About nine years ago, right after my first Olympics, I developed some severe health issues.
I counted visiting 15 specialists in one year, from neurologists, rheumatologists to cardiologists. No one knew what I had.
I experienced fibromyalgia symptoms, joint and muscle pain, numbed legs and arms, extreme fatigue, ligaments and tendons weakness, dizziness, a horrible lower back, musculoskeletal pain, and terrible gut problems. Maybe, these were early Parkinson’s Disease symptoms but who knows.
It is astonishing how powerful your brain is, and despite all issues, I managed to keep up my training program and to work full time.
Hopeless and ill, I figured that the remedy was in own my hands. I needed to educate my self and research.
I read and investigated a ton, and concluded that trying to label a condition was pointless; instead, I needed to work on the basics, give my body a break and allow it to heal.
The Healing
So, I went for the hardest treatment, the most arduous one, the one almost everyone fails to follow, diet.
Yes, an anti-inflammatory diet. I cut pasta, bread, (even though I’m not celiac), sugars, alcohol and replaced it with some fruits and vegetables, wild fish, some organic white rice. I added some supplements as well.
White rice, steam broccoli, baked Salmon and lots of apples took care of my back, neck and shoulder pain in two weeks! Cured of whatever I had six months later. I slowly started to reintroduce some foods after a year.
I’m using the same diet approach for Parkinson’s Disease in combination with exercising and under doctor supervision.
It is a prolonged treatment, requires perseverance and sacrifice, but it works.
I will keep you posted.
The last race 