Dr. Roni’s Story

Many people want to know what my story is.

Well, 15 years ago, I changed my life, not because I was bored or unhappy, but because I was dying - or at least I thought I was. At that time my daughter who is now 19, was 4 years old.

One morning I drove around for an hour looking for her school, which was only two blocks from our house. My daughter knew where the school was and she began to cry and cry because she wanted to go to school. I was very sick. I was so sick, I couldn’t find her school two blocks away.

I had high fevers, night sweats, joint pain, muscle pain, skin inflammations, water retention, even my eyeballs hurt. My pain was so bad that I was committed to bed-rest for a year.

After many doctors, many hospital visits, and being on seven different prescription drugs, I was lost and lonely and sick. I realized I had to do something or I would not see my daughter grow up. So after much encouragement and urging I took my girlfriend’s advice and I went to see a colon therapist. As I entered her office, I had such brain fog I couldn’t remember how to fill out the health assessment form. I didn’t want to admit it, but cleaning my colon made me feel better and I found myself going back to get it cleaned out again and again. Slowly she began to teach me about cleansing the body and I began to learn to eat differently.

My experience led me to an herbalist. He was shocked at my medication list. I had medications for pain, for inflammation; I was taking steroids. When I was put on Prozac I knew the doctors were just guessing; that was when I went on a campaign to save my life. The herbalist said I was so sick I needed to go on baby food. Again I thought he was crazy but …what did I have to lose? He started to slowly wean me off the medications and to teach me about herbs and my digestive system. I followed his advice and my energy improved enough to allow me to function, but my pain and fatigue were still a problem.

Three years later I was feeling better. I had more energy. My fevers were gone. I was in less pain. I knew I was on the right track, the "wellness track," but I still had a long way to go.  I continued my search for the answers to my health issues, which led me to my first naturopathic doctor. In his office I started sobbing like a baby; I couldn’t stop crying because he said to me the very thing I wanted to hear for so many years from so many other doctors, "I can help you." These were the words I’d been searching for; he said again, "You are toxic and I can help you."

The sad and happy truth is that I had to read many books and visit many holistic clinics and many holistic practitioners. This illness was destroying my business, my marriage, my life. Finally, in despair and exhaustion I went to Mexico where I found a holistic hospital that gave me my primary diagnosis – chronic fatigue syndrome (now called CFIDS) and fibromyalgia. Then I knew that I was moving steadily along the wellness track. I was ready to learn as much as I could to save my life. The more I learned, the more excited I became, so I hired an administrator to run my businesses in California where I was operating three nursing homes and I went back to school to become a naturopathic doctor. At first, my motives were driven by my need to get completely well. 

During all this time I was a registered nurse working closely with medical doctors. I received no support on these health choices but instead much criticism from my peers. It took great courage and strength to leave my colleagues; but today many of them are either sick or have passed to the other side. I listened to a tape called "Dead Doctors Don’t Lie" and learned that the average life span of a medical doctor is 56 years. I said to myself, "Something is wrong with this picture!"

I haven’t told this story much. It brings up difficult emotions and brings back painful memories; emotions and memories I’ve learned to bury over the years. But the years of suffering have given me great rewards today, some happy and some more painful to deal with. My passion and my goal, now, is to practice and teach holistic health, through detoxification, healthy eating and an understanding of the human body as it relates to toxins in our world. I am happier than ever before and eager to use my education and experience in this new and wonderful way.

I believe my story of CFIDS and fibromyalgia is one of many stories that are really a part of a whole world book of rising illnesses around the globe: rising cancer rates, rising birth defects, 30 million infertile couples, 5 million kids with asthma, the new explosion of obesity and toxicity in our children. Each year three thousand new chemicals are dumped into our food supply and environment. The health of human beings in our community is no longer the concern of our government; nor are the doctors and hospitals able to solve this crisis. We have to look within ourselves for the causes of our own illness and the cures. We need to educate ourselves in order to know what the body needs. We are in charge of our own health and responsible for our own wellness.

Here are my final words and suggestions:

• Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.
• When you wake up tomorrow say to your body, "Body, what can I do for you today? How can I help you do your job better?" Your body will always say, "Feed me high power nutrients, clean water and oxygen; and most of all love me." Self-love starts the search for wellness.

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