Where to start?  I am Keri's oldest sister Pam and as she mentioned I have MS.  I was diagnosed in 2003 just as my husband and I were planning to move back to Arizona.   My symptoms started after being involved in a 4 car pileup on the 101 freeway in California.  I was going 75 mph.  About 3 months after the accident I was finally feeling well enough to give my house a good cleaning, but after a couple of hours I was done and decided to take a shower.  I like hot showers and as I stepped into the shower with my left side first and the water hit me I was overcome with the most incredible burning sensation.  I quickly turned to my right side and nothing, it felt normal.  Needless to say I got right out of the shower and made a phone call to the chiropractor I was seeing.  He was baffled also and sent me to a neurologist.  Because I did not have insurance at the time, it took a year before I could have an MRI and was diagnosed with MS.  My husband and I were in shock and we were not terribly excited about the treatment options that we were offered.  We decided to wait until we had moved to pursue a course of treatment.

From the beginning I knew I wanted to go with a more natural or holistic approach to treatment.  Once we were settled in Arizona I began praying for God to lead me to the right doctor.  One day while looking in the phonebook I saw the advertisement for Partners in Health Care Naturally and felt led to email the doctor listed.  I asked her if she had ever treated anyone with MS and she answered back immediately that she had.  I have been working with her ever since.  Her name is Dr. Susan Godman and she is a NMD or naturopath.  In the beginning I was extremely fatigued and in a lot of pain.  But through perseverance on my part and her amazing intuitive sense of what  needs to be addressed I have had no major episodes and we have been able to manage the pain.  She also insists that I see a neurologist so I do that also, but he usually wants me to try the latest drug, which I politely refuse and we move on:-)

However this spring I started having extreme bouts of fatigue, which I could not overcome.  Susan felt that my Adrenal glands needed some help so she treated me with something called Licort and strongly suggested I take medical leave from work.  I started the Licort and reluctantly agreed to take a week off and then I decided to take a second week off when I realized I was feeling better.  I did not feel like the Licort had helped so she felt we needed to do a second batch to see what would happen.  In the meantime I went back to work and also took a vacation to see Keri and her family.  I was basically at what I call my normal level of fatigue, but after coming back I started to feel the fatigue coming back on in spades.  At my follow-up appointment in June, Susan felt that I really needed to take more time off from work, a month, and we would also begin treating the onset of menopause.  I also mentioned that as a side note, that I was really frustrated with the toenail fungus on my right foot and what the red rash at the top of my foot.  She said it was a yeast infection and that is I wanted to make it go away permanently I needed to follow a sugar free and yeast free diet.  Ugh!!!

My mom happened to have a copy of the Yeast Connection.  The first thing I wanted to know was there any connection to MS.  Sure enough  the author says that he has helped many patients with MS minimize or eliminate many of the symptoms associated with MS.  I was sold.  Hence the reason I am really wanting to follow this diet.  I have already eliminated gluten from my diet, which has helped tremendously.  So following this diet is not that much of a stretch for me.  I shared this with Keri because so much of what she deals with in regard to her health is similar to my symptoms.  I am excited she wants to try this as well.

Today is my first official day of leave.  Yesterday I spent most of the day in bed sleeping.  It is very hard for me to just lay low, but I know this is exactly what I need to do.  So the plan for today includes working on my banking, taking a nap, doing some laundry, taking a nap, reading a book, and fixing the food per the diet.