Chinese Medicine brings an inherently holistic and integrative approach to health and healing, and as someone dealing with chronic health issues for twenty years, this was part of the original appeal in becoming a practitioner. Having been on this journey for a long time and experimenting with a wide variety of therapies—ranging from those rooted in Western medicine to Eastern traditions to the alternative and emerging—I can say with confidence that complex chronic illness necessitates a multifaceted approach. Although this is an experience that has been shrouded in mystery, we are constantly learning more and illuminating a brighter pathway forward.
In truth, I’ve been self conscious about being a practitioner who is not “fixed” and “healed,” but in the last year I have realized that it is precisely my challenging personal experience—paired with an open mind, commitment to finding answers, and self-experimentation—that’s yielded a wealth of valuable knowledge. Indeed, even in the functional and integrative medicine worlds, treatment of chronic health issues is in its infancy; perspectives are continuously changing and shifting, with no magical cure-all in sight. We need to work together and share our findings toward creating new frameworks for healing that can be customized to each individual’s unique needs.
For context, I have received diagnoses such as Long COVID, MCAS, histamine intolerance, POTS, Dysautonomia, SIBO, IBS, mold toxicity/illness, chronic Epstein Barr virus, and suspected Lyme and chronic fatigue (ME/CFS). Some amalgamation of these syndromes is extremely common amongst people with chronic health issues, with much room for variation, and it’s probably easy to see why treatment is far from straightforward. That being said, I finally believe that I am on the “right” healing path, and I’m excited that you are joining me in the messy middle of it all! I feel I have the trifecta of tools, practitioners, and mindset that I need to support my healing, and I am excited to share my discoveries with any of my patients and community members looking for a lighthouse.
A big realization I’ve had last year as I continued to follow leaders in the field, is that there are not only important foundational treatment protocols, but a correct order in which to implement them. You can have all of the right treatments, but if you don’t receive that support in the right order, you might not get better, or you might temporarily get better, or you might even get worse! That’s why this blog post is about where to begin, as I and many other specialists agree, is nervous system regulation and brain retraining. Important note: it’s okay to “start” this work many years into your health journey—I know I did! But perhaps as we continue speaking up and sharing, more people will realize that this is a crucial foundational step.
I was first introduced to the concept of brain retraining and limbic system impairment circa 2019 with Annie Hopper’s Dynamic Neural Retraining System, which basically said that you can treat someone for all their chronic health triggers—viruses, bacteria, mold, Lyme, etc. but that if you don’t retrain their brain out of the fear response, they won’t get better. Her work resonated with me, but the program was old, antiquated and rigid. In fact, I have tried multiple programs of this sort but none felt practical for the needs of someone with chronic illness, which can be too all-consuming an experience for rigid programs with excessive time commitments.
The Primal Trust program has been one of the most life-changing modalities I have come across, but not in the way you might assume. It’s been slow, steady, and profound in creating a sense of safety and self-connection. For someone who’s been experiencing chronic health issues for an extended period of time, it’s understandable that a sense of safety erodes as one is constantly on high alert, and dissociation is common in order to try and continue functioning on a day to day basis. During a very low point exactly one year ago, I started to work with a clinic that highly recommended the Primal Trust program, encouraging me that even doing 20 minutes daily of this work could create shifts!
Specialists like Dr. Neil Nathan are now saying that the combination of limbic and vagal system regulation is one that is necessary for healing.
In truth, everyone living in our modern world needs nervous system regulation tools but it is particularly relevant for those with chronic illnesses who are trying to get better. I believe, along with other specialists, that this is an integral piece, and I honestly think it is rare to get better and stay better without it. It’s not a magic pill and it’s not one tool or perspective, but the founder, Dr. Cathleen King, has woven together a program that incorporates nervous system regulation, cell danger response theory, vagal toning and polyvagal theory, limbic system/brain retraining, somatics, and more!
So why is this the first step? Because this is the work that is going to help you tolerate treatments, and to experience lasting results from those treatments, because we are shifting the underlying system so that its walls can be penetrated. This also builds our capacity to handle the bumpy ride of healing, powerfully changing beliefs about what’s possible! A dysregulated nervous system and limbic system fear responses will always continue to trigger your systems and symptoms, even if you do the parasite cleanse, detox from mold, kill off the candida, etc. We have to change the state of the nervous system, as well as our thoughts and beliefs, for treatments to work. And as we build that capacity, resiliency, and trust, we’re able to reconnect with our bodies and parts, finding clarity about what they need. Intuition comes back online, and we realize that our bodies were ALWAYS trying to protect us.
Importantly, the program is divided into different levels so that we can continue building capacity, and it is completely self-paced while having the structure many of us need to continue forward. While I felt a little silly for trying yet another program of this nature, I knew one thing that needed to shift for me this time around was community support. So I joined one of their peer-led study groups… and one year later, it was one of the best decisions that I have made along my health journey! I think that doing this work within a program specific to chronic illness is important for people like us—my isolation and loneliness around what I am going through has lightened. I have this wonderful, hope-inspiring, and supportive community. You can do this work solo, but for me the connection piece has been crucial.
In the future, when I have a Telehealth program for people with complex chronic health issues, a necessary precondition for working with me will be also signing up for the Primal Trust program—I feel that strongly about it. I have been recommending this program to patients for a while and now and in addition to joining their practitioner training program, I am also an affiliate. If you’re interested in signing up, please use this link so it does support me just a tad and use the code ACUSPOT for a 10% discount on your first membership purchase at any level. I’ll also mention that payment is on a monthly basis so you can try it out with little commitment and financial investment!
If you’d like to familiarize yourself more with this program and see if it resonates, their Instagram posts are great and there is a lot of content on YouTube as well, to give you an introduction to Dr. Cat, the program, and even powerful recovery interviews. Please feel free to ask me any questions you might have, but for now I will leave you with one tool you can start today that I created in the program:
Do a body scan and as you go from top to bottom call out each symptom or sensation that you feel. Acknowledge it, let it know that you see it. And just send it love. If you want to thank that area of the body or ask it if it has a message for you, tell it that you are listening. But in its simplistic form - acknowledge it and send it love. Example: Tension in my head, I feel you and I am sending you love. My breath is a little choppy or irregular, thank you lungs for working so hard for me, I am sending you love. Belly, you feel really tender today, do you have a message for me? I see you and am sending you love. Go through your whole body, and see how it feels to hold space for your symptoms, greet them with love (not fear or trying to change them) and let them know you are holding space for them if they have a message for you.
You can do a more basic or more in depth version of this, and if being present with your symptoms is too hard right now, that’s okay. Just know that the program can help you with exactly this!
With love and healing,
Danielle