‘Only owners can make decisions’, are you renting your body or does it belong to you?
Rev. Stoyan Tadin
It feels like there is no turning back, that you are heading down a black hole and you can’t get out. You wonder how did it get this far and will I ever be able to go back…
I am here to tell you, there is no going back, just forward. However, this can be the ‘epiphany’ for your life if you let it be. You have the power to get to the root cause of your illness and get your health back on track. This is my hope for your life and also my own.
I don’t want to waste time in this crucial phase. I want to help you get on track fast so that you can make the right decisions without losing precious time.
1. Create a safe and comfortable space for yourself and focus on a good sleep schedule.
- I rented an apartment in the city close to the hospital. I wanted to make my life was as simple as possible and I was able to focus 100% on me. If you are at home with your family, dedicate space that is just for you. You may think this is over the top, but your illness needs you to take some serious looking into yourself.
- You should focus on sleeping by 10pm and if you were like me at the beginning, I would wake up at all hours, but be kind to yourself and just sleep as much as you can whenever it works for you. After some months you will start sleeping very well but remember it will cycle, just go with it.
2. Figure out your finances and get help if you need it.
- In order to focus 100% on you for at least the amount of time of your treatment or longer (typically 1 to 2 years), you need to not be worrying about anything.
- My friends set up crowd funding for me, as I needed to get my immunity up after having typhoid fever just months earlier, and the only way to do this was through IV therapy and supplementation with my naturopathic doctor.
3. Know who your inner circle is and ask for help.
- You are the teacher in this scenario and the people around you will learn from you. They may not know how best to help you at the beginning but tell them what works and what doesn’t. They will gain so much from you through your trials that you will be fixing not only your health but theirs also.
4. Start researching your illness.
- I think this took me longer than it should have. I started a little bit at first and it seemed all the questions or suggestions I had about my health were shot down, only to later find out that those might have been the best way to start.
- So get yourself confident about what you are learning so you can take decisions that may not be offered to you from the very beginning. Use Google Scholar, Cochrane Reviews or PubMed.
5. Track your every intake.
- Start a journal and keep track of your every bodily input and output, also taking into account your moods and thoughts.
- I keep a book, as I prefer pen to paper, but on the computer or online is good too.
- This will help you understand what might be affecting your body and how to get your body into balance.
6. Get your family DNA tested.
- Yes, 23andMe or Ancestry.com. All you need is the basic kit. If you have already done this then request download of your RAW data.
- If you are like me, where I had not been in any of the high risk categories then this information will help guide you to where your genes have led you down the wrong path and it will be the very best thing you have to focusing on the ROOT CAUSE of your disease.
- Your naturopathic doctor can run the raw data into a PureGenomics which will let you know where you are deficient and also some traits that make you excel. If you don’t have a naturopath this could be a criteria for selecting one.
- Some diseases also have genetic testing available, check with your doctors to see if there is any testing available for your condition.
7. Modify your risk factors IMMEDIATELY.
- If this means stopping smoking, drinking or whatever, then STOP now.
- Your body is powerful and can heal with time. I started by detoxing, all foods out and only fruits and veggies in… it took me months before I could figure out what works for my body, but now it works amazingly and for someone going through treatment still, I feel better than I have in my adult life.
- Exercise is another crucial aspect, I start with just making sure I walked 5000-10,000 steps a day, do what works for you.
8. Detox, Detox, Detox.
- Remove all external insults.
- This means, clean drinking water (distilled spring water is best, followed by reverse osmosis).
- Make sure your shower and bath water is filtered (the majority of water is absorbed by your skin).
- Avoid swimming in chlorine pools.
- Change all your cleaning supplies to natural products (look for fewest ingredient options not all natural products are safe).
- Change your personal products to chemical free products.
- Stop dying your hair (especially brunettes).
9. Get good counsel.
- Speaking to someone that is not part of your inner circle will help you get very clear about who you are and what you want.
- No one else will be able to make the decision you will be required to make, so get clear quick.
- Everyone is different and everyone has innate knowledge that you must tap into in order for you to trust yourself and gain ownership over your life.
- The best advice I received before having to make my decision about chemotherapy was in these words: “only owners can make decisions”, are you renting your body or does it belong to you?
10. Pace yourself & have faith.
- Rome wasn’t built in a day. So get yourself on the rhythm of a new born baby… and really treat yourself like you would a baby.
- For me God is central, whatever you believe you must centre yourself back into this.
- I made sure I joined a team at church, I haven’t been able to be an active member but they keep me connected to the bigger picture and my life outside of my illness.
There are more things you will need to do, but these are what I feel are the most timely to support you with what you need to do NOW: make some tough decisions and feel confident about your choices. A patient must be well informed and your doctor can only provide you with a portion of the information the rest is in your hands and after all it is your body at the end of the day.
Next read: The Essentials List to Healing.