updates galore!

“He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything.” --Arabic Proverb

I apologize ahead of time for the random nature of the subsequent paragraphs.

Still can’t tell a difference in bodily functions from the supplements I’ve been taking for my thyroid. So I suppose that means they work just as well as the medication I used to take. I will, however, need to get my blood tested just to make sure everything is all good.

I have this friend. Let’s call her Mica. She is awesome and gave me a helpful response to one of the questions I had about probiotics. The question was if your body can become immune to probiotics like it can to antibiotics. She said that it most likely won’t, but there can be a too-much-of-a-good-thing type of situation. So moral of the story: probiotics are nicer to the body than antibiotics, but don’t pop them daily if you want them to work splendidly. Mica also gave a lovely description of how probiotics work (per her mother), which included the phrase, “It’ll help restore the flora in your gut.” I found this simultaneously interesting and disturbing.

The next phase of my naturopathic healing is to tackle my allergies. This was my next to most annoying ailment, following IBS obviously. Without being redundant and repetitive and redundant and repetitive, I will make an abridged list of the things of this world to which I am allergic.

1.      Cats

2.      Dogs

3.      All animals with fur, really

4.      Smoke

5.      Mold

6.      Dust

7.      Trees

8.      Pollen

9.      Grass

10. All of the outdoors, really

11. Several varieties of antibiotics

As you may have noticed, these supplements will have their work cut out for them. But let me note the score, for those of you who haven’t kept count:

Natural healing: 5 million points             Modern medicine: -37 points

My body seems to be keen on naturalness, with regard to medicine. What can I say?

Lastly, I have decided what the next Experi-month will be!!!! I’m super excited about it. I also very much appreciate your suggestions for future topics. In reference to Experi-months, I will say, my search for more than contentment has already gone marvelously. It’s much easier to be happy when your body is happy. And my body is beyond happy. It’s downright pumped about life these days. I just want to sing happy songs from Glee all the live-long day. If that’s not an indication, I don’t know what is.

the friendly kind of bacteria

“Bacteria keeps us from heaven and puts us there.” –Martin H. Fischer

I have begun the next part of my holistic regimen: Probiotics. My NP explained that probiotics are basically “good bacteria.” She specifically gave me HMF Intensive, which is a variety of probiotics. This is a one time prescription for me. After 15 days, I’m done with them.

My NP said that she recommended HMF because it will restore the good bacteria in my stomach that the antibiotic I took over the summer wiped out. As I mentioned in another post, I had a severe reaction to this antibiotic, complete with dry, cracking skin from head to toe. It was so terrible that it often hurt to move. Even the strongest of moisturizers could not cure my dehydrated epidermis and I eventually had to break down and go to the dermatologist to fix it. Even with their help, I still have not fully recovered from this… 6 months later.

I’ve heard that probiotics are also great for the immune system in general. So if you’ve got a cold or flu-like ailment, they are a good and gentle substitute for the everything-must-die-a-quick-death approach of antibiotics.

I’m unsure of whether your body can become immune to the benefits of probiotics in the same ways that it can with antibiotics. If anyone knows, holla at me. I’m curious, but could not find a reliable source confirming or denying this.

So the probiotics are to help my body recover in a myriad of ways. They have also been shown to reduce inflammation, much like the Slippery Elm, which will help my IBS too! It’s like a five for one deal. No negative side effects as of yet either. And I feel generally healthier. I can’t really explain into words specifically how I feel “healthier,” but I do.

My body is on the express train to recovery. I can feel it. And I like it.

my stomach doesn't hate me anymore!

“When health is absent wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot become manifest, strength cannot be exerted, wealth is useless and reason is powerless.” -Herophilies, 300 B.C.


It has been 4 days since I started taking Slippery Elm and Fish oil (EFA). I am hesitant to say that these have fixed my problems, but so far so good. They definitely haven’t hurt anything. But let me explain a little about what these magic substances are for:

Slippery Elm

Slippery Elm is the (totally awesome) name of a tree most often found in North America. When the bark of this tree is dried and ground into powder, it can be used for medicinal purposes. According to my NP, Slippery Elm coats the digestive tract when ingested. This soothes the inflammation of my insides and makes things feel generally happier in the tummy area.

Since it comes in a powder and isn’t the best tasting thing ever (it’s tree bark for crying out loud), my NP recommended that I put a teaspoon of it in yogurt or applesauce. I have been doing this twice a day to get my body on the road to recovery. Once my body is more stable, I will only have to take it once a day. This will maintain the feelings of rainbows and love in my tummy. Hopefully.

