Moderation and Life Balance Helped Solve My Health Mystery

I suppose my health problems started in the womb because I was born premature at 7months and I had no eyesight ,as my eyes were sideways in my head. I was not aware that the way I saw my world was different -then most everyone I met. I did not know what I could not see and it unnerved me that others saw people, objects, animals, and nature so strangely. My first vision examination was very frightening because I did not want anyone touching my eyes as it caused painful flashes of light into my limited sight. It looked like what I know now as prisms and it made me naused and dizzy. My parents took me to Dr. McCauley's office which was in an enormous building downtown. Mother and I rode Bus 7 to and from my appointments and I loved the elevator rides. Everyone at the eye doctor's was very nice to me but they crowded around me poking at my eyeballs scaring me to tears. I recall what seemed to be thousand pounds of black round things surrounding my head and engulfing my eyes. They dripped stinging water in my eyes that made my head bounce and shake and then I would get sick to my stomach. Sometime later I found myself in a hospital bed with two other beds in it and when my parents left the room I was there alone with noisy kids that shook my bed rails and spit on me, call me names and then they would hide out of my tiny spot of vision that I saw the world through. But they did not realize that I have echoing and hearing so i knew just about exactly where they were hiding. The nurses were great and one of the boys started yelling at the other kids and made them leave me alone.

When I was alone with the onry kds I would push the button, the nurses would come in, the kids would hide, I would point to the large shadow of the door and there they were, busted by nurses. It went like that for two days or more until someone began putting a mask over my mouth.I swore I would never be a tattle tale ever again but they would not remove it. It was nurses putting sleeping gas on me. Later I woke up with a thumping face, shooting pains in my eyes, stomach in twisted knots, and begged to go home. However, before I could go home the doctor and nurses put thick gummy pads over my eyes. Although the pads itched like poison ivy I was not allowed to pick at them and besides I was afraid I would pull my eyeballs out if I touched them. We got through it all okay and went home, finally. Later, I went back to Dr. McCauley's office and he hugged me and said,"Sorry" about all the problems but now you will be able to see better." He and the nurses little by little pulled those God awful pads off and I screamed from the bottom of my guts. Oh the pads did not hurt but the blinding light burned my eyes something awlful. Please stop, please I do not want to see, please it hurts so bad. I sobbed, they hugged reassuring me but I did not want to see what I was suppose to see. Time went on two more eye surgeries healed and I tried to adapt to the pain of light and the comfort of darkness during my next 3 eye surgeries. Dr. McCauley said that, "In time everything would be okay", and he was right, " I was okay, adapted, conformed, and memorized the world as others said it looked. Phonetics got me through school and not telling anyone outside my family that I was blind got me career positions. Others could see my eyes so they thought I was fully sighted. Hmmm, those are some stories but for a later time. Everyone just thought of me as a clumsy polite short girl. That was just fine with me. You know I stopped telling people I have vision problems because they associated that with hard of hearing and would yell instead of talk with me. I used all kinds of techniques like magnifers, having others read me homework and papers from my jobs and then I would write them very large for my vision and memorize them. I eventually got my Master of Science in Education and finished my 2 year Post Master's and then told my professors. I have no side vision so it's against the law for me to drive anywhere but especially on the sidewalk which I mistook as I was learning to drive as a teen. Bad Idea!

My parents said that Dr. McCauley was doing alternative eye surgery like experimental and it worked, he was brilliant. Yes, and he was a very kind person. I was curious about my sight as I grew to adulthood because I saw what I did not see and thought I did not see what was there. That was my first "alternative therapy". Mama and Daddy told me that I would have anymore "eye surgeries" but to try different ways to see what was really before my eyes, try different ways to "see" in your own time and way. I did. I learned that I have tunnel vision, read at 18 font and am considered by some "legally blind". My eyes still burn with light but I need bright light to see what the shadows are about. "Finding your own timing and balance", that's what Dr. McCauley's nurse said to me the last time I visited the eye clinic." I have always been trying to find the right timing and balance by using my tactile learning style and it has worked really well throughout my life until about a year ago. I began to feel dizzy, had massive flu symptoms, and weakness and went to numerous doctors and alternative therapists and until about one month ago concluded that it was my problem because they could not help me find the healthy balance I had been looking for all of my life. That is until I went to a friend who is a kinesiologist who told me that my movement was out of sync, that I should consider cleansing my system, and to pay more attention to what worked than what didn't. I began to notice that the food I ate greatly affected how I felt each day. The time of day and the weather effected me as well.

I was taking 2 antidiaherral capsules a day, two cinnamon tablets, one fish oil capsule, and I would have intermittent bouts of health and illness. My physician put me on a bland diet which helped me loose about 40 lbs really quickly but I was weaker, less steady on my feet, moody, and continued to look for more alternatives. I then went to a Reflexologists. She massaged my feet which felt like heaven and told me that the center of the bottom of my feet were the energy center or balance in my body. She recommended that I see a specialized, so I did. I went to the health food store that I frequently shopped at for my cinnamon tablets and fish oil capsules and had a long discussion with the owner. He told me that I might consider cleansing my system out and to talk with my physician. My physician and I talked at length and she recommended that I have a colon exam as she was concerned about my loss of weight and that she would refer me to Gastrointestinal, Liver, and Disease Specialist, she did. I noticed that the prep for the colon test did not taste bad but appeared to increase my symptoms. The specialist were marvelous, they educated me about "lactose Intolerance" and gave me a listing of foods to try and what not to try and I felt relieved, thankful, and listened when they said,"It's all about balance in your system, we have removed bacteria and you have a healthy colon, no polyps or no cancer." I was so grateful for their kindness and standard medical care for me.

My next appointment was with their Physician Assistant who advised me that a fairly new product was available that did not require an RX and she gave me samples of this Digestive Care product and a meal plan to address what she thought I had, "Irritable Bowel Syndrome". Well okay, I will "find balance inside and out" I told her. I began to take the meds, returned to Massage Therapy Appointment, met with a Healthy Food expert and added tomatoes and apples, revisited the Reflexologist, and went to Stress Management Therapy which recommended that I use Aromatherapy, relax by writing and artwork, and consider early retirement. I took all their advisements and today as I write this I have gained back 17 pounds so i now weigh 120, my system is normal when I eat correctly, and I retired early. I finally found a balance between my lifestyle and unhealthy eating and between Standard Medical and Alternative Therapies. I realized the other day that my favorite Aunt Mary had always told me that "everything should be done in Moderation" and I understand that to mean for me; Balanced Lifestyle.