Jan. 7, 2026

From Rock Bottom to Radiant: How Natural Medicine and Nature Healed My Chronic Illness

From Rock Bottom to Radiant: How Natural Medicine and Nature Healed My Chronic Illness

What do you do when you’ve tried everything, your body is failing, and you’re preparing to say goodbye? Antoinette Lee shares how she rebuilt her health and identity through natural medicine, outdoor recreation, and the decision to create a “new normal” rather than accept defeat. If you’re navigating chronic symptoms, burnout, or discouragement, this conversation will help you identify your next best step—and remind you that a vibrant life may still be possible.

Ask Good Questions is broadcast live Wednesdays at 6PM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Ask Good Questions is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

Ask Good Questions Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ask-good-questions--6441735/support.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.319
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

2
00:00:02.359 --> 00:00:03.960
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

3
00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:06.919
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

4
00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:10.039
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,

5
00:00:10.119 --> 00:00:12.439
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No

6
00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:15.720
liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio

7
00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:18.519
or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should

8
00:00:18.519 --> 00:00:20.879
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing

9
00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:23.320
W FOURCY Radio.

10
00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:33.840
Welcome to to Ask Good Questions Podcasts, broadcasting live every Wednesday,

11
00:00:33.880 --> 00:00:37.719
six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at

12
00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:41.359
W four cy dot com. This week and every week,

13
00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:44.719
we will reach for a higher purpose in money and light,

14
00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:48.679
as well as a focus on health and wellness. Now,

15
00:00:49.159 --> 00:00:53.920
let's join your host, Anita bell Anderson, as together we

16
00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.200
start with Asking Good Questions.

17
00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:06.319
Hey, Hello, and welcome to the Ask Good Questions podcast.

18
00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:09.599
My name is Benita bell Anderson, and I am so

19
00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:13.040
excited today for the guests that we are going to

20
00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:17.719
be learning from. Her name is Antoinette Lee. I'm going

21
00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:21.239
to invite her to the proverbial podcast stage.

22
00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:24.719
Hi, Benita.

23
00:01:24.920 --> 00:01:29.920
Hello, Hello, So, as a lot of you know, I'm

24
00:01:29.959 --> 00:01:33.439
in I'm in Hawaii doing a senior mission with my husband,

25
00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:36.000
and so you know, you can do podcasting wherever you are.

26
00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:39.480
And Antoinette is, she says, up in the north.

27
00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:42.760
Woods, right I am. I'm in a forest in the

28
00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:47.120
north Woods, in the ice belt of the Midwestern United States.

29
00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:48.959
Have you gotten snow yet?

30
00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:54.319
Oh my goodness. We've had snow for three months now

31
00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:55.879
and it's awesome.

32
00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:03.519
All right. Well, yeah, the only snow that is here

33
00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:05.719
in Hawaii is at the very tippy top of one

34
00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:09.280
of the mountains. But nothing like that. Well, let me

35
00:02:09.319 --> 00:02:12.919
tell you a little bit about this girl. She is

36
00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:17.439
a she's a superwoman kind of in my eyes. She's

37
00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:22.039
an MBA. She's a former tech CEO. She's an eleven

38
00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:26.879
year US Army veteran. She was an Air assault qualified

39
00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:31.800
expert field medic trained in anatomy and physiology and pharmacology

40
00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:37.879
and infection control and disease prevention food. So, but today

41
00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:40.919
she has a really interesting story that we're going to

42
00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:45.000
enjoy learning from. She is an outdoor industry influencer. Now,

43
00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:48.439
she's a model, she's a consultant, she's a freelance writer

44
00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:52.319
at several magazines. She's the founder of the American Adventure

45
00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:55.520
Sports Club nonprofit Do you have any time to just

46
00:02:55.560 --> 00:02:56.479
go walk in the woods?

47
00:02:56.479 --> 00:02:58.759
And I'm wondering every day?

48
00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:00.120
Every day?

49
00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:01.039
Good you make time?

50
00:03:01.879 --> 00:03:06.439
And she's a motivational health and wellness speaker. She delivers

51
00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:09.960
a podcast of her own called The New Normal, Big Life,

52
00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:13.919
and it's a talk, it's a blog, and it's a podcast.

53
00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:17.759
And she has a debut book that is called Four

54
00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:23.120
Hours to Live, a Soldier's Journey of Adoption, Assault and Advocacy.

55
00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:28.680
So aside from an amazing recovery journey from using a

56
00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:31.680
walk or a service show, now is your service dog

57
00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:33.800
still around? Phoebe?

58
00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:39.120
Right, Phoebe is now fifteen years old and going strong,

59
00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:39.919
believe it or not.

60
00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:44.840
Awesome must be from all those walks.

61
00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:46.280
And cross country skiing.

62
00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:50.120
Okay, so she was also a one time a full

63
00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:53.319
time caregiver, as I have done a lot of caregiving

64
00:03:53.319 --> 00:03:57.039
in my day. But she had a traumatic brain injury.

65
00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:01.439
We're going to find out about that injury and PTSD

66
00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:05.960
and she now shows others how to create their new

67
00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:08.639
normal and live the biggest life that they can dream.

68
00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:13.759
One of her Passions is talking about how outdoor recreation

69
00:04:14.439 --> 00:04:18.040
is at the intersection of health and wellness and stewardship

70
00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:21.879
and adventure. I love that she can usually be found

71
00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:24.839
in the north Woods with her family, stearting the forest

72
00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:29.839
and river around their homestead while living the adventure sports lifestyle.

73
00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.759
She will. She leaves listeners and anyone that she's talking

74
00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:38.399
to with action steps to create their new normal and

75
00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:43.720
inspiration to live a big life. So how about that,

76
00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:47.480
I is there anything you'd like to add to that intro?

77
00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:52.680
I think you've nailed it, and you know, hearing that

78
00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:56.519
my life back at me is like, Wow, I've done

79
00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:59.800
a lot, but you know, I'm old. I just turned

80
00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:02.439
through the eight in November, so I've had a lot

81
00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:03.560
of You're.

82
00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:10.000
Not a general because I got you on that one,

83
00:05:11.160 --> 00:05:13.879
but yeah, No, the whole idea is to live every

84
00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:17.000
day to the fullest and to live the healthiest life

85
00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:19.319
and do those things that will help you create that

86
00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:20.720
healthy life, right.

87
00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:26.720
Right, Longevity is everything in twenty twenty six. Longevity and

88
00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:30.759
wearable devices are kind of the buzzwords that everyone's talking about, right.

89
00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:34.920
You know, I gotta tell you before I ask you

90
00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:39.879
this first question. I have been repelling. And when I

91
00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:44.199
first was reading about this repelling accident and we were

92
00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:49.399
talking about it, I was like, you know, I remember

93
00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:53.720
getting all, you know, just harnessed, and I'm feeling like

94
00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:55.120
this is completely safe.

95
00:05:55.160 --> 00:05:55.519
I was.

96
00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:01.959
I was at a cliff in Zion National Park. Uh,

97
00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:05.000
you know, just you know, going way down. But I

98
00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:07.680
felt completely safe because I'm looking at all the ropes

99
00:06:07.720 --> 00:06:12.199
and the harnesses and the everything pounded into the rocks.

100
00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:17.319
And so take us back to the repelling accident. What

101
00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:21.120
changed instantly and how did that happen?

