Hi, I’m Steve Wilson
Until 2017 I pretty much ate the standard American diet, aka the (SAD) diet. I grew up playing sports, running cross country, and playing baseball. I thought I was pretty healthy. Growing up I ate meat and potatoes and canned vegetables for dinner and lots of junk food. I loved desserts and could never satisfy my sweet tooth.
After high school I went to work as an electrician. When I was 24, I had my first sign that something was not right. Every time I bent my neck down, I felt an electric shock shoot down my spine from the back of my neck to my lower back. I went to the hospital to get it checked out and the doctor’s had no idea what was causing it. After a few weeks it subsided. Many years passed until my next symptom, when my left eye became very blurry, and again I went to the hospital. This time I was diagnosed with optic neuritis. After a few weeks it went away.
Then, another year passed and I started having problems with my hands at work using the tools of my trade. I was experiencing numbness and began dropping things. The neurologist said it was carpal tunnel syndrome, but surgery on both of my hands revealed that the blockages were minimal. Six more years passed and I was living what I thought was a normal life. Then, when I was out having a few beers after work, I had another attack, this time on my bladder. I couldn’t urinate and the pain was so severe that I was doubled over in agony. I was then told to see a neurologist. This is when they checked me out, ran some blood work and ordered an MRI for me. At my next appointment, after going over test results, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at 37 years old.
After being diagnosed with MS at 37, I took the path of disease modifying drugs of modern medicine, hoping they would help me live a normal life while afflicted with MS. But boy was I wrong, it took me down a path of slow decline.
By this time my ability to walk was starting to decline. At the time, in 1995, there were only 2 disease modifying drugs out there for MS. I was put on one of them. It was a drug that I had to inject myself with every other day. After a few years, more symptoms started showing up such as fatigue, mood swings and brain fog. Then, after 14 years of being together, my significant other left me because she couldn’t deal with my condition. This left me living by myself, trying to cope with MS, while starting up a new electrical business. Knowing what I know now, this was putting a lot of stress on me. The stress of those factors, combined with drinking and eating out often, worsened my MS symptoms.
I was put on a beta-blocker drug in 1995 and stayed on it for twelve years. My legs and abdomen were so sore from injections, it was painful to even touch them. I used to love doing things with my hands but each year my ability to do so declined, along with my ability to walk and withstand heat and humidity. I began using a cane when I had to walk any distance, and other new symptoms became apparent as time went on including irritability, depression and anxiety. I suffered from heat sensitivity and couldn’t tolerate temperatures over 70 degrees. I had to wear a cooling vest with ice packs to go outside for any length of time. My core body temperature would rise, but I wouldn’t be able to sweat, so my body would start to malfunction and all mobility would begin shutting down. There were times when I would be working in the yard and start to get too hot. I would try to stand up and fail and end up crawling on my hands and knees back into the house. I would have to get in a cold shower to bring down my core body temp.
As the years passed I suffered more and more. I insisted my neurologist find another therapy, so next he put me on steroid infusions every month to ease the inflammation. The downfall of this treatment was the development of osteoporosis. The next drug he tried was Novantron, a chemo drug they started using on MS, but it could only be taken for two years. I was losing more of my mobility to walk and do the things I used to enjoy. I switched to a different neurologist who started me on the newest drug out there but by now, between my declining ability to walk and increasing fatigue, life was getting to be a real struggle. I had to plan my days to get as much accomplished as I could in the morning because my energy levels were exhausted by noon.
My new neurologist started me on the latest drug which was an infusion every month, but even with the new drug, my mobility was still deteriorating and using a cane became essential. My fatigue was getting worse and I suffered from depression and mood swings. Two-hour naps came to be a necessity to get through the day. I did the infusions for two and a half years until the next available drug came out which was a once-a-day pill. By now I was using a walker and my balance was so bad that my ability to even stand up by myself was gone.
A couple more years went by, and a neighbor who hated seeing me struggle suggested I watch a summit called “BETRAYAL”, which had a guest speaker who was a Doctor and had been wheelchair-bound with MS. She reversed her symptoms and was able to get up and walk again by switching to a paleo diet and changing her lifestyle. I purchased her book and after reading it, I decided it was time to take back control of my life.
My Journey of Starting to Heal Myself with an Organic Diet and Supplements:
After I made the decision to reclaim my life holistically, I rid my kitchen of all processed and boxed foods and replaced my pantry and refrigerator with organic fruits, vegetables, and meat. It was a learning experience, shopping for organic food, but it was well worth the time. Then I educated myself on how to prepare and cook all my meals using the paleo diet. (This may not be the ideal diet for everyone, and testing will determine the proper dietary changes your body needs.) After only two weeks, I started seeing small improvements, such as better balance. I continued with my diet for four years and regained much of my health and strength back. I also incorporated daily exercise on my stationary bike to build my leg muscles and used my total gym for upper body strength. I purchased a sauna to help myself detox and have reversed my heat sensitivity over the past few years. Now I am able to withstand a sauna at 160 degrees and I can sweat again as well as work in my garden and enjoy it.
Despite all my efforts, I felt as though I had reached a plateau and wasn’t progressing as much this past year. I wasn’t achieving the improvements that I was hoping for. I was stuck in a cycle of trial-and-error; applying everything that I had heard or read about but not getting the results I wanted.
My Educational Journey brought to FDN & Health Coaching:
Then, I discovered Functional Diagnostic Nutrition, also known as FDN. I began an intense instructional course to become a certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner. During my instruction, I received expert training, supervision and mentoring. My instructors had me fill out some comprehensive questionnaires and run some of the diagnostic tests on myself. That was when I found the hidden stressors that were holding me back from healing my body. When my test results came back, my mentor set up a session to go over my results and correlate them with my main complaints and medical history responses on the questionnaires. I discovered that my Cortisol and hormone levels were way out of balance which were affecting my energy levels. The next test revealed intestinal permeability (“Leaky Gut”), where my body wasn’t absorbing all the nutrients I was eating. Yet another test uncovered pathogens in the form of parasites and bugs that were affecting my gut function. With 80% of the immune system being in the gut, it’s no wonder I had developed MS. I started resolving these issues with a 90-day protocol that my mentor had set up for me. It addressed diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction and supplementation with organic botanicals to support all areas that need helping in the repair and rebuilding of damaged cells that were in a state of dysfunction. It’s truly amazing how the human body can rebuild and repair itself when it is fed the proper nutrients and minerals. Diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction and supplementation can align and heal the body of longtime chronic conditions and damage naturally.
I am continuing to build more muscle tone, my energy levels are increasing, my mood is better and my brain fog is gone. Before I started this journey, I was using a walker and close to being put in a wheelchair. I had to take naps for up to 2 hours just to get through the day, especially from physical activity. Now I have the energy to function all day seeing and enjoying life more and feeling like the person I once knew 30 years ago.
Now I would like to pass this knowledge and natural approach on to anyone that is dissatisfied with conventional medicine and is tired of the side effects of pharmaceuticals and looking for answers. As an FDNP, I am board certified to educate and coach you on how to obtain the optimal health you’ve been searching for. I invite you to join me on your JOURNEY INTO HOLISTIC HEALING.
