I began taking the road less traveled 23 years ago today, on Nov. 3rd, 1998!
Nov. 3rd, 1998 was the beginning of our holistic health journey and began in our pediatricians office. That’s right! In our pediatricians office. And what an amazing journey its been! At first glance, one might think “What a strange place to begin that journey!” but you’d be wrong.
You see, I had taken our 7 year old daughter (almost 8) to a Dr’s appointment. I don’t recall the reason for the visit but while there the doctor noticed her thyroid looked enlarged and ordered some tests. When the tests came back he informed me that she had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and wanted to put her on thyroid medication… for the rest of her life. He said it in a very matter-of-fact way and treated it like it was no big deal. In fact, he told me his own daughter was on thyroid medication, as if that was supposed to put me at ease. Unbeknownst to him, his often dishevled and slovenly appearance never solidified confidence with me so his attempt at reassuring me held no weight and failed miserably. Thank God!
As I stood there watching him write that prescription, my mama bear reaction instantly kicked in. I had a strong “knowing”, an immediate gut reaction and thought to myself… “NO WAY! THIS is not normal and there is no way I’m putting my daughter on thyroid medication for the rest of her life. I don’t know what I’m going to do but I know there’s a better way, and I’m going to find it.”
On the way home, I began to ask God to help me find a better way. One that would get to the root cause. I contacted two friends I knew who used so-called “alternative” or “holistic health” practices in their families. One recommended an herbal practioner and the other suggested a homeopath up in Canada that she used. Knowing absolutely nothing about homeopathy at the time, I decided to try the herbal guy first. And so our journey began.
Now, let me explain that I did not go off half-cocked and act in an irresponsible way. Our doctors office set up a follow-up appontment at the Children’s Hospital Endocrinolgy Clinic, in order to monitor her progress with the thyroid medication. At the first appointment, we saw a French speaking, female doctor, who informed me that the test results showed that the thyroid medication appeared to be working… at which time I informed her, without hesitation, that we weren’t using it. That we were using herbs instead.
Sadly, one always takes a risk being honest with doctors who practice conventional medicine, when using “alternative” therapies and treatments, as they are educated at colleges and universities that receive massive amounts of money from pharmaceutical companies. There, they are trained how to dispurse pharmaceutical drugs and not how to get to the root cause of illness or disease. Rarely, if ever, do they suggest using diet and nutrition to include vitamins and minerals, or natural therapies like herbs, accupuncture, a detoxification program, etc. I’ve found that many, if not most, conventionally trained physicians are not typically open to holistic health practices. And why would they be? They receive ZERO training in this area. Oftentimes, when you ask about, or tell them about, natural therapies they scoff at you and look at you as if you had a third eye.
After I told the doctor what were doing she was surprised but not condescending at all. In fact, she was happy that the herbs seemed to be working but said that we should still continue to monitor my daughter’s progress. She also stated that if it turned out that these herbs worked that she would want to find out exactly what we were using. Unfortunately when you go to clinics you oftentimes never see the same doctor again, and sadly for her, we never saw her again and I was never able to share with her what we had used.
Although we were getting positive results with the herbs, I began to get an uncomfortable gut feeling about the herbal practitioner and decided to give the homeopath a try instead. Thank God I did because it has been literally life changing for our family.
We took our daughter to her initial homeopathic appointment with an absolutely wonderful Christian, 3rd generation homeopath in Canada, Dr. Farquaharon (now retired). This appointment lasted about one and half hours, where after a long series of questions and conversation, a carefully chosen homeopathic remedy was chosen for her, based on her unique symptoms and the rest is history. He told us to take and record her morning basal temp (underarm temperature) before getting out of bed each morning. This temp should be one degree below normal, or appx. 97.6. Her initial temp reading was in the 95 degree area and we watched it rise over the next month or two until it reached the 97.6 degree temp which confirmed to us that the remedy was working. Our follow-up endocrinology clinic appointments also showed steady progress and confirmed that her thyroid antibody levels had, in fact, returned to normal levels.
Twice, I listened to my “gut feeling,” what I believe to be promptings by the Holy Spirit First, in the pediatricians office, and second, when I changed to homeopathic treatment instead of herbs. This experience required me to step way outside of my comfort zone. I’m eternally grateful because we were not only able to avoid a lifetime of thyroid medication for my daughter, and any harmful side effects that come with it, but in the months and years to come would use homeopathy to deal with my husbands back pain and avoid surgery, my son’s allergies, burns and scalds, and the list goes on and on. It was the catalyst for me to start seeking safe, natural solutions FIRST!!!
What I’ve Learned Along the Way
Over the years I have learned many things but one of the most important ones… to listen for and pay attention to my “gut feelings,” that “still small voice”, or “Holy Spirit prompting”, or whatever you want to call it. I recognize that we are getting that “feeling” for good reason.
Depending on the circumstance promptings may be given to help guide us, to protect us, or even sometimes, to protect us or others.
For instance, if you were to have a feeling or sense of forboding, a sense of impending evil or misfortune, please DON’T IGNORE IT! Receive it as a message and begin to cover it in prayer. It may have been given to you for this exact purpose in order to avoid or protect against it.
The prompting I received in response to my daughter’s hypothyroidism diagnosis led me to start seeking out safe, natural solutions. This one incident changed the trajectory of our health and wellness options forever. It was just the beginning of a journey that has impacted our lives, and others we know and love, in powerful and amazing ways. It has been the catalyst, over the years, for me to seek out safe, effective, natural solutions FIRST, whenever possible.
But our story doesn’t end there. Stay tuned for part 2 of Our Holistic Health Journey!
