once I found Dr. Wahls and started following her diet I began feeling
better.”
Dr. Terry Wahls is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University
of Iowa. She was also struck by MS in 2000, and has successfully put
it into remission, and reversed many of her symptoms through severe
diet alterations and supplements. Dr. Wahls went from a tilt-reclined
wheel chair to being able to bicycle eighteen miles a day. Dr. Wahls
and many others have written books about autoimmune disease, and
there are many cookbooks, blogs, and Youtube/Ted talks online about
various dietary strategies.
Karen bought Wahls’ book and started following a strict AIP:
Autoimmune Protocol Diet. ‘It took about five months in for it to
really start working, but I felt amazing, just amazing. I never felt
like that before.” Karen stayed on her new regimen for a full year,
before attempting to reintroduce an old favorite, eggs. She had to
patiently wait, and carefully monitor how she felt after any new food
reintroduction. She systematically weaned herself off of Teclavir over
the course of a month. Karen learned about Functional Medicine
through Dr. Wahls, and researched online Functional Medicine
practitioners in each state. She found a health care provider she
routinely visits at Avera in Sioux Falls, and has noticed since that time
that they are increasing.
Functional Medicine focuses on the underlining cause of disease.
Avera’s website states that “Functional Medicine looks beyond
traditional treatments to help you be your healthiest self. We take the
entire picture into consideration, including medical history, personal
risk issues, medications, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and environmental
factors.”
For most of her life Karen had regularly used medications to
help control her allergies and asthma. She’d had some food testing
in the nineties, and found out she was sensitive to wheat, but no
recommendations about changing her diet had been made by her
health professional at that time. Karen states, “I just figured they
would give me allergy shots if something flared up, but I didn’t know
that it was attacking my immune system.” The reason some people
decide to have allergy testing done, is because scientific studies have
shown that undiagnosed food allergies, and a leaky gut can lead to
inflammation. Constant inflammation, can in turn, be the source of
many diseases.
A test used to check for leaky gut is done with a stool sample.
In Karen’s case she tested positive for a high bacteria count and
required a course of antibiotics right away. The term, Leaky gut, AKA
intestinal permeability, is used to describe when harmful byproducts
of the digestive system are leaked from the small intestine into the
bloodstream and or body cavity. A compromised digestive system can
lead to chronic inflammation and other physical symptoms.
Years later Karen was retested through a functional medicine clinic in
Sioux Falls, and learned she was most sensitive to sunflower seeds and
green beans. Karen states that even though these are healthy foods, she
feels that she tested that way, because she had eaten so much of them
in her life. What she has found is that once she stopped eating these
foods long enough for her body to heal and stop thinking they were
the enemy. She could eventually have some of them again in limited
amounts. She has given up wheat, grains, and refined food for good.
She recollects on a past road trip she took to Chicago with her friends,
“I ate whatever they ate, and by the time we got back I couldn’t hold
a cup again. That’s when I decided to eat healthy for good. I can have
a little of the other stuff once in a while, but there’s no way I’m going
down that road again. I don’t keep any wheat, grains, or refined sugars
in my house”
Karen has been symptom free since 2015, and no longer takes
any medications. Even though Karen still has checkups with her
Functional Medicine doctor in Sioux Falls, she no longer gets MRI’s
done. “I choose not to, I just think if you don’t need them, that some
things like x-rays are sometimes a little overdone. If I suddenly started
having symptoms again, then I’d have it checked.” Her doctor told her
that the interesting thing about brain lesions is that some people may
have multiple lesions and never show any symptoms or become aware
of them, whereas someone else could have only one lesion and show all
the symptoms.
One source of relief for Karen’s constant neurological pain
was found in massage. Karen recalls “I had a friend that was into
aromatherapy and when she gave me a massage that was the first time I
didn’t feel like an electric fence was going off 24/7, and a relief from the
buzzing. The constant electrical-like sensation was soothed. I found
that stress causes breakdown in the body and if you can alleviate the
stress you can get better.”
Karen wanted a platform for employment that allowed her to help
others, and share her hard gained nutrition experience too. “A lot of
people will roll their eyes when you tell them that what they’re eating is
killing them.”
In 2016 she enrolled in Globe University’s massage therapy and
reflexology program in Sioux Falls. She also received an online Health
Coach certification as well, through The Integrative Institute for
Integrative Nutrition. She is the owner of the Tyndall Massage Clinic
located at 1510 Main Street, Tyndall. Karen’s clients come from all
demographics. She has a regular, that’s ninety-five years old and is in
amazing shape. She’s also helped pregnant women, and high school
athletes as well. She is very generous in allowing new customers to
try different types of massage during an initial appointment. Besides
offering various styles of massage such as deep tissue, Swedish,
pregnancy, sport and hot rocks (a personal favorite), she is also
licensed in reflexology, and a technique called cupping. People come
in for massages for a variety of reasons, sometimes it’s injury, but often
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