Healing from Mild PTSD

Out of our most painful moments can arise the deepest forms of learning. Learning to cope with frequent adrenaline rushes has been one of the most challenging lessons I’ve had to learn so far. The learning went deep and completely transformed my life for the better. If you deal with recurring stressful events, try some of these strategies. You will notice immediate improvements in your ability to bounce back afterward with a clear mind and with energy.

How it all Started

Three years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of our headboard hitting the wall.

Bang!

I woke up and looked at my husband who was sleeping beside me. He looked strange.

His arms were in the air.

He was making weird gurgling noises.

I thought he was having a nightmare. Then I noticed,

he had foam coming out of his mouth.

He was choking.

With a lightning bolt of adrenaline jumped up and used all of my strength to roll him on his side. At this point, he started convulsing violently.

I ran to dial 911 but my cordless phone wasn’t on the base. (I remembered you’re not supposed to dial 911 with a cell phone.)

I decided to grab my iPhone because I couldn’t find the cordless phone.

I found my iPhone but it was out of batteries.

I ran to get a charger, and with a flood of relief, found the cordless phone!

I called 911.

I ran back to my husband and watched him convulse realizing on what a thin strand, our life rests. We had had such a great day and here he was, dying in front of me. I thought it was about to all be over.

Finally he stopped convulsing.

At that point, I stopped thinking he was dying. When he was starting to come around, he couldn’t talk or move his left arm. I thought maybe he had had a stroke.

I watched him with a sinking heart as I realized that he might never be able to write music again. He’s a music producer and musician for a living and loooooooves it. How would he be able to write music without his left arm? No longer facing widowhood, I faced living as the sole provider for my two boys and having a dependent husband.

My world literally felt like it was crashing down around me.

Paramedics arrived and took us to Emergency. After many tests, the Dr.’s told us that he had had a seizure. The force of his muscles contracting has broken his shoulder; hence, the inability to move his arm. By this time, a few hours later, he was talking again as well. The Dr.’s said that everyone is allowed “one free seizure” before it gets taken more seriously and they advised that he cut down on his stress. They told us that it’s actually quite common for people to have one seizure in their life. We left the ER, stunned but hopeful.

Two months later, I awoke to another bang and series of thumps.

I bolted out of bed in a blast of adrenaline to find him having another seizure, this time on the floor, in a pool of blood.

He had gotten up to use the washroom and on his way back to bed, had a seizure, hit a bookshelf on his way down, and continued with two grand-mal seizures.

Again… 911. More fear. More tests. Deeper sadness. This wasn’t going away.

The adrenaline continued that year.

• My car hit a pitchfork on the freeway which almost sent myself and my children spiralling across four lanes of traffic.
• My cousin delivered her first baby, who was stillborn. The event shattered my heart with grief as I recalled the loss of my three miscarriages that I had had several years prior.
• My car caught on fire on the freeway and I had to jump out of a burning car in the HOV lane to get my children out of the back seat.
• We all got a raging case of head lice (something I had been afraid of my whole life)
• Our savings ran out in the blink of an eye as we searched for ways for him to heal, and recognized that he was only capable of working about 30%
• He also wasn’t able to watch the children anymore or drive. Everything fell on my shoulders.
• All the while my husband was having grand-mal seizures every 5 weeks.

The Effects of such High Stress

I was choking on adrenaline. Every time there is a strange sound in the night, I bolt out of bed. Ready.

The adrenaline rushes were completely wrecking me. I was already eating gluten-free and dairy free but eating loads of fat. Before I learned to eat better (the way I offer in this website) I got pneumonia, bronchitis, SIBO, gastritis, a sinus infection, and several cavities all back-to-back and within an 8 month period.

I was also so sick with stress, that I didn’t realize that I should be taking time off of work.

This also left me with severe brain fog (I drove for two months in the winter snow without remembering to renew my car insurance, and accidentally ran a red light on two different occasions with my kids in the car.)

I also was left with adrenal fatigue. No matter what happened that was even mildly stressful, my body was going into full-body adrenaline rushes (even if I was two minutes late meeting a friend for coffee.) My hair was thinning.

I started having horrible nightmares where I would bolt up in bed, gasping. Just like in the movies.

It wasn’t until I saw a good friend of mine who is a holistic nutritionist post on Instagram about a guy named Anthony Williams that my situation shifted. I decided to check him out. I ordered the healer’s first book and cried as I read it. I hadn’t even realized at that time that I had pretty severe brain fog, mild forms of PTSD, and adrenal fatigue. A trip to the naturopath confirmed this.

Aside from the car incidences and the death of my newborn relative, to this day, my husband has grand-mal seizures about every five weeks. Every time he seizes, I face death. I face widowhood. I face raising my boys on my own. I face losing the love of my life.

Every time is traumatic. I needed to figure out a way to heal within such a stressful context. The big question was:

How on EARTH would I start healing while taking care of my husband and children, with no one to take care of me?!

Here’s how I learned to cope.

How to Heal: What to eat

Adrenaline saves our lives, but it also burns through our bodies. Vitamin C soothes the burning action of adrenaline in the body. Everyday, I take a double and sometimes quadruple dose of Vitamin C. (Vitamin C is water soluble so whatever you don’t absorb, your body can easily eliminate.) I personally love a pure Liposomal C, Ester-C, or the Garden of Life Vitamin C. If you are looking for a good Vitamin C, make sure you find one without citric acid or natural flavourings.

