My doctor had a medicine for everything and none of them worked!

THE BEGINNING…

I’m an allergic person. I was diagnosed with eczema younger than I can remember, and some of my earliest memories involved my mother slathering my skin down with hydrocortisone and calamine lotion.

I used to cry when we went to the beach because my skin hurt so much in the salt water. It wasn’t good. Together with mild asthma, I was in bad shape from the beginning. The doctor prescribed a ventolin puffer and syrup to add to my list before I was out of junior primary.

When I became a teen, my skin improved, but I added dry eyes and hayfever, as well as a severe allergy to dogs to my list of issues. I hated all this. More prescriptions followed – eye drops for my eyes, a nasal spray to use during exams in spring so I could “cope”. Special shampoo that wouldn’t irritate my scalp. Antihistamines to add to the nasal spray for the hayfever.

As a result of brain injury from an illness, I was also diagnosed epileptic in my early twenties. More medicines. I’d be on them for life, I was told.

I was also told there was no cure for any of this. It was just “the luck of the draw.”

BLOOD SUGAR RISING…

Fast forward to late last year (December 2019). My regular yearly checkup showed up rising blood sugar. My doctor – a new doctor who I really don’t much like – didn’t seem much worried by this. She said I’ll probably develop pre-diabetes soon, to be followed by diabetes. It can be managed well, she said. I’ll just have to “watch my sugars”.

In the meanwhile, she’d also prescribed me three courses of prednisone for non-stop allergic issues, more antihistamine eye drops, some eye ointment, and she’d doubled my antihistamines plus slinging me on a new antihistamine “to try”. Oh, and three types of hydrocortisone in different strengths for my skin, plus a different ventolin puffer, another puffer I can’t remember the name of and a different nasal spray. Then there were the iron tablets because my iron was low and my regular anticonvulsant for my epilepsy.

I left, depressed, and bought all the medicines she’d prescribed. That night I went home and cried in bed, my partner hugging me. I was miserable.

As usual, nothing got much better. I was feeling terrible, exhausted and sick every day, and getting real close to calling life quits.

THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY

Someone once said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I think it might have been Einstein.

Yet that was exactly what I was doing – the same thing over and over – and expecting I’d get cured of my sickness.

Sure, every so often I’d try a different drug in a different strength. But it was the same thing. I was expecting to find a cure in the doctor’s office, while it was painfully obvious that no cure could be found there.

Perhaps what really drilled this home for me was the fact that my new doctor I disliked so much was talking to me about diabetes – and she was morbidly obese and almost certainly diabetic herself. If she couldn’t avoid diabetes for herself, it was unlikely she’d be able to help me avoid the same fate.

SIX MONTHS ON…

So here I am, six months on (May 2020).

I found a different path. After months of research, I changed what I was doing. It didn’t work. It had never worked.

Here’s what’s happening in my life now:

• WEIGHT LOSS: I’ve lost ten kilograms in weight so far (21 pounds) and am no longer obese. It’s likely my blood sugar has normalized – when I get it tested I’ll post my results, but I’m feeling better and my energy levels are through the roof.

• ASTHMA CURED: I don’t have asthma any more and don’t need a puffer any longer.

• ECZEMA BEING CURED (STILL “IN PROGRESS:): My eczema is significantly improving, and my scalp is nowhere as itchy and sore. My hair is improving in texture and moisture as well.

• EYE PROBLEMS SOLVED: My itchy, sore, dry eyes are improved so much I may be able to wear contact lenses again soon. My eye glands (meibomian glands) are functioning normally again., possibly for the first time in 30 years.

• HAYFEVER CURED: I’m completely off antihistamine medication – eye drops, antihistamine tablets, nose spray.

• EPILEPSY IMPROVED, POSSIBLY CURED: Best of all, I’ve reduced my anticonvulsant (epilepsy) medication by half, with no ill effects. It may be cured, but I’m taking things slowly reducing my medication on this one!

I’ll talk about how I’m doing all this in upcoming posts. And I’ll be clear: I am NOT a doctor and have no medical training.

However, I’ll also point out that no doctor could help me. I’ve been to dozens of doctors through my life. All they offered was more drugs that didn’t work. Their offerings masked disease rather than cured it.

It was clear to me that the only person who could help me was not going to be a doctor.

So read on, and I’ll share what I’m doing and how it’s going. You might want to give it a try too, especially if you’ve been down the path I’ve been on.

I’ve thrown out almost my medications I was on. Only low strength hydrocortisone and my epilepsy meds remain still to toss, and I’m getting there.

Sometimes you need a new path in your life. I sure did!