Saturday, April 15, 2023
Welcome back friends, to Dr. Brainerd’s B.R.E.A.T.H.S. Health Saturday’s edition of my blog. For the month of April, I will be discussing some self-health tips I have learned from personal experience, books, and medical professional advice I have received. On April 1st, I started a discussion on how mental health is no joke. Last week, I was sharing what the health is wrong with me including my invisible genetic and autoimmune disabilities. This week, I am discussing what the health is right with me to shed light on the positive aspects of my health journey.
My Health is My Wealth
Having time off work has been the best cure for my health. Although the disability income is limited, I still feel that my overall well-being makes me incredibly wealthy. My chronic disabilities I mentioned last week also limit what I can do, but my body and mind are free from the stresses that work can cause.
My Mental Health has Improved
Since 2018 when I first started on my disability path, I have been seeing several mental health experts for about 15 years. During that time, I had three mental health breakdowns while at work as a teacher, the last two leaving me so paralyzed I could not complete the last two months of the school year. After the third breakdown, I knew I had to find alternative methods other than medications (psychiatry) and talk therapy (psychology), so I started on my self-help journey that led me to several authors who have helped me drastically change my life. You can find them mentioned throughout my health Saturday’s blog posts.
My Physical Health has Improved
Past Physical Health Problems
Since I was very young, I have had chronic pain in my upper thoracic area where my spine adjusts itself constantly leaving the muscles sore and my body fatigued. Also when I was younger, my ankles would sprain and break just about every year from 1 to 15. In high school, I started strength training and that improved the health of my entire body.
Present Physical Health Problems
In my 30’s and 40’s, I started pulling muscles in my legs and my knees would constantly give out making it difficult to walk or stand. This is when I sought to find out what disability could be causing all my pain and angst. Then, I found Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome hypermobility type 3 (EDS/hEDS) to be the contributing cause along with arthritis that ultimately enabled me to go on disability. While my physical disabilities will never improve, I have been able to reduce pain and injuries, and maintain better physical health.
My Emotional Health has Improved
Several of the self-help books that I have read helped me to find alternatives to improving my overall health through mindfulness of my metaphysical causations of my dis-eases, meditation techniques, forgiveness cleanses, and some physical movements in yoga. I found that healing is a journey to find out who we really are, and we are love. Love is the highest feeling we can endure and share with others, as well as the most powerful healing tool I have found. The more I love myself and others, the more our health flourishes.
Conclusion on What the Health is Right with Me
With my health at its peak performance, I no longer take medications, and I don’t have issues with any type of sickness or disease. Although I do still deal with chronic pain from my genetic disability, I am able to manage it much better with assistive devices, time off work, and careful physical activities. Some of the activities I can still do for exercise include working out with resistance bands, water aerobics, and swimming.
Thank you for reading. I am praying for your health. Sending you extra love, light, and peace.
Dr. Jaime Brainerd, E.d.D.