102
00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:25.639
Well, you know, you talk about safety, and I felt

103
00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:32.160
completely safe, except the conditions that injured another soldier were

104
00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:35.800
the same conditions that injured me on my way down

105
00:06:35.879 --> 00:06:40.959
to give him aid. And so I didn't fall off

106
00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:46.480
the mountain. I slammed into the mountain. So when you're repelling,

107
00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:48.399
as you know, you have your feet out in an

108
00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:51.759
L shaped position, and you hit the mountain, your feet

109
00:06:51.800 --> 00:06:54.720
will bounce off the mountain, and you've got a person

110
00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:58.439
on bley down below who will tighten the rope if

111
00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:02.600
you start to fall. It just so happened that when

112
00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:06.160
I slipped my balat person's attention. Now, I don't remember

113
00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:09.160
any of this. I only know what people told me.

114
00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:15.000
I have no memory until two weeks before the accident.

115
00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:18.759
So the day before the accident, most of the time

116
00:07:18.759 --> 00:07:20.920
that I was in the hospital, I don't remember any

117
00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:26.319
of that, So I only know from onlookers. And apparently

118
00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:29.759
my blay person was distracted, so there was just like

119
00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:33.240
a few second delay of when they tightened the rope.

120
00:07:33.959 --> 00:07:38.199
But when I slipped, I swung out like a pendulum.

121
00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:42.879
I swung into the mountain and hit my head and

122
00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:46.839
then also swung back into the mountain again and hit

123
00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:50.800
my bottom, and then it broke my back. And so

124
00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:53.800
by the time that I was thirty two, I had

125
00:07:53.959 --> 00:07:58.639
arthritis from my neck to my tailbone, both knees, a

126
00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:02.839
shoulder that needed to be paired, reconnected to my bicep,

127
00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:06.759
and then complications from the injuries.

128
00:08:07.319 --> 00:08:14.560
Wow, So what changed slowly over time was just it

129
00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:19.399
just sounds like there was a lot of cascading pieces

130
00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.639
that were becoming noticeable over time.

131
00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:27.040
Great, so you have the initial injury and you think, oh, well,

132
00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:31.240
in the grand scheme of things, I'm not hurt so bad.

133
00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.799
In air quotes, thank god, you know, I survived it.

134
00:08:35.960 --> 00:08:39.759
I'm not in a wheelchair. I well, I am technically

135
00:08:39.799 --> 00:08:42.679
in a wheelchair, but once I leave the hospital, I'll

136
00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:45.440
no longer be in the wheelchair. I'll just have a pin,

137
00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.399
probably for a short time, and I will recover and

138
00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:52.519
go back to work, is what I thought. And I

139
00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:57.080
did have occupational therapy and physical therapy and all of

140
00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:01.360
the things to get me back to working and living

141
00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:04.639
my life. Maybe not at one hundred percent because at

142
00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:08.720
the time when I was injured, I came into the

143
00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:13.000
military a state championship runner, and while I was in

144
00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:16.240
the military, I was a competitive bodybuilder and powerlifter for

145
00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:19.600
the army, and so it took a long while before

146
00:09:19.639 --> 00:09:25.240
I could recover. But I was at a very advanced

147
00:09:25.480 --> 00:09:29.039
level of fitness when I got injured, and that is

148
00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:31.759
one thing that helped me. So having all that muscle

149
00:09:32.360 --> 00:09:35.120
protected my back from a more serious injury.

150
00:09:36.120 --> 00:09:36.679
Wow.

151
00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:40.120
So over time, you know, I went back to work.

152
00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:43.679
I think it took maybe three months or so, and

153
00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:48.600
then I continued living my life, but little by little,

154
00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:53.039
it was like boiling a frog slowly. You don't realize that,

155
00:09:54.200 --> 00:09:56.559
you know, I don't. My memory is not as good,

156
00:09:56.840 --> 00:09:59.919
and sometimes I lose my words, and sometimes I struggle

157
00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:03.480
to focus and some days, you know, I need a

158
00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:06.600
lot of pain medication just to be able to go

159
00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:11.600
to work. And so it was all these little things

160
00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:16.759
just compounding. But what made it substantially worse was that

161
00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:21.679
allopathic or conventional medicine just was not working for me.

162
00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:25.559
And I was on twenty medications at one time and

163
00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:29.480
getting sicker and sicker by the day. Yeah.

164
00:10:29.879 --> 00:10:33.080
So when you say you relied on a walker and

165
00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:36.120
a service dog and a full time caregiver, is that

166
00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:38.720
when you got Phoebe was when this happened?

167
00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:44.120
Yes, So I got Phoebe after, not at the initial injury.

168
00:10:44.519 --> 00:10:49.480
I got her maybe, Oh gosh, to do the math,

169
00:10:49.799 --> 00:10:54.080
it was almost a decade later that I went into decline.

170
00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:59.360
But the reason I went into such severe decline, in

171
00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:04.639
my opinion, it was that, you know, medications are chemicals,

172
00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:08.600
and they can be very very beneficial, especially when you're

173
00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:12.759
first injured, because they work fast, they're very strong, and

174
00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:16.879
they usually do the job that we want them to do,

175
00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:20.080
or that our doctors think they will do for us. However,

176
00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:24.639
there are some people for whom their bodies are just

177
00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:28.679
wired differently. And we are very sensitive to our environment.

178
00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:31.639
We're very sensitive to the things the foods we eat,

179
00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:38.559
the ingredients we use in products like healthcare and cleaning products,

180
00:11:38.840 --> 00:11:41.519
and the ingredients in our food Some people can eat

181
00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:44.159
chunk and perform at a high level. I'm not one

182
00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:47.559
of those people. Some people can take medications and say

183
00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:53.000
better living through chemistry and nothing ever happens to them.

184
00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:56.440
But for me, it was causing organ damage. My kidneys

185
00:11:56.440 --> 00:11:59.679
were failing because of the medications, and I was on

186
00:11:59.799 --> 00:12:05.679
phone medications at one time that all caused kidney of

187
00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:08.200
the side effect for kidney damage.

188
00:12:09.080 --> 00:12:13.320
I got really crazy over this issue about medications with

189
00:12:13.399 --> 00:12:17.759
my mother when my mother was dying, and they'd give

190
00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:20.039
her a medication, but then they would give her something

191
00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:22.919
else to counteract the side effects, and then there'd be

192
00:12:23.080 --> 00:12:27.279
another side effect, and so I was like, I remember

193
00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:30.559
just being so frustrated over that whole thing. But it

194
00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:34.759
so you know, you had said that you had excellent

195
00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:39.240
health insurance, but what gaps were there? Then? If you're

196
00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:42.279
receiving all these things and you know they had the

197
00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:46.120
best intentions, but what gaps did you experience in the system.

198
00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:51.639
Well, the major gap was that because I have a

199
00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:55.519
background in healthcare, I knew to ask questions about medications

200
00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:59.240
every medication has what they call side effects. It's not

201
00:12:59.320 --> 00:13:03.440
a side effect, is it's a potential likely effect based

202
00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:07.720
on data. Right, other patients have had these effects. Now,

203
00:13:08.440 --> 00:13:11.279
I brought up to every care provider that gave me

204
00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:15.840
a medication that could potentially damage my kidneys? Are you

205
00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:19.759
aware that I'm on three or four medications that also

206
00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:23.000
run the risk of kidney damage? And they would all

207
00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:26.039
say the same thing. You're on a very low dose

208
00:13:26.200 --> 00:13:29.720
of each medication. I don't think it will be a problem.

