My Story

If you are in too much pain to focus on reading... I totally get it. You can also listen to this episode of the Quest for Healing podcast where I talk about my vagina for an hour. Quest for Healing Podcast | Carefully Healing

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My Story

It started one night out of nowhere when I was 22. I was sleeping and I woke up like someone had just jabbed a hot poker up my vagina. I woke up screaming and crying. It was torture. It was 2002 when I immediately started going to doctor after doctor. No one had any idea what was going on. There was no obvious specialist a normal gyno could send me. I kept getting thinner and thinner. I was scared to eat. I had a hard time figuring out my triggers. At this stage on followed the candida diet and it helped but sometimes the pain would hit and I was helpless. Most of the flare ups brought me to tears and screaming since it felt like an internal and external chemical burn. 

A few years of eating healthy, avoiding my triggers I was able to control the flare ups. At this point I avoided wheat, processed food and sugar. But I couldn’t put on weight. I looked awful. Then I got a rash out of nowhere all over my face. It glued my eyes shut and my mouth. At this point I had seen 15 conventional doctors who knew nothing. Nothing. That’s when I went alternative. I literally found an ad in the yellow pages (no joke… I’m just aging myself now) that was written in Chinese and I was like yep, that looks good. 

My acupuncturist was amazing. She helped me heal from the rash, she helped me gain weight. My flare ups weren’t very common at this point but my vagina just was just too hot and would remain that way. I found a few of the topical pain relievers that helped me manage through those years. By the end of this journey, I have probably seen at least 10-15 TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) practitioners. 

I got pregnant when I was 35. I was older and my vagina wasn't torturing me daily but she was just always too hot. Then 4 months into my pregnancy, the pain that I had experienced in my twenties came back with vengeance overnight. Levels 8/9. I was in the emergency room, 4 months pregnant and screaming like a banshee they could probably hear me the floor above. At this point, I was finally diagnosed with vulvodynia. And yes, it was almost 13 years after this began. Then to my horror, once I start looking into the diagnosis and the forums I found no answers. I realize that the doctors didn’t have a clue, including specialists. Vulvodynia wasn’t a diagnosis, it was just a name that just means vaginal pain. In total, I had seen 25 conventional doctors and 25 alternative doctors over the years.

I stood in front of the grocery store, holding my belly, my baby. In tears I prayed to God to save the life of my child and myself. There was no way my child was going to survive pain like this. I walked in and just watched my hands grab celery, cilantro, cucumber and lemon. I was in so much pain I had to hold back the tears while paying for my groceries. I went home, made a smoothie and the pain just vanished in 25 minutes. This drink would always alleviate my pain in 25 minutes. (I have a stronger one now, so read my other post before you make this) 

This drink would alleviate the pain but I kept getting flares. I found a practitioner who practiced a type of muscle testing that could test my body for strengths and weaknesses. Between her and the green drink I was able to reduce the pain so I could carry my child and deliver him safely. 

After delivering my son, my vagina was a wreck. It was a difficult birth. I tore really badly and it took me 6 months to heal. I really wasn’t expecting postpartum pain to last so long. I didn’t have any flares but looking back she was still too hot.

When my son was a year, he was obsessed with blueberries. A friend mentioned a woo woo healer named Anthony William who was also crazy about wild blueberries. For those who are not familiar with the American phrase “woo woo” it’s slang for “crazy person that you secretly like.” ;) My younger self would have taken no notice at the blueberry comment. But for someone who has to learned to listen and follow breadcrumbs, I followed them. 

Anthony William wrote posts about celery, cucumbers, lemons and cilantro. He explained of their medicinal qualities. I started reading his books and listening to his radio shows. I implemented a few things like celery juice, now fully understanding what it does.

At this point in time, my son and I kept getting horrible flus. Each flu would last 7 days and we would get it once a month. This went on for a year. A newborn with a high fever is terrifying. Once I started incorporating MM recommendations, the flus just stopped… abruptly. This was actually the first tangible result using MM information. 

