How it started
After 8 years suffering with Chronic Lyme disease and other associated health failures, I recovered largely thanks to an experimental embryonic stem cell treatment in India. But about a year after my incredible stem cell transplant, I start to see the emergence of some troubling symptoms — very similar to the ones I originally experienced. All Lyme tests were negative, but it was later confirmed that chronic Epstein Barr Virus, various food allergies and other conditions that I had been free of for so long, were back. And the endometriosis I’d suffered with my entire life was rapidly getting worse. This was a sign that once again, my immune system was impaired. I was scared to death that I would end up where I once was, in a downward spiral of chronic pain.
So, I started to look more deeply at my health conditions than I ever had before. I obsessively researched alternative ways to get my debilitating menstrual issues (pain, heavy bleeding and fatigue) and immune dysfunction under control. That’s when I had an epiphany:
“If treating the body alone doesn’t resolve the challenge, then the body alone must not be what created it.” – Me
What I discovered
I have come to believe whole-heartily that unprocessed emotions, unresolved trauma and damaging belief systems (ones we don’t even recognize we have!) contribute to emotional and physical symptoms. But to be clear, I also believe just as much in these 8 important things.
Not only do stored emotional energies cause us to experience intense emotional reactions like fear, excessive worry, and sadness; but they have a huge impact on our immune systems, which affect our physical bodies. By releasing these emotions, we free ourselves from negative emotional patterns, and employ our immune system’s full healing capabilities.
I believe because the stuck emotional energy I was storing in my body was never addressed, the stem cell transplant forced the physical repair of some of my body; but the underlining emotional energy was still there and just began to re-manifest in different ways. While I grew so much spiritually and emotionally in India, I eventually fell back into some of my old unhealthy patterns of living and thinking when I returned.
Although disease is often viewed as a negative experience, I do believe that it is a vessel to help us clear out from our lives that which no longer serves us. It’s the sometimes-hard-to-see silver lining to suffering. And while I had many ups and downs in my process of healing, I see now with clarity, there was purpose to it all.
Where I am now
After learning to address emotions and stress, I recovered permanently and completely — with no more treatments, medications, or trips around the world. And I know in my heart, it is for good. The feeling that accompanied my return to full health is nothing like I’ve ever felt before — like I’ve truly healed to my core. But it took everything — my willingness to embrace all the best parts of both eastern and western medicine.
Some of what I transformed:
- Being extremely fearful of not being in control, which really translated to deep fear about not being safe in the world
- Being scared to be healthy (yes, I really had fears about returning to a world that felt overwhelming to me)
- Unprocessed grief, resentment, anger, and other issues
- The emotional patterns I now find to be prominent in those with chronic Lyme disease.
- Why I was still holding on to my illness (finding the upside to my illness and discovering limiting beliefs)