Our body needs glucose to be able to heal from adrenaline. Eating fruit, raw honey, and potatoes is a huge help. Honey heals as your body uses the glucose to heal itself. Potatoes also help by grounding us. (Sometimes lots of stress can leave us feeling flighty and tense.) Berries, Mangoes, and Citrus fruits especially seem to uplift the spirit and help us adapt. I read about these tips in Anthony William’s book Life-Changing Foods: Save Yourself and the Ones you Love with the Hidden Healing Powers of Fruits and Vegetables (2016) and have experienced these healing effects first hand.

On the day after witnessing a big seizure, experiencing an adrenaline rush, or receiving shocking news, I now drink extra celery juice, avoid all fats (so the liver doesn’t need to make bile that day), and eat TONS of mangoes, oranges, bananas, and berries. These light foods are full of nutrition, super easy to digest, and give the body everything it needs to heal. There’s a reason that we go for sweet food when we’ve been shocked with bad news: we need the sugar. Only, we don’t need highly-processed white sugar. What are bodies are longing for is sugar from fruits and honey.

How to Heal: Where to go

Being in nature acts like a healing balm on all tension. It soothes the soul and mind in every way. Do not underestimate this step in healing from trauma! Looking at the sunset, sitting by the ocean, listening or watching waves, going to the garden, listening to the birds chirping, sitting by a fire, watching the moon every evening, or finding yourself among big trees are all incredibly soothing. This is one of the easiest steps to grounding yourself but often gets overlooked because of its simplicity. Trauma can leave you feeling scattered and flighty but time in nature (away from crowds) stills the heart and dramatically helps. I don’t know where I would be if I wouldn’t have been able to spend time outside regularly. Wild, natural spaces heal us from every direction.

I am lucky to live in the Pacific Northwest and have no reserved my summers especially as a time to sleep in a tent in old growth forests where the trees seem to dissipate my tension. Or I tent in the arid areas of B.C. with the bright, hot, healing sunlight that seems to dry up and purify the emotions from any residual effects from trauma. Every year, we tent for longer and longer times. If it’s warm enough, there are also studies that physically show the grounding effect that nature can have on us when we stand outside with our shoes off. Our blood actually circulates better when we stand barefoot on sand or soil.

Slash your social schedule. As someone who was working full-time, taking on the full load of parenting so my husband could heal from his seizures, I needed to carve out non-existent time for me to get outside and rest. I basically stopped seeing everyone or making any plans. Every day, I tried my best to get out for a walk, or to sit outside by a tree. The best part is that children intuitively know that these spaces are healing and love going to them.

Some places will be so especially healing that you may want to try this meditation. In a particularly beautiful and peaceful place, stand still and vividly imagine roots coming out the bottoms of your feet. Imagine the roots from your feet intertwining with the incredible network of roots already beneath your feet and attached to all the trees and scene that you are looking at. Stand and “see” your connection with that place. Drink in the view and the feeling of standing there. Smell the air. Feel your roots completely connected with the space underneath you. When you need to leave, remember that your roots are there. So later in the week, or month, or year, when you’re in a place where you aren’t able to to outside (triggered in some way), remember your roots. Go back to that place in your imagination and remember your roots there. It is one of the most powerful ways to feel instantly peaceful again. I developed this practice in my youth and have been practicing it for about ten years, but then I read about almost this exact same practice in Anthony William’s first book! The land is here to heal us!

How to heal: What else you can try

In the days following a huge adrenaline rush, the body has enough to deal with so I make sure to rest lots and avoid any foods or supplements that are intended for detoxing. The most healing time to sleep is from 10pm-2am so try to get to bed by 9:30 if you’re feeling symptomatic from stress.

The Bach Flower Remedy “Star of Bethlehem” or the “Rescue Remedy” is incredible at healing trauma. I don’t know how, but there is a big difference in my healing time when I use Star of Bethlehem and when I don’t use it. I was kind of skeptical when I first heard of Bach Flower Remedies but my cousin in Austria ended up in Emergency and she was given Rescue Remedy to cope with the shock she was facing. I figured if it was being used in hospitals in Austria, that it must be backed by science.

Minerals, Multi-vitamins, Lemon Balm, Passion Flower, Herbal Teas were the most helpful edible supplements I took.

Sunshine is also important so when summer rolls around: get out in the sun and drink up those rays!

As you start to heal from trauma, you may start to feel a surge of creativity. Go for it! There is a certain peace that comes from self-expression. In the winter following my husband’s health crash when I started to eat properly and get outside regularly, I started painting watercolours and painted over 300 paintings in three months. Watching the colours bleed into the paper was profoundly calming. I know friends who engage in other forms of art though to self regulate: photography, dance, writing, poetry, singing, weaving, etc.

These are just a few of the most significant ways that I have healed from mild PTSD, adrenal fatigue, brain fog, and all of the digestive issues that came from being so stressed out all the time. My teeth have also started to rebuild themselves! there is so much advice out there about how to find peace and how to restore (i.e. yoga, stretching) but many of them don’t include the powerful healing offered to us by being outside in natural surroundings. I encourage you to find methods that work for you and keep them ready at hand for when you need them. What I offer here is not a complete list rather the items in my medicine basket that I use time and time again.