Anthony William, The Medical Medium.
So, I know that during the holidays, it can be tougher for people that are battling chronic illness,
especially neurological symptoms.
And validation is never easy with family and friends and loved ones.
So I know a lot of people withdraw, and they withdraw from crowds.
and so they're stuck on mattress island they're never feeling good and they've been through a lot
emotionally and not just physically but they've been through a lot emotionally mentally
and physically it makes it really hard when holidays come and Christmas comes and I know
that some people go through this where they just don't get the validation because or even the
understanding that their struggle makes it hard for them to be like everybody else be either normal
what's called normal or play the reindeer games with everybody and and so what happens with so
many people and maybe you're one of them and maybe you're not. Maybe the holidays come and
it's not like that at all. But over the years, I've seen this over and over again where
someone's had a really rough few years and maybe even more. And they've been to all the doctors
and they've been through hell and back with their conditions.
And even they've been to the psychiatrists and the psychoanalysts
and psychotherapists and counselors.
And maybe they haven't been to anybody
because they just don't have the resources.
And they're just home and they're alone.
And it's hard for them to even be with friends during the holidays
or in general ever
because they're either on Mattress Island struggling
or they're on Couch Island.
I know that so many people are not just being merry
and all about the holidays and drinking eggnog with everybody
and laughing and playing and getting together.
And I hope people are and they're with family
and they're doing all that.
But I also know, I also know, and I have to always remember that there's many people who, they could barely function.
They're battling with anxiety, where if they're around too many people or they're questioned when they're around people,
maybe they're questioned if they're around family, you know, like, how's it going?
How's your anxiety doing?
How are you feeling?
And it's just hard to even converse, have a conversation for so many people who are struggling with depression and anxiety, depersonalization, where they feel numb.
and then there's that whole aspect of people that are around others during the holidays
and because they feel so numb they feel like they can't be a part of of the joy or the happiness or
they get together they feel like they're just looking at it from the outside as if they're not
a part of it. And that gets a lot of people in so many ways, especially if they're struggling
and don't feel good and they're feeling disconnected from a gathering, even if they're there
or disconnected from a loved one during the holidays. So I wanted to just read a little bit,
if that's okay, you guys, I would love to, on this Christmas Eve, just read a little bit here.
And maybe this resonates with some of you guys, and maybe it doesn't resonate at all.
There's a part in the brain book that's chapter 46.
If you even want to grab your brain book, it's called You Deserve Validation.
It's in Brainsaver.
It's on page 565.
So it starts out,
Before COVID, there was already a form of social distancing that had been going on for decades.
This was social distancing practiced by people suffering with chronic illness and neurological symptoms.
And I've known so many people throughout the years where they had to be kind of like self-guarded, careful, because their energy was not expendable.
and I think that's a big part of it right there is your energy is critical because it's
it's you're on low reserves when you don't feel good and you're struggling
and so if you're around other people and they have what seems to be just bounds of energy
and they can communicate and they can do things someone else might feel like they don't have that
kind of energy. It's not there. And it's precious energy because it's reserves. And so it makes it
difficult. So I'll keep on reading here. Some chronic symptoms and conditions don't cause
people to withdraw. UTIs, chronic sinus infections, a thyroid disorder, physical injury to the ankle
or knee and achy back, bloating, even some mild skin conditions when like someone has mild eczema
or psoriasis, not severe, that actually is hard on so many people, but mild or mild acne.
These ailments often still allow people to live their lives. People may feel uncomfortable
or be unhappy about their weight gain, their hair loss or bloating.
They may not want to be on the beach, yet they're able to keep going about their days.
They don't tend to back down from social engagement.
So even the person who feels like they're overweight and they don't want to be on the beach or around a pole or something,
Now, sure, they may withdraw from that because that's how they feel, but it doesn't mean the withdrawal from just engaging with people in general.
Something different happens when people have a problem that involves the brain, the central nervous system, the nerves.
when neurological symptoms pass from mild to more moderate people tend to pick and choose
which social engagements they attend with their family and friends i've seen this with migraine
sufferers where they pick and choose where they're gonna go what they're gonna do it's like do i hang
out with those guys or do i hang out with these guys you know do i hang out with family or do i
They hang out with the other family or however what's happening in their lives or their friends.
Migraine sufferers always tend to choose.
It's hard enough to live with neurological symptoms such as tangles or numbness or fatigue, OCD, seizures, anxiety, depression, dizziness, vertigo, brain fog.
Even migraines like I spoke about, floaters in the eyes.
it's that much harder to be around people who may be challenging, whether they're family members or
friends. When you don't feel well and you're struggling neurologically, it takes a lot out
of a person. You're experiencing the symptom, trying to live with it and cope. So a natural
progression of backing out of social engagement occurs. I wanted to just talk to you guys on
Christmas Eve because I know that this is a time this happens. And like I said, maybe that's not
happening in your life. Well, there might be somebody that's actually really struggling
tonight on Christmas Eve, so I just wanted to get these messages out.
Someone in your life may witness this withdrawal from social engagement and ring the alarm bells
without understanding that you just don't feel well.
