How I Got My Life Back - Part 4

Jerry was his name. I remember seeing it written on the paper that Paul, my old doctor, had given me when I asked for a recommendation. I did a search for Applied Kinesiologists in my area named Jerry, but it came up empty. Had he retired?

I thought about calling Paul, but it's bad form to ask the same question repeatedly. I poked around a bit more and discovered that Gerry spells his name with a 'G'. I called and booked the first available appointment. This was one time when work was going to have to take a back seat.

Gerry is nothing like Paul. He's a big, boisterous, bear of a man with a 1970's mustache. Despite his size, he's very animated. He talks fast and he talks a lot. In a perfect universe, Gerry would have been Garrett's doctor. The level of energy is similar. 

I was in bad shape when I arrived at the office. Gerry had to help me onto the table and help me again when I needed to turn over. All through the exam he explained my symptoms and the procedures that he was applying to address them. He'd say things like, "I need to address the misalignment of your sacroiliac joint before I use electrical stimuli to compensate for the modal abnormalities in your lumbar region." I thought, "Just do something, dude! I'm in pain here!"

I was skeptical when I left the office. I didn't feel an immediate improvement. (I'm not sure why I was expecting that.) My instructions were to ice the problem areas daily. After a few days, I felt minor improvement. By the time that I returned the next week for my follow up appointment, the pain was down to about twenty to thirty percent of its original level. That was still quite uncomfortable, however.

We went through a similar routine of treatment. I was proud of the fact that I could get on and off of the table by myself. I really had improved.

I decided to mention the knee problem. Gerry poked around a bit in the manner that I've come to expect from these guys. His assessment sounded familiar. The knee problem was caused by a weakened muscle. The weakening of the muscle was caused by problems in th digestive tract. He went on a long explanation that I didn't follow very well. Then he tested my sensitivity to various food components.

The test is quite simple. You hold your arm in a certain position and resist when he tries to move it. When everything is okay, you can resist without much effort. But when something weakens you, the arm just collapses. This approach may seem strange, but I came to trust the methodology while working with Paul.

Gerry has a bunch of samples in vials. He asks me to hold them in my hand and resist against his attempt to move my arm. The arm stayed strong for the first test. He tells me that it was soy. Second test: no problem. He tells me that it was dairy.

This goes on for a while until he gets to one that makes my arm collapse helplessly. He said, "That was Kryptonite!" Then he said that he wanted to test me for a few more substances. The next few worked fine, and then, BAM! The arm goes weak again.

The assessment wasn't particularly surprising. The first sample was gluten, and the second was wheat. The obvious suggestion was to try a gluten-free diet for a while. I always thought the going gluten free was like some new age fad, but I decided to give it a try.

The results were nothing short of amazing. After two weeks, my knee pain was gone, I had started running again without any issues, and I had tons of energy. I told people that I felt like I was twenty-five again. My mental focus was sharper, too. Absolutely amazing!

Maintaining a gluten-free diet presents some challenges. No bread, no pizza, no pasta or noodles of any kind (unless they are specifically marked gluten-free). No breaded, fried stuff like shrimp or chicken parmigiana. No pastries, no cakes, no dumplings, no pretzels (I love pretzels!). But you've got to do what you've got to do. The difference that this has made in my life was worth the sacrifice.

There were ripple effects, as well. Since my energy had improved by leaps and bounds, I questioned whether I needed to continue to guzzle caffeine day in and day out. I love coffee, but I was concerned about the shallow, rapid heartbeat that had become my new normal. After Thanksgiving, I went cold turkey and got off of the Joe. That change added even more health benefits.

It's unfortunate that wheat causes so many issues for me. I love pizza, pasta, and all kinds of bread and rolls and pastries. C'est la vie! Now that I realize how tired and foggy those things were making me feel, I'm happy to be rid of them. You can fight your body, but you're not going to win. Better to accept your limitations and move forward stronger than to stay stuck in a miserable rut. Onward and upward! Never look back.

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