I always caught a cold easily as a child. At 14 I had recurring strep throat that became resistant to multiple doses of heavy antibiotics and after battling a couple of high fevers, the infection went deeper and altered my immune system. This lead to a series of health conditions and heavy doses of medications numbing me through 3 years of half-year home schooling due to physical pain and deliriousness from medications. I was taken in Ohio, to the best doctors that my amazing parents could find with the newest medications. In addition, the shift may have occurred when I was put on birth control pills to help with ovarian cysts a few months earlier that led to a new wave of body control patterns that affected my hormones and thyroid as well. This affects the thyroid where the T-cells are produced and also a similar area to where an infection such as strep throat is fought. The same area was shifted, around the same time and on top of it high fevers leading to an awakening of an autoimmune disease.
This moved into a series of health conditions that included Juvenile Psoriatic Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and insomnia all with chronic pain. My main symptoms started with the nails on my hands being broken down to the skin, my finger joints swelling, and my knees painful and swelling with body aches. I had rounds of terrible joint pain in different areas of my body where at certain points even my jaw, with a history of TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Disfunction), had extreme pain. The pain was sharp, sometimes stabbing, with other areas constantly aching. I was put on heavy medications such as Methotrexate, a low dose of Chemotherapy that gave me 48 hours of flu symptoms every weekend when I took it as a self-given shot. Other medications included painkillers, benzodiazepines, which led to a form of amnesia through part of my middle school and high school years, muscle relaxers, Ativan, Xanax, sleeping pills, heavy doses of Advil which after being on for 4 years led to stomach bleeding. The Cleveland Clinic even took pictures of my hands for their textbooks. The second worst drug, other than Methotrexate, was the steroids where, at 14, I went from weighing 110 lbs to 150 lbs in 2 months.
The first traditional medicine I was introduced to was a mini kit of aromatherapy that my family gave to me, I used and studied it with great interest. At 15 years old I was lucky enough to be introduced to getting massage therapy regularly that helped very much with the Fibromyalgia. But I would still go through excruciating pain that would break through the high levels of painkillers. The levels I was put on ended up numbing me and leading me to have trouble with focus and clarity. It was hard enough going through puberty, but many times a different animal when heavily medicated through it. I was then introduced to Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. After 6 months of getting Acupuncture regularly I was able to stop taking most of the painkillers, sleeping pills and muscle relaxers. After a year, I ran track in high school, running was something I was told I might not be able to do again.
This autoimmune disorder was triggered by a series of high fevers that led to a cellular malfunction of not turning off a T-Cell mediator in charge of balancing the immune system. The overgrowth of T-Cells is what led to 5 ½ years of suppressive medication of all my cells (chemo) and a different appreciation of life. I grew up loving and playing soccer and basketball and then I was forced to stop, that is when other patterns of interest formed. When I was home schooled and in pain a different understanding of love, fun and freedom was developed. The emotions some people would focus and dwell upon didn’t mean as much to me as my life challenges at a young age forced me to break through and set free or become unattached. I would wear gloves in public and hideout watching T.V. and spent my time bonding with my Father who had his own battle with Multiple Sclerosis, another autoimmune disorder with possible origins to a virus. My Grandmother at the same time was battling with ovarian cancer. I gained strength in so many different arenas leading to a life focused possibly different than many.
My clarity is still arriving after 7 ½ years of medical school and a few years after working with patients. To be that heavily drugged at such a young age is a terrible thing. One drug was even recalled a year later. There is a lot to learn about complementary medicines. After the chemotherapy there were many different waves of biological imbalances that only inspired my search and path deeper into different holistic, natural and traditional medicines that help heal a person on multiple levels. These waves of imbalances are unique to the medication and something I have spent much time analyzing. How can one’s body not show unique patterns after having certain levels suppressed regularly for years. It is through the wisdoms of Ayurvedic Medicine where it states that after 7 years every cell in the body is new and therefore I learned a great turnaround for those who have been put on heavy-duty medications, or with a remission from a health condition.
