Issue Four
Issue Four
In this issue:
A couple new members/subscribers have joined since the last newsletter, we may even have enough people to arrange to hold our first in-person meeting soon! It's been a slow process… I apologize to those of you that joined early on in Calgary and expected a big group that held regular meetings… we just don't have the member numbers and aren't well known enough to be doing that yet!! All in time, I say. Feel free to email me though, if you ever want to talk.
Christmas shopping… it's that time of the year!! Please pass on the MS With Attitude website to all your friends that do online shopping, so they can link to Amazon and their favourite online stores through Funding Engine, so a percentage of their purchase will go to MS With Attitude! The links can be found on the main page and the Contact Us portion of the website.
I also promised to keep you all updated on my progress with drinking Colloidal Silver. I received my generator a few weeks ago, and it was much less expensive and a LOT easier to operate than I had anticipated! So I am happily and inexpensively "brewing" my own colloidal silver and steadily increasing my intake. I started at 4 oz/day and have worked my way to 24 oz/day where I will stay for the long run and see how that goes. I also add one drop of hydrogen peroxide per every 2 oz. of CS and wait 15 minutes before drinking it. So far, I have noticed a MUCH improved sleeping pattern, bowel movements (nice topic, but it's true!) and more energy… I have been "on the go" a lot lately and I'm keeping up with myself! My hope is that I will get use of my right hand back, to be able to handwrite with it again. I'll keep you posted and update next issue.
My Personal Health Journey
By Ruth Hogue
Hello, my name is Ruth Hogue and I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This is my story about my personal health journey. I hope that my story will shed some light and hope into your own personal health journey.
Let me begin by going back into my past. I was born in 1958. My mother was a teacher and my father, a Canada Post letter carrier. I have 2 sisters, one older and one younger. We were your typical middle class family. I was an excitable child full of life and very accident-prone. I think that my excitement for life caused me to act too quickly and would always end me in some kind of trouble; like the time I severely burned my leg because I was so excited to feed the gophers at the lake. Or the time I had my front teeth knocked into my gums because I was running down the hallway at the local museum. Or the time I severely cut my thumb because I wanted to help my Mom prepare lunch when she came home from work. Because I was such an excitable child I was also very sensitive and my feelings could be hurt very easily.
I remember a day when I was in my Grade 4 health class learning about very serious diseases. The one disease I recall that really stuck in my mind and alarmed me the most was Multiple Sclerosis. As I grew up and entered Junior High, I became a very high achiever. I did not want to disappoint my parents as I had seen the disappointment that my parents experienced with my older sister’s struggle with school. I put so much pressure on myself to be an honours student and to do my very best at various other activities.
I went on to college and received a diploma in Business Administration, got married, moved out of town twice, my first husband was killed in a car accident, married a second time, gave birth to 2 sons, almost lost one son to meningitis, had a major financial devastation and struggled with a very unhealthy marriage. Looking back I can see that my endocrine system was overloaded because of all the various stresses I had encountered in my life. Little did I know that my body was not being supported with the essential nutrients to attain optimal health so that I could handle and endure all the daily stresses that would come my way.
The reason I give you an overview of some of the main events in my life is not for you to feel sorry for me. Every person on this planet is going through their own journey, all experiencing their own trials and tribulations. Some people have the strength and stamina to handle more stresses than others. Why is that? We are all created bio-chemically unique. Plus we all have unique diets and lifestyles. It is now a proven fact that our foods are nutritionally deficient. There is an old saying “We are what we eat”. Paracelus, Father of Pharmacology says “All that mankind needs for good health and healing is provided in nature…the challenge to science is to find it.”
In 1995, I knew that I was in a downward spiral and could see my health slipping away. I immersed myself in reading various health books and I started taking a regime of vitamins and herbal supplements. Through my research I discovered that I had Adrenal Gland Exhaustion or another name is Hypoadrenia. This means that my adrenal glands were malfunctioning. The adrenal glands, located at the top of your kidneys are responsible for the production and release of the hormone, adrenaline. This hormone is also called your fight or flight hormone. My body was not being nutritionally supported to handle the various stress that came into my path everyday. These stresses include physical, emotional and environmental (toxins in our food, air and water). The additional vitamins and herbs incorporated into my daily regime helped my to get out of the pit that I had fallen into, however this was only a temporary fix. I became severely ill and lost the vision in my right eye after the next major stressor came across my path in December 1995.
