Nine years ago, my world was crushed. My tooth pain turned into a series of misdiagnoses with the final result as Trigeminal Neuralgia the “suicide disease.” A pain that cannot be described in words a pain that penetrates through every cell in your body, a pain I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemies.
NO answers only investigative brain procedures, high dose medications were the path given to me. Until something magical happened and I became pregnant and Leila Speranza was born. Then the pain subsided and no more drugs and I cancelled a neurosurgery procedure that I was dreading. Ultimately going into remission during pregnancy, my questions started to get more intense and I started to ask “why?” Unfortunately, the pain started to come back but this time I needed more answers, my constant statement was that my body was able to fix itself so there is obviously something wrong and now we need to find out what.
I was healthy, wasn’t I? I had no other conditions that could help my treatment plan. But all the symptoms that I was dealing for most of my life such as gastrointestinal discomforts, random migraines including ocular, and a few other “unconnected” symptoms started me on the path of functional medicine.
I started with one book then another and then it became countless, with two very young children and an intense schedule without friends and family. I streamlined everything, no social media, nothing that would reduce my focus. I journaled everything in my diet and my daily activities. I would fill every extra minute of my day to look at foods, supplements, and lifestyle modifications that would lead me to where I am now. I received top notch health advice from practitioners that believed in my quest to figure out why this happened to me and how I can fix it. At one point I was given the diagnosis of post-traumatic growth.
And here I stand with more understanding of others pain. I want to succeed and better myself not for me but for others. I want others to “see” things are possible. I always said that if I can inspire one person to start their journey of improving their health and give hope then my job has been done. If I can reach farther than one then my mission will go farther than I would even have imagined. I have been pain-free for about 6 years now, and I promised myself during the beginning of my journey that I have NO excuses to not be able to conquer anything else in my life. Everything has a purpose and that is the most real lesson I have lived through.
