Without health, everything else pales in comparison. Faith and mental fortitude are key.
I’ve suffered debilitating migraines since childhood. I recall the countless times I was violently sick as a very small kid. By the time I was 7, I learned I had scoliosis. I’m not the type to dwell on sickness and what you can’t do. I just do. As a matter of fact I was very active and was always outside! But there are times when you cannot move forward and all semblance of a normal life seems to pass by. This has been the case for me on and off.
My intention for every fresh new year was to make a noticeable, positive change in several areas of my life. A big one being my health! Because without this it’s impossible for me to move forward in other areas of my life. I simply spend a lot of time sick.
I’ve spent countless days in bed looking longingly out my window at the beautiful days that I couldn’t go out to enjoy. Before I was keto, that same window remained tightly shut with curtains drawn as I would spend days down with migraine. I had so much nausea and vomiting that I couldn’t even keep water down. This of course led to more pain and it hurt just to breathe. Migraines are not just headaches. You get them in your body and actually have strange symptoms days before the attacks. I learned that keto increases or enhances GABA which calms the brain. This is part of the reasons it helps with conditions like epilepsy.
Keto also helped the inflammation and pain throughout my body.
As I age, the scoliosis that I have contorts my fascia and twists my spine and this produces more problems. It affects the organs,digestion, and even breathing. Currently my left knee is very swollen and painful and it just adds to my limitations.

Before I started the keto diet, I walked awkwardly with a cane. Many times I resorted to a walker because I hurt so bad. On my worst days I hurt so much that I only got up to use the bathroom and even that was torture. I hated it and to exist was grievous. My mind was (and is) very young with so many plans and adventures that I wanted to do, yet my life was limited to a miserable existence. I was addicted to countless opioid medications and had no idea how to stop them and I certainly tried. They only took the edge off my pain and fear crept into my mind as I wondered how bad it would hurt without them. But I absolutely hated needing them and having to go to some doctor just to prescribe them but they did nothing to help my health. This didn’t make sense to me. Every time I’d go for a checkup or the many injections or procedures I had done to my spine, I always looked around the waiting room thinking that I didn’t belong there. I was frustrated, angry, and incredibly depressed. This was a little ironic since I was also on a cocktail of antidepressants. Why do many of us wait for crisis to change? I guess that’s what it took for me.
And when I decided to change—-boy did I do a 360!

It was March 2017 and I had been reading about the keto diet (when it’s growth really exploded!). My mind was firmly molded into the 90s fitness era with the ultra low fat way of eating and eating several times a day. So naturally I was a little hesitant about consuming so much fat. I loved to weight train and I can remember passing by my high school gym when it was empty, fervently wanting to try the equipment or pick up a dumb bell! It was 1985 and extremely uncommon for a female to want this. I picked up Muscle and Fitness and Flex magazines often and poured through them. By the time I was 18, I was strength training regularly at home. I had to alter a few things and some movements hurt but you would never know I had such a deformity! Looking back now I believe that this truly aided my mobility.
Back to 2017, I knew what I had to do! I was going to kick all the drugs cold turkey, get back into the gym, and start a ketogenic diet! As usual, many people thought I was being extreme, drastic or that I shouldn’t do that “in my condition “. Everyone truly meant well but I was the one creating my footsteps and I was about to make a great change!
I stay in touch with my mother as she lives in the Czech Republic. I emailed her I told her that if she didn’t hear from me not to worry, because I was going to kick all my prescriptions and I’d surely be in withdrawal. My beautiful daughter, Bianca was 16 at the time and she knew of my plan too. If it wasn’t for her helping me through all the years of sickness, I’d be lost!
I researched the effects of withdrawal to be prepared. Nothing can prepare you. You must have a will and a force to get through it because it was the hardest thing I had ever done. People say it gets better after 4-5 days. Nope. It was 2 weeks before I resembled anything close to better. I still dealt with symptoms of withdrawal 8 months later. I was a legal junkie and didn’t even know it. If my body reacted this way to these awful drugs, imagine the damage done over to 10+ years I was on them. This saddened me but what’s done is done, and I would do better.

After those initial 2 weeks, I started keto! People thought I had no sanity left now. Funny how when you try to do things the right way how that happens. But if you take a pill it’s all good.
By the time April rolled around, I was about a month into withdrawal, I got back in my home gym with regular workouts. It was difficult to say the least but I kept at it every day. I took weekends off. Before I deteriorated, I normally did a half hour of cardio followed by an hour of strength training. What I did then was nothing close to my new workouts, but resembled more rehabilitation or physical therapy. I hobbled from one exercise to the other with my cane and it was painful. Very painful. There is a very fine line between pushing yourself to get better and really hurting yourself to the point where it sets you back days or even weeks. But I persevered and began to see improvements in my mobility within a month. This of course gave me a sense of accomplishment as I learned just how far I could push my body. Today, I no longer use a cane regularly!
I got the hang of the ketogenic diet which felt very confusing to me at the beginning. The 2-week keto flu or the transition people experience lasted 6 weeks for me. Ah if I only had my electrolytes balanced!
Fast forward to present day and I still implement these things into my life. I’ve learned that as much as I have improved, this will be a lifelong experience. I went from curbing migraines 90%! And if I did get an attack it would be no longer than a day whereas before it was 3. Pain and stiffness is much more manageable.

I’d like to express that there can be setbacks. Setbacks that scare you with so much worry but you have to get beyond this. The collaboration of functional medical care with healthy habits results in better outcomes. Currently as I write this, I’ve regressed health-wise a good bit for quite a while now. I’ve lost a considerable amount of muscle and with that my strength as well. My migraines are back with a vengeance. Will this stop me? No. Will I feel that things are hopeless at times? You bet. But you must determine just how long you’re going to draw that out. Feel your emotions. Acknowledge just what a seemingly impossible situation you have and just view it as an obstacle that you will overcome! Bodybuilding in itself is a very mental sport. If you take charge of your mind and control your thoughts, you can do anything! Healthy eating combined with weight bearing exercises can help anyone achieve their goals. Just remember to adjust as you learn and make your way!
I would love to help and be there on your journey.