“It was the summer of 2002. I was teaching at UCLA and my husband was a molecular biologist. Disillusioned with “big city” life and job politics, my husband decided we should move back to a small town to build our eco-friendly passive solar dream home. Being an idealist and dreamer, I had no idea how much energy was required to build a home nor the financial stress involved in funding the project alone.
We moved from a modest three-bedroom house in Los Angeles to a one-bedroom apartment in our neighbor’s basement. Our computer and office equipment were crammed into the bedroom and we slept on the floor on a futon. I’ve never been a morning person so my wake-up partner was a “sunrise” clock, an expensive device whose light mimicked a rising sun. Its large transformer resting on the floor was just inches from my head.
I accepted the first job I was offered in order to fund the “dream” project. It required a two-hour daily commute through slick mountainous roads and carried an enormous responsibility of being the only medical doctor in town. Eventually, I started my own part- time acupuncture practice as well, so I could be closer to home. On weekends, I’d try to help out with the house-building-not my forte, but my idealism fueled the effort. Pride prevented me from admitting that the stress of moving across country, being the main breadwinner, working two jobs, and house-building was taking a toll on my body.
My parents were dead-set against our plans because they knew building this “dream home” was too much for me. Their protective criticism only served to fortify my stubbornness to make this dream come true. In my mind, I was a responsible loving wife who would do whatever it took to make her husband happy. Bad idea!
As I juggled the demands of my new life, I wasn’t aware my body was falling apart from the inside out. One morning, I woke up and couldn’t turn my head. The intense pain in my neck was unyielding and multiple visits to the chiropractor didn’t help. Within two months, my condition rapidly deteriorated and I experienced pain in almost every joint. I required twelve to fourteen hours of sleep per night and never felt rested. I dragged myself to work, put on a smiling face for people who “needed me”, and then collapsed on the couch as soon as I got home.
My husband, already stressed from building all day and worrying about finances, had to pick up the pieces at home. I couldn’t cook, clean or do laundry without intense pain or exhaustion. One day at the Laundromat, while folding a bed sheet, I burst into tears from pain and exhaustion. I wondered, “Where have I gone wrong? I’m trying so hard. I’m a good person. I don’t deserve this!”
One of my medical colleagues was kind enough to treat me free of charge. Dorit Gaedtke, M.D. diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, an “incurable” and debilitating pain disorder. Most of my patients with this diagnosis never recovered despite the slew of anti-depressants and pain drugs I prescribed in conventional medicine. Not only did they suffer pain and fatigue, they suffered the side effects of the drugs and remained disabled. Few had the education or financial resources to seek alternative care. Deep down inside, I was terrified I would become another statistic……
Years have passed since that dreaded diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Thanks to my illness, I no longer take my life and health for granted. No longer do I live my life unconsciously, on autopilot, on a diet of stress and to-do lists, in order to achieve success and security in the pursuit of the ultimate goal for all of us-Happiness.”
The Book
The BookThe above is an extract from a Guide to Healing Chronic Pain: A Holistic Approach
by Karen Kan M.D. And believe me Karen ‘can’.
Hers is quite a story. Dr. K was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and electrical sensitivity. Despite this she dealt with her health issues holistically and went on to become a national and international adult figure skating (multi) gold medalist.
My Theory
For a while now I’ve had a theory that the people we can learn most from in dealing with our own health issues are people that have had to deal with their own challenging health issues.
Dr. K is one of these people. She also happens to be a family doctor.
She was disabled with fibromyalgia in her early thirties while juggling a flourishing career and a failing marriage. She’d wake up at night crying because every bone in her body ached with pain. She was exhausted, depressed and at times even suicidal.
Through it all she clung to her dream, that one day she would heal. And she did.
Despite being trained as a family doctor she knew that taking drugs wasn't the answer. So she went on a search to find the best natural therapies for pain.
Guide to Healing Chronic Pain
Dr. K says of her book:
“The book is a weaving of my personal story as someone who has been there and done that, as well as my perspective as a holistic physician – so it really takes in all perspectives of pain into consideration: the emotional, physical, mental and spiritual. So I think readers can really resonate with the personal experiences that I share and the medical explanation of why pain surfaces in our lives and what exact steps we can choose to heal. “
The Mind
Her views on health really resonated with me. The first sections of her book are devoted to understanding your pain and harnessing your internal healer. The mind.
Many of us when we get sick think of pain as our archenemy. Tou go to the doctor he puts a label on your symptoms which situates the pain as something bad and reinforces the victim mentality. But pain is very much our friend.
