Tara, this story is so heartbreaking and unfortunately very familiar. Our nightmare began when my 1.5 year old's eye stopped working within a 24 hour period. My doctor sent us straight to emergency with no explanation. When we arrived the ER doctors braced us for the worst- likely our son has had a stroke or has a tumour on the nerve that moves that part of the eye and he was sent for a CT scan. There is nothing quite like that feeling- the wait- surrounded by other families all waiting for what could be worst case. A few hours later the doctors came and said "well, best case scenario- we found nothing." Nothing? and that was the end of that. A perfectly healthy boy. I was racking my brain to see where I could have gone wrong- we are organic farmers, all his meats are pasture raised, he was never vaccinated, he is vibrant and loving and strong. I became a "mom obsessed" with every piece of literature I could get my hands on. Anything that had ever led to eye paralysis came into my possession. My gut instinct kept circling back to parasites. I brought it up at a follow up meeting with my doctor who dismissed it right away. She told me parasites were "third world problems." I'm not even going to begin to unpack that (might I remind you we live on a farm). His eye took 6 weeks to heal, but it did and we still had no answers. 9 months later it happened again. This time was even more terrifying- what did they miss in the CT scan? They scheduled us an MRI. By now the world is covid, so the MRI is scheduled 4 months from this second paralysis. I tell them they won't find anything on the scan because it will be better by then, but they don't listen because the whole world had been paralyzed. My naturopath is only able to do zoom meetings, and my incredible TCM doctor is not allowed to practise. I don't have access to my healers. Fast forward 4 months, MRI shows nothing. I get asked the same questions by the provinces best paediatric eye doctor, neurologists, what feels like every specialist. None of them have any answers. We get blood tests- all fine. Finally my acupuncturist is allowed to see us. She performs acupressure on him and at the end of the appointment asks us to limit his food intake this week, there is an issue with his gut. 5 days later a 10 inch long roundworm comes out of his behind. Worms of this size can live in the body for as long as 2 years. My TCM doctor looked at and treated his whole body, not just his eye or his head. My son is now 4 and thriving. We deworm my entire family twice a year with a black walnut tincture I make from our trees, and wormwood from our garden. Your story took my right back to all those feelings, and all the horror. But at the same time I am so thankful for the wild journey of learning and empowerment that it sent us on. Thank you for sharing!!
Thank you for sharing this story, Naomi. It seems to me that as parents, most of us don't get to go unscathed. I could see these things as gifts only in hindsight, but after repeatedly going through such things, I can see, even in the most dire of situations that there is always more. Your son is lucky to have landed with your family. Oh, and we do parasite cleanses twice a year, too. My mom even used to do them with us when we were small. Good practice! :)
Wow! Incredible timing. My son 4 years old had been having some bowel issues for a week. I first thought food poisoning but soon began to think parasites. Would you be so kind to share further on the parasite cleanses? How much for a little one? Duration? What to expect?
Hey Naomi, would you be so kind to share the dosage for the wormwood and black walnut tinctures you give? I’m sure my 3 year old has roundworms and suppose that my 18 month has them as well (although from the reading I’ve done he may be too young to deworm).
I do 20 drops for adults and 5 for kids as per a wormwood/black walnut tincture I have purchased in the past instructed. We take it 3 times/day for 4-5 days. My older son likes it- he gets a spoon on honey afterwards, but my 2 year old HATES it. It's extremely bitter, and you can't really hide it in things so I find straight up is best with someone sweet after. When my daughter was 1 I got her stool tested instead of treating her because I felt she was too young- thankfully she was fine. From my research roundworms are not as contagious as the others, so your son may be the only one in the house with them.
My moment of writing off the mainstream medical “experts” was after a year long long bout of mystery illness and many doctor visits, they finally threw up their hands and tried to prescribe me antidepressants. I had been losing hair, cold all the time, having intense fatigue and anxiety. I was in my mid twenties at the time. I finally found a naturopath who was so excellent and in depth. Like a detective. It turned out to be a reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus and it was under control within 6 months of herbal and dietary protocol and some good rest. I had spent that summer in the wilds of Alaska eating fresh salmon and wild dandelion greens. Breathing fresh air. It made all the difference.
