Sometime back in 2014 or 2015, I had visited a doctor because I was experiencing excessive amounts of belching. They didn’t do much in the way of treatment but I was officially diagnosed with GERD and IBS. Several months after that event I began experiencing fatigue so severe that I would start falling asleep an hour after waking and sleep for 8-10 hours at a time. They ran some tests and discovered that I had a severe vitamin D deficiency and also had something called H Pylori.
After treating me for both I began to feel better. In fact, I don’t recall much illness for several months. Then on August 23, 2016 thing changed.
It was a Friday night and I had just had FRoYo with some friends. My soon-to-be husband and another friend and I went to Walmart to grab a couple items and look around. (We live in a small city with not much to do so walking Walmart is kind of a norm.) We we’re getting ready to leave when I suddenly felt faint. I used a vegetable cooler to lean on and it only lasted a couple of minutes.
This started a year of tests and symptoms. I saw specialists and general practitioners and fit in an MRI a couple days before my wedding. Come January I was crying in a parking lot after having been told by yet another doctor that there was nothing medically wrong with me.
I let the medical doctors keep swinging at it and in the meantime my symptoms began to include the same symptoms I had when I was diagnosed with H Pylori and the vitamin D deficiency. It seemed like with each passing week my symptoms would get worse and with each passing month the doctors were ruling more out.
My GP told me it was stress and IBS. He upped my meds for that and the longer this went on the more frustrated I became.
A year after this all started, still experiencing symptoms, my GP started talking surgery. He wants to take out my gallbladder. Problem is he still believes it’s stress - Stress induced IBS symptoms. So why is a doctor saying “take out her gallbladder” if he isn’t sure that’s the problem? Because he doesn’t know what it is. So I started diving into research looking for alternative healing solutions. I wasn’t going to let him do surgery if that wasn’t going to fix me.
The reason I’m telling you all of this is because I know there are so many others out there like me - being told to take a vacation when we know that it’s not just stress. We know there is something wrong and the health care system has let us down.
That was the first part of my journey. I didn’t know it then but I am fully aware that this is a series and there are many parts to this story. In October I had done a tremendous amount of research. I was certain it wasn’t cancer - no thanks to webMD. Problem was I was still sick and feeling hopeless and helpless.
In my research I stumbled across some studies from other countries on natural treatments. People who had treated IBS with diet changes, supplements and exercise. I knew this would be a new way a living and a new journey. At the same time, I felt God calling me to share my story. I felt inadequate for that and put it off till one morning when I just couldn’t anymore. I stepped up to bat and posted my first YouTube video. (In case you’re curious - Here’s a link to one of my videos https://youtu.be/fcogek7HIh0)
I’m now on part two - if you will - of my journey and I have some hope. Maybe not in getting healing - sure I hope for that - but My hope is more in helping. I know that my story can help others. I know that God can use the things that Satan intended for evil for good and so I’m going to let God. I’m going to share my story and the steps I’m taking. I’m going to share my lessons and work to try to encourage others.
This battle feels lonely at times. Truth is - we are not alone! Most of us have people who love and support us. If we talk about it enough, we will also learn that there are many people like us. And more importantly we have a God that loves us and is with us.
I don’t know how this story will end but what I do know is that this journey has the potential to impact more than just myself. I just have to get out of the way. I have to put one foot in front of the other and follow the prompting of my God. I can’t wait to see how he uses this.
If you are like me - sick for no medical reason - or even sick with a medical reason- feeling helpless and hopeless - don’t give up! Keep searching. Keep pushing. I know you are tired. I know there are days when getting out of bed is just too hard. That crying hurts and you think you may be dying. But please!!! Please don’t give up!! Do what you can. Put one foot in front of the other and press on. Even if you don’t believe in God like I do, there are others watching and waiting and hoping. You have no idea how your life or your story will impact them.
You matter! You can “be the change you wish to see in the world.” Your life is important and this “sickness” may just be your opportunity for greatness!
So here’s to the new chapter, this new journey! Let there be healing. Let there be hope. Let us all find the light in darkness and the joy among the sorrow.
