19. Healing fibromyalgia, pelvic pain & food intolerances: Amal’s transformative journey

In this episode of the Heal with Grace podcast, Amal Hawari shares her profound journey of mind-body healing, overcoming pelvic pain, histamine intolerance, fibromyalgia, and other health issues through nervous system regulation and brain training. Starting with her struggle, Amal recounts how her life was severely impacted by various health conditions and her eventual discovery of a holistic approach to healing. She emphasizes the importance of nervous system regulation, the support from Grace and the program, and how mind-body connection techniques provided her the tools for recovery. Amal also discusses the incremental steps to her healing, indicating that recovery is a non-linear process that requires persistence, self-awareness, and a willingness to engage deeply with emotional trauma and stress management. This episode dives into the significance of mental health in physical recovery and offers hope to those experiencing chronic health issues.

Resources & Links:

• FREE Top 3 tips to regulate your nervous system Training
• Work with us in therapy or coaching
• Curable: https://getcurable.com/healwithgrace

Connect with Grace:

• Connect on Instagram
• Check out my website

Transcript

Hello and welcome back to the heal with grace podcast. I have a wonderful student and guest here, Amal Hawari. She is a student of the mind body healing method, and I'm really excited to have her here. so she can share her success story because she's made such amazing progress and to really help you understand too.

if you're listening that healing is possible and understand how that happens. So without further ado, thanks for being here. I'm all. Thank you for having me, Grace. I'm so excited. I've never been on a podcast, so I'm actually I'm just excited. Yeah, that you're, you're happy to do it and you were actually wanting to do it.

So it says how passionate you are about it now too. Yeah, I was actually going to be the, I didn't you reached out, but I was actually going to reach out and tell you, like, I wanted to talk about this because there are, there have been some people asking via, like, either ready, like, wherever, like, I've kind of post my, my issues and I just think, like, I need a place where I could gather.

Everything 1st talk about it and then, like, share the link along basically. Yeah. Cool. Okay. Well, let's just get started and just share a little bit about yourself. Like, where do you live? anything you want us to know? Sure. So, I'm a mall. I am 28 years old. I live in New York City. I, my family and I own a cleaning business.

I, we started it during the pandemic essentially. When they were out of work, and I kind of quit my corporate marketing job at the time and just, like, utilize the skills I had learned to the business. and, yeah, I mean, we service here locally to a town. That's really like, young and hip and seems like it's growing and people really do enjoy our services.

And it's just been fun, like, you know, With the creative side of of the marketing's that I always wanted to do, but I never really got a chance to do it in corporate. and yes, the client facing can be a bit crazy, but it's it's it's fun. and then. Yeah. I mean, that's basically what I do. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Well, so let's go back to the beginning when we first connected. what made you interested? And I think you're the 1 reaching out, asking some questions just around what's going on to see if this would be a good fit. So what made you 1st start reaching out to me? what were you struggling with?

Yeah, so I reached out to you, I think it was early February or so somewhere there might have been late January. I can't recall exactly, but it was like, sometime there and I had already heard about you through Kali Knutrition, who's the IC interstitial cystitis, I see dietitian and I've been following Kali since probably August.

Yeah. So, essentially, everything for me started back in July, all this pelvic pain and and your name kept popping up and Cali always talked about her healing progress was through nervous system dysregulation. And I never really connected any of it for me, if anything, I struggled to believe it. I struggled to understand what Cali was talking about.

but she always talked about you and that a lot of clients that she's worked with. Go through the program, her road to remission, I think it's called program and they usually find out they're not sensitive to food. They're not. Really, they don't really have what they think it is. And it turns out it's really just nervous system dysregulation.

But to my brain, like, I couldn't comprehend what that meant. And like, what do you mean? Suddenly you're just drinking coffee, but your bladders in pain. And what do you mean? You're having tomato sauce and traveling. I literally would message Callie via DM. I'm like, I want to understand, and when I would send her voice messages, she would respond.

She was so kind. Like, she would always respond to me. And she said, it does sound like a nerve. She's like, I'm not a therapist. I'm not this, but I could tell you, it does sound like a nervous system issue here. Because her story was really kind of similar to how my. Pelvic pain started. And at one point, I think you, I had already been following you through her and I would, I always enjoyed your posts and your posts resonated with a lot of the emotional and stressful things that I was dealing with, but I just couldn't comprehend, like, how the physical was manifesting because of it.

It just a lot of it made sense, but a lot of it was hard for me, I guess, to. Fully grasp and believe. so I, I saw that you were, I think, running the group program and you were announcing like last day or, or something to, to register. So I just reached, I think I just sent you a voice message or I think it was like, yeah.

And I just wanted to know, I'm like. I was just curious about some more information. I was interested in my husband. It was like, just saying, you have nothing to lose. Like, just just try it. Like, if this is the case and so. I will always, like, really enjoy and love that piece where you. Message me back and you said, it's hard for me to.

I wish I could show you or tell you this without sounding like I'm trying to like, do a sales pitch or something. You, you said something along those lines and, Mm-Hmm. . I, I couldn't stop laughing because like, I understand like from a business owner myself, I, I get it. Where you want the customer or client or whoever to believe that your work is legit and that you're, you're not trying to just sell for to sell something without really having gone through something like, similar to yourself.

