Overcoming Sickness with the power of the mind

2009-04-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

I feel very strongly that there are many people out there that get frustrated because they can't find answers to their health problems. I don't know how many times I wished that there was a Dr.House that could figure me out. I even wrote Oprah to see if she would have Dr.Oz give me some advise. My health was at a low point in January and February of this year. I didn't know how it could get better.

I am a firm believer that what you think about and dream about will have a direct impact on your life experiences. There was a good quote from The Secret that I just simplified in my own words. I have always been into books that talk about making any goal a reality. In high school I wanted a specific time on my cross country race so I put up my goal all over my bedroom and guess what I got the time I imagined.

While I was sick my father told me to say to myself each morning,"Each and every day, I feel better and better in every way." Well I have been doing this for 6 weeks now and I feel like a new person. I have not had one episode in 6 weeks. Now there have been times when I am tired and my body might want to go into an episode and I just tell myself that I will be all right. This will pass and it always does. It is important that we look for the good not the bad. I am amazed that with prayer, God, and my mind I am at where I am today. If I continued to tell myself. "I don't feel good. I am scared. blah, blah, blah." I know that I would be even sicker. I am grateful for knowing that through Christ I can do anything. I am grateful this Easter Sunday for the knowledge that our Christ lives and we can be with him again someday.

Make it a great day. Remember, to look on the bright side of things and you can overcome the hardest trials.

What inspired me to start a blog

2009-04-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

This is my first time starting a blog. I don't know much about it. But I am going to see how it goes. I don't know how to make it fancy yet, but I am sure I will learn as I go along.

You may wonder why my account is happyhearthappysoul. I wanted to share a blog where we can look for the good in everyday activities and try to inspire each other to be better. I am hoping that people will share comments and ideas to help inspire us all to be better. I thought it would be fun if I post a happy thought or quote on my blog and maybe it will help brighten someones day and I am sure it will heal my heart as well.

I have been blessed in my life to be around awesome people and there have been some amazing opportunities. Life was pretty easy and there wasn't much to complain about. I always knew how to put a smile on my face and look for the good. Shortly after I got married in March 2007 I struggled with my health. This was to my amazement because prior to March 2007 I had only been to a doctor a handful of times and I had ran two marathons. Now I can't count how many times I have seen a doctor. Below, you will see how my story unfolds.

I got married to Richard, my love of my life, and I was sure things would be great especially after finding my eternal companion. One month after being married I started getting weak in my legs and feet. I almost blacked out and my heart was racing a million miles a minute. I felt very light-headed. Two months into being married I found out that I was pregnant. I continued to feel sick, but maybe just maybe that was pregnancy. I felt like the life was taken out of me. Six weeks into the pregnancy I was told that I had a blighted ovum. In other words, there was no baby that was developing. I had a D&C a few weeks later. I found out around this time that I also had Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease is where you are allergic to wheat and gluten. 1 out of 133 people suffer with Celiac Disease. There have been many cases indicating that patients with Celiac Disease have a higher likelihood of having miscarriages. There are many symptoms and I had a lot of the symptoms,go to www.celiac.org to see a list of symptoms.

I continued to feel sick after the D&C and I actually felt worse. I took many, many tests. I became pregnant again in August. I was nervous about becoming pregnant again but my doctor assured me that my levels were just fine and that the baby was fine. I asked her if she would do an ultrasound early and she said they would not until I was 13 weeks. It was hard not knowing if there was a baby or not and I didn't appreciate the doctor not listening to my wishes. Well 12 1/2 weeks later I miscarried it was not a pleasant experience.

Two weeks after the miscarriage my health worsened by a long road. I was driving down the road and I began to get dizzy and feel weak. I knew that I needed extra prayers that day. Luckily, I was on the phone with my mom when I decided to finally pull over. When I pulled over I began to slur my speech and I became very confused. It sounded like a stroke. I went to ER and they could not find anything wrong. They did an EEG,EKG,MRI,CAT scan, and more. Nothing showed up, three days later I was released and I had no idea of what I should do. I was out of work for two months and I continued to see many more doctors. My brother Eric (a chiropractor) was inspired to tell me about a machine called BioMeridian. BioMeridian is more of a naturalistic, holistic approach that can help find diseases or help heal the body from ailments. It can suggest what medicine might help heal your body. I began taking some wonderful vitamins and started feeling better.

I returned to work and all was well. Several weeks later however I started not feeling as good as I did previously. Once again I went to many more doctors. Each month my symptoms increased and they were getting worse. December 2007 my body began shaking like a seizure and my episodes were lasting longer. Several days later I felt immobilized.

I continued to go up and down, up and down. It was a difficult time not knowing if I was going to feel like passing out or if I was going to be just fine. The new school year began in August 2008, I had high hopes for the new year. I was still taking my vitamins and I was trying to have a good attitude. I was also being sure that I followed the Celiac diet perfectly, I never cheated. I also became an expert on what foods to eat and avoid. I did a lot of studying. Two months into school I started feeling lousy again.

My symptoms intensified, I had muscle weakness, fatigue, a limping leg, dizziness, headaches, slurred speech, tongue enlarged, uncontrollable shaking, and more. I went to the ER for a traumatic episode and the CAT scan showed nothing. "Nothing is wrong. Everything appears normal." Those were the words I had been hearing for over a year but I knew that something was still wrong. Well one more ER visit later and a overnight stay showed that nothing was wrong with my MRI of my brain and they couldn't confirm anything else. In a 24 period I had 5 or 6 episodes, I was sure something would show up. The doctor said I do not have tumors, brain damage, or any of the sort. He concluded that I had non-epileptic seizures. The problem with non-epileptic seizures is there is no medicine for it. You have to try to control it on your own. I thought this guy was insensitive and crazy to say that I have the power to control this serious of a problem. That day I was not so happy with the doctor. However, much later a great peace came over me that I will overcome this and this is a trial of my faith.

In summary;my insurance paid over $60,000 dollars in medical bills, I had many ER visits,and had very serious symptoms that made me wonder how much time I had left on this earth. This was a very trying time. In my next blog I will describe what I have done to change my life dramatically. Of course I could not have done this without God, Richard, family, and friends.

amberich

Overcoming Sickness with the power of the mind

What inspired me to start a blog