Flourishing beyond Multiple sclerosis.

It was 2011 when I started to notice pins and needles on my hands, stomach and the bottoms of my feet which never went away, I was 28 years of age. After several visits to the GP, and a CT scan, they had discovered a 1.5cm lesion on my brain. I still remember the despair I had in the radiologist’s office when he told me the ‘debilitating’ news, tears rolling down my face. Unknown what disease I had at this point, I left the imagery department feeling scared, scared for my life, scared for what was about to happen to me, and scared as to how I was going to tell my family. Once I told them, they were extremely supportive through what felt like a very traumatic revelation, I was soon to be diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

Before seeing the neurologist, I had NO IDEA the mental battle I was about to go up against. I still remember the neurologist at my first appointment said “the diagnosis is worse than the disease.” and in the years to come, he was right. That day, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease where your own body’s immune system attacks the myelin sheath surrounding the nerves of the central nervous system. Sometimes this attack can lead to immobility, loss of proprioception, fatigue, dysregulated temperature control, loss of balance, tingling, numbness and much more.

For me, the pins and needles at the time, were the main presenting symptoms which over roughly 6 weeks they resolved, however the lesions continued to appear through my spinal cord, and my brain. For someone who was playing at the highest levels of women’s soccer in Victoria at the time, I was in a lot of denial that I could have such a chronic disease. I felt fit, I was what I thought was healthy, I had never experienced any other health issues up until this point, yet my body continued to attack itself. My health anxiety was through the roof, I would have panic attacks irrationally thinking I had a brain tumour, or I may get schizophrenia. I went through years of different immunosuppressive medication, which made me feel worse and even more anxious that I was going to induce yet another chronic disease from the medications adverse effects, but I was continually told by my neurologist that medication was the only way to slow down the progression of the disease.

It was 5 years into my diagnosis that I began research into how to overcome MS naturally, and downloaded a pack from an Australian naturopath that was full of information on diet, lifestyle and nutraceuticals that can be taken to improve MS symptoms. I was super excited that there was so much information out there into natural ways to heal and manage MS, and I couldn’t wait to share this insight with my neurologist. There was an alternative to taking invasive immunosuppressive medication. The day of my neurologist appointment, I had all the information with me in a pack and I was ready to explain how changing my diet and lifestyle (which was in fact not so healthy at all - I’ll explain later), was going to reverse the damage to my myelin sheath and slow the progression of MS. Unfortunately, the neurologist did not share the same excitement as I did, and rolled her eyes and shook her head at all the natural ways of managing the disease. I just remember her saying “the statistics say, the medication works”, “the statistics say you will be less debilitated”, “the benefits of the medication out way the risks”. I walked out of the specialists office that day and I was deflated and also angry that the specialist who was meant to be there to support me, didn’t want to even entertain the possibilities of diet and lifestyle, despite obvious benefits. It took me a couple of days to shake this appointment off, but I was back on the natural medicine bandwagon, and I took it upon myself to stop my medication at the time and go natural. In hindsight, I was too eager and a little reckless (so I would never recommend anyone do this without the supervision of an experienced naturopath or integrative doctor), but I did it. I began to follow a diet in the little pack I found - no dairy, no gluten, no sugar and that was about where it ended. I continued to drink alcohol (which back then was socially at events - you might say it was binge drinking every second weekend), and I didn’t have a lot of variety in my vegetable intake. I was also working a stressful new job at the time, and after having an incident with my manager, the next morning I woke up to put on my jeans, and I couldn’t find the zipper with my hands. I had lost proprioception in my hands, fingers and arm. Over the next couple of days, my arm symptoms worsened, and I couldn’t lift my arm beyond my hip. I was terrified and I was left with no option other than to ring my neurologist and share with her what had happened. I really didn’t want to hear, “I told you so”. Of course, at my visit with the neurologist she convinced me to go on the latest and more effective disease modifying drug (with worse side effects of course), and in my fear of becoming more disabled, I started on the new drug. What a roller coaster of emotions I felt during this time. Angry, hopeless, scared, disappointed, defeated. After months of deliberation as to whether I would continue with this strong, mind-altering, risky immunosuppressant medication, I decided I was going to investigate further into how to treat MS naturally and what missing links I had the first time round, that I needed to address this time, and boy did I miss a few important diet and lifestyle modifications. Off I went down the natural medicine path again, only this time, I had the support of a wise old integrative doctor who was aligned with my belief to overcome MS with natural modalities, a book I found by Dr. Terry Wahls, who was also diagnosed MS and reversed her symptoms, and best of all, I decided to become a naturopath myself. That way I would be fully equipped to learn everything and anything there is to know to overcome a debilitating chronic autoimmune disease like MS.

10 years later, I can now confidently say “I am not a statistic”, and I will never be. To be continued….