It’s a detailed account of his Autoimmune journey and examination of what happened to him, when it happened, how it happened, followed by the doctor’s diagnosis, treatment plan, and Normans ultimate decision as to what he decides to do and why. This is the most comprehensive account of an autoimmune disease that I have ever read. Norman cousins was obviously a very smart man which would explain the impetus behind his questions and the answers he found. He was able to pin point moments that he determined were pivotal and created a map of those circumstances that he suggested were the cause of his illness. For anyone with an autoimmune disease, a condition that has been labeled the greatest medical mystery of this generation by Dr. Gabor Mate, this story can offer insight and hope.
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Before Joys M.S. diagnosis she was a happy, funny, energetic and independent person and while she is still that person this disease has undeniability reshaped her reality. I have watched Multiple Sclerosis rob her of any illusions she ever had of being in control of her life. We all have to deal with that reality at some time in our life but when in comes in like a tornado I think it’s different, cancelling plans because you lost the ability to walk is another thing altogether. All the biggest decisions we have to make like work, love, marriage are all up in the air, now the questions are reframed into can I work? Take care of my dog? What am I capable of doing and for how long?
Both ordinary and wild blueberry offer great health benefits such as being loaded with vitamin C, improves memory, helps manage Diabetes, rich in antioxidant’s, improves mental health, low in calories and tastes great.
Wild blue berries are different from the “ordinary” blueberry starting with their size. Wild blueberries are much smaller than cultivated berries and come in a variety of colors. Their tiny berries range in color from light to dark blue with a very intense blueberry flavor. They grow low to the ground on bush like plants as most of the actual plant is underground in a rhizome root system, this is how the plant spreads. These plants have not only survived in acidic soil and challenging winter conditions for thousand of years but have also evolved to adapt and thrive in areas that experience wildfire conditions. After a wildfire the soil becomes enriched with nutrients from burnt vegetation, the plants adapt to utilize these nutrient deposits to their benefit making them stronger and healthier. Their ability to adapt to harsh environments gives them “GENETIC STRENGTH” which we benefit from when we consume them. Their adaptogenic nutrients gives us the ability to adapt to the stress and challenges improves brain related health, and cancer prevention. OUR STORY IN A NUTSHELL
When you’re sitting in a hospital waiting to find out why your 20-year-old daughter had no feeling in half of her body, nothing seems remotely funny. As Joy (my daughter) endured endless days of tests with no idea of what was going wrong I realized I started morphing into an alter ego. I go from strong crisis mom to someone who is standing on a cliff so far out of my comfort zone that all I want to do is drink. (and I’m a recovering alcoholic) I am desperately looking for something to help me cope. That’s when my alter ego takes over that laughs at the most inappropriate moments, I was so bad that the nurses moved my daughter to a private room that up until then had been unavailable. Well at least one good thing came out my bad behavior. Once we got to the private room, we instinctively started looking for something fun to do, something that would take our mind’s off of what was going on around us and make us laugh. On the hospital TV (this was almost 20 years ago, no media on phones) we found this crazy show in Japanese called wipeout, we laughed at that stupid show for a week and it seemed to shift the heaviness of her situation. If you ask her about that week the first things she tells you about is that silly show, not how it felt to be told you had Multiple Sclerosis. That’s my memory too, that’s when I really experienced the POWER of Humor. I have always loved to laugh but never knew the power it had to transform me until then.
