This post has been a while in the making!

My husband has been encouraging me to use this blog to share things that might help someone, and more specifically share about my journey to health.

Well, that is a vulnerable place to be!

It will not be easy to sum up this long journey I have been on.

But I am going to give it a humble try.

With a humble prayer at the end that the Lord will use this for Him.

So here we go –

Ten years ago, in July of 2006, I woke up in the recovery room at the hospital after having a biopsy of my small intestines, and was told I have Celiac disease.

I was not offered a magic pill. Or a prescription for anything, for that matter.

I was told I could never eat gluten again.

I remember crying. Really hard. But it was not tears of sadness, fear, or disappointment.

It was a release. Tears of RELIEF.

I had been SO sick, for SO many years – and now I FINALLY knew WHY.

There is so much more I could say about the journey to that diagnosis – like how my concerns about my health were chosen not to be heard by doctors, and how it was a complete stranger who told me I needed to be tested for Celiac disease.

We are still praising the Lord for how He used someone I did not even know to point us in the right direction!

So, the day after my diagnosis was Saturday.

My hubby had been up half the night researching on the internet trying to figure out what I was allowed to eat. Gluten-free foods were not well known ten years ago.

Very early that morning he loaded the four kiddos and my very sore self into the van, and we drove over an hour to a gluten-free grocery store.

We walked in and told the gal who owned the store why we were there. She got a chair and sat my sore self down in the middle of that store, and then spent the next two hours teaching me everything I needed to know.

We left there with hundreds of dollars of “new” food.

And my journey began.

These are a few things that I buy for the kiddos. We learned early on in this journey to stick to the gluten-free aisle of the grocery store, and buy things that say gluten-free on them. It saves tons of time in research and calling manufacturers to see if things are safe.

I wish I could tell you all that not eating gluten anymore fixed everything.

But that is not how it works for a Celiac.

It had taken years upon years to damage my gut to the degree it was damaged.

Taking gluten away took away the offender that was causing the damage.

But healing has been a whole different thing.

So, we have taken steps forward, but have had steps backwards – all along the way.

When I was diagnosed with Celiac disease, I had already been taking infusions of IV iron since 1999, because I was chronically anemic.

I took these several times a year, and it required an entire day in the hospital to receive the IV infusion. Once home, I would have about a five day recovery from the high dose of iron that I had been given. These infusions continued through the years until January of 2013.

Fourteen years of IV infusions.

So thankful to be done with those!

Not needing them anymore is a HUGE step forward!

About six months into my gluten-free life, my tummy was such a mess. My GI doctor helped me figure out what was going on, which was an intolerance to dairy products. It is pretty typical for a Celiac to have troubles with other food groups. Removing dairy from my diet was a step forward as well! It was during this step with my GI doctor that he helped us with Chad’s obvious food issues too. We removed gluten and dairy from Chad’s diet, which gave immediate positive results for Chad as well.

SO Delicious is a dairy-free brand that we enjoy these days. When I first took dairy out of my diet, there wasn’t much out there to supplement with. I have made our own almond, hemp and cashew milk over the years because of that. This brand has minimal ingredients and great flavor though!

Because my gut was so diseased for so long, it did not pass nutrition through it into my blood stream, which caused various problems, like anemia and also weak bones. I had broken two bones before I was diagnosed with Celiac. Both of the breaks were without an injury.

We also suffered much loss over the years due to this disease, through miscarriages, and we have eight precious babies waiting at Heaven’s gates for us.

In August of 2007, just one year after being diagnosed, I found out I was pregnant with Lane. (the miracle that he is!)

Lane Stevan, April 2008

Lane was born with tummy troubles of his own thanks to this genetic disease. When he bled into his diaper when he was seven weeks old, my lactation consultant had me remove more foods from my diet for Lane’s sake.

When Lane continued to struggle to gain weight and get healthy, it was a turning point for us – we knew we needed some serious help in supporting his and my body to get us well once and for all.

Blake researched and researched and found a holistic nutritionist, whom we love, and who still helps us to this day.

Her support through specific testing, a cleanse, and an elimination diet were key in learning what foods were keeping our bodies in such a state of inflammation. Another step forward!

Then, the year of 2011 I was feeling poorly again, and through a series of events we discovered in October of that year that I also have hypothyroidism. This was a big step backward.

That was the point that our nutritionist sent me on to a functional medicine doctor that has helped support us through this health journey in more ways that I can mention. He is the doctor of our whole family now.