Fish Oil (EFA)

Fish Oil is (shockingly enough) what it sounds like… oil from fish. Fish oil has a plethora of health benefits, including heart health, a reduction in inflammation, better brain function, reduction in depression, and reduction in incidence of breast, colon and prostate cancer. So hopefully this will help my body in many ways, but I am mainly taking it to reduce my inflamed innards.

Fun fact: certain groups of people are predisposed to have essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiencies. In other words, some people need more EFAs than others. These people are most often of Irish, Scottish, Welch, Scandinavian, Danish, British Columbian or Eskimo descent (essentially all the super pale people). Aaaaand there we have the description of my heritage in a nutshell.

So once a day, I take one teaspoon of liquid EFA. It actually doesn’t taste half bad. There is kind of an orange-y or citrus taste to it. Downside alert—it does have to be refrigerated. So if you’re traveling or have a complicated life, you may want to stick with the tablet form. My NP didn’t want me to take the tablet form because it takes longer to work… and adding extra jobs (like dissolving the capsule) for my stomach to do, would probably not be the smartest life choice. It has enough going on already.


I have been taking these two supplements for 4 days now. In addition, I have been drinking 10 glasses of water a day… or trying to, at least. Without being graphic, here are some changes that I have noticed:

1. NO stomach pain
This was my main reason for trying this whole Experi-month! I have not been free of this stabbing pain for 5 years. All I can say is: it’s about freakin’ time something worked! I can eat food without feeling like I swallowed a small rabid animal, which is then trying to claw out of my body. Now if feels like I swallowed nothing… or maybe just tiny bites of bliss and wonderment.

2. Regularity (if you know what I mean)
This also has been absent from my life for 5 rough years. I forgot how lovely and strangely satisfying it is.

3. I have to pee constantly
I’m sure my co-workers think I have (a) a bladder disorder or (b) bulimia. But I care not of their incredulous assumptions so long as my stomach is behaving itself.

If the other supplements on my plan work as well as these, you all will be introduced to a new Stephanie. She will be happy, able-bodied, and not preoccupied with the searing pain in her abdomen. But above all, she will always have a water bottle in hand and (hopefully) always be in close proximity to a bathroom.

i'm feeling au naturel... if you know what i mean.

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” -Thomas Edison

Yesterday, I went to see a Naturopathic Physician (NP). NPs are the general practitioners (GP) of the holistic world. They assess your complete self and guide you through the steps toward healing. If you’re like me, you didn’t know that these people existed. I thought I would have to see a nutritionist or something. But I discovered this particular doctor just like I discover most things: Google. It’s a wonderful thing. I found a website for a practice that has an NP, Acupuncturist, Massage Therapist, and Counselor. Essentially, they have one expert to help you with each facet of your health. For now, I am focusing on working with the NP… mostly due to the fact that I’m not independently wealthy. I got really excited when I was reading their website and their philosophy. It was like they had been created just for me.

Then I read that they don’t accept insurance. I semi-expected that this would be the case. But seeing it in print outraged me. Why is modern medicine the only thing covered? I’m sure there are other people out there like me. Modern medicine doesn’t work for everyone. It’s really a shame. As soon as I got over the fact that this visit would cost me more than I earn in a day of work, I called to make an appointment. I got their voicemail so I left a message. Ten minutes later, the NP called me back! Now… tell me a time when your GP has personally called you? Probably the 4^th of never. This is part of the Naturopathic philosophy: to really take time for your patients and get to know them. We had about a 10 minute phone conversation. This is the same amount of time that I spend in the same room with my GP during an office visit! I already really like where this is going.

I brought my mom with me to my appointment. She asked if she could come and I said yes. Sometimes she worries more about my health issues than I do… and she has been really supportive in me trying anything and everything if it will help me feel better. We walked in to a normal looking office and couldn’t even sit down in the waiting room before the doctor called me back. She looked like I expected: healthy… and natural. I know that’s a weird way to describe someone, but that’s how she looked. She was very friendly and seemed determined to get my body straightened out. I immediately decided that I liked her. We talked for over an hour and a half! At my usual doctor, I spend this amount of time in the waiting room and less than 5 minutes with my doctor. Talk about a reversal!

I will go into the details of her recommendations as I implement them, but for now I just wanted to say a few things about the overall experience. First, it wasn’t scary at all. This doctor genuinely wanted me to get better and made sure she spent as much time as was needed to fully explain everything to me. She explained my disorders to me better than my GP did and then explained what she would recommend and why. It was almost like a tutorial in health. Now I feel educated about what’s going on with my physical self… and it’s a great feeling, let me tell you. Second, she has a suggestion for just about every problem. She literally can help you with everything from acne to depression to headaches to fibromyalgia. I was impressed.