If you aren't already on the doctor and testing search,
this worry from others can be what prompts your search.
With mysterious neurological symptoms,
most people around you think,
just go to the doctor and get fixed already.
If you're sick, when did you go to the doctor?
Aren't you fixed already?
It's not that easy.
This alone, knowing that your symptoms won't make sense to others, can prompt social distancing.
So it's like, hey, so many times I've seen people out there trying to express what their symptoms are to a friend or a family member.
And it sounds like madness.
Just utter madness.
To the person listening.
Where they just don't get it.
They don't understand that you're really struggling and these strange symptoms are holding you back.
When neurological symptoms are centered more around the brain itself, that's when the social engagement really declines.
The more severe your brain fog is, the less you're going to be in a hurry to communicate with others.
And that brings me to the whole brain fog thing.
some people who suffer from it really bad and maybe that's you and maybe you know someone
maybe it's somebody else but that one right there really makes it hard for people
to communicate with others during the holidays you're conversing with a friend and the friend
is detecting your brain fog and says something are you okay many times this can cause shame
frustration, and anger because you're feeling misunderstood. It's not your fault. You already
have it hard enough. When someone misinterprets your brain fog, it can be very difficult.
On the other hand, explaining your symptoms to loved ones and co-workers doesn't always seem
to go well. You can feel even more misunderstood. Mysterious symptoms getting in the way of trying
to live your life normally can end up taking freedoms away that other people can't relate to.
It's like they just don't understand that you can't do what they're doing right now
because you really have these challenges but the challenges don't really make a lot of sense to them
because they don't get that these challenges are real
and they really hold you back,
but they don't make sense
because why didn't you go to a doctor and get fixed already?
And it's so difficult.
Often people with brain-related neurological symptoms
have to pick and choose.
So often sick people,
like if you're sick, if you're struggling,
you have to choose.
the time and energy you spend with others.
Who's the safer person to spend the energy and time with?
Who won't judge you if you speak about your symptoms
like brain fog, inability to articulate well,
inability to sleep well, fatigue levels?
Part of what makes neurological symptoms mysterious
is that you'll often look perfectly fine
to somebody else from the outside.
Did you ever have that happen where it's like
you look normal, fine, good.
You look like you from the outside.
You feel like you're dying inside.
You feel like you're on an island somewhere
and no one understands you.
But you look fine to somebody else.
unless a neurological symptom has gotten so severe that it shows itself physically like a bad tremor
it looks like there's nothing wrong
when neurological symptoms do start to show themselves people tend to retreat more and
that takes us to like to a whole nother thing because if you're on mattress island because
you have severe neurological fatigue
and severe anxiety.
You're going to retreat even further away.
People learn their limitations,
especially after they've been sick long enough.
For example, if someone's neurological fatigue is coming on
and they can't keep holding themselves up
while standing in conversation with someone else,
they're going to wrap up the conversation and say,
I gotta go.
I know there's so many people out there
that can't even stand too long
in a conversation holding a drink.
Whatever the drink is, glass of water.
But it's hard for them to even stand there
for a half an hour, 20 minutes, 10 minutes
and hold a conversation.
They need to sit down.
They need the rest.
Oftentimes with neurological symptoms,
people have to gauge how much energy they have for everything they have to do.
Grocery shopping, for instance,
can be a massive undertaking for someone with neurological symptoms.
I mean, maybe this doesn't happen to you.
But I've seen this happen to so many.
Just going grocery shopping, getting through the checkout,
driving home and they're done for the day.
Just done.
Like that's it.
That was just, it took them out
where that was it for a day, maybe even longer.
They needed a couple of days to recalibrate.
If you run into someone at the grocery store
who engages you in conversation,
it can take every single thing out of you.
Most health professionals who haven't been in the shoes of someone with neurological symptoms cannot relate to this.
I have a hard time with a lot of different doctors and practitioners.
I have a lot of respect for doctors and practitioners.
But I also know that if they haven't felt it themselves and haven't been through it or they can't reference it, they don't understand it.
Not every practitioner or doctor, but the majority that I've ever seen out there, unless they've been there in that person's shoes, do they really understand what it's like?
they think a patient with neurological symptoms should still have more than enough energy and
strength to get to the doctor's office wait in the waiting room and undergo an examination and
testing probably one of the hardest things i've seen over the years all these decades
doing what i've been doing is seeing when people are too sick to get to the doctor's office
to drive there or get driven there,
sit there in the waiting room for an hour,
get an examination when you're finally in,
get out, check out, pay,
get into their car and go home,
depending on the distance to,
how much that takes for someone who's struggling or suffering.
I get it.
Maybe that's not you right now, and it was you in the past years ago
before you did all the healing work you're doing.
And maybe someone never even experienced that who's listening right now.
And I understand.
And your drives to the doctor's office have gone pretty smooth.
But I've seen so many people where just getting off of Mattress Island
and thinking about getting somewhere, man, it's really hard.
Patients with neurological symptoms are misunderstood even by physicians.
If the physicians are strong and aren't experiencing neurological symptoms themselves, it's hard for them to understand.
