Healing is a process, not a destination.

Hello! Yes, yes I'm still alive. I apologize for my disappearance and for being completely MIA for the last month or so. I'm thankful for those of you who reached out and left comments on here, facebook and twitter to check in with me, see how I was doing and let me know that you missed my posts. Truth be told, I have been a having a rough time :-( 

It was about two months ago, when I started feeling really....weird. My whole body felt extremely weak, tired and heavy. Working out became nearly impossible because I felt so fatigued. It got to the point where doing any physical activity totally wiped me out and I found myself needing to lay down in the middle of the day because I just couldn't keep my eyes open. Then other symptoms began to arise: swollen glands, tightness and soreness in my muscles and joints, tingly sensations in my arms and hands, headaches, lack of appetite, depression, moodiness, mental fog...the list goes on. I felt like my body was shutting down and just not operating properly! 

I started doing tons of research and trying to self-diagnose. I tapped into my intuition and my herbal, nutritional and healing skills. I talked to my herbalist friends and other people I knew with healing knowledge. Nothing I did made me feel any better. I just kept wondering...what the heck is wrong with me??? I'm so accustomed to successfully healing myself whenever a health issue arises, but this was something I could not fix or even understand. 

So, after feeling terrible for over a month, I decided it was finally time to see a doctor. I didn't even know where to begin. I hadn't seen a doctor in longer than I could remember. I started researching doctors and clinics in my area and asking people for recommendations. I finally settled on a clinic that practices Integrative Healthcare. The doctor I chose is actually someone who I learned about when I was in Herb School. He's the author of several awesome books including Staying Healthy with the Seasons (which I definitely recommend!) Anyway, he is trained in western medicine but also incorporates herbalism, nutrition, detox therapies, chinese medicine, acupuncture, etc into his practice. A holistic approach! Perfect. That's exactly what I was looking for.

To make a long story short, I went to see him and got some blood drawn to run some tests. It turns out I have severe Hypothyroidism! That means that I have an under active thyroid gland that doesn't produce enough of the thyroid hormone. This affects ALL functions of your body which totally explains all my symptoms and why I was feeling so awful in all levels of my being. My doctor thinks that since I have such a severe case of hypothyroidism, I've probably been walking around with it for a long time. If that's the case, it makes me wonder why the symptoms seemed to come on so suddenly and strongly. Maybe I've been feeling slightly sick for years and have never realized that I could be feeling better! All I know is that I am happy to finally have a name to what was going on with me and a way to treat it. My doctor was pretty excited that we found out what was wrong so quickly and he said that the treatment was probably going to totally change my life and make me feel better than I have in long time. 

I was prescribed a natural thyroid hormone supplement to replace the hormone that my thyroid gland is not making on its own. I'm also doing everything I can to learn about the thyroid gland and ways I can support it with nutrition, herbs, etc. My healing process is just beginning. 

As it says in Healing with the Seasons, "...illness can be a vehicle to enhance your personal communication and facilitate your evolution...illness represents an invitation to change....illness invites us to take a moment, sift through the many levels of our existence, and ask for understanding and be open to needed changes. When illness arises, stop, look and listen!...when we experience dis-ease, there is a message trying to come to us which we are not receiving."

I feel like this is all happening for a reason and I'm learning from it. It's giving me an opportunity to know myself better and to reevaluate my life and my health. I am listening and open to the messages my body is sending me and I am prepared for the evolution to begin! 

In other news, I'm pretty much up to my usual tricks and treats! Ooo speaking of which, I hope you all had a fun Halloween! I did :-) 

As for food, I've been eating a lot of my usual favorites.

And I've been baking too!

We'll have to do recipes in the next post though. This one is getting a bit long! 

But, I can't end this post without mentioning the doggies! They are totally awesome, sweet and funny. Here, see for yourself:

Ok, that's all for now. Thank you for reading. Much love.