Disability Archives - folaketaylormd

The Disc Herniation Saga

folaketaylormd — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 02:07:55 +0000

We need to have a convo about the disc herniation saga that occurred very recently. Grab a drink, will ya? Not that drink! 🤣

[Full disclosure, I wrote this last year and never posted it. Then I actually had another episode this year. As in, the last 2 months. That update will come at the end. Kapisch? Good.]

Can I be all the way real for a minute? I threw my back out. And I hate it. My back has been so good for so long that this brace-wearing, and needing to take this much care not to aggravate it is so unfamiliar to me.

It makes me feel like I failed. I got spoiled by feeling really good for quite a while. Because it hadn’t happened in a while, I’d almost forgotten how excruciating it can be. To be exact, my last episode was in 2018, while on vacation in Trinidad & Tobago. It. Was. Not. Good. I digress.

Facts

I. I have degenerative disc disease in my low back.

2. I’ve had 2 back surgeries in the same month in the past. 2014 to be precise.

3. That level of trauma does not completely return to 100%.

4. The underlying factor for me has always been deep spasticity from multiple sclerosis, and never an injury.

Ruminations

So why am I beating myself up for having a flare of the disc issues in my low back? A problem that isn’t new?

I honestly started to blame myself. Maybe it’s because I went from 3lb weights to 5lb weights. I had been very careful to go from 1lb to 2lb to 3lb. Then I skipped over 4lb to 5lb. And this took years, people. Years of gentle and progressive strength training, building up my core, my back, my hips, my arms, and my legs.

My other thought was it was because I added new equipment. Or I increased my aerobics and started to do some things I hadn’t done in a decade. Or wait, maybe it was a little of all of those things, or doing too many things at once and not giving myself a chance to see how my body adjusted to each change.

While it is true that I got a little excited about how good I was doing and may have overdone things, of what use is it to scrutinize my every action and beat myself up?

It could be none of those things. Or it may be some other event or action I can’t even remember.

What’s The Plan?

The important thing is for me to chart a plan of recovery.

I don’t need to go and see my pain doctor, who I just saw, now that I only see her every 6 months. Neither do I need pain medication or an epidural. I have been healed from chronic pain and haven’t even taken Motrin for this. I’ve only used some topical anti-inflammatories. And, I will also not be taking steroids, IV, IM, or oral.

I know my body enough to know that a disc has been aggravated, without an expensive MRI (with contrast!). Likely my L5S1 unstable disc. This disc is what we call para-central which means it is bulging on both sides, but more on the left. As usual. I need my back brace to get through the day, especially as the day goes by. And I need to avoid certain exercises for now. Then I need to exercise less but focus on strengthening exercises for my low back, core, and glutes like the bird dog, superman (cue meme below! 🤣), and such. I need to let the dumbbells be for now and use body weight for exercises, except when my back is supported. Also important is avoiding back flexion and doing back extension exercises that look like mini up-dogs throughout the day.

via GIPHY

This I Know For Sure

I don’t need PT. Having done these exercises for years, I can be my own PT. The print-outs and instructions from 2014 are right here for guidance. My PT folder is labeled PT Exercises. It contains exercises for the back, Piriformis syndrome, hip bursitis, and Iliotibial Band syndrome. That took me back to just how sick I was at that point in time. Those weren’t separate occurrences. Dang! I don’t even know how I got through those days.

I vaguely remember holding myself together with a lot of KT Tape, and silver-infused shorts under any outfit.

My energy needs to be focused on healing. Period. And looking ahead rather than what I can’t change.

The Universe Has My Back

And the universe sent me messages to make sure I got it. Within 24 hours, I heard different people on social media come through with the same message: Give yourself grace. When you make a mistake, don’t beat yourself up. Learn the lesson, chart a plan, and move forward.

So what? Move on. Do better.

Tiffany The Budgenista said it.

Mel Robbins said it.

I believe I heard it in one other place and then finally I was like, “God, I hear you! And I receive this message!”

Healing

So I’ll focus on healing over the next few weeks, making sure it heals with the disc pushed back in and not while sticking out, so I don’t develop a new element of chronic pain that I’ll need to nurse if it starts to impinge on a nerve.

I’m the one person that doesn’t miss our Zoom workout classes usually, but this last Saturday, I skipped class to get more sleep and just heal. Then I skipped Wednesday as well. And for at least 6 weeks, my exercises will be modified.

And it’s OK to not know everything, to not be perfect, to not always get it right.

I’m human.

