I wrote a little about my journey in my last blog post and also said all that I plan to say about western medicine. It has it’s place and I’m thankful for it in acute situations of need. Ok, so I said a little more.
I have been in some sort of pain for most of my adult life. It started with chronic fatigue (undiagnosed – but damn, I was tired) in my mid to late 20’s, progressed to weight gain and bad headaches, which later turned into neck/back pain and migraines and frequent swollen sinuses. I left out life-long yeast infections and a spate of frequent UTIs, and probably a lot more. Because when you live with a mountain of pain and agony, you sort of forget the little things and only remember the spikes.
I did get some sinus relief from my ENT, who I love (Dr. Neeta Kohli-Dang in Huntsville, AL if anyone needs one). Dr. Dang did surgery on me around 10 years ago and they were great for awhile. I appreciated that she could see I was suffering and did an MRI on me, which revealed very inflamed sinuses. But I digress…
I have had many years of chiropractic care and used many modalities of alternative care. They have helped me so much! But they don’t “hold” or “stay” on me, because I haven’t found root cause.
Now let’s not get ourselves in a root cause quagmire. I am talking about root cause in this lifetime for those of you reading who may be into past lives, memory in our DNA, ancestral stuff, etc. Which leads me to the most recent chiropractor that I’ve been working with. Dr. Garry Cook in Scottsboro, AL is fantastic. He works with your skeleton and muscles and going to him is sort of like having him trace your energy back bit by bit to the beginning. For instance, a few weeks ago he said “This neck thing is an old injury, and it’s like your head was hit and forced backwards.” I remembered that when I was 15, I wasn’t wearing a seat belt and hit the windshield of a friend’s Ford Ranger so hard that my forehead made an indention. There were a few other head type injuries over my younger life, but that was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back. But at 15, your body holds shit together a whole lot better than at almost 50. I wish I had been working on this sooner!
I have almost forgotten to mention my excellent homeopathic practitioner, Sharon Parrish. I started my journey with her on 12/20/20 after being referred to her by my also excellent Structural Integration practitioner, Susan Jeffreys. If she’s good enough for Susan, she’s good enough for me (and she is of course!).
I need to add a few things before you read my journey. First, I am not a homeopathic practitioner. I am very well-read and I read up on everything I take and discuss with my practitioner, though, and so I’ve included links that I found helpful when i mention a remedy below. If you do a general Google search and want something than a mainstream media article, search for “remedy name” homeopathy otherwise you’ll end up with something that isn’t a personalized account of having taken the remedy or a practitioner’s point of view. Also, practitioners ask you a LOT of questions to determine the correct remedy, so as you’re reading you need to remember that your issues won’t be 100% of what something can be prescribed for but you will definitely recognize some. They can be used effectively for both physical and emotional symptoms. Finally, they are in extremely small doses so don’t let your surprise of what they are derived from discourage you. I encourage you to read about how homeopathy works if you’ve got questions, or book an appointment with a reputable practitioner who can explain it to you.
So about my journey…When you are using homeopathy it’s good to take detailed notes. You want to know what you took, dosage, frequency, and what your symptoms were. Why? Well, if a symptom is “aggravated” it means the remedy was the correct one and is working. And depending on many factors, aggravation can be miserable. I am sharing this because this is a lifestyle change and commitment to yourself and it isn’t simple or easy (haven’t I mentioned that?). And Sharon says that it hits your weakest areas. For me, that’s my neck and sinuses, and results in horrific migraines. I have felt hung over without the fun of staying out all night more times since December than I can tell you!
Looking back at my notes from December, I want to emphasize TAKE GOOD NOTES. I clearly did not! Or maybe my handwriting just stinks so badly I can’t figure it out…but it looks like I took Nux Vomica and then Arnica Montana. It’s unclear if I had a sinus swelling and severe headache first or if something aggravated it but I ended up with one somehow. And if memory serves, I was in bed for 1.5 weeks of my 2 week vacation from work. (Remember, I’ve had severe pain for years. Maybe you will react differently.)
On 12/26 she had me take X-Ray. It’s a real remedy, taken to counteract the effects of x-rays, MRI, etc. The next day I felt like I had a bad hangover. I took Nux Vomica to help, and by afternoon I was better.
On 12/27 I began a list of remedies, starting with Aconite. I felt better but still had swollen sinuses and a headache. I slept better, elevated but soundly. (Thank goodness I recently got a Sleep Number bed that I can elevate!)
12/28 – took Papavera and slept great. I had a general sense of well-being.
12/29 – I took Hydrogen. I did not sleep well and woke up many times restless. My sinuses were filling up, but when I would move positions they would drain.
12/30 – I took Carcinosin. Let’s just say I expelled some stuff from my bowels.
Between 12/31/20 and 1/21/21 I had:
-Sensitive teeth
-Joint and muscle aches
-Constipation
-Fatigue and brain fog
-Thyroid (left side which is all I have left) shrunk in size
-Tons of gas
-Felt “out of gas”
-Slept poorly due to lower SI joint pain
This is a pretty good synopsis of the first leg of my homeopathy journey. The next phase begins work on my lifelong Candida issue.
Remember to keep in mind that I have had some very chronic issues, and so I’ve experienced a lot of discomfort related to healing those issues. But homeopathy is designed to work gently, so your journey may be much easier than mine.
Love & Blessings,
Nicole
