Sharon Y. Edlin's Blog

The Art of Falling Apart

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The statement above is a positive spin on falling apart and I’m trying a lot harder these days to be positive.

I’m not mentally falling apart, no, I’m talking about physically and the positive spin on this is that things are actually falling in place from the point of understanding why.

One of my OT mom’s has introduced me to a book that has completely changed the way I view illness, diagnoses, symptoms, etc. It has helped me to understand things I often wondered about but couldn’t put my finger on. As I have studied each day very hard trying to find answers to the millions of questions I have about how I can better serve my OT kids and their families, all of these studies have reached a pinpoint, FINALLY.

I have learned so much in the last several months vs the last several years of study, that I have already started on the second edition of my first book titled ‘The Dragonfly Approach.’ All of the questions are now being answered and I am in awe of the future possibilities that have opened up for the treatment of everyone, especially children.

I have dedicated the last 26 years of my life to learning, figuring, asking, and implementing all of the things I feel us OT’s need to do to help these kids we work with and it all started with my own ‘falling apart.’

Let me back up some . . .

I have never ever been fond of taking synthetic drugs but before I had done such extensive research, I just caved into Western medicine handing me pills to fix what ailed me. At one point, I was on the birth control pill, high blood pressure medicine, antidepressants, ADHD medication, and baby aspirin. At first, I was on birth control to avoid getting pregnant then, later on, to control my heavy flow that left me faint at times.

Well, the pill is a killer in a sense. Almost 3 years ago, after having been on the pill for 5 years, all of my hair fell out and my blood pressure went sky high at the same time. I thought it was from the immense stress I had been under that had finally ended once I married and settled down with the Professor. No actually not at all! Because of the pill, I had to get on another synthetic medicine to help me control my blood pressure plus a dose of baby aspirin.

Also around this time, I decided that blending a family was horribly distracting so I stupidly asked to be put on ADHD medication to help me do a good job. Well, this combination caused another ‘falling apart’ in a sense. I began to have horrible gut issues which is now called leaky gut, though it wasn’t leaky gut at all but rather ammonia permeability.

Ammonia permeability is when your digestive system fails to break your food down properly so upon entering the gut, it settles in there and rots. Rotting food produces ammonia gas which is the culprit that permeates the gut wall and travels into the body. Ammonia in the body is not good at all and wreaks havoc on the whole system causing a myriad of issues such as malaise, skin issues (for me it was horrible eczema which required yet another synthetic cream to help, which it didn’t), fatigue, poor sleep, etc.

Now you may be asking, why is the food not broken down properly? Well, synthetic drugs are, in my opinion, the number one on the list but adrenaline is another culprit. Adrenaline is released when we are stressed and/or if we have a vagus nerve that is not working properly and causes us to stay in a constant state of fight or flight. Staying in this state causes the adrenal glands to over-produce adrenaline and cortisol, hence helping to cause ammonia permeability.

Well, having every hair on my person fall out after only being married to the Professor for 6 months was a horrific nightmare. Having my blood pressure go up pissed me off as it had ALWAYS been 110/70 and exercise and diet weren’t helping it at all.

So here is what I know. The pill caused my hair to fall out and elevated my blood pressure. I had gotten on an antidepressant at the end of my previous marriage to cope with the crumbling and this added to increased blood pressure. My ADHD medication is a stimulant, which can also cause an elevation in blood pressure. The synthetic drugs I was taking helped to cause my ammonia permeability so I had started a vicious cycle in my body having pills thrown at me and being gullible enough to believe that it would solve all of my issues.

A BIG FAT STINKIN’ HA!!

With the knowledge I have gained over the last several months, I have taken myself off of the birth control pill and had my tubes out (there’s more to this story a few blogs back about a botched IUD, also synthetic), I have stopped taking my ADHD medication (which I recently discovered is the reason my gums on the back of my bottom teeth are eroding because it has caused a tongue tick to where I run my tongue up and down the back of my teeth constantly, so I have done this to myself, not my toothbrush, though it has not helped), and recently stopped my antidepressant. In addition, my diet has completely changed with this knowledge and guess what has happened? My hair is thicker, thank God it grew back, my blood pressure is back to normal, I am no longer depressed, my ammonia permeability is gone, but . . . another thing has happened recently after I was bitten by a spider 4 weeks ago.

A spider bite can cause a virus known as Lyme’s Disease, yes its a virus not a bacteria, to begin to bloom in your body. Many people can have the Lyme virus in their systems and it can stay there forever without coming to light. Certain situations can cause this virus to turn ugly such as mold, mercury, pesticides, bee stings, spider bites, overprescribed synthetic medications, stress, and physical injuries. (Not just ticks can cause this virus to unleash itself.)

Within two days after the bite, every joint in my body felt like it was melting. I couldn’t stand up, I was restless, I couldn’t sleep, and my tennis elbow, which was going away (from overuse), came back with a vengeance. Three weeks later, my tennis elbow pain moved into my wrists causing me severe Carpal Tunnel syndrome symptoms! So severe, I have been waking up 3-4 times per night with extreme burning and numbness. I have splinted, iced, exercised, TENS’ed, dictated my notes instead of typing them, taken an anti-inflammatory (though not happily), etc. with no relief.

I am going to see my holistic chiropractor this coming week and she believes, as do I, that I have caused a Lyme disease uproar triggered by the spider bite. Unfortunately, the current medical tests for this aren’t sensitive enough and it is likely I will test negative but at this point in the game, one has to go with the symptoms. Luckily, I have already started treating myself naturally and things are better in just 2 days.

Our bodies were designed to heal on their own in most cases but we have been brain-washed into thinking otherwise. God gave us fruit, vegetables, herbs, essential oils, meditation, yoga, prayer, etc. to help with this healing. We are being snowed that synthetic drugs will do the trick and in most cases our doctors, though they are trying, may have no idea what’s wrong with us and it’s easier to shut us up or fix what they ‘think’ is wrong with a pill.