My goal after learning more was to detox and retrain. To reawaken my system to its original immune system, to my blueprints. One’s body knows how to heal itself, its about removing the blocks and balancing the elements within and without us to get there. Acupuncture helped rebalance the Qi and blood build up. Ayurvedic Medicine’s strength of Panchakarma is to detox the tissues of the body from toxins whether it be drugs, environmental or allergens. The focus is on balancing the constitution of the person. Just like the idea of a constitution balancing and protecting an entire country on many levels, they are blueprints to optimal health of a country, as strong as man can make. The human constitution is part of the natural order of things and their balancing nature.
The root of all things is the balancing flow, the way, the Dao, Karma, Tikkun, the G-d nature. This ebb and flow of the Sun and Moon, Yin and Yang, Parusha and Prakriti leads one to run in the cycles. They also lead us in knowing that what one goes through will arrive at answers of healing hopefully sooner now, as the communities of traditional medicines from around the world continue to show up with experts and compliment Western Medicine. This book shares the focused understanding of the joints of the body and how Traditional Medicines of the world understand and bring balance to imbalances of them.
Throughout this journey, many different things have taught me to fold and bend and be inspired by different traditions whether its meditation or yoga to tai chi and qigong. From heavy life controlling conditions and drugs to gentle therapies, traditions of healing and healthy natural lifestyles that I fell in love with.
I noticed a difference and was amazed to study further into the medicine of Chinese and Acupuncture. Its roots are balanced in nature and beauty which resonates with me. Another wave after Chemo lead me to study detoxification therapies and brought me at a time of need to Ayurvedic Medicine, Traditional Medicine of India.
The ability to fold and bend and try different things awakened my being to many different understandings of life. The most important is what brings me joy, health and peace and what can help with the understanding of the world that I need for those things. Each person is on a path separate yet meet at different times for their understanding, likes, lessons, health, needs and more. These medicines are universal. They are as spiritual as you take them or as physical as you need them to be. The point is they work. This book is filled with details of each one as understood through the making and flexibility of origami and nature.
While I received many great results from Acupuncture, the pain relieving, the sleep improvement, the focus and clarity, I realized with being on a low dose of chemotherapy for close to six years, that my body might go into waves of expressing different imbalances due to a steady amount of years of cell suppression. I went through a flare-up of inflammation that showed itself as shingles on my face after a couple years off methotrexate and with trying a new herbal medicine. I didn’t know what to do, I needed to try something new - or old - that’s when I read something about Ayurvedic Medicine and my healing took to another level. The warm loving nature of the detox protocols nourished my system while cleansing and flushing out the impurities that lead to the imbalance. The extreme pain lessened with the help of Acupuncture and Ayurvedic therapies. The tissue cleanses including the skin with the diet, exercises, yoga breathing and meditation. The understanding of healing and life went deeper. No one can experience what another suffers or goes through, but they can share their love and presence with another. I do not wish for anything that I went through with my health conditions to ever exist again, but it does for others at hopefully lesser degrees. The building and sharing of medicines that have been around since ancient times will hopefully be an aid to those needing them as well as for prevention.
I then went on a journey into Homeopathic Medicine with studying it and trying it out. To my amazement it is a very effective medicine with very strong healing capabilities. With my sensitive system I was able to track its changes from my skin to my dreams. Working with a practitioner of Homeopathy with an extensive background of studies and training is the best choice.
From Psoriatic Arthritis to Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis, to tendonitis, to fibromyalgia, this book helps guide one to the understandings of muscle movements, tissue repair, exercises to strengthen the body, foods to eat and essential oils to use. The book will lead the reader along a path through the analogies of Origami to joint health, from Anatomy to Physics, and from Chinese Medicine to Ayurvedic Medicine.
A Chapter from my upcoming book!! Enjoy!
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