And you just understood the emotional side of it. And I think when you're dealing with the emotional side of things, it's a bit tricky because it's people's emotions. Like, in my case, it's people's homes, but like, that's still not as. Internally sensitive as like your internal self. So I think that's why, I was attracted to your response.

You did not sound like a sales pitch to me. Like, I just, I just, I, I understood where you were coming from and I think what attracted me the most. Was because at the time that I reached out to you was when I was dealing with histamine intolerance, and that came out of nowhere that literally just like, I moved in December, January, and then suddenly in this new place and started getting histamine intolerance.

And I thought I was dealing with mold issues on top of all the other things I was dealing with. And I'm like, what is going on? And then you. Made this post about, like, that you yourself had, like, food intolerance, histamine intolerance. Issues mold, I think, and so I was like, how did you like, how, like, how did you suddenly you're not you're now able to eat things that you weren't eating.

And because I saw that you worked with Callie, I felt like you just really like, you just understood. Overall, everything, like, in terms of the histamine, fibromyalgia, because that's something I started struggling with, like. The last 3 or 4 months before I really started healing and also, I see probably because I've seen your work through that.

So, eventually , I joined. week or so, I think I just started, we started, like, you had us read through the slides that you have in the program. A lot of science evidence based evidence of, like, how our brains work and the neuroplasticity and the neurons and all that was just so fascinating.

And it's so funny. Like, I was in the middle of a masters for counseling, which I quit, but I, I learned these things a little bit, but I never really got into science. A lot of depth of it and, that is like, what instantly like, whoa, like, I was I love science and I, I love, like, understanding the science of things.

And if I, I see something with some evidence, science, backed up evidence to me, you know, like. I'll obviously not only believe it, but it'll just, like, I can apply my efforts more to it. And so I just started doing the work. There was different things like, you had us doing, you started telling us to create cute, keep an evidence list, write down where your triggers are, like, happening.

You would check up on us, like, so we had that meeting, like, not only the weekly meetings, but we would also have our meetings with, Liana and so all these things that I kept doing were really, really great. I think it kept me in check. Like, I felt like someone along the way was there just checking in on me and how I'm doing during the week and because I think I had that constant check in.

I think I was able to analyze my week better because. Before that, it was all overpowering me. It was just so much happening at once. I don't even know where to begin and I am like blaming this. I'm blaming that, but. Turns out, like, you know, when I took a step back, just the way you taught us and the program is structured, I was literally able to break down my day today and, like, understand during the whole day, what was actually going on.

And, yeah, like, basically the evidence list showed that I. Was triggered around stress and or worsened because I was still dealing with pain, but it would worsen when something stressful happens. Yeah, that's basically how I connected with you. Yeah. Yeah. No, thank you for that. That's really helpful to see.

You starting the trajectory for it, but I want to back up a little bit to just reiterate. So. 1st of all, I do remember us talking before you coming in and you were pretty hesitant, right? Totally rightfully. So I would have been, or I was hesitant before doing this work too. But it was really cool to see how, okay, yes, of course, there was fear around starting and, like, trying to connect the dots of how is this actually possible.

But then once you got in it, like you said, the structure of it and being able to kind of track your day and really understanding the science behind it. I remember seeing you after week after week, just kind of like clicking more and more. Right. And I could even see that as your nervous system was settling a little bit.

It doesn't necessarily mean symptoms went away in the first couple of weeks, right? But over time, then they definitely did. So, let's reiterate what exactly, what were the physical things you were dealing with? I think you mentioned fibromyalgia, pelvic pain, histamine reactions. what else was going on?

Yeah. So, I mean, what didn't I have? I, yeah. It was so bad that I actually ended up like, I think every specialist for every part of my body. so all this started, like, July with pelvic pain. I just happen to wake up 1 day with severe, severe pelvic pain that felt like a UTI, but I wasn't too sure. And also, I mean, I never had a cyst or like anything like that.

So I wasn't sure if it could have been that too. And I, I hate the doctors. I'm not the person that will go to the doctors. I, I will pass out just doing blood work. so I. Took it took me like, almost 2 weeks to eventually see the OB, the OBGYN. They did a sonogram and I mean, I was fine. I mean, essentially I was fine.

Like, structurally, I looked fine. They, they saw that my bladder though was withholding urine. I wasn't fully releasing despite having just used the restroom.so that was like July and that kind of. Eventually led to like sciatica then like into the fall. Oh, like early fall. It was like chest pain.

And a bunch of like, weird nerve pain. And then like, eventually it snowballed into like, joint pain. And I started connecting the dots like, if I was eating gluten, joint pain and inflammation will worsen. heart palpitations. I mean, literally, it just got worse and worse and worse. Like, it went like, top to bottom started, like different symptoms started attacking me.

And that's why the, I even went to the, to the point where in December, a rheumatologist ran blood work and he said, you're fine. I hit that. He just said fibromyalgia, fatigue, and that could have also just been like, just from the constant stress of like, not sleeping, thinking about what was going on, why am I experiencing pain, pain during intercourse, lump, a lump that I would actually get between my pubic line and my, under my belly and not a single doctor.

