Shortness of breath - high heart rate - low bp - dizziness - weakness - nausea - all caused by an autonomic nervous system that just doesn’t work right. The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) connects organs to the brain stem or spinal chord - mediating heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, pupillary response, metabolism, digestion,…
God is still God
This photo was taken 7 years ago. I was at Stanford Medical Center getting bi-weekly lidocaine infusions. The infusions helped reduce pain - but my body began slowly rejecting it. My last injection ended with me being super loopy and slurring my words. It was a horrible time of life - pre-diagnosis, bed-ridden & using…
Never Surrender Your Own Judgement
I participate in several forums focused on specific health conditions. I initially joined them in the hopes of learning more about some of the conditions I have. What I’ve found is that most of the people participating are in the early stages of some sort of sickness - or at a minimum, they haven’t yet…
Stress & Anxiety
Stress Medlineplus says “Stress is your body's reaction to a challenge or demand.” These reactions can come in the form of a physical, emotional or mental issues. Financial challenges, relationship troubles, a car crash, the loss of a job - there’s tons of short term factors that can trigger a stress response. When your body…
Stress and Chronic Complex Illness
Monday night I participated in a meeting to discuss some issues affecting our community. Because of the seriousness of these issues and my tenacious and overly passionate personality, the whole thing was highly stressful for me. Stress is bad for the body - we know this. But it’s particularly bad for people with chronic complex…
Mysterious Illness – Videos
As we close out Lyme Disease Awareness month, I'd like to share two videos that expose the symptoms and conflict around Lyme+ . Mystery Illness: The Many Symptoms - 30 mins Under Our Skin - Documentary - 90 mins
Letter to Family & Friends
I've written a letter for Lymies to share with family and friends who may not yet understand the complexities of this sickness. This is a complicated disease to diagnose and treat, but that means it's also complicated to live with it. If you suffer this sickness, give yourself a break, let yourself rest. If you…
Peeling Back the Layers
The process of healing chronic Lyme isn't easy. Over the 8 years from the time I contracted Lyme to the time I was diagnosed, my body developed a whole mess of conditions that all need to be treated - at the right time, in the right order. Can you imagine being a doctor and having…
Listen to Your Body
I keep improving - but then something happens, I don't know what, and I start to feel like I'm going backwards. More pain, cognitive issues like word finding, I feel just yucky all over - I can't always explain it. I just know I'm not ok and I'm scared that I'm slipping backwards. It's easy…
NUCCA – not your mama’s chiropractic
I've been seeing a chiropractic specialist for about 5 years. NUCCA doctors specialize and only adjust the atlas (the first vertebrae at the top of the neck). However they do it in a non-invasive manner that you honestly barely feel. There's no manual cracking, there's no twisting of the neck and back, there's no popping…
PhilippiJoy 