What we eat can and does play a role in how we experience the symptoms of fibromyalgia and related chronic illnesses. Even if nutrition is not the initiating cause, it is a major contributing factor and can increase and prolong our symptoms. As the film says – food matters! And speaking from personal experience, I can directly attribute the recent improvements in my health to the majors changes I made in my eating habits – eliminating gluten and processed foods, and increasing lean proteins, and fruits and vegetables.
In her program The Eat to Beat Fibromyalgia Challenge, Deirdre Rawlings, PhD, ND, “presents a hand-held approach to removing the barriers to you having your body be pain-free so you can have more freedom to live life exactly how you want to.” In this 90-day group coaching system, Dr. Rawlings leads participants through her four Pillar system and guides them through the process with the help of guest medical experts.
Sounds great, but you are certain you can’t afford it?
Did you happen to notice this is a Giveaway?
From Deirdre Rawlings, Phd, ND.
Who Else Wants to End the Battle against Pain and Fatigue Using the Healing Powers of Food and Nutrition So You Can Feel Good Again?
Well today may be your lucky day because…
Deirdre Rawlings, PhD, ND, the creator of The Eat to Beat Fibromyalgia Challenge, is giving away 3 FREE scholarships to 3 people who cannot afford to pay for the program but would love to be a part of it. This is a $297 Value!
Here’s how to participate: Nominate a friend in need or yourself and tell us your circumstances and why you want to be part of this program and what you hope to get out of it.
We will select 3 people by this Friday, October 7 and help you on your way to feeling lighter, brighter, happier, and healthier!
Program runs from Oct. 4 to Dec. 20 — so Hurry and get your entries in!
Learn more about the program here: www.eattobeatfibromyalgia.com
Thank you Deirdre for this wonderful opportunity, and for asking FibroHaven to help you promote it.
How to nominate.
You can nominate a friend or yourself in three different ways. Which ever way you choose, be sure to state your circumstances and tell why you/your friend want to be a part of the program and what you/your friend hope to get out of it.
1. Leave a comment here on this blog post.
2. Leave a comment on this post on FibroHaven’s Facebook page.
3. Leave a comment on the Foods for Fibromyalgia Facebook page.
4. Email Deirdre directly at support@nutritionliving.com.
Act quickly! Winners will be announced this Friday, October 7th. Good luck!
Deirdre Rawlings is a board-certified naturopathic doctor and holistic health practitioner whose mission and purpose is to empower you with cutting-edge health and nutrition information with which to help you live a long and healthy life. Deirdre is a certified holistic nutritionist, master herbalist, and a certified health & wellness coach and graduated with a PhD in holistic nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health. She has written hundreds of health and nutrition articles and her recent book Food that Helps Win the Battle against Fibromyalgia, (published by Fairwinds Press, July, 2008), is endorsed by leading health authorities and experts such as Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, Stephen Sinatra, MD, and Jonny Bowden, PhD.
I have written posts before on why it is important to “show up.” Why it is imperative that we take active rolls in our health and wellbeing. Just yesterday, at the gentle yoga class I teach, one of my support group members was sharing with someone the amazing things she has experienced since joining our local support group and beginning to practice yoga regularly with me. In her very generous way she was trying to attribute some of the benefits to me, but the fact is – she is the one doing all the work, making all the efforts to connect and heal. She is the one who keeps showing up, and her rewards have been many – and they are her rewards to celebrate and cherish. Not mine. She is a perfect example of what happens when we just show up.
Celebrating Showing Up
On this day last year, I showed up for my very first day of yoga teacher training. I showed up, and I wasn’t even enrolled. I was #7 on the wait list, but sitting home, waiting for an email letting me know a space had opened up didn’t feel right, so I showed up.
And the class was full, and there wasn’t a space, but I approached the teacher anyways, and before she could tell me “No, sorry, there is no space for you.” I had blurted out my story – “14 years of chronic illness, was introduced to yoga last year, the only movement I have been able to do, feeling so much better, want to understand why, want to share with others…” “Okay, okay” she said to me,” go sit down. You are in.”