209
00:13:29.879 --> 00:13:33.159
And because I'm not the one with an MD, right,

210
00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:37.120
I have a NBA and a degree in economics and

211
00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:39.799
a degree in science, but I'm not an MD. So

212
00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:43.960
I relied on their judgment that if you say it's

213
00:13:44.039 --> 00:13:46.639
going to be fine, you're the one with the MD,

214
00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:50.600
I'm going to trust you. And until it wasn't fine,

215
00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:56.639
and I nearly died because of it. So not only that,

216
00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:01.000
but I became so allergic to so many manyations that

217
00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:05.320
today when I do need a medication, it's very difficult

218
00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:08.360
to find one that has not put me into anaphylactic

219
00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:12.679
shock in the past or given me a side effect

220
00:14:12.840 --> 00:14:16.000
that in the grand scheme of side effects, when you

221
00:14:16.039 --> 00:14:18.840
look at the ones that are just maybe a little mild,

222
00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:23.360
like may cause drowsiness, or one that could potentially stop

223
00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:29.440
your heart or cause dangerously low blood sugar. I'm the

224
00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:31.519
person who gets the one that could stop your heart

225
00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:32.960
or dangerously low blood sugar.

226
00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:33.840
Right.

227
00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:36.360
It's just a way that I'm wired. So I'm not

228
00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:40.200
anti medication, and I do occasionally take of medication for

229
00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:44.960
a short time, but very consistently. When I take a medication,

230
00:14:45.399 --> 00:14:48.200
for me, it's a fifty to fifty chance that I'm

231
00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:51.480
going to have an allergic reaction, and there's a fifty

232
00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:54.000
to fifty chance I'm going to have a very dangerous

233
00:14:54.039 --> 00:14:55.600
side effect experience.

234
00:14:56.360 --> 00:15:00.360
I think this is great medication motivation to be living

235
00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:02.960
the most healthy lifestyle that you can possibly live. Right.

236
00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:04.000
Amen.

237
00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:10.159
Well, I know that there were several surgeries involved in

238
00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:14.200
all of this, and you've described hitting rock bottom after

239
00:15:14.279 --> 00:15:16.399
what a fifth surgery.

240
00:15:16.600 --> 00:15:20.919
So I was on my fourth surgery waiting. I had

241
00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:25.240
a thirty day wait before my fifth surgery, and during

242
00:15:25.320 --> 00:15:28.399
that period, I thought I wasn't going to make it

243
00:15:28.440 --> 00:15:31.759
to the next day, let alone to my next surgery.

244
00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:37.320
Yeah. Well, what were the moments or the signals that

245
00:15:37.480 --> 00:15:41.559
made you think to yourself. I just can't keep doing

246
00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:45.039
this the same way. Because obviously, with you being on

247
00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:50.200
this podcast and describing this whole story, there's a big

248
00:15:50.360 --> 00:15:54.840
aha moment coming. But I want people to understand what

249
00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:58.120
the context of where you are now is. And so,

250
00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:01.080
was there a moment where you just said, I just

251
00:16:01.080 --> 00:16:03.039
can't keep doing I've got to do something different.

252
00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:08.480
Well, before I got to that, something very important happened.

253
00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:15.320
I woke up one day just feeling like I was

254
00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:17.399
not going to make it until the next day. But

255
00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:21.399
instead of telling my caregiver, oh my goodness, I'm worried

256
00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:24.000
that something is very wrong. We need to run to

257
00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:27.519
the emergency room right now, I didn't have that sense.

258
00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:32.200
I really had this inner feeling that it's already too

259
00:16:32.279 --> 00:16:36.559
late to do anything about it. And so my caregiver

260
00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:39.639
noticed that I wasn't doing well, but it was by

261
00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:43.320
the time they noticed it was really late. And if

262
00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:46.559
you have any experience with emergency rooms, you don't really

263
00:16:46.600 --> 00:16:48.559
want to go in the middle of the night or

264
00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:52.159
on a weekend. No, And we could talk about that later,

265
00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:57.480
but no rooms not terrible, So we wanted to wait

266
00:16:57.559 --> 00:17:06.160
until the next morning. And I didn't communicate this and

267
00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:10.519
I'm not sure why. Maybe I was. I don't want

268
00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:12.279
to say that I was giving up hope that I

269
00:17:12.279 --> 00:17:16.640
would get better, but I think in that moment, my

270
00:17:17.319 --> 00:17:23.240
physical body felt so worn out. I really felt like

271
00:17:23.400 --> 00:17:28.000
my organs were shutting down. My respiration was very, very slow.

272
00:17:28.759 --> 00:17:31.359
I felt like the next time that I fall asleep,

273
00:17:31.400 --> 00:17:33.319
I wasn't going to wake up. And I was not

274
00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:36.799
panicked about it, because I have a relationship with God.

275
00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:38.880
I know who I am, I know who I've been

276
00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:41.359
in this world. I know that I've been a good

277
00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:46.759
human being. I was just in gratitude. I didn't say

278
00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:50.799
take me to the emergency room. I said, God, I

279
00:17:50.799 --> 00:17:53.599
don't want this to be my last day, but if

280
00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:56.559
it is, thank you for the life I've had. I've loved,

281
00:17:56.599 --> 00:18:01.519
I've been loved, I've had awards and accolades. I've accomplished

282
00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:06.680
many things in that forty years of life that most

283
00:18:06.680 --> 00:18:11.359
people don't accomplish in seventy years of life. And I

284
00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:14.119
looked at my dog, Phoebe, who would not leave my side,

285
00:18:14.200 --> 00:18:17.519
not for food, water, to go out to play. She

286
00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:20.039
would not leave my side, and she looked at me

287
00:18:20.119 --> 00:18:24.160
like she was saying goodbye. And also in my eyes

288
00:18:24.279 --> 00:18:28.279
that day or in that moment, I was looking down

289
00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:30.680
on my body. I was looking down on Phoebe and

290
00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:33.920
it felt as if my soul had left my body

291
00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:37.400
and it was just sort of waiting for whatever kind

292
00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:41.400
yeah to go. And so that's why I wasn't in

293
00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:44.319
a panic about getting to the emergency room. So I

294
00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:47.000
thank God for my life, and I said, but if

295
00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:49.480
you give me one more day, I'm going to figure

296
00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:52.079
out why I'm so sick, because I'm not the only one.

297
00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:55.880
Right I meet people all the time in doctor's offices

298
00:18:55.920 --> 00:19:00.640
who are like me, complex medical problems that can't seem

299
00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:07.319
to find answers for. And you the next.

300
00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:14.039
Day, Yeah, you you make me think that you were

301
00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:17.359
basically getting this whole idea that you needed to advocate

302
00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:18.799
differently for yourself.