About a year after finding MM information, I got pregnant again and was gestational diabetic. I miscarried at 12 weeks. It was a nightmare. Just to be clear, during my first year learning MM information, I was not able to incorporate everything. I was probably doing his protocols at 50%. This also taught me that healing takes time and I just needed more time and more dedication. During the miscarriage the vulvodynia came back. FML. For those who aren’t familiar with the acronym that means “Fuck My Life.” So you’re clear here about my feelings here ;) This was a hard lesson to learn. 

I decided to take it more seriously and started incorporating more MM information. According to him vaginal burning is neurological. The nerves are inflamed. It can be caused by vaginal shingles or EBV and even strep. You have to eliminate foods that feed these viruses and eat the foods/herbs the kill these viruses. These viruses aren't strong but women just don't know what they are fighting. 

I already stopped eating eggs but then I stopped eats dairy, wheat and corn. I had already been drinking celery juice but then I started incorporating more MM advice. I started drinking green juice concoctions a few times a day, not just when I had a flare. This time I fully understood why my miracle green juice worked. I ate foods that kill these viruses. Then I added his supplements/herbs to reduce the burning. It worked. I was able to test each flare. Each of the following herbs/supplements would also take the pain away in 30 minutes: cat’s claw, licorice root, nettle leaf, zinc. 

I was able to figure out why I had flares in the first place. Fucking canola oil! Aluminium foil! Things that I never would have guessed when I was younger. I knew sugar and the obvious ones but I never would have guessed canola oil which is in everything. I even had issues with “natural flavors” which is actually MSG. After fully removing these things, the burning was gone. No joke gone. It was still a bit of a process but now I was able to figure out what was feeding these viruses. It took a few months to get rid of the burning flares altogether. These flares never got above a 3 and only last 30 minutes because I knew exactly what to do this time around. Then eventually the flares just stopped happening.

During those first years of healing, I still experienced other vaginal ailments (at low levels). Things like itchiness, rashes, microcuts, rawness, vaginal pain, pain during sex, etc. I had also experienced these issues preMM but I was too focused on the burning pain to give these annoying ailments much consideration. After healing torturous vaginal burning the fear that would normally accompany these ailments wasn't there. So when I flared with one of these issues, I just dove deep into MM information, designed protocols and healed each one.

AFTER HEALING MY VAGINA 

So I'm still working on healing a few issues but my vagina is great. Sex is great and my vagina is happier now than in my 20s. I ended up giving birth to my daughter without pain medication (not on purpose... she just came out too fast. We barely made it to the hospital). Crazy part is that I was fine. I showered by myself the next day. Years before Medical Medium, I couldn't stand without screaming after my son's birth and I was in pain for the following 6 months.

Right now it's 2022 and it's been 7 years since I first found MM information. Let me be clear, I am not a perfect MMer. I do not eat perfectly, I try to eat as good as I can without making myself and my family crazy. I eat much much better than when I started but it's been a process to redesign everything I eat and everything my children eat. The more healthy recipes I find (that we actually enjoy eating) the easier this process becomes. My motto is "progress over perfection" and one day, my aim is to WANT to eat clean and healthy everyday, all the time. I'm getting there but I could do better. 

My vagina has become the barometer of my health and my environment. I live most of my life pain free but my vagina will still throw up a red flag if she needs to.

For example, a few years ago I got food poisoning and my vulva started itching badly a week later. I did a 369 simplified cleanse which cleared it right up. 

Another example is how I calmed down a flare when I was pregnant with my daughter four years ago. The pain started after there was a horrible forest fire in my area and everyone was living in toxic smoke. I wrote a summary of my process and how I relieved the pain in 3 weeks while pregnant and yes I had a beautiful baby daughter who is now three years old. I beat this *!@#ing virus again! How I did it in 3 weeks while pregnant ;)

THE REST OF MY BODY

So the story above is how I healed my burning vagina and such. Of course it didn't stop there. I had a long road of healing. I still don't consider myself done.... are we every actually done healing everything?! Maybe one day. This is a list of ailments I have healed using MM information:

