificial sweeteners (including table sugar) - for these foods feed those viruses. And supporting our adrenals with healing foods, eating adrenal snacks often - every 60-90 minutes for optimal healing.
Also to head off migraines, keeping hydrated is so so important! Every day I make sure and drink either aloe, ginger, lemon and raw honey water or coconut water and my smoothies, teas with raw honey, celery juice and lemon water. Gotta keep hydrated!
So to recap: keep the NO foods out, adrenal support is KEY, and hydration is super important. Migraines, you are not welcome here!
The other day I had such an amazing #victorycheck that I was buzzing from the high of it the whole day! Another level of healing reached, folks, it just keeps getting better!
When I go out into the world, I still go out as a chronically ill human to a degree - I always have another adult with me just in case, I usually have anxiety about going to new places - even with my family. It's just a part of having lived a life with chronic illness for so many years - even though I am healing, everything is still all in baby steps.
I'm still at home most of the time, because healing is my full time job - I need to be at home to prepare food, to make sure things happen in their regular routine, to make sure I listen to and care for my body properly, to get enough rest. It's not that I NEVER go out, it's just that going out generally takes a deal of preparation beforehand, I don't generally "just go out really quickly" and definitely not spontaneously. At the very least a cooler needs to be filled with fruit and drinks need to be on hand for hydration for anywhere longer than an hour outside of my home.
And that works for me right now, it's a good thing. I'm happy with that and I feel good about how things work.
My husband does a lot of the grocery shopping and errand running, because he is much more used to being in the world and gets less exhausted by it - and most of the places we get food are also really conveniently located close to where my husband works, so it's easy for him to just run out at lunch or after work on the way home.
But the other day my son pre-ordered a video game he was super excited to get, and they are almost always released on a Friday. My son of course wants to go pick up said game as soon as the store opens, which is 10 AM - while my husband is at work.
So it was up to me, and I felt like I could do it. We drove the half hour to Best Buy, just my son and myself (we since learned there's a closer one but no big deal, we'll know for next time). In the past, electronics stores have just been a big no for me - I couldn't even enter them with a mask on from all of the plastics, EMFs and radiation happening in there - there are certain electronics stores I couldn't even be in the parking lot of, my body would receive so much damage from being near them (Fry's).
But I've been healing. I've been filling my body with healing foods almost exclusively. I've been doing so much work, and I've been feeling so much better. And that day I felt like I could do it. It bears mentioning that it's been months since I've worn my Vogmask anywhere, to the point where I've at times even left my purse at home - my purse that contains the masks and my EpiPen most importantly. Because I haven't needed them, I haven't needed my mask to enter a building in months! Even Target, which tends to be really difficult for me. Even Costco, with all of the tires and electronics....no mask. AH-MAY-ZING! I'm thinking I'll just go into this Best Buy, we'll get the game at the front of the store where you pick up orders, and we'll go - no lingering, I ought to be able to handle that. And we DID go in and pick up the game - and I'll say it was surprising just HOW good I felt - like I was in SUCH a great space! I was chatting with the employees who checked me out - they were so friendly too - and I felt ZERO anxiety. Double take on that one, because it's unheard of for me - NO anxiety whatsoever.
!!!!!
And THEN I needed to use the restroom (I drink SO many juices and smoothies and teas! LOL), which as it turns out was at the very back of the store. Okay, I'll just bolt through, I mean as much as I can bolt - which means walk fast really. But I didn't need to. I was noticing that I wasn't feeling affected like I have in the past - I was still fine. And when I came out of the restroom, we actually even browsed a little bit and found a plush my son had been wanting, so we got that, too.
And when I left that store, I was feeling great about the whole experience, because I'm so very aware of what I had just accomplished there. Again, before the Medical Medium protocols, before the healing plants, there was just no way I could have even left the house, let alone do all that I just did, with no other adults.
And then we were going to hit a second store, which I quickly realized was in the mall, and we decided to find another location for that one....but in the meanwhile I spotted a thrift store and I just decided to take a look. I've been looking for a couple of items that I knew I could find in the right thrift store, and this was one we hadn't yet tried. And I was feeling SO good...
So I did it. And not only was I able to go in and be inside that thrift store, but I was able to browse, and find not only the items I was looking for, but a couple of cool scores for my kiddo as well (who was out in the car playing his new game). I even bought the first items and came out, got him from the car and convinced him to go back in with me to see if he wanted the things I'd found. So I went in TWICE and stayed long enough to browse through the store. And no brain fog, no migraine, no headache at all, no feeling sick or losing my ability to breathe. None of the things that would have happened before.
