chinese herbs - part two

A guest post by Kaity

Glad to see that you came back for more!

My goal for this article is to share my personal journey with TCM, but also not to overwhelm you with extreme details. *Spare me the details if you don’t mind* Had I written my testimonial fully, I believe it would be a very dull, depressing novel. On the other hand, the sharing of personal success stories allows the receiver to gain varied personal perspectives and health backgrounds, but also to gain curiosity or confidence in the product or practice through relating with others.

I’ve crossed my fingers in hopes of balance!

My journey began in the pit of despair… In August of 2010 I became very ill; depressed, lethargic, irritable, almost a hollow feeling. At first I thought it was the stomach flu because of the bodily symptoms I was experiencing, and I couldn’t eat or drink anything. All I wanted was to sleep. I felt lifeless, like what I imagine a person on their death bed would feel like.

At the time I was only using homeopathy, but I couldn’t bring myself to see my doctor. I just felt like it wasn’t going to solve my problem. After about three weeks (I don’t know how I made it that long), and trying a lot of random self-remedy things, my mom came to the rescue and suggested I look into TCM, which she had just stumbled upon. (Gosh- thank goodness for moms!) At this point I was willing to try ANYTHING. The stomach flu doesn’t last for THREE WEEKS. I knew there was something wrong.

The practitioner we decided to go with is based out of Seattle, Washington: David Akrish of Heaven and Earth Chinese Herbs. But wait, I live thousands of miles away, and I can’t just up & fly there like a celebrity up & fly’s across the world. Not to worry- A picture [of your tongue] speaks a thousand words… plus the thousand or so words you will have to write on the consultation form. Apparently the tongue indicates the level of your body’s own immunity and functioning. In a very transcendent way, David is able to diagnose exactly what is going on within your body without even meeting you. I know it sounds crazy, but TCM is magical in that way.

So, after the intense consultation that covered pretty much the span of my life history (must be thorough!), and a few hours on the phone, David reported that my body was shutting down. Talk about WHOA. I never thought I would hear that in my life, let alone at age 19. I thought I was in good health, that I was taking care of myself. Guess not. Like the straw that broke that camel’s back, you can only pile so much on until the camel’s back gives out, or rather my body called it quits. Basically, after a long life of unbalance and deficiency, my internal systems could not function any longer and began shutting down.

My whole diagnosis is much, much more in-depth, including deficiency & excess, liver and kidney problems, and digestive weakness. But David also covered things that reflected in other areas of my health, for instance my emotions and tendencies, which are affected greatly by our physical state of health.

Because of the ill state of health I was in, we had to start from the ground up and rebuild my body. David referred to me as an onion, because there were so many different things going on internally that they can sometimes mask each other. Once one aspect of imbalance was treated, another one surfaced; and so we had to work through the layers of the onion in order to restore balance and wellness.

My rebuild regimen mainly focused on diet- because we are what we eat- but also relied upon David’s raw herbal formulas, which you make into tea that tastes like earth. I basically went cold turkey on life as I knew it; I had to stop eating all of the things I loved until my body healed. The one thing I missed the most was PB&J sandwiches and chocolate. Yes it was difficult, but after just three months on the program I already felt better than I had in a long time. Within a year, I felt like a whole new person; no joke. I know that seems like a long time, but keep in mind we are working towards reversing all disharmonies- not an easy task.

The process it took to overcome my profound state of ill-health was by far one of the most challenging and intense tasks I have ever been faced with. I know that sounds scary, maybe even a turn-off or discouraging, but sometimes we just have to do things because it’s a matter of life and death, or happiness and misery. Honestly, I’m not sure I would still be alive today had I not gone through with it. I may not have died, but what life is worth living if you’re in & out of the hospital and stuck on toxic pharmaceutical medication the rest of your being? To me, that is the difference between being alive and just living.