• Vaginal/vulva burning (provoked and unprovoked)
• Vulva rawness
• Vulva microcuts
• Vagina pliability
• Painful intercourse
• Yeast infections
• Random vulva rashes
• Vagina/vulva itching (with and without rashes)
• Vulva swelling
• Mastitis
• Chronic UTIs
• Burning urethra
• Hypoglycemia (myself and my son)
• Acne
• Occipital Neuralgia (felt like lightning bolts to the brain… I would just crumble to the ground)
• Shingles (classic on the face/head/swollen lymph glands)
• Coldness (this doesn’t sound like much of an ailment but it was very painful. I would get so cold that at times that the pain would make me cry. The only thing that fixed it was a hot shower till I found MM info. I used to work at my desk with a heat pad on my stomach and I would use a heat blanket while I slept)
• Encephalitis (brain inflammation) This was a wild one. It was probably a mild case that made me very lethargic and gave me brain fog. I was never diagnosed but I had a crazy dream and MM recommendations healed it right up.
• Miscarriage (I miscarried a year after finding MM information. Just to be clear, I was not able to incorporate everything by this point so I was probably doing his protocols at 50%. This also taught me that healing takes time and I just needed more time)
• Gestational diabetes (I was gd for my second pregnancy that I later miscarried but by the time I was pregnant with my daughter a few years later, my levels were always normal)
• Fertility
• Child birth - the birth of my daughter was crazy fast (45 minutes) and I was walking around by the next day. This is wild cause my son's birth was 30+ hours and I was in chronic pain for 6 months after.
• Ammonia Gas/Constipation - while pregnant
• Vaginal burning - while pregnant
• Anemia - while pregnant and after pregnancy
• Uterine contractions (post birth) - love you lemon balm!
• Incontinence (post birth)
• Chest tightness and difficulty breathing
• C virus - I also had no post C lingering conditions
• Chronic fatigue - adrenal fatigue, EBV, neurological inflammation
• Lack of motivation - I’m realizing that this is mostly related to my ADHD tendencies which basically means metals in my brain like to keep me in a procrastination wormhole. Clean out the metals… and things get done!
• Crazy-ass Food Cravings - (adrenal fatigue/mineral deficiencies/sluggish liver/metals in the brain) If you have too many metals in your brain they make it run hot which some people crave more sugar/glucose more than a normal person. This ailment is legit and should be considered one of the most important ailments to tackle early. It will make the entire process easier
• Brain fog
• Depression
• Anxiety and anxiety attacks
• Heart palpitations
• Insomnia - not being able to fall asleep, waking up and not being able to go back to sleep
• Breastfeeding - increasing my milk supply, healing my baby’s ailments via my milk supply
• Did I miss one? Sigh.

At times it was a challenge to heal all my ailments but honestly these experiences just prepared me for my main challenge… healing my son. We had to bring my son to an endocrinologist when he was only 2 years old because his hypoglycemia attacks were extreme. At this point, I wasn’t sure how to introduce CJ and HMD into his diet… so I had to tackle it slowly. His preschool teacher told us that he was too emotionally unstable to start kindergarten and she was right. His daily emotional outbursts would have paved a very difficult life for him and all of us. It took me some time to figure out how to incorporate all the MM elements but I consider healing my son's hypoglycemia and extreme crazy temper tantrums probably the greatest achievement of my life. Now, he’s doing well in school and he has lots of friends. He is sweet and talkative and emotionally stable for his age. Honestly, my daughter wouldn’t even exist without my journey as well. Oh yes… you’re probably wondering. I live pain free now. I’m still working on healing a little bloating and teeth enamel issues but the rest of me is pretty good. I destroyed my teeth by drinking a ½ bottle of ACV every day for two years in my twenties. It’s a miracle I still have teeth after that debacle. MM published a podcast about it. When I found MM information it was before he had published his books. It was before these facebook MM communities. It was basically just me and the angels sifting through MM’s work (radio shows and blog posts). No one should have to heal alone. Everyone deserves support and a community and genuine connections with those who have healed before them. This is the reason why we do what we do. We’ve been there. We’ve sat in the dark when hope has faded and all you can feel is the pain. Please just hold on. Say a prayer and keep going… little by little. Just keep going. (If this is you… you should make yourself a green drink right now… no seriously).

*After I healed my vagina, I returned to my gynecologist. She had never seen someone heal from vulvodynia. She insisted that I get online and start telling other women So that's what I did.