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Author Mireille Mandat suffered from fibromyalgia for over a decade, leading to depression, followed by neuropathy, heartburn, and dizziness. Her experiences changed her way of life and taught her the importance of nutrition and healthy eating.
Empowerment to Conquer Illnesses will teach about her specific diet and how to ingest healthy foods. Following the same basic principles may help lead to a vibrant life for you. Along with knowledge of her success in nutrition, Mireille shares her daily routine and the names of the exact product she uses. She calls this product a “miracle” and believes it was instrumental in saving her life. Inside, additional resources are suggested - like four of her favorite books, that she feels “gave her life back” and she believes they will do the same for you.
Empowerment to Conquer Illnesses is for everyone who is facing a health problem today, not just for people with bromyalgia but for any illness.
Review by BookTrib: https://booktrib.com/2024/08/16/the-empowerment-to-conquer-illnesses-mireille-mandat/
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Mireille Mandat
THE EMPOWERMENT TO CONQUER ILLNESSES:
FIBROMYALGIA, NEUROPATHY, AND OTHER DISEASES
All rights reserved
Copyright © 2023 by Mireille Mandat
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Published by BooxAi
ISBN:978-965-578-278-3
THE EMPOWERMENT TO CONQUER ILLNESSES
FIBROMYALGIA, NEUROPATHY, AND OTHER DISEASES
MIREILLE MANDAT
CONTENTS
Introduction
1. A Mystery Illness
What is happening to my body?
2. Finally, A Name
F- i-b-r-o-m-y-a-l-g-i-a — symptoms
3. How Pain Robbed Me Of Joy
My illness was an obstacle socially and professionally
4. Toxic Circumstances And My Battle With Depression
A healthy body needs a healthy mind
5. The Psychiatric Ward
How did I end up here?
6. The Nature Of Neuropathy
Fibromyalgia is extremely painful; neuropathy is even worse.
7. Respect Your Gut
8. The One Solution To Rule Them All
9. Insulin Resistance
The root cause of one deadly disease worldwide
10. The Power Of Intermittent Fasting
11. Foods That Make Us Sick
The first book that opened my eyes to healthy eating
Foods To Remove From Our Diet And Unhealthy Habits To Avoid
12. Foods That Restored My Health
Foods to maintain excellent health
Cooking from scratch is important and easy to do
13. Don’t Just Treat The Symptoms
The cure lies in the root cause of the disease, not in the symptoms
14. More “Dos” And “Don’ts”
Myth busting about commonly held health beliefs
15. How To Avoid Sickness For Good
A summary of health tips
Recommended Reading
16. The Importance Of Reading Food Labels
Proceed with caution! Forewarned is forearmed
Avoid buying items when you see these words on food labels.
17. The Family Table
Can we put partial blame on our parents for our diseases?
18. Spread The Good News
We can help ourselves and help others
About the Author
Disclaimer
I want to dedicate this book to my lovely mother, my siblings, and myfriends,whohavealwaysbeenthereforme.Idon’tknowwhereIwouldbetodayifitweren’tfortheirloveandsupport,whichhasgiven me the courage to persevere. My deepest gratitude goes out, especially to my mother, who experienced my many ups and downs firsthand during the course of my illnesses, going back and forth to thedoctorsandthehospitalswithme.Itdidn’tmatterwhattimeofthe night it was. She was always right there beside me, making sure the doctors were taking care of me. I remember those sleepless nights when she tried everything she could to help me fall asleep, even though it was impossible to get even one minute of sleep. Special thanks to my sisters, who got out of their beds late at night to stay up and cry with me when the pain was excruciating. Thank you for believing that fibromyalgia is a real illness when many doctors think that we are crazy and that it’s all in our heads, which is absolutely not true.
INTRODUCTION
For twelve years, I suffered from fibromyalgia, a little- understood, debilitating, and often misdiagnosed disease. However, by the grace of God, he gave me the knowledge and the tools to reverse this terrible condition and get my life back. As a result of my triumph over this disease, I’ve decided to write this book to share my journey with others. About 4 million people in the united state are suffering from this condition every day. 70-80 percent of Americans with fibromyalgia are female, aged between 20 and 50. The rest are men and the elderly. I’m a person who has overcome the diseases of fibromyalgia and neuropathy, and my mission in writing this book is to help others out of the hole they may be in or to prevent them from falling in there as I did. I hope that sharing my experience will bring positive change and a better life to others who are suffering in similar ways from acute and chronic diseases.
I’m saying, “Look at me now after I changed my diet and my lifestyle!” I’m reborn. I was incapacitated by illness. Once you follow what’s in this book and buy the other books that I challenge you to read, you will say to yourself, “This woman has a lot to say, and she knows what she is talking about.” Please read this book from cover to cover. It will show you the tools that God gave me to overcome my illnesses.
A MYSTERY ILLNESS
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY BODY?
