Post by Archief on Feb 7, 2014 13:45:07 GMT
(archief van oude forum oms.yourbb.nl)
libello
Geplaatst: 16 sep 2013, 16:26
bron: www.overcomingmultiplesclerosis.org/Community/What-Others-Say/
libello
Geplaatst: 16 sep 2013, 16:26
Finding Hope
2003 was a very bad year for our family. In January bushfires swept through Canberra. Thankfully our homes were spared but my parents were without power, gas or phones for three days, and the constant smoke worsened my mothers emphysema. In March the US, abetted by Australia, invaded Iraq. In April our 12 year old daughter Josie was rushed to hospital with appendicitis and had to have emergency surgery. And in August my husband, David, lost feeling in his right hand.
The loss of feeling crept up David’s right hand and down into his right foot, then across to the left hand side of his body. After a battery of tests, including a lumbar puncture that resulted in another trip to the emergency department, all the doctors could tell us was that it was either transverse myelitis, a one-off attack that might (or might not) get better, or it was Multiple Sclerosis. Oral steroids seemed to do nothing to help, and David’s condition worsened until January 2004, when he was having difficulty walking.
I think what hit me hardest was the unfairness of it all. David always looked after his body so well. He was extremely fit, was a brilliant tennis player, and could run 10km with ease. Why did this have to hit him? I prayed to be allowed to take it upon myself instead.
David agonised over not being able to be a good father to our children, even though he had started working from home so was able to spend more time with them.
The first hope came when a friend put us in touch with another friend of theirs who had MS. She lent us Prof George Jelinek’s book, Taking Control of Multiple Sclerosis. I bought a copy and read it avidly. Although we didn’t have a firm diagnosis we restricted our saturated fats, and David took the supplements, just in case. We were both doing a lot of research on the internet, and I noticed that Prof Jelinek ran retreats at the Gawler Foundation. We considered going, but it was difficult for us to get away as my mother was very ill (I was caring for her one day a week to give my father a break); and I think we were a little scared to meet other people with MS. We weren’t yet ready to face the future.
At last a three day course of intravenous steroids gave some improvement, and his condition seemed to stabilise. He had a range of nasty symptoms; his right hand was still very numb, he had needles pricking his feet as he walked, a burning sensation up his back, and occasional pain in his face. But he learnt to live with all of these without ever complaining. I think both of us were trying very hard to be strong for each other. We rarely let each other see our pain.
In March 2004 my mother died under circumstances that were particularly traumatic for my father and myself.
For two and a half years David endured symptoms that fluctuated from day to day but had no more major attacks. He started running again, and was able to play the occasional social game of tennis.
Then two days before Christmas 2006 it struck again. This time David developed a severe constrictive pain around his midriff, like an iron band, and more numbness from the waist down in both legs and feet. He could barely walk and was having trouble breathing. The day unit at the hospital was closed for Christmas so he had to be admitted to the ward for five days of intravenous steroids. Thankfully the staff allowed him out for Christmas lunch. The hospital was very short staffed and he only saw a doctor once for five minutes during the entire stay.
This second attack was the signal that David definitely had MS. I started carrying anger inside myself, building up like steam in a pressure cooker. Every so often it would spill over in tears I would battle hard to control. We finally joined the MS Society and the counsellor there reminded me of the Gawler Foundation MS Workshop. I was keen to meet Prof Jelinek, although also a little frightened. I had read his first book published just a few months after his initial MS attack and I was afraid of finding out that his approach hadn’t kept him well. But I also felt I needed to get away to release some of the pressure inside myself, so I persuaded David that we should go. My father agreed to stay with our kids.
We left Canberra, looking forward to a pleasant holiday in a bush setting. I certainly wasn’t expecting the intensely moving and profoundly uplifting experience we had.
George Jelinek and Ian Gawler were absolutely inspiring. They have both discovered how to heal themselves from serious (and in Ian’s case, life threatening) illnesses, and were both looking extremely well. Seeing them, and hearing their stories of previous attendees who had recovered from symptoms conventional medicine said were incurable, rekindled our hope that David could make himself well again.