It can be a shock to the system when you hear this for the first time. Dr. K says “chronic pain has a way of forcing us to stay more present in our bodies, rather than up in our heads”.
I realized a long time ago that thoughts and emotions were having a big impact on my health. Dr. K explains how many of the beliefs we hold are non-supportive to the healing process. She explains how to discover more supportive thoughts, how to use emotions to your advantage and how “to eliminate negative or trapped emotions that might be contributing to your chronic pain”.
Nutrition, Lifestyle And Energy
The third section of her book deals with nutrition, lifestyle changes and energy therapy. Balancing the right and left hemispheres of the brain lies at the heart of Dr. Ks approach to health. She says without brain balance life will feel like a struggle, many therapies don’t work well which means you can’t begin to self heal. She cites EMF exposures as an important cause of brain imbalance.
I’ve been practicing brain balancing since a kinesiologist I used to visit in my early days of electrosensitivity identified this as one of the issues I needed to deal with. I practice mind-body movements to achieve brain balance. Dr. K has developed her own protocol for achieving brain balance using (needle free) acupuncture patches – which you can apply yourself.
Your Higher Self
The other sections of Dr. Ks book deals with, self acceptance, forgiveness, healing through your higher self and getting support. She asks and answers questions like, ‘why reconnect with spirit'? ‘Does pain serve a purpose'? Some of this might seem a long way from your immediate problem in hand of dealing with EMF sensitivity but I realized it was only when I began facing up to these questions that I began to make solid progress.
You can buy Dr. Ks book here.
Free Interview
Next Thursday, 19th March at 1:00 p.m. EST (10 AM PST or 5 PM GMT) I’m interviewing Dr. Karen Kan. The interview will last approximately one hour.
Dr. K is a first generation Chinese immigrant from Hong Kong who emigrated to Canada with her parents as a baby. Her parents fleeing the communist demonstrations in Hong Kong at the time immigrated with no jobs and no money.
She says, “the importance of a good education and a hard-work ethic were instilled early in all three children”. But this then led to burn-out in her thirties.
I can relate to that. My parents struggled to put food on the table when I was a child which motivated me to do well at school, get a good job and have a tendency to push myself too hard.
Dr. K completed her medical studies at the University of Ottawa after first taking a degree in Biochemistry at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Dr. K vowed that she would never become one of those “cold-hearted” doctors we've all encountered. She made it her mission to study how to help people heal: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
If you’re not sure of the time zone where you live you can check it here or here.
I’ve chosen the teleseminar format so that you can follow via your computer or using your telephone.
During the interview I will be covering the following subjects:
– Dr. Ks story
– her experience with electrical sensitivity
– how to apply a holistic approach to electrical sensitivity
– what healing protocols she recommends
The idea is that you get to ask your questions. You can do this in 2 ways:
– before the day, by clicking here and sending me your question (if you’re not sure what time the teleseminar starts, the page has a countdown timer.)
– on the day, by putting your question directly to my guest
Sign up is now closed for this interview.
The replay is free but it’s only available for 24 hours after the event for those that signed up BEFORE the event.
Comments
D said,
Dr K’s story is achoed in my own, except i am not suicidal; I lived through a double segmental fractured femur at age 24, developed a horsebackriding & yoga practice to work through the “information” is what we call pain in yoga. Yoga & Horses are therapeutic & supportive for me, mind, body, spirit, soul.
Full-time locum substituting for me at work, now I work full time at healing myself, finding the right professional support, eating organic food as my medicine, its 3 steps forward & 2 steps back, & it will be a 3 or so year work in progress for me to get my strong integtrated self together, I have learned to be PATIENT with myself, setting boundaries to not allow anyone or any situation to DEMAND of me that which caused me fatigue & pain; I just say “No.” It’s a complete sentance.
Lee in S.F. said,
Holistic approach, indeed! The table of contents of her book takes one on a journey of options for pain of all kinds: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. I don’t particularly have physical pain (due to becoming far more careful about EMF exposures). But I do have challenges and imbalances in the latter three categories, so when I saw how thorough her coverage was, I became excited to read her book.