No ma and or person that I would reach out to about this would be able to identify what that is. They thought, you know, I, nothing tructure again, not nothing structurally would show up, but I physically would see a lump and it would like a, I called it like a sausage swelling. It just swelled up. and it would get really bad by nighttime, and I, I couldn't.

Some doctors think it was the bladder just swelling. Some doctors think it could have just been my uterus swelling. Nobody really.yeah, I mean, then by, like, winter when I moved, that's when, like, the histamine started happening. Nerve pain would be worse. Heart palpitations, like, my hair was falling out like clumps.

Like, I'm, I'm like, just the hair is just starting to regrow again. Yeah, I mean, I think there's more to this list issues, but she's have always been there and I just, like, doing the work with you. I realize. Those were all signs even before July, like, now it's starting to connect, but she's definitely worsened during this period.

Yeah, and I remember you too. Yeah, you said, especially since you moved in, you were worried about mold and thinking that that was causing all these other issues. And so, at that time, were you going to, I think you were going to other functional doctors or what were you doing outside? Sorry, let me just backtrack by 1 more thing.

I also meant to say that I got to a point where I was only eating. Mm hmm. 4 to like, 4 to 5 safe foods and super. So, while in the beginning, I was basically still eating everything. I wasn't connecting that coffee was affecting me or acidic food was affecting me. Eventually, then I cut out all acidic food, and then it just got more and more restrictive.

And then, I mean, I was still eating, like, yogurt, like, histamine foods. And that's why I'm saying, like, it just got worse by the time, like, January rolled around. January, February, I was almost eating nothing. And as someone that has a history of an eating disorder, this was extremely triggering. Like, I worked so hard to heal from that.

And I, it just, I thought I was going to go crazy, like lose my mind and go crazy. Like I was going crazy, actually. I think I was going crazy.but to answer your question regarding, I got so just. Desperate and angered and didn't know what to do.

Who to turn to anymore. I went even changed my, Regular PCP, because he was the 1 that referred me out to check my lower back because of the sciatica. He's like, it's not bad. And your blood work is all normal. So I, at the time was starting to late winter time, December, January started following more.

Natural naturopath doctors or doctors that weren't, they kind of seem more in between the blood work. Like, not just like, this is, this is. Your, your blood work markers are fine. They kind of go more in depth. In, in, in your exams, right? So I was attracted to that because I'm like, well, clearly my regular MD is not listening.

So I need to figure out. From someone else that might take their time and further investigate what could be happening. I even thought I convinced myself I had endometriosis. Like that was, it was like that bad amongst like a million other things that could be going on with the pelvic region.

That's one of the things that my brain just, I was diagnosing myself essentially. But with the functional doctor, I had reached out to one, they, wanted to do, so I just did the evaluation, the initial consultation, and I started seeing I, like, looking back on this, like, I really wish I never spent the money to do these, these evaluations because I'm like, I mean, now, like, seeing how I'm doing.

I mean, I'm fine, but. I guess I have to kind of go through this. I had to go through that to kind of learn and realize. That wasn't the case, but I saw the, I did the evaluation, I think, 2 weeks into your program and then that evaluation was just like the, she was, she's a nurse practitioner and then she just kind of went over everything with me.

And she's like, don't worry, we always find something like, doctors will say no, but we'll always find something. And I think you. In a podcast. And at the time, I was starting to listen to your podcast, too. And I think in a podcast was, I don't know if it was you, but I think you said it some way when you're looking for something doctors will.

You'll find something basically, whether it's you or the doctor, they'll need to put a name to it to the diagnosis or the diagnosis has to get a name essentially. and I think that's what happened with the functional doctor, the doctor, I didn't really do. The next, like, sessions with her, she just, like, ordered me a couple of exams, which was for my adrenals to check my hormones and GI track.

Like, she just wanted to further investigate what was going on, especially because of the histamine. And I did have a history of H. pylori, which. Again, when you're looking for something, or investigating something, doctors will 100 percent look for it and find it. I didn't know I had H. pylori until, like, because of all the doctors I have been seeing, they discovered I had H.

pylori through an endoscopy. So, again, that goes back to, like, they'll find something. So, she wanted to further investigate if the gut was, like, okay, or. If there was, like, I think a leaky gut or really all these different things she was thinking and then the whole, Thing about my joint pain and inflammation, she started scaring me a little bit when she said that there was 1 marker.

I can't remember exactly what it's called. It's like blue belly. I don't know 1 marker that she saw that the. She's like, I think your, your rheumatologist missed this, but this inflammation marker. Well, everything looks appears normal. She's like, if this doesn't get well controlled, it could, it could lead or develop into an autoimmune like, and I'm like, like, to your freaked out brain.

That's already freaking out. That just scared me more and I'm like, oh, great. I'll have to keep keep an eye on this. And then I asked, I remember asking her, I'm like, is this something we can prevent? She says, yes, of course. But you were going to, you know, we're going to have to Do blood work in about 3 months to check on this again, and then my ferritin levels were extremely low.

