When something isn't right our body tells us, and oh how fortunate we are to have those warning signs. In a busy life, paying attention to, and acting upon those queues is vital.
This year as been an interesting one for me health wise.
In January after having experienced excessiveness tiredness for some months, I took myself off to a natural health practitioner. The first thing she did was request bloods to check my Vitamin B12, D, Zinc, Selenium and TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). With the results back and my GPs message to say all were normal, I couldn't understand why I was so exhausted, that was until Justine Laidlaw - The Natural Bird explained it all to me.
You see, there are what the medical fraternity call normal levels, and there are optimal levels. Yes, my levels were considered normal, but they were nowhere near their best.
After taking B12, D, C, Zinc, Selenium and Iodine (for TSH) I started to have more energy and little to no anxiety, within only a few short weeks. To me, this was mind-blowing. With the right levels of all of these vitamins and minerals my body was starting to repair itself; I felt so different it was unbelievable.
Fast forward to late April and I woke up on Anzac Day with a bit of a sore throat, but thought nothing of it. Well, by the end of that week I'd spent the vast majority of the time in bed with no energy, a sore throat and a stinking head cold. I felt miserable.
What I didn't expect was to be still trying to shake this RSV off six weeks later, but I was. After two courses of antibiotics it had not cleared up, and it didn't until I increased my Vitamin C intake significantly. I'd been recommended Lypospheric C earlier in the year by Justine and upped my dose to 4,000mg per day until it had cleared up. Since then I've been on a maintenance dose of 2,000mg per day with no signs of it returning to date.
Next a lumbar sprain literally had me flat on my back for 10 days, and now, almost three weeks later I can't sit for more than 5 minutes or stand for more than an hour without being in pain. It's a long slow recovery process. I'd strained it mowing the lawn, then tweaked it again, resulting in muscles that were going into major spasms, and pinching the nerves in both legs. The pain was excruciating and the only relief I got was lying down. Taking myself off to Physio, relying on Voltaren for a few days until I switched to Arnica (because I prefer natural remedies over drugs) and paracetemol, I started to feel some relief. It's been diagnosed as muscular but a precautionary x-ray this week will show if there's anything skeletal going on.
These three incidents really got me thinking and I started to connect the dots. In January I'd come out of an incredibly stressful two and a half years and my body needed to rest, and without knowing it, that stress had actually caused a number of vitamin and mineral deficiencies. But I was trying to push through. I had a couple of good months getting out and about walking, cycling and enjoying life, and then I got hammered with the RSV. Again, I got over that and kept on going. It wasn't until I strained my back that I really started to listen up.
All of this time I was well aware that I was ignoring what really needed to be attended to. Not only had I had a very stressful few years, but prior to that I'd had an exceptionally busy two and a half years starting my business Upcycled & Co. working long, long hours burning the candle at both ends. But candles have a middle don't they, and the wicks only burn to that point because they can't burn any further.
Whilst flat on my back in bed (because it was too painful to sit) I made some decisions - I resigned from a voluntary job I'd been doing since January, and a gardening club I'd been going to off and on for years, and started working on new ways I could manage my business with it's endless enquiries and social media content and engagement to attend to. I started seeing Gilly Godward - Soul Coach & Intuitive Energy Healer again to look at what I really needed to change. This work is of course ongoing, but I have made a start. I'm putting myself first and making the changes that will make a difference to how my life plays out.
Even though I have been unwell for a good few months this year, I'm appreciative that my body has given me these signs that I need to pay more attention; that I need to slow down, rest and be.
What are some signs you're being given? Let me know in the comments.
With love,