My body is healing! Another layer of achievement unlocked! I can thrift again! I'm gonna pop some tags...woot!
I was on cloud nine after that, for the rest of the day. I did that! Me! That was so huge! I was so proud of myself! No anxiety! No other symptoms! No crash the next day! No crash even when we got home! Each time I try a new thing that I'd lost, I'm able to do it! And I seem to intuitively know when I can, too. So I'm regaining trust - with myself and the world. That's gigantic. That's miraculous.
I wish I could thank every employee I interacted with at both Best Buy and Savers, because they were all so incredibly friendly and helpful. I know they probably have no idea how much that means, and how much of a positive impact they had on me that day, how much they helped me reintegrate into the world again, and take those steps. I wish I could tell them how important it was. They were like angels helping to make my way back into the world and make it as easy and pleasant as possible.
Well, I'm telling YOU, whomever is reading this. The fact that they were friendly and kind and chatty with me, that was huge. It helped me so much. And maybe it was also because I was in such a good space that day, it just felt like the stars aligned for me, to make everything work. Knowing that I could do that makes me know I can do other things too. It's so wonderful to see this healing in action!
Sometimes I still cannot believe my life. I'm still blown away that I am healing a whole page of diagnoses that the medical community - allopathic and alternative - had no idea how to help. I'm still amazed and awed that I can do these things again, at how much health is returning. I'm so so grateful for all of it. To myself for listening to that voice telling me to do this. To Anthony William, the Medical Medium, for literally sacrificing any semblance of a normal life to take on this gift for US, to get the information out there that WE CAN HEAL. For my finding and being able to read his book despite all of the brain fog at that time. For the whole community of people who are also healing this way, and for the social media that connects us. I have never found a more supportive or helpful community of humans in my life - all connected by one thing - healing chronic illness.
Sometimes life really is good, and I'm so happy that I still have the ability to see that.
Well, my adrenal experiment went awry, not because what was happening was bad, but because life happens, and life has been particularly challenging lately in external circumstances. And I just haven't been able to pay attention to keeping track of feeding my adrenals. Sorry, adrenals, I'll keep doing my best! In no particular order... We find ourselves dealing with some logistical challenges to being able to live in this new area, which has been very stressful for us. Some things we thought would be improvements turned themselves into impediments...and it's getting tricky.
We found out that some friends back in the midwest were in a house fire and the wife was badly burned - 3rd degree over 70% of her body. Her condition is critical and their family is in my heart, prayers and thoughts constantly.
There was a day we went out for the day and I'd packed a cooler full of snacks to sustain us and my husband left it at home, and that same day there was an indicent with my trying to be in the grocery store by myself, and people lacking compassion, and that just set me back.
We had a tornado warning in the area, which was my son's first, since he grew up in the Pacific Northwest where the natural disaster du' jour would be either volcanoes erupting or earthquakes, none of which happened while we lived there. So the having to drop everything when the sirens sounded and head to the main clubhouse basement for shelter with all of the other park inhabitants did NOT amuse him at all. He was pretty freaked out. Muffins and Frenzie came, too, and that's the photo you're looking at up there. I've been having maybe extra detox with a supplement I'm taking and in addition to skin issues and brain fog a bit, I've also been having extra fatigue and pain in my body. Not cool, Cat's Claw! I'll be backing WAY down on you.
We're having a lot of feelings of loss about our family's direction. Where to live, how to go about it, what is the best thing for us right now.
I'm sure all of this nonsense is made worse by my not properly supporting my already depleted adrenals. My sleep has been bad, I cannot seem to get restful sleep. We cannot have the A/C on in the RV overnight for reasons, and the mugginess and heat seep in as we sleep are not helpful.
There are a lot of things about this area that really aren't working for me health-wise. And that sucks because my son really wants to hang out with this family that lives here, and so do we.
It's been a struggle for us lately, one we are both processing and looking for ways to work through. So that left my adrenal experiment all wonky, because for the life of me I could NOT follow my phone alarms and just eat when I was supposed to.
However, I HAVE been managing at least ONE adrenal snack each day, which I will call progress, because I had pretty much let it slide before. And if you count my morning smoothie and my salads, I've really been managing three. And that's huge.
