Everything Happens for a Reason.

In September of 2012, I got a parasite in Nepal called Blastocystis Hominis. I’ve heard of people embarking upon third world travel, only to return with either worms, bacteria or parasites in their system, however, naively, I never thought this would happen to me.

In the past 6 months, I’ve experienced intense symptoms of chronic fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, lack of concentration, dizziness and I hate to admit it, but feelings of depression as a result. It’s the first time in my life I’ve had to truly relinquish control over my health, many aspects of my life, and realise the value of good health - good health I had always taken for granted. 

We always say that we appreciate how lucky we are, but it wasn’t until I was personally knocked down for 6 months that I could truly understand the value and sheer importance of looking after yourself. It’s not as though I asked for a parasite or intended on attracting one (or extremely high quantities in my case) into my life, but it happened and I’ve had to step up and grow rapidly as a human being in my process of healing. 

No words could describe how “off” I felt most of the time. Friends couldn’t comprehend that I was still sick, day after day, week after week. People didn’t want to understand why I was doing my best to avoid alcohol, sugar, yeast, wheat and dairy or getting skinnier and skinnier. 99% of people had no concept of a parasite being able to have this affect on someone, but it can. Suddenly, the usual fun, free, open and spontaneous “me” felt deeply trapped in a cage with no escape, still no answers and boring explanations as to my sudden “dark change”. I wouldn’t wish this experience upon anyone. 

The parasite essentially infiltrates your emotional nervous system by living in your intestines and gut. It consumes all goodness you put into your body. It scrambles your brain, confuses every aspect of your digestive system and basically screws up your emotional nervous system. You can’t think straight, process information well and you constantly feel as though there is something inside of every part of you, negatively controlling all aspects of your being. The symptoms have different degrees of affect on different people. 

The thing that “saved” me was trialling a procedure in an “antibiotic infusion” through the Centre of Digestive Diseases in Sydney, Australia. Google it. I had to wait 6 weeks post this procedure in order to do more results to see if I’d managed to get rid of it. These 6 weeks were also grueling. I firstly felt pretty shitty post the procedure, but then a couple of weeks later I felt amazing. A few more weeks after that, I suddenly felt extreme waves of nausea, some days had extreme bloating, then nothing; and others, strange symptoms. The doctors described this as “antibiotic euphoria”. 

But what I also embarked upon were healing’s of a different kind. I’ve committed to meditation, reiki, naturopathy, emotional freedom therapy, psychotherapy, integrated body healing (inner child work), spiritual healing and neurological emotional therapy / kinesiology. I’ve wanted to explore it all - as much as I could. The past 6 months has been as good a time as any to do this type of exploring into the realms of good health and healing.

And here is why everything happens for a reason. If I hadn’t visited my sister in Nepal, I would have never got the parasite. If I had never got the parasite, I wouldn’t have invested all the time, effort and money into self development and improved health - mentally, physically and emotionally. Through this whole experience, my perspective has changed; not only towards myself, but towards the experiences I’ve endured in life, my family, friends and the world around me. I’ve also learned who my true friends are and that at the end of the day, family is who you can truly rely on, even if the family picture “ain’t ideal”. 

I have more gratitude in my heart, deeper self love, appreciation and self-acceptance; I’ve worked hard in recognising ego driven behaviour and thinking, versus heart based thinking and feeling, and I can see exactly why I’ve arrived at the point I have today.

And so, directly from Nepal... “Namaste” to you and most importantly, to myself.