Once sepsis progresses however the high rate of severe complications increases exponentially especially for patients with a weakened immune system or a chronic illness. There are three stages of sepsis which are described below. THREE STAGES OF SEPSIS
• SEPSIS: can be hard to identify in its early stages but common symptoms that show evidence of the disease include are fluctuating body temperature, fever, confusion, extreme pain and signs of infection • SEVERE SEPSIS: difficulty breathing, abnormal heartbeat, difficulty urinating, change in mental state, chills due to reduced body temperature, extreme weakness and confusion • SEPTIC SHOCK: Dangerously low blood pressure, rapid pulse and breathing, dizziness, organ failure. The dramatic drop in blood pressure can damage the lungs, kidneys, liver, and other organs. When the damage is severe it can lead to death According to the MAYO clinic the risk of death from SEPSIS is as high as 30%, SEVERE SEPSIS 50% and the risk of death from SEPTIC SHOCK 80%. Early diagnosis and treatment is the key to a successful recovery from Sepsis. “The word incurable means that it can’t be cured by outer means so we need to go within” -Louise Hay “Every thought we think is creating our future” Louise Hay For those who haven’t heard of Louise Hay she was a metaphysical teacher and bestselling
author who built a self -publishing empire, Hay House, that has attracted metaphysical and self- help authors from around the world. Her first book “You Can Heal Your Life” sold over 50 million copies and has been translated into 25 languages in 33 countries. Born on October 8,1926 Her beliefs were influenced by a difficult and unstable childhood. Louise recalled being abused by her stepfather and raped by a neighbor around the age of 5 eventually running away from home in her teens. She went onto find work in New-York City as a model and in the mid 1950’s married Andrew Hay an English businessman. It was when Louise’s marriage of 14 ended in divorce that she discovered what would become her life’s work through her studies in the Church of religious science. In 1970 when her training in the ministerial -program began she developed what would become her core beliefs. Louise wrote how our thoughts and ideas about ourselves are often the cause of our emotional problems and physical maladies as we become what we think about. This belief that there is a link between our thinking and disease was the genesis of the connection between body mind and spirit. While changing our health isn’t limited to only changing our thinking it certainly begins there. How to behave in today’s Modern Health Care System? It’s not by being polite, considerate and non-confrontational in fact it’s the opposite. You have to be willing to shake up the status quo if you plan on getting well. What MS Patients need to know 1. Recent studies show that 70- 75 % of all multiple sclerosis diagnosis are women 2. As of today there is NO known cause 3. 1 in 5 patients are misdiagnosed 4. Often times the MS treatment causes more damage than the disease itself 5. Dangerous Treatments are not a cure but designed only to” Manage Symptoms” 6. Gender Bias 1 in 5 women felt their health care provider has ignored their concerns It wasn’t long ago that doctors believed it was better for a patient not to tell them bad news
believing that it would worsen their condition. In the late 1970’s that changed when the practice of medicine began to recognize the patients right to know their medical situation allowing them to make a more informed decision about their treatment. That pendulum has swung again. They were kind-of right both times, bad news could seemingly cause the patient to get worse and patients do have a right to know the truth about their conditions. Today it’s believed that the mind body connection coupled with our bodies innate ability to heal itself plays a huge role in our health and healing. One of the most obvious tools to enhance this aspect of the process is the power of the WORD to convey positive messaging and instill hope, but that’s not typically what patients experience. Doctors admittedly are not trained to communicate but a callous bed side manner is just lazy and can do a lot of harm. Theres actually a word for this it’s called “nocebo” the reverse of placebo. In essence your body metabolizes bad news and becomes sicker, or it metabolizes good news and starts to heal. Ethical disclosure doesn’t need to be brutal, the shock your body feels hearing derogatory news is negatively affecting billions of cells in your body making it even harder to heal
STEP #1 FOOD, FIGURING IT OUT
“Our Food choices can either create Disease or Health”. Dr. Terry Wahl If you listen to industry experts like Terry Wahl, Food is the reason she has the level of recovery she does today. She also advocates for vitamins, supplements and EMS therapy, but food is both at the heart of this disease and its recovery. Food contains the nutrients we need to fight off viruses and bacteria that can lead to chronic disease like the Epstein Barr a virus often associated with MS. “Most “experts agree that eating foods designed to provide nutritional cellular nourishment is the key to health. Because we essentially consist of trillions of cells that are the building blocks, we are made of these cells need certain nutrients to do the work of keeping us alive and healthy. Those necessary nutrients come from the food we eat so if you give the body what it needs and remove what is poisoning it your body can finally concentrate on healing itself. Our top 3 favorites sources of information about healthy food choices for Multiple Sclerosis are The Wahls Protocol by Dr. Terry Wahl. I like Dr. Terry Wahl because her MS is in remission and she speaks from experience concerning her recommended diet. I will also say that her diet is not for the faint of heart but it works for her and many others. Matt Embry who has been symptom free since 1995. Matt’s father is a research scientist who designed a diet along with a list of supplements that has proven to work for him over time. You can find more about this on his website MS Hope. Anthony Williams is another author worth reading about MS, food and toxins. He’s called a Medical Medium and has a great book on the subject called ‘life Changing Foods.
The chronic nature of this infection has so many serious repercussions that we want to understand how its triggered and what we can do about it.
One of the symptoms of multiple sclerosis occurs when the immune system destroys nerve tissue resulting in numbness that commonly spreads throughout the body as it progresses. Because of this “sensory dysfunction” MS patients don’t always know when their bladder is full or feel the pain of a bladder infection. When my daughter explained this fact to me, I was slightly horrified, how can you treat something you don’t even know you have? These circumstances are a recipe for disaster, an untreated UTI infection not only risks causing further complications but the need for an excessive amount of antibiotics. Those are 2 issues MS patients don’t want to add to their already full plate. |
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June 2025
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