And this is but one of my experiences. I have had a handful like this throughout my life, but this was the moment I began to really trust myself above all else. I had another ridiculous experience with “experts” as a very pregnant woman with some unexplained bleeding. They “diagnosed” me with an “incompetent cervix” and told me I’d likely spend the rest of my pregnancy in a hospital bed and that my baby would be born very premature. They sent in the NICU doctor to speak about how it would go if my baby was born so early. Long story short, I did my own research, realized they were totally full of shit and had no idea what they were talking about and checked myself out. I listened to my body. Walked every day. Ate well. Rested when necessary. Oh and go figure, my baby took his sweet time and was born 2 whole weeks after his “due date”. Now I’m the expert.
Sorry for the TLDR version. I could write a whole book about my feelings on this topic.
I am so glad you shared your story. I wish we could all sit around over tea or a raging fire and share these stories. It's nice to be able to do this here and trust that it is meaningful for others. I feel encouraged reading about others who stuck to their guns despite being ridiculed or threatened or mistreated. I am glad to hear that all worked out well for you, Polyxena.
My husband and I always question the "experts" too, now that we know they are wrong about so many things like cholesterol. I have been distrustful of those in the medical field since I was 6 and in the hospital for two weeks with bacterial meningitis. It became very clear back then and numerous times since that there are good medical folks and not so good ones and everything needs to be questioned whether they like it or not, rather than blindly followed.
Yes, to be questioned is not an insult against one's intellect or judgment, if done with respect and curiosity, it seems to me that it should be welcomed by science and those in that field.
Whether it is in the fields of health and medicine, or in the realm of government, politics, religion, media or something else entirely, my experience is that the whole "world of experts" is a ruse!
It is all turned upside-down. Designed (in my opinion) to get you to trust "them," and not yourself or the ways and wisdom(s) that have been rightfully passed down through the generations. Whatever the subject, it is preached from on high, by "elites" or "leaders" or "experts," with the goal of controlling/molding thought, beliefs, feelings, speech and actions.
Ideally, the "system" should move us toward greater freedoms and prosperity, but it moves in the opposite direction, toward impoverishment, control, surveillance and mandated compliance.
So, what to do about that is my ongoing question and quest?!
I agree wholeheartedly, Steve. It is the great lie of our time. Everything, the whole system they hold up as "reality" is actually a perverse fiction that diminishes and divides us. If there's a big answer, I don't know it. All I know is that in the small, the local, the do-what-I-can, I have faith. I don't believe that the measure of big against small is a real one. We do our bit and it matters, carries energy and vibration and truths to places we will never know. That and a lot of faith that the whole deal is in much more capable hands than my own. That's the only way I know.
Thank you so much for sharing your/her story. I have had many experiences with medical professionals that were similar, I'm so sorry you walked through that fire also. I was recently diagnosed with CRAZY high cholesterol and they want to put me on statins, they're just sure I'm going to keel over tomorrow, that level of high. I'm in my 30's with Lyme, celiac and EBV so I have to think that has something to do with it after reading this. I eat a whole foods diet heavy in animal and saturated fats...or so I thought until I read this. I'm so intrigued as to how high cholesterol means starving brain, but honestly in my current experience I feel that so much, I keep telling my husband it's like my brain isn't working or able to process. I would love to hear any more you have to offer on that subject. And also with having an autoimmune condition I've been told to avoid dairy like the plague, I still do ghee and butter but any even alternative practitioner keeps saying a hard no to even raw A2 milk.... I keep telling them I've eliminated and reintroduced it so many times I'm sure my body tolerates it. Thought they tell me it "cross reacts" and my body thinks it's gluten protein. I just don't believe my body is that dumb! I'm so intrigued in your daughter's experience in fully healing with using so much of the dairy and its fats. I would love to hear any thoughts or insights on this also. Thank you again for your time and energy you pour into sharing things like this, it's so helpful.
It's interesting that you have such a strong pull in one direction, and the people around you are insisting on something else. I think even that friction is harmful. Why would they not tell you to follow that pull for awhile and then use some measures to determine if it's what your body needs or not? Have you done some research into cholesterol? Weston A Price has some great cholesterol articles on their site and their journals. They also have great links to books on the matter.
Thank you so much for your response. I am a decade plus Weston A Pricer and a member. I know having high cholesterol isn't as scary as they make it sound but my last number was 400! So I am wondering how high is too high at some point :) I'm in my thirties and not overweight in the least! Thanks to your prompting I may dig deeper into those journals and look into getting a book on it to at least bring myself some peace. I agree with you in the sense of the friction feels harmful. I'm in that funny stage of "How much do I listen to even the alternative practitioners, who I have been seeing for 2+ years....and how much can I and do I trust myself in this journey?" Thank you for your words as always.
