My story.
When I think of the past few years of my life, what comes to mind now is that I feel healthy and happy. I have the normal aches and pains of an active, working woman, but I’m extremely thankful to feel normal aches because it means I’ve been using my body to work in my business, live life on our farm with my husband, enjoy time with our grown kids and play with our grandchildren. I was unable to do most of those things very well for several years and was barely hanging in there for a definite three years. I hid (very well) my illness because it was very embarrassing to me. I’ve struggled with fibromyalgia for years and have had to limit how much sun exposure I get, how much rest I get, how much cold I get, etc. I always say I have to do everything “medium.” If I go full-on, I usually pay for it in the days after by dragging around like I’m ninety. I was at my all-time low on Mother’s Day 2017 in every way—physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. I weighed 108 lbs., my eyes had dark circles and I could barely contain my nervousness for fear of having to find a bathroom constantly. I had intense IBS/diarrhea which to me meant I couldn’t enjoy my family or attend events. If I did actually go somewhere, it was never fun because I would have to run to the bathroom or I would take enough meds to get me through it, and then I would feel sick from taking too much. I had been to specialists, I’d had colonoscopies, I’d tried everything over the counter and every home remedy I’d heard about and nothing worked enough that I could have a normal life. I went to my family doctor and told him I didn’t feel like I even wanted to live if my life had to be like this.
My doctor worked to find a new drug called Viberzi, which began the process of bringing me to some kind of normal. My best friend had her church pray over and anoint with oil, a small piece of cloth, which I wore inside my bra, close to my heart every day. When I started having symptoms, I would pray and hold on to that small cloth and know that others had prayed too, for my health. The Viberzi was definitely helping and I believe in the power of prayer and know it was helping too, but I still wasn’t able to feel confident enough to go back to my life.
I also believe God gives us all different abilities and we are all here to help each other. I still needed help, and that help came in the form of Dr. Alan Trites. I wasn’t even sure I could make it to OKC to see him but my cousin Kim thought he could help me and we agreed to go together. She was one of the few people who knew my struggle and my issues. Dr. Trites ran blood tests and discovered issues at the root of my problems and began working on them with diet and supplements. I was on the Candida diet for about 2 1/2 months and it was HARD! But, I don’t think I would have ever progressed had I not basically cleansed my body with that diet. Now I watch what I eat and drink very closely. I stay away from gluten, for the most part, I eat tons of veggies, protein, lots of water and very little sugar. And guess what? It’s not hard anymore! It’s my lifestyle now and I feel great! It didn’t happen overnight, but I’m convinced if I hadn’t gone to see Dr. Trites and followed his recommendations, I would still be fighting to get from my house to work without having to find a bathroom or worse, having an accident.
My life has changed from trying to survive, crying almost every day and feeling hopeless to enjoying my life and being thankful and excited about each day! 🙂
Thank you is not enough! You were the missing piece in my puzzle of trying to become healthy and I’m so thankful to have found you and your massive amount of knowledge and expertize!
Many blessings,
Sherri M.