When a younger person starts to develop neurological symptoms, it can be a particular struggle to be understood.
A child with neurological symptoms often gets dismissed as having behavioral issues or autism.
Then there are times when behavioral issues are coinciding with the fact that a child has neurological symptoms we associate with adults.
A child cannot always express their tingles, their numbness, their aches, their pains, their dizziness, their brain fog, their inability to receive information and formulate the right words when expressing themselves.
If a child is clearly exhibiting sickness and all tests conclude no definitive cause, the child or even teenager could be told they're making it up.
It's still happening today.
We think we're so advanced.
We think we figured everything out.
We think it's all like we're so progressive with alternative medicine and conventional medicine and science research and university studies.
we haven't. It's not that advanced at all yet. We haven't figured it out.
Teenagers suffering with body pain, fatigue, and brain fog will be told they're making it up more
than adults. These teens will be told it's a mental issue and they need a psychiatrist
or a counselor. This used to happen more with adults. Women especially were told they were
crazy, making it up, bored, lazy, or that it was a cry for attention. I spent a lot of years
blowing the alarm bells about that one, and it forced the industry to change.
I spent many years getting the word out that it has to end where women are being told they're
crazy and making it up and they're bored and they're lazy, and then word got out. Took a lot
of years, but word got out and the industry has changed. It's better. It's not perfect. It's not
100% better, but it shifted. Nowadays, it's like this adult version has been cast onto teenagers
and children who describe mysterious neurological symptoms and yet seem to check out okay. It's been
flipped onto teenagers now where they're kind of crazy and lazy and bored,
but really they're struggling with neurological symptoms.
The more complex the neurological issue becomes for someone of any age,
or the more complicated it gets with multiple symptoms,
the more difficult it is for someone to function.
then you have no choice
other than to withdraw.
The industry and the people suffering
didn't know the symptoms were even neurological
before medical meeting information.
That's the craziest thing.
All the different mysterious symptoms
they didn't even tag them as neurological.
then you have no choice to withdraw if you're really struggling.
The people you choose to spend time with have to be more understanding.
Otherwise, you're less likely to communicate with them when you don't feel good.
Has that ever happened to you?
This is when your contact list of people who will understand dwindles.
I've watched that for so many years with people where their contacts dwindle
because you kind of find out who your friends are when you're sick and struggling.
Many people with brain-related conditions only have a few people they end up talking to.
Whether they used to have 30, this is rarely discussed
because the chronically ill tend to be swept under the carpet.
There's monumental discrimination against the chronically ill,
And I think that holidays, it kind of shows a little bit with a lot of people struggling.
Because it shifts things.
It's like not the daily grind.
Everything's kind of coming to a slowdown.
And because it's coming to a slowdown, things change with everybody's environment and surroundings.
And people are around other people.
People are wondering if they should go somewhere.
We're now heading to a place where neurological symptoms are going to be far more common than ever before, where they are already.
So many individuals are going to have neurological symptoms that the world is going to be forced to shift.
People with neurological symptoms are going to be in the minority.
Sorry, people without neurological symptoms are going to be in the minority.
The majority will be people with neurological symptoms.
it has already started and in the next five years we're going to see more chronic neurological
symptoms than ever before in history and humankind on this planet i'm not trying to drop a bummer
message on christmas eve but i think what happens on christmas eve for me i just think about
what spirit of compassion has always told me and i think about spirit of compassion is telling me
in the moment and saying, reach out, let people know who are struggling, who have been through a lot,
that you understand. Say, no, they're not alone because so many people feel alone when they're
sick. It's critical to know that there's reasons why you feel like you do. It's legit.
it's legit as far as what you've suffered and struggled with and all your symptoms
and any struggles you have around others
it's real
and what I want to say is that if you're somebody that struggled
along the way and you're having a difficult time now
try to keep a light heart
if someone doesn't understand you,
it doesn't mean they still don't care
or they still don't love you.
They just don't understand what you're feeling.
Keep a light heart and have compassion for yourself.
Don't beat yourself up.
Don't get tough on yourself.
Be easy on yourself.
and keep that light heart strong.
You're not a bad person.
You didn't cause your sickness.
You're a good person.
And if people haven't experienced what you're experiencing,
it doesn't mean they don't care.
People with brain-related and nervous system-related symptoms
tend to be branded as sensitive.
the truth is that they are sensitive rightfully so if you're branded as sensitive
there's nothing wrong with that because it's the truth you're sensitive because the people who are
sensitive are struggling with neurological symptoms yet when called sensitive by others
it's kind of an insult.
That's the hard part too.
You're sensitive because you're really struggling with symptoms,
whether it's anxiety or anything.
Neurological symptoms tend to be labeled as psychological
without an understanding that our mental health is rooted
in the physical health of our brain and nervous system.
it's not psychological it's a physical problem
and anything psychological that developed because of PTSD because of your physical
problem was because of your physical problem people around someone
with neurological symptoms tend to think there are mental issues involved instead of real
physical symptoms with a real physical cause. And that's where I get so upset because the person's
really struggling with a real physical problem and they get branded with like a mental issue,
but really it's a physical issue they