Hi Emily, sorry it's so hard to remember who is where on their trajectory. Sometimes I just try to start basic in case it all sounds foreign. Did you get tested for familial hypercholesterolemia? Just a thought.
You are so kind. I would never expect you to remember anything like that! I so appreciate your responses and taking the time. That doesn't run in our family, thankfully, so I will keep on digging :) Thank you again for your time and energy you give to this awesome little virtual community you have created here!
When you shared about this last week I felt it was very important but could not identify why. I just flagged it in my mind and moved on. My research partner has a young son who does not eat and they told her it is psychological. I shared this with her and she said he had a previous staph infection. Sprinkling the seeds into wind, indeed.
Oh my thank you for sharing your and your daughters story, it makes my heart soar to read of a mother standing in her power for her children 💜💜 I started crying about the second paragraph and continued on the way. Intuition such a potent medly of goodness and grace intertwined when listened to with deep intent. 🙏 having a milk cow and selling fresh raw milk to people I hear stories like this somewhat regularly, people healing from the nutrients provided by our beloved beasts.
Omg, your story is way too relatable. Not in the details, but in the dismissive, bored, and finally hostile treatment by so-called experts who are too blinded by their own credentials to actually want to help — or listen to — anyone.
This happened with my daughter. It happened to my mother. Both times, we had to do our own research, make opposite choices, and save ourselves—in spite of their “care”. The medical system is a travesty, a magnitude of which I can scarcely comprehend.
I especially appreciate how you recognize and call out the religious devotion in so many.
They really must think—to heal yourself is blasphemy.
Yes, isn't that true! I literally have dozens of these stories after my own health challenges and raising our kids to adulthood. There have been so many times where I learned that getting comfortable with people's displeasure with me was just what I was going to have to do. We all have to do it to fully grow up, don't we? You did. You know. I'm glad for that :)
Thanks so much for sharing this story. I often worry that I eat too much good fat (raw butter, cream, meat fats, etc.). I’m not going to worry about that any more!! And the fact that the underlying strep infection was ignored is…why mainstream medicine is so out of touch and in many cases useless. How can you heal anyone if you don’t take into account how the body actually works via food, how the body heals via food, how “food” has been so corrupted? They just don’t have a toolbox for so many issues—and with massive monopoly formation in medicine, docs are basically just dispensers of Big Pharm products most of the time. We are living through Late Capitalism at this point—industry has control of too many levers in the economy—across the world.
I agree. I remember my mom bringing me to my family medical doctor when I was a kid and asking if my constant strep throats could be from food and the doctor chiding her for being so ignorant because "science has proven that food has nothing at all to do with health." I kid you not. While he was more obvious than most, I think that sentiment is pretty ubiquitous.
I was diagnosed as having eating disorders at 12 which plagued me my whole life. Turns out I have a gastric emptying issue - 27 years of being told it’s “psychological” when EVERYTHING is physiological. The Brain is part of the body. If a Child doesn’t eat there is something physiologically wrong that can be addressed.
I now have other diagnoses, one of which is postural Orthostatic tachycardia syndrome which is totally debilitating. I recently saw the “expert” here in the U.K. - an absolute waste of time. I literally showed him two studies showing a cure. Literally. That the heart rate was normalised and he dismissed it. Told me it was “automimmune” and caused by peripheral neuropathy (his hypothesis) which is by my own research NONSENSE. I asked him how it can seemingly be turned off and on immediately if his hypothesis were true and he said he didn’t know. I literally showed him proof of a procedure that reversed POTS and he told me “it was just one person” and then ignored it. No interest.
“Experts” more and more seem to have very narcissistic personalities and surround themselves with “yes people” to maintain their views of self as saviour. They need people to be sick so they can exist. Show them a cure and they don’t want to know…
Thank you for sharing. I’m going through it all right now. I Believe the root cause is a magnesium deficiency but it may take years to address that. I need a doctor on my side to get the procedure I have found that is a cure as it’s a type of nerve block/reset. I think it’s a cerebral vasospasm issue… I think I’m probably right… but the “experts” have their own ideas so I guess me and millions of others will continue to be disabled for no reason because of egocentric “experts”.
27 years! Shame on them! It still plagues me to think of all of those young hollowed out faces in that clinic. How many of these people around the world have other health conditions that could be responsible?
