Colostrum Update & Homeopathy Study Group

First - an update on our Anovite Colostrum6 30-day challenge.

The first thing we noticed was that we were all pretty, um, well, "gassy". I am not sure why that is but I think it might have something to do with it being a powerful probiotic and we were experiencing some die off. I have had that happen before with Kombucha, homemade sauerkraut and even Probiotic supplements. So that didn't surprise me. A dose or two of Nux Vomica and this was gone fairly quickly.

Other reactions we experienced were:

I had same reactions that I have with dairy: itching all over and some constipation (sorry for personal info). This was when taking a small amount once a day. I took the remedy Bovista and Lycopodium (a combo for food intolerance) and this almost immediately "fixed" these reactions.

My youngest had a mysterious rash on her back that I am not sure was related to the Colostrum6. I sprayed Young Living's Lavaderm spray (my answer for almost all things skin) on her back and in 2 days it was gone.

One surprising thing happened. My oldest daughter experienced little to no reaction at all. I was totally surprised at this. This was so encouraging to this Mama's heart who thought she damaged her kiddos beyond repair with the antibiotics, ibuprofen, Tylenol, C-section, and bottle feedings.... There is hope!

The problem with the 30 day challenge - we had a cross country vacation planned during the middle of it and we seriously didn't want to experience any irritating itch, painful bloating, stinky air or anything else while we were stuck in the car together enjoying family time while we traveled across the country. So we put the challenge on hold.

I will definitely keep you updated on what happens from here.

My 2nd announcement is that I am going to lead an online Homeopathy Study Group in October!!

Yay!!! This is one of my passions and I just really want people to understand what homeopathy is and how you can really heal the common ailments that plague your family with these tiny white pellets. I know there are others like me that hate going to the doctor for every fever, ear infection, headache, belly ache, etc... You can truly be set free from the germy immediate care center!!

     Class information:
     Fridays and Tuesdays from 7-8:00 pm Central Time 
     Starting Tuesday, 10/3 for 4 classes 
         Classes will be 10/3, 10/6, 10/9, 10/13
     Cost $30 total for all 4 classes
   
You will also need to purchase  Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicine  (by Stephen Cummings and Dana Ullman) ahead of time for the class since this will be the book of reference and I don't want to infringe on any copyrights.

Bonus: You will be grandfathered into any future homeopathy study groups that I hold for free after paying for the initial class.

Payments can be sent via paypal to edsiefker@yahoo dot com. Please also email me at drsiefker@gmail dot com to confirm the email you would like to use for the class information and to let me know that the payment has been sent (so I know to look for it).

The class will cover some of the following items:

I have been using homeopathy for a couple of years now and have nearly eliminated the need to go to the doctor for myself and my family (and we were at the doctor all the time before). I have witnessed how powerful these little white pellets are and love that I can treat our family's acute illnesses at home and I am extremely passionate about teaching others to do the same.

One note: I am a Christian and my faith plays a big part in everything I do. I am sure it will come into the conversation and want to anyone aware of it ahead of time.

Also, I am not a doctor and this is in no way an attempt to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. You should always consult your primary physician before changing any prescribed medication. This is merely an educational study group to learn more about homeopathy.

Feel free to email me at drsiefker@gmail dot com if you have any questions.

30 Day Challenge - Colostr-YUM

Our family is taking on a new challenge.

It is a Colostrum challenge.

For 30 days, we will take this daily and "see what happens".

What is colostrum you ask?

If you are a mother, you probably heard about colostrum before you had your first baby.

This perfect gift begins with the formation of life itself. Colostrum is a food produced by mothers, it is not milk, but precedes milk production. Colostrum’s benefits are fine-tuned by nature to deliver increased immune efficiency, metabolism support, tissue repair and regeneration.

My daughters and myself are allergic to milk. We have been told we can take this product without any allergic reaction since it is not an actual milk product. I am praying this is true.

It contains these wonderful health promoting agents (plus more):

Immunoglobulins

Also called antibodies, work on pathogens.

Thymosin

Composed of two protein-based chains, known as alpha or beta chains, which are separately present in bovine colostrum. The chains act on the thymus gland independently or stimulate activation, development and maintenance of the immune system.

Proline -rich polypeptide (PRP)

Helps regulate the immune system, keeping it in balance between under- and over- activity this can be extremely beneficial for those with Autoimmune diseases.

Leptin

A small hormone-like protein that can suppress appetite and lead to body weight reduction.