And I’ve evolved enough to be vulnerable and share this with you, so we can grow together.

This blog post feels cathartic. So, without knowing it, having you in my world is already making things better. I am grateful for the gift of YOU.

Inflammation

After going through that whirlwind of emotions, self-talk, and redirecting, it suddenly dawned on me. I’d fallen prey to the Western medicine model of disc issues being a mechanical problem. But in multiple sclerosis especially, it is all about inflammation.

Duh, This happened a week and a half before my next Ocrevus infusion. I’d been looking out for signs of inflammation, but in my knees, because that’s what usually swells up. This time, it was deep spasticity in my low back and some in my neck. I’d been noticing some neck pain and thought I did something to it.

Also, I had stopped my Evening Primrose Oil EPO for a while because I started to take another Omega-6, not realizing that my body really needed the GLA (gamma-linoleic acid) in EPO. Not only did it throw me into full-blown hot-flash peri-menopause hell, it likely affected my immunity too, which would explain why I had a disc re-herniation. The other Omega-6 which contained linoleic and linolenic acid did not take the place of the GLA in EPO after all. Lesson learned.

As soon as I reframed my thoughts, I knew what to do. In any case, if I wasn’t going to do steroids, then I needed something natural to calm it down.

Anti-Inflammation

So I took a bunch of Vit D, Magnesium Chelate, and my favorite antioxidant. It’s the one I dubbed the most potent antioxidant. It’s magical. If you have my antioxidant resource, then you know what it is. If you don’t have it, what are you waiting for? Grab my Top 10 Antioxidants for MS here.

For a slightly more colorful take on this and some extra tips, check out this IG post by clicking on the photo above labeled Herniated Disc. The captions are loaded. 👌🏾

Hydration

I made sure to hydrate as the disc tending to be dehydrated is part of the problem. And I’d recently had trouble retaining the water that I drank because I was low on some electrolytes. I have since started replenishing those, which has greatly improved my hydration. The water that I drink is staying in me now rather than going right through me.

Energy Is Everything

Another thing I did was that I focused on positivity, joy, and an unwavering belief that it was just a temporary hiccup and I’d be fine shortly. The energy around me started to shift in line with this belief system. Voila!

I focused on the little bird’s nest in our backyard (by that I mean inside the grill!!!) and the chick that had hatched. I took videos and photos daily and shared them on IG. New life always brings an energy of rebirth with it. That canceled out the tendency to focus on the things I couldn’t do as I lay on ice and slowed everything down to heal.

YOU can create YOUR good outcome with your mind, along with the right actions. They go together.

I hope you try it out.

Trinidad & Tobago

No Man’s Land in Tobago. 2019.

I did promise to tell you about this, right? So, back to 2019, where I did not get to enjoy our trip to the Caribbean because I spent a lot of time laying on my back and in excruciating pain. Flying from one island to the other in small planes did not help. Nor did trying to tour the city of Trinidad and see the sights in a taxi we hired.

That has got to be the most pain I’d ever experienced in my life, outside of when I had my first back surgery and was sent home the same night. Now, that should be against the law. But ever since the insurance companies stopped paying for overnight stays for pain control and such “trivialities” in their eyes… I digress.

I spent the greater part of this vacation laying horizontal in bed. The most memorable parts of my trip were the breakfast buffets (which I made it to daily regardless of pain level!), and the amount of papaya goodness I had on that trip. It seems to have canceled out the negative memories of laying in bed, and excruciating pain sitting at an airport gate while waiting to board a plane. Even with oral steroids on board, it felt like hell. Hell in paradise.

And though I always have my supplements, my general level of inflammation back then was excessive, and my expertise at biohacking was still somewhat limited compared to now.

It didn’t help my psyche that I couldn’t eat a lot of their famous foods because they’re heavy on gluten. The double was a kind of sandwich that reminded me of individual-size bread loaves from Nigeria. It was a lot of baked goods. I simply stuck to the fruits and vegetables so I wouldn’t end up in the hospital.

In Conclusion

By the second day after I loaded up on supplements, the inflammation was way calmer. As I kept doing my back extension exercises to push the disc back in, the pain in my hip and leg started to improve. When the pain moves up from your legs into your back, you know you’re getting better. Then eventually, even the back pain subsides.

This disc herniation saga is about to be in the rearview mirror…

Most chronic illnesses are about chronic inflammation. Sometimes you have acute inflammation compounding the chronic in the form of flares or worsening symptoms.

