What do my husband, sleep and my Oriental medicine doc have in common?

What do my husband, sleep and my Oriental medicine doc have in common? I love them all.

What an odyssey the last three months have been. My husband, who SHOULDN’T EAT WHEAT, decided to eat some over the holidays.

WHEAT = HUSBAND SNORING = ME NOT SLEEPING = ADRENAL EXHAUSTION FLAREUP = MENOPAUSAL SYMPTOMS AND GENERALLY WEAK BODY.

I went to my Oriental medicine doc and told him what is going on. He is a really gentle guy who has never been stern with me (I am a pretty compliant patient and it is not in his nature) and he pulled the stern card. Here is the summary. My doc is much more eloquent than this, but I am dispensing with the niceties.

Ryan is almost certainly has autoimmunity caused by wheat (read about it here: Wheat/Gluten, Autoimmune, the Brain and Cancer). He can continue to destroy his body, but he can’t take me down with him by messing up my sleep. We were ordered to separate bedrooms. My doc treated me with acupuncture, sent me home with some adrenal support cream and supplements and told me to come back in six weeks. I did as ordered and was sleeping beautifully in a couple of weeks.

Then I went to Michigan for my nephew’s third birthday, my sleep got jacked again and came home a mess. I started to get sleep under control, but that was followed by a REALLY STRONG emotional response to a really selfish person. My level of hacked off-ness was through the roof. Fortunately, my six-week appointment with my doc was two days later. By the time I arrived at my doc’s, I had slept only two hours in two days. I was still torqued, which was supremely stupid. At age 45 I would hope I could move past that. I entered the treatment room, burst into tears and he brilliantly squared me away again.

His advice was to go home and tell Ryan what was upsetting me. I didn’t need to tell the person who hacked me off, just find someone who would listen to me and not try to fix things. My doc felt I really needed to be heard. Fortunately, I was able to talk to a wonderful friend before Ryan got home, sparing him some of the detox time. Ryan is an incredibly caring and supportive husband, but I hate to dump on him after a day of work. Fortunately it happens very rarely – and I will take credit here – because I very rarely a need to vent.

My doc cleared my body of blockages using acupuncture. You should have heard my stomach roar – and it wasn’t from hypoglycemia this time. Gosh I was angry. Apparently the liver receives the anger and that was an area he focused on. I wish I would have done some EFT when all of this started, but I was just too tired. There were a lot of needles in me, and they kind of hurt, which never happens.

I went home with more adrenal support supplements.

I was nauseous for two days after the visit. I have never been so unsettled to cause nausea. I had to buy some ginger beer on the way home, and I drank six in two days. It was kind of humorous, as I was debating how to be gastricly ill safely on the freeway on my way home from my doc’s. On top of that, my ride home took longer than usual because Michelle Obama was in town and I got stuck in the traffic jam following her motorcade. I have either been behind or seen every Obama/Biden-related motorcade in Raleigh the last three years for some strange reason. If I would have yacked, at least it would have been at a slower speed.

Being the good patient I am, I did everything my doc said, and I have been sleeping beautifully. After talking with Ryan, I slept. I slept through an absurd thunder and lightening storm that on any other night would have woken me up. I slept the next night and again last night. My dreams have been crazy and fun. I am finally feeling like recovery is significantly underway and my energy is greatly improved. Hopefully this menopausal stuff will get pushed back into the closet in the next few weeks – that is when I hope my adrenals will recover, provided I keep sleeping.

And what about Ryan and his snoring? He pretty much doesn’t anymore. He hasn’t had a bite of wheat since our doc pulled the stern, sleep in separate bedrooms, card, and Ryan and I are back in the same bedroom.

I am feeling pretty darn light and have fairly high energy. Amazing how good you can feel after feeling so bad. Colson, my almost nine year old son, and I have been laughing and clowing a lot the last two days. My husband listened beautifully and my doc worked his magic again. Effortlessly. I am living gratefully.

Comments

[Maury]

Hey Laura, I am glad you are feeling better. Gotta ask you though(unrelated to your post) Why is it that "suddenly" Chocolate milk is being touted as a perfect post workout fuel. This is making me crazy, as forgetting about any of the dairy issues, HFCS is the main ingredient in mainstream chocolate milk! Any thoughts or links I should look at? Don't get your adrenals worked up on this though!

[Laura Combs]

Thanks, Maury. Hoping to ponder that by Sunday. Great question!

Need to get ready for the almost 9 year old boy birthday sleepover. Yikes!