I know I may be killed along with many of the other out of the box thinkers saying this but the reason there are ADHD and autism today is because of a heavy metal overdose passed down from our ancestors who used to drink mercury elixirs for crying out loud, shaken down in this era’s kids setting it off with the vaccinations we are told that we need to get. No, the vaccinations are not the cause, it is the ancestral metal passage that accumulates and unfortunately, the vaccinations for some kids sets the ADHD and autism off.

Our ignorance can be turned around if we just listen to the natural way of living. Why do you think God gave us fruits and vegetables? God made our bodies in a wonderful way so we can bring about healing. Putting all of this synthetic crap in us is poisoning us and always will. Natural is the way to go.

The book that has brought all of my studies together to the pinpoint I mentioned is called ‘Medical Medium’ by Anthony William. He has no idea that he is one of my besties but maybe one day, I will get the honor of meeting him and telling him so.

No one ever got anywhere by thinking inside the box. Breaking free of the box and seeking the natural is the only way to be human. Wouldn’t you agree?

Love y’all!!

 

 

 

Seeing The Light

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I recently went on a tirade that I felt was incredibly necessary to be voiced/written. A few events caused an avalanche of emotion that I ended up speaking up about. Speaking up about it caused a backlash response that, although the backlash was not entirely true and incredibly painful, it made me realize that I am harboring too much anger ‘baggage’ and it was time to let it go. So I am.

The backlash I received has caused me to re-evaluate my entire life, my entire existence, and my here and now. Although the backlash was incredibly painful, as I said, it was necessary to help me see the light and I have. Seeing this light has changed everything, absolutely everything and I am very thankful for it.

When I got divorced several years ago, I was able to afford counseling for my two kids but not for myself. I used my blogging to get out my pain, anger, and frustration thinking that this was enough and it would ‘fix’ everything but I was dead wrong.

Recent events have allowed me to see that I needed counseling because I was not over my anger and frustration. Going to counseling has been the best decision that I could have ever made, plus, the Professor and I are going together because this blending crap is not easy and carrying along the hurts from the past are not healthy.

Losing 16 years of my life makes me so angry I could just spit, a lot, and yes, it was not all the ‘other’s’ fault, I had a hand in the ending of my 16-year relationship too but I feel very wronged in so many ways. Counseling is helping me cope with this and I am so thankful for folks in the counseling world. Getting counseling is not a weakness and in some ways, I think I didn’t get it at first because I thought I was stronger than I actually was.

The Professor and I suffer from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder and here is how I know this.

There are moments in time where my son will behave in a way or say something a certain way that reminds me of my painful lost 16 year years and it is as if I am reliving certain painful events . . . it’s like breaking open a sore that is just trying desperately to heal. When this happens, my gut just wrenches and I react in a way that I am not proud of because I am thrown back to the ‘lost’ years. The memories alter my personality if you will but temporarily.

No one has any idea what went on, no one. I am often judged and I get it, judging is easy and keeps your life safe and protected but folks don’t know the whole truth and never will. It’s easy to stay in your bubble of bliss and not get your hands dirty with the other half of what can happen in certain situations. Your misunderstanding can be very painful for a person but your ignorance I will and can accept.

My life is forever changed and my past has made me the person that I am today. A person that the Professor loves and cherishes, a person that my kids have told me they look up to for all of the hard work it takes to raise kids virtually alone, and a person that is a better therapist because of her growing understanding of the human existence.

I would never wish my past away as it has made me a strong understanding woman and I would never want to change that. Although the judgment of others can hurt, its worth the pain to grow as a human being and become the best possible person I can be on this lovely planet that God has given us. My pain has made me who I am today and I am proud of the person I have become. I am a person that is broken but seeking help to become whole again. Thank you to our counselor, I have faith that you will help us in so many ways.

To all you folks out there who are suffering, seek counseling because another person’s perspective can help dramatically!

Love y’all!!

 

 

Ode To My Son

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My son has been through a lot of heartaches and has happily come out the other side better than I ever thought possible given the various circumstances he has faced.

You see, I never planned on marrying and then divorcing, I know I have written about this a lot.

His relationship with key people in his life have not always been lovely to look at or talk about but with my insistence, he has mended a key relationship and in the process, has developed an incredibly close relationship with his Maker.

This was accomplished by other key people in his life at High Life and Young Life and I owe such a huge thanks to the folks that have been a part of his spiritual growth. Saying thank you is not nearly enough but its all I can say, thank you.

People are thrust into our lives whether we want them there or not, they may enrich our lives or tear our lives down. My son has had his life torn down and then built back up again and he amazes me every day beyond words.

He has been away from me for 3 weeks as a work crew member in North Carolina at a Young Life camp and he has been transformed. Transformations may or may not happen to us but I am proud to say, he has been transformed.

With tears in his eyes, he tells me that he stood up in front of 500 people and gave his testimony and although it was not easy for him, I know he was able to touch the lives of some of the kids sitting in that audience. He tells me that several of them came up to him after the testimony hugging and crying with him. I am blown away beyond words by this.

My son’s life has not been easy but he has turned his attitude and love of the Lord around and every pore seeps with the love he knows that the Lord has for him. I cannot take full credit for this but I am so happy I had a small hand in it nonetheless.

When you open your heart and share your pain, you can move mountains, especially for the situation of others who you may influence in ways you will never understand. I know this because I get comments all of the time begging me to continue to blog as I just never know how much I help certain people that read them. I am blown away and honored beyond words yet again.

We were put on this planet to find our purpose and happily and positively influence the people around us and talk about God and all of the gifts He has bestowed on us. My son is a perfect example of this and I am one proud Mama.

He leaves for college in August and I am confident with his new found love of God and the building back up of his life, he is ready for anything. I see great things for my son’s future and I couldn’t be more proud.

Love you, my son!!

 

 

Change is in the air…

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Change is inevitable and can either hurt you or save you. I myself love change because with change comes learning and if you know me, I crave knowledge.

In a month or so, my son will be heading to college. I don’t even feel old enough to have a college kid as my mind considers myself still at the awesome age of 22. After all, age is only a number marking your time on our lovely planet. I don’t act my age, according to folks who seem to feel they need to dictate what your age should look like. No, I have and always will think outside the box…way outside the box.