Enzyme inhibitors

Also known as “permeability factor,” are actually small proteins that slow down or inhibit the enzymatic breakdown of proteins. They provide protection to the immune, growth and metabolic factors as they pass through the digestive tract.

Insulin-like Growth factor (IGFSF)

The complete family of naturally occurring growth factors that functions like the captain of a ship, triggering the events that activate cell growth and reproduction, protein synthesis, and the release of energy (glucose metabolism).

Our family has dealt with the following issues:

acid reflux, food allergies, eczema, irritable bowel syndrome, auto-immune disorders, underactive thyroid, chronic inflammation and pain, migraines, leaky gut, vertigo, mood disorders.... 

I would really like for our guts to heal and our immune systems to be balanced.

How about you? Do you suffer from any of these conditions ? If you are interested in joining our challenge, go to Anovite to find out more information.

You will have the option to purchase the product at either the retail price or wholesale (think Costco) with a yearly membership fee.

But for now, you can just follow along vicariously through our journey and see if it is all they claim it to be. 

{{ fingers crossed }}

I have to say that I'm a bit nervous. So is my darling hubs. He made a funny face when I asked if he would join along. But he is so supportive and encouraging that he is willing to try it out with me and our daughters.

** Update **

We received our product - and the crowd goes wild!!!!!!!! Well, some for different reasons. I cannot say that my daughters are sold on the idea yet. ha !

I forgot to mention that one of the allergies we have is to dairy. My youngest daughter and I had a bit of a reaction (nothing violent) after taking the first 1/4 tsp, so we are starting MUCH slower now.

Since it is such a wonderfully rich probiotic, I would suggest anyone to start slow. My hubs and other daughter seem to be tolerating it just fine, so they will take 1/4 tsp 2 x daily this week and start to ramp up to the 1/2 tsp. My youngest and I are taking a pinch at a time (I am taking it more than she is because I think it is SUPER yummy). I am hoping our bodies will adjust and we will be able to increase our intake.

I'll keep you posted on affects soon.

Here's to our health!

Our Healthcare Choice

In our home, we use a lot of natural methodologies in order to keep our bodies healthy.

We take a lot of Vitamin C and Vitamin D.
We eat a lot of fruits and veggies.
We get exercise.
We use essential oils (Young Living is our preferred brand).
We try to eliminate all chemicals in our environment.
We love elderberry syrup made with raw, local honey.

But sometimes, we still get injured or sick.

We do not take antibiotics.

We do not take ibuprofen.

We do not take Tylenol.

We definitely do not take steroids.

Our choice for healthcare in the situation where we are injured (not critically) is homeopathy.

Our choice for healthcare in the situation of a sickness is also homeopathy.

Homeopathy is the idea that "like cures like". It is the treatment of disease by minute doses of natural substances that in a healthy person would produce symptoms of disease.

So the symptoms for an overdose of Beladonna are:

headache; nausea; vomiting; dry mouth; difficulty swallowing; blurred vision; dilated pupils; hot, dry skin; dizziness; drowsiness; confusion; anxiety; seizures; weak pulse; and an irregular heartbeat.

So when someone in our family has one of these symptoms (from a known or even unknown cause) like a throbbing headache we will take a Beladonna 30c homeopathic remedy. This is a very minute dose and will, usually within minutes, take away the symptoms of the throbbing headache. If the case is severe, a second dose may be needed, but that is rare.

The symptoms of Arsenic poisoning include

vomiting, abdominal pain, encephalopathy, and watery diarrhea that contains blood. Long-term exposure can result in thickening of the skin, darker skin, abdominal pain, diarrhea, heart disease, numbness, and cancer.

So when we have symptoms that match these - like food poisoning - we will take the homeopathic remedy Arsenicum Album 200c. This will bring about a quick, full recovery of all the symptoms.

I actually took this remedy this week. I was having a very noisy tummy with a lot of cramping and, well, let's just say "bathroom issues" from an unknown cause. I took one dose of Arsenicum Album 30c and felt better within 15 minutes.

If you are interested in learning more about homeopathy, please watch for more resources coming soon.

Also coming soon will be an online class on how to strengthen your immune system naturally before the upcoming cold and flu season.

To make a long {health} story short....shorter

Ok, so I could totally drag our health story / journey on and on (kind of like the wonderful story of the Hobbit going on and on for 3 very long movies), so I'll condense it a little.

