I feel like I have been through a lot with my health.
Even in the midst of being really sick it was only my immediate family that knew how hard my days were.
Because of all I have gone through and in the end I am making my way…I sometimes downplay things with my children.
Years ago I would have panicked and rushed them to the doctor and today there is a calm and peace that things will be fine.
My daughter, Madolyn, had been complaining of headaches.
The only time she would tell me about them is when they were bad enough to make her cry.
Her headaches were ALWAYS on the same side of her head and they would go away within 30 minutes.
I attributed them to not eating breakfast soon enough or other little things. Because they always went away I didn’t think much of them.
Madolyn also began to experience chest pains. Pains that eventually became so uncomfortable that she would cry.
I believe with my own experiences and then also hearing the story of others throughout the past years is that your body is amazing and can take a lot of abuse…but at some point it starts to show you anyway it can that you are hurting it and you need to stop or it can’t function properly any longer.
That is exactly what happened with Maddy a few weeks before Christmas 2010.
Madolyn was outside with friends playing with sidewalk chalk and she fell over onto the concrete.
She blacked out.
I was inside the house talking to a friend when I heard crying.
Kelly carried Maddy inside and kind of non-chalantly told me Maddy has blacked out.
I love men and how calm they can stay in many circumstances.
Not me!
Instantly my mind is racing back to all the headaches and chest pains and I was starting to put things all together and then scared what this could mean.
Did I miss something? Did I play the headaches down and now something was really wrong with my little girl?
We took her to Children’s Hospital to begin Maddy’s round of MRI’s, CAT scans, blood work, xrays….you name it they did it over the next few months.
Each test came back that she was perfect.
Each test told us nothing was wrong with her.
During this time her headaches continued and her chest pains became significanly worse.
Each test that came back negative we cried with relief.
During this whole process I kept telling Kelly that maybe ..just maybe…all of this was because Maddy had allergies like mine.
It comforted me to think that all of this could be food or environmental related.
After the last test had been run and it came back negative we made an appointment with Dr. Haneca.
Madolyn’s blood test showed a severe allergy to gluten. It also showed us other foods that she was allergic to and all of her enviromental allergies.
These were HUGE to us.
She is severely allergic to chlorine, flouride, most children’s painkillers and artifical dyes!
I had even noticed some of this and hadn’t put it together.
When Maddy had been in an indoor pool at hotels (where the chlorine is so strong you can smell it walking into the hotel) after about 20 minutes she looked so wrong that I took her out. This happened a few times and she looked like she was going to blackout. She told me she felt fine but the other moms and myself always thought something was wrong. It was!!!
Once we rid her diet of gluten guess what happened?
Here little intestine was cleaned out and no more chest pains.
All of that was from being backed up because her body couldn’t digest it properly.
Headaches?
Gone! She has never had one headache…let alone one that makes tears stream down her face.
Our foods affect us in POWERFUL ways!!! Powerful!
Everything I went through has been completely worth it because we knew what to do with Maddy.
She didn’t spend eight years with chestpains and headaches and her symptoms WOULD HAVE GOTTEN WORSE!
These were just the beginning sytptoms of her body trying to tell us that is was broken!
Dr. Haneca told me that kids don’t get headaches.
Kids don’t complain of pain unless something is wrong.
Infact, she said that adults shouldn’t get headaches either.
I hope you will indulge me one more story this weekend about my sister and her beginning road back to health.
It is completely different than mine and Maddy’s and I think you will be inspired.
**********************************
I have been getting a lot of emails today asking for the name of my doctor.
For those in the Denver area you can contact
East West Health Center
Dr. Shamanie Haneca
She specializes in Chiropractic and Functional Medicine
303-694-5757
If you are not in the Denver area go to www.stopchronicdisease.com
This site will help you find a natural doctor in your area that specializes in Functional Medicine.
I hope this helps.
**********************************************
I love it when you like a bag I have made or a piece of art…but knowing that sharing my health journey is helping a person find an answer when they felt helpless is the best!
I KNOW what it feels like to feel HOPELESS about health.
I also KNOW the JOY of finding answers!!!
OK I signed up!!! Ever since I read your story I have been intrigued…now even more….this past spring I went to the dr. because since Christmas I had been having weird chest pains…I could exercise just fine they didn’t get worse because of strain – it was just this uncomfortable pain that I knew wasn’t right. So I had an x-ray, an ekg, a stress echo, a ct scan and nothing showed up….healthy strong heart, healthy clear lungs…but the pain is still there…one dr said maybe the slight curve in my back could be causing it but the one who looked at the ct scan said my curve wasn’t that bad…..so happy and so relieved I’m healthy but no answers to what the heck is going on with my chest….now I’m curious. And Gillette isn’t too far from Denver…maybe in addition to changing how I feed my family better I need to make an appointment with Dr. Haneca. Thank you Jeannie for always sharing so much of yourself to bring “better” to us too!!!
both of you have been through so much, and what a blessing that you know what the problem was/is and am able to deal with it…to think of so many others who suffer, who don’t know why!
I told you about that time I lost my eyesight for a few days – after oldest’s birth – I just wonder…..
I do get headaches quite a bit – sometimes migraines – but they last a few days – hhmmm
The gluten free cupcake is a hit here with the family Jeanne…can’t wait to give you one!!
have a great weekend.
xo+blessings,
Anne Marie
(good thing for nursing babies so I can read posts!)
Your daughter is beautiful! I don’t know if you remember but I went on a similar journey with food choices. It’s only been a few months but I haven’t had a single headache either when I used to get them very often. I just sleep better and feel so much better overall. It’s so important to pay attention to what we eat!
this information is powerful, jeanne. i so much appreciate the professionals out there that are truly taking the time to educate us on these matters. we have our intuition, we have our own assumptions (that i believe are often right), but to having sound professionals acknowledging these realities is essential and means the world on such a fundamental level. love you!
Your daughter is lovely! I’m so glad you’ve discovered what was causing the problems. There’s nothing more scary than having a sick child. Our youngest son started having seizures when he was five years old. All the tests have come back normal and they do not have a reason for them. He had around 20 seizures over the course of a couple years. Thanksfully, they all occurred during the night/when he was sleeping. I would’ve been much more stressed if they were happening during the day or at school, etc. We finally got him on medication that controls them. But, they still don’t know why. The neurologist told us that many kids have them for unknown reasons and simply outgrow them. I really hope this is the case for us. Good luck with you and your family. Thanks for sharing your story.
Thank you for sharing your amazing journey to health. I’ve noticed a sensitivity to gluten, but I had no idea allergies could lead to such drastic issues. I am so thankful you found healing for yourself and your family…and are sharing what you learned with us.
Oh, my goodness, poor baby!!! Nothing like following a mother’s instinct, what a relief to know how to make it all better!!! You have enlighten me, I want to be more aware of how our food choices affect our health… By the way, what an adorable picture of your daughter, she is beautiful, just like mama!!! Hugs,
Isabel