Therefore, why my hair was falling out and a bunch of other reasons. But I don't know part of me, like, as I was doing the work with you, like, part of me was just like, I don't know if this is 100 percent what was really going on with me. It also didn't address the public pain, like, none of it really connected to me, but I did that and I did 1 of the tests, which was for the adrenal, which I have a follow up that I, again, I have, I've just been pushing off the follow up, but I, I mean, I paid that that 1 test.

They sent me 2 other kids, but they, you, you pay for it when you do the test. So I haven't done those.and I don't think I plan to, because I just, I need, I need like. A space and gap from seeing doctors at the moment, because I can't, but I may just follow up with this because I did pay for the kit, but I take everything now with a grain of salt.

And that's the difference but, yeah, that's my introduction to functional medicine because I never. Yeah, I never seen a doctor for functional doctor before that and. It was so expensive just to do an about that essentially just was me explaining everything for her, but there was no answer. Yeah, I remember the time you came to the call and said, I canceled all my appointments.

Because there was an aha moment for you after, it was probably like a month in, of you thinking, of you realizing, Oh, I get it now. Right? And then you actually saw a huge shift. so can you describe that week? For us what happened? Yeah. That very like very first moment was like after pt, I went to pelvic floor PT because again, through so many doctors, I even saw one specialized in IC and one in pelvic pain.

Specifically, he referred me to, a PT that was very like. Covered by my insurance and it was local and I was like, great and I even had a 5 month wait, but they were able to get me in sooner. 1 day. I don't know what it was. I think it was just me starting to, like. Calm myself down and do a lot of the exercises you were you, you have in your program and I just, I remember doing it in that in the morning and I just felt great.

I was just like, in such a good mood.and I was craving a matcha and for me, 1 of the things I had to cut out was coffee. So the 1 thing that I enjoyed drinking, which. Technically can trigger someone with I see is matcha because of the high acidic because of the green cap. Green tea, but it's like, to me was like, the less triggering than than coffee coffee made it worse.

Or so I thought. So, I remember just walking out of PT because the PT herself said, there is a pelvic pain body mind connection. And I, That just, like, reinforced all the information I've been learning through your program that I'm like, she's like, you're going to be fine. I promise you. And this likely sounds like stress because she also heard where when did this start?

And I told her and she's really good at connecting those thoughts to, like, she connected that it was It could be stress, stress can trigger public pain. So hearing it from her because usually sometimes they are not as aware, but I know there's some public pain specialists like therapists that are aware, but not all of them are that there is a mind to body connection and then doing the exercise That I did with you in the morning.

I mean, I was having a good day. Like, it was 1 of those days. I was not experiencing pain and you're right. It was about a month in. I was like, I'm creating a matcha. So, I just go to the. Local place that I always go to got a matcha, and. I noticed that that, like, where that bulging happens, the swelling happens that there was a little 20, such a very small 20, but it was coming on.

And the 1st thing I did was start talking to myself. Like, the way you again, taught us to do is to. Calm the brain down and not freak out because I realized, like, freaking out is what scares it. It tells the brain that, like, yes, we are in danger. And so, like, having to talk to myself, I was literally talking out loud to myself, walking in the streets here in New York City, like, like, I look like a crazy person, but I knew.

I don't care, like, I did it because I know I'm like, I need to implement the exercise. So, and it went away. In that moment, I was like, whoa, I, like, immediately went into the evidence list. I wrote it down. Like, when I started realizing where in moments that I do get better and I was like, oh, my God. Okay.

Something here is clearly working. Why would just like, some self talk and breathing exercises just like, calm that twinge down? Like, I couldn't believe it. That was like, the 1st time I was able to come a twinge and. I just remember having tears coming down, like walking, walking and just tearing up because I'm like, oh, my God, I think this is I think I'm like, I was still like, maybe, but I'm like, I think this is it.

And I remember excitedly telling you guys in the group chat, like, where we're all connected and. I just felt more motivated, so I feel like I remember you saying we need these little nuggets that we collect and just like. Those aha moments really, when you collect them together, you're able to be like, okay, just refer it back to that every single time you are feeling a trigger or you're flaring up.

And since then, basically I had more aha moments because I think I just kept pushing myself beyond like the fear. at that point I was listening to so many podcasts through you, through, I can't remember the therapist right now, but the 1 that runs journal speak. I guess I can't think of her name right now.

and then someone else on YouTube and then Alan Gordon, like I was just like reading and listening to all these things and implementing essentially everything into one, the one thing that was like really working for me was the somatic tracking that you have on the sound cloud. And I just like kept playing that every single time.

It was like about one, like maybe about. 3 weeks in or for 3, 4 weeks after that first aha moment that I, had. To go to, like, my in laws for something. I was fine. I had drank matcha. I mean, I was doing great. But then, like, when I saw, like, in laws and people that I didn't really want to deal with or talk to right now, I noticed the twinge came right on, like, full force.

And I did what Liana told me to try to find some time and go upstairs or separate myself if I can and try to implement those exercises. And it just went away. And like, when those moments were happening, I'm like, oh, my God, it's this it's literally this, the biggest 1, the biggest, like, aha moment that, like, just pushed all that fear out of the way.

And, like, I started, like, Essentially, just like, introducing everything again was when I had ordered pizza from a local pizzeria that we go to. I didn't feel like cooking that weekend and because of the histamine, I was really scared to have any leftover. So I've been just. If I eat out, it's got to still be fresh, but because I had that day, I had already tried matcha.