George clearly described exactly what we needed to do, and also explained the scientific studies behind it. We became very close to the other attendees, particularly in the small group sessions where the men with MS, the women with MS, and the support people met separately. I found that talking about my feelings of helplessness, frustration and anger with other supporters allowed me to release a little of that built up pressure inside.
But the most beneficial aspect of the workshop for me was the stress management sessions run by Paul Bedson. Paul explained how a large part of stress is caused by excessive thinking – the little voice in your head that talks on and on about how awful things are, how bad I am, how poor you are, etc etc. I recognised straight away that this was a large part of my problem. Paul assisted us through two meditation sessions where we concentrated on releasing the ‘story’ and instead focussing on the ‘experience’; just tuning in to how we feel in our throat, heart, solar plexus and stomach. The moment I allowed myself to do this I started sobbing. I sobbed quietly through both sessions and to my surprise found that I was able to turn off the tears quite easily at the end of each one. I felt a tremendous easing of the pressure from doing this, and realised that I needed to continue with this kind of meditation until I could do it without needing to cry.
The other session that affected me profoundly was on forgiveness. For many years now I have practiced instant forgiveness of people, so at first I thought this session was not relevant to me. But the other participants helped me understand that I had a huge need to forgive the universe. I went through the forgiveness exercise and all the anger I had pent up, melted away.
Going through this experience with David also improved our communication. We had been trying for so long to ‘be strong’ for each other that we were no longer as open to each other as we had been. I had felt that a wall was being built up between us. Now though, I feel that I can be the real me and communicate honestly with him.
I came home feeling optimistic, light as a feather and determined to continue the meditation practices for my stress relief. David and I will both stick to the diet George recommends, as it has many other health benefits besides being good for MS. We have started giving our kids daily Vitamin D to help protect them against MS (it has a hereditary component). We are keeping in touch with the other participants via a group website where we can exchange recipes, photos and emails. I feel very grateful for this wonderful experience.
- Mary-Anne Cosgrove
Apr 2008
Canberra
2003 was a very bad year for our family. In January bushfires swept through Canberra. Thankfully our homes were spared but my parents were without power, gas or phones for three days, and the constant smoke worsened my mothers emphysema. In March the US, abetted by Australia, invaded Iraq. In April our 12 year old daughter Josie was rushed to hospital with appendicitis and had to have emergency surgery. And in August my husband, David, lost feeling in his right hand.
The loss of feeling crept up David’s right hand and down into his right foot, then across to the left hand side of his body. After a battery of tests, including a lumbar puncture that resulted in another trip to the emergency department, all the doctors could tell us was that it was either transverse myelitis, a one-off attack that might (or might not) get better, or it was Multiple Sclerosis. Oral steroids seemed to do nothing to help, and David’s condition worsened until January 2004, when he was having difficulty walking.
I think what hit me hardest was the unfairness of it all. David always looked after his body so well. He was extremely fit, was a brilliant tennis player, and could run 10km with ease. Why did this have to hit him? I prayed to be allowed to take it upon myself instead.
David agonised over not being able to be a good father to our children, even though he had started working from home so was able to spend more time with them.
The first hope came when a friend put us in touch with another friend of theirs who had MS. She lent us Prof George Jelinek’s book, Taking Control of Multiple Sclerosis. I bought a copy and read it avidly. Although we didn’t have a firm diagnosis we restricted our saturated fats, and David took the supplements, just in case. We were both doing a lot of research on the internet, and I noticed that Prof Jelinek ran retreats at the Gawler Foundation. We considered going, but it was difficult for us to get away as my mother was very ill (I was caring for her one day a week to give my father a break); and I think we were a little scared to meet other people with MS. We weren’t yet ready to face the future.