303
00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:23.640
I think the next morning, when I woke up, that

304
00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:26.720
was when I realized I need to be a different

305
00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:31.079
kind of advocate. I need to What I did not

306
00:19:31.319 --> 00:19:35.920
do in the past was when my gut feeling, when

307
00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:39.839
my own body was telling me that what these doctors

308
00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:43.720
were recommending were not a good idea based on experience,

309
00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:48.960
based on my experience with anaphylactic shock. Most of the

310
00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:51.519
time when I take a new medication, or if I've

311
00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:55.119
been on a medication, even for ten years, one day

312
00:19:55.160 --> 00:19:58.000
I'll take a dose and I go into anaphylactic shock.

313
00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:03.680
It's became apparent that long term use of medication was

314
00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:06.039
not right for me personally. It may be right for

315
00:20:06.119 --> 00:20:10.640
some people, just not for me. I realized I needed

316
00:20:10.680 --> 00:20:13.440
to be the sort of advocate that trusted her own

317
00:20:13.960 --> 00:20:19.799
gut and intuition, but also research for herself and then

318
00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:25.119
not allow doctors to gaslight you into shutting down when

319
00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:29.759
you're trying to have a discussion about your healthcare treatment plan.

320
00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:33.720
So let's stop a minute. I don't know if everyone there.

321
00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:36.240
I mean, I remember when I first heard that term.

322
00:20:36.279 --> 00:20:39.000
I was like, what does that mean? And so, when

323
00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:43.400
you define medical gaslighting, what are the most common ways

324
00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:46.160
that it shows up for patients that have some kind

325
00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:47.359
of chronic illness.

326
00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:51.640
Well, when you report your symptoms to a doctor and

327
00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:56.680
they start diminishing your symptoms or attributing them to some

328
00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:04.759
sort of mental defect or telling you that what you're

329
00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:09.119
seeing and feeling is not valid, that's a good sign

330
00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:13.559
you're being gas lit. And here's some examples of how

331
00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:16.319
it might show up between you and your doctor when

332
00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:21.079
you're advocating for yourself or someone you love, and I'll

333
00:21:21.079 --> 00:21:23.200
tell you in the form of a story that happened

334
00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:27.680
to me. So I am a fit, muscular person. I

335
00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:32.039
have a bench press, well, not now, but in the

336
00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:35.039
past I've had a bench press of few hundred pounds,

337
00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:37.640
three hundred and fifty pounds squat, and a five hundred

338
00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:40.799
pound deadlift. Today I can pick up one hundred pounds

339
00:21:40.839 --> 00:21:44.720
without a problem, even with my back injury and arthritis.

340
00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:46.759
You know, I live on a homestead. I carry one

341
00:21:46.839 --> 00:21:52.440
hundred pounds all the time by myself. But when I

342
00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:56.599
told my doctor, I have a healthy diet, I live

343
00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:59.480
a healthy lifestyle. I'm fit and active. There's no reason

344
00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:02.759
I should have a forty pound weight gain. And in

345
00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:05.480
my research, I found the autopsy of a woman who

346
00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:11.559
could be my double, same age, ethnicity, even from the

347
00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:18.960
same ethnic group, and she had all of the symptoms

348
00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:21.599
that I'm currently experienced. And she died of a massive

349
00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:24.160
heart attack, even though her brother who was with her

350
00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:27.559
is a paramedic and couldn't save her life. And she

351
00:22:27.640 --> 00:22:30.960
got to the ambulance within eight minutes of the heart attack.

352
00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:40.400
So I was concerned about these very serious information that

353
00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:44.480
I found. And my doctor asked me if I thought

354
00:22:44.519 --> 00:22:47.960
maybe I could be living in the wrong gender and

355
00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:52.960
that I should embrace my weight gain because of body

356
00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:57.880
positivity and shapes and beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Okay,

357
00:22:58.039 --> 00:23:01.240
this is my cardiologist, right, that was gaslighting.

358
00:23:02.599 --> 00:23:04.720
Yeah wow.

359
00:23:04.759 --> 00:23:07.200
And so he didn't run any tests. And here's the

360
00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:11.119
other piece about gaslighting. The doctor will make an assessment

361
00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:14.039
that it's just in your mind and you have a

362
00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:20.640
mood disorder or an identity problem or dysfunction without running

363
00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:24.000
any tests. So he didn't run any tests to check

364
00:23:24.039 --> 00:23:27.880
my heart, He didn't run any tests to check any

365
00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:31.359
of my blood work, my blood panels. He just said,

366
00:23:31.400 --> 00:23:33.759
I'm going to give you a console to mental health

367
00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:37.240
because I think you have gender dysphoria and you're struggling

368
00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:38.440
with body positivity.

369
00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:42.160
Oh my gosh, that would make me so angry.

370
00:23:42.359 --> 00:23:45.039
Well, and so for the listeners out there, I am

371
00:23:45.079 --> 00:23:50.160
a very feminine woman. There is no way anyone could

372
00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:54.920
even just suspect that I don't know what my gender

373
00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:56.359
identity is, that I could.

374
00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:01.400
Know who you are, right, yeah, yeah, Well, so if

375
00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:05.880
someone listening suspects suspects that they're being dismissed, which is

376
00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:09.119
what this is, is they're being dismissed. What are three

377
00:24:09.319 --> 00:24:15.039
practical scripts or questions? This is the Ask Good Questions

378
00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:19.039
podcast after all, So what are some good questions that

379
00:24:19.079 --> 00:24:20.599
they can use in the exam room.

380
00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:25.720
Well, I'll tell you some that I use personally. And

381
00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:29.440
so one is bringing the conversation back to your original question.

382
00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:33.920
So what do you think about this unexplained weight gain?

383
00:24:34.119 --> 00:24:40.640
This forty pound weight gain? And for example, that doctor

384
00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:45.519
who dismissed me caused me to get a delay and

385
00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:49.240
treatment for a very serious condition that's now under control.

386
00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:53.319
So that's so I just want to impress upon you

387
00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:56.559
that if you allow a doctor or a healthcare worker

388
00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:01.559
to gaslight you without challenging them, it could cause you

389
00:25:01.559 --> 00:25:06.759
your life. It's a very serious thing. Yeah, So bringing

390
00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:10.400
the conversation back to your original question, and then ask

391
00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:14.279
them have you treated other people with a complicated case

392
00:25:14.519 --> 00:25:18.000
like mine? Or is this very unusual? What's your experience

393
00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:21.559
with what I'm going through? And the third one would

394
00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:30.039
be I'd say maybe ask the doctor what tests they

395
00:25:30.039 --> 00:25:34.079
would run and what information they would get from those

396
00:25:34.119 --> 00:25:36.759
tests that they planned to run. So my doctor didn't

397
00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:39.440
plan to ask me to run any tests. So I

398
00:25:39.480 --> 00:25:41.480
brought it back around to so are we going to

399
00:25:41.559 --> 00:25:44.160
test and what might you find in those tests?

400
00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:48.200
And let's see what he would say. That would be

401
00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:51.240
like a big clue.