Food, nutraceuticals, supplements, and biohacking are all very powerful. Rest. Stay hydrated. Get in the sun every day. Do your grounding, Meditate. Don’t hold on to any toxic emotions. Focus on joy.

Now, get on my Waitlist for MS Mastery where you can learn exactly how I do these things with the next cohort.

ADDENDUM

As stated at the beginning, this blog post was written a year ago. And I just got over a similar episode of disc herniation and increased inflammation in my back and hips, especially the left.

This took the better part of the last 2 months. Similar situation because I was just about due for my Ocrevus infusion as well.

But there’s something very huge that was different.

I found another cause for increased inflammation that trumped everything else as the primary culprit this time.

MY THOUGHTS.

It happened in a way that is different from anything I’ve ever experienced as a result of stress or worry or thoughts that did not serve me.

And it didn’t matter what I did to heal physically, this time I didn’t get better till I completely reframed my thoughts.

It always hits differently when the source of your worry is your child and not yourself…

Negative thought patterns have been found to impact the immune system and ramp up inflammatory cytokines. A 2019 article in Medical News Today stated,

“Now, a study conducted by specialists from Pennsylvania State University in State College has found that negative moods may change the way in which the immune response functions, and they are associated with an increased risk of exacerbated inflammation.”

For my A++ students, the actual published paper can be found here.

These days, I no longer use the word hate to describe anything to do with my body or illness. When you know better, you do better.

So, in conclusion, are you minding your thoughts, warrior?

This daily affirmation tool helps me:

My thinking is peaceful, calm, and centered. I’m willing to change all patterns of criticism. I love and approve of myself.

-From Heal Your Body, by Louise Hay.

DISCLAIMER!!!

Lastly, check with your doctor before implementing anything new. I am NOT your doctor, though I am a doctor.

This is purely educational, not giving you medical advice, and it is certainly not tailored specifically to you because I don’t have enough information on you to do that.

I am Dr. Folake Taylor, and I live with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis PPMS. After 15 years in internal medicine primary care, while battling disability/ PPMS for the last 7 of the 15, I found myself diving deeper into holistic health for answers. Now I’m turning my lemons into lemonade. I refuse to allow physical and cognitive disability to stop me, from fulfilling my destiny of using my voice to benefit the world with my knowledge, which I did prior to my illness. Sharing what I have learned and am still learning about the body’s ability to heal itself, which is quite different from what I learned in medical school, is now my mission. I created an online program for MS recovery called MS Mastery™, and I will continue to take you along with me as the daily journey continues.

The post The Disc Herniation Saga appeared first on folaketaylormd.

Is Keto a Trigger Word for Vegans?

folaketaylormd — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 18:41:00 +0000

After a certain conversation in the not-so-distant past, I’m triggered by the word Keto now! I don’t know if I will ever use the word again. I’ll just say K instead. The exchange was unsettling at first, which later became interesting to me. Get a drink, and take a seat. Let’s talk.

The Wahls Protocol

A little background here. If you follow me on social media, chances are that you know my autoimmune nutrition plan is The Wahls Paleo Plus. Dr. Terry Wahls is an MD living with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). She wrote the book, The Wahls Protocol. She was able to recover by making modifications to the Paleo diet. Dr. Wahls infused her version of Paleo, with nutrient-dense good quality meat products. These contain the correct ratio of fats that is necessary to heal from progressive MS. These nutrients are not present in plants.

I need to make a distinction here. Progressive MS means that you have developed a somewhat irreversible disability. It is different from intermittent or even daily MS symptoms.

All MS types can improve on a vegan plant-based diet regarding day-to-day symptoms. A vegan plant-based diet will likely not touch your disability, with progressive MS. I first heard Dr. Terry Wahls speak on this distinction, and I have also made these observations.

To further support this, Dr. Swank’s stated that his low fat Swank Diet was not effective for those with MS who had developed a disability.

My Specific Nutrition Plan

There are 3 levels of The Wahls Protocol. Wahls Diet, Wahls Paleo, and Wahls Paleo Plus. The Wahls Paleo Plus is a modified Paleo & K with intermittent fasting. It is the most restrictive, hence it took me years to get here, because it is NOT for the faint at heart. Several times in this journey, I did give up a little and fall off the wagon.

Chia Pudding

Little did I know that saying the word K is like smearing poop all over myself, to some people. The way I understand nutrition, there are healthy vegetarians and unhealthy vegetarians. There are healthy vegans and unhealthy vegans. There is healthy K and unhealthy K. I thought everyone else understood it that way as well.

