E24 - Joyce Hale - A reason to reJoyce

Hi Path Menders,

Thanks for visiting today. This week on the Mended Paths Podcast I'm speaking with Ms. Joyce Hale. Joyce has not had an easy life. She has struggled with illness, literally, from the day she was born. With the ambiguous diagnosis of "sick child" from an early age, she suffered all kinds of maladies. It took doctors 28 years before they diagnosed her with Lupus. 28 years with a big question mark about why she was always facing some sort of sickness. Her medical problems continued to progress, with limited, if any, relief from medications, until she came to, and adopted, a plant based diet.

Today, Joyce shares her very emotional story and the long journey she has had. We touch on how she is now called "the canary in the coal mine" in regards to the impact of the wrong "foods" and so much more.

Joyce is especially grateful to the Esselstyn family for the information, resources, and push they gave her so she was able to take her recovery to the next level and finally start skipping days of her medication. This was a meeting that literally changed her life.

In today’s show we discuss (show notes):

- Medical issues from the day she was born (1:59),

- It can be years or decades before a lupus patient is diagnosed - for Joyce it was 28 years (6:51),

- Hard to connect the dots and make a diagnosis as each flare can present different symptoms (8:57),

- Some trouble with prescribing medications for lupus flares (11:20),

- Daily life: Pushing hard on a good day (15:05),

- Constant disease progression; overwhelming darkness (19:24),

- Lupus can attack and deteriorate your bones (20:57),

- Doctors advice to stop bone deterioration (24:07),

- Increasing seizures lead to medical leave and the the adoption of the Mediterranean diet; medications seemed to finally start to work somewhat (27:17),

- The Mediterranean diet only provided some relief for 8 months before the frequency of seizures increased again (29:37),

- Running her own little experiment / resisting the suggestion of plant based (32:19),

- The power of plants is revealed (35:55),

- A 30 day trial...? (38:45),

- You think it's radical, you think it's extreme (43:36),

- It's tough to see other patients struggling - you want to shout from the rooftops! (46:02),

- Reductions in medications (47:09),

- "A canary in the coal mine" (48:59),

- A lot fewer doctor visits and many more good days (53:45), and,

- Her advice for Path Menders - take control of your body; take control of your health (57:06).

Thanks for Listening!

Resources referenced in this episode:

- The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine – Dr. Neal Barnard (Website),

- Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease - Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn (Website),

- Vegan Medical Doctor - Dr. Brooke Goldner (Website), and,

- Stancic Health and Wellness - Dr. Saray Stancic (Website).

In addition, Joyce wanted to point out some other websites, not mentioned, that were "the most powerful that got me to reaching several full med-free days:"

- Health Care is Self Care (Jane Esselstyn),

- Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease (Caldwell Esselstyn),

- Engine 2 Diet (Rip Esselstyn), and,

- Plant-Based CLE Website and Facebook Group.

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Wishing you the Best of Health,

Chadwick @ The Mended Paths Podcast