402
00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:56.880
Right wow. So I interviewed a hospital administrator, doctor Julie Seemurs,

403
00:25:56.960 --> 00:25:59.839
in episode twenty five of New Normal, Big Life, and

404
00:26:00.119 --> 00:26:04.079
that episode is called Surviving your Hospital Stay, and in it,

405
00:26:04.519 --> 00:26:09.359
doctor Seemers and I talk about what you can do

406
00:26:09.559 --> 00:26:14.279
to advocate for yourself because during the process of advocating

407
00:26:14.359 --> 00:26:19.640
your for yourself, if you become agitated, if you raise

408
00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:25.279
your voice, then that gives patient advocate and security and

409
00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:30.480
the doctor the ammunition to say to you that you're

410
00:26:30.680 --> 00:26:33.880
just having a mood disorder problem and we need to

411
00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:37.480
give you a concept to mental health versus taking your

412
00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:40.839
symptoms seriously. So you want to stay calm, and there

413
00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:44.960
is a hierarchy of escalation, so you can go to

414
00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:47.240
patient advocate and then there's a next level, in a

415
00:26:47.319 --> 00:26:50.039
next level, and the next level when you're being gas

416
00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:52.640
lit or not getting the answers you need for yourself

417
00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:57.119
or your loved one.

418
00:26:55.519 --> 00:27:00.839
Well, how would you respond to And I'm thinking that

419
00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:05.720
there's got to be a balance between respecting medical expertise

420
00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:10.640
while trusting your own experience with your own body. Right,

421
00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:14.039
there's got to be a balance, And I think what

422
00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:17.559
you're saying is it has to do with how you

423
00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:19.720
feel in your gut about what's right for you.

424
00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:26.440
Yes, you know, before human beings had the ability to speak,

425
00:27:27.880 --> 00:27:37.000
we communicated information or I'm sorry, we received information externally

426
00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:41.960
using our senses, what we could hear, feel, smell, see,

427
00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:47.279
et cetera. And so once we started talking, human beings

428
00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:51.160
started relying on spoken word more than what we were feeling.

429
00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:56.759
So in your ancient brain that we think of as

430
00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:00.759
our intuition, and a lot of people feel it. Butterflies

431
00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:02.920
in the stomach or hair is on the back of

432
00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:06.720
your neck. Those are the things before we had language

433
00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:10.680
that kept us alive. But we've gotten so far away

434
00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:13.680
from that because we rely on what we could hear,

435
00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:17.519
you know, in spoken word on podcasts, or what someone

436
00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:22.440
might tell you or read when we're doing research online.

437
00:28:22.680 --> 00:28:25.960
But you need to go back to listening to what

438
00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:30.920
your body is telling you. And one hundred percent of

439
00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:35.279
the time since I started listening to my body and

440
00:28:35.319 --> 00:28:38.400
weighing that against what doctors were advising me and what

441
00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:42.160
I find in my research, I have been right one

442
00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:45.960
hundred percent of the time, and so today using AI,

443
00:28:46.680 --> 00:28:48.640
because I don't know everything, even though I do have

444
00:28:48.680 --> 00:28:52.960
a medical background, I don't know everything right. So using AI,

445
00:28:53.200 --> 00:28:59.400
you can use tools like perplexity dot com and type

446
00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:03.119
in your symptom and ask what is the normal allopathic

447
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:07.160
treatment for this problem? Of what kinds of medications might

448
00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:11.119
they recommend? What types of surgery or therapies, what types

449
00:29:11.160 --> 00:29:15.160
of natural things could I try first? Right, you could

450
00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:19.160
get all that information go into your doctor's appointment knowing

451
00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:21.680
almost as much as they do because they use AI too.

452
00:29:21.799 --> 00:29:24.799
They don't know, they can't remember everything about everything they

453
00:29:24.920 --> 00:29:29.920
learned in medical school, and you're just a more informed

454
00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:33.960
healthcare consumer when you do that, and then you weigh

455
00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:39.160
their advice. I always say, I've heard what you said

456
00:29:39.160 --> 00:29:43.359
about which medication you think I should take. I'm going

457
00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:45.839
to go home and research that and I will call

458
00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:48.319
your office tomorrow to tell you whether or not I

459
00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:52.519
want to take that medication. Or I've heard you say

460
00:29:52.519 --> 00:29:56.000
that you want me to have surgery. I'm going to

461
00:29:56.160 --> 00:30:00.440
research the risks versus benefits and call you back tomorrow

462
00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:02.240
and tell you whether or not I want that surgery.

463
00:30:03.720 --> 00:30:06.279
I can tell you from experience that most of your

464
00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:10.079
doctors will not like it. They want you to say yes, ma'am,

465
00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:13.519
yes sir, and keep it moving. But if you say

466
00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:20.200
it calmly, professionally and matter of factly, and then in

467
00:30:20.359 --> 00:30:22.640
the discussion there so if they want to argue with

468
00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:27.359
you or any of that, you can simply just say, Okay,

469
00:30:27.480 --> 00:30:29.519
I'm going to end my appointment and I'm going to

470
00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:33.039
go talk to patient advocate. Yeah.

471
00:30:33.079 --> 00:30:36.720
Well, so I think that we've got a pretty good

472
00:30:36.759 --> 00:30:40.920
idea of where you've been. Let's start talking now about

473
00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:47.160
this healing framework of yours, basically the elements of natural

474
00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:53.240
medicine plus nature. So natural medicine first. So when you

475
00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:56.039
say natural medicine, what are you talking about? Are you

476
00:30:56.119 --> 00:31:03.359
talking about nutrition or lifestyle well or stress or supplementation?

477
00:31:03.599 --> 00:31:07.279
What does it mean for you? It means all of

478
00:31:07.319 --> 00:31:12.279
those things. So I'll give you a really easy way

479
00:31:12.519 --> 00:31:18.559
to understand this. Not just me. Although when I first

480
00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:23.960
started this, I was operating just on intuition. I didn't

481
00:31:24.079 --> 00:31:27.200
read that this is what I should do. But today

482
00:31:28.839 --> 00:31:31.319
a lot of doctors are telling you this. In there

483
00:31:31.640 --> 00:31:36.519
in your office visit that it used to be thought

484
00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:40.400
that fifty percent of what makes you who you are

485
00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:43.799
is genetic, right, and that still is true, But you

486
00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:47.839
can turn those genes off or on by lifestyle choices

487
00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:53.000
and environmental impacts. Ten percent of what makes you who

488
00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:55.880
you are. That's what happens to you, and what's in

489
00:31:55.880 --> 00:31:58.880
your environment, what happens in society, all of those things.

490
00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:01.680
You're not in control of your genes. You are in

491
00:32:01.720 --> 00:32:05.640
control of gene expression, meaning you can make lifestyle choices

492
00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:08.119
that will turn those genes on or off. And you're

493
00:32:08.119 --> 00:32:11.319
not fully in control of your environment. You can make

494
00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:14.279
sure your house doesn't have mold, for example, but you

495
00:32:14.359 --> 00:32:18.400
can't control the pollution in the air or the favor

496
00:32:18.519 --> 00:32:22.759
chemicals in your water, right, But you can control that

497
00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:27.839
other remaining forty percent, And those are lifestyle choices. But

498
00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:32.839
here's the new twist today. When I started in twenty fourteen,

499
00:32:33.599 --> 00:32:36.359
it was thought that you are forty percent in control

500
00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:40.559
of your health and wellness through lifestyle choices. Newer research

501
00:32:40.599 --> 00:32:44.680
says you are ninety to ninety eight percent in control

502
00:32:44.920 --> 00:32:49.039
of your good health and longevity based on lifestyle choices. Yeah,

503
00:32:49.799 --> 00:32:53.680
so what I knew instinctively was that I needed to

504
00:32:53.720 --> 00:32:58.480
go back to the way that human beings were before

505
00:32:58.519 --> 00:33:01.400
the industrial age. I needed to go back to the

506
00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:04.160
way that my parents lived before they moved to a city.

