“Always look on the Adversity / prosperity is all a matter of perspective! Some of the hardest crosses we have to bear in life can teach us the most about who we are and what we want out of life... Kimberley Dawn Carpenter describes her personal journey of discovery into alternative therapies whilst coping with ME.
M
y own personal story has been a long and winding road. At the age of 27, I feel I have learned a lot about the mind/body link and want to share this information with others. I hope to raise awareness that we are responsible for our own thoughts and feelings, by raising our happiness levels we can prevent illness by staying healthy! I believe illness is simply your body’s way of communicating that something is wrong. By reconnecting your mind and emotions to the body, you can identify and control imbalances long before they have time to manifest. Suffering myself from a health condition that has many names – M.E /Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, whatever label you put on it, it all boils down to the same thing – a sign that the body is out of balance. I find it helpful not to dwell on the label, but look at the individual symptoms to interpret what our bodies are trying to tell us! My experience with conventional western medicine proved to be a very frustrating and disheartening affair. My GP at the time didn’t seem to believe me and dismissed my symptoms as psychosomatic! I’ve heard similar stories from many people. Sometimes the people you turn to for help just dismiss you as wasting time or just wanting sympathy. When your family and friends do this it hurts, but when it’s your doctor as well, it seems as though there is
50
nowhere to turn. You start to question yourself – Is it all in my head? Can I just pull myself together? You try much too hard to get back to normal too quickly and end up causing a relapse. This cycle can be very distressing at any age or time of life. It was clear that I had to take matters into my own hands. First steps I re-educated myself about food and the effect it was having on my body. At my worst, I remember feeling sick all day, so not being able to face eating until late afternoon. Then all I could muster was a milky coffee and half a packet of custard creams. Then a few choc ices later in the evening after a small amount of ‘a proper meal’. I think about that now and have to laugh. How can anyone feel good on that kind of diet. ‘You are what you eat!’. Tiredness was another unwelcome effect of my illness, ironically called ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’! This didn’t mean I was asleep all the time. No. The long days of inactivity of both mind and body left me restless and prone to insomnia, not being able to doze off until the early hours of the next morning, sometimes 2 - 3am – staying in bed until 2 - 3pm the following afternoon. At my grandmothers suggestion, I tried Lavender oil to help me to sleep. I found Aromatherapy to be a very