My Naturopathic Experience with Dr. Kelly Upcott
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In February of 2007, I embarked on a life-altering journey.
I was going to the office of Dr. Kelly Upcott, a naturopath in Leamington, Ontario. Hope had been in short supply for me for some years, but I felt a flicker of it that day.
During that appointment, she gave me pillows for my elbows, as they rested on the arms of the chair. Both my hands and arms were in poor condition, sore and sensitive from a prolonged case of tendinitis. The visit was a long one, and she willingly wrote down everything for me because I had no short-term memory to speak of, and I knew I would remember next to nothing without notes.
She sent me home with a tincture called Deep Immune, whose main ingredients were astragalus, licorice, Siberian ginseng and maitake mushroom. Within hours of my first teaspoon, I had a reaction which left me aching all over, from head to foot, and with heat and tingling in my face that lasted hours.
I was exhausted by the exertion of getting to the appointment, sitting through it and being driven back home by my husband Alan. The exhaustion, though, was par for the course for me back then. Any exertion had that effect on me.
It has been two years and eight months since that first visit. She has been the saving of me. I'm not being overly-dramatic, it's just the plain truth.
In that time, I have sampled a number of different remedies at the hands of Dr. Kelly. She had me on Deep Immune tincture for two years, and I believe it has done a great deal to heal me. I've choked down a tincture of milk thistle (with dandelion, bupleurum, licorice and schizandra) as a liver detox measure, and a ginseng tincture for worn-out adrenals. I've taken some homeopathic remedies, nux vomica, phosphorus and psorinum.
She recommended omega 3 oil, whey protein powder, magnesium, methylcobalamin (Vitamin B12), selenium, and an assortment of other supplements for my particular ills. I took liquid chlorophyll in water, and did some vegetable juicing.
I learned how to do dry skin brushing with a loofah for its lymphatic benefits and applied a beauty of an ointment called Lymphagen for the same purpose. I learned how to put water up my nose for nasal irrigation. (Quite an experience!)
She has performed acupuncture on me every month for the past two years and I have experienced both immediate and long-term benefits from this.
Initially she invited me to email her between appointments, as a means of keeping her updated as to how treatment was going. In the early months, it took tremendous effort for me to send her short vague emails once every week or so. Over time, my emails began to get longer, and began to cover more than a bald description of symptoms.
I began to talk about how I felt, what I thought, my hopes, my fears. She encouraged this, suggesting that writing to her about anything I wanted, and as much as I wanted, could be "like a journal that responds". I took her up on this and wrote miles of emails over these past two years or so.
I credit this interest and attention from her in helping to bring the Jody who had existed before CFS back into existence once again.
Before I had been flattened by CFS, I had been a prolific writer, whipping off many articles every week for a few enterprises Alan and I had going. But by the time I met Dr. Kelly, I had been reduced to being able to only write 10 minutes at a time as I filled out my medical history, and then going to bed after the effort. My hands were so crippled and sore I could hardly hold a pen. My thoughts were so fragmented and gossamer that ... I had nothing to say.
She has backed me and supported me through this metamorphosis from what I was to what I am now, aiming me in the direction of wholeness. She has convinced me that I can become much more, and that I can reclaim a full life once again. She has shored up and undergirded a most fragile and frail physical body, and a fractured and beleaguered brain, so that I can continue walking into ... life.
I'm writing here now, on my beloved Ncubator, because of her guidance. I'm working as a professional freelancer on EmpowHer.com because of her support. I'm connecting with people in a way that was impossible for so long, because of her confidence that I could heal.
Dr. Kelly has moved from her Leamington office and now works out of two offices, still in Ontario, Canada.
Her Kingsville office is at Main Street Chiropractic, at 243 Main Street East.
The phone number there is (519) 733 - 8111.
Her Windsor office is in the Lifetime Wellness Center at 401-3090 Dougall Avenue.
The phone number is (519) 250 - 6288.
Their website is http://www.lifetimewellnesscentre.com.
Dr. Kelly's website is http://www.kellyupcottnd.com.
Her email address is info@kellyupcottnd.com.
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