The adrenal experiment will happen! For now I'm just going to do my best and also do my best to report the results.
Because it's still a lot for me to keep up with daily posts. I'm working on it. Day 2 I felt good all day - stronger, more energetic, more focused, less brain fog.
I managed to eat all of my adrenal snacks but one, I think. Toward the end of the day, which did prove to be a stressful day due to external circumstances, I did become irritable and grouchy. But like I said, stressful external circumstances.
Day 3 again, at a friend's house but still did all my adrenal snacks but one. Felt physically strong and clear, but I did also notice some difficulty in processing and connecting my mouth to my brain. As this hapens to me frequently, I cannot attribute it entirely to eating the snacks - it's a sign of neurological damage that I am still working to heal, and it will just take time. Maybe some detox going on with the damage coming out more.
Again with the stress, feeling frustrated, resigned, sad, unsure, put me in a bad place.
But again feeling physically well, more energy throughout the day, less of that crashing feeling.
Inspired by my experience with the adrenal snacks providing me with so much stability and revitalization the other day (and in the last whenever I've eaten them), I decided to do an experiment with myself. I've set alarms on my phone for every 1.5 hours to remind me to have an adrenal snack.
I've been eating plenty of fruits and veggies, and I have my salads and smoothies and celery juice daily, but I've been lax about having the adrenal snacks, only remembering to have them every now and again.
But not this week. I'm set. In addition to my normal routine, I will make sure I have adrenal snacks throughout the day, and note any differences I feel. In case you're interested, my daily routine will now look like this: 10:00 AM: wake, 16 oz celery juice 10:25 AM: B12, Sovereign Silver, tinctures, Mary Ruth Organics AM (these are all taken individually about 30 sec apart from each other) 10:30 AM: Lemon water and morning supplements (NeuroMag, Mag Glycinate, 5 HTP, Curcumin, Ester C) 10:45 AM: Heavy Metals Detox Smoothie 12:30 PM: adrenal snack 2:00 PM: adrenal snack (this one is most likely my lunch salad) and supplements (l-lysine, ester C) 3:00 PM: B12 and sovereign silver 3:30PM: adrenal snack 5:00 PM: adrenal snack (most likely my dinner salad with cooked potato) and supplements (l-lysine, Ester C) 6:30 PM: adrenal snack 8:00 PM: adrenal snack and tinctures 9:30 PM: adrenal snack and bedtime supplements (NeuroMag, Mag Glycinate, Ester C, Curcumin) 10:00 PM: Mary Ruth Organics PM multi Yesterday was my first day. I thought it might be difficult since we were out at a friend's but it turned out not to be - when the alarm on my phone went off, I'd pull out an adrenal snack and make myself eat it. Yesterday I had two that were banana/lettuce/dates, two apple/celery/date, my smoothies (which counts because of the ingredients) and my salad.
I found it was sometimes difficult to eat because I wasn't yet feeling hungry, but they really kept me satiated all day and I didn't experience any cravings for other things, either. I did have much more consistent energy throughout the day and my thoughts were sharper.
Toward the end of the day I felt grumpy and irritated - having to do with where we are relocating, I think? Housing cost vs expectation, weather reality vs where we intended to live, things like that. But I voiced it rather than holding it in and lashing out, and that helped. I also asked my husband to rub my feet for confort and asked the angels for help, and that helped , too.
I slept fairly well but had active dreams. Today I feel sharp still, as is evidenced by my writing blog posts again. It seems that when I feel a bit more cloudy I tend to not blog at all.
The other day we had a very long day driving around and looking at houses and neighborhoods, trying to get a feel for the area and what's available within it. I drove the whole time, as fociusing on driving seems to keep motion sickness at bay. As we were getting to the end of the day, I could feel that familiar "I've pushed myself too far" feeling, and my body was letting me know it had had enough. My head started to pound and my energy began to drop fast. I'd packed a cooler of snacks: fresh fruits, dates, celery, Larabars - so we would get through the day. I'd just eaten an apple to get my glucose back up and feed my brain, but I could still feel the headache lurking, the fatigue coming, that "pushed too far" feeling. That impending crash was coming, and my head was pounding. Then I remembered what Anthony William, the Medical Medium wrote in the book "Life-Changing Foods" and also in a Facebook post that the mineral salts in celery are good for headaches and migraines. I picked out a celery stick and two dates to make it a complete adrenal snack - an apple, celery and two dates is the one I always remember easily, even though he posted a list of 16 Snacks for Adrenal Fatigue.