It was the summer of 2004. I was attending college part- time and working part-time at a nursing home. I loved my life. But all that was about to change. One Saturday night, I went out to a party. As I was dancing and having a good time, suddenly, I felt pain and discomfort in my knees. I did not let the pain stop me from enjoying myself, but it got worse, and I had to stop and go home. I went straight to my medicine cabinet, took some ibuprofen, and iced my knee. Unfortunately, the ibuprofen and the ice didn’t do anything for the nagging pain. A week passed, and I was still having discomfort. I couldn’t drive or wear high-heeled shoes. Even sleeping at night was becoming challenging.
Fearing that the pain would get worse, I called my doctor to set up an appointment. I explained everything. He prescribed medication to manage the pain, which I took as directed for a good month, but it provided no relief. I then called my doctor’s office to schedule another appointment. This time the doctor concluded that the medications previously prescribed were not strong enough. He prescribed a new and supposedly stronger
pain medication, which I took for about three weeks without missing a dose. This still didn’t make me feel any better, not to mention there were many negative side effects – dizziness, drowsiness, nausea, and lightheadedness. The medication also caused sleeplessness, keeping me up all night.
The pain was now becoming overwhelming, and I was at a loss as to what to do. Exasperated, I went back yet a third time to my doctor. This time he recommended physical therapy while encouraging me to continue taking my medication. In my desperation, I immediately made an appointment with the referred physical therapist. The physical therapist guided me through a few basic exercises that normally would have been easy for me. First, I used the stationary bicycle for ten to fifteen minutes to help the pain in my knees. I was then given a ball to place between my knees and instructed to squeeze it in and out for three sets of ten. I was also given some light weights to wrap around my ankles and instructed to raise my legs up and down again for three sets of ten. Finally, the heat was applied to my injured knees. As someone who was used to exercising several times a week and performing strenuous workouts, I found myself perplexed as I was struggling to do these basic exercises. I lamented the pain that I had to endure.
The therapists gave me a schedule to come in two or three times a week, which I dutifully followed except when I was too sick. I was given the option to come in twice a week, depending on how I felt after the second day of therapy. I have always placed great value on my health, so I stayed with the regimen. Holding on to hope had become a struggle. Even after three months of therapy, I remained in constant pain every single day. I returned to my doctor, but he didn’t know what to do for me beyond sending me for an MRI. The MRI showed that I had a meniscus tear. When I heard the diagnosis, I felt a new sense of clarity and hope.
At least I now had an answer. My doctor told me that the only way to solve this problem once and for all was to have surgery. I didn’t hesitate to follow through with this suggestion, believing it would put an immediate end to the pain. I went through the surgery with a positive mindset, expecting to move on with my life in better health. I believed that this was the answer. The road had led me to this point, and I now felt that my pain was curable. Happiness and well-being felt within reach.
After the operation, I went back to physical therapy to resume the same mundane exercises that I did before. Now it was harder to move around, and I had to have someone take me to therapy each time. As grueling as it was, I had to suck it up. This was just the reality of things, but at least it seemed I was headed toward the light. I was constantly being reassured that I had done the right thing and that I was on my way back to normalcy, to a way of life I had always enjoyed. But about four months later, I started to experience severe pain again.
The therapy had failed once more. A profound sinking feeling started to take hold. After rounds of visits back and forth to physical therapy and to my doctor, realizing my condition was only worsening, my doctor referred me to a neurologist. I felt lost and confused about what was happening to my body. My disappointment was beginning to turn to anger, and my anger began to give way to a deep depression.
When I met with the neurologist, I told him about the pain I was having. He asked me how the problem had developed in the first place. I described the initial experience I had when I went dancing and how it had changed my life, leaving me in a debilitating physical condition.
After performing some tests to rule out various possibilities, he prescribed even more medications for the pain and set up another appointment to come back for the test results. When I got my results, the doctor tried to encourage me by saying, “Mireille! I have good news for you! Your tests came back normal, and that’s a good sign.” For me, it wasn’t good news. I was hoping at least to have an explanation. I was searching for that clarity again, an answer. A clear diagnosis that the doctor would tell me was treatable.
One night I became extremely sick. It started with deep muscle aches, tingling in my hands, arms, legs, feet, scalp, fatigue, and no energy. It felt like I had come down with a bad case of the flu. I tried to fall asleep but kept tossing and turning. I moved from the bed to the couch but couldn’t rest my head. My mother was with me on that difficult night, and she tried to comfort me and help me get some sleep. She took me by the hand, walked with me to the bathroom, gave me a hot bath with Epsom salt, and massaged my entire body.
Right after that, I went straight to bed, hoping to get some sleep. I was lying down comfortably with all the lights off. There was no noise or distraction, but I was still unable to sleep. I kept moving my body from side to side. My brain wouldn’t shut off, which was a problem; I was no expert at meditation, and I could not put my mind at ease. Thoughts were running through my head like water rushing down a valley. I got out of bed and walked up and down, feeling rest- less, tired, and in extreme pain. I truly didn’t know what to do with myself anymore. It was very late at night, and I should have been in a deep sleep having sweet dreams, but instead, I was suffering from excruciating pain and insomnia.