I will wear white after Labor day or whatever the hell that day is that you shouldn’t wear white after, I will continue to dress the way that I do because it is comfortable, booting ‘fashion’ to the wayside because I don’t give a crap, I will still continue to not wear shoes when I drive, though it is against the law, a law that I think is absolutely stupid, I will continue not to go to church because I have the closest relationship with God that I have ever had and organized religion is a business and I want to go to heaven, not tithe and pay for the electricity and the salaries of the business of religion, I will eat meat on Friday’s during Lent, and so on.

I am tired of society dictating what things should look like, smell like, the time it should take, the words that need to be said, what size I am, if my hair is long or short, and so on. I’m tired of labels, paying fees to be married, fees for having a dog, co-pays, deductibles, fees for having a blog site, taxes, and so on.

I’m tired of society dictating my life!

I have made many many changes over the last 6 years of my life. I have changed husbands, changed houses, changed OT clinics, changed friends, changed my diet, changed my hair, changed my attitude, changed my mindset, changed my everything!

I have devoted my life to studying, also a change, so I can provide the absolute best OT treatment that I can for my OT kids and families.

My entire life has changed and for the better and although my family dynamic is changing drastically in the next several weeks, I embrace it as this type of change is good. I can’t wait to see how my hard work with my son will pay off as he is in college developing a life for himself.

I can’t wait to see what my daughter will accomplish, though we hit quite a bump her sophomore year. I have faith in her, more faith than she will ever perceive.

I am embracing change as it has helped me grow into a person that I am proud of being. I also found the love of my life along the way.

Change is not always easy, but your attitude towards the change makes all the difference.

Change has been good for me and I welcome it every day. Seek change as it might very well surprise you.

Love y’all!!

 

Stop Playing Doctor/Therapist!

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I haven’t written in awhile and I sure hope all of y’all are having a great summer! I know I am, working with my sweet OT kids and their families. Was hoping we could head to the beach but you have to have money to do something like that. Lol. I just watch HGTV with the Professor as they look for properties at the beach and in the Caribbean. We dream and pretend but alas, no sand in between our toes.

You know when a couple of things that are related happen and you can kinda get irritated and then brush it off and move one? And then that last ‘thing’ just sets you off and you can’t be quiet? Well, I’m yelling today because I’ve had it with some folks around here!

Okay, remember when your baby was born and you quickly counted toes and fingers and made sure there were two eyes and that your child was not a cyclops and all the other checks we do when they pop out. We just want to make sure everything is okay and sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t. If it isn’t, your stomach sits in constant knots as you wring your hands and swear you hear screaming in your head 24 hours a day from your worry for this child.

So imagine how a parent who has cleared the newborn stage having a kid that’s doing pretty darn well hits a wall when someone who has no training whatsoever says, “Um, I think your son has autism. He’s classic actually. Do you plan to do anything about it?” Or, “Your daughter definitely has ADHD and should probably be put on medication.”

Are you freaking kidding me right now you un-doctors and un-therapists?!!!!!

First of all, that kid that you said had autism, does not actually have it and is brilliant in the way he sees the world, that’s not autism, that’s called imagination and just because it doesn’t line up with the way you think imagination should look like, doesn’t give him an automatic autism title as you felt so inclined to give him. How dare you!

And you, who decided you would not only bestow an ADHD diagnosis on a child that learns differently because her whole body learns and it has to move while doing so, you prescribed meds to boot! How dare you!!

That kid that you said has autism, actually has retained reflexes that cause him to do things differently from other kids because his system is being run by involuntary responses to stimuli, that’s what a reflex is you non-therapist!

The girl you said had ADHD oh, and needs meds too, well she has retained reflexes too and with a little tweaking of her diet, oh, well look, you were mistaken about her weren’t you?! Can you even fathom how many kids are being put on meds that have no business being on them? Its a lot, I can assure you!!

People, stop prescribing and diagnosing to these parents who already have enough to deal with. Stop causing them that knot in their stomachs and the wringing of their hands. If you suspect that something might be going on with their child, do yourself a favor, so as to save you from looking like an idiot, suggest a visit to their doctor who would hopefully recommend an OT, ST, or PT evaluation. Do your own job and let us do ours.

It pains me to death seeing my OT parents, who I am hugely protective of, be bothered by people trying to play doctor or OT, PT, or ST.

Just stop it right now. If you are trying to be nice, you aren’t. You are causing pain for these precious people and they don’t need that crap!

Love y’all!!

 

The Road to Recovery

[image error]There is a poem about the ‘road less traveled’ . . . and I, I took that stinkin’ road and it kicked my ass.

I know there is great suffering all around me, suffering that would probably blow my mind if I knew about it. Like the death of my neighbor, which brings me great sadness as he was one neat dude, folks in chronic pain, folks who are tortured, folks that have a mental illness, etc., etc. I can’t think too deep into suffering because as an empath, I feel it all and I can’t bear it. What I’m saying is my suffering has been minor compared, but suffering nonetheless.

My last blog was about birth control, IUD’s, and a warning and in the days since I wrote that blog, I hit a wall and have had a myriad of emotions flooding my mind, heart, and soul. I have had a couple of come aparts because of it and I stepped out yesterday on Facebook revealing my pain (again) and asked for prayers. I believe in the power of prayer and it has worked. Thanks to everyone who sent prayers, I am in awe that you would do this for me, but so stinkin thankful.

I’ve become a bit of a private person, not because I am mad at the world, no, I love this world beyond reason, even though certain inhabitants of this lovely world are trying to screw it up for the rest of us. Private because I find the more ‘ruckus’ I allow in my personal world, the more I become removed from my own mind and my own feelings about things, thus causing me a great deal of chaos and takes away from my blessing of a job as a pediatric OT, a wife, a mom, etc.