When I finished the celery and dates, the headache was GONE. Yes, THAT FAST! Energy was restored and I felt good again, like I could keep going. No crash! No fatigue, no headache. Again it was like a miracle. I am so grateful for the information Anthony William shares in his books, on his radio shows and in his blog posts about healing foods and how we can heal. I've been on my own healing journey for a year, and I find I'm still learning new things all the time. I like to be immersive, reading the Facebook groups for support and answers to questions we all have, re-reading the books to find things I might have missed the first time, listening to past radio shows for new gems, and the live ones every Monday. He also has a healing path program to further solidify the information in the first book, and of course, social media accounts - not just of his, but of so many of us who are healing chronic "autoimmune" illnesses through using the information he shares. My Instagram is pupulated by stories of healing, delicious plant-based recipes and colorful phtos of healing foods. It makes me happy just to look at it.
The information and how well it all works still blows my mind sometimes, even though I am healing from it. Like the other day. In the past, I'd have come home from a day like that with a migraine, needed to sleep in a dark room for several hours, crashed hard. But instead I was energetic, I could have kept going, and I was pain-free because I had the healing foods, the information on what they did, and I used them. Thank you, Anthony and Spirit, for all you share so that we can heal. I owe my life to you.
And for anyone who might be new here somehow - I am in no way affilliated or paid or compensated in any way by Anthony William and any of his associates. The reward I get from sharing this is that if just one person reads his book and uses the information and begins to heal, holy moly is that huge. Too many people are suffering needlessly on this planet, and it there is any way my suffering and the healing of it can help another human, it will have been worth it. Getting my life back from a chronic illness I thought might actualy end up killing me has been the greatest miracle I could imagine.
Continuing to find new ways to use and refine how I use the healing foods to help myself heal even more is the icing on the cake.
I've been experimenting with leaving the house more - trying to go out and see what I can tolerate, how long I can stand for, testing what I can do outside of my home. It's been such a long time being only in my home and staying away from everything everywhere for fear of exposure (and the reactions that follow). I had so little energy I couldn't get off of the sofa, let alone run an errand.
But now I'm getting my strength back and I want to see what I can do. I've been going to run some errands when my husband goes - little things like going to the grocery store - I KNOW I'm not ready for places like the mall or most big box stores. But I can walk the Farmers' Market. And the grocery stores we shop at are all or mostly organic, so it's much safer there. I'll always go with my husband just in case something really doesn't work, he can take care of things and make sure I get home safely.
Well, today I was out of both lettuce AND frozen wild blueberries - two staples in our household, these are foods I eat every day. Anthony William, Medical Medium, has this to say about wild blueberries:
All fruits have incredible healing and energizing properties, but wild blueberries are the most phenomenal of them all. Wild blueberries are loaded with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. These sweet and satisfying berries are excellent liver and blood cleansers, and are vital to the health of eyes and the digestive tract. Wild blueberries also have the ability to repair tissues and cells and keep the immune system strong. They are a powerhouse food not to be missed!
Wild blueberries also help remove heavy metals from the body, in conjunction with cilantro, dulse, Hawaiian spirulina and barley grass juice powder. And part of my healing is getting those heavy metals out - slowly and gently, so as not to cause detox reactions in my still very sensitive system. So every day after my celery juice and B12, I have a Heavy Metal Detox Smoothie. I always keep a supply of all of the ingredients on hand, since I have this every morning.
But today I had everything in the VitaMix ready to go and when I went to get the frozen wild blueberries to add, I discovered (gasp!) that we were out. Dun dun duuunnnn!!!
Usually my husband does the grocery shopping, at least since I got too sick to do it myself. I've gone with him a couple of times recently, but it's been over a year since I've even considered doing a trip to the grocery store without another adult along just in case. But....my smoothie. And I HAVE gone recently to the grocery store WITH him and that went all right. I thought, "Maybe I can do this."
So I got ready, got my son, and we went. To the grocery store. With ME as the only adult! AND I didn't use the scooter, although I probably should have - the store we went to was larger than I'm able to walk, and the floors are cement, which is NOT friendly to my back pain. But I DID do it, and I even picked up a few other things we needed, AND managed to bring in all the groceries as well.
