In Zhuan Falun it states, "Some illnesses cannot be detected at a hospital, even though people are actually ill. Some people are diagnosed with illnesses that do not have names, since they have never been seen before. Hospitals call all of them "modern diseases."

Since my birth on October 7, 1957 as a two month premature twin baby girl, my medical chart must have read "has a modern disease" more times than not. Sometimes my symptoms would present themselves as "traditional diseases" that have names, a means to measure, and treatment protocols. However, the test results often came back as "normal," leaving both the physician and myself frustrated. The condition would then remain a mystery. The first time this happened I was in college and was tested for hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). The physician noted that although my tests showed my blood sugar levels were just under range for hypoglycemia, there was no other explanation for the symptoms, as I was severely hypoglycemic. He warned me to never believe otherwise regardless of what other physicians might say.

Over the years, several western medical specialists tested and retested my thyroid. All of the tests results came back as normal. At the height of my chronic health problems, when I was 41 years old, a well-respected endocrinologist said, "You most definitely have a traditional thyroid condition that can be controlled by medication, and you most definitely have an adrenal condition. The adrenal condition is either a disease that stems from a problem in the pituitary and will require a lifetime of adjusting drugs dosages, or a fatal adrenal disease." He was at a loss for words when the tests results all came back normal. Psychiatric disorders had been previously ruled out as the causes. So, other than long-term sleeping pills and antidepressants to control a few secondary symptoms, there was nothing to be done to assist me with a whole series of serious symptoms related to the thyroid, adrenals, and pituitary. Plus, there was no means to understand the root of the causes, so no cures.

There were other complications that impacted my overall health and well-being. Since childhood, I more times than not had allergic reactions to medications. Later as a teenager and twice as an adult, I had life threatening reactions to medications. One of these times, the side effects suggested permanent damage to the pituitary that resulted in problems with the adrenals. Over the years, many of the allergies I experienced to foods, chemicals, preservatives, and environmental toxins were medically proven by testing, while others were not, other than they happened. I did not take medicines of any kind unless it was the last resort and even then, with great caution. My diet and environmental settings continued to become more restricted with age due to the allergies and asthma. On the first visit to a new health care provider, I use to joke when they asked, "What are you allergic too?" My reply was, "It would be easier if I just told you the four foods I can eat."

At the age of 15, I took a hard tumble into a ditch off a galloping horse that injured my left shoulder socket, causing temporary paralysis, permanent shoulder and arm weakness, and some limitations with the range of motion with my arm. This shoulder injury in combination with a hereditary condition of the spine that leads to deterioration of neck and lower back discs created a permanent situation of chronic pain and physical limitations that got worse with age. In my 20's, I began regular chiropractic adjustments, periodic physical therapy, and alternative approaches and exercises for pain management and to assist with posture and mobility.

By my 40^th birthday, I had struggled for seven years with a series of "modern diseases," some with names and some without, that were making my life hell. Each morning I would awake from a couple hours of medication induced sleep and wondered how I was going to make it through another day. So, I decided to let "no rock be left uncovered" in my attempt to find the root causes and corresponding cures.

For the next four years, I spent on average between three hundred to a thousand dollars a month, in western and oriental treatments and medicines, numerous alternative health care providers and healers, counseling, self help approaches, body and energy work, diets, and supplements. It was most frustrating that no western medical specialist or tests could diagnose the problems. No traditional Oriental Medicine based approach or alternative health treatments could cure me either. Medication, self help approaches, biofeedback, self-hypnosis, past life regressions, and other self-help approaches could not address the underlying root causes as well.

In 2000, three years into my intense pursuit for causes and cures, I was losing the battle with the chronic conditions. The sleeping pill medication had lost its ability to provide meaningful sleep, so I tried another prescription. I had a severe reaction to the new medication that was so violent it left me basically bedridden, unable to sleep and eat, and lying, standing, sitting or walking were excruciatingly painful. Water from the shower hurt my skin and I could hardly open a door or carry my hand bag. This event caused a chain reaction of further decline in the symptoms of the chronic condition, and colitis and intense acid reflux. I experienced a dramatic drop in weight to the point that I was skin and bones. I could not eat much of anything. By now, my emotional and mental states were off the chart with depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.

In May 2001, six months after moving to my parent's home, I unexpectedly found the root cause of all my physical, emotional, and mental health symptoms through an ancient cultivation practice called Falun Dafa, or Falun Gong.

After practicing Falun Gong for eighteen months, I had no symptoms of the medication reaction, nor of my chronic health and physical problems. Some of these symptoms included: sensitivity to sound, light, temperature, hyper activeness followed by debilitating fatigue, periodic blurred vision, uncontrollable hypoglycemia, more dramatic food and environmental allergies and sensitivities, increased deterioration of the degenerating discs in my neck and lower back causing periods of "white knuckle" like pain, increased nerve damage in my left arm causing numbness and loss of mobility in moving my neck, periodic muscle weakness causing falling and inability to hold things, leaky gut syndrome (severe gas, bloating, intestinal discomfort and pain, etc.), chronic diarrhea or soft stools, severe insomnia, bladder stones causing intense irritation after urination, chronic yeast and bladder inflections, periods of memory loss and brain-fog, severe chronic fatigue, chronic low grade asthma, chronic bouts with cold sores, chronic outbreaks of sores on the arms and legs that were much like extreme stages of poison ivy, enlarging of endometriosis tumors, inability to maintain weight, and mild to extreme fibromyalgia.

Now, it has been over four years since I have seen a health care provider of any kind, had any treatments, adjustments, therapy, or taken any herbs, medications, or supplements. In addition, I can physically do things and without any pain that I have never been able to do because of my shoulder, back, and neck conditions, such as mow a yard, throw pots on a potter's wheel, garden, and so on. I can eat any food and be in any environment without allergic, sensitivity, hypoglycemia or asthmatic reactions. I sleep soundly with REM dream cycles and have no digestive problems or fatigue. My emotional and mental health have never been better. Family, friends, and co-workers that knew me confirm that my healing through practicing Falun Dafa was a miracle.

I am most grateful to Falun Dafa for my new life.