Healing My Body After Abuse

Hello poppets,

How on earth are we?

Today i’m going to be talking to you a little further about how I am taking the steps to heal my body after abuse.

If you have watched my stories on social media you will of seen me talk about my decision to start seeing a Naturopath after years of general weakness, aching and clicking with every movement I made. It had got that bad over the years that id become unable to even lift my hairdryer up to dry my hair and if i carried shopping bags for even a short distance I wouldn’t be unable to do anything else for the rest of the day due to jelly arms and generalised pain.

I have talked about my relationship with food on my blog before and i had an inkling that was why i was having the symptoms I was. From a small age i never had proper meals due to my main abuser and id often be found rummaging through the cupboards for what ever i could get my hands on which would usually be a diet of biscuits, chips and all things artificial. This was also something my main abuser use to do. She was a carer by trade and use to travel to peoples homes and had varied hours of work. It meant her stocking up the car in the morning with various treats and living off that for the day.

It left me not understanding food and why i needed it as my body wasn’t use to having proper meals or large amounts of food. When i went to my grandmas and would have a proper dinner or would go out for a meal it would take me 3 times as long as everyone else to eat because my body just wasn’t use to it and I couldn’t digest anything. It wasn’t an eating disorder per say, my body just didn’t know what proper food was.

Though I am at a place of eating better and have been for some time I knew there was some lasting damage somewhere due to these symptoms. Doctors had always told me in the past that i was ‘healthy’ due to my weight and never really helped in furthering the conversation.

At the beginning of April with peoples recommendations and reviews online i decided to try a Naturopath only a short distance away. I explained my background and he quickly confirmed what i had previously thought (except i didn’t realise just how bad it was!) He explained that my body was basically built off the rubbish i use to eat and that was why i was feeling the way i was. I was lacking those vital vitamins and minerals in the vital years of my childhood and after various tests he confirmed that I was lacking in basically everything I could be and he thought that was probably a level id been at since childhood. He explained that my gut would have also been put through the mill with all the artificial and sugary things I use to eat and that now I was eating properly it was probably struggling even more because it wasn’t use to the foods I was eating.

I was happy not only that my suspicions were confirmed but that I was going on a journey to heal and look after the physical side of things after my abuse. Its safe to say my body has been put through the mill in lots of different aspects and I was glad to finally be giving it the love and respect it deserves.

I was not only put on high doses of collagen and protein for bone and joint health but I was also put on various tablets to help cleanse and detox my worn out liver and gut. During this time i also found out that I had a low thyroid and he noted that I wouldn’t of noticed any of the symptoms because I would have been at that level for so long. Again I was put on something to heighten my thyroid levels.

We also looked at my diet which I explained I had been slowly improving over the years and he was impressed that I had got things sussed with willpower and the encouragement of others . He gave me lots of advice on meal ideas as I told him I was still learning what was what in the kitchen and he also suggested I needed to up my protein a little more.

I was on a lot of tablets which again I wasn’t use to taking and that aspect of things was hard. Im not the best at taking tablets and after trial and error I found that the best way for me to digest them was with cold pressed apple juice. The tartness of it took all flavour away from the tablets even the ginger based ones and spirulina. Yucky!

I explained to him that i wanted to go back to the gym as I had been going years prior and that was the only real time id ever felt strong. He explained i should wait a little as id probably be doing more damage than good and after some repair work and retesting he would see if he felt It suitable for me to go back.

After a few weeks I had started to notice a difference in my health and after a few months I was considerably better. I couldn’t tell you the last time I heard my joints click and I have no generalised aching like I use to. I also had the ‘all clear’ that i could go back to the gym which i was thrilled about and have been working on strengthening my joints with a personal trainer ever since and continue to take a small amount of vitamins and minerals to keep up with things.

Not only has this been such a wonderful experience in terms of healing my body but its again taught me more about my abuse and abuser. My main abuser would always complain of aches and pains and due to her diet it was probably due to all these things too.

I urge anyone with an abusive background from childhood or that have had periods of time in abuse to seek help if they’re not feeling 100%. During those abusive times even as an adult we do not look after ourselves the way we should. It may not be top priority at the time but please put it on your recovery checklist of things to do.

Deficiency of vital vitamin and mineral – Symptoms:

– Getting sick often
– Tiredness and fatigue
– Bone and joint pain
– Low mood
– Hair loss
– Problematic skin

Important Please do not consume anything I have mentioned in this blog post without the recommendations of a healthcare practitioner.