When my daughter was two years old, she woke up one morning with a mass the size of a golfball on the side of her neck.

I panicked, as any parent would, threw her and my then four year old son in the car and drove straight to the doctor. She had been sick for a week or so, complaining of ear pain and coming in and out of fevers hovering up around 104.5 °F.

I had already brought her in to be checked two times earlier that week because I just felt like they were missing something.

Turns out, I was right.

I will never forget the doctor who brushed me off like a hypochondriac and overprotective mother. He sent us on our way with a speech about viruses and how these types of fevers were common, blah blah blah. I knew that what he was saying was true. But I knew something else from my gut which was screaming at me that there was trouble brewing in her little body.

Light bulb moment number one.

Listen to my gut, and don’t worry about what other people think.

About fur days into IV antibiotics, without getting better, they confirmed that my daughter had somehow gotten an infection caused by antibiotic resistant ). In case you don’t know what that is, it is basically an antibiotic resistant superbug. They rushed her into surgery, gave her more meds and she survived.

How the heck does a two year old get something like that?

Light bulb moment number two. Random, crazy sh*t happens.

A few months later, another infection reared its ugly head, same MRSA, different place. There we were again, back in the hospital with more needles and high octane antibiotics. I realized that this thing was going to follow us around until we learned how to fix it, and build her up so that her body could fight.

How can we avoid this? No one, including the doctors, had any answers.

Light bulb moment number three. Doctors don’t know everything.

After much research into different herbal and alternative therapies I started to see the human body a little differently.

I began to see the human body as an unbelievably highly sophisticated self-healing organism which regenerates new cells every second. I realized that we literally, cell by cell, are not the same person we were a year ago. Crazy, right?

Light bulb moment number four. People can, and do, change.

I tried different things and ended up creating an herbal paste which healed her infections and began mixing and including more immunity boosting foods into her diet, like turmeric and dark leafy greens. I added antioxidants, like blueberries and cherries, to help her body get rid of toxins. I made sure she had enough water to flush out her system, sleep so she had time to heal and fresh air to raise her spirit. I tried everything I could to make her strong and give her the immune boost she needed to get better.

This amazing organism—which is our body—is capable of sending us all the signals and information we need to heal, if we take the time to get curious, listen and try new things.

Give your body proper nutrition, friendships, love, sound sleep and exercise and it can eventually bring itself back around to health.

Trust your gut and don’t be afraid to try things and expand your mind into new ways of doing things. Sometimes there is a place for antibiotics and surgeries and doctors and sometimes it is just as important to tune in and find alternative ways to heal.

~

Relephant:

6 Reasons My Family Doesn’t Get Sick! 

Author: Liza Curtis

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: flickr/J.K.Califf