In the last several years, I have had a bit of an awakening about the power of the mind, the importance of empowering our subconscious, our bodies ability to heal itself, and energy medicine. In my practice, I have become more of a holistic pediatric OT and the benefits of this are showing in each and every one of my OT kids. The book that I have written explains what I am talking about but I’m here to tell you, there will be a second addition to that book as I uncover even more marvelous things about our planet, subtle energy, and our bodies. I am also contacted on a regular basis from other therapists wanting to know what it is that I am doing so they can practice this at their clinics. I am honored by this and refer them to the various books that I love as well as the one I have written.

Let me give you a little diddy that you may not know . . . where is long-term memory stored? Scientists don’t know because when people have parts of their brain damaged or removed, they can still maintain long-term memory. Have you ever heard that saying, “What is your gut telling you?” or “What is your heart telling you?” Based on my research, I believe that not only does the brain ‘think’ but your gut and heart have thoughts too and I believe that long-term memory is stored in those organs and not the brain. I call it memory preservation aka not putting all of your eggs/thoughts/memories into one basket/brain.

Did you know that our heart has more energy than any other body part including our brain? That tells you something, folks. This is also why I preach about gut health because if your gut has knowledge, and I believe it does, and it holds 80% of your immunity, you owe it to your gut to heal it and take care of it, right? That goes for your heart too! Obviously, this is very complex but really cool!

Back to my point, if there is one today . . .

I have come to the conclusion that we are allowing our bodies to be messed with WAY too much and if we really sit back and look at things with our minds clear, we can see it too. For example, I was watching yet another new drug commercial and the side effects were unbelievable and in my opinion, out-weighed the very thing that was being treated by this new drug. Does this make sense to anyone? Why would I try to help one thing and then have to take on a dozen or so side effects as well? Duh?!

This is why I have been so angry at the events that I have allowed to take place in my life over the last several years, and more pointedly, the last few weeks. I allowed birth control pills into my body to avoid pregnancy and in doing so, lost all of my hair on my entire body, destroyed my gut, and caused a spike in my blood pressure that may never come back down. I allowed an IUD to be pierced through my uterus and suffered such great pain, that I swear to you, I had post-traumatic stress disorder for several days after the horrific pain inflicted on me as well as nightmares that it was happening over and over again. Then, I had to have a surgery because of all of this crap, something I am wholeheartedly against now that I know what I know, but I let it be done to me anyway. I feel as if I have betrayed myself but as a human being who makes mistakes, I have learned from all of this horror and hope that it can help someone else from suffering in this way.

And the icing on the cake, which scared the heck outta me, happened two days after my surgery when I hit a wall. I had no energy, I could barely walk around, I was foggy, confused, and felt a huge dread swimming around in my body. I kept having thoughts about a lady that I heard of that had surgery and died because of a blood clot several years back in our town. I was terrified that I was next but begged for this not to happen as I have so much left to do on this planet of ours.

In the end, I came down with a terrible cold 4 days after surgery. Since I have healed my gut, I have not gotten sick once, so this was just another blow to my mind at what I had allowed to happen to my body. Because I have a history of asthma, I feared I’d end up with pneumonia when my cold moved into my chest, as this has happened several times in the past.

I will tell you this, after I sent out my prayer request on Facebook, I have woken up this morning renewed and on the mend. I thank God that He gave us the power of prayer because by the grace of God and the lovely folks that all commented that they were praying, I’ver rounded the corner and learned a great deal in the process. Thank you again, prayerful people, I can’t thank you enough!

Before you allow things to be put in your body, before you allow a surgery to happen while your gut is screaming at you that this is not the answer, and before you go against what you are feeling about a medical or health situation, do some research, I’m begging you. Research in Eastern medicine, gut health, energy medicine, vibrational healing, what the poisons that they are putting in our food are doing to us, etc. You owe it to yourself so you don’t have to suffer any longer!

All that I speak of is coming in the form of a new movement called Functional Medicine. Look it up, its real! You might also look up vibrational healing and subtle energy. Its coming and health as we know it will change for the better. Its just going to take time!

Love y’all!!

 

 

 

Birth Control Pills, IUD’S, and a Warning!

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Being a woman can be quite trying at times and I feel we sure have to put up with a lot more crap than the male population out there. For example, periods with horrid cramps at times, boobs that often get stared at or manhandled if we are not careful, childbirth, which depending on what route you went can be quite painful but so worth it, raising the kids almost by yourself unless you have a husband who gets it, rape, being paid less than certain male types at your work, trying to work and raise kids, etc., etc., etc. It ain’t easy, I’m here to say from experience.

I got my boobs late in life, praise the Lord, as I was a huge tomboy and a huge athlete so I was thankful. I got my period later in life as well, the summer before my Freshman year of high school. I was also thankful for this because I found this quite disturbing to bleed profusely from your body ‘down there.’ I was sorta lucky in that I didn’t get those huge mood swings or the horrible cramps my mom and sisters seemed to get. Thank God!

I had both my kids with the assistance of an epidural, though I tried really hard with my son to have a natural birth but was unsuccessful and very sad at this, but that certain drip they give you to hurry along childbirth did not get along with my body at all. I decided that I did not want to go what I went through with my last birth so I epidural-d with my daughter without question so I could enjoy the birth and see her pop out. I did a lot of raising of the kids on my own but I loved being a mom, though some days were hard that’s just the way it is sometimes.

I have been the victim of attempted rape 3 times, one of them by a police officer. Oh, the irony. I was also a single mother trying to work and raise kids and boy was that a challenge but it made my two kids and me very strong and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Now, I am 46 years old and the Professor is 50 years old. Back when we were dating, we talked dreamily of what it would be like to have a baby of our own that we conceived together but later, when we decided that we wanted to marry each other, we took into account that we had, at the time, nearly 5 already there or soon to be there, teenagers and that a sixth baby would be difficult. We were just a touch older than we wanted to be to have any more kids so sadly, we decided that no, let’s not.

Cue birth control . . .

Now, the Professor thinks he is still a teenager and it became clear early on that I needed an option or we’d have a load of children so my first birth control method, which I would later terribly regret, was the good ole pill.