Dairy

Dairy from a cow is a wonderful gift from God, especially raw, unpasteurized milk. It is a blessing unless you're allergic to it, which it turns out myself and my daughters both are allergic. This allergy was the cause of all the pain (and turns out itching from eczema) I experienced for years. We did a 30 day challenge and did not even need to wait the entire time. It. Was. Obvious. Dairy had to go. That was a learning curve (especially 10 years ago when things were not labeled as well as they are now).

Cancer

I. Hate. Cancer. Everything. About. It. But blessings do sometimes come through the storms of life and the cancer journey we took with my Dad had lasting effects on our lives. One huge thing we learned is that it matters what you eat, whether you are battling cancer or just wanting to fuel your body the best way possible. Veggies matter. Lots of them. The more colorful the better. Artificial anything is bad.

Gluten

Oh the smell of yeast filled bread baking in the oven or a yummy banana quick bread baking on a cold winter day. It is heavenly, again, unless you're allergic, which it turned out my youngest is highly allergic to gluten. We learned that it does NOT matter if the allergist and dermatologist both tell you that the horrible eczema on your daughter's face is not caused by a gluten allergy - it can be. They don't know everything (but they will send you a bill which makes it seem like they think they do). We eliminated gluten, the eczema went away. I eliminated gluten in my own diet and I was able to go off thyroid medication and stopped having horrible abdominal pains. My other daughter went off gluten and she stopped having so many headaches and throwing up for no reason. So gluten is so super yummy as long as you are not allergic.

Probiotics and Immunity

One of the most devastating things I learned was how important it truly is to have a vaginal birth and to breastfeed your babies (of which I did neither for my daughters). My babies were both C-sections (one emergency and the other by choice because a VBAC scared me to death). Because of this my daughters had terrible immune systems. That was compounded by the constant ear infections as babies which meant several rounds of antibiotics for their little bodies. Their immune systems were shot. It is no wonder they caught every cold and virus that came through our community.

But now, after several years of learning more and more, we are stronger. The Lord has been gracious and prepared my mind to be in a place where I was open to "alternative" healing. We have tried acupuncture / acupressure, chiropractic care, essential oils, supplements, cleanses, and more.

There are so many wonderful benefits from those healthy choices, but for true healing, there is one methodology that has proven to out do them all.

What is it?

You'll find out in my next post.

Stay tuned.

Our Medical Journey

Migraines

Eczema

Ear Infections

Sinus Infections

Strep Throat

Vertigo

Food Allergies

Constipation

Diarrhea

Food Intolerances

Chemical Allergies

Seasonal Allergies

Joint Pain

Nerve Damage

Raynaud's Phenomenon

Hypothyroidism

Fatigued Adrenals

Brain Fog

Severe Fatigue

Gall Stones

Appendicitis

Ovarian Cysts


Do any of those sound familiar in your life? This is a list of the conditions that we face or have faced in our family. The way that we face these challenges has changed a LOT over the years and I would love to share part of our journey with you in an effort to encourage you to ask questions for your own health. Just because someone with initials after their names says something does not mean that we just do whatever they say.

Sometimes they suggest what they "think" is best. Sometimes different doctors have different opinions.

Our bodies are more complicated than modern medicine knows how to address.

I never used to even question what the pediatrician or doctor told me to do. So what changed?

My eyes were opened, unfortunately my children have suffered at the hands of my ignorance. Now we are taking our lives back.

Step #1 in our journey happened when I was pregnant with my first born. I was sick. I had horrible pain. At one of the numerous visits to the OBGYN (and I really loved my doctor and trusted her completely), I asked her about it. She said she didn't know what it could be.

So my medical career on google began. {I know you're laughing because you're guilty too}

What did I discover? Great advice! Track what I was eating with the pain and see if a fatty meal triggered the pain. Well that was easy since I love, love, love ice cream.

Boom! That was it. That meant there was a high possibility that it was gall stones, a common ailment in pregnancy because of the changes in hormones.

Another visit to the OB. She gave me some painkillers to take when the "attacks" hit. Then she sent me to a surgeon who suggested the issues may go away after having the baby.

So the last two months of pregnancy I just endured with little to no fat. It was a little like torture, especially since I also turned 30 in that time - no cake, no ice cream. Boo!

Back to the story.

To skip over the boring bits, I'll summarize. My baby girl was born via emergency c-section. I was so worried she would be deprived on my boring diet, especially since I was losing a pound a week instead of gaining. Nope. She was covered in rolls and weighed over 8 lbs.

The pain did not go away and 4 weeks later I had my gall bladder removed.