You know, a lot of these experts are now just taught how to manage disease, not remove it. You get X disease, here's the XYZ meds to manage it. It always seems to be that to the journey for the root cause is a lonely one. xo
I was also made an inpatient at the age of 13 and had to listen to girls screaming being force fed with a tube. The impact on my physiological and emotional health I will never get back. Sitting in therapy sessions discussing how uncomfortable I felt with food in my stomach and no physiological testing ever occurring. Believing I was to blame. My family believing I was to blame. As a CHILD. It took the gift of having my daughter to highlight other issues that led to the realisation about my digestive issues. Let’s just say I had no respect for the “experts” as a bright young thing aged 13 and don’t now. There was a child that had been in that inpatient unit for FIVE YEARS. Enough proof to me that they had no clue what they were doing… Now anytime my advice is sought about “eating disorders” I recommend thorough physiological and nutritional testing before even going near a doctor for advice. And now more than ever I trust my Own intuition and knowledge (an amazing impact of the internet) to piece things together and heal. Which I am! If I listened to the “experts” I would be in a wheelchair with a neck brace and a feeding tube most probably with brain lesions. I may still have some due to lack of cerebral blood flow… the damage is done, but it ended with my empowerment.
Heartbreaking story thank you for sharing. We fought with doctors for two years to get both our sons their PANDAS diagnosis. After finding an amazing doctor willing to listen and help and go against the grain they were healed. If we had listened to the other doctors I have no idea where we would be now my oldest son was on the verge of a Tourette’s diagnosis. They are both now 19 and 17 and are fully healed and living amazing lives!
Dear Cynthia, I am so happy to hear your sons are healed of PANDAS. We are a year into our son's PANDAS and your comment gives me hope that our sweet 7 yr old will get better soon and be able to enjoy being a kid again. I am open and grateful to hear any advice or recommendations you have. Thank you for your comment.
Tara, I’m grateful to have discovered your page and, with it, the extensive knowledge you have regarding all things I’d love to learn! I am relieved to hear that your daughter was able to recover from PANDAS and is healthy. This essay in particular hits home as my holistic journey all began with a struggle with candida, a surplus of prescribed antibiotics, and ultimately having to reroute from the “experts” to treat myself with patience, research, and food!! The ball has continued rolling and I am just so incredibly happy that you are generous enough to share your wisdom. I would love to hear what sorts of go-to’s you and your family have when experiencing common ailments: earaches, rashes, etc.
Thank you, Taylor and I'm happy to hear that you're on the mend. We use exclusively plant medicines, most of which I make, and homeopathics for those common type ailments. That's a whole other area of study, but one that is very grounding and connecting. :0)
I have been following you for some months now and I am so thankful for everything you are sharing with us. I listens to your pandas audio and it spoke to me and gave me hope. The part where you talked about fat metabolism and how you healed your daughter with fat. I have stomach problems and have been very sick. Last spring I lost much weight and looked like I was anorechtic. I turned my weight around by adding a lot of cream to my diet. I am better than I was but a long way to go still. I tried gaps but I always threw up the meatstock and bone broth. I think I need more fat much more and I wondering if you have time to describe how your daugthers diet looked like when har was trying to get better? How much fat did you use everyday? And how did you prepare it?
Hi Desireé, it was just as described with the shakes which was on top of the how we have always eaten which includes an animal based diet. So something like a few eggs poached in butter and some raw cheese or milk for breakfast with some fermented veggies. Everything is cooked in animal fat (duck/tallow/lard/goose/butter etc...) and there is more on top. If you are able to eat sourdough organic breads with raw butter, that's pretty delicious (although we don't eat grains). All the best to you on this journey.
Another amazing article. Thank you. My mom used to tell me, "Janene, you have to be selfish with your organs or the doctors will take them all out." I used to laugh at her because it was so funny, but now I recognize it as good old fashioned farm wisdom. You have to protect yourself and your children, because the system will wreck you if they get ahold of you for too long...
