Cherie Calbom - The Juice Ladys Remedies for Thyroid Disorders

S ITTING BY THE window one day in my fathers home staring at the snow-topped mountainsin the distance, I imagined that people were enjoying the hiking trails and perhapssomeone was climbing the mountain that day. It was early June, and the weather wasbeautiful. I wished I had the strength to just walk around the block. But I was toosick and tiredI could barely walk around the house.

I had been sick for a couple of years and just kept getting worse. Will I ever bewell again? I wondered. When I turned thirty, I had to quit my job. I had chronicfatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia that made me so sick I couldnt work. I felt asthough I had a never-ending flu. Constantly feverish with swollen glands and perenniallylethargic, I was also in constant pain. My body ached as though Id been bouncedaround in a washing machine.

I had moved back to my fathers home in Colorado to try and recover. But not onedoctor had an answer as to what I should do to facilitate healing. So I went to somehealth food stores and browsed around, talked with employees, and read a few books.I decided that everything Id been doingsuch as eating fast food, granola for dinner,and not eating vegetableswas tearing down my health rather than healing my body.I read about juicing and whole foods, and it made sense. So I bought a juicer anddesigned a program I could follow.

I juiced and ate a nearly perfect diet of live and whole foods for three months.There were ups and downs throughout. I had days where I felt encouraged that I wasmaking some progress but other days when I felt worse. Those were discouraging andmade me wonder if health was the elusive dream. No one told me about detox reactions,which was what I was experiencing. I was obviously very toxic, and my body was cleansingaway all that stuff that had made me sick. This caused some not-so-good days amidthe promising ones.

But one morning I woke up earlyearly for me, which was around 8:00 a.m.withoutan alarm sounding off. I felt like someone had given me a new body in the night.I had so much energy I actually wanted to go jogging. What had happened? This newsensation of health had just appeared with the morning sun. But actually my bodyhad been healing all along; it just had not manifested until that day.

What a wonderful sense of being alive! I looked and felt completely renewed. Withmy juicer in tow and a new lifestyle fully embraced, I returned to Southern Californiaa couple weeks later to finish writing my first book. For nearly a year I enjoyedgreat health and more energy and stamina than Id ever remembered.

Then, all of a sudden, I took a giant step back.

July fourth was a beautiful day like so many others in Southern California. I celebratedthe holiday with friends that evening at a backyard barbecue. We put on jackets toinsulate against the cool evening air and watched fireworks light up the night sky.I returned just before midnight to the house I was sitting for vacationing friendswho lived in a lovely neighborhood not far from some family members. I was in bedjust a bit after midnight.

I woke up shivering some time later. Why is it so cold? I wondered as I rolledover to see the clock; it was 3:00 a.m. Thats when I noticed that the door was opento the backyard. Wonder how that happened? I thought, as I was about to get upto close and lock it. Thats when I noticed him crouched in the shadows of the cornerof the rooma shirtless young guy in shorts. I blinked twice, trying to deny whatI was seeing. Instead of running, he leaped off the floor and ran toward me. Hepulled a pipe from his shorts and began attacking me, beating me repeatedly overthe head and yelling, Now you are dead! We fought, or I should say I tried to defendmyself and grab the pipe. It finally flew out of his hands. Thats when he chokedme to unconsciousness. I felt life leaving my body.

In those last few seconds I knew I was dying. This is it, the end of my life, Ithought. I felt sad for the people who loved me and how they would feel about thistragic event. Then I felt my spirit leave in a sensation of popping out of my bodyand floating upward. Suddenly everything was peaceful and still. I sensed I was traveling,at what seemed like the speed of light, through black space. I saw what looked likelights twinkling in the distance. But all of a sudden I was back in my body, outsidethe house, clinging to a fence at the end of the dog run. I dont know how I gotthere. I screamed for help with all the breath I had. It was my third scream thattook all my strength. I felt it would be my last. Each time I screamed, I passedout and landed on the cement. I then had to pull myself up again. But this time aneighbor heard me and sent her husband to help. Within a short time I was on my wayto the hospital.

Lying on a cold gurney at 4:30 a.m., chilled to the bone, in and out of consciousness,I tried to assess my injuries, which was virtually impossible. When I finally lookedat my right hand, I almost passed out again. My ring finger was barely hanging onby a small piece of skin. My hand was split open, and I could see deep inside. Thenext thing I knew, I was being wheeled off to surgery. Later I learned that I hadsuffered serious injuries to my head, neck, back, and right hand, with multiplehead wounds and part of my scalp torn from my head. I also incurred numerous crackedteeth that resulted in several root canals and crowns months later.

I was so tired I could barely navigate through a day. My adrenal and thyroid glandswere exhausted. The thyroid and adrenals are closely tied together. Often when theadrenal glands become exhausted, the thyroid gland is also affected. Adrenal fatigueusually develops over a period of time due to lifestyle, but it can also developfrom acute stress, as in my case.

My right hand sustained the most severe injuries, with two knuckles crushed to merebone fragments that had to be held together by three metal pins. Six months afterthe attack I still couldnt use it. The cast I worewith bands holding up the ringfinger, the one that had almost been torn from my hand, and various odd-shaped moldedpartslooked like something from a science-fiction movie. I felt and looked worsethan hopeless, with a shaved top of my head, totally red and swollen eyes, a gashon my face, a useless right hand, terrorizing fear, and barely enough energy to getdressed in the morning. I was an emotional wreck.

I couldnt sleep at nightnot even a minute. It was torturous. Never mind that Iwas staying with a cousin and his family. There was no need to worry about safetyfrom a practical point of view, but that made no difference emotionally. Id liein bed all night and stare at the ceiling or the bedroom door. I had five lightsthat I kept on all night. Id try to read, but my eyes would sting. I could sleepfor only a little while during the day.

But the worst part was the pain in my soul that nearly took my breath away. All theemotional pain of the attack joined up with the pain and trauma of my past for anemotional tsunami. My past had been riddled with loss, trauma, and anxiety. My brother had died when I was two. My mother had died of cancer when I was six. I couldntremember much about her deaththe memories seemed blocked. But my cousin said Ifainted at her funeral. That told me the impact was huge.

I had lived for the next three years with my maternal grandparents and father. ButGrandpa John, the love of my life, died when I was ninethe loss was immeasurable.Four years later my father was involved in a very tragic situation that would takefar too long to discuss here, but to sum it upit was horrific. He was no longerin my daily life. I felt terrified about my future. My grandmother was eighty-six.I had no idea how many more years she would live. The next year I moved to Oregonto live with an aunt and uncle until I graduated from high school.