I was diagnosed with M.S. after having a C.A.T. scan in February and a M.R.I. in April 1996. The M.R.I. confirmed that I had multiple lesions in the white matter in my brain. The areas most affected were my fine thinking skills and my depth perception. My doctor explained to my husband and myself that there was no cure for M.S., and that they do not know the cause of the disease. She told us that I would be confined to a wheelchair within 6 months to 2 years.
I did not believe in my heart that my God would put me in a situation with no way out. I prayed for his guidance and wisdom to help me on my health journey. From March to May 1996 my vision started to come back, however, I still had pain and sensitivity to lighting and sunlight, a depth perception impairment and a fuzzy outline to all objects. I had started to see a homeopathic/medical doctor who believed that one of the first ways to reverse the disease process was to have root canals and mercury fillings removed. He gave me a book to read, “It’s All in Your Head – The Link Between Mercury Amalgams and Illness” by Dr. Hal A. Huggins. I was referred to a dentist that specialized in working with patients with compromised immune systems. After having my root canal tooth extracted I was free of pain and sensitivity regarding my eye. After having my Amalgam fillings removed I regained depth perception and the halo shadows around all objects disappeared. I experienced major complexities to this process that I would love to share with you, however, they are too lengthy to put in my story here.
I also had an the Elisa Food Allergy testing done. It showed that I was moderately or severely allergic to a lot of foods. For one whole year I followed an elimination diet of those foods.
In May 1996, I was blessed with the encounter of meeting Pastor Les, and his wife Jan, an R.N., who introduced me to Glyconutritionals. Jan had also been struggling with M.S. until a good friend of hers told her about the Mannatech glyconutritional dietary supplements.
Glyconutients are key carbohydrate sugars that are essential for optimal health. Glyconutritionals are a new class of essential nutrients. This new class is sometimes referred to as the missing link. Up until now we had 1) Essential Amino Acids, 2) Essential Vitamins and Minerals and 3) Essential Fatty Acids. Now, in addition to these 3 we have 4) Essential Carbohydrate Sugars. Here is a great website to research about glyconutrients: www.glycoscience.com
I started taking the supplements on May 16, 1996 and have never looked back since. I know, however, that I cannot go a day with out taking them. I have regained my energy, balance and strength, I have my full vision restored, I have a great sense of well-being, the ability to speak and write well again, renewed reading comprehension and the stamina to handle the daily and unexpected stresses that come across my path in my journey of life. My mission is that my personal testimony will inspire you to do some research and to discover that there is hope and truth for Optimal Health. Seek and you shall find! God Bless you all.
Feel free to contact me. My e-mail address is manna7@shaw.ca.
'Tis the season! I went digging for a couple festive recipes that are BBD friendly (free of dairy, gluten, soy, low in saturated fat). For future issues, feel free to contribute your own recipes!
Christmas Carol Punch
2 red apples
8 cups clear apple cider
8 cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons whole cloves
1/2 cup raisins
1 large orange
1 lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice
Core apples, and slice into 1/2 inch rings. Cut orange and lemon into thin slices.
In a dutch oven, combine cider, cinnamon, cloves, apple rings, and raisins. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low. Simmer 5 to 8 minutes or until apples are just tender. Remove cloves, and add orange and lemon slices, and lemon juice. Pour into punch bowl. Ladle into large mugs, including an apple ring, some raisins, and citrus slices in each serving. Serve with spoons.
Makes 30 servings.
Baked Yams with Honey and Lime
3 large yams (about 4 pounds)
1/2 cup water
6 tablespoons honey
Juice of 4 limes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Wash the yams and place in a baking dish with the water. Bake until the potatoes are soft and the skins puffy, about 1-1/2 hours. Set aside to cool slightly (leave the oven on).
Peel the yams and place in a medium baking dish. Add the honey, lime juice, salt and pepper. Stir and mash well with a potato masher. Cover with aluminium foil and return to the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until heated through. Serve hot. Non-BBDers can sprinkle the top with sour cream for a garnish.
This day and age almost everyone has internet access and making your own personal web page is fun, easy and FREE through services such as Yahoo! and Blogger. There are also many professionally done websites that offer the kind of information we at MS With Attitude want to read about! Each issue we will feature one of the many positive websites out there devoted to MS. We all have a story…
This is Lisa's
Lisa Quick's MS symptoms began in 1975, and she has been seeking out and trying a number of different therapies since then! Her site is full of information about the different things she does to help herself and prevent MS progression. She also shares the many stories of her friends with MS and what they are doing. Lots of links to other sites too. A very useful and informative site!!
Continue to Page Two
If you like what you're reading and find it helpful, please consider making a small contribution so we can keep going!