Tara, this story is so heartbreaking and unfortunately very familiar. Our nightmare began when my 1.5 year old's eye stopped working within a 24 hour period. My doctor sent us straight to emergency with no explanation. When we arrived the ER doctors braced us for the worst- likely our son has had a stroke or has a tumour on the nerve that moves that part of the eye and he was sent for a CT scan. There is nothing quite like that feeling- the wait- surrounded by other families all waiting for what could be worst case. A few hours later the doctors came and said "well, best case scenario- we found nothing." Nothing? and that was the end of that. A perfectly healthy boy. I was racking my brain to see where I could have gone wrong- we are organic farmers, all his meats are pasture raised, he was never vaccinated, he is vibrant and loving and strong. I became a "mom obsessed" with every piece of literature I could get my hands on. Anything that had ever led to eye paralysis came into my possession. My gut instinct kept circling back to parasites. I brought it up at a follow up meeting with my doctor who dismissed it right away. She told me parasites were "third world problems." I'm not even going to begin to unpack that (might I remind you we live on a farm). His eye took 6 weeks to heal, but it did and we still had no answers. 9 months later it happened again. This time was even more terrifying- what did they miss in the CT scan? They scheduled us an MRI. By now the world is covid, so the MRI is scheduled 4 months from this second paralysis. I tell them they won't find anything on the scan because it will be better by then, but they don't listen because the whole world had been paralyzed. My naturopath is only able to do zoom meetings, and my incredible TCM doctor is not allowed to practise. I don't have access to my healers. Fast forward 4 months, MRI shows nothing. I get asked the same questions by the provinces best paediatric eye doctor, neurologists, what feels like every specialist. None of them have any answers. We get blood tests- all fine. Finally my acupuncturist is allowed to see us. She performs acupressure on him and at the end of the appointment asks us to limit his food intake this week, there is an issue with his gut. 5 days later a 10 inch long roundworm comes out of his behind. Worms of this size can live in the body for as long as 2 years. My TCM doctor looked at and treated his whole body, not just his eye or his head. My son is now 4 and thriving. We deworm my entire family twice a year with a black walnut tincture I make from our trees, and wormwood from our garden. Your story took my right back to all those feelings, and all the horror. But at the same time I am so thankful for the wild journey of learning and empowerment that it sent us on. Thank you for sharing!!
Thank you for sharing this story, Naomi. It seems to me that as parents, most of us don't get to go unscathed. I could see these things as gifts only in hindsight, but after repeatedly going through such things, I can see, even in the most dire of situations that there is always more. Your son is lucky to have landed with your family. Oh, and we do parasite cleanses twice a year, too. My mom even used to do them with us when we were small. Good practice! :)
Tara, would love to hear about how you guys do parasite cleanses. Maybe in a future article ?
Wow! Incredible timing. My son 4 years old had been having some bowel issues for a week. I first thought food poisoning but soon began to think parasites. Would you be so kind to share further on the parasite cleanses? How much for a little one? Duration? What to expect?
Thank you for sharing your experience ❤
Hey Naomi, would you be so kind to share the dosage for the wormwood and black walnut tinctures you give? I’m sure my 3 year old has roundworms and suppose that my 18 month has them as well (although from the reading I’ve done he may be too young to deworm).
Hi Riley, yes I used this website for recipe and dosage: https://commonsensehome.com/black-walnut-tincture/
I do 20 drops for adults and 5 for kids as per a wormwood/black walnut tincture I have purchased in the past instructed. We take it 3 times/day for 4-5 days. My older son likes it- he gets a spoon on honey afterwards, but my 2 year old HATES it. It's extremely bitter, and you can't really hide it in things so I find straight up is best with someone sweet after. When my daughter was 1 I got her stool tested instead of treating her because I felt she was too young- thankfully she was fine. From my research roundworms are not as contagious as the others, so your son may be the only one in the house with them.
My moment of writing off the mainstream medical “experts” was after a year long long bout of mystery illness and many doctor visits, they finally threw up their hands and tried to prescribe me antidepressants. I had been losing hair, cold all the time, having intense fatigue and anxiety. I was in my mid twenties at the time. I finally found a naturopath who was so excellent and in depth. Like a detective. It turned out to be a reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus and it was under control within 6 months of herbal and dietary protocol and some good rest. I had spent that summer in the wilds of Alaska eating fresh salmon and wild dandelion greens. Breathing fresh air. It made all the difference.
And this is but one of my experiences. I have had a handful like this throughout my life, but this was the moment I began to really trust myself above all else. I had another ridiculous experience with “experts” as a very pregnant woman with some unexplained bleeding. They “diagnosed” me with an “incompetent cervix” and told me I’d likely spend the rest of my pregnancy in a hospital bed and that my baby would be born very premature. They sent in the NICU doctor to speak about how it would go if my baby was born so early. Long story short, I did my own research, realized they were totally full of shit and had no idea what they were talking about and checked myself out. I listened to my body. Walked every day. Ate well. Rested when necessary. Oh and go figure, my baby took his sweet time and was born 2 whole weeks after his “due date”. Now I’m the expert.
