As a child I suffered from Asthma and Allergies. Doctors said that it was normal. What I know now is that it is not normal but an abnormal manifestation of the immune system. When I was 13 my asthma was getting worse and pharmaceutical drugs only dampened my symptoms. I began to be very weak and lightheaded when standing. I had trouble thinking and answering questions and slept a lot. I was bed ridden for almost 6 months in the 8th grade. My mother carted me to every “ologist” there was and I gave enough blood to labs to support a small trauma unit. After Psych evaluations and only God knows what else, I finally got a partial, maybe diagnosis of….possibly Adrenal Gland Failure which was recovering on its own.
I continued to faint all through high school and people would say “well why did you stand up so fast?” I don’t know, how do you stand up? I gradually got better and regained my tolerance of light exercise. I was still getting lightheaded if the wind blew south. Heat, stress, exercise, heck just blowing up a balloon was not my forte.
After my husband and I came back from our honey moon my youngest brother was severely burned on 45% of his body. I walked down the hall at the Shiners’ Hospital. The smell of the air made my stomach turn. It was August in Texas and hot. To make things worse the burn unit was kept at 80 degrees. I felt faint, very faint. When I entered his room he was laughing and joking around from all the pain medicine they had given him. His face resembled a tiger from where he had squinted hard right before the bottle of airplane fuel (pure methane) had blown up and burned his face. He was wrapped in gauze on his extremities. Here it came, my arch nemesis- the fainting. I left the room and walked fast down the hall, trying to get to the elevator before the small tunnel I could see out of turned into a full faint. I was a little better in the elevator because it was going down forcing my blood back up. I cried out to God that he would make me strong enough to be in that room and help my mother. I reached the bottom floor and when it open a strong cold breeze rushed into the elevator from the lobby. I remember feeling a chill run through my body and I was consumed with peace. I didn’t exit the elevator but instead commanded it back upstairs. From that moment for the next 7 years I never fainted.
In 2000 we started remodeling our house, while living in it, 11 years ago. I was the chief painter and chief assistant to myself. Hubby built it and I painted it all…walls, molding, cabinets, I even painted the outside of the house with a sprayer. I painted that house every moment I had for 3 years. During that time I started swelling up and gaining weight. I was tired but I couldn’t sleep well either. I thought it was due to having a toddler and I thought I was getting old, I mean really old-26. So I pushed on…
In 2004 we moved to a fairly new home in the somewhat country. Of course I had been painting for the last 3 years and was a professional at it so it was natural that we paint every room in the house a different color. Since I was the chief painter, I got to work and my husband (my assistant) and I painted the whole inside of the house in the first year.
Within 6 months heart palpitations kept me up all night and tachycardia (rapid heartbeat) plagued me by day. My weight escalated to 165lbs. I was so swollen but I thought I was fat. I tried to exercise but I would black out. I remember running on the treadmill and couldn’t see a thing, but as long as my legs were working I kept running trying to lose the weight.
Finally, I couldn’t exercise any more or I would be so sick I couldn’t stand up and would end up in the bed for days at a time. Sometimes my brain fog was so back that I couldn’t answer simple questions and I lay in bed staring blankly into space. I would go weeks without being able to climb our stairs and tuck my kids in at night. My nervous system was shot. Even on a good day it wouldn’t allow me to stand in one place for more than 30 seconds or all the blood would be in my feet. I couldn’t tolerate heat, stress, shopping for groceries, and the cool air. I couldn’t squat or hold my hands above my head or I would pass smooth out. I had a cot in my office at work so I could lie down for 30 minutes to be able to sit at my desk for an hour and work. I was missing 2 days of work each week and in the bed for at least 10 days out of the month. I prayed to God that he would heal me.
I was determined to get better, but doctors only gave me names for my condition and more prescriptions. Never, not once did they discuss what might be the cause. I tried everything to keep my blood volume up and circulating until finally I started bleeding through my skin and developed an autoimmune disease called Sjogren’s syndrome where your immune system destroys your veins. The sicker I got the stronger I prayed. I prayed with all my mind, body, soul, and with unrelenting desperation.
