In the beginning of December I began to feel as though things weren’t operating quite right with my digestive system. I recognized the symptoms from last year’s discomfort when I worked with a long distance healer on my pancreas. She explained to me that the cells that produce insulin for digestion of sugar had shut down and I was borderline diabetic. That was bad news but considering I had been brought up in a family who ate dessert twice a day, drank alcohol relatively regularly for 20+ years and had a bout with a brown recluse spider about a year previous that had wreaked havoc with my digestive system, I wasn’t a bit surprised.
The good news was, she believed, with 3 months of abstinence of all sugars (including fructose in fruit) and with some intensive work on the energy systems of the pancreas, spleen and stomach, I could heal the organs and lead a normal life. She was right. At the end of the summer I was able to eat without the chronic indigestion I had been suffering with for about a year.
Things seemed to be fine and then came Thanksgiving 2009 and the holiday parties. My occasional glass of wine turned into a daily routine and the desserts were irresistible. Soon I was experiencing the chronic indigestion but told myself I would behave after the holidays.
Well, one night I began to experience symptoms I hadn’t had since the spider bite along with the chronic indigestion; numbness of my left side, dizziness, pounding heart, racing pulse, diarrhea, and nausea. When my jaws began to tighten and my entire body began to shake violently we went to the closest fire station to have them check my vital signs. Any fire station will check your vital signs at no charge; I found that out when after brown recluse spider bite in March of 2008. The more I thought about it the more these symptoms seemed like the venom was rearing it’s ugly head again. I realized I hadn’t eaten much during the day so I drank a glass of juice hoping to stabilize myself as we headed out the door.
My blood pressure is normally 90/60, low for some but normal for me. The fireman who took my blood pressure said it was 148/90 and we proceeded to the emergency room at the hospital. I had been uncomfortable for well over an hour and it didn’t seem to be getting any better.
They performed many different blood tests and came to the conclusion I was as healthy as a horse except that my potassium and sodium levels were a little low. They explained that would cause my heart to race because the electrical connections would not be firing properly. The doctor said my blood pressure wasn’t high enough to put me on any meds and that I should eat more bananas and oranges. I didn’t tell him I wouldn’t have taken his meds, that would simply be covering up the signals my body was sending me that something was wrong.
Once home I slept well and the next day I picked up some potassium caplets and began researching low potassium levels. Everything on the Internet explained that people do not have low potassium levels from lack of potassium in their diet. There was something wrong with the way my body was absorbing and/or discarding it so I contacted my dear friend and acupuncture physician, Dr. Susan. I made an appointment to see her as soon as I could get to the west coast, tried to be careful about what I consumed and carried my potassium caplets with me everywhere, breaking them open under my tongue (a homeopathic practice) whenever I felt the dizziness starting. After Christmas and New Year’s with too much pie and wine I was ready for her help. Especially since the more I read about potassium the more I understood there was something very wrong and that I could easily overdose on potassium; the symptoms for too much potassium were the same as the symptoms for too little; dizziness, nausea, numbness and tingling sensations.
Dr. Susan checked my pulses-in Chinese medicine they check 16 different pulses in the human body to examine all the systems-and determined my digestive system was working overtime inefficiently. This was causing my pulse to race and my blood pressure to rise. When she read the results of the blood tests from the hospital she exclaimed, “You are anemic!” She did a needle treatment to help my energy start moving and told me to eat more red meat and green vegetables, to stay away from the sweets and to practice the Japanese exercises that had saved my pancreas over the summer.
I went home feeling much better and stopped at the health food store to pick up my new favorite morning breakfast shake, “Greens and Whey” and a bottle of Simple Greens. I tried a little of each with no adverse effects and went to sleep knowing I had the cures I needed, even if this was related to the venom from the spider, which we were pretty certain it was as I had not had any problems before the bite, we could help my body heal itself.
The next morning I drank my shake and took a couple of the simple greens and did my morning Qi Gong and Yoga. Within an hour I began feeling the symptoms more intensely than ever and called a neighbor for some help. He came over and we checked my blood pressure, 150/95 and my pulse rate was 99. A pulse rate of 100 is considered dangerous usually leading to a heart attack and I felt as though I should get to the hospital again. I called my acupuncture physician and when I told her I had taken the nutrient dense foods she calmed me considerably, “Diane, your body can’t digest that yet. Slow down on trying to heal yourself all at once. You didn’t get in this shape overnight. You can’t fix it in one day!” I knew she was right.
She also suggested digestive enzymes and I ran to get the papaya enzymes I had purchased when the indigestion started about a month ago. They seemed to help considerably and I got a more complete digestive enzyme product from a friend who distributes them. I haven’t eaten a meal without them since.
I am happy to say things seem to be getting better. I am diligent about doing my Jin Shin Jyutsu treatments 3 times each day for my spleen, pancreas, small intestine and bladder. I am avoiding sugar and alcohol. I am drinking lots of good herbal teas with Stevia, an herbal sweetener used for centuries in Paraguay to treat diabetes. I have also found that agave and real maple syrup have a low glycemic index and I am able to digest them relatively easily. I ate half an ice cream bar a couple of days ago and suffered with it so I will give myself another month of NO SUGAR and hope for the best.
Once again, I am thankful I have friends who are natural healers because if I had relied on western medicine they would have told me I was fine and if it happened again they would put me on some meds to take away the symptoms. I think I might try a glass of wine on Valentines Day and if I can’t digest it, then I will know I am not ready to introduce "occasional sugar" back into my diet and I’ll take a handful of papaya enzymes for dessert;)
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