Autoimmune Adventures

How do you manage challenging health issues while raising a family? Katie Cleary, founder of autoimmunemom.com, joins host Julie Stiles to share her experience and wisdom from five years of raising young kids while managing multiple autoimmune conditions. Diagnosed during her second pregnancy, Katie’s health challenges made adjusting to another child in the family difficult, especially since it took years before she understood what was happening and what changes she needed to make to support her health. On this episode we talk about practical ways to balance your self-care with running a household, how to communicate with your family about your limitations, and finding support when the going gets rough. Katie also shares important advice for women with autoimmunity who want to get pregnant. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com. Support the show by subscribing in iTunes and leaving a review. Thank you!

What is holding you back from moving into the life that is waiting for you? Letting go allows you to set down any internal or external aspects of your life that are no longer serving you so that you can step into the new unencumbered by the past. You might decide to let go of beliefs about yourself, expectations, ideas about health and illness, and roles and identities that no longer fit. Host Julie Stiles explores the ways that people hold on physically, mentally, and emotionally, and how to take what you want to let go of into the body, mind, and emotions to help release it. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com. Support the show by subscribing in iTunes and leaving a review. Thank you! Julie Stiles, creator/host of Autoimmune Adventures

Choosing to eat foods that nourish the body is a key way to support yourself on the healing journey. The Autoimmune Protocol is an elimination diet based on the Paleo diet that is intended to lessen autoimmune reactions. Mickey Trescott, author of The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook and blogger at autoimmune-paleo.com, shares her experience using this diet to support her healing after diagnosis with Celiac and Hashimoto’s. We discuss some common problems people encounter following this strict diet and how to be successful integrating it into your lifestyle even if you have limited time, money, or energy. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com. Support the show by subscribing in iTunes and leaving a review. Thank you! Julie Stiles, creator/host of Autoimmune Adventures.

How can you better manage stress in order to heal? Dr. Kathy Gruver returns to Autoimmune Adventures to discuss the stress response. With stress the underlying cause for more than half of doctor visits and a primary cause of flares in people with autoimmunity, it constitutes a significant health problem, yet is one that each of us has some power over. When we can use the wide variety of mind-body practices available to us to manage our reaction to stressful life events, we can tap into the relaxation response and allow the body to heal. Kathy, who is the author of Conquer Your Stress with Mind/Body Techniques, covers when stress becomes a problem and top techniques to counteract it. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

What role does (and should) alternative medicine have in healing? Many people with chronic illness look to alternative approaches when conventional medicine offers few good options. With so many alternatives to choose from, it can be daunting to decide what to try. Dr. Kathy Gruver, trained in many alternative modalities, shares her thoughts on how to choose modalities and practitioners, the role of alternative medicine in relation to conventional, and the importance of vetting any approach you are thinking of incorporating in your healing journey. Kathy also shares her views on health and healing, and two keys that are essential for the healing path. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

How can you increase your well being through balancing satisfaction in all areas of your life? Research shows that overall well being is not just about physical health. Instead, it is closely tied to how you are doing in all areas of your life. All aspects of your life are interdependent, and how you feel about any one can affect how you are doing in general.  When you are aware of those areas that you feel unhappy about, it opens the possibility of taking new action to increase your satisfaction in that area. General well being expands as you take steps toward contentment in each area. Explore how you are doing in different areas of your life and how you can amplify your well being. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

The call to adventure that begins the transformative path happens in the context of your life, and this episode teases out some of the key components that you might begin to see in a new way. This new awareness can be difficult because it often reveals aspects of your life that are not working; you see the truth. Yet this awareness is key to begin the process of detachment so you can let go and move forward in the growth process. You might begin to see your life history, personality, and physical or psychological challenges and potentials in a new way based on the new information from the call to adventure. Similarly, you might begin to question aspects of your current life situation, such as your job, home, and relationships, as well as your current environment, as you become aware of how they are not serving you. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

Diagnosed with myasthenia gravis when she was 22, Courtney underwent treatment that ultimately made her illness worse. As part of her healing journey, she produced the documentary film Beauty Does Lie: The Untold Stories of Autoimmune Diseases. After becoming suicidal due to complications from medications and her illness, Courtney decided to stop taking medication and use diet, yoga, and meditation to try to heal. In this episode, we discuss her journey, what she learned in the making of her film, and her current approach to healing. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