I didn't put them all away yet, but I DID do the dishes and made food for myself and my son, so that's still a LOT that I did today. And a huge #victorycheck for me, because holy moly, I ran an errand as the only adult, and it was a BIG deal. Before today, my anxiety and PTSD wouldn't have allowed that, let alone my physical body. It was amazing.
I did learn not to be too ambitious and to let myself use the scooter - that particular store was pretty big, and in places like that, I really do need the scooter. I can do more later if I don't overdo it in the store by trying to walk all the way through. Baby steps. But I could walk through a smaller grocery store maybe. And that's okay. I'm healing and healing takes time. Reintegrating into the outside world takes time. I'll get there.
But now I know that sometimes I CAN go get groceries on my own if I need to (and my body says it's cool). And that's wonderful.
Sometimes it's difficult to remember how to keep a blog. Life gets in the way - health, trying to stay afloat, just staying functional. I struggle with chronic illness. One of the myriad of reasons we are wanting to get on the road is to find an environment more conducive to my health, as I am incredibly sensitive to mold and wet climates (NOW you tell me!). The past two years have made me very aware of just how much my environment IS affecting my health. Have you heard of The Spoon Theory? I hadn't, until a few months ago. But it is a brilliant theory, in my opinion, because it really does explain what life is like when one has a chronic illness. When my own husband read it it helped him understand what I am going through in a much more profound way. I highly recommend clicking on and reading (and even bookmarking) that article, it is well worth it. Go ahead, I'll wait. You see? That's it. That's my life now. Most days, even though I am probably sitting here on the sofa doing nothing, because that's what I have the spoons for, I cannot even brain enough to write blog entries, and instead I either read Facebook because it's brainless, or watch silly sitcoms, because they keep my mood up. If I do have the ability to brain anything, or any energy, I'm not at my computer - I am doing stuff with my son or getting some laundry done or catching up on chores that pile up while I'm down. (My husband, though valiant and tireless during this period, is only human, and cannot manage allthethings while also working outside our home full time). And then there are days like today: my brain works, but my body feels exhausted - like I've been hard at work or am completely sleep deprived, despite having had a full night's rest. I'm just tired. But deeply, bodily tired, like I just can't move, and even walking to the bathroom is a LOT to ask of my body.
The official diagnoses are: Fibromyalgia, Hypothyroid, Adrenal Fatigue, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, PTSD, Anxiety, Sleep Apnea, Bursitis and Depression. It seems that when one has one major diagnoses, they become like those famous potato chips - no one can have just one. I also have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, which makes going out in the world akin to trying to navigate a minefield: all of the scents, chemicals, lighting, sounds, emissions....it overwhelms my already overloaded body and it can take me down for days. I have to be so careful about where I go or who I am around (perfumes and colognes), or what I put into my body. I can't go out at night because the lights from the cars against the darkness will send me into migraines. Which is almost irrelevant, because what little energy I have tends to crash around 3pm, leaving me unable to do anything but rest for the rest of the day anyway. What social life?
I use a combination of allopathic (that's traditional western medicine), biomed, naturopathic and chinese medicines to foster my healing. I see a therapist, and a GP, a naturopath, a rheumatologist, sleep experts, a chiropractor, and massage therapists just to keep at this level of function. Because it was even worse before. My brain fog was so bad and my energy was so low that even doing something as seemingly simple as typing a blog post seemed herculean. Everything in the world was overwhelming. My anxiety was so bad that even making a phone call seemed impossible. My husband was making most of my appointments and then even taking off work to take me to them so I would be able to go. I take an amount of supplements I cannot even talk about because it is so far beyond anything I ever thought I would see myself do. Food is medicine if one's body is functioning properly and can absorb the nutrients in the food...but when one's biochemistry is all out of whack and one's health is a multi-layered onion...well, it seems food can be thought of as Step 1. I am very VERY careful about my eating - my body does well on only a handful of foods, all of them grown in nature and unprocessed. I have learned in these past two years what my triggers are and I work hard to avoid them all. My goal now is to keep working and keep finding where I am unbalanced, and do my best to correct that imbalance. So that I will have energy again And be able to move my body again. And go out into the world safely again. And I can see that it can happen...albeit it slowly, I can see that it just takes careful tweaking of this and that until it takes me up a level, then I can address the next layer, and so on. And as much as I love my beloved Pacific Northwest, I think that being in the wet and mold and lack of sunlight isn't working for my body, and I need to find somewhere that I can heal a little faster and more completely.
