I’ve been spending a lot of time reading from trusted resources about current health issues, and I want to begin sharing them with you over a series of posts.

I will try to keep them short, when possible, so you can count on being able to read or listen in ten minutes or so. But even if a recommended podcast is longer, please set aside the time (there’s lots of it right now!) You can relieve your fears by learning more about your immune system and what viruses are.

With knowledge comes empowerment

The prevalent message I want to convey is one of hope and empowerment. The current paradigm for dealing with viruses is not sustainable for our health or our economies. We can’t shut down the world’s economies every time a new virus is ‘identified.’ Think of all the viruses which previously tried to frighten the world: Zika, Avian flu, SARS, MERS, H1N1, etc. We need to look at this differently than the current policy recommends. I promise, you will find peace and calm by spending time with these messages from wise sources.

My experience with difficult illnesses

When my daughter was about fourteen she developed a large lump on one side of her thyroid gland. I had been traveling a lot teaching CRA, and she usually sat on the other side of the table from me, which blocked the view of that side of her neck, so we didn’t know how long it might have been developing – fast? slow? It was frightening. Her pediatrician got her an appointment to see a specialist at Mass General quickly, but in the days of waiting I was frantic.

During that same week I had an interview for admission to acupuncture and Chinese medicine school in Boston, and I still remember the surreal haze I was in during the entire interview. On the way home, I had to pull over to the side of the road and cry hysterically. After a good cry, I was able to think more clearly. What could I do now? One of the first Whole Foods markets was on my way home, so I decided – then and there – to stop and buy a Champion juicer. As soon as I had a plan, I felt better. There was something I could do that I believed in. My daughter and her friends enjoyed many fun juice blends over the next months (juices with kiwi being favorites.)

Fortunately, this was a benign fluid-filled cyst. We had plenty of time to deal with it. Surgery was the medical option that was offered, but I didn’t want to risk possible damage to her thyroid gland. Instead, I took her to a Chinese herbalist. He sent us to Chinatown in Boston with a prescription. It was quite an experience, watching them open drawers of herbs and place them on squares of paper, then wrap each day’s dose up in string. We brewed that tea daily for two weeks. Two months later the lump suddenly retracted, got harder, and thick fluid started spilling into her throat. It shrank by 50% in two weeks and was gone three months later.

My own history

I have a long personal history of seeking wellness, starting in the late 80’s, when I became ill. Nobody knew what it was. That path (and walking the path with many of you) has enlightened me and emboldened me, but in the middle of the worst of it, I was afraid. My kids were afraid I would die. AIDS was epidemic then and I had so many of its symptoms that I got tested for AIDS, too. I lost so much weight, even eating four meals daily, that a friend spent an entire day with me to be sure I wasn’t bulimic or anorexic. It became pretty clear to me at the start: western medicine didn’t know what to do with me and others like me, and diet and lifestyle were key to healing.

Later I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism. That empowered me, too. I learned there are many tools for analyzing our bodies and that my best recoveries were from nutrient dense traditional food, purer water, whole food supplements and daily activities that healed my cells and enhanced all the functions of my body, including my immune response.

Many of you will remember my story about the first time I got a fever and sore throat after two years of CFS. I was thrilled that I was finally getting a normal immune response. During that time there was nothing that western medicine was able to do for me, until I finally tested hypothyroid medically. There are some therapies from conventional medicine that I am very grateful for, for example thyroid and other hormone prescriptions. Emergency medicine at the top of the list.

But there is still so much that conventional medicine can’t do to recover the cellular integrity and functions of our bodies.

Who is driving the bus? You are!

Most of you have come to me to learn what you can do to accomplish healing for your bodies. You know that medications and surgeries and vaccines are not the only options to prevent or reverse your illness or dysfunctions. You want to restore your body, not band-aid the symptoms.

Now is the most important time to remember all you have learned about your body, and how it repairs itself, and protects itself. We are each very unique, so those choices will need to be very unique for each person and situation.

Many people are feeling fear during this ‘pandemic.’ I have found that my fears over the years have been mitigated by educating myself again and often from trusted sources. I have not found any of the popular press to be trusted sources. In this series, I will offer you brief news every few days, some with a link from a source that I believe is trustworthy. It will only take you ten minutes at the most to read these sources – I hope you will make time for that. There will be some recommendations for support and some things to think about.

My intention is to provide you with resources that will empower you, allay any fears, and remind you of your strengths. Please feel free to reach out to me after you read and listen. And, please share these far and wide so more in your circle can feel the same.

Spread the Light – Be the Lighthouse!

Today’s link is to an essay written by the incomparable Sally Fallon Morrell, founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation, and a blessed angel in our midst. I am daily grateful for her and the Foundation.

As a brief introduction, I will say this: I have told you all that viruses are not pathogens. This essay is an introduction to modern virology, with more to come in a few days.

As a footnote to this essay, please know this: during the 1918 flu epidemic, aspirin was a new medication. Patients were given twenty to thirty tablets daily! This almost certainly contributed to high rate of hemorrhagic bleeding and death. The flu came at the end of WWI; malnutrition was rampant, which weakened immune systems. Fear was rampant, also weakening immune systems.

Please, get new grounding in historical references, to know what this new ‘virus’ means to us as human beings.