So many more people than I have realized struggle with addictions. Addictions can be to drugs and alcohol, of course, but consider addictions to food, shopping, and pharmaceuticals-not just of narcotic composition, but for all else that ails us. Have you or someone you love ever thought... Will I ever feel better? Will I ever feel normal again? Is recovery possible?
And I say: Absolutely.
A year ago, I was on multiple daily medications. All the medicine in the world wasn't making me "feel better", in fact, I was sicker than ever and I was only continuing to deteriorate body, mind, and spirit. All of the "problems" I was having led to my search for and treatment by seven different specialists advising me on what would be best for me. No one looked at the big picture for me, and I was in such a fog, I couldn't see it for myself. One day my teenage son was once again angry with me for not wanting to take him somewhere (as I was sleeping my life away at that point trying to forget the depression, the gaps in my memory, the physical and cognitive changes I was experiencing, and the pain in my heart and in my body), I knew that day something drastic had to happen or I would die like this. I decided to seek an internal medicine doctor to help me sort through my multiple diagnosis and prescribed medications. Dr. Hiltunen was astounded and confused at my lengthy list of drugs. Baffled that I was taking multiple drugs that had the same purpose and many that counteracted another. That first visit, he advised me to stop 6 of my 24 prescriptions. I was terrified and excited at the same time. As a RN, I have just enough knowledge to find the specialists I needed to diagnose and prescribe what I thought was "wrong", what I thought I wanted.That is knowing enough to be dangerous, but not knowing enough to recognize the snow ball effect I got myself into trying to "feel better".
Dr. Hiltunen and I made a plan to taper down and off of 24 prescription medications in 6 months as my body would tolerate. My liver was failing. My thyroid had stopped producing hormones, my adrenals had burnt out, my pelvic floor had prolapsed, I was hospitalized multiple times for IV migraine medication therapy, and even for attempting suicide. Yes, I was not the real me at all. I had lost my identity as a wife, a mom, a nurse, a friend, a sister, a daughter, an aunt...I had no idea how to relate to who I had become. All the diagnoses, all the labels, came to define me. The appointments, the tests, the procedures, and trips to the pharmacy became my "normal" routine. Formulating a cohesive thought was like breathing underwater, not possible. I had left nursing and the thought of any gainful employment was the furthest thing from my mind. I had a full-time job: surviving my tapers and healing a weak, defunct body, mind and spirit.
Six short months after starting my efforts under Dr. Hiltunen's guidance and medication management, I left for a residential recovery program in Sedona, AZ to begin to heal and to re-learn to live a life without pharmaceuticals. Now, a full year after starting my detoxification journey, I am pharmaceutical free AND asymptomatic. My labs have normalized, I have the energy I haven't felt in 20 years, I am on a path to wellness that I intend to share with everyone I meet! On an physical, emotional, and mental level, I no longer feel at risk. I have spent the last six months training, educating, and certifying in many of the treatments and products that have been supportive to my recovery to bring to The Re:Balance Center for Detoxification and Rejuvenation in Sioux Falls, SD. The community I call home. While I’m continuing my own journey to optimal health, I have the energy to comfort, support, and advocate for others going through the hell I just extricated myself from.
I am walking proof that there is no abyss, no state too compromised to recover from if you are motivated and make the necessary changes to your diet, lifestyle, and medications.
Since returning home after four months in Sedona, AZ, and months of travels throughout the country for training, people have reacted with shock when they see me. Let me put my med use in perspective: of the 22 years I’ve been married, I have been on prescribed medication all but 5 of them; the years before we had our son and I was diagnosed with post-partum depression, and this past 8 months in my recovery from being on them. My kids, and some of my closest friends, had never seen me off medication. My husband knew me before, during and still after pharmaceuticals- Every one of them will testify that recovery is possible.
I credit removing neurotoxins from my system as playing the largest role in my recovery. I liken my body or that of anyone who has been on a poly-med cocktail of medications- especially psych meds- for a long time to that of a land fill. Years of accumulated toxins were thwarting even the most basic of neurotransmission causing the ‘zaps’ that use to surge through my head, hand tremors, seizure activity, narcolepcy, urinary incontinence, IBS, chronic fatigue, memory lapses, impulsive behaviors, pelvic floor prolapse,, not to mention the violent and scary-life threatening- mood swings. Colon Hydrotherapy, Photon Genius Sauna, Ionic Detox Foot Baths, Nebulized Glutathione, Biofeedback Training, Reiki, Exercise, proper nutrition, and meditation have saved my life. I am beyond excited to be ALIVE and able to share my education and experience with you.
Keep in mind stopping the med intake, while important, is not going to rid my system of the detritus of all those years on medication. Also true of alcohol, street drug, and even food consumption on an addictive level. This is especially true for those of us who have a genetic sensitivity to neurotoxins or may not expunge them from our bodies as readily as others do.
Just cleaning out this landfill of toxins has done wonders for my body and for the scores of others I have personally witnessed diligently working a detoxification program. That in conjunction with repairing the damaged neurotransmitters via re-mineralization and supplementation, especially amino-acid therapy, has further propelled me along the road of recovery. The Re:Balance Center's Healing Arts Professionals, including myself, will be available and looking forward to supporting each client that comes to us with all of this in their unique wellness journey.
If I were to write a biography, I would title it The Detoxed Life, for I remain constantly vigilant, permanently dedicated to a lifestyle and mindset that limits the reintroduction of toxins. Before I eat anything, do anything, say anything, or think anything, I ask myself: Is this contributing to my physical, emotional, and mental well-being? If you do the same, you will recover- you will Re:Balance, the very essence of who you are sooner than later.
Nicole Muilenburg, Wellness Practitioner
RN-BAN, CHT, BCB, Health Coach
Founder of The Re:Balance Center for Detoxification and Rejuvenation services of Sioux Falls
www.rebalancesf.com
June 11, 2014
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