Norah's News

Ok... this is my first post in our journal. Yup, took me long enough to get going and you may regret that I did :-)

First off I want to update everyone on my health progress. My Fibromyalgia is getting better and better each week. My chiropractor did his thesis on FMS and he truly believes that I’m standing at the gateway of total remission. Now I have to work even harder to get through the gate and kiss FMS good-bye. What a yucky and debilitating disease.

I guess it was worth the horrific expense of all the treatments that I’ve been going through since July of 2004. Let’s see… Acupuncture once a week, Chiropractor twice per week, Physiotherapy with an Osteopath once per week, Massage Therapy twice per week, and work outs at the gym with a Personal Trainer twice per week. Oh… and it doesn’t stop there :-)

Jason and I discovered the wonderful world of holistic nutrition. We saw the holistic nutritionist for a live blood cell microscopy (where they put a drop of your blood under the microscope) which revealed many interesting facts. Seems both Jason and I are too acidic and need to focus on reducing that by eating less acidic foods and increasing the alkaline ones.

It was a little tricky at first, but I think we’re getting the hang of it. We’ve cut out most of the dairy that we eat. No more milk, very little cheese, no more cream, and limited butter use. I think after the 3rd day of “no dairy” and “no white sugar”, I noticed a drastic improvement. NO MORE UPSET TUMMY EVERY DAY. What a relief that is I tell you. Seems that IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and CFS (Chronic Fatigue syndrome) go hand in hand with FMS (Fibromyalgia). Let’s not even discuss the pit of dark depression that takes over most Fibro patients as well.

We’re also in the process of eliminating as much wheat and yeast as we can. The blood analysis showed that I had a huge yeast issue in my blood along with low iron and fungus. YUCK! So, we rarely eat bread and when we do, we try to get the yeast free and “WHOLE” grain breads. Soy Milk has become a staple in the house and I have grown to love it tremendously. Thank God they have Soy Cream for my coffee. Now that would be a major dilemma for me if coffee were out of the picture :-) I need that one coffee per day and I’ve heard that recently they’ve found out that 1 – 2 cups per day are actually good for you. Well, at least that’s the word this month.

Pasta and potatoes have gone bye-bye as well at dinner. Instead we’re eating all our meats (red meat only once per month – maybe) with mega sides of veggies and salads. What a difference. My last doctors’ visit showed that my “high cholesterol” was now as normal as normal can be. WOOOOOHOOOO !!!! My protein leakage from the kidneys have dropped by over one half. I still have a way to go with that issue… but at least I’m not facing the certainty of Kidney Disease any more. My blood pressure is not only normal, but the low end of normal. I’m still facing the problem of my blood sugar at the high end of normal. And the big news…. The weight is starting to drop…. Yet another WOOOOHOOOOO :-)

The doctor’s face showed his amazement when his jaw dropped as he was reading out the numbers to me. I love throwing him off like that. Dufus! He wanted to take credit for my improvements, so I corrected him and gave him the list of what I do in a day to achieve this success… hahahahahaha.

Thank God I have the most wonderful man on the planet for a husband. Jason has supported every thing I try to do to get “back to normal” ok, ok…. I never was normal… but you know what I mean :-)

So that’s my update on my health improvements. Boy am I happy and feeling sooooooooo much better. The lower back is still a royal pain in the A$$ but I’m working on it. Gotta get the core muscles stronger, along with my left leg (my evil nemesis). It’s taken awhile to figure out what exactly is going on with my back and left leg, but thanks to my wonderful alternative health team, we’ve got it figured out.

It took a long time and a lot of work just to get this diagnosed properly so that we can work on fixing it. It seems that the quadricep muscle has one of the four muscles not working at all and the rest are in total spasm 24/7. Which in turn has the hamstring muscles in the same leg also in spasm and both are pulling on my pelvis which is knocking my lower spine out of whack and causing the DDD (degenerative disc disease) in the lower back. Also the ITB (Iliotibia Band) that connects at the hip and runs along the outside of the leg and connects just below the knee… is tight, tight, tight along with a tight hip flexor and Illiapsoas (muscle that connects the hip to the quadriceps. I don’t know how accurate my spelling or definitions are of these muscles/tendons are, but you can see the little war that is going on inside.