Just a comment here on what a functional medicine doctor is. The Institute for Functional Medicine says this: “The system of medicine practiced by most physicians is oriented toward acute care, the diagnosis and treatment of trauma or illness that is of short duration and in need of urgent care, such as appendicitis or a broken leg. Unfortunately, the acute-care approach to medicine lacks the proper methodology and tools for preventing and treating complex, chronic disease. Most physicians are not adequately trained to assess the underlying causes of complex, chronic disease and to apply strategies such as nutrition, diet and exercise to both treat and prevent these illnesses in their patients. Functional medicine practitioners spend time with their patients, listening to their histories and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. In this way, functional medicine supports the unique expression of health and vitality for each individual.”

It was this doctor that took a hard look at what my body was lacking, besides iron, and planned a supplement regimen that changed my life. Moving forward again!

These supplements are just some of all the ones I take daily. All of my supplement regimen is prescribed by my doctor through testing that I had and still have done. We really like the brand Pure Encapsulations. It is pure, like its name, because it has minimal fillers and no added ingredients.

It was around the time that I started with our doctor that we also learned that the molecular structure of gluten-free grains can mimic the molecular structure of wheat grains for someone with Celiac. So I stopped eating grains all together. Another step forward, for sure.

I have been keeping consistent appointments with my chiropractor for years, which I know is helping my body in very good ways. Always a step forward to have appointments with her!

Another, seemingly small, but very important thing that we do, is keep our lives as clean as we can. We eat organic foods, do not use chemical cleaning products in our home, do not use aluminum or non-stick pans in the kitchen, do not use harmful plastics in the kitchen as well, use mostly natural cosmetics, do not have WIFI, do not use cordless phones, filter our water, drink lots of it, get adequate sleep, keep stress levels low, and most importantly we keep our relationship with God first and foremost. I know all of our efforts in these areas have been steps forward!

These are just a few of the clean products we use in our home. I actually like to make as many of our products as we can. We make toothpaste, chap stick, facial scrubs, Vaseline, and cleaning products – just to name a few.

In January of 2014 I also started meeting with a fitness trainer at a Pilates Studio twice a week. I was so weak when she started working with me that she would just have me stretch. I get teary when I work out with her sometimes now. I cannot believe how far I have come! More steps forward!

The latest step on my journey to health started in March of this year with the Craniobiotic Treatments (CBT) I took from an amazing chiropractor in our area. These treatments are done with magnets, which open the communication between your brain, your immune system, and the illness in your body. We really like CBT because it is non-invasive, perfectly natural in that it does not require drugs or chemicals, and it allows your body to heal on its own the way God intended it to.

It was through CBT that I was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease, which explains SO much of my journey. CBT has HEALED myself and several of our children from chronic Lyme disease. There were five or six months after my CBT treatments and during that healing process that were challenging – but the results are SO worth it.

As with each new thing that the Lord burdens us to do and then blesses us with results, we can’t talk about it without tears in our eyes.

That is the way we feel about CBT right now. We have seen amazing results from these treatments. I now feel like I had been living in the dark, and someone just turned the lights on. I do not know how to give this the words that it deserves! It takes our breath away!

Choosing a natural path to healing leaves us sometimes misunderstood. A natural path to healing also takes motivation, dedication, and consistency to see results. Blake and I have been very consistent in the path we feel the Lord has burdened us to be on in this journey, and we feel so blessed to be seeing such AMAZING results!

I tell gals who have asked for my help with their health, that I have a list of five things that have been key in my journey to health.

One – supplementation through testing. Getting tested to see what my body was lacking, and then diligently taking the supplementation needed. For me, this is nineteen pills and thirteen sublingual drops every day.

Two – being strict and true to my diet. This means no gluten, no grains, no dairy, no eggs, no sugar, no nightshades. It isn’t all about what I can’t have though, it is about putting optimum nutrition in as I try to heal. Every bite counts.

Three – having a hysterectomy in 2012. This was very needed, and ended my constant IV iron infusions.

Four – seeing a chiropractor regularly, and now more importantly – those CBT treatments.

Five – seeing my trainer regularly.

Blake and I know this journey is far from over. It will be a continuing process to try to gain health, and prayerfully heal on this side of heaven. I could not be more thankful for the burdens that the Lord has laid on Blake and my heart as we have searched for answers over the years. I also praise the Lord daily that He gave me a husband who is willing to invest SO much of his own life into the health of mine. He is a treasure beyond words.

I will close by saying that because I have lived here on this earth with the long health journey that I have had, my longing for my eternal home is very, very real. That is where my Lord and Savior will definitely heal me once and for all. I just hope and pray that the day I stand before Him, He will be able to say “Good job my servant, well done.” The thought of that day is the motivation for every hard thing I have done – because there is nothing more that I want than to please Jesus as I walk this journey that He has chosen for me.

May the Glory be His and His alone.