Sorry for the TLDR version. I could write a whole book about my feelings on this topic.
I am so glad you shared your story. I wish we could all sit around over tea or a raging fire and share these stories. It's nice to be able to do this here and trust that it is meaningful for others. I feel encouraged reading about others who stuck to their guns despite being ridiculed or threatened or mistreated. I am glad to hear that all worked out well for you, Polyxena.
My husband and I always question the "experts" too, now that we know they are wrong about so many things like cholesterol. I have been distrustful of those in the medical field since I was 6 and in the hospital for two weeks with bacterial meningitis. It became very clear back then and numerous times since that there are good medical folks and not so good ones and everything needs to be questioned whether they like it or not, rather than blindly followed.
Yes, to be questioned is not an insult against one's intellect or judgment, if done with respect and curiosity, it seems to me that it should be welcomed by science and those in that field.
Whether it is in the fields of health and medicine, or in the realm of government, politics, religion, media or something else entirely, my experience is that the whole "world of experts" is a ruse!
It is all turned upside-down. Designed (in my opinion) to get you to trust "them," and not yourself or the ways and wisdom(s) that have been rightfully passed down through the generations. Whatever the subject, it is preached from on high, by "elites" or "leaders" or "experts," with the goal of controlling/molding thought, beliefs, feelings, speech and actions.
Ideally, the "system" should move us toward greater freedoms and prosperity, but it moves in the opposite direction, toward impoverishment, control, surveillance and mandated compliance.
So, what to do about that is my ongoing question and quest?!
I agree wholeheartedly, Steve. It is the great lie of our time. Everything, the whole system they hold up as "reality" is actually a perverse fiction that diminishes and divides us. If there's a big answer, I don't know it. All I know is that in the small, the local, the do-what-I-can, I have faith. I don't believe that the measure of big against small is a real one. We do our bit and it matters, carries energy and vibration and truths to places we will never know. That and a lot of faith that the whole deal is in much more capable hands than my own. That's the only way I know.
Thank you so much for sharing your/her story. I have had many experiences with medical professionals that were similar, I'm so sorry you walked through that fire also. I was recently diagnosed with CRAZY high cholesterol and they want to put me on statins, they're just sure I'm going to keel over tomorrow, that level of high. I'm in my 30's with Lyme, celiac and EBV so I have to think that has something to do with it after reading this. I eat a whole foods diet heavy in animal and saturated fats...or so I thought until I read this. I'm so intrigued as to how high cholesterol means starving brain, but honestly in my current experience I feel that so much, I keep telling my husband it's like my brain isn't working or able to process. I would love to hear any more you have to offer on that subject. And also with having an autoimmune condition I've been told to avoid dairy like the plague, I still do ghee and butter but any even alternative practitioner keeps saying a hard no to even raw A2 milk.... I keep telling them I've eliminated and reintroduced it so many times I'm sure my body tolerates it. Thought they tell me it "cross reacts" and my body thinks it's gluten protein. I just don't believe my body is that dumb! I'm so intrigued in your daughter's experience in fully healing with using so much of the dairy and its fats. I would love to hear any thoughts or insights on this also. Thank you again for your time and energy you pour into sharing things like this, it's so helpful.
It's interesting that you have such a strong pull in one direction, and the people around you are insisting on something else. I think even that friction is harmful. Why would they not tell you to follow that pull for awhile and then use some measures to determine if it's what your body needs or not? Have you done some research into cholesterol? Weston A Price has some great cholesterol articles on their site and their journals. They also have great links to books on the matter.
Thank you so much for your response. I am a decade plus Weston A Pricer and a member. I know having high cholesterol isn't as scary as they make it sound but my last number was 400! So I am wondering how high is too high at some point :) I'm in my thirties and not overweight in the least! Thanks to your prompting I may dig deeper into those journals and look into getting a book on it to at least bring myself some peace. I agree with you in the sense of the friction feels harmful. I'm in that funny stage of "How much do I listen to even the alternative practitioners, who I have been seeing for 2+ years....and how much can I and do I trust myself in this journey?" Thank you for your words as always.
Hi Emily, sorry it's so hard to remember who is where on their trajectory. Sometimes I just try to start basic in case it all sounds foreign. Did you get tested for familial hypercholesterolemia? Just a thought.
You are so kind. I would never expect you to remember anything like that! I so appreciate your responses and taking the time. That doesn't run in our family, thankfully, so I will keep on digging :) Thank you again for your time and energy you give to this awesome little virtual community you have created here!