507
00:33:04.519 --> 00:33:07.680
So both my parents were raised on farms. They grew

508
00:33:07.720 --> 00:33:10.240
most of what they ate, They raised most of what

509
00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:17.440
they ate, They fished and hunted. They didn't eat a

510
00:33:17.480 --> 00:33:20.400
lot of processed foods, and they raised us to be

511
00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:23.119
that way too. As an adult, I didn't eat a

512
00:33:23.160 --> 00:33:27.440
lot of processed foods, but they are sneaky little toxic

513
00:33:27.720 --> 00:33:30.599
ingredients that even if you read labels but you don't

514
00:33:30.680 --> 00:33:34.279
understand the words that you're reading, can sneak in. And

515
00:33:34.279 --> 00:33:38.079
that's why I did a whole episode on the toxic ingredients,

516
00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:41.759
and you can print it out and download those ingredients

517
00:33:41.799 --> 00:33:43.440
so you can take them to the store and make

518
00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:47.880
sure you avoid them in your food, water, health and

519
00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:53.920
beauty aids, and in your cleaning products. The other thing

520
00:33:53.960 --> 00:34:01.039
that I just knew instinctively was that after my brain

521
00:34:01.079 --> 00:34:04.480
injury and spinal injury became so debilitating that I had

522
00:34:04.480 --> 00:34:09.280
to use a walker and a full time caregiver, I

523
00:34:09.320 --> 00:34:17.199
realize that I needed to go outside. My doctors told me.

524
00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:21.039
Sleep as much as possible, rest, don't over exert yourself,

525
00:34:21.639 --> 00:34:23.840
stay out of the sun. All of these things were

526
00:34:23.880 --> 00:34:28.119
completely wrong, mind you, but these were what MDIs told me.

527
00:34:28.440 --> 00:34:31.599
We now know that we need sunshine, we need to

528
00:34:31.639 --> 00:34:35.480
be around other human beings, we need socialization, we need

529
00:34:35.480 --> 00:34:41.440
to move our bodies, we need to eat unprocessed foods

530
00:34:41.599 --> 00:34:46.480
without toxic chemicals, and we need to drink half your

531
00:34:46.480 --> 00:34:51.719
body weight and ounces of water every day. And so

532
00:34:52.440 --> 00:34:56.199
that was the first thing that I decided that I

533
00:34:56.280 --> 00:34:58.840
was going to do. But I also had the benefit

534
00:34:58.920 --> 00:35:02.280
of having a medical journal. I had been writing down

535
00:35:02.440 --> 00:35:06.719
symptoms and how I felt when I ate certain things,

536
00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:09.960
or drink certain things, or took certain supplements, and I

537
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:12.039
could go back to that and see that when I

538
00:35:12.119 --> 00:35:16.079
did these things, I felt well. When I did these things,

539
00:35:16.519 --> 00:35:21.440
I got sicker and sicker. So writing down your symptoms

540
00:35:21.480 --> 00:35:23.760
also gives you a way to talk about that with

541
00:35:23.800 --> 00:35:27.519
your doctor. And so I do have a step by

542
00:35:27.559 --> 00:35:30.639
step plan that I can tell listeners how they can

543
00:35:30.679 --> 00:35:33.360
get started creating their new normal to live a big

544
00:35:33.400 --> 00:35:35.119
life as well.

545
00:35:35.280 --> 00:35:40.639
Well for someone who's home bound, you know, maybe low

546
00:35:40.760 --> 00:35:44.840
energy mobility, maybe they're limited mobility wise, you know, they're

547
00:35:44.840 --> 00:35:48.079
probably resonating with a lot of things that you've said,

548
00:35:48.440 --> 00:35:55.119
But what are realistic nature doses that they could, even

549
00:35:55.320 --> 00:35:58.039
in that state, that they could do to get started

550
00:35:58.159 --> 00:36:04.559
with more more nature, you know, hits for themselves. What

551
00:36:04.599 --> 00:36:06.519
could they do to begin.

552
00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:12.320
Well, Benita, this is a great question. So when I began,

553
00:36:13.239 --> 00:36:16.159
I had been in my home for eighteen months. I

554
00:36:16.199 --> 00:36:19.679
had developed agoraphobia and I couldn't leave my home. All

555
00:36:19.719 --> 00:36:23.519
of my healthcare was done in home, through telemedicine and

556
00:36:23.559 --> 00:36:28.519
through my care provider. And when I decided to create

557
00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:32.400
my new normal, I wrote out what my new normal

558
00:36:32.480 --> 00:36:34.719
was going to be right, and then I set out

559
00:36:34.760 --> 00:36:37.679
to do it. And the very first thing I did

560
00:36:37.840 --> 00:36:42.159
was roll my walker into a whitewater kayaking class and

561
00:36:42.199 --> 00:36:46.559
a heated pool and learn how to kayak. And I

562
00:36:46.679 --> 00:36:49.320
spent three months learning how to kayak in the pool.

563
00:36:50.039 --> 00:36:52.760
And then I rolled my walker to the river's edge

564
00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:55.840
and got on the river, and for the first time

565
00:36:56.000 --> 00:37:00.480
in years, I felt air quotes normal. I didn't have

566
00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:03.360
my service dog, I didn't have a care provider. I

567
00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:07.119
was on the river kayaking like everybody else, and that

568
00:37:07.239 --> 00:37:10.639
was very freeing, and it also made me feel less

569
00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:14.239
anxious about all the things that made me fearful when

570
00:37:14.239 --> 00:37:19.199
I couldn't leave my home. It restored my sense of

571
00:37:19.840 --> 00:37:24.760
I do have everything I need inside me to handle

572
00:37:24.840 --> 00:37:27.679
whatever situations may come up. When I leave my house.

573
00:37:27.960 --> 00:37:30.519
I just paddled the river for heaven, say I can

574
00:37:30.599 --> 00:37:34.000
do anything. Now, That's really how I felt. So for

575
00:37:34.079 --> 00:37:36.920
that person who's at home and you have an amputated

576
00:37:37.039 --> 00:37:42.480
arm or an amputated leg, know this. I recreate with

577
00:37:43.239 --> 00:37:47.639
adaptive sports athletes all the time. I've climbed mountains with

578
00:37:47.719 --> 00:37:51.239
a teenager who was born without arms. I have whitewater

579
00:37:51.400 --> 00:37:56.239
kayak with a veteran who lost an arm in combat.

580
00:37:56.599 --> 00:38:00.960
I've kayaked with a veteran who lost a leg. So

581
00:38:01.840 --> 00:38:05.639
having a mobile se stability, or even a cognitive challenge

582
00:38:06.199 --> 00:38:09.320
doesn't limit you with what you can do. You can

583
00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:12.199
do all of the things through adaptive sports.