I stayed on the pill for 6 years and in those 6 years I also discovered a lot about our body’s make up, what synthetic things do to us, what the crap that is in our foods does to us, and the link to autism, genetic disorders, autoimmune disorder, PANDAS, ADHD, and Hpylori that all of the food and drug people have caused as well as the pollution in our air and the bad waves from our electronics. I didn’t put two and two together until one of my OT mom’s came unglued at me for being on the pill saying that it is the worst thing a woman can do to herself. I told her I know, though I really didn’t know until I did some mental history overview and realized that it caused three very distinct things to happen to me after being on it for the first year and a half.

I had only been married to the Professor for 6 months when my hair began falling out in fist fulls and when it was all said and done, I was bald from head to toe something I was told was called Tellogen Effluvium. No eyebrows, no arm hair, no private area hair, etc. and the worst part, not a single hair left on my coconut. At the same time this happened, I ended up with high blood pressure, something I had NEVER dealt with before and thought it was because of the stress of becoming bald.

At the time, I just thought it was the new and wonderful tranquility I had been waiting for and that my body, brain, and mind were settled into it and decided to slough everything off and start new . . . the stress was finally over. That was dumb thinking on my part because it didn’t explain the blood pressure spike that would not come back down, therefore, I was put on blood pressure meds. Not a happy for me at all!

Then, I started having severe issues with my stomach and intestines. Bloating, diarrhea, and terrible pain that I often times missed work or couldn’t go out with friends. I also put on a bunch of unexpected weight. At the time, I called it my love chub because I wasn’t exercising as much and wanted to spend every moment with the man who made me so stinkin’ happy.

It wasn’t until I met a few key OT mom’s on my caseload, after I became a Nutritional Therapist, and found the book ‘The Autoimmune Solution’ and several other books on leaky gut, that it began to dawn on me what I was doing to my body.

I needed to make some serious changes . . .

What I discovered along the way is that the pill, with all of its synthetic-ness, yes was keeping me from getting pregnant, but that it had a direct hand in my complete hair loss and my high blood pressure. Gluten and casein were also playing around with my gut, making it horribly unhealthy and killing off the good bacteria that helps you lose weight and keeps your gut healthy. I also was a big Advil popper, which also had a hand with my horrible gut issues. The combination I had created, was demonic!

In a nutshell, I was killing my gut, which has an 80% hand in your immunity, hence me getting the flu so bad one year as well as pneumonia and pleurisy and a month from work. I am not a sick person and rarely do get sick, but certain things were taking their toll on my body, and I was losing but I hadn’t put two and two together yet.

I read and study constantly and I believe that God puts certain things in writing in my books, on my computer screen, and these OT mom’s that amaze me with what they have learned from the Functional Medical docs as well as the Naturopaths.

I had an enormous A-HA moment not too long ago about the birth control pill. Prior to that, I had gotten off gluten, casein, sugar, dairy, red meat, and caffeine. I eat all organic, non-GMO, non-MSG, and non-all the other poisons that are being put in our food. I introduced enzymes into my system right before every meal that I eat because I no longer produce enough of them to break my food down properly because of the poisons I have introduced into my body. I also take L-Glutamate which helps digestion, I cook with organic coconut oil, take cranberry concentrate and apple cider vinegar capsules and kelp and Omega 3, make my own bone broth, do a yeast cleanse every few months, and I am also part of the UBiome gut study group to make sure I am building my gut health back up. I take Juice Plus vegetable and fruit concentrated gummy vitamins, the best way to help you get all of your fruits and veggies each day.

I also meditate when I can and practice yoga and walk. I get outside as much as possible to be in the sun to help with my vitamin D, which helps absorb a lot of what I am taking to help me heal. I also take Bach Flower remedies and use essential oils to also help me in my battle to regain health.

I had a dream, not too long ago, that scared me straight and the next day, I threw all of my pills away, called my doc, and made an appointment to get an IUD placed instead of the birth control pills, which were helping to kill me.

Well . . . remember when I said it is tough to be a woman?

I have an incredibly high pain tolerance and this would be my demise on the day my IUD was ripped into my body causing a lot of blood loss later on. The night before my ‘placement’ aka ‘torture,’ I was to take these pills, something I hate now, to soften my uterus and cervix for placement. Evidently, they did not soften anything as I lay on the table in excruciating pain while my sweet gynecologist tried to get this thing placed. As I watched the nurse wince and turn away at what was absolutely killing me, I kept saying to myself, “This is wrong, something is wrong, and I should stop this.”

She wanted one more try, and when she finally reached the spot of insertion, shot it in, and as soon as she pulled everything else out to help get the IUD in place, I knew something was wrong.

She wanted me to come back in a few days to do an ultrasound to make sure it was in the right place since she had such trouble. I had to cancel the rest of my day with OT kids, something I HATE doing as they get so disappointed, went home and went to bed. I got up an hour later to use the bathroom and observed the whole toilet full of blood, a lot of blood. I said many prayers and took a lot of Tylenol to get through the pain. I kept telling the Professor that something was wrong, I could feel it.

The day of the ultrasound, I had prayed so hard that it was in the right place, I’m sure God was sick of me.

As I was ultrasound-ed, which felt like a rape as she slid the dildo shaped ‘thing’ in my vagina, my IUD was nowhere to be found. With concern on her face, she went to get the doctor, who also confirmed that she didn’t see it. So, the next thing to do is remove the ultrasound dildo, get the speculum, and look for strings. No strings.

I was then sent to get an X-ray to see if these folks could find it and yes, they did indeed find it, sitting on the outside of the uterus because it had been poked through my uterus with the insertion, hence all of the blood. I was heartbroken, had to miss more work, was in pain, and was PISSED!

Now, when a foreign object is injected into your abdominal cavity, you must have surgery to get it removed. Oh goody. At this point, I told my doc that while she was in there to capture the demon that had been released into my innocent body, just go ahead and take out the tubes too.

Since learning all of the natural ways of healing and trying as I might to stay away from foreign objects in your body, I felt very defeated. I was also mad that I would allow an IUD in my body, what was I thinking?