Why are rates of autoimmune diseases, allergies, and asthma increasing? Moises Velasquez-Manoff, author of An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases, discusses the intriguing theory explaining the rise of immune dysfunction. Linking the inner and outer ecosystem, the macro of our body with the micro world of parasites and microbes, this theory begins to expand our understanding of how the immune system works. Learn why biodiversity is good for your health, how autoimmune genes might have been beneficial, new metaphors for the immune system that go beyond warfare, and where science is with the fringe treatments that emerge from this theory. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

How can you increase your resilience? When you are resilient, you can be in adversity and integrate all that happens. It’s a skill you can continually develop by making choices every day that build resilience. Seeing the challenges, finding meaning, escaping from victim thinking, and focusing on strengths and times you’ve grown from hardship in the past are a few ways of increasing your resilience. How to use positive emotions and connection to community are also covered. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

The integral model provides a framework to understand illness and healing and create a well-rounded healthcare plan that takes into account all aspects of who you are. The four quadrants take into account the interior and exterior of both individual and collective dimensions of reality. Taking only one into account—as most conventional medicine does—leads to a partial and incomplete healing approach. Until the western medical model expands to include all aspects of who you are, you can take back your own power over health and wellbeing by using this framework to create a healthcare plan. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

After being diagnosed with Graves’ disease, Dr. Lisa Cooney refused to believe that the usual medical options were her only choices and over the next few years healed herself through various modalities. In this episode, Dr. Lisa shares her seven steps to healing. These steps provide a roadmap to creating more choice and possibility in your health and your life. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

How do you respond to the call to adventure? Turning down the call is more comfortable, even when it keeps you in the discomfort of your present experience. It is challenging to say yes when your identity and worldview feel like they are under attack, and it helps to reframe your experience so you can create goals that move you forward instead of reacting to what is happening. Being present also helps in responding to the call. When we can commit to saying yes no matter what, then we can get through the early stages of the journey until we are far enough along that saying no is no longer an option. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

What is wellbeing and how do we increase it? Fiona Moore shares three common mistakes that undermine wellbeing. When we can shift our internal attitude toward ourselves and our illness, we can tap into the constant state of wellbeing within us, and heal as we live our life. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

Autoimmune patients often face significant challenges getting diagnosed and treated, not to mention lack of awareness about autoimmunity in general. In this episode, Virginia Ladd, founder and president of the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA), talks about efforts to increase medical research in autoimmunity, establish data that will support creation of diagnostic centers, increase awareness of autoimmune disorders, and advocate for patient interests. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com

The Autoimmune Protocol is one version of anti-inflammatory diet, based on the Paleo diet, which is recommended for people with autoimmunity. Clinical nutritionist Jessica Flanigan tells us about the basics of this diet and how we can support ourselves while on it. Diet is also one path into the deeper internal journey of healing an autoimmune disorder, and we discuss how to embrace everything that shows up in your experience, whether it’s eating off the diet or having an illness. Reframing and going after the blessings change health. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

Do your genes control your health? Do your beliefs have any impact on your wellness? Drawing from Dr. Bruce Lipton’s book The Biology of Belief, this episode explores how environmental signals control genetic expression, and how the beliefs in the subconscious mind affect your biology. The good news: We can change our beliefs, and therefore our biology. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

What is self-compassion, and how can we increase it? John Kinyon shares how we can bring the same level of kindness, care, and acceptance to ourselves that we would to a friend. Learn a process you can use after anything happens that you don’t feel good about. Show notes available at http://aiadventures.com.

What is healing and what role do emotions and beliefs play in the process? Explore the power of energy healing to shift beliefs and feelings to better support health, and experience it through a ThetaHealing® meditation on the call. Show Notes available online at http://aiadventures.com

Warring voices within, beating yourself up, and relying on willpower to stick to your decisions are hallmarks of internal conflict. Learn how to work with your internal conflicts by acknowledging and honoring all parts of you so that you can experience greater internal harmony and alignment. Show notes available online at http://aiadventures.com