I spotted this artwork outside my doctor’s office door in the hallway.
Pivot! It’s time to try something new, so here we go! Last month I met with a new doctor to see how I can improve my health. A friend has been encouraging me to try a holistic approach after seeing positive results from this clinic, so I’m giving it a try too. Here’s the 411.
What is a Holistic Approach?
In traditional Western medicine, we see our doctor when we don’t feel well. Then we get medicine, surgery or a treatment to improve our symptoms. It’s a very reactive approach to illness and rarely gets to the root cause of why we feel unwell in the first place.
I’m now focusing on amplifying my healthy lifestyle changes with a holistic, or full mind and body approach, that goes beyond symptom relief. We are focused on finding the root cause of illness and taking care of it. Specifically, I’m working to clear out the lingering infections, viruses and imbalances in my body AND boost my immune system functioning so my body can naturally clean and heal itself regularly.
It’s taken years to get this sick with a laundry list of diagnoses. So, it’s going to take awhile to heal, but I’ve got time!
Disclosure: This blog is reader-supported, which means this post contains affiliate links and advertisements. I earn a small commission if you shop through them, which helps fund this website so I can continue to bring you amazing content. Thank you! ~Angela
Where I’m Going For My Healing Treatments
I live in Iowa and am traveling to West Des Moines in the central part of the state to the Holistic Health of Iowa clinic. They offer a range of holistic services including electrodermal screenings, homeopathy, integrative medicine, functional medicine, nutrition response testing, acupuncture, chiropractic care, thermography and Pulsed Electromagnetic Field therapy in addition to labs and panel testing.
During my first visit with my doctor there, we conducted an electrodermal screening test. Also known as frequency testing, this creates biofeedback based on how energy is flowing (or not!!) through the body and where there might be imbalances. This approach is based on the meridian system you may have heard about in Traditional Eastern/Chinese medicine and acupuncture. You can see a video of this test here.
The testing was painless, simple and extremely informative. Some of the results I expected, but others were eye-opening.
After the testing, we discussed my nutrition habits, mental health management, types of exercise, exposure to toxins and general lifestyle routines that may be affecting my health. Many of these questions I’ve never been asked by my Western medicine doctors.
This part of the appointment amplified the point that a holistic doctor looks at your whole well-being, not just your symptoms.
What I Learned at My First Holistic Health Appointment
Before I share the list of findings, I would like to remind my readers quickly of my health history. In 2008 I experienced Steven Johnson Syndrome. This knocked my physical body down for a month and a half, put several organs in a pre-failure status and nearly cost me my life. Since then, my body has developed autoimmunity, or the desire to trigger inflammation and attack healthy tissue in my body. I’ve since been diagnosed with celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, rosacea, contact dermatitis, gastroparesis, severe migraine with multiple aura symptoms and am currently being evaluated for multiple sclerosis by a neurologist.
This is not normal. Why am I collecting so many issues when I live a pretty healthy life with regular exercise, a vegetable-heavy diet and a focus on mental health?
Well, I learned.
The quick answer is that I have many lingering issues that have never been fully resolved flaring up inside my body. Antibiotics and other medicines helped issues resolve the outward symptoms, but they didn’t get rid of the lingering presence in my body causing a low-level continual feeling of chronic fatigue, inflammation and eventually the development of my diagnoses.
So, here’s what we discovered during my testing:
- Low blood volume (This highly contributes to my extreme fatigue symptoms.)
- Mold exposure and high levels in my body
- Active viruses from Western Blot test-diagnosed Lyme disease years ago. (These include Borrelia, Babesia and Bartonella.)
- Active bacterial infection in my lungs called Chlamydia pneumoniae. (No, it’s not the STD.)
- Active Epstein Barr virus
- Active Herpes Simplex Type 1 (oral) virus
- Active Strep infection
- Imbalance in the hypothalamus
- Extremely low immune system functioning. (It was just above 0 on the scale!)
With all of this churning around in my system, it’s no wonder I have so many symptoms that have triggered multiple Western medicine diagnoses. My doctor explained that my body’s natural “cleaning machines” including the immune system, spleen and lymphatic drainage system are overburdened, imbalanced, poorly performing and need some TLC! I agree.
What I’m Doing to Heal from Chronic Illness
After I let all this information sink in, I started my new daily treatments to not only resolve my daily illness symptoms, but to also retrain my immune system to recognize specific viruses and bacteria so it can work properly while boosting the functioning of my lymphatic drainage system and spleen.
We are taking a homeopathic approach mixed with Traditional Chinese Medicine principles.
My current regimen includes taking daily vials of the diluted DNA imprint of various viruses (my first phase of this treatment is focused on the three Lyme viruses and Epstein Barr) to train my immune system to recognize them and clear them out of my body naturally. I’m taking herbal binders and a lymphatic drainage remedy to help clear out the die-off from my improved immune system functioning. And I’m also taking a mineral supplement to help improve the functioning of the hypothalamus in my brain. Finally, I have an herbal remedy to help manage the Jarisch–Herxheimer (“herxing”) reaction that often accompanies such an in-depth treatment plan.
I’ve also been advised to boost my water intake, maintain my good exercise routine, continue to get lymphatic drainage massages, eat more beets for increased blood production, reduce my exposure to toxins (plastics, artificial fragrances/flavorings/dyes, etc.) and stay the course with my mental health therapy.
It’s no secret that unmanaged trauma is often at the root of autoimmune disease. If this is new information for you, please check out the book “The Body Keeps the Score” to learn how stress can manifest as a physical illness, even if the traumatic event was years ago. I wrote a blog post about this, and how to read the book because it’s such a heavy, often eye-opening topic, for many.
Holistic Healing: Where I’m At Now
I’m about a month into my treatments, and I am feeling pretty good. I feel like I might have a touch more mental and physical energy (which is common at the start) and I haven’t had any of the “herxing” reactions yet, but am fully aware that it’s coming. I have had one EM lesion and a small atopic dermatitis flare on my legs.
I look forward to seeing where this new health journey takes me and how my testing results improve over time. We will test every 6-8 weeks to see if the treatments are improving my wellness and make tweaks to the plans as we go. One cool thing about the body is that when it starts to heal, it doesn’t pick and choose. It heals as a whole, complete system. That means, if I can get my immune system to do its job a bit better, it might naturally clean out some of the secondary issues without me actively targeting them with homeopathic remedies or supplements.
My doctor reminded me that it took me years to get to the level I’m at now, so it will take months to heal. She estimates my treatments to last nine to twelve months, depending on how my body responds and how well I stick to the regimen.
I’ve shared a ton of information with you in this blog post. Is there a particular area that you’d like to know more about? I’m open to suggestions for future blog posts as I share this journey both here and on the Cupcakes and Yoga Pants Facebook Page. Feel free to contact me, comment on a Facebook post or DM.
I share my journey to inspire others to take a greater interest in their health and healing. I was not paid by any doctor, company or clinic to write about this experience.
Until next time,
Choose healthy!
Angela
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