Well, I had 6 days to think about surgery and went through a myriad of emotions. The Professor even offered to get himself fixed instead, something he is terrified of, what a sweet man, but I told him this was the best way since they had to be in there anyway.

Thankfully, my surgery went great and I am sitting here the day after surgery very thankful that all went well, I’m not in much pain, and get to go back to work tomorrow. I had a lot of folks praying for me and I greatly appreciate that.

The moral of the story is, anything synthetic or poisonous that you are putting in your body will have a side effect such as complete hair loss, high blood pressure, leaky gut, allergies, lower immunity, and many many many other very bad things. I had to go through hell and back to understand all of these things. I had to share all of this today because if your quality of life is being affected, you owe it to yourself to get to the bottom of it.

Because of the changes I have made, my blood pressure is almost back to normal and I am going to talk to my doc about getting off of my meds for this, I have lost 6 pounds out of the blue, my gut no longer hurts, my thinking is clearer, the severe eczema I had this year (it has never been this bad) is also gone, and this pollen that bothers me every year has had no effect on me this year. I have not been sick in I don’t know how long and I feel absolutely wonderful. I’m also sleeping like a baby and have more energy than ever before. Life is good.

Now, I don’t want to live forever, but I do want to live until I die a life that is full of quality. A good starting point is to read Dr. Amy Myers’ book called ‘The Immunity Solution’ and once you’ve read that, get my book called ‘The Dragonfly Approach’ so you can see the aftermath of what is happening in you and your children because of all of the things I have mentioned. We are in the middle of an epidemic and we must stop it or we will extinct ourselves in the end.

We all deserve a good quality of life, you just have to give your body the right type stuff to ensure that quality.

Love y’all!!

 

Spelling Errors, etc.

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What did we do before spell check and Grammarly? As a writer, I rely so heavily on spell check/Grammarly that I dare say I fear a strike as I lean on them too heavily at times. There are several words that I misspell or use wrong and probably always will.

Envalope

Independant

To when it should be too

Its when it should be it’s

Dilema

Everyday when it should be every day

And about a million more words that I cannot spell or use in the wrong place.

When I was in grade school before I realized I had a photographic memory and all I needed to strengthen it was to go to college when it decided to show up, I was the worst speller on the planet. Part of the reason was that I had dyslexia, though I didn’t know it at the time.

I also had a helluva time with math, flipping numbers constantly! When someone says the word math, I run the other way as it is not my friend. When my kids were taking classes like Algebra 2 Trig, Calculus, etc. they thought it super funny to ask for my help. “Hey mom, can you help me solve this equation that has numbers and letters in it?” Who in the hell said that numbers and letters could dance together in a damn equation anyway? This always baffled me and oh you can forget about those horrid word problems. That was so far out of my brain to put words into numbers. Again, numbers and letters shouldn’t dance together, it’s too creepy. (I just got a spell check for its because it was supposed to be it’s, see what I mean?)

And tell me how any of our word ‘rules’ make any sense at all. They apply sometimes but not every time. (Spell check because everytime is two words.) Okay so if there is an ‘e’ at the end of a word the vowel says its name, well I don’t know what vowels you refer to saying their name when you utter the word ‘apple.’ Shouldn’t, by the word rules, it be pronounced aypple? And why on earth would you put ‘silent’ letters in our words like in know and knee? Just leave them out of it so us dyslexic folks don’t get more confused. I mean you put letters with numbers, your rules don’t always apply, and now there are those secretive ‘silent’ letters. What the hell?

Now, for some of you with math brains, letters and numbers dancing together makes sense to you, right? Well, for me, it is like putting my underwear on backwards or worse yet, my bra. Yes, this would cause most folks to be a bit uncomfortable and how freaking weird would you look, assuming you have a lined bra that keeps its shape, with boobs on your back? I’d laugh at you, just sayin’.

I’ll tell you what does make sense to me . . . nature, animals, kids, and holistic occupational therapy. I also know that my dad tells me quite a lot that he has no idea how I work with kids with special needs as it takes a lot of patience and I tell him I can’t imagine not working with them. My’ job’ is not a job at all and I consider myself one of the lucky ones.

I have a story about spelling that one of my OT mom’s told me the other day and it just ticked me off because of the idiot thought processing that had occurred.

When you have special needs, I actually would be considered one of these folks because of my ADHD, dyslexia, and sensory processing issues, we are sometimes good at one thing but not necessarily the other. So, I have this awesome OT kid who has defied more odds than you would ever imagine and she can spell like a champ but her handwriting isn’t the neatest, though we are working on it and it’s partly from her retained reflexes so we are addressing this too. She takes a spelling test the other day and spells every one of them right in her handwriting but because her teacher has a problem with messy handwriting, she counted every one of them wrong because and I quote, “Your handwriting is too messy.”

Now, let’s look at this from logic, shall we? The kid spelled every one of them right and if this teacher had an ounce of teaching ability, she would have had my OT kid verbally spell them back to her to see that yes, indeed, this kid can spell your stupid words that don’t follow the rules all the time, end up with numbers sometimes, and have ‘silent’ killer letters attached to them to boot.

My point is, not everyone can fit into the boxes that society has laid out for us because we are all made and wired differently. I struggled so much in grade school and high school it is actually a miracle that I went to college and aced it. I mean you can’t expect me to be a kicker of the football team if I am a fish in the water. Big picture, people.

Today’s school systems in my area, just as they were when I was a child, box kids into one way of learning and that is a crime because you rob that kid of confidence and plant doubt into their brains and once you do that, their subconscious, which is a wimp, by the way, says, “Well, I suck at spelling/handwriting/math, I guess I always will.” I thought it about spelling and math but guess what, I have spell check and a calculator. I also have Amazon Alexa’s at every computer that I use so I can ask math questions and spelling too.

One of the things that I experience time and time again is society and parents expecting us and their children to be good at EVERYTHING. It ain’t going to happen so hang it up, folks and for those of you adults that kick yourselves because you aren’t good at everything, shift gears and look at what you are good at. Focus on that and you won’t be chasing your tail as much.