Those three little words changed my life. Literally. This past year has been a roller coaster of self discovery, improved health, and a deeper, more meaningful existence. I see the world with a completely new lens, a more loving, compassionate, and hopeful lens. And it is all do to the practice and philosophy of yoga – and to the fact that I keep showing up – even with my ever present chronic illness and when the old instincts to shut down, isolate, and retreat are loudly screaming at me. I grab my mat, step out the door, and do the best I can that day. And if my best is just being there, that is what I do. I show up.
Celebrating My Birthday & Re-Birthday
On this day last year I was reborn, a new person, a new me. And I really like the new me. I still have a lot of kinks to work out, and a lot more to explore and discover about myself. It is a lifelong process. But the changes have been radical and significant. And here is the really cool thing about this day. It is my actual birthday. I was born on this day 42 years ago. For 42 years on this day I have celebrated my birthday, but today this day has new and deeper significance.
I didn’t have to show up to yoga school on this day last year, in fact I almost didn’t. I told myself it was just not meant to be at that time, and I could sign up again when the new program began. In fact, I had convinced myself it was a good thing I did not get in because it meant I would have more time to heal and strengthen my body, and to improve my personal practice. But something drove me to show up – my gut, my intuition, my desire to heal. I am so glad I listened.
Celebrating You
So today I have a lot to celebrate. Today is a very good day. And I am so fortunate and blessed to have this wonderful community to share my happiness with. Yes, I created FibroHaven, and yes, I organize and facilitate FibroHaven, but it would be nothing if not for you. If not for each of you who shows up in your own way – at local meetings, leaving comments on this blog, commenting and interacting on our incredible Facebook page – if not for each of you showing up, there would be no community. So thank you – thank you for adding to my blessings and giving me so much to celebrate today and everyday.
I am committed to continue to bring all my growth, improvements, and insights back to FibroHaven. Look for a new post in The Blue Print Series soon, and other exciting news about what I am doing personally that is going to help enrich our community. I have said it before, but never tire of saying it – Community is Everything.
Thank you!
Much Love & Celebration,
Dannette
Not that long ago my thoughts, emotions, and daily functions revolved around being sick. It was how I identified myself. I was sick, and living in a state of “I can’t.” Everything seemed like an enormous task and too big of a risk to take. I was certain that anything outside the safety of the small little zone of comfort I had made for myself would send me spiraling into the depths of my illness. I was sick. That was pretty much the entirety of who I was and the lens with which I viewed the entire world.
But I was never happy or content with that state of being. Who is? Who could possibly be? Even when we reach a state of acceptance with our illness, it does not mean that we are content living with it. I was certainly not content – a shell of my former self, and a shell of the person I could still feel inside of me. My true essence is not that of a sick person. My true essence is beauty, strength, light, love, and possibility! And I could feel each element deep inside me just waiting to burst through. Something had to change!
So I changed the only thing I had any amount of control over – ME!
Actually I did not change me so much are get reconnected with ME – the me deep inside that I had lost touch with over my many years of illness. She hadn’t gone away, she simply had been neglected. And the first thing I did to reconnect with her was to forgive myself for neglecting her, for neglecting ME. I had been doing my very best to cope with my illness given the skills and understanding I had available to me at the time. As we all know there is no manual on how to live with chronic illness. It is a complete process of trial and error. We are the pioneers of fibromyalgia. So where to begin?
I began with the simple belief that my life had much more meaning than my illness. I began to listen to my intuition, which told me things could be different, things could change. I allowed my true essence to become louder than my doubt, worry, frustration, and fear. I gave more authority to ME and less to my illness. I opened my heart to the truth of ME and began to allow hope and joy back into my life. I worked hard at not letting the once loud voice of my illness, which at times drowned out any other sounds, to again become the only thing I could hear.