584
00:38:13.480 --> 00:38:15.480
I was just one of the things I'm doing here

585
00:38:15.519 --> 00:38:18.519
in Hawaii is I help with a nonprofit called Travel

586
00:38:18.639 --> 00:38:24.199
Visions Aloha. Travel Visions Aloha is dealing with the blind community,

587
00:38:24.519 --> 00:38:28.480
and I just got to help them experience dolphins in

588
00:38:28.599 --> 00:38:32.559
a lagoon with dolphins and getting in this I was,

589
00:38:32.599 --> 00:38:36.599
I was in charge of this little girl who's you know,

590
00:38:36.760 --> 00:38:40.079
so she's I'm standing beside her to make sure that she,

591
00:38:41.480 --> 00:38:45.440
you know, is appropriate around the dolphin. But she's able

592
00:38:45.480 --> 00:38:49.199
to take her hands out and fill the belly of

593
00:38:49.280 --> 00:38:53.559
the dolphin, and the dolphin is making anyway. So yeah,

594
00:38:53.719 --> 00:38:56.559
it's amazing what can be done through sports.

595
00:38:56.679 --> 00:39:00.760
It really is, so really and it's life change.

596
00:39:01.119 --> 00:39:05.760
Oh yeah, yeah, and you know, so I'm with you.

597
00:39:06.599 --> 00:39:09.320
The next thing I'm going to be doing in a

598
00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:12.159
couple of days, I'm going to be taking those same

599
00:39:12.599 --> 00:39:15.280
blind people. They're going to be going out in outrigger canoes.

600
00:39:16.199 --> 00:39:19.800
Oh, that's going to be so fun. I actually know

601
00:39:19.960 --> 00:39:25.840
the first man. Well, it was two blind kayakers, Lonnie

602
00:39:25.880 --> 00:39:31.440
and also Eric Weinmere, and I'm friends with both. Well,

603
00:39:31.760 --> 00:39:34.599
I met Lonnie, I don't know him well, but I'm

604
00:39:34.599 --> 00:39:36.800
friends with Eric Weinmere. I used to serve on his

605
00:39:36.960 --> 00:39:41.599
board at No Barriers. But he's the first blind person

606
00:39:41.719 --> 00:39:45.639
to thumb at Mount Everest and one of two blind

607
00:39:45.639 --> 00:39:49.360
people to be the first to whitewater kayak the entire

608
00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:53.079
Grand Canyon, two hundred and seventy seven miles of some

609
00:39:53.159 --> 00:39:57.280
of the most ferocious whitewater in North America.

610
00:39:59.079 --> 00:40:02.840
So how did you shift identity? So, I mean you're

611
00:40:02.880 --> 00:40:09.960
basically shifting from a patient slash survivor to adventure sportswoman.

612
00:40:11.719 --> 00:40:13.760
Well, I had a little layover in tech.

613
00:40:15.159 --> 00:40:18.400
Yeah, oh yeah, the layer in tech. Okay, I don't

614
00:40:18.400 --> 00:40:20.280
think we have trying to get into that today. Maybe

615
00:40:20.280 --> 00:40:25.280
another day, but that that was a transition, and I

616
00:40:25.320 --> 00:40:28.480
think first and foremost it was an emotional transition.

617
00:40:28.159 --> 00:40:32.519
Right, Well, it really is because any kind of loss

618
00:40:32.519 --> 00:40:36.960
of identity, from becoming an empty nester to having a

619
00:40:37.800 --> 00:40:43.840
significant health challenge or an injury, or changing jobs like

620
00:40:43.920 --> 00:40:47.320
I did leaving the military, any kind of closed community

621
00:40:47.400 --> 00:40:51.159
like law enforcement or military. We have our own culture

622
00:40:51.280 --> 00:40:57.360
and our own language and very deep friendships, and so

623
00:40:57.679 --> 00:41:01.920
changing identities for any one is difficult. Human beings don't

624
00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:08.840
like change. It's not something that we enjoy. But you

625
00:41:08.920 --> 00:41:12.079
really lose who you used to be. And that's why

626
00:41:12.159 --> 00:41:18.320
I like to tell people mourn what you had. That's

627
00:41:18.360 --> 00:41:23.199
a very valid thing to do, okay, and allow yourself

628
00:41:23.280 --> 00:41:26.440
to think about what's possible in the future. What will

629
00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:29.519
your new normal be because you're never getting that old

630
00:41:29.559 --> 00:41:32.719
life back. You know, you can't bring your kids back home. Well,

631
00:41:32.719 --> 00:41:36.280
maybe you can if they want to. Right, if you're

632
00:41:36.280 --> 00:41:39.079
an empty nester and you're really struggling with that, you

633
00:41:40.639 --> 00:41:44.599
can be like me and recover most of your good health.

634
00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:47.320
But I still do have flare ups sometimes. I do

635
00:41:47.519 --> 00:41:49.880
still have to use a cane from time to time,

636
00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:53.119
and I can't always do the things that I want

637
00:41:53.159 --> 00:41:58.880
to do, but I manage my healthcare needs completely differently.

638
00:42:00.079 --> 00:42:04.360
And creating a new identity as part of taking that

639
00:42:04.480 --> 00:42:09.039
new normal, big life journey for figuring out what will

640
00:42:09.079 --> 00:42:12.800
you be in your new normal? How will that look?

641
00:42:12.920 --> 00:42:15.039
How will you show up in the world, What kinds

642
00:42:15.039 --> 00:42:18.159
of people will you surround yourself with? What kinds of

643
00:42:18.159 --> 00:42:22.760
things will you do for school, work or play? And

644
00:42:22.800 --> 00:42:25.400
that's where it starts, and from there you take one

645
00:42:25.440 --> 00:42:27.639
step every day towards that new normal.

646
00:42:29.000 --> 00:42:35.000
I was just listening to someone talk about asking questions

647
00:42:35.079 --> 00:42:38.599
instead of doing affirmations because and I thought what they

648
00:42:38.639 --> 00:42:41.639
said was so true, because they were saying, if you

649
00:42:41.679 --> 00:42:46.760
do affirmations, you're saying like I'm I'm going to lose

650
00:42:46.840 --> 00:42:51.039
forty pounds, and I'm so glad that I've lost forty pounds,

651
00:42:51.039 --> 00:42:54.159
And they're saying in your head, your head is saying no,

652
00:42:54.679 --> 00:42:58.079
you're still you know, you haven't lost forty pounds, you know.

653
00:42:58.199 --> 00:43:00.679
Instead it's like what do I have to do? You know,

654
00:43:00.840 --> 00:43:02.920
just asking questions about what do I have to do

655
00:43:03.000 --> 00:43:07.400
to get there? So I need to start wrapping up.

656
00:43:07.480 --> 00:43:09.679
We could talk for a long time here. I feel

657
00:43:09.679 --> 00:43:12.440
like if a listener we need to do, I want

658
00:43:12.440 --> 00:43:15.760
to do some practical takeaways before we end for today.

659
00:43:17.320 --> 00:43:21.760
If a listener feels stuck or overwhelmed, what would be

660
00:43:21.880 --> 00:43:26.440
your first like three steps for the next seven days

661
00:43:26.559 --> 00:43:31.280
to start getting some momentum towards feeling healthier.

662
00:43:32.039 --> 00:43:35.239
Oh, this is a great question. So the first thing

663
00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:38.519
that you want to do is get out a pen

664
00:43:38.719 --> 00:43:42.119
or pencil and paper. Don't use a computer because what

665
00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:45.800
you write down goals that you write down scientifically proven,

666
00:43:46.440 --> 00:43:49.639
those are the goals that you will achieve. So hand right,

667
00:43:50.519 --> 00:43:54.719
But keep this private. Don't share this with anyone just yet.