In March of 2010 we drove to Branson for vacation. Driving through the hills was torture. I felt all my blood rush from my stomach to my head with each one. I successfully talked myself out of vomiting or having an anurisim but when we go to our condo I was sick. My heart rate was around 130 laying down and I couldn't sit up or I would faint. I couldn't sleep either because when I started to drift off my arms would go dead and my heart rate would slow way down. I only felt better when I paniced because the adrenaline would increase my blood pressure.
I was used to these spells, but this was the worst one I had had so I asked my husband to bring me to the emergency room. The ER's tests showed I was pre cardiac arest upon arriving. They were sure I had a blood clot since my heart rate was 130 and went to 150 if I sat up. A whole bunch of tests and 5k later, they came up with the diagnosis of Tachycardia (rapid heart beat). Funny, that is all they could come up with because I already knew that-that's why I went to the ER in the first place.
I called my cardiologist and he told me it was normal for the nervous system to dysfunction in higher elevations and to rest that it should be better in a few days. I recently had been seen at the Environmental Health Center in Dallas so I called the doctor there out of desperation. I told him what was going on and he told me to go to the drug store and buy some Vitamin C. I was silent, confused, I just told this doctor that I had extreme Tachcardia and I was unable to sit up and he tells me to take some vitamins? No wonder he was labeled an Alternative doctor...he was crazy-I thought! But, like I mentioned I was desperate so I took one. Within 30 minutes I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my nervous system. I could breathe without thinking about it, my heart beat was not so pronounced in my entire body, usually this much recovery would have taken 12 hours of resting or more, I was shocked. Even though it only lasted 30 minutes. I wanted to leave Branson right away and go straight back to talk with him.
The Environmental Health Center put me through lots of different tests, but they were tests that I was not occustomed to. Hair nutrient tests, heavy metal testing, allergy testing. I remember telling the doctor I had not one food allergy, never, in my whole life.
When the dust settled (and I paid my bill) I had an immune system that was not functioning properly and resembled cancer, enough Hexane in my blood to be a farmer, Propane in my lungs to fuel a small country, high Bismuth and 7x the normal salt level in my hair. I also had only 25 foods out of the 100 they tested me for that I was NOT allergic to. What? It seemed crazy that I was allergic to so many foods and I almost didn't beleive the tests. I never got stomach aches or rashes to let me know I was allergic to them. But, one by one I eliminated the foods they said I was allergic to and within 3 weeks I didn't need the 3 presriptions I was so dependent on for the last 5 years of my life. Presriptions that made it so I could go to work and cook dinner and take a shower without fainting. Prescriptions that I was told I would be on for the rest of my life. Prescriptions that I would have literaly bought on the black market if the need arose. Suddenly, I was independant of them. It was a miracle! I have never felt so free and alive and and instead of bracing against it I was ready and excited for my new found life and the world!
The next step was to identify where exactly I came in contact with the Hexane, Propane, and Salt. After a really long questionaire the doctor determined that the Hexane came from all that painting. I hadn't painted in at least 2 years because I was so sick, but there were still dangerously high levels in my blood. Propane from our propane fueled stove that I cooked on everyday, twice a day. The salt, we knew the answer to...our well water. I wasn't drinking it but it was still soaking into my skin when I showered and my body was trying to eliminate it through my hair. The bismuth was the number one ingredient in the powder base makeup I used every day.
I started healing by going through their detox program, but I have learned so much more since then. In the past year I have read books as fast as I can and tried to gain as much knowledge as I possibly can. The answer was simple really, God gave us all the nutrients we need to heal ourselves, but we still look for "the cure" Big Pharma wants us to support them in finding "the cure" so they can make the big bucks. Think about who are the sponsors at walks, races, and rides? Big Pharma. They don't want you to know that "the cure" in most cases is already readily available and people are doing it every day...REMOVE THE CAUSE.
Over the past year I have been removing the causes and everyday I am getting closer and closer to being 100%. No more POTS or NCS or Sjogren’s. No more prescriptions or days wasted in the bed. No more fainting or cots in my office or missed days of work. No need to find the nearest parking space. No need to find a chair. No more avoiding the stairs. No more the need to rest. No more avoiding the heat. No more watching my life pass before me. No more feeling HELPLESS! NO MORE!