And I did more work. Slowly, yet regularly I began practices and behaviors that reinforced ME and turned down the volume of my illness. I completely changed the way I ate – no more gluten, and a lot more veggies, nothing processed, everything fresh. I began a regular yoga practice, starting once or twice a month in the extra gentle, senior class, and slowly progressing over two years time until here I am today, teaching gentle yoga and practicing regularly. I began reading books, magazines, and web content that enhanced and reinforced my new focus. I found a local spiritual community where I feel love, hope, and an even greater connection to the essence of ME. I could go on and on, describing the ways I have worked over the past two years to reconnect with me, and disconnect with my illness, but I think you get the point.
I am not symptom free. I likely never will be. But what I am is hopeful, and happy, and whole. I am whole despite what is missing. I am whole despite what is different. I am whole despite my symptoms. I am whole because I am again living from my true essence, not from my illness.
We are all so unique and valuable. I believe we feel pain so intensely because we feel everything intensely. It is exactly our capacity to love that gives us this incredible capacity to hurt. We can chose to focus on the love, and the essence of our being, rather than on the pain and symptoms of our illness. It is not living in denial. It is not mind over matter. It is essence over illness. You are so much more than your illness! And you illness can never diminish or extinguish your true essence. You were born with it, and you will die with. Now is the perfect time to find your own way to tune into it and let it once again become what you live from. Your formula will be your own. You know what makes your heart sing. You know what makes you feel like a complete and whole being. You know what makes you YOU! Find a way to spend more time there. You are love, you are light, you are beauty, and you are hope! The world needs more of YOU!
(self reflection photo courtesy of www.jennypalu.com/selfreflection.html)
How can we begin to heal if we do not understand why we are ill?
Healing from chronic illness is so much more complicated than just treating the symptoms. Prescription meds may help us cope, but they do not correct the original imbalances that led to dis-ease. And with difficult-to-understand illnesses like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, it is not always possible to pinpoint just one specific cause. Often it is a series of causes like a traumatic event experienced while in the midsts of some other type of recurring life stressors. There are many different types of traumas that can lead to chronic illness – physical, emotional, viral, environmental. With so many possible factors, it is easy to see why treatment is so difficult.
Knowing your trigger.
When putting together my blueprint, it was easy for me to pinpoint the exact moment when my trigger was switched – the day I broke the porcelain toilet with my head. Yes, I would definitely say that qualifies as a trigger. And the immediate downward spiral of my health from that day on is a clear indicator that the physical trauma opened the door to chronic illness. So I can with confidence say that my trigger was physical. That is the easy part. But what I must also consider is how my lifestyle leading up to the trauma left me predisposed to developing chronic illness.
Not everyone who suffers a debilitation head trauma ends up with fibromyalgia.
The concussion and brain trauma that resulted were expected outcomes to the physical trauma, but the pain and fatigue that increased daily were not. So why did I end up with fibromyalgia after the head trauma? Was I genetically predisposed to it? Did my lifestyle leading up to the accident leave me vulnerable to chronic illness? In both cases I believe the answer to be yes. But I am not a medical professional, and I cannot change or debate my genetics, so I am only going to focus on my lifestyle leading up to the event.
Busier is not always better.
I had what I thought at the time to be a very healthy and active lifestyle. I had a great job, a fun and active social life, I exercised regularly, ate well, was in a healthy relationship - sounds pretty perfect, right? Well upon reflection it was not so perfect after all. In reality I was wound so tight that I was just waiting to snap. I never said no to anything. I was always on the go, never really taking the time to relax and enjoy my life. I was simply pushing through one experience to get to the next, like a small child who won’t drift off to sleep for fear of missing out on something. I had to be engaged and involved in everything because it was how I defined myself – “I am Dannette, the girl with the most active and full life ever!” With or without the head trauma, my lifestyle was eventually going to catch up with me. A crash was inevitable.
So while I can easily state that my trigger was physical, the depleted state of my being leading up to the physical trauma likely left me vulnerable to the prolonged crash of chronic illness.
Why is it so important to understand all of this? Again, I am not a medical professional, so this is all theory on my part based on living many years with chronic illness, and my current experience with improved health. The reason I think it is so important to understand the trigger is because I believe it will best inform how we should approach our own unique blueprints for healing.
My trauma was physical and so is my treatment.