At last a three day course of intravenous steroids gave some improvement, and his condition seemed to stabilise. He had a range of nasty symptoms; his right hand was still very numb, he had needles pricking his feet as he walked, a burning sensation up his back, and occasional pain in his face. But he learnt to live with all of these without ever complaining. I think both of us were trying very hard to be strong for each other. We rarely let each other see our pain.
In March 2004 my mother died under circumstances that were particularly traumatic for my father and myself.
For two and a half years David endured symptoms that fluctuated from day to day but had no more major attacks. He started running again, and was able to play the occasional social game of tennis.
Then two days before Christmas 2006 it struck again. This time David developed a severe constrictive pain around his midriff, like an iron band, and more numbness from the waist down in both legs and feet. He could barely walk and was having trouble breathing. The day unit at the hospital was closed for Christmas so he had to be admitted to the ward for five days of intravenous steroids. Thankfully the staff allowed him out for Christmas lunch. The hospital was very short staffed and he only saw a doctor once for five minutes during the entire stay.
This second attack was the signal that David definitely had MS. I started carrying anger inside myself, building up like steam in a pressure cooker. Every so often it would spill over in tears I would battle hard to control. We finally joined the MS Society and the counsellor there reminded me of the Gawler Foundation MS Workshop. I was keen to meet Prof Jelinek, although also a little frightened. I had read his first book published just a few months after his initial MS attack and I was afraid of finding out that his approach hadn’t kept him well. But I also felt I needed to get away to release some of the pressure inside myself, so I persuaded David that we should go. My father agreed to stay with our kids.
We left Canberra, looking forward to a pleasant holiday in a bush setting. I certainly wasn’t expecting the intensely moving and profoundly uplifting experience we had.
George Jelinek and Ian Gawler were absolutely inspiring. They have both discovered how to heal themselves from serious (and in Ian’s case, life threatening) illnesses, and were both looking extremely well. Seeing them, and hearing their stories of previous attendees who had recovered from symptoms conventional medicine said were incurable, rekindled our hope that David could make himself well again.
George clearly described exactly what we needed to do, and also explained the scientific studies behind it. We became very close to the other attendees, particularly in the small group sessions where the men with MS, the women with MS, and the support people met separately. I found that talking about my feelings of helplessness, frustration and anger with other supporters allowed me to release a little of that built up pressure inside.
But the most beneficial aspect of the workshop for me was the stress management sessions run by Paul Bedson. Paul explained how a large part of stress is caused by excessive thinking – the little voice in your head that talks on and on about how awful things are, how bad I am, how poor you are, etc etc. I recognised straight away that this was a large part of my problem. Paul assisted us through two meditation sessions where we concentrated on releasing the ‘story’ and instead focussing on the ‘experience’; just tuning in to how we feel in our throat, heart, solar plexus and stomach. The moment I allowed myself to do this I started sobbing. I sobbed quietly through both sessions and to my surprise found that I was able to turn off the tears quite easily at the end of each one. I felt a tremendous easing of the pressure from doing this, and realised that I needed to continue with this kind of meditation until I could do it without needing to cry.
The other session that affected me profoundly was on forgiveness. For many years now I have practiced instant forgiveness of people, so at first I thought this session was not relevant to me. But the other participants helped me understand that I had a huge need to forgive the universe. I went through the forgiveness exercise and all the anger I had pent up, melted away.
Going through this experience with David also improved our communication. We had been trying for so long to ‘be strong’ for each other that we were no longer as open to each other as we had been. I had felt that a wall was being built up between us. Now though, I feel that I can be the real me and communicate honestly with him.
I came home feeling optimistic, light as a feather and determined to continue the meditation practices for my stress relief. David and I will both stick to the diet George recommends, as it has many other health benefits besides being good for MS. We have started giving our kids daily Vitamin D to help protect them against MS (it has a hereditary component). We are keeping in touch with the other participants via a group website where we can exchange recipes, photos and emails. I feel very grateful for this wonderful experience.
- Mary-Anne Cosgrove
Apr 2008
Canberra