I am of course practicing a healthy Paleo K mashup. I eat a lot of good fats from:

Avocados,

Nuts (almonds and walnuts),

Coconut milk,

Healthy oils (coconut, olive, avocado oil),

Chia seeds,

Hemp hearts (seeds),

Wild-caught salmon,

100% grass-fed and grass-finished meats,

Pasture-raised poultry

Protein is moderate, and carbs are from vegetables and berries. Then comes the magic of phytonutrients from vegetables and fruits, 6-9 cups daily. No grains, no legumes, no soy, no corn, no dairy, no sugar or alcohol. These are in line with my food sensitivity patterns, and insights from symptom tracking. It has taken 6+ years to master it.

The Meat Of The Matter

Now to the actual story that spurred this write-up. I was going about my business on this fine afternoon, in one of our MS support rooms.

This plant-based vegan lady came by, on invitation by the person running this room. She gave her spiel about healing from 15 chronic conditions, but could not shake 1 last painful condition until she stopped eating corn and oils.

I commented on the impressive healing journey, and asked a follow-up question about what kind of oils. I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to know the dangers of corn (which is largely GMO corn in the US and riddled with mold). Her answer was all oils.

She explained that oils clog your arteries and reduce the absorption of nutrients, and are very inflammatory. I was a little familiar with this line of thinking from Anthony Williams (The Medical Medium) about ALL oils and fats being bad for us. I take what works for me (like his celery juice), and leave the rest. There is no one size fits all. Everything works for someone, but everything does not work for everyone.

I proceeded to explain that I was on the Wahls Paleo plus which is a form of K… I believe that was all she heard. It didn’t matter what else I said about what I eat, and how my primary progressive MS course benefits from the good fats, and ketosis. Or that when I was unable to eat my nuts after oral surgery, my previously controlled MS symptoms made a resurgence. She went in on me.

While vegetable oils and other unhealthy refined oils act in this manner, it is different with healthy oils. This is as long as you avoid high heat cooking. Combined with limited carbs, you burn fat as fuel instead of the usual carbs.

This is how I control high cholesterol. My levels are better controlled while eating a diet rich in healthy fats. I explained to her that the fat is not floating around in my arteries and wreaking havoc, because I burn it for fuel. She did not digest that information either.

Her Way Or The Highway

Bowl of Salad

This young lady went off on a tangent. She first instructed me to check out PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine). I educated her that I was a member of PCRM, and I went to a PCRM conference in DC in person before the pandemic. While they are vegan and I am not, I was open to all things plants.

I realized that they vilified dairy. But, refused to acknowledge that gluten is also a problem for many people with autoimmunity. Often a bigger problem. They said it was all glyphosate, and served a lot of gluten-laden foods to attendees. It was challenging for me to eat their breakfast.

I left the organization after that. Gluten is absolutely an issue, as well as glyphosate in autoimmunity. It is challenging to be vegan and gluten-free, so that’s the trade they chose to make. That is the messaging from the organization.

She told me to use my common sense and eat an avocado. That, I do that daily. She also said it wasn’t natural to hunt animals. I challenged her about why. Her tone was very condescending, with repeated use of phrases such as, “Use your common sense.” She made the most outrageous conclusions. These were completely contrary to who I am, how I eat, or what I had explained in the same conversation.

I challenged her about how she was coming to these false conclusions and beliefs about me. It all landed on deaf ears. I could imagine her thinking that I’m resistant because I lack discipline. Or I don’t want to change, so she pushed even more. None of these is even close to who I am on my health journey.

Me, Me, Me!!!

She kept asking me if I heard her say she healed from 15 chronic conditions? Mind you, she has no idea what I have also healed from, or whose healing journey I’ve been privy to. It seemed to me like she doesn’t get challenged frequently. I surmised that most people probably defer to her and her inflated view of herself.

Once I realized she was presumably lumping me in with the mayo-eating K folks, I made it very clear that I wasn’t one of those. I eat actual whole foods.

This has got to be the most bizarre conversation I have had in my entire life. A space that is normally positive, and certainly on Clubhouse. It was like I wasn’t speaking English, because she could not hear me. At all.

She kept offering to help me with my food sensitivities because I said I didn’t tolerate vegan protein like legumes. In the same conversation, she admitted that like me she could not eat gluten, and had to soak and rehydrate her nuts. This is in addition to avoiding corn and oils, and being plant-based vegan, thus avoiding all meat products. So, she has a lot of food restrictions herself. But she couldn’t understand why I would have any other food intolerance, other than the ones she has. I explained that I didn’t need her help because I had my gut and health on track. And I am healing just fine from food intolerances already.