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nutrition-with-judy/id1529951307?i=1000557095139 Hello Emily! I am in the midst of listening to this podcast and finding it very informative for shedding light on the cholesterol/heart disease conversation. Perhaps you will as well.
When you shared about this last week I felt it was very important but could not identify why. I just flagged it in my mind and moved on. My research partner has a young son who does not eat and they told her it is psychological. I shared this with her and she said he had a previous staph infection. Sprinkling the seeds into wind, indeed.
Interesting. Maybe this will be the thing to get her digging deeper or on a path she hadn't heard about before. Thank you for sharing that, Kitty.
Oh my thank you for sharing your and your daughters story, it makes my heart soar to read of a mother standing in her power for her children 💜💜 I started crying about the second paragraph and continued on the way. Intuition such a potent medly of goodness and grace intertwined when listened to with deep intent. 🙏 having a milk cow and selling fresh raw milk to people I hear stories like this somewhat regularly, people healing from the nutrients provided by our beloved beasts.
Providing that luscious elixer is an act of service and love for those lucky souls. How wonderful. Thank you for your kind words, Amber.
Omg, your story is way too relatable. Not in the details, but in the dismissive, bored, and finally hostile treatment by so-called experts who are too blinded by their own credentials to actually want to help — or listen to — anyone.
This happened with my daughter. It happened to my mother. Both times, we had to do our own research, make opposite choices, and save ourselves—in spite of their “care”. The medical system is a travesty, a magnitude of which I can scarcely comprehend.
I especially appreciate how you recognize and call out the religious devotion in so many.
They really must think—to heal yourself is blasphemy.
Yes, isn't that true! I literally have dozens of these stories after my own health challenges and raising our kids to adulthood. There have been so many times where I learned that getting comfortable with people's displeasure with me was just what I was going to have to do. We all have to do it to fully grow up, don't we? You did. You know. I'm glad for that :)
Thanks so much for sharing this story. I often worry that I eat too much good fat (raw butter, cream, meat fats, etc.). I’m not going to worry about that any more!! And the fact that the underlying strep infection was ignored is…why mainstream medicine is so out of touch and in many cases useless. How can you heal anyone if you don’t take into account how the body actually works via food, how the body heals via food, how “food” has been so corrupted? They just don’t have a toolbox for so many issues—and with massive monopoly formation in medicine, docs are basically just dispensers of Big Pharm products most of the time. We are living through Late Capitalism at this point—industry has control of too many levers in the economy—across the world.
I agree. I remember my mom bringing me to my family medical doctor when I was a kid and asking if my constant strep throats could be from food and the doctor chiding her for being so ignorant because "science has proven that food has nothing at all to do with health." I kid you not. While he was more obvious than most, I think that sentiment is pretty ubiquitous.
I was diagnosed as having eating disorders at 12 which plagued me my whole life. Turns out I have a gastric emptying issue - 27 years of being told it’s “psychological” when EVERYTHING is physiological. The Brain is part of the body. If a Child doesn’t eat there is something physiologically wrong that can be addressed.
I now have other diagnoses, one of which is postural Orthostatic tachycardia syndrome which is totally debilitating. I recently saw the “expert” here in the U.K. - an absolute waste of time. I literally showed him two studies showing a cure. Literally. That the heart rate was normalised and he dismissed it. Told me it was “automimmune” and caused by peripheral neuropathy (his hypothesis) which is by my own research NONSENSE. I asked him how it can seemingly be turned off and on immediately if his hypothesis were true and he said he didn’t know. I literally showed him proof of a procedure that reversed POTS and he told me “it was just one person” and then ignored it. No interest.
“Experts” more and more seem to have very narcissistic personalities and surround themselves with “yes people” to maintain their views of self as saviour. They need people to be sick so they can exist. Show them a cure and they don’t want to know…
Thank you for sharing. I’m going through it all right now. I Believe the root cause is a magnesium deficiency but it may take years to address that. I need a doctor on my side to get the procedure I have found that is a cure as it’s a type of nerve block/reset. I think it’s a cerebral vasospasm issue… I think I’m probably right… but the “experts” have their own ideas so I guess me and millions of others will continue to be disabled for no reason because of egocentric “experts”.
27 years! Shame on them! It still plagues me to think of all of those young hollowed out faces in that clinic. How many of these people around the world have other health conditions that could be responsible?
