Personal Experience with Pain
Hi, Friend!
Happy Valentine's Day (almost)! 😊💘 I always enjoyed this holiday as a kid because my family and parents made it special and sweet and in my adulthood I've enjoyed the occasion to have friends over at my house to play games and infuse a little sweetness into life. In 2011 however it brought extra meaning as it was my first day in Mexico for alternative cancer treatment. I remember, when he dropped my mom and me off at the airport the day before, my dad gave me a Valentine's Day card which I opened the next day when I got to the hospital. I don't remember what was written in the card, but I do remember how nervous I had been feeling before and how the words helped relieve some stress; they made me feel safer and more confident because they were words that assured me that I was deeply loved.
That's how I've felt at times during this past week while dealing with a minor health issue - pain in my mouth, which is likely due to gum inflammation. It started after I had a cavity filled almost 3 weeks ago around when the numbing agent wore off. I got pain during the day almost every time after eating or drinking and it started to keep me up or wake me up at night. Stressful situations also made it worse and then I would start to feel anxious, but I was comforted when I reached out to God through prayer and remembered a verse of Scripture such as Romans 8:28, or had friends step in and help with their prayers, presence and/or encouraging words.
After a particularly painful and sleepless night I decided I would try to address the pain with some kind of medicine. The first was the Gerson pain triad, which consists of 50mg niacin, 500mg ascorbic acid and 325mg aspirin. My ratios were a little bit off (I had pills of 100mg niacin instead of 50mg and a tiny scoop of ascorbic acid (AA) that contained 1400mg AA) but it seemed to help as it helped me sleep 2 nights in a row, uninterrupted by pain. The night after that I did wake up in pain, and realized it probably had to do with sugar intake, so I made sure I cut back on all sources of sugar that day, and I tried for the first time a broad spectrum CBD tincture (which did not contain THC, the psychoactive substance in the Cannabis sativa plant) before bed, instead of the Gerson pain triad. I slept through that night as well! Clove essential oil applied topically has been helpful to help numb the pain a little bit when needed during the day, as well as resting/sitting/lying down when it's been an option!
I made a 10-minute video with some more details about the situation, how I've been dealing with the pain and trying to heal and how you can be encouraged through your difficult times, which you can watch here.
For more information on managing pain, a little while back I shared a recording of Theo Hanson in which he touched briefly on pain management, which you're welcome to look at! I also have another video with Theo specifically on pain management which I need to edit; I will share that with you when it's finished. 🙏
Lastly, the interview I mentioned in my last email is still on hold for release because I haven't been able to verify one of the treatments the cancer survivor said he had done. I reached out to his assistant who reached out to him and he is waiting for a response. I've also reached out to a few resources asking if they've heard of the treatment but so far no one has. Fun fact just FYI, there's artificial intelligence I learned about last week that can search the internet for any topic (https://chat.openai.com/chat) - I searched that also and nothing came up on the treatment. I've removed the blog post from my website and made the YouTube video private but will repost them if I get the information I'm looking for. This is a good lesson on fact-checking cancer survivor stories (or stories of any kind), that if something stands out to you about it and you can't verify that the information is true, it might just be best to stay away from it. I don't want to totally scrap the interview because I think the person is sincere in wanting to help people and there are great lessons from his story, but I may at least have to re-edit it before I share it with you.
Have a fantastic week!
With His love,
Bailey 😊
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
P.S. One story that doesn't give me any hesitation to share is Chris Wark's! Chris is a fellow cancer surthriver who chose to dedicate a large portion of his life to helping people with cancer to heal and he's sharing his Square One coaching program for free starting Tuesday, February 21st, with each episode airing for 24 hours! Check it out here.
