If you’ve been following my long and winding exercise comeback from being a competitive runner and skier to being unable to walk a block, here’s the latest update. I ran about four miles today! Woo hoo!! That’s the furthest I’ve run in over thirty years. And of the four miles, I ran for a little over one mile without stopping. I still need to walk most of the uphills due to tachycardia. But aside from the distance record, the best measure of my success was that I got into the euphoric state known as the “runner’s high” for the first time in three decades. And that, friends, is what makes running so worth it!
I raced in cross-country running, Nordic skiing, and track and field in high school, where I placed in most of my high school races, and then went to a competitive college where I continued to race. My “peak” performance was at the beginning of my junior of college when I won the first cross-country race of the season. Later the next spring, under the urging of my coaches, I was part of making history for women’s collegiate athletics when I illegally jumped into the men’s steeplechase event to help prove that women could do the grueling sport just like men. I got through a couple of those steeplechase events at college meets in New England running on adrenaline alone. But from there on I experienced a steep decline in my ability to exercise.
In the early 1990s, I contracted Lyme Disease and several co-infections. Overnight I developed crushing fatigue, joint pain, and anxiety. I went from being confident, and excited to train every day, to dreading moving my body. I continued to try to train, but within a few years, I had to stop due to the excruciatingly painful sensation of ground class in my knees whenever I tried to run.
In the 30 or so years since then, I’ve been able to run and ski sporadically. But with consistent training, the debilitating pain would quickly return. I felt sad that I likely would never run again, and settled for walking. But at a low point a couple of years ago, I was unable to walk anymore either. Then I learned that I had Mast Cell Activation Syndrome precipitated by infectious triggers, toxic mold exposure, and trauma, including repeated concussions.
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) is a chronic condition that affects all organ systems. MCAS is serious and disabling and people with MCAS often experience significant and debilitating symptoms daily, including anaphylaxis, which can be fatal. MCAS is often found in combination with other chronic conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).
Frequently healthcare providers do not know about MCAS, and the tests for MCAS are problematic because they are not uniformly reliable. MCAS can be difficult to manage. Treatments include blocking mast cell mediators with anti-histamines and mast cell stabilizers, as well as avoiding triggers.
Check out this post on how to manage MCAS.
It helped me mentally to understand that MCAS was contributing to my inability to exercise. But while I learned to manage my MCAS symptoms I couldn’t exercise at all. Luckily a bodyworker recommended the Chi Machine to help move lymph and assist with detoxification. My Chi Machine literally moved my body for me when couldn’t tolerate actual physical movement.
As my MCAS symptoms stabilized I realized I actually had exercise intolerance, and I couldn’t manage anything but very gentle chi-gong movements. So, for several years I practiced gentle yoga stretches and chi gong as my only form of movement while learning to regulate my nervous system.
I started taking mast cell stabilizers and my symptoms began incrementally improving. Gradually I was able to walk regularly again and over the last three years, I slowly added Nordic skiing back in the winters. I found skiing was gentle enough that I could tolerate it for an hour at a time, though I got severe tachycardia if I pushed too hard uphill.
I still wanted to run but it felt like an unattainable goal. Nevertheless, in March of this year, I decided to work toward running again, and I set the intention to run pain-free. At the time I had no idea how I would even start to run because I still experienced almost constant chronic pain.
As detailed in my books, the Sacred Self-Healing Method relies on the power of intention. Intentions are more than goals, but your co-creative participation in your life path and healing. By setting an intention you add your desire to be a partner in your destiny, in combination with the seen and unseen forces at work in the Universe. Whether you are setting an intention for a successful root canal, for finding a great new job, or for a business meeting to go well, the act of putting forethought about the outcome into the process can be a powerful tool.
Intention is the driving force behind any energy healing modality, from Reiki to sound healing to prayer.
The universal equation for healing is:
Intention + Frequency = Healing
The “frequency” part of the equation is whatever healing modality is being used.
Intention can be used in health healing, job search, fitness, relationships, and pretty much everything.
This post has more information on the power of intention.
In keeping with the Sacred Self-Healing Method, I combined intention setting with beneficial frequency to reduce inflammation, assist with detoxification, heal my underlying infections, address nervous system trauma from repeated concussions, and aid my sleep. The use of beneficial frequency helped my MCAS to improve dramatically. I also ran custom Healy programs that specifically addressed my intention to run pain-free.
In May of this year, I started biking 1-2 times per week in addition to walking. I knew that I needed to vary my exercise so that I wasn’t over-stressing any one muscle group in my body. So I alternated biking with walking, gardening and mowing the lawn, kayaking, and gentle Chi-Gong, Yoga, and Pilates. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was able to increase my biking mileage, and now I’m up to biking 2-3 times per week.
In June I decided to try running for the first time. I set out on trails, a more forgiving surface, starting by alternating running and walking for about 30 minutes. Over the past three months, I’ve had some occasional setbacks, but gradually I’ve been able to increase my running time and distance to today’s record of 4 miles!
In addition to beneficial frequency, I’ve also been using homeopathic remedies to assist with my MCAS symptoms, excessive inflammation, and pain after exercising.
The bucket theory offers a helpful analogy for understanding symptom reactions with MCAS.
Think of your body as an empty bucket that you want to keep from overflowing. Different foods and activities fill your histamine bucket at different speeds but they combine to form the total level of histamine in your body (how full your bucket is). A fuller bucket means you have more histamine symptoms. When you manage triggers, reduce exposure to known triggers, and take medications and supplements to reduce histamine, you can manage the level of your bucket.
Knowing your symptom progression in a symptom flare is the key to developing your own rescue plan. In this post, I discuss how to determine your own symptom progression. Once you know what typically happens in your symptom progression you can design a rescue plan to address those symptoms.
Want a tool to easily keep track of your symptoms? Sign up for my newsletter and you will receive my free 50-page ebook of lower-histamine, grain-free, sugar-free recipes, my free symptom log, and a free two-week meal plan!
Healy is an individualized specific microcurrent device (ISM) that runs beneficial electrical currents directed by an app on your phone. Healy can be used to magnify your intention and to get the most out of your life. Check out this post for more about Healy. And this post provides some tips and tricks for Healy.
I provide one-on-one in-person and remote chronic illness and caregiver coaching and Sacred Self-Healing Sessions based on the Sacred Self-Healing Method, a proven novel co-creative healing modality detailed in my Books.
Click here for more information.
If you want help getting started with frequency healing sign up for a session with me and we will go over the basics of frequency healing!
I never can tell what will cause an MCAS symptom flare, but I’m hopeful that my exercise comeback will continue and I’ll be able to continue exercising, adding time and distance to my workouts. I’ve registered for the American Birkebeiner in February 2024, and I’m training to ski the 30 kilometer race! I’ll keep you posted on my progress!
I’d love to have your reply below!
The preceding material does not constitute medical advice. This information is for information purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, cure or treatment. Always seek advice from your medical doctor.
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