Fight or Flight - or not...

So I'm settling into taking care of myself - following the nutritionist's advice, taking massive amounts of supplements, drinking gallons of water, and trying to untie myself from the fight-or-flight response that's led to my myriad health problems.  Fight or flight is a great response to meeting a bear in the woods or a mugger on a quiet street, but I've been using it for daily life and its just not working for me anymore!  The nutritionist told me that my endocrine system is fatigued and that if I feel tired, I should just lie down and sleep.  What a concept!!!  I'm finding that I need a nap about every 4 days now - I just get so tired that I can't go on anymore - which I would have done before, but now I'm just taking the nap and then getting on with things.  I'm hoping that this is a temporary situation, that great nutrition, supplements, herbs, tonics, and relaxation techniques (including naps, yoga, deep breathing, meditation, and long walks), and resolving many of my myriad NFOO issues will finally produce a healthy me!  Things are improving - I can read again - read and comprehend!  The brain fog is lifting - hurrah!   I can plan ahead more than a couple of hours - another plus.  I'm hermitting more, but I assume that's partly so I can stay focused on me - I'm easily distracted by other people's pain.  I feel like I'm on the right track.  At last. 

Pondering...

So - when I went to the holistic doctor this past week, he did a test that revealed only one thing that I didn't know - according to this test, I still have significant emotional stress.  Hmmmm...  So the fact that I feel that a HUGE emotional burden has been lifted and that I'm "relatively" stress free (pun indeed intended) seems to indicate that the burden that I was carrying was gargantuan and that what I consider "stress free" is still markedly stressed.  This is weird and I've given it a great deal of thought - it's obviously no wonder that my adrenals have been over-taxed and that my thyroid is working at less than optimum levels, that I have a systemic yeast infection and that I've suffered from brain fog for quite a while.  Egad!  If this feeling that I'm now experiencing is still stressed, I can't even begin to imagine what genuinely stress free is going to feel like!  Maybe I'll be able to fly!!!  It's delightful to ponder...

The Emerging Pearl

So, taking care of myself after NOT taking care of myself for years is turning out to take a lot of time!  I've been to a nutritionist and to a holistic doctor and my, oh, my - I have a lot of damage to repair!  My thyroid isn't working up to snuff, my adrenals are a mess, my immune system is ridiculously low...  All caregiver/ACON stuff - I'm determined to get my body back in decent running order and NEVER let this happen again.

I'm also doing some silly stuff, stuff that most women do in their teens and 20's - I'm figuring out what sorts of clothes look best on me, what colors I want to include more of in my wardrobe, what I want my "style" to be - honestly, this sort of thing never really showed up on my radar - Nmother had pretty much convinced me by the time I was a teenager that I wasn't to stand out, that my choice in clothing was abysmal, and that she and she alone determined taste and style. Needless to say, these choices did not include COLOR!  It's hard to blend into the background while wearing COLOR!  My loving sister helps a lot by telling me that certain colors look really good on me - I'm wearing more color, but now I want to tie it together more - it sounds kind of froo-froo to me, but I'm over-riding that and forging ahead!

I'm also spending some time thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my life - this nutrition/herb/oil thing is intriguing to me - I'm seeing dramatic improvements in my health rather quickly, which I hadn't anticipated.  The people I'm working with are wonderfully intuitive, they're great listeners, and I trust them to have my best interests at heart.  I'm looking into it - I'll probably have to work at least part time for the rest of my life and this time, I want it to be something I love doing and something that won't require 60 hours a week to accomplish well!!!