668
00:43:54.920 --> 00:43:57.960
It's going to be down the road when it's safe

669
00:43:58.000 --> 00:44:00.840
to share it. And here's why you're free. And family

670
00:44:00.920 --> 00:44:03.880
who know that you're struggling with whatever the issue is,

671
00:44:04.039 --> 00:44:09.000
whether it's relationships or work or health, they're going to

672
00:44:09.280 --> 00:44:12.480
probably try to talk you out of it because they

673
00:44:12.480 --> 00:44:14.559
want to keep you safe. They want to try and

674
00:44:14.599 --> 00:44:18.440
protect you, right, So don't share it at first. They'll

675
00:44:18.440 --> 00:44:23.480
try to poopoo your ideas. So write down what your

676
00:44:23.559 --> 00:44:25.639
new normal will look like, and write it in the

677
00:44:25.760 --> 00:44:31.280
present tense. I am a fiction writer. If that's a

678
00:44:31.360 --> 00:44:34.639
goal for you, write it down in the present tense.

679
00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:39.679
And the next thing that you want to do is

680
00:44:41.320 --> 00:44:45.000
write a list of things that will get you to

681
00:44:45.079 --> 00:44:47.159
where you want to be. And so for.

682
00:44:47.159 --> 00:44:49.719
Example, that's like, how do I get there?

683
00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:54.159
The action steps, the action steps. So one of my

684
00:44:54.239 --> 00:44:56.920
goals was to switch from being a tech CEO because

685
00:44:56.960 --> 00:45:01.159
that job was too physically demanding and it was texting

686
00:45:01.280 --> 00:45:06.119
on my health, my physical and mental health. So I

687
00:45:06.159 --> 00:45:09.239
needed to switch careers. And I wanted to become a writer.

688
00:45:09.760 --> 00:45:12.280
So I took a course on how to become a ghostwriter.

689
00:45:13.599 --> 00:45:18.360
And that was in my new normal. I am a ghostwriter.

690
00:45:18.719 --> 00:45:23.519
I write about this, I write in this genre. And

691
00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:27.320
I went to the class. I created an online profile

692
00:45:27.360 --> 00:45:31.559
as a freelance ghostwriter and published it at eleven pm.

693
00:45:31.599 --> 00:45:33.920
By one pm the next morning, I had my first

694
00:45:33.920 --> 00:45:40.599
ghostwriting book deal one pm the next afternoon. So if

695
00:45:40.719 --> 00:45:45.119
there's nothing magical about it, but I did say to myself,

696
00:45:45.159 --> 00:45:50.159
because if you tell your body it's hot, I'm so hot,

697
00:45:50.239 --> 00:45:55.719
I'm sweating. I'm profusely sweating. Why is it so hot

698
00:45:55.719 --> 00:45:59.679
in here even though it's freezing outdoors? Your body starts

699
00:45:59.679 --> 00:46:03.480
to phys react. So that's why in mantras and in

700
00:46:03.719 --> 00:46:08.760
affirmations you say it in the present that you currently

701
00:46:08.800 --> 00:46:12.760
already have the thing is because your body believes the

702
00:46:12.800 --> 00:46:16.559
messages you give it and it will physically react that way.

703
00:46:17.320 --> 00:46:19.559
And so a lot of people get stuck and they

704
00:46:19.599 --> 00:46:21.840
want to make a change, but then they worry about

705
00:46:21.880 --> 00:46:24.719
how will I ford it? Who will help me? How

706
00:46:24.719 --> 00:46:28.679
will I get the training I need or those certifications

707
00:46:28.760 --> 00:46:31.440
or whatever it is, How will I find them the

708
00:46:31.679 --> 00:46:36.119
natural medicines. Once you get on that path towards this

709
00:46:36.199 --> 00:46:41.199
new normal, everything just becomes synchronistic and it lines up

710
00:46:41.239 --> 00:46:45.599
for you. Every opportunity I need just landed in my lap,

711
00:46:46.679 --> 00:46:50.199
almost as if I wrote it out and like a

712
00:46:50.320 --> 00:46:52.119
genie that made it happen.

713
00:46:53.480 --> 00:46:57.199
Well, it's almost like maybe how we end is basically

714
00:46:57.239 --> 00:47:00.440
saying take counter percent responsibility for yourself.

715
00:47:01.760 --> 00:47:06.119
Absolutely, because here's the thing. No one will save you,

716
00:47:06.360 --> 00:47:10.480
and no one can save you. You have to save yourself

717
00:47:11.719 --> 00:47:15.960
and The reason is because let's say you have a

718
00:47:16.559 --> 00:47:19.880
chef that cooks for you and a personal trainer that

719
00:47:20.239 --> 00:47:23.639
will lead you through all of the exercises, and your

720
00:47:23.719 --> 00:47:28.719
goal is to become fit and healthy. You're the one

721
00:47:28.760 --> 00:47:32.039
who has to take eat the food, do the workout,

722
00:47:32.800 --> 00:47:35.679
take the supplements, all of the things. No one can

723
00:47:35.760 --> 00:47:40.719
do that for you. Everything is going to come down

724
00:47:40.880 --> 00:47:43.519
to what you invest in yourself.

725
00:47:45.400 --> 00:47:49.320
So with that, let me just tell everyone that there

726
00:47:49.360 --> 00:47:53.480
will be an informational flyer about Antonette Lee on the

727
00:47:53.519 --> 00:47:56.519
website that you can go access, and I'll make sure

728
00:47:56.559 --> 00:47:59.039
that she has you mentioned a couple of things, so

729
00:47:59.119 --> 00:48:01.280
I'll make sure that we have information on how to

730
00:48:01.360 --> 00:48:06.199
people access those resources that you talked about. So our

731
00:48:06.280 --> 00:48:09.840
time is up. We have got to say goodbye for today.

732
00:48:10.519 --> 00:48:13.239
I think that we could talk about other aspects of

733
00:48:13.280 --> 00:48:15.079
this very easily at another time.

734
00:48:16.719 --> 00:48:18.559
Thank you so much for having me Benita.

735
00:48:19.079 --> 00:48:23.079
I loved having you here. It was just fascinating listening

736
00:48:23.079 --> 00:48:27.360
to your journey. Go outside now and take another walk

737
00:48:27.440 --> 00:48:32.639
and or maybe shovel shovel some snow, depending on the

738
00:48:32.880 --> 00:48:36.239
you know what it's doing out there right now. So

739
00:48:36.400 --> 00:48:39.599
with that, thank you so much everyone for joining the

740
00:48:39.840 --> 00:48:42.880
Ask Good Questions Podcast and we'll see you next time.

741
00:48:45.760 --> 00:48:49.320
Today's episode is over, but we need Ask Good Questions again,

742
00:48:49.480 --> 00:48:53.679
didn't We don't miss out as we broadcast live every Wednesday,

743
00:48:53.760 --> 00:48:57.440
six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at

744
00:48:57.679 --> 00:49:01.480
w four cy dot com. Join Anita Belle m'erson next

745
00:49:01.519 --> 00:49:06.679
week for more conversations with experts on finances, retirement, behavioral

746
00:49:06.760 --> 00:49:11.679
finance issues, health and wellness, and more. Until then, remember

747
00:49:11.840 --> 00:49:13.880
to ask good questions.