I heard he tried coffee and I was like, yes, like, I'm having all the foods and drinks. Well, not foods, but mostly like the drinks again. And. I didn't want to overdo the trigger with dinner, so I just kind of got an old meal that I know, like, is safe, like, my safe go to meal, which was a gluten free pesto grilled chicken pizza with the arugula.

That's basically the order and I'm like, yeah, because I don't want to overdo it. I don't know why, but I had this gut feeling. I'm like, what if they messed up my order when I opened up the box when we got home? To my in laws, because we were eating there, I opened up the box, what happened? They literally screwed up the entire order.

They had it originally how that, like, how it's labeled. It's with, tomato sauce, raw, like, onions in it, artichoke, cheese. They're basically everything I'm, I would, that would cause a crazy flare. And, yes, I remember, like, my heart started racing. My husband looked at me like he was scared, but I was like, no, no, no.

Okay. We're okay. Like, I literally started implementing the exercises to myself and just talking to my brain, like. We are okay, like, we have been trying different foods and we've been doing better. So, this can't be any different like that. And I remember. Get it like, as soon as I have the pie, because it's a little pie and I started getting like a little bit of a histamine reaction, like, with nerve pain and just like, whatever, like, that histamine reaction tends to be.

That's. My body started reacting a little bit and. Not a twinge. So I, I knew something, this is, this is where my brain, I needed this like aha moment where my brain was like, Oh wait, tomato sauce and no twinge. Hmm. So I go upstairs. I just did the somatic tracking and it like the nerve pain and the heart palpitations, like literally all went away.

Nothing. The next day I was fine.I mean, and in that moment, like I needed an unplanned event. To happen to force me to not freak out. I mean, my brain wanted to freak out, but I stay, I remain calm. And in that very moment, this must have been like, oh. March, I remember so clearly, like, you remember the moments that you get sick and the moment you start to feel better, but it was like, March.

Third, it was like that's first Saturday of March and I'm like, oh, my gosh, like, this is like, this is it. This is exactly what's going on with me. And I just remember, like, crying, crying, like, happy tears. I was like, oh, yeah, I can't believe it. Like, and I was just so excited to tell you and Liana and. Since that moment, though, I started experimenting with different foods.

I started literally introducing everything. I was like squeezing lemon into my salads and literally every trigger possible. And yes, of course, like the first week or two or week and a half, I think I flared a little bit, but I knew how to calm it down and it worked. And the more, the more I kept exposing myself to the trigger or the fear, it got to a point, Grace, that I'm like, I'm not thinking about it anymore.

Like that, and it's been like a good 3 weeks, complete 3 weeks of me. Not nothing. Not like nothing. Like, I'm eating everything. I'm drinking everything. Nothing like, I don't and I don't know and I know, like, I want to say something because I feel like. I had this belief within myself that I can't be that person that quickly heals or can quickly heal.

I don't know. I know. You always say that we don't know when someone really can. Improve from this, right? There's some people that it takes months. Sometimes a couple of years, who knows when you I remember asking you, like, how long it took you and blah, blah, blah. And you said it took me a couple of weeks.

To be honest, but you said you were very open and honest about it. You had the tools already. You knew these were the tools that could help. I, and in my brain, I'm like, yeah, I don't, maybe that won't be me. And I'm always like that. I'm like, I, I probably am the last person to quickly recover. But I, I, till this moment, I'm still processing how quickly my body and mind was able to like, connect everything.

Like just by reading the first couple of pages of Ellen Gordon, And then referring it back to, like, all the information that's in your program, I was like, I felt healed. Yeah, it's, it's so incredible to see, the fact, even the fact that you said, I don't think about it every day. Right, that's huge because someone going through everything you went with went through everything.

I was going through anyone listening to this. It takes up your life, right? It takes up all your brain space, your mental space because 1, you don't know what the hell is going on trying to figure it out to you're in pain, or you can't eat this, or you can't do that. Or you're in bed or whatever it is.

You're worried about all the things. And so for you to say now that. You don't even think about it. That's so, so, so, so huge. So then let me clarify. Is that does that also mean like, like pelvic pain pain in your body fatigue? Like, where is all where is that? I'm like, thinking the best analogy I could describe this, like, like, here's an onion and I'm like, peeling away at each layer of problems or symptoms and it's.

As like, my brain is I think is so incredibly smart. First, the pelvic and twinge completely went away and I knew this was inflammation because my ring started to fit again. So, like, when my ring wasn't like, so tight, all that inflammation calm down in the swelling that bulging went away. So I'm like, huh.

That was 1 big evidence of, like, physical manifestation where the body just, like, completely deflamed. Like, I wasn't having inflammation. The nerve pain started going away. Then the joint pain, like, it, it was, like, the, the, the symptom that the food or environmental trigger that triggers that symptom.

The more I worked on that trigger, so for example, I always associated gluten with joint pain that when I started exposing myself to the gluten, it went away like, yes, I got the joint pain a little bit, a little bit, a little bit, like, it was bad medium and then like, a little bit and then like, it just went away.