I am good at many things and I’m proud of that but I’ll tell you straight up, I am not good at spelling or math, but I have helpers for that and not being able to spell well has not kept me from writing 4 books with a 5th one in progress. See, you can overcome, you just might have to do it a bit differently is all.

Love y’all!!

A Fingerprints Tail

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So, about 2 months ago, I was approached by virtual school group looking for an OT to do virtual sessions with the homebound and/or virtual school kids. I have heard of this but wondered how in the world you could provide the type of care that I give out at 150% to each of my OT kids and their families, as I get loads of information from the energy these kids and parents emit, in person at the clinic.

Out of total curiosity, only after letting the contract lady know that I would not be able to continue if I didn’t feel the care I was giving the OT kid was up to the level that I absolutely need to provide, I agreed to give it a whirl with this aforementioned caveat. She agreed that I could give it a year’s try and then decide if I wanted to continue.

Okay, here’s where my journey really begins . . .

The sweet virtual school lady tells me she needs all kinds of stuff from my OT license, OT registration, liability insurance, and lastly my fingerprints for a background check both from the FBI and Alabama’s records as well and oh, by the way, you pay for this. Seems a little over-kill but okay. However, I did point out that it might not be necessary as I have a military ID and a background check had to be done to get this, would this do? No, no, I have to do it their way. Fine.

Let the tail begin . . .

I figured out what I needed after 45 frustrating minutes on the two separate websites for the FBI and Alabama’s law stuff, filled the paperwork out, paid the fees, and printed off the papers for my fingerprints. For some odd reason, Alabama wants two copies of your fingerprints and the FBI only wants one. Okay, whatever.

I figure out where I have to go to get them and amazingly enough, find the time in my extremely tight schedule and off I go. I go to the building that I looked up on a cold rainy day, and upon entering the building, I spy a fella behind a pulpit of a desk, as it was sitting quite high, and I kindly ask him where I go to get fingerprints. He raises an eyebrow and says, “Why do you need fingerprints pretty lady?” Oh, great, an interrogator. I kindly tell him, with some bit of irritation, that it is for a job I have taken on and he points to a window with a tall older gentleman behind it and about 5 people in line. Sigh, as I am on borrowed time.

I wait in line, with some semblance of patience, and the folks in front of me, a lovely older couple, step up to the window and tell the tall man that they need the police report for the vehicle that was stolen out of their driveway the day before while they were gardening in their backyard. I gasped and the sweet geriatric citizen lady turns around and says this, “Ya, and the man that stole it was in such a hurry, he wrecked it on the getaway just about 5 blocks from our house.” Not able to help myself, I say, “What a dumb ass!” The geriatric citizen husband turns around and says, “My thoughts exactly.” Bless them. They finish, shuffle along, and then it’s my turn only, tall dude has disappeared. I wait and wait and wait and finally, he comes back asking if he can help me. I tell him about the fingerprints and he says that I am in the wrong building, that I need to go to the building next door. Fantastic!

It has really started raining but I am trying my hardest to hang on to my patience because time is running out.

I pull up to the ‘other’ building, get out, and I’m met with some very scary and unsavory citizens. I take a deep breath and enter the building. Turning left, I wait in line, again, behind two ladies with horrible situations that they are not whispering about to the two ladies behind the glass, no, they are using their outside voices. One has been given some sort of citation by her ex-husband, something about her harassing him, and man is she pissed but graciously trying to laugh it off as she apparently knows the lady behind the glass from somewhere else.

The other lady/girl, who is about 5 foot nothing and weighs about 35 pounds with so much hair I dare say I had no idea how she didn’t break her tiny neck with all of it. She informs the lady that her boyfriend committed suicide last night in her apartment while she was at work. I gasp again, only quieter as not to be heard because time was running out and I didn’t have a moment to hug this tiny person and tell her that I would pray for her, which pains me not to do, though I prayed for her anyway in my head. They finish up and now it’s my turn.

I step up to the glass, tell the two ladies what I need, they ask for my paperwork, I hand it to them, and they say, “Uh oh . . . ” What? There’s no uh oh! I did every stinking thing it said. “Well, we don’t do fingerprints on these forms anymore because they bleed too bad so you will need to go to the spy shop on the corner and get the cards.” Lovely. I bid them adieu. Go back out into the rain, skirt the unsavory citizens who are now looking at me like they might eat my eyeballs out of my face, get back in my car, and go to the spy shop.

Well, this spy shop is for citizens who do not trust or like a significant other, a babysitter, and millions of other reason why people spy on other people. I was a little edgy as I got out of my car and oh yeah, one of my OT parents sees me, as she is stopped at a red light alongside this place, rolls her window down, and says, “You got trust issues, lady?” I chuckle and yell back, “No, I have to get fingerprint cards for that virtual job I was telling you about.” She waves, as the light turns green and takes off.

Once inside, I am blown away by the high tech equipment for spying. I have an interesting conversation with the lady behind the counter about all the crap she has seen over the years and uncomfortably stand next to a lady who is sobbing as she suspects her husband is cheating on her and needs everything possible to nab him. Jeez!

Well, the way this building is situated on the corner, I would have to get back out into traffic, circle around, get back on the main road, and then exit off again to get to the fingerprint place. Instead, I hopped the curb, cut through an empty field, and ended up back on the road that leads me to the building again, while a cop watched me do this waiting at a stop sign to get back into traffic. I almost threw up as I looked at him, but luckily he gave me the thumbs up. Whew!

Back at the building, I skirt the ‘eyeball eaters’ again, go back in, present my cards, and give them my license and ATM card. “Uh oh . . .” Shut the front door, now what? “Um, you have to pay with cash.” Mother trucker. Sighing, they both tell me that there is an ATM in the other building I was just in and oh, by the way, they don’t charge a fee. Well, there’s the lining I guess as well as everything is close, so okay, I will trek on.

I get to the other building, go in, and pulpit guy says, “Oh, you’re back. Did you miss me that much?” I wanted to take the umbrella I had in my hand and charge him with it but alas, I only had a bit of time left. I laughed a fake laugh and found the ATM and oh yes, there is a fee of $2.95 to use it. Woohoo! This is the best day ever.