I’m trying not to get too preachy about how great the experience was until I see if the stuff actually works. But I am ever so hopeful that it will.

I walked out of the office with a bag overflowing of supplements and herbs… and luckily herbs don’t weigh much. As I suspected, I will have to start taking them one at a time, so if something works (or doesn’t work), I will know which one it is. My NP told me not to expect all of them to work marvelously, because everyone’s body reacts to them differently. But if one doesn’t work for me, she has back-up plans. With that said, I’ll tell you what she recommended for me BUT that does not mean she would recommend it for you. She picked this plan because of how all of my conditions relate to one another. So you should really see a NP before you start this process. Naturopathic health is very much based on the individual. I venture to guess that very few people are my exact age, height and weight, and have the same conditions and family history as me.

So tomorrow I will begin this slightly complex journey with the suggestions for my IBS: Slippery Elm and Fishoil (EFA). Sidenote: one of my favorite parts about naturopathic health is the names of the supplements because (a) they are funny sounding and (b) I can actually pronounce them. I will go into more detail about what these supplements do and why she picked them for me later. Stay tuned.

I will leave you with two pieces of information that I learned from my baller NP:

1.      Everyone should drink 5 glasses of water per day. But you are supposed to add an extra glass for every medication you are on and for every 30 minutes that you exercise. According to this, my magic number is 10. Yeah, I definitely never drink that much water. Guess I’m starting now.

2.      If you get a little sleepy mid-day, don’t drink coffee or soda. You can buy packets of Vitamin C powder to put in your aforementioned water. I had one today (compliments of my NP) that was lemonade flavored. It was quite refreshing and delightful. It also didn’t result in a crash several hours later like caffeine often does.

a new kind of healing

"A wise man ought to realize that health is his most valuable possession." -Hippocrates

In order to lead a life beyond mere contentment, I first need to address some physical health issues. It’s hard to be exceptionally excited about life when you feel crappy. I usually keep these things to myself… no need to bum other people out with my ailments. If I complained about them, I’d be complaining… pretty much always. But in order to fully understand the mammoth I’m attempting to tackle, you will need to know the scope of the situation (not to be confused with The Situation) that I’ve got on my hands. Over the past 5 years, I have been lucky enough to acquire several minor health problems: hypothyroidism, IBS, and severe reactions to antibiotics. These enjoyable (note the sarcasm) things have been added to the other minor health issues that I have had all my life: asthma, allergies (intensely to dogs, cats, and the outdoors as a whole) and eczema.

A few of these problems individually or together, might not be so bad. But together… they kick my butt on a daily basis. Some of them have typical medical solutions (for example: asthma – inhaler). But most of them have led my doctor to say something along the lines of: “I’m sorry you are experiencing chronic pain. We don’t really know why that is happening. Take these pills and hopefully the pain will stop.” I’m not gonna lie, the pain usually does stop with said pills… for a while. But I’m tired of the pills. If I’m on this many pills as a young adult, imagine my life as an elderly person. I want to avoid those super handy pill sorters with the days of the week written on them if I can.

So in a world where we expect doctors to fix everything with magic pills, with names 17 letters long, are there any other options? It turns out there are.

Experi-month #1: Practice Naturopathic Health

Is it a coincidence that my body has new illnesses and problems that develop every few years? Lately, I’m beginning to think it’s not. Maybe it’s my body’s way of screaming at the top of it’s lungs to freakin’ do something different. So here I go.

Naturopathic (or Holistic) Health is essentially taking into account the whole person when practicing medicine (including psychologically, physically, socially, mentally, etc.). In other words, don’t just look at the physical body but look at the person as a whole unit (whole = holistic… get it?). As a psyc major, I find this particularly intriguing. My current general practitioner (GP) has never asked about anything going on in my life or mind. It has never been taken into account. But I think the mind is extremely powerful. Even if this whole experi-month turns out to be a giant placebo, I’d be fine with that.

There is also another big aspect to holistic health that is often overlooked. It’s the idea that patients (i.e. me) have to take responsibility for maintaining their well-being. So this is saying that I’m making choices (for example, diet) that are making my body scream obscenities. I have no one to blame but myself. This will be a struggle for me. As a human, I like to blame my issues on things outside of myself. So this should be fun… and by that I mean insanely difficult.

