The Teacher Within

Let me first say that I am no doctor, scientist or even nutritionist.  Everything I have learned through research has been to gain knowledge and through experience, apply these lessons to reach the goal of functionality and optimal health. I knew to understand what was going wrong within my body, I first must understand how my body is supposed to function.  We are so far from optimal health, that we may have never known what it truly is.  But there is one teacher that I entrusted to help sort things out, and that was my body’s own innate intelligence.  I realized I had never really known myself from the inside out and missed all the messages my body was trying to send me.  Have you ever had someone trying to warn you of something, perhaps maybe your parents or teachers, and you chose to ignore them because you either thought they didn’t know better or you just flat out were not interested in hearing any input?  To then only realize at some point that said person(s) were trying to warn you or inform you of something that you maybe should have listened to and could have prevented you from getting into certain situations?  Well, one’s own body can also be this very person.  We forget to trust the system, or the “voice” within and its ability to know what it needs or does NOT need!  This was true for myself, and I paid dearly for it.  It wasn’t until after I stopped ignoring these warnings that I was able to understand my body’s needs and wants.

In modern medicine, one of the most common terms we hear of is “symptoms.”  What are symptoms?  According to the ‘Oxford English Dictionary’ a symptom is “A physical or mental feature which is regarded as indicating a condition of disease, particularly such a feature that is apparent to the patient.”  Did you see that last part?  Let me say that again for you, “…particularly such a feature that is APPARENT to the PATIENT.”  This is your body communicating to you.  When you go to see a medical professional, you are seeking out help to understand the symptoms that you are experiencing and find a resolution.  But more importantly we would want to find the underlying cause.  Often medicine treats symptoms and the underlying cause is not always found.  Symptoms are the body’s way of telling us that something is wrong or not working properly and we must not ignore or discredit this message.

We tend to pay most attention to our outer appearance.  We tend to understand it more, and because we can visibly see ourselves in this light, it is evident when something goes wrong. When I first learned that something was horribly wrong with my health, it was because my skin suddenly broke out in a horrible rash/cystic acne all over my face; it wasn’t my gastrointestinal issues that raised a ‘red flag’ and I chose to ignore or the pain I was feeling in my upper extremities and back which I fed myself pills for the pain that were prescribed my doctor. This specific symptom of my skin caused me so much anxiety and distress because it was clearly visible and evident that my appearance had been flawed.  I became very insecure and started to feel sorry for myself because I was at the time, the sort of person who felt my outward appearance was most important.  This is when I began to learn the most valuable lessons.  I spent weeks in and out of the Doctor’s office desperately seeking an antidote for this horrendous ailment.  The protocol of course would be sending me off to the skin doctor, and that is when the ‘light bulb’ turned on.

The Dermatologist decided that he would prescribe me scrubs, creams and topical solutions for my skin.  I will never forget when he said, “be sure not to use your favorite pillow case, as the cream I am giving you will bleach your pillowcase.”  I was dumbfounded, then a moment of clarity came over me.  I would walk out of the office and never be the same again.  I left all the prescriptions he called in, right there at the pharmacy.  I continued the antibiotic that my primary care physician prescribed me and went into full blown Nancy drew mode.  I began to investigate the cause of my skin problems and not resort to bleaching my face or pillowcase!  I realized through research that my skin was the largest organ in the body and its dysfunction could be a result of many different issues.  I realized that to learn what the dysfunction was, I would need to know how it was supposed to function.  I spent a lot of time inside my house alone and realized that I had a lot more problems going on besides my skin, but that I had just finally decided to stop and listen and could no longer ignore these issues.

I was embarrassed and ashamed, often keeping myself out of sight.  This forced me to spend a lot of time with myself and realized I did not like who I was very much at all and that my body was very unhappy.  I started to see how much dysfunction and “dis-ease” I hosted and was determined to change that.  It was a very long and tumultuous expedition, but it led me to where I am today.  I have become my greatest lesson learned and with that have been able to gain a better quality of life and a vast amount of knowledge and experience to help me maneuver through disease.  This made all the difference in spending the following 8 years not being subdued by disease, but progressively fighting it through trial and error, learning what works and what doesn’t, by listening to responses in my body and understanding the state that it was in, what it needed and what it didn’t, what it was able to do and what it could not do, and how well it was able to digest or absorb nutrients.

I spent those 8 years in and out of hospitals, doctor’s offices, and alternative treatment centers trying to find the answers for my ‘dis-ease’ and all efforts went not only unfound, but I was told it was all in my head.  I will be honest, that there were times I doubted myself and my system’s inner warnings.  However, something kept telling me that I needed to continue seeking answers, and it is a good thing that I did.  I have recently been diagnosed with Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF).  To go untreated with RMSF is dangerous and can result in death.  My body was trying to stay alive and that is something worth listening to.  The body has an incredible will to live and all this time I thought my body was failing, but it was really hanging on and persevering.  What an incredible creation the human body is!

The most important start to any lesson learned, is first listening! You can be your greatest teacher if you just hear what your own body is trying to tell you.  Slow your body and thoughts down a bit and really become mindful of the function of your body and then find your weaknesses and strengths.  Take that information and do something with it.  You have the power to assist your body in its healing process, because without be consciously aware of your impairments and/or weaknesses you cannot help yourself.  Our bodies suffer a lot of damage by what we eat, see, breathe, and also what we don’t do for it.  It is never too late to obtain good health and by healthy communicating with yourself, you are developing the skills to create and enjoy one of the best relationships you will ever have, body and mind!