About thirty minutes later, my symptoms worsened. This time, I couldn’t take the pain anymore and called my mother from the next room to ask her to accompany me to the hospital. With a nervous voice, I called 911. An ambulance arrived at my home in no time, and the medical team rushed inside to convey me to the emergency vehicle. They asked me a lot of questions about the pain, and I told them everything that was bothering me. I thought my life was going to end in the ambulance that night because of the way my body felt. I didn’t believe that I would live; my mother was extremely anxious as well about my prog- nosis. She couldn’t begin to understand what was happening to her daughter.
FINALLY, A NAME
F- I-B-R-O-M-Y-A-L-G-I-A — SYMPTOMS
When I got to the hospital, the medical team placed me on a gurney and quickly rolled me inside. They registered my name and transferred me to a hospital bed to be seen by a doctor. I remember lying in that uncomfortable bed for many hours, just looking at the ceiling and watching people walk back and forth. I could barely gather my thoughts. The doctor eventually appeared and began to inquire about my condition. The nurses also did some blood tests along with a chest X-ray. All the tests came back with normal results; they didn’t find anything wrong with me. I was then given two pills for the pain. With my blood work and X-ray being normal, I was discharged. The emergency doctor wanted me to follow up with my primary care physician. I, however, did not feel that was an option.
Three weeks later, I started experiencing widespread pain again. My body was burning as if I was on fire. It felt like having a concoction of lemon juice, hot pepper, and rubbing alcohol poured over open wounds. This pain was not only at the skin level but deep within the muscle tissue, as if I were being pulverized from within. My mental state and my cognitive processes were really starting to change. The trauma of the experience was altering me as a person. Again, I was desperate to find a solution. I became so desperate that I started asking strangers for referrals to good doctors. I followed up with visits to some of these recommended doctors, but none of them could help me. All they could do was prescribe more painkillers.
Three years went by, and the pain persisted. The pain was no longer located only in my knee. It seemed to spread until it seized my entire body, growing in intensity day after day. I had more failed visits with doctors, including (ironically enough and purely out of growing desperation) my primary care again. Eventually, I scheduled yet another appointment with the neurologist. He looked at me with an expression of concern and extreme frustration.
After a long sigh, he said, “Mireille, you are the youngest patient who has been coming here to see me this often and over such a long period of time. I must conclude that you have fibromyalgia.”
I asked him what fibromyalgia was, and he told me to go home and search it online. He did not provide me with any explanation for his diagnosis, nor did he share any information about the disease itself; he only instructed me to stop drinking coffee. In my excitement to put a name to this ailment, in the moment, I didn’t mentally process the inhospitality and dismissiveness he had shown me. As I left his office and headed home with a renewed sense of hope, I found myself driving faster than usual. I now believed that a solution to my mystery illness was imminent!
When I arrived at my house, I dropped everything right there on the floor of the entryway and didn’t even bother to take off my coat. Usually, I don’t walk around the house with my shoes on, but this time was different. With shoes on, I felt compelled to get to my computer immediately. The boot-up time, which normally seemed short, took what seemed to be forever. I finally got online, and like a slugger who has just hit a fastball, my fingers were off to the races moving as fast as they could type out the name of this condition in Google just as the neurologist had delivered it to me on paper: f-i-b-r-o-m-y-a-l- g-i-a.
My excitement swiftly hit a wall of disappointment and shock as I read the words: “There is no known cure for fibromyalgia.” Blood rushed from my head as a sense of helplessness encompassed me. My eyes began to water. It felt as if I had been given a death sentence. Could this be happening to me? I had always believed in my ability to accomplish anything I set my mind to, to overcome difficulties, and to reach for the stars. But now, I was stunned by the reality of my illness being incurable!
For the first time in my life, it seemed that I was doing battle with something beyond my control. The sense of desperation did not last long, though. Somehow, the fighter spirit within me took charge. I decided I would not lose this battle lying down without a fight. I bought a book on the subject of fibromyalgia and read it from cover to cover, and followed what the book instructed. Some days I felt a little better, and other days I couldn’t even get out of bed.
The book mostly helped me with coping with the emotional strain of my illness and my failing body. However, it didn’t resolve my core problems. Nagging pains would go away for a short time and then return with a vengeance to attack me again. While I was happy that my doctor had named my illness, at the same time, I was devastated that there was no obvious cure. How could I have any quality of life while living with this pain?
The book recommended a specific diet, which had some adverse, albeit delayed, effects. It also recommended swimming for low-impact exercise since it could decrease pain, increase energy levels, relax the body, and so much more. So, I joined a gym with a pool, a Jacuzzi, and a sauna. I went there two or three times a week. I also did other light exercises like walking on the treadmill, and I enjoyed the use of the Jacuzzi and the sauna to help reduce my pain. I dutifully followed the same routines each time I went to the gym.