The part I like best about this holistic thing is that the doctors try to find the underlying cause of the condition… not just treat the symptoms and move on. So while it is great to avoid the pain, isn’t there an evolutionary reason that pain exists? Like maybe to tell your body to stop doing something. Fire hurts when we touch it because if we didn’t move our hands from flames, our skin would burn off. Pain is a signal to change something. Move your flippin’ hand from the fire. In this instance, I don’t know what to change. I’ve tried dozens of things… but none seem to work. I eat fairly healthily, drink tons of water, run at least 4 times a week, load up on fiber, etc. Theses changes haven’t hurt, I’m sure. But they haven’t removed the conditions.

Because I have lost my faith in modern medical treatment methods, I am diving head-first into the world of Naturopathic Medicine for one month. I want to make it clear that I do not think all modern medicine is bad or evil. It just hasn’t worked for me. My body rejects what is has to offer 90% of the time. Like most western-thinkers, I am somewhat skeptical of alternative medicine. It makes me think of acupuncture, aromatherapy and people chanting and meditating… all things that I find hard to take seriously But I’m putting my reservations aside and hoping (praying) that it helps my physical self surpass contentment.

intro to blog-hood

“Contentment is, after all, simply refined indolence.” -Thomas C. Haliburton

About me:

My name is Stephanie and I graduated from college in May 2010. I majored in Psychology with little to no intention of going to graduate school (smart, huh?). Thus, my degree is somewhat useless in getting a job in that field. Since then, I have gotten settled in my hometown and acquired a job moderately related to my interests. I’m pretty content.

About my contentment:

Right after walking across the stage and receiving my diploma, there was a high that came over me. I had accomplished something great! Ten minutes later, I was not a happy camper. But let me explain. I’m not really a fan of endings. Like when I read a good book, I read the second half much slower because I don’t want it to end. It’s too hard to find another good book. After college, I knew it would take me a while to find another “book” worth reading… if you catch my drift. And college… it was a darn good book.

To start my adult life like a real winner, I stayed in my pajamas all day for 3 months straight, wondering if there could be a way for me to go back to college forever. But don’t fret; I was also applying for jobs like… well, like it was my job. I daydreamed of ways to stay in that space between legal adulthood (having the legal ability and right to do whatever I want… par-ty!) and actual adulthood (getting a job and being financially independent… gross!). I couldn’t come up with a way to stay in that magical land. If you have any suggestions, lay them on me!

So alas, I am now a productive member of society, holding down a job that I enjoy, but that is not exactly the most intellectually stimulating thing in the world. I find myself longing to be back in a classroom. Not because I weirdly enjoy homework, monotone professors, powerpoint slides and number two pencils, but because I miss the challenge. I miss constantly having my narrow world-view obliterated and questioned. I miss hearing perspectives that I never would have thought of on my own and doubting opinions that I’ve had all my life. And most of all, I miss the immeasurably fulfilling process of learning and growing as a person.

About what you might be thinkin’:

A lot of people would probably call me a “nerd” or perhaps even the “mayor of Lame-town.” But I had A LOT of free time to think during my hiatus from the real world and I decided to embrace my geektastic self. Those of you who are still in school probably think I’m a whack-job. So let me clarify, I sure as heck don’t miss the stressing about deadlines and grades, which comes with traditional schooling. And when you’re in school, the stress often overshadows all the awesome learning stuff that’s going on. But just you wait; you will feel the same way one day.

Just because I’m officially done with schooling myself, doesn’t mean I’m done with my education. I have so much left to learn. And even though I majored in Psychology in college, (cliché alert!) what I learned most about, was myself. I need more of this in my life. I’m content with my life now, which is leaps and bounds better than being semi-depressed about an ending. But I don’t want to be just content with my life. That’s not good enough. I deserve… better. But what do I do about it?

About my awesome, yet somewhat incomplete PLAN:

I have a plan. If you know me, you know that I love having a plan. So here goes: For one year (maybe more, if it goes well), I will have what I will call Experi-months. This basically means that I will try something new for one month. I’ll dive in head-first and challenge myself in brand spankin’ new ways. If I like it, I’ll keep doing it. If not, then I can scratch it off the list as potential passions in my life. I have a few hopes of things that will happen during my Experi-months. I’m hoping this will add to my life: intellectual stimulation (some good ole learnin’), personal growth (some good ole challengin’), and a healthier lifestyle (some good ole well-bein’).

My plan hasn’t gotten much farther than that… shockingly, I know. The point of this whole blog thing is that I need suggestions and feedback. I’m a seeker of opinions (hello… I minored in Sociology). So bring it on people! 

Contentment is overrated.