Annie Hopper’s program, which addresses the limbic system “engrained memory” aspect of MCS and many other conditions, is the only way I’ve found for some patients to get out of their illnesses.
Reprinted with the kind permission of Kami Lingren. To read the original article, click If you’ve been following me here for awhile, you know that here in this blog-space I share the grit and guts of what I’ve experienced in the realm of the sick life. But if you’d like to catch up on my story to understand how powerful the news I’m about to share is feel free to check out this post. It’ll give you a look at what used to be an average day-in-the-life for me. Don’t worry, I’ll wait right here til you’re done Ready? So a little over a year ago I met a doctor through a friend and my goodness has she been a godsend to me.
Quite frankly, I believe she is one of two doctors that has helped keep me alive. Well, them and a nurse who quite literally gave me back my life in 2015.
Through her care I’ve seen some beginning signs of improvement as well as experiencing a much lower # of ER visits (1). But I’ve still been largely home bound. Experiencing way too many symptoms to be normal. She was feeling hopeful that by the year’s end I’d see some marked change. And I tried my best to hope with her. But then I was sent a message from an Instagram friend that told me I needed to check out the DNRS (Dynamic Neural Retraining System) program. She said it had completely changed her life and since our stories were so similar I thought I should at least look into it.
So I clicked over to the website and began to read. My first response was honestly, an eye roll. “‘Retrain the brain’?
Do they think this is all in my head? This sounds like another load of positivity B.S. SoI’m outta here.” I replied to the friend with a thanks, but this just isn’t for me. And I thought that was it. A few weeks after I said ‘no thanks’ it popped up again. Then a couple days later a friend messaged me about it, asking if I’d heard of it.
Call it what you will: a sign from the universe, or God, or my own body/brain trying to send me a message, but I just couldn’t get away from it. So I looked at the website again. I watched tons of the testimonial videos as well as a presentation by the creator of the program, Annie Hopper.
Her story, though different than my own, also held so many similarities. And she confirmed what I knew to be true: this illness is NOT all in our heads.
So I softened. I felt like her heart was compassionate toward others who had gone through what she had. And her incredible story was this: I learned to retrain my brain and I healed myself. That’s quite a bold statement, no? So I looked at the price of the program and I talked it over with Trevin. A couple weeks later I had the DVD program in hand. It came right after I’d finished running my very first workshop with some of the readers here at Living Grace.
The timing felt perfect. Have you heard of the DNRS program based on the research of neuroplasticity? It's a fascinating program that is helping me heal from years of chronic illness. To read more of my one month update, click here! I entered the DNRS program with a lot of skepticism. I just feel like you should know that.
It definitely wasn’t as if I bought into this deal right off the bat. But there were some aspects of the research I found online surrounding the brain’s ability to change itself (neuroplasticity) that I couldn’t ignore. And seeing how it had helped so many others similar to me gave me enough hope to give it a shot. The program is designed to help you rewire your limbic system so that it builds more functional neural pathways.
As I learned more about the brain and limbic system in this program, the cause and effect of why I continued to grow sicker or only experience small amounts of relief started to make more sense. In the DVDs Annie explains that when the brain experiences various forms of trauma, whether that’s viral, physical, emotional or otherwise, a maladapted stress response can be triggered. Essentially that means that our brain’s instincts to protect us get kicked into overdrive, leading our limbic system into a constant state of fight or flight mode. And how on earth could I get better if my brain constantly thinks it’s under attack?!
Documentary on neuroplasticity is quite fascinating if you’re interested in understanding more. (Just feel free to ignore the creepy music.) Variations of these concepts have been proven effective in the treatment of physical injuries, such as stroke patients or those who have suffered brain damage. And it’s also helped those who have suffered psychological PTSD or have OCD.
Next week I’ll be unpacking a bit more about neuroplasticity and the design of the program, but until then you can also to watch some tutorials and read up on the science behind it. Subscribe I’ve been on the program for just 4 weeks now and the changes in that short period of time have been quite amazing. Especially when Trev and I compare it to the life I’ve been living the last few years. And while I have more healing to work towards, I’m truly grateful for these beginning signs of healing.