So, I realized it was like a cascade of different things I had to work on. Gluen was actually the last thing I officially, like, introduced and worked on. And yeah, like, the histamine went away, the acidic trigger with IC, that went away, the bulging went away, the inflammation went away. Literally, like, everything you could think about that I had, it all went away.

The GI issues improved. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So then now, I mean, what are you doing now? To help yourself or what are you focusing on? Yeah. to be honest, I always knew I enjoyed cooking. Like that was one of my hobbies and one of the things that just like where I could be more, most creative and last year, it's so funny.

Like I, this, I started this, Instagram to kind of just like, Have a creative outlet and it just it was like, for everything, like, lifestyle of food or cleaning, like, organizing literally, like, anything that would come to my brain, but mostly cooking, like, just some fun. Like, I'm a foodie. So I enjoy, like.

Trying new restaurants, or when we travel, that's another fun thing to do. I wanted to show, like. Places we see or do during our travels. So I started an Instagram account just to kind of like release all my creativity there. And I'm back to doing that. I stopped doing it because around the time I was working on it, that's when I got sick.

and then I just started it again during basically, literally the week I started feeling better. I'm like, Oh my God, this is fun to post. I wanted to, I started making Lebanese food, which is Essentially a Mediterranean food, and it has a lot of lemon, so that's why it was, it was hard for me to cook the food that I enjoyed growing up seeing and watching and keeping that tradition and not be able to eat it.

And because it was finally like, I finally had my own space for it. I've always lived with my parents and like, I never had my own apartment. So I wanted, I finally have the space to do all these fun things. And it was also happening around Ramadan, which, if anyone knows, you fast for the whole day from dawn to sunset.

And then, like, I don't fast for medical reasons for epilepsy, but my husband does. And so, I wanted to make fun meals again and really just make the Lebanese food and play around with the recipes. And pass along the recipes that my grandma had passed to my mom and so forth. So I began making literally experimenting with a bunch of Lebanese food, and it costs for so much lemon, but I started recording and making, like, little videos of me cooking and just, like, sharing it and that's, like, my hobby and, like, I didn't realize I had this hobby until, like, I kind of really put the effort into it because my brain, like you said, so much brain space, so much time.

Was was just taken up by this problem by this pain that I, I just kind of put it all off and like, being in the kitchen. I think I even said this maybe in the beginning in the group that being in the kitchen was pretty triggering because it's just, it was tiring. Like, I got to a point where I didn't know what to eat.

Don't I don't want to eat anything. and now it's fun. It's fun again. And it's just like fun to play around with the different recipes and make little content videos about it. And just telling, like, kind of like history along with it, like, but to salad and what is the reason why Lebanese put, like, this fried, toasted.

Peter bread over the salad, and it's just so much fun. And. Being able to reconnect with my culture and food cooking, having a good relationship with food and cooking again was, like, key to my recovery. And now, just like planning vacations and a couple other things I want, I had other goals in mind this year for both the business personal.

So I feel like I have the brain space for it. And not consumed by, Constantly, you know, being on ready or on Facebook support groups or Instagram and just consuming everything like my constant thinking about it. I canceled all my doctor appointments, by the way. So, like, that was 1 thing I had to do.

I'm like. I remember 1 meeting with Liana, I think, like, maybe a. After that first matcha where I thought I, when I connected the dots that I'm like, I think that that was my first aha moment. Liana said one of the most critical things to the healing process is to cancel all your appointments. And that was like so scary to me.

I'm like, what do you mean cancel all my appointments? Like you sure? Like maybe I should still check my gut and maybe I should check and be sure I don't have a histamine problem. I mean, I moved into a basement, so maybe there is mold and I, I. I don't know. Like, I think that second aha moment, like with the pizza, I was like, Oh, okay.

Yeah. I, I need to cancel these appointments. Yeah. I want to, I mean, that can be such a powerful thing to do because you're putting trust into this process and your body knowing that, okay, actually I have like infinite amount of wisdom of my body to heal. And with that, I do have to say a little disclaimer that You know, it is, it's not bad at all to go and check up and do tests and, and all the things, right?

Most of the time, like yourself and anyone else has been down that road before they get to this. And the thing is, after a while, if you go through all the motions, the detoxes, the exams, whatever, and you're not really seeing much of a change, that's the indicator to be like, okay. Let's go full force into this nervous system regulation brain training and really focus here because then when you're doing that, you're telling your brain and your body.

Okay, I trust you. I trust this process instead of also leaning into the physical and thinking, well, maybe it's more physical. Right? So, again, it's not bad. It's just there does come a point in time where we kind of have to lean into this instead of the physical medical. 1000%, and I, when you're so stuck in this pain that your brain only wants to think about this pain, you don't think of, like.

You think of the doctor is supposed to be there for you and listen to you and help you with you. And so I, I am 1 of those 1st persons. If I feel something, I don't wait till, like, I'm dying to go, you know, get checked. I would rather just get it over with and understand what's going on. And the other thing I think is that when we're talking about pelvic pain, I listened, I heard this podcast from a physical therapist herself that also works with nervous system.