All of these are getting better with tons of stretching, exercise and massage. As for prescription meds.. I am proud to announce that I no longer need to take the handful of drugs the doctor hands out to treat Fibro. I still rely on some pain killers and muscle relaxers on really bad days… but that has drastically dropped… yet another WOOOOOHOOOO. Thanks also to the natural supplements that I’m taking along with all the nutrition and treatments. Yup… I’m on a holistic quest which is doing something the doctors could not do, not even suggest to do.

I’m also trying to do self-Reiki at least 3 times per week which I’m positive is helping the mix of treatments towards healing. I am very pleased that I got my Level 1 Reiki Practitioner certification that legally allows me to give Reiki treatments to others. I plan on getting the Level 2 in July and hopefully the Reiki Master level within the next year.

The neatest thing I’ve learned is Aromatherapy. I’ve always had a very keen interest in Aromatherapy but never knew much about it, other than certain blends will energize or relax. When I wanted to do the candle business, I was hoping to start making Aromatherapy Candles, but didn’t know how to go about it. With this overly strong sense of smell that I possess, I thought I’d be a natural for it. What I didn’t know and just recently learned, is the healing aspect of Aromatherapy and the science and chemistry behind it.

I decided to sign up for an online course at a mere $12 to find out what it was all about. My teacher was impressed with my progress and we started conversing in e-mail a bit. She helped me find a blend of different essential oils that would help muscle pain and spasms. I quickly followed her instructions and prepared the blend. As I applied it to my leg, I could feel the oils starting to work and had a virtual pain free afternoon that day. I was hooked.

Continuing on with the online course, my teacher commented that she was more than impressed and suggested I investigate a proper school and become a certified Aromatherapist as I have a real knack for it. I didn’t really believe that I was as good as she was claiming, but I finished the course, all the assignments and tests and ended up with a mark of 100%. She said I was the first student to have done that in all the years she was teaching and will be making up a special certificate and mailing it to me soon.

Needless to say, my interest was peaked even more. I located a school here in Burlington that teaches alternative healing practices and Aromatherapy was their main focus. I called the school, talked with the head instructor, made an appointment and saw her, and even had a free aromatherapy treatment to see if I’m interested enough to enroll. A special blend of essential oils were prepared for my specific medical needs and I had the most amazing treatment. I felt great the rest of the day and even the next day. Pain was at a minimum.

Well… guess what. I’m enrolled to start school on Monday June 6th, 2005 to become a certified Aromatherapist. Yup…. By this time next year, I’ll have letters after my name and I’ll be busy mixing and blending oils to sell. I’ve already got 2 job offers and I haven’t even started. My chiropractor wants me to join his healthcare team (Total Health Link) as soon as I graduate. My massage therapist’s boss also wants me to join his team (Core Link Wellness Centre) by making blends, bath salts, candles, soaps, massage oils, etc.

He's already clearing space on their shelves for my stuff. I haven’t even started school yet and I’ve got people lining up for me to work with. My chiropractor keeps telling me that if I come up with blends for Fibromyalgia, I will strike it rich in no time… LOL.

All I know is what works for me, and I would love to be able to help others that go through this horrific pain every day and get well. Looks like I’ll be able to make the “REAL” aromatherapy candles as well. Not those fake ones that are sold in stores everywhere. I could go on and on about that, but I’m doing a good enough job at the length of this post, that I don’t think I’ll get into how these fake aromatherapy candles are just a gimmick to make money instead of what real aromatherapy is all about.

I am sooooooooooooo excited about this I can’t even begin to describe it. It’s in my blood, it’s something I’m good at, and love. As for the book I’m working on with my writing partner. That is still a go. She’s been very sick lately and hasn’t been able to produce much. Right now I’m waiting for her work so that I can fix it up and add the passion that is my part of our team. At this rate, it’s going to take a long time to get this book finished, but I know it will be done at some point. I just wish I could help Jana (my writing partner) feel better so that she can work more on this. There is only so much I can do on my own with this book. I depend on her for the ideas and story flow as this is her baby and I’m just the word person that puts her ideas into a readable story.

Ok… enough babbling from me. I’ll post this so you can all read. I hope you’ve enjoyed my verbal vomit so to speak.