I woke up this morning with a pounding headache, which is very rare for me. The day before I had eaten half a bagel when I found myself at a cafe with a client, starving and light-headed, having run out without breakfast. Poor planning on my part, and I forgot – as I sometimes do – the extent to which gluten reeks havoc in my body. Anyway, this morning as I woke up to the pain in my head I was immediately cranky. My 4-year-old daughter Gwendolyn, who was cuddling next to me, asked...
Which drug should I choose to manage my MS? (That’s a question from someone who’s thinking small.) When are they going to come up with a cure? (Another question from someone thinking small.) I read versions of these questions every day from people with MS all over the country and the world. And to them I say: If being healthy is what you want, you’re thinking too small. It’s time to Think Bigger. What does it mean to think big about MS? It means that what we deem possible for our health must go...
It was July of 2007 and I was waiting for the most important results of my life. I had had my first MRI two days before I was scheduled to leave town for a training in California with Dr. Joseph Riggio. The results I was awaiting would either confirm or not that I had Multiple Sclerosis, as my neurologist at the time suspected. As you can imagine, I was anxious to hear from her. I called before I left for my trip, but the results weren’t in yet. So I called the following day,...
Imagine this: You want to go visit your friend Melissa but you’ve never been to her house and she lives an hour away, in a town you’ve never been to. Chances are, when you get in your car the first thing you’ll do is program her address into your GPS, so that it can navigate for you the fastest route to get there. Now let’s say that instead of punching in the address of Melissa’s house, you input the address to Bethany’s house, who happens to live 45 minutes in the opposite direction, and...
MS Warrior: noun A person who shows or has shown great vigor or courage in an activity, cause, or conflict, as in living a kick-ass, purposeful life despite – or, oftentimes, because of, having Multiple Sclerosis. I was thrilled to come across an article in Marie Claire online about a woman named Kate Milliken, who was diagnosed with MS in 2006 and successfully reversed it using a combination of traditional and holistic approaches and an attitude of hardcore determination and positive thinking. You can find the article here. I was even more thrilled to...
The following is a healing exercise excerpted directly from Light Emerging: The Journey of Personal Healing by Barbara Brennan: Lie down, and imagine the nice pleasant sun inside the solar plexus (stomach area) of your body. Pretty soon, you will feel much better, and your stomach will feel warm. Probably even your breathing will slow down as you begin to relax more. If you want to expand this relaxation to include your spirit, remember a wonderful religious or spiritual experience you have had, perhaps as a child. Remember that special, wonderful time when you...
From the book Light Emerging: The Journey of Personal Healing by Barbara Ann Brennan: An untreatable diagnosis is a statement about the medical system, not the patient. If given as a statement about the patient’s condition, it puts patients at a distinct disadvantage in their healing process. It leaves little if any room for the creative process of healing to come forth from the patient. It leaves no room for alternative care systems. It is far better when a physician says “I have done all I can for you. I am, at this time,...