The Art of Bullying

Nobody else stood up to her, even though they sent me messages later. I learned that she gets in trouble even in vegan rooms, because of her approach. This is how bullying goes unchecked. People watch things happen and stand back, because it’s not happening to them.

The important thing is, I told her off, which was a first on Clubhouse for me. But it felt good that I stood up for myself. I told her to not be so condescending and rude, and to watch her tone. And to not make assertions about things she doesn’t know. Then I bid the room farewell, dropped my mic, and exited stage left. 🎤

Is Keto a Trigger Word?

I was pinged into another vegan plant-based room right after and as soon as I got there, the first thing I heard was harsh instructions for someone to “…stop that Keto rubbish…” I’d probably been on Clubhouse too long that day, I thought, so I left. This is why I normally don’t go into plant-based vegan rooms. Many (not all! 😆) are extreme and self-righteous. No other way can be right for someone else. It has to be their way. A colleague of mine referred to them as the “Vegan Mafia!”

The next morning, I came upon an IG Live in which Dr. Terry Wahls was a guest of a nutritionist in the UK, Rosemary Ferguson. This IG Live gave me an insight into how triggering the word K is for some people. Rosemary mentioned that she does not use the word K to describe the Wahls Paleo Plus. This is because of reactions she’s gotten in the past. Dr. Wahls also agreed. You can watch this insightful IG Live here.

That’s when it clicked for me. The word K is the devil of nutrition plans to plant-based vegans. They had no room to understand how it could ever make sense. Or the fact that it is actual medical therapy for seizure disorder.

It certainly is therapy for me, as my brain heals from primary progressive multiple sclerosis PPMS. When they heard the word K, the picture in their head was someone chugging down mayo and spoonfuls of oil or fat! 😂

So, is Keto a trigger word? I believe it is, for plant-based vegans. I learned something new from this interaction. And certainly, I’m triggered by the word Keto now.

The Fear About Keto, And What I Do Differently

I cycle in and out of ketosis, by eating more fruit (other than berries) on the weekend. Or on a day when I’m home in a controlled environment (in case it causes more inflammation). I do try to vary my fasting times daily as well.

These modalities help maintain metabolic flexibility. Will I always be on this plan? Probably not year round, as Dr. Wahls does not do it year round either. But in my healing journey right now, my body has spoken. When my body speaks, I listen.

If care is not taken, staying on K indefinitely can put the body under undue stress. This can cause the thyroid to slow down, and adrenals to kick into high gear.

The Morale Of The Story

Listen more than you speak. 2 ears. 1 mouth.
Be open to other opinions.
Don’t be so confident of you and your methods, that nobody can have a different opinion for their life and body. You end up being a complete jerk. Something else can work for someone else, and also be right.
Do not be quick to judge folks you are meeting for the first time.

In Conclusion

Everything that lady is doing is probably right for her. But I would love for her to get to a place where she sees that it isn’t necessarily what is right for everyone. Because, we are all different. This lady does not have MS, by the way.

It was important for me to speak up as a trauma survivor. I need to consciously stop being the “bigger person.” Or “the person that walks away without stating her side of the story,” the majority of the time. A lot of things we learned about humility are often the same things that diminish us. It does this a little bit more each time we let someone walk all over us.

Trauma come in different forms. This kind of bullying and verbal onslaught is a form of micro-trauma. It builds up, and can erode yor self-esteem over time. That is, if you let it.

Please leave me a comment below if this spoke to you, or if you’ve had a similar experience, and share how you handled it.

🧡 🧡 🧡

Dr. Folake.

PS: March is MS Awareness Month!!! And it’s about to be LIT.

PPS: If you haven’t already done so, do check out my Gifts to you and the free Resources page.

I am Dr. Folake Taylor, and I live with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis PPMS. After 15 years in internal medicine primary care, while battling disability/ PPMS for the last 7 of the 15, I found myself diving deeper into holistic health for answers. Now I’m turning my lemons to lemonade. I refuse to allow physical and cognitive disability stop me, from fulfilling my destiny of using my voice to benefit the world with my knowledge, which I did prior to my illness. Sharing what I have learned and am still learning about the body’s ability to heal itself, which is quite different from what I learned in medical school, is now my mission. And as I create an online self-paced course for MS recovery, I will take you along with me as the daily journey continues.

The post Is Keto a Trigger Word for Vegans? appeared first on folaketaylormd.