Listen to Your Body

Years ago, a friend taught me how to maneuver (crack) my neck to relieve tension.  Lately, I was feeling like my whole body needed to be cracked.  So I listened to its plea for help and went to a chiropractor, Dr. Mark Corbelli (Chesterfield Chiropratic, Midlothian, VA).  While he assured me that he could not “cure” MS, he believed that a realignment of my spine would certainly relieve the pain I was experiencing  in my hips, back, and neck, possibly even relieving some of the tingling in my feet and hands.  He was also sure that he could eliminate the need for my 3rd leg (my handy cane).  I was very doubtful… my cane had been my only dependable leg for over 4 years.  But he was right… his gentle technique caused no additional distress or symptoms, and within 4-5 few months I was able to walk without the cane.  For the last 4.5 years it’s been happily buried in the trunk of my car.

Once Upon a Label

To my dismay, once I was awarded the dreadful “MS” label, each new symptom was automatically attributed to the disease and any treatment was based accordingly.  Whether it was a migraine headache or colitis, suddenly everything was cause by MS. This seems to be a routine response to autoimmune diseases.  And theoretically it sounds reasonable, but the reality for me was that the treatments generally created a whole new crop of symptoms and complications. 

The initial concerns that led me to the doctor were occasional blurred vision, vertigo, stumbling/tripping (due to delayed signals from my brain to my foot!), fatigue, cognitive problems, and a general feeling of something’s wrong.  Within months of my diagnosis and introduction to medications to manage my symptoms, I was building a very long list of complications which were automatically labeled “due to MS.”  Despite the medical team’s persistent encouragement to begin the standard MS treatment, I continued to hold out. 

Welcome to Immunohealth Blog

Welcome to my blog!  This is my journey to better health.  Hopefully, my experience will inspire you take an active role in protecting your own health.

Inching every closer to the big 60, I am a grandmother of 2 with a 3rd preparing to make “his” entrance in May of 2010.  Clearly I've lived long enough to have experienced some of everything, health-wise that is.  As a child I was very sickly… seasonal bugs and viruses, strep throat, tonsillitis, digestive problems, sensitive skin… I had it all, over and over and over again. In fact, I was the only kid in the neighborhood who got sick from playing in a summer rain shower or from walking through autumn’s endless deposit of colorful leaves!