It was the start of a new chapter in my life, and I was bright eyed, and bushy tailed. Freedom at last! My freshman year at Oklahoma State was going to be epic.
Three weeks into the semester, things started to take a turn. I had a family event back in Texas that was about a 7-hour drive away. I remember having lost my keys before heading back to school when I sat on my dad’s couch and said, “I don’t feel well.” Something was off but I couldn’t place it. I drove those long straight Texas-Oklahoma roads back to OSU and when I got back, I slept. Hard. The next morning, I thought my skin looked funny. As the day progressed, my legs felt like they were on fire and super heavy. When you’re young and brought up to tough it out, you just learn to get on with it. That’s what I did until I felt heat through my jeans and realized something was wrong.
I went to what we called at school as the “voo-doo” clinic because the word on the street was that bad experiences at the health center were bound to happen. But when you are sick and far from home what else do you do? There is an opened investigation looking further into student’s experiences at their college health centers across the United States. There have been reports of misdiagnosis, poor care, and sometimes hospitalizations. My experience would be no different than what’s being reported nationally. During my visits, they ran tests like the West Nile Virus, Strep, and the Mono Rapid Blood Spot. They all came back negative. I was instructed to rest and come back if nothing changed or got worse. That rash did go away but over the next few months, other rashes would come and go, fatigue was intense, my spine hurt, and I just felt sick. Each time I had a “flare”, I would go back to the doctor and get more testing which continued to come back negative. Sometimes I would get prescribed another round of antibiotics. There was never clarity on what was wrong and never any relief.
Finally, the last doctor I saw said, “you’ve been here a lot and sick each time. I’m going to prescribe a high dose of an antibiotic to see if we can kick this thing.” Unfortunately, it was an overdose of the wrong medication, penicillin. This large, pink pill brought on the rash of all rashes. Turns out, I got Steven Johnson Syndrome which is a severe painful rash that turns into blisters on the skin and mucous membranes. If you can imagine blisters from head to toe, inside your mouth, and in other places we shall not mention… miserable was the name of the game.
I finally called my mom to fly me home. She didn’t believe I was that sick until she saw me. At that point I was so miserable I asked mom to take me to the ER. This stubborn girl will avoid the ER at all costs so asking to go was a big deal. That’s when they ran a whole blood test and found out that I did have mono. We learned that my results at the college health center were all false negatives. In fact, 5-25% of all mono spot tests come back falsely negative and unfortunately, you are not to prescribe penicillin when you also have this virus. When the doctors recommended I be admitted into the hospital, my mother asked what it was they were going to do. They said they weren’t sure and to this day, I thank my mother for declining hospital admission. Mom flew me home the next day and found me an angel in the image of an old, German man who studied energetic medicine.
Image taken 2 weeks after images above. I stopped the penicillin and received treatments such as homeopathy, light therapy, Red-light therapy, a juice fast, REST, no electronics, and Reiki..
I was introduced to a type of medicine that would set the stage for the kind of healer I was going to be. Well, sort of, because as you know, life doesn’t always work out as we plan it to.
Case in point with my first semester in college.
Life does, however, work out just as it should.
I have faced moments since then that have almost burnt out the passionate flame inside me. The young bright eyed and bushy tailed girl has taken a few of life’s punches and my naïve, youthful self has grown into a strong, tenacious woman.
Every single tool I have learned through the study of Naturopathic Medicine has come to use during my most difficult times. It’s these tools that have allowed me to stay strong, healthy, and resilient.
When you are in a dark time in your life, a transition, or when life wants to try and put out your light, the tools #naturopathicmedicine has taught me goes far beyond what you'll get from standard medicine.
These are tools taught through centuries of healers and things that life has taught me along the way.
Here’s a little secret. Many people think they are “healthy” until they really aren’t. You don’t get “diseases” overnight. It’s a slow buildup of ignoring what the body has been trying to say for a while. And when life throws you a curve ball, it’s usually the final blow that makes your body flare up and your light within you to flicker.
My hope for everyone is that they have an opportunity to realize that food is truly medicine and that the body can heal.
As your #naturopathicdoctor, I'll educate you on how to take care of your body. I'll empower you to make necessary changes, no matter how small.
Small healthy changes can turn into something huge.
You could start with 1 push up and then make it to 10 or 50. You could start with walking 1 mile and then run 13.1.
It all comes down to a decision to want to be better, putting daily practices in place, your attitude along the way, and a doctor who will motivate you when it gets tough.
Eventually, no matter how dark the times are, you will get your SPARK back.
Thank you mom, for leading me to a field of medicine I am proud to be a part of.
Thank you to all those who support our field as we push through the barriers of Big Pharma, the food industry, and insurance companies that dictate care.
#NaturopathicDoctors , #FunctionalDoctors , #IntegrativeMedicalDoctors ---> We are all fighting for the world to be well.
Dr. Lexi Lain
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