Lloyd, you wrote, “Some of this might seem a long way from your immediate problem in hand of dealing with EMF sensitivity but I realized it was only when I began facing up to these questions that I began to make solid progress.” I agree that making those connections is really important. The fact that you do is one of the many reasons why your site is valuable. I would also imagine it’s necessary for you to offer gentle overviews like that, for the sake of those who perhaps question why you aren’t narrowly focusing on EMF issues only. As for a narrow focus for health solutions, Western medicine imprints us with that, and sometimes a specialized approach is a godsend. An overly specialized focus, however, is one reason why Western medicine misses so many things. Western medicine does not connect the tail, to the feet, to the trunk, so to speak, but looks at each individually, thus failing to recognize that when seen holistically, there is an elephant present. (And don’t we EMF sensitive types know that!)
I look forward to this interview, and I thank you for bringing Dr. Karen Kan to our awareness.
Paul Vonharnish said,
Erm… Support??? Erm… In America??? Surely you jest…
The majority of people in the world have no clue about electromagnetic issues. They think most technology is a magical Harry Potter act, and there is no associated environmental cost. Eyes glass over as soon as muti-syllable words like “electrosensitivity” come out of my mouth. It’s pathetic.
The repeating issue I find in many of these “self-help” and “positive thinking” books, is that it suggests that there is something “wrong” with my attitude, and that’s why I remain ill. I resent the guilt trip.
The issue is NOT my attitude. The issue is that the Earth is awash with man-made electromagnetic poisons, and my body is reacting normally to the assult. Thus these persons manage to throw a nice guilt trip out there to augment how lousy I feel. So thanks for that…
Yes. Some persons are more fortunate (ie: access to adaquate cash or financial support) and some persons may actually have friends and family that don’t write them off as totally nuts… Cash is a good thing, because then a person might actually have a future. No cash? No ability to relocate away from the constant toxic bombardment of my body and soul… Thus: No cash = No place to heal. No place to heal = No future.
Thanks anyway…
Valerie said,
At last – people talking ‘sense’.
I have experienced the glazing over of eyes,
changing the subject not wanting to talk or hear about it. My family think I am ‘nuts’. I did learn to say ‘NO’ some months ago and guess what – it really does work. I feel a huge relief come over me when I have faced up to a possible trauma and said ‘NO’. It is surprising how people now accept my decisions and think no less of me for it (maybe they are secretly envious?). Everyone should try it !!!
ellie said,
I enjoy learning of the many different paths to healing and wholeness by those you interview. As someone with MCS and EHS, I know it is very easy to become overwhelmed, disheartened, and hopeless. I recently read something I found inspiring:
It is becoming more and more apparent that the way we view the world and all its components, especially ourselves and the other people we come into contact with (both in our immediate experience and through the media) is something we have to learn to take responsibility for on a moment to moment basis.
It is crucial for us to understand that with our every perception we are creating and influencing the multidimensional dream that is our world. The difference between noticing something – or seeing it for what is, at that instant – and the act of holding something fixed within a viewpoint that has become an opinion or a certainty, is an essential distinction that must be made and accounted for in our behavior and attitudes. When we perceive something, whether we assess in depth or make a flash judgment – which can be quite complete – we contribute our perception to the reality of what we are observing and influence it in the direction of our particular way of seeing, on a cellular level. We can’t afford to be careless or unconscious with these level of influence. (L Matus)
As horrible as it may appear, the world, reality, is not fixed. Everything is in a state of flux, always.
John said,
I was not able to attend the seminar live. For those pre-registered for the seminar, how do we access it afterwards? I understand it is available for 24 hours after completion. Thank you.
A Gore said,
I am always busy at the time of your interviews, and have not yet to be able to listen in, within the 24 hours having registered. I always get the message that it is over….I am in GB.
It is so important to help educate everyone around that this is a pollutant. I carry the message and met more people who are beginning to release they to are electro-sensitive, or want the answers to es-uk complaints, which their Doctors are failing to help them with. The simplest soulution (solution…..good freudian slip) is dealing directly with the pollutant considering the long-term effect on everyone’s health.
Having lived through the time, when you could not ask anyone not to smoke in your presence….and revelling each day in the smoke free environment…I know how long this current battle might take. We need to do all to preserve our own health to carry on the education process. I consider the education process of everyone very important, to help support those that cannot afford the processes mentioned above…….
steve said,
Great info! Where can I find the replay for this interview?
Thanks.
AJ said,
Hello, I signed up for the event but wasn’t able to attend. I also checked 24 hours after event but wasn’t able to find the replay. Will it be made available?
AJ
Lloyd Burrell said,
There’s a slight delay before I can send the interview out because I have to get the file edited for file upload.
I’ve just sent the interview recording out – if you subscribed for the replay you should receive the recording shortly.