My daughter, Alaina, has recovered from chronic pain and illness that began in early childhood, but that became severe in her late teens, we now realize, due to NICS – an impairment in the limbic system area of the brain following initial illness earlier in childhood.* We are fortunate to have been introduced to the science of neuroplasticity at the moment when life was beginning to feel hopeless for Alaina due to ever worsening symptoms, despite excellent medical care. By her eighteenth birthday, Alaina had been living with misdiagnosed pelvic pain for two years, and she had been experiencing an increasing list of autoimmune symptoms during that same period of time. She was a varsity athlete, but she suddenly became bedridden, requiring a wheelchair because she could no longer walk on her own due to severe Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome [POTS] and other debilitating symptoms. The worst of her symptoms was excruciating pain throughout her body – a continued exacerbation of the extreme mysterious “growing pains” she had experienced since age two. Having a strong family history of autoimmune disease in my own family, and living in an area where Lyme Disease is endemic, I searched for answers that made sense. However, each time we thought we had a proper diagnosis and a course of action, she would get worse with the treatment. Then a friend whose daughter was experiencing complications from Chronic Lyme Disease and CIRS [mold illness] told me about “a program called DNRS that I keep hearing about.” By this time, Alaina had both of these diagnoses, which eventually culminated in Mast Cell Activation Syndrome [MCAS]. Thanks to many online testimonials of others who had recovered their health through a neuroplastic approach we began to understand the profound nature of the brain-mind-body connection.

It is difficult to imagine where we would be today had we not made this connection when we did. (In allopathic medicine, this now often falls under the relatively new field of neuroimmunology.) I have come to realize that if doctors – regardless of their specialization – do not consider the role of the nervous system & brain in illness and chronic conditions, they are missing an important piece of the medical puzzle. While Alaina has since incorporated other methods of brain-mind-body techniques into her toolbox, DNRS laid the foundation for our understanding of the Neuro-Immune Conditioned Response [NICS]*, epigenetics and healing through various neural retraining techniques. I encourage anyone who may be suffering from any chronic, autoimmune, environmental or mysterious illness that defies conventional and even natural or experimental treatments, to explore the sciences of neuroplasticity and epigenetics. It is not “all in your head,” but the brain is the central processor running the body’s physical systems; and if the limbic area of the brain is out of balance, this can have very real and devastating consequences in the body. 

While a brain-mind-body approach is not generally a quick fix, with some consistency, it is possible to bring about lasting change that is in YOUR hands. Whether you use this approach in place of a traditional Western medical approach as we did, or you do it in conjunction with more traditional or natural therapies for your condition(s), I believe everyone can benefit from an understanding of the intricacies of the limbic system … and the power of thought to change the brain in order to heal the body.