She, she mentioned an important thing that why pelvic pain specifically, let's, let's like forget all the other symptoms I have for a moment, but the why the pelvic pain is such a tricky thing is because So let's say someone had endometriosis, which I mean, I learned so much because of all this. pain that I had to deal with that I realized like endometriosis is so under studied and you could be having pain and you could have a clean MRI but it doesn't exclude you from potentially having endometriosis that like that is a scary part of it and that's why I feared it.

But the one thing the physical therapist pointed out is that why do we as women get really freaked out when it comes to pelvic pain. And it's because it's not just you want to believe it's just muscle or the mind body connection, but there's other organs there. There's the bladder, there's the uterus.

And so, duh, your brain is freaking out because there's two organs and your appendix is kind of there. So there could be really anything going on. And so it's normal that I'm freaking out and no risk, no answer from any doctor. Like if I had back pain and the MRI showed that I was fine, kind of like the Alan Gordon book when I was reading it, I think I can get past that.

It could just be a nervous system. But for someone with pelvic pain, as women, we don't know. It could be a dysfunction in your organs. And that's the scary part. and the fact that endometriosis has this like notoriously known problem where you could literally have the pain and no doctor, no MRI can pick it up.

That's crazy. And that woman will go through a laparoscopic surgery just to find out they have endo or not. And sometimes they don't, or they missed it. Doctors still miss it during surgery. So it's like, I was so close to actually going through surgery, by the way, just want to say that. That's like how bad it was.

That's how bad the pelvic pain was. And I, Learned so much, even though I myself don't have endometriosis, I learned so much because of it. And unfortunately, you kind of like, yeah, you kind of have to go through the medical side, go through all the testings and. Yeah, essentially, like, nothing's coming up.

No answer. That's why, for me, it was, like, going through this program. it was, like, my last resort and I had nothing else to lose because I've already seen and done all the testings and. I know there's some people, unfortunately, that will go years testings or years and physical pain and don't realize it could, it could be linked to this whole mind body connection.

And so, for me, I'm very grateful and fortunate that I quickly healed within literally 7 months when again, there's a lot of people that don't connect the dots from for years. They'll go through this and that pains me. Like when I think about it, I'm like, oh my gosh. And when I have people messaging me, like, how did you get better?

Cause I answered someone on journal speak that I had, I see I had pelvic pain and I got better because somebody was asking a question and I just left a comment. I got a pouring amount of like, oh my God, can you tell me? I'm like, I just quickly said like heal with grace and nervous system. Like I kind of like summed it up and it was such a dumb version of like, Like, how do I explain it?

It was such a simplified version of what really it is. But, I'm like, I promise I'm going to make a post about this. It's just because I think I'm still processing everything. Oh yeah. It's so quickly for me. And I know that's not the case. And I want to make that very clear. It's not the case for everybody.

But, I, I was like, you know what, when, when you told me about the podcast, cause I was going to reach out to you, I'm like, I need to get this. Like, I want to tell someone what's going on because This is a summary of like everything in a nutshell, but that, you know, it works. It's true. Your brain is a lot smarter than you think and so powerful.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, once you do this work and it works for you, it's hard not to want to share it because it's so amazing, right? Kind of like you said, oftentimes, unfortunately, and sometimes it's just kind of how it happens. You end up going through all the steps before this, like you're saying, like you said, it was the last resort.

It makes sense. How could it not be? It makes sense how it would be. we're not taught that this is a healing modality, that this is possible. So it takes like you going down the rabbit hole to get here. but once you do and it works, it's just, yeah, it's so incredible. So on that note, if someone is thinking about starting to work with their mind and body, nervous system regulation, brain training, like what would you tell them?

2 things that had I know what I know now, I would do this 1st, but I know that's not always the case. You kind of it's hard to believe sometimes and wrap your mind around it that quickly. But if budget and time allow the same money, you're investing in these doctors and appointments and your energy literally, because it takes so much energy out of you to go to these appointments.

I would just. Apply at least 1 part of that energy, if it allows. And financial means, if it allows to this. And commit it commit to it, at least about a month, a good month and putting in the effort and work and see from there, if your progression, like, if your stress levels kind of reduce, if you start your nervous system starts to regularly a little bit.

Literally make a list of those evidence list. And nuggets, because it does work for me. I just had to pull the trigger and and go with. Go through it because I've already invested, so running on doctors and appointments that I'm like, I literally have nothing else to do. If anything, it will supplement.

Anything else you're working on, because that's how I saw it. I'm like, okay, worst case scenario. And this is like, a mental and physical connection a lot while keeping my other appointments. Like, that was my mindset. So, I'm like, I have really nothing else to lose, but. Use it as a supplement turned out to be the main, the main source of my.

But, I know you need to, you kinda have to go through, unfortunately, sometimes these rough patches and other appointments and other doctors to really grasp your mind around everything that your brain has that much power over your emotional state. And all my brain was trying to do was protect me and protect me from feeling so many other things that your program does so great at breaking down what those emotions could be and.

Constantly checking in with myself, like, I never I, I've been through therapy, but this is like. Next level healing, like, it connects therapy. But, but more with , like, understanding where your trauma is coming from. The emotion of that trauma and how that trauma and emotion still lingers with you through present day, and then manifest through physical symptoms.

