What prompted my health journey and now I’m an apprentice medicine woman, thank you.

JodieDownUnder

This always intrigues me, what was it that prompted a change. Have you always lived a healthy existence? Do you believe you now live a healthier life? This is my story.

I’ve always been the outdoorsy type, sport, hiking, working on the land etc. I believed growing up, my parents provided me with a fairly healthy diet, lots of fruit & veg but we also ate crap. I mean really processed, sugary stuff, cakes, donuts, chips etc.

I guess when your younger you feel bulletproof and can handle most things and think you know lots as well. (How wrong) burn the candle at both ends, so to speak. Then this happen and it gave me a good hard shake. My dad was in his early 50’s when he had a heart attack and had bypass surgery. What a shock, such a fit go-getter, super man really. He survived, he’s about to turn 84 and while he’s not the man he once was, he’s ok. My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer at 45 and died at 54. Far too young and to see her go through the conventional treatments broke my heart. She got the all clear after 5 yrs, only for it to return and consume her.

So when I was about 40, (took me a while) I made a Drs appointment and had bloods etc done. Result, high cholesterol. Take this drug, it will help lower your cholesterol and keep your heart healthy. I did for 6 weeks and then had severe muscle pain in my groin, like a screwdriver. Stopped the meds, pain gone. Looked up the side effects of the statin I was on and bingo, can produce muscle spasms, amongst others. I threw it out and decided I needed to be responsible for my own health. So a change of diet, more fruit & veg, less processed foods, less sugar for a start. It was hard to maintain the healthy commitment, it takes time & energy as well as running a business, long hours & easy processed food to grab on the go.

When I retired mid 2017, I decided to make it my mantra to look after my wife and I as best I possibly could and be as self sufficient as we could. Did some research, grew our own veggies, eat less wheat, eat less meat, cook at home, make healthy choices, get out in nature and enjoy and be grateful for what we have, joined TGN in 2018 and learned heaps more and still learning from the wonderful, knowledgeable people on the forums. Became an apprentice medicine woman, making my own herbal remedies and I could not be happier or healthier. My cholesterol is still high but I don’t have once ounce of plaque buildup in my heart.

I thank all my fellow TGN peers, who have helped and keep helping me on this path I have taken. My plan is to be around for a long time and I want to be the best I can be. No burden and preferably no medical intervention.

What prompted your healthy journey?😊

LaurieLovesLearning

I will try to keep mine brief. You all know how that goes. 😬

I was first introduced by my midwife who recommended certain herbs starting with my first pregnancy. This I am building on today, herbs for pregnancy, labor and postpartum (post natal) because I hope to support our oldest daughter as she goes through her pregnancy.

Having babies made a difference as well. Doctors were telling me things and trying to scare me with various things. I also homebirthed which was not accepted at first and questioned when we were not going into the hospital for the births. Even once they messed with midwifery here by regulating it, we were questioned. They always refused to take me on as a client, but that was okay. I learned a lot from my traditional midwives and was well prepared without the risks that might accompany seeing a midwife that had boundaries imposed by the system.

I had a long history trying to figure out how to deal with a hypothyroid diagnoses, then due to the med prescribed, super early menopause symptoms that shouldn't have existed at that age & miscarriage. That got me looking elsewhere as well.

In the coming years, I discovered herbal teas, which was nice, because I don't like black or green teas. My mom drank herbal teas, but they were bagged and were only consumed because of flavor. I started pursuing loose leaf for medicinal benefits.

Years later, I read about broadleaf plantain and how it is so versatile. I got to check out if the deworming nature had any truth to it when we acquired 2 very wormy colts. The story is on TGN, so I won't repeat it here.

About that same time, I started exploring common weeds and what they could do.

Anyway, the learning is ongoing, collecting books & knowledge and sharing information as I can. If you teach others, you retain more. Our kids are starting early!

It is often overwhelming, but sometimes that doesn't take much for me to get that way. So much to do, so little time.

Yes, and that is the brief version. Haha

Linda Bittle

As a woman who suffers from migraines and had menstrual difficulties for many years, my medical care has been mismanaged so many times. I started looking for options when shoulder pain sent me to a chiropractor when my MD could only offer injections or surgery.

I am willing to go to the doctor IF it's necessary, but it is never my first thought and I've gotten a reputation for being "non-compliant" in most cases.

When I lost vision in my right eye a few years ago, it was necessary to find out why. Loved the optometrist who diagnosed a blood clot that had taken out my optic nerve (no fix for that), and have HATED every single medical professional I've seen since. Yes, I needed to get my blood pressure under control. But I did not need, nor accept, antidepressants. Turned them down multiple times. Turned down x-rays, other imaging, and a consult with a surgeon when I sprained my wrist...Just needed a note to get paid for a couple of days off work to rest the injury.

No wonder health care is so expensive!

LaurieLovesLearning

@Mary Linda Bittle, West Plains, Missouri Non-compliant...check. No to anti-depressants (and other drugs)...check.

Yes, it's expensive. Even though our care is covered by our taxes...it is not free, we still pay for many things depending on the situation. Some don't realize the money involved and (used to) go to emergency for the tiniest complaint. 🙄 I would rather avoid the doctors altogether if it is at all safely possible and there are effective alternatives. We actually have stayed quite healthy without them. 😄 I believe making good, informed choices is behind that!

Actually, on that note, now unvaxxed are no longer "allowed" to go for acute care in the hospitals in my province and that potentially causes all sorts of difficulties & complications in an emergency or even for assessment & regular health care.

A note to those who choose to not comply elsewhere and don't have this restriction in place yet...get ready & be prepared ahead of time with offline & accessible knowledge at your fingertips. It will come to your area probably sooner rather than later.

It pays to be ready for any situation anyway, complying or not.

LaurieLovesLearning

I should add, healthy eating happened as our family started having issues (behavioral, first noticed in our first child, then us). We looked into Feingold and started following what we could as far as their suggestions were concerned. We did a complete overhaul, baby step by baby step, and as much as I cooked from scratch already, I learned how to dig deeper, check ingredient lists regularly and make a lot of my own ingredient substitutes.

We had to do a lot of our own research on foods here, because at the time, they really only covered the US. We have continued this way of eating since about 2002.

It helps tremendously, whether a person has adhd or not. Synthetic ingredients, whether in food (alphabet preservatives & some others, flavors or colorings) or artificial scents, can be triggers for behavioral, attention/focus, brain fog, migraines, a "staring through" look, wild eyes, dramatics (crying, anger, rage, road rage), and much, much more. It can cause epileptic seizures in some people.

We don't miss it at all. We don't miss high fructose corn syrup or msg in its multiple forms either. Many of those, we can taste in the foods now, and it honestly makes the food taste bad (exception, msg & aliases, which heighten flavor and addiction).

We ate 1/2 sugar in recipes already (oh! food tastes better that way), and in some, such as my bun recipe turned bread recipe, had sugar eliminated altogether.

Along the way, we got a flour mill. Then we bought an oats roller. Both give a better tasting product loaded with a much more nutritional punch.

As we could/can, we grow & source as much as we can from people we know.

Torey

Learning how to eat properly is just as much a part of becoming a "Medicine" person as is learning about herbs and other remedies.

I started on the herbal journey as a child, learning from my mum and granny and much, much later getting a formal education in herbal medicine.

But the food thing took more time to sink in. I took a course in holistic nutrition a few years ago and that was an eye opener as I thought we ate pretty well at the time. I made a concerted effort to change a few of the bad habits we had and it has made a huge difference to our health.