You know, a lot of these experts are now just taught how to manage disease, not remove it. You get X disease, here's the XYZ meds to manage it. It always seems to be that to the journey for the root cause is a lonely one. xo
I was also made an inpatient at the age of 13 and had to listen to girls screaming being force fed with a tube. The impact on my physiological and emotional health I will never get back. Sitting in therapy sessions discussing how uncomfortable I felt with food in my stomach and no physiological testing ever occurring. Believing I was to blame. My family believing I was to blame. As a CHILD. It took the gift of having my daughter to highlight other issues that led to the realisation about my digestive issues. Let’s just say I had no respect for the “experts” as a bright young thing aged 13 and don’t now. There was a child that had been in that inpatient unit for FIVE YEARS. Enough proof to me that they had no clue what they were doing… Now anytime my advice is sought about “eating disorders” I recommend thorough physiological and nutritional testing before even going near a doctor for advice. And now more than ever I trust my Own intuition and knowledge (an amazing impact of the internet) to piece things together and heal. Which I am! If I listened to the “experts” I would be in a wheelchair with a neck brace and a feeding tube most probably with brain lesions. I may still have some due to lack of cerebral blood flow… the damage is done, but it ended with my empowerment.
Heartbreaking story thank you for sharing. We fought with doctors for two years to get both our sons their PANDAS diagnosis. After finding an amazing doctor willing to listen and help and go against the grain they were healed. If we had listened to the other doctors I have no idea where we would be now my oldest son was on the verge of a Tourette’s diagnosis. They are both now 19 and 17 and are fully healed and living amazing lives!
Oh, Cynthia! I am overjoyed for you and your family! Congratulations!
Thank you! Parents have to advocate and not just listen to the doctors…unfortunately they don’t always know best!
Dear Cynthia, I am so happy to hear your sons are healed of PANDAS. We are a year into our son's PANDAS and your comment gives me hope that our sweet 7 yr old will get better soon and be able to enjoy being a kid again. I am open and grateful to hear any advice or recommendations you have. Thank you for your comment.
I am reading this and my BLOOD IS BOILING. The hubris of those damn doctors. The tunnel vision. The absolutism.
It's really something. Wish it was a little more of a rarity.
Tara, I’m grateful to have discovered your page and, with it, the extensive knowledge you have regarding all things I’d love to learn! I am relieved to hear that your daughter was able to recover from PANDAS and is healthy. This essay in particular hits home as my holistic journey all began with a struggle with candida, a surplus of prescribed antibiotics, and ultimately having to reroute from the “experts” to treat myself with patience, research, and food!! The ball has continued rolling and I am just so incredibly happy that you are generous enough to share your wisdom. I would love to hear what sorts of go-to’s you and your family have when experiencing common ailments: earaches, rashes, etc.
Thank you, Taylor and I'm happy to hear that you're on the mend. We use exclusively plant medicines, most of which I make, and homeopathics for those common type ailments. That's a whole other area of study, but one that is very grounding and connecting. :0)
Hi Tara
I have been following you for some months now and I am so thankful for everything you are sharing with us. I listens to your pandas audio and it spoke to me and gave me hope. The part where you talked about fat metabolism and how you healed your daughter with fat. I have stomach problems and have been very sick. Last spring I lost much weight and looked like I was anorechtic. I turned my weight around by adding a lot of cream to my diet. I am better than I was but a long way to go still. I tried gaps but I always threw up the meatstock and bone broth. I think I need more fat much more and I wondering if you have time to describe how your daugthers diet looked like when har was trying to get better? How much fat did you use everyday? And how did you prepare it?
Best wishes Desireé
Hi Desireé, it was just as described with the shakes which was on top of the how we have always eaten which includes an animal based diet. So something like a few eggs poached in butter and some raw cheese or milk for breakfast with some fermented veggies. Everything is cooked in animal fat (duck/tallow/lard/goose/butter etc...) and there is more on top. If you are able to eat sourdough organic breads with raw butter, that's pretty delicious (although we don't eat grains). All the best to you on this journey.
Also, LOVE the photos of your beautiful girls
I like sneaking them in when I can :)
Another amazing article. Thank you. My mom used to tell me, "Janene, you have to be selfish with your organs or the doctors will take them all out." I used to laugh at her because it was so funny, but now I recognize it as good old fashioned farm wisdom. You have to protect yourself and your children, because the system will wreck you if they get ahold of you for too long...
That is awesome! Your mom is my kinda' gal!