Unless this is your first time reading my blog, you know that I directly attribute the healing I am experiencing to my regular practice of yoga. I was very athletic leading up to my accident, and tried many times over the course of the first 13 years of my illness to return to my former athletic ways, only to fail and end up in miserable pain. When I discovered the healing powers of gentle and restorative yoga, my body responded immediately. I found movement without pain! And because of the neurological nature of FM, yoga is an excellent mindful movement to practice as it regulates and balances the central nervous system.
I did not have any viral issues to address, like so many people with FM and CFS do, so in a way I am fortunate. My blueprint is pretty direct. I have seen tremendous improvements by incorporating gentle movement back into my life, and by addressing several other contributing issues like food allergies (eliminating gluten), and toxicity (heavy metals).
Of course this is a simplified explanation of the many years of trial and error it took me to piece my blueprint together, but I believe if each of us take the steps to really address and acknowledge our triggers, we can begin to piece together a blueprint for healing. Take a long and truthful glance back on your life before the trigger. Were there other factors of your lifestyle that may have left you vulnerable? A difficult marriage or childhood? This would require adding an emotional healing component to your blueprint. Do you see where I am going with this?
I am no longer the girl who thinks I need to say yes to everyone and everything. In fact I try very hard to participate in only things that nourish me, and eliminate people and activities from my life that do not. Healing requires effort, and sometimes we have to make hard choices. It also requires us to be able to honestly reflect on how we, unknowingly or not, contribute to our own illness. It is only with awareness that we can make progress. So if you are ready to begin you blueprint, start here: What’s your trigger?
What are your experiences with asking for help? I think we can all agree it is not an easy thing to do, especially in dealing with chronic illness when you are not even sure at times what it is you really need.
Asking for help is something I have never been good at, and accepting unsolicited help is even harder for me. This is something I have been working on as I feel it is due to an unhealthy amount of pride and ego. I never like to seem weak or vulnerable. Very primal of me really, like a pack animal that hides illness or injury to continue to blend in with the herd and not appear like easy prey. It is a useful survival instinct, but one that has not always served me well.
And I need look no further than FibroHaven to see the wonderful results of asking for and accepting help. Take a quick look around this website and you can see my attention has been elsewhere lately. And as I shared recently, it is not from a lack of love or interest, it is simply a choice to spend my time and energy where it is best suited right now and not wear myself out by doing more than serves me.
So there have been very few blog posts and local support group meetings, and only sporadic Facebook updates. FibroHaven had definitely lost some momentum. And people noticed. And as I began thinking about how I could address the situation I remembered an offer of help that had come to me some months previous. One of the most active, friendly, and positive members of our online community had generously offered to get more involved with FH and help in any way that she could. So I contacted her and asked if she would be interested in becoming an admin on our Facebook page. To my delight she said yes and our Facebook community has never been better!
Pascale has enlivened the page with new energy and interest – sharing everything from relaxing meditations to important information on tinnitus. People are engaged and interested, offering their opinions and experiences and caring when others offer theirs. Each time I check in I see there are new members and new conversations on interesting topics. And because we all experience FM and chronic illness differently, I am realizing how important and useful it is to have more than one voice posting and encouraging conversation.
When Pascale first extended her offer of help, I was interested, but not clear on how I would utilize her. But when the time was right and the need increasingly apparent, it became very clear. I am so glad I reached back out to her and asked. And I am so proud to have her as a new voice for FH and in our FM community. And judging by the many conversations going on over there right now, so are you!
So please join me in welcoming Pascale, and thanking her for stepping in when it was most needed. Like all of us, she is doing this while continuously learning to live well with chronic illness. Some days we manage better than others. Somedays our voices are lively and active, and somedays we need to retreat. But with such a wonderful and caring community to return to, you can be sure FibroHaven will continue to inform, encourage, and inspire.
And thank you to The Fibromyalgia Network for taking notice of the new energy on FibroHaven and sharing our page with your community. You have been a positive and informative resource for all of us for many years. The work you do in invaluable!
Much Love,
Dannette