In 2013 I started having a litany of unexplained symptoms: excruciating abdominal pain, migraines 3-4 days a week, muscle aches, joint pain, extreme tiredness, my lymph nodes were swollen and painful and in general I felt terrible. I saw my regular doctor who ordered several tests. I saw specialists. And eventually ended up having surgery. Before everything was said and done, I was diagnosed with celiac disease, interstitial cystitis, chronic recurring EPV, and PCOS. I was miserable. I was taking medications that in some cases made me feel worse than my original symptoms. I was desperate to feel like myself again. I was so tired of feeling bad.
During this same time of battling these physical problems, I realized that emotionally I had never been in a darker time. I would just lay on the couch all day. I struggled with depression and anxiety. I couldn’t manage to even do the daily tasks of running my household. I felt worthless. I began to question my very existence. I knew I couldn’t continue feeling this way so I began to see a counselor.
In counseling I started to deal with the trauma from earlier in my life. The more I learned about trauma and its affects, the more I realized how interrelated my health issues were with my past. Trauma can cause inflammation. Inflammation can cause disease. I decided I needed a two pronged approach to healing my soul and my body.
Because of the celiac diagnosis, I completely changed my diet. I was reading food labels and in addition to discovering how many food products contained gluten, I also discovered how many food products contained additives and preservatives that I did not want to put in my body any more. I began to eliminate processed foods from my diet. Eating whole foods began to heal my body. Things were better, but I was still not feeling completely myself.
The more labels I read for food, I started reading labels for our personal care products too. What I found troubled me. I would look up the ingredients and the side effects sounded a lot like what my health problems were. So I started to transition our family away from conventional products in search of more natural alternatives.
I knew I needed products that wear made from only pure ingredients. I knew I wanted products that valued transparency and would disclose all the ingredients (so many cleaning products and perfumes, and personal care products don’t label all of their ingredients using the generic label “fragrance” to mask a litany of ingredients that are toxins). I knew I needed products for our home that I could trust wouldn’t make me sicker than I already was.
What I found was perhaps the most profound shift in my life (other than my salvation and getting married). I discovered I could nourish my body. I discovered a fast, easy way that could reach my emotions. I felt like Dorothy stepping from black and white into full color. I experienced an awakening in my senses that literally made the hair on my arms stand up the first time! And I discovered a community that was on the same journey that I was on.
Maybe you’re struggling with physical or mental health too. Maybe you have trauma in your past that has left you with deep scars. I would love to connect with you to share with you about how I have found such freedom from my past. About how I’ve found freedom in my body again. About how darkness has been lifted. Let’s link arms on our life journey.
That Shalom Life 