And I think that's why I think other previous therapies don't didn't really work. Now, I wouldn't say it didn't work, but it didn't get to the core of my healing. Like this did this actually, I think, dug deep deeper. Yeah, thank you so much for sharing all that this and you know, this because it's so helpful to hear the people's story that it's so, so, so helpful.

I can talk about this all day long and I do and it's helpful, but really, really great to hear it. From someone who has been through it and still is, right? Like you said, you're still processing is still very new. You're making a lot of progress, but, you know, our journey continues. Is there anything else you feel like is important to share?

Before we wrap up, it's not linear. It's you're not going to just. Walk in here feeling healed or and not just here, just this can be implied implemented for really anything anything we do. It's not a walk in the park. You're not just going to wake up and, like, all of a sudden, this, this all makes sense. So you're going to feel great.

It takes work. I think Grace, you realize this from me that I, I put effort in. From the beginning, and I think I wasn't crediting myself a lot. I thought I wasn't doing enough, but, like, the thing is something that I want to point out is that any little bits that you do per day is actually enough and it slowly builds up over the course of like.

The weeks as you're progressing, and so that don't walk into this expecting to suddenly wake up and you're good because the thing is, I have experienced some minor, minor, minor flares still, like, in the last, maybe a week or 2, but it's so minor, like, to the point where, like. It doesn't bother me, but because of the tools I learned.

That you taught us the 47478 breathing, the evidence list, the somatic tracking, literally implementing those. Those nuggets of tools have. Like, we'll make my symptom last from, like, let's say, like, the before for months on end. To now, like minutes within minutes, I could just. Comment down, so having the tool of learning those tools and implementing the tools and the support of grace and Liana together.

That's what really will help over time, but it's, it's not a walk in the park and you have to be willing. You yourself have to have that willingness to. Come to the aha moment. And when that moment does happen, hold on to that and just keep implementing the work over time. Yeah, that's a great way of putting it.

You're right. It's not linear. And we definitely talk about that to help you continue to do it and continue to provide hope. Right? Because it's not, it's not perfect. We can't, it can't be because we're human. but like you said, and like, I've noticed, I remember saying that in the beginning, like, you are doing the work.

You are, it doesn't look, it feels weird at 1st. It's very common. You're not the only one just to sit in a call and be like, but what do I do? Give me the one, two, three steps every day. I'll, I'll do it, but I don't understand exactly how, and it takes time to understand that. So it takes time effort, but it does work if you do it.

So, yeah. Thank you so much for sharing. A thousand percent. Like, I have nothing but gratitude to you, to Liana for this program. Like, I literally just get chills thinking about it. Because I, I can't wrap my mind around, around it. How effective it is and how it saved my life. Like, quite honestly, my sanity, my life, I got my life back.

I can do things again. I could think about other things again. I, you know, and you could cut this out. Like, it got to a point where I felt, I felt suicidal. Like, it was so bad. So bad. So low. Like, I've never been, I've never I've dealt with some really bad, like, health issues in the past. I had a lung collapse and that was, like, the most scary experience that I've, like, medical experience I've ever had, where I had to get, like, a lung surgery for, and that came out of the blue too.

But, even the most traumatic of traumas. Was not nearly as bad as this. This was this within itself was traumatic to me and I think that's why I'm still processing because of the way it came on out of nowhere. It left kind of almost out of nowhere, but I know it didn't really happen like that. The progression of things.

Took time, like, just like it came out, it didn't come out of nowhere, but it did progress to the point where that was, like, the tipping point for my mental health. And then the way it left. Feels like it left out of nowhere, but it was the progress of work that I did that eventually just tipped off in a good way.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that does make sense because it. it's been a whirlwind every year for you, but I'll say this 1 last thing is that oftentimes, like, you're saying. It hasn't really just been this year. It's just been a horrible year. Basically, like, there have been previous things to come up in your health and your life over time.

That's usually how it happens as well. There's usually things we can point back to and be like, oh, yeah, that didn't really make sense. Or like, oh, yeah, I have had these on and off health issues. Right? So, yeah, that's definitely the case. but oftentimes it gets to a place where it's just. Overwhelmingly over consuming takes over your life stops your life.

So, yeah, definitely. I'm sorry, I don't know, like, this is too late to add, but I realized I never spoke about the fact that this was all started from the pregnancy scare.but I, I don't know if it's too late to kind of, like, explain that part because I realized that was the. That was like, not too much the aha moment, but it was more like.

Oh, that kind of linked to that eventually the aha moment. For me, you know, I actually think that we could do a part 2 to go if you don't if you want to, because we keep trying to keep it at an hour. If you're listening, wait for part two, we can dive a little bit deeper.but either way, thank you so much. I'm all for coming on. Thank you for your honesty and for really sharing your story.

been an honor to see it. Oh, thank you so much, Grace. It's been an honor working with you and seeing you as well, like, in the work that you've been doing is just, I get so excited when I see your posts, your TikToks, or anything that you work on. I just get emotional because I literally tell everybody about you now.

You gotta follow Grace. Like, I can't talk about this. Like, you guys gotta follow, just follow her. Yeah. Agreed. Forever. Yeah. All right. Thanks again. And, if you're listening, we will see you next time.