I drive back to the other building, skirt the unsavories, and drag myself up to the window again. I pass everything they need under their protective glass and the older lady gets going with the transaction . . . “Uh oh….” Oh my freaking, Lord, I am about to lose my cool. The other lady, who has kinda been rooting for me, looks at the other lady and says, “Oh my gosh, Gertrude, please tell me she doesn’t have to go anywhere else?” I say, “Yes, Gertrude, I am about to lose my cool here. I don’t have the energy or the time to jump through any more hoops.”

She points out that I wrote my SS number in the wrong place on the card and the rules are you cannot cross out or draw an arrow to the spot either. I say, “Listen, I will take my chances as the Alabama folks need two copies and I am assuming that this one could stay on file or something. Please for the love of Frances, just let me get my fingerprints!” She shrugs and says, “Ok, but if it comes back to you not done, it’s on you.” Fine, good Lord Almighty!

Now, I have never had fingerprints done in my life so this was new. Gertrude got the honors of printing my fingers 3 times and it was a pain in the ass as she kept saying, “Will you relax! Let me move your hand! Look away for crying out loud! Go to sleep if you have to.” Gertrude, I’m gonna take that ink pad, roll my fist over it, and punch your little lights out with an imprint of my fist on your face, you little turd! We SOMEHOW, by the grace of God, get it all done. By this time I am sweating, what I do when I get extremely irritated, and my fist is inching toward that ink.

And do you know what Gertrude says to me on the way out? “If you get the prints sent back because you wrote your social in the wrong place, be a dear and bring us back some coffee.” GIVE ME THAT DAMN INK!!!

By this time, I had lost my cool with that last statement from the turd called Gertrude so when I stepped out into the rain again and the unsavories wanted to eat my eyeballs, I wanted to say, “Bring it on, freaks, I’ve got so much irritation and anger built up, I will take all of y’all out!!! Bring it!!!”

The moral of the story is . . . never believe what the internet says, always have cash in your wallet (I never do as my children are thieves-not really but they always borrow it), be sure to go to the proper building, and hide your face as you enter the spy shop.

What a freaking day and if by chance my prints are sent back, I will poison the coffee I bring to Gertrude and as she slips into a pre-death coma, I will roll my fist into the ink and knock her little lights the rest of the way out!

Love y’all!!

 

 

A Drive From Hell

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I have a new clinic that is located in a school that specializes in teaching kids on or off the spectrum. It caters to their way of learning aka their learning style. I was honored to be asked to be a part of this fabulous school and it has been awesome.

It is across town from me and takes about 30 minutes or more depending on what is going on with our perpetually constructed on roads. Well, today the drive there was hellish and I felt like I was being punked again because of the sheer ridiculousness of the various situations that I found myself in.

For example, pulling out of my driveway, I discovered that I only had 25 more miles until empty with no time to stop by a gas station. Crap! Pulling out onto the road to start my journey across town, a lovely person who obviously has depth-perception issues pulls out in front of me, as I was going 40, and decides to go negative 12 all the way down the road to the main road that I had to hook up with. Fantastic!

Once on this bigger road, a man who has a home but wanders the streets as if he doesn’t have one and weighs about 60 pounds and has to hold his pants up, is standing on the side of the road swaying like he might either dart or fall into the very busy road. I see him all the time, have even talked to him, but he mostly keeps to himself. People try to take care of him all the time but he’s kinda funny about this. It scared the heck out of me. I pray for him a lot, bless him.

In a brain fart move, I decide to take this main road all of the way to my other clinic thinking that the 2-year construction is nearly finished and surely I can pass through without delay, I usually take the back roads because of the constant delays. Ha! As I come up over the hill, I spy a cop car in the left lane and everyone is getting over into the right lane. Once I get a little closer, I realize that the cop car is in the left turning lane and everyone is now moving back over to the left lane. Crap! After everyone merges back and forth, we come upon the ‘clog’ in the road and it’s some woman with her hazards on who appears to have tipped her groceries over in the back seat and is adjusting them because we all have time for her OCD this morning on the way to work. Ugh!

I get passed OCD grocery lady and as I look up I see an enormous puddle, runoff from something that they are working on with the overpass, and observe a tidal wave crashing over a car from the truck that has hit it full on. Shit, I am in the same position and I’m about to get myself ‘drowned.’ As I prepare to be drowned, I hear myself scream a little as I lose sight out the front windshield and quickly turn on the windshield wipers to salvage some sort of vision so as not to hit anyone. Wonderful!

So now I’ve become quite stabby. I have little gas, got behind a dead person driver, have had to pray that the swaying skinny man doesn’t fall into the road, OCD grocery lady’s need to stop, drop, and fix her groceries, and now I have been drowned. What else?

I should know better than to ask this stupid stupid question . . .

I finally bust out of the construction sight praying for better traffic conditions but no, they continue.

I approach my last turn to get to my clinic and get behind another dead person driver going negative 5. I’m about to lose it!

I skirt around him and as I do so, a drunk person is trying to cross the street. I nearly take them out but they seem so drunk they don’t even notice. Scary!

As I make my way up the hill that will crest where my turn into my clinic location will be, a dooly gets in front of me with so much smoke coming out of the tailpipe and diesel, which stinks to hell, I develop an instant headache and oh, yes, they are dead too as they are going negative 3.

By some miracle from God, I make it to work on time but at this point, I am stabby, have a headache, and would like to never have to drive again. As I pull into my parking space, I get out and observe that my red car is now a light brown from the drowning. Evidently, there was mud mixed in with the water. Great!

As I grab my stuff, I stagger into this sweet school that I am apart of and as I open the door, my first OT kid greets me with a huge smile and says, “Hi, Ms. Sharon! You ready for me?”

All of my stabby, as well as my headache, fade away and I thank God at that moment for the beauty of the children I work with and also thank God for having the greatest job in the world.

Life is a funny thing, ain’t it?

Love y’all!!