As 2020 comes to a close there is so much to praise. If you asked me in early October I would’ve told you this has been one of the best years. Yes, there has been heartache and loss, but the Bible tells us to GIVE THANKS in all things, and that is exactly what I was doing.
I was (and am) so thankful to have my husband working from home. While he has a quiet office at the end of the house, being able to see him at break times while we work on a Bible study for 5-10 minutes and enjoy lunch together each day has been such a blessing for this family.
Then trauma happened right smack dab in the middle of October and shook our family to the core.
I wanted to leave you with some wisdom to kickstart your 2021 and I had really hoped I’d be able to write this to you from a place where I had fully arrived and knew for certain that the nuggets of info I gave to you here would be beneficial because of my personal experience.
I’m sorry to stay I haven’t fully arrived, but I do still have some good news to share! Hey, it’s a good thing to keep on learning anyway!
Let me give a disclosure and a little back story. First off, while I do have some experience in the medical field, I am not a doctor and you should consult yours with any concerns you have.
Okay, the back story. This fall I went in for a routine dental filling for a cavity. At the same time, we were doing some home projects with all of our extra time at home.
For as long as I can remember my heart races after fillings and I feel completely wiped out for a day or two. Several years ago I went to the ambulance shed after a filling, thinking I was having a heart attack. I’m not one to typically worry like this about my health and I am super in tune with my body, so that should tell you how bad it was.
The home improvement project we were working on was putting a drop ceiling in our kids’ bedrooms. The Armstrong Acoustic Directional Tiles we used shed a ridiculous amount of mineral fiber and tiny pieces of fiberglass (shiny dust). Cleaning up that has been SUCH a mess. I would not recommend those tiles to anyone- no matter how cheap they are. They gave me a headache and it was very difficult to breathe around them.
After the dental appointment, I noticed the new filling was sitting a little high. I started feeling unwell and couldn’t get in to get it fixed for just over a week. So for one week I couldn’t bite down properly, and my appetite disappeared.
I had a host of physical symptoms over the next two months. It started with a sinus type headache, earache, sore throat, then quickly progressed to full-blown panic attacks and more. I didn’t have a throat or ear infection, I asked the doctor to check to be sure.
I’d never experienced panic like this in my life. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The first time my body was stuck in fight or flight mode for a good five days. My brother drove me to the ER where the doctor on duty agreed with me when I said I thought I was having a panic attack. They suggested talk therapy and taking Benadryl to help me sleep. That seemed valid, as I was waking up at night with the feeling that I was dying and I knew I needed better sleep. I wish they had at least examined me though, and not guessed from across the room (dang Covid).
Over the next couple of weeks I noticed my heart rate was skyrocketing when I was just sitting on the couch, and dropping when I was doing something physically active (which was difficult to do). So backwards!
Without going deep into the details my days looked like this: Extreme nausea, shaking so hard I had trouble getting out of bed for the first two weeks of this, digestive issues (similar to IBS), heart palpitations, blood sugar spiking, whole body tingling, tight chest and trouble getting a good breath, backaches that felt like maybe a gallbladder issue, and dry heaves/vomiting.
I examined every area of my life. It all felt like a spiritual attack. I dove deep into several Bible studies, praying and journaling more than ever. I backtracked everything I’d been exposed to. The second doctor (and I) think I am allergic to the anesthesia. My body hit what is referred to in the functional medicine world as “toxic burden”.
The dental anesthesia, the new ceiling tiles that were still putting off an awful chemical smell for a month before we removed them, we’d done several home projects/painting, etc. in recent months, I had to change soap due to a sourcing issue, increased hand sanitizer use, etc. all played into this, Oh, yeah, and my sugar intake had increased (remember those Reese’s I fell in love with?)
It was all just too much for my body.
At the suggestion of an amazing functional medicine doctor, I bought an air purifier, started on a handful of supplements, and took on the strict Elimination Diet.
I was seeing some good improvement, but I still had trouble fully shaking that underlying anxious feeling.
You guys, last week I went to the chiropractor, like I have regularly for the past 4 years. On Monday I had an adjustment that helped tremendously, and went in again on Wednesday.
My chiropractor is such a good listener and as I was telling him some of what had been going on I told him that I had another slight panic moment earlier in the day, he picked up on a clue that possibly my jaw was misaligned.
He worked his God-given gift and I walked out of his office with the most confidence I have had in months!
The anxiety I was experiencing was so bad that I couldn’t go grocery shopping (thankfully Mr. Awesome has picked up my slack in this area and praise God for online ordering & grocery pick up), so the first thing I did was drive straight to the store and go shopping. We didn’t even “need” anything, but I knew this was a good test to see how I was really doing.
The next few days I was able to feel like myself again. It’s only been a week, and I know there are other areas of my health that still need improvement, but it has been amazing to me to see how our bodies are created and how all the systems are connected.
Now full disclosure, I did feel the anxiety creep back in yesterday, but I am taking any relief I can get as a blessing- and I have another chiropractor appointment today.
Okay, tomorrow I’ll share some of my top health tips that you can easily implement for 2021!
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