Kathleen DiChiara - End Chronic Disease: The Healing Power of Beliefs, Behaviors, and Bacteria

The optimal approach for lifestyle-driven chronic disease is so vastly different than what we are used to in medicine, it takes a new breed of thinker and communicator to take us there. Kathleen is the perfect messenger for that mission.

James Maskell, Founder of Evolution of Medicine and Author of The Community Cure

Based on the principles of the individuals energetic state and their relationship to self, others, and the world around them, [Kathleen] invites the reader to engage in a simplified, but sound healing plan ladened with experiential wisdom. Clearly presented and scientifically backed, this simplified approach demonstrates how our microbiome-derived self is pivotal in achieving true health.

Michelle Perro, MD, Pediatrician and Author of Whats Making our Children Sick?

The Hidden Connection:
Discover Whats Keeping You
From Feeling Happy, Healthy
and Symptom-Free

Copyright 2020 by Kathleen DiChiara

Published in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Cover design: Howie Severson

Interior design: Julie Davison

Interior illustrations: Suzanne Darkan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress.

Tradepaper ISBN: 978-1-4019-5711-7

e-book ISBN: 978-1-4019-5712-4

This book is dedicated to my
family and the ones brave
enough to lead by example;
thank you for modeling
whats possible

If you trust in Nature, in what is simple in Nature, in the small Things that hardly anyone sees and that can so suddenly become huge, immeasurable; if you have this love for what is humble and try very simply, as someone who serves, to win the confidence of what seems poor: then everything will become easier for you, more coherent and somehow more reconciling, not in your conscious mind perhaps, which stays behind, astonished, but in your innermost awareness, awakeness, and knowledge.

Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

I had been firing on all cylinders for years, with a high-stress career in investor relations, a growing family, and recreational triathlon competitions on the side. But one day everything changed.

It was an early morning in August 2007. When I woke up and swung my legs to the side of the bed to head to the shower, I realized I couldnt bear any weight on my left leg. The days prior, I had been nursing a low-back paintaking breaks to lie down in my office and asking my administrative assistant to run out for Advil, ice packs, and topical creams. But this was excruciating pain, and it was clear I wasnt going anywhere. What I didnt know then was that I would never return to that job that I loved. I had developed sudden-onset neuropathy caused by a compressed nerve in my lower back.

At the time, it was a mystery as to why this unexplained pain bubbled up to the surface, seemingly out of nowhere. This was particularly frustrating since I considered myself physically fit and there was no trauma or accident that set it off.

Despite my efforts, the pain got progressively worse. After six months of physical therapy and multiple rounds of steroid injections, I consulted with two surgeons. The first was an orthopedic surgeon who claimed to be an expert on the type of surgery I would require: an L4-L5 diskectomy and laminectomy. In this procedure a small portion of the bone in the spine is removed, and the disk in between the L4 and L5 vertebrae is released. This would relieve the pressure off the nerve and allow me to bear weight on my leg once again, something I was not able to do without pain. One thing the surgeon was very adamant aboutthe surgery would not remediate my low-back pain. This of course was a surprise to me, as this was the original symptom I had felt prior to nerve pain; but he insisted that back surgery provides no guarantee for back-pain relief. In fact, he said it was highly unlikely I would find relief as a result of the surgery.

The second doctor was a neurosurgeon. His diagnosis and prognosis seemed much grimmer. He recommended I also have a diskectomy/laminectomy in my lower back but included an additional diagnosis of degenerative disk disease, noting that my facet joints were deteriorating. The facet joints allow us to bend and twist, essentially keeping us flexible. I was only 35 years oldI certainly didnt expect this. His recommendation was to fuse together my lower vertebrae using metal rods, which I declined.

The entire process was overwhelming. I felt frustrated by the lack of options but also pressured to do something before I lost complete function of my left footwhich was starting to drop as a result of the compressed spinal nerve. At this point, I decided it was time to move ahead with surgery, choosing the more conservative orthopedic surgeon.

I specifically chose the first surgery slot of the day. I wanted my surgeon at his bestbright-eyed and ready to go. We had childcare lined up for the kids early that morning, and I was prepped and ready to be rolled in... except then I wasnt. We waited and waited. Finally, the anesthesiologist, who seemed to take a liking to my husband, Stephen, and me, noticed our frustration and told us they were having trouble getting the other surgery patient out of the operating room. When he saw the confused look on our faces, he explained that another surgery had been squeezed in before mine, only this was no ordinary patient. He was over 500 pounds. They needed special equipment to get him out of the operating room. I became visibly distraught. I began thinking of our kids and how the schedule delay would affect them. I started wondering how the stress of that complicated surgery would impact the staff and my surgeon. I contemplated leavingbut fearing that things would only get worse, I chose to proceed.

When I awoke, I knew something was terribly wrong; my legs wouldnt move. It was dark outside, and I was alone in the hospital room. I remember feeling stuck on my side, unable to turn over or reach for the buzzer to call for the nurse, so I reached for the room phone and dialed our home number. Stephen was home with the boys at this pointI told him to come back to the hospital immediately, which he did.

After running an MRI and ruling out a severed nerve in my spinal cord, the doctors eventually diagnosed me with Failed Back Surgery Syndrome, also known as post-procedural complications following a laminectomy. This was my portal to a myriad of chronic diseases in the years to follow.