(This is a picture of me on a trip to Ecuador, July 2013. If you're interested in reading part #1, you'll learn about the Shaman and my connection to him.)
In 2004, just as I was about to turn 33 years old, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. This is an autoimmune disease that doesn’t have a recognized known cause or cure. What is known is that something goes “wrong” with immune system functioning and it starts to attack and eat-away the coverings on nerves.
This often equates to loss of physical function. Sometimes the loss of function will be restored and sometimes the loss will remain permanent.
This is definitely a disease where there are more questions than answers.
There are prescription drugs that are recommended and prescribed but not many long term studies related to how effective the drugs actually are.
In fact, the 2 long-term studies that have been carried out in North America suggest that the drugs don’t provide any long-term benefits. When people with MS were tracked over a 25 year time period, those in the group who decided to take the drugs had no difference in number or severity of attacks when compared to people who chose not to take the drugs. There was also no difference in loss of function. With or without the drugs, people ended up being in the same condition after 25 years with the disease.
This is not how these prescribed drugs are spun. People are led to believe that by taking the prescription drugs, they will have fewer attacks. The attacks are promised not to be as severe and any loss of function will be greatly reduced. The drugs lower the ability of the immune system to work.
Over time, the common side-effect shared by all of these immuno-suppressant drugs is the development of other auto-immune diseases.
So, over the next 3 years I changed my eating lifestyle to a lower carb –style but, I was still eating grains and starches, like potato and rice.
I didn’t take any drugs. It didn't make sense to me to lower my immune response plus, have to handle the impact of the immediate side-effects of the drugs and then risk getting another autoimmune disease.
I had 2 additional attacks.
First, I lost my eye-sight in my right eye and was pronounced as being legally blind in that eye by my Ophthalmologist.
Over a few months, my eye-sight fully returned.
The next year, the same thing happened in my left eye.
Then in 2007, I found out about a man, named Rick Simpson, who was successfully using cannabis to heal people who had been sent home from the hospital to die with stage four cancers.
He was making full extract cannabis oil and giving it, for free, to anyone who asked him for it.
People were eating it and getting better. Rick made a video documentary and posted it on YouTube. It’s called “Run from the Cure.” I watched it and it contained all the directions to make the extract so, that’s exactly what I did.
Then, I started reading everything I could about cannabis. It was really a challenge to find people who could and would give you accurate, scientific information. I read every day and I built-up my cannabis knowledge.
I didn’t have a medical cannabis license but I took my chances. I ate the oil illegally for 7 years.
I haven’t had an MS attack since I started eating cannabis every day.
About 5 years ago, I stopped eating all grains, white potatoes and rice and adopted a Paleolithic eating lifestyle.
A year ago, our Canadian government changed and so did the laws around medical cannabis.
Previously, it was taking approximately a year to get a Health Canada sanctioned, medical cannabis license,... if you could find a doctor who was willing to help.
Overnight, the process was fast-tracked and it was only taking about 10 days.
With this change, a not-for profit, medical cannabis resource centre chain also started to develop.
Locations opened up right across Canada and were called Marijuana for Trauma. The resource centres were created to help people get their medical cannabis licenses. In addition, all the volunteers who spend time there educate and teach people how to successfully integrate medical cannabis into their lifestyles. One of these resource centres opened up in the same area as my massage therapy clinic.
I quickly decided to apply for my medical cannabis license and once in hand, I came out of the cannabis closet.
Now, I often volunteer my time in the resource centre and I teach people about cannabis medicine in my own clinic. I have helped over 100 people successfully use medical cannabis, the youngest is 15 and the oldest is 82. It’s powerful plant medicine and restores balance and health in the human body.