When I was diagnosed with MS 25 years ago my doctor said, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. There’s going to be a cure in 5 years.’ Of course I trusted him—he was a respected neurologist.
So I waited 5, 10, 15…years! Drugs came out with side effects that weren’t even guaranteed to slow disease progression. Still my doctors said, ‘Don’t worry they’re close. Take the drugs. You’ll feel better.’
Around year 10-13 I decided to check this option out and participated in two clinical drug studies. Both backfired and made me sick.
At year 22, I had only enough energy to be productive for a few hours a day. The rest of the time I spent in bed. The kids were independent by then and I was building my career as a life coach. Seeing my courageous clients reach their goals kept me going. I was inspired. That was MY drug!
But it wasn’t enough, the disease was getting worse. I felt like a burden.
My dad always taught me: ’Don’t rely on anyone to do what you can do yourself’. I saw the wisdom in his words, but they really hit home about 3 1/2 years ago. That’s when I found there were two things I could do to help myself, both clinically proven. The Wahls Prrotocol by Terry Wahls MD and The MS Gym by Trevor Wicken.
Both are challenging and both require a lot of support and determination. But they work for me and give me a quality of life I never dreamed possible.
It was pretty scary at first going against my doctor’s advice. How could I know more? What if I’m wrong? My neurologist also told me, ‘ the one thing I know is that we (doctors) don’t know much’.
On the other hand these protocols were helping people like me using no drugs, just healthy lifestyle changes supported by licensed medical practitioners. It felt right for me. I was done waiting for something good to happen. All I needed to do was to trust myself. SO FAR SO GOOD!
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