The end. The pain went away and I felt great!

Oh I wish that were the end. I had all the same pain, and now the pains from 2 surgeries. It was horrible. I was in a very low place. When I called the surgeon and told him, he said to keep taking the Percocets. What? I was a mom with a newborn and needed to get back to work soon {I was still working out of the home at that time}. I cannot keep taking strong pain killers.

So I just dealt with the pain. A lot of pain.

2 years later. I found relief.

But in the mean time, I had to learn what it meant to be an advocate for my new baby.

Stay tuned for the next part of our journey...

Best Spring 2017 Reading

I love learning, therefore, I love books.

One of my favorite things to read are inspirational biographies. This is what I read or listened to lately that I think would enrich your life as well.

The Insanity of God
This book starts with Nik Ripken's personal testimony and how he and his family came to live on the mission field in Kenya and Somaliland (which is heartbreaking). After some tragedy, he begins to question how people can endure under such persecution. How can this possibly further the Kingdom of God? So he goes on a quest to interview different people and groups who have lived under such persecution and ask them how and why they survived.  What a page turner! This book is full of heartbreak, but also such beauty rising from the ashes. In my opinion, it is a must read for all who live in the blessing of a free society who struggle to even comprehend what it is like to live under persecution.



The Boys in the Boat

This is a secular book that documents the story of the boys, particularly one young man, who competed in the Olympics in Nazi Germany. It switches back and forth between the story of the young men and a historical look at the politics of that time period. I listened to the audiobook (and the narrator was fantastic) and found myself at the edge of my seat during the race scenes. This is a wonderfully inspiring book of tenacity and great strength.





A Thousand Miles to Freedom
This is a heart wrenching tale of a young girl born in communist North Korea. The descriptions of the despair and hunger under this tyrannical government is hard to even fathom. Living in the free USA, we cannot imagine a government willing withholding food and starving the people to death. Hungry people are more easily controlled, I suppose. But this family makes the hard decision to find freedom. They endure the physically and emotionally painful journey of sneaking out of North Korea. What an amazingly, true tale of endurance in the face of political oppression.




Amos Fortune, Free Man
This was a book that I read with my daughters in our homeschooling year. This was an interesting story of a free black man living in the times of slavery in America. We don't hear of this happening very often, but there were some free Africans living here. He was a strong, hard-working, thoughtful man living in a difficult, primitive time and his story is definitely award winning.





What have you read lately? Anything worth sharing? Please leave a comment below and let me know what I should add to my book list for summer.

Another change of direction

Going - In Faith

One other big change has been where we live.

God has directed our family to move to another state, hundreds of miles from where we called home our entire lives. Neither my husband nor I have ever lived out of state. We did move away from our respective hometowns, but we were close enough for birthday parties, family visits, holidays, etc.

But we both felt the tug on our hearts to step out in faith. It took 3 years for it all to become clear and a reality. We moved to a town where we knew no one. We weren't able to even identify a church we would attend before we moved (which we did not feel comfortable with).

But God {two of my favorite words}...

God is not only good, He is generous and gracious.

He directed us to a house on a quiet street with wonderful neighbors.

He directed us to a church just a few minutes from our house (we are still pushing the limit for getting there on time, though. Some things never change - ha!). 

He has grown our faith and trust in Him in ways that cannot be described.

This has all been a wonderful testimony for our children. They have been witnesses to how scary it can be to move states away, but how wonderful it can be to trust in God.

Have you ever stepped out in faith like this? Comment below and tell me about it. I'd love to share in the beautiful way God has directed your steps as well.

Blessings

A new direction

I have not posted in a while and many things have changed in my life. One of the biggest changes is our family's transition from conventional, allopathic medical treatments to more of a natural, holistic and homeopathic lifestyle.

Soon....

Very soon...

I will start posting about the different things that have worked so well for our family.

Why would I take the time to do this? I mean to each his own, right?

I believe our nation is full of sick people. They don't even realize it.

They are eating "food" that isn't really "food".

They are using medications that just suppress symptoms and never heal.

They live in chronic pain.

Our children will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. Our children are being diagnosed with cancers, autoimmune disorders, anxiety, neurological disorders.... and the list goes on.

I believe there is an entire generation that has been robbed of a quality life because they do not know how to nourish their bodies.

As a Mom, it especially breaks my heart when I see how this affects the children.

So be watching for encouraging ways to move you and your family to a more natural, wholesome, healing way of living.