Wednesday, June 16, 2010

A long time coming....

Welcome to my new blog! I have finally been inspired and pushed enough by amazing friends (gratefully) to start this blog. So where do I start?....I guess it would be sharing with you "the beginning" of this Journey...
Through the last few years I have been on a journey that I NEVER would have expected. For those of you who don't know, one year after having Noah, it also happened to be the time we 'broke free' from ministry and had no other job set up...I started feeling odd. For about a month I would go to bed at 6:30pm, dead tired...thinking I was just feeling the effects of all the stress. It all took a life changing turn when while I was driving with both kids in the car, my legs and arms went numb, my head started spinning and my heart raced...I still believe that the only way I pulled my car over so perfectly and safely was that it wasn't "me" at all....I feel that was the day I really started believing in angels...
Well, gratefully my arms and legs were just a feeling....the numbness lifted and I was able to call the ambulance. After being put on hold for 45 minutes as they tried to figure out which city (I was in between 3) would serve my location, they finally got to me 50 minutes later. I didn't know what was wrong...I thought the worst...my heart? I was really scared...can you just imagine my poor kids? Natalia was 4.
Had tests in the hospital, NOTHING wrong with me. I was sent home with the diagnoses "Panic Disorder" and that I needed to go on some drugs. That was it. I went on drugs and felt like a Zombie. Had three more of these episodes and felt helpless. I still drove...had another episode on the rode and from that day my head went 'wierd'. I've been living with that 'wierd head' for 3 years and fatigue that can be very debilitating on the worst of days. That August it finally came to not being able to drive and it stayed pretty much the same for a year. I stayed on medicines for a time with the promise they would normal out...none of this happened so I got off of them. I went to a few medical doctors, none knowing what to diagnose me with. My blood test showed everything including all hormones, thyroid etc. in the normal range...and that I just needed to relax. Believe me by that time, I was doing nothing but laying in bed hoping that my symptoms would not get worse. I was relaxing. That is the beginning of a long journey. Its been a LONG one. I have so much writing to do to catch you up on 3 years of this journey. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that along with sharing tips and thoughts on health, diet, food, sprituality, life, peace etc etc that this journey has blessed me with and that many of you have asked me to share. Someway I'll get it all in. I'm going to believe that with all the guidance I've received to get me to where I am today, that same guidance will be given to me as I write this blog. I hope to inspire, pay forward everything this journey has taught me so far and hopefully this blog will take a life of its own....Please comment if you have questions, thoughts, ideas...you can email me if you have anything you'd like to keep personal. Love Melanie

3 comments:

  1. Yeah! I'm so glad you took the giant leap (head first) into the blogosphere!!! I am excited to hear about your journey! Love ya girl!!

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  2. Just got around to reading your blog tonight. It's great!!! This brought back some memories...I can remember when that incident happened and you having to take the medication and not being able to drive.

    I'm glad you are doing better and I'm looking forward to reading more of your entries as you post!

    Best,
    Kara

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  3. Melanie,

    I just wanted you to know that I had the same thing happen to me. I was at home when I thought I was having a heart attack. I was in and out of the emergency room for over a week before the right ER doctor took the time to let me know I was suffering from panic attacks. The other ER doctors thought I was on illegal drugs, even though they didn't take the time to test me. I thank God for the doctor that was caring enough to really listen and help.

    The panic attacks came out of no where and 3 years later I am still trying to figure it out. My thyroid tests initially showed nothing wrong. I requested a more in depth test on my thyroid and it came back as hypothyroidism. I am now on a synthetic thyroid pill and will go back in less than a month to see if this is going to help. I am still having panic attacks, but they are not as bad as they once were. I am frustrated with this and hope that soon I will find a way to get past all of this.

    I admire you for writing about it! It is good for the soul and great for others that are having the same issues, but are afraid to talk about it. I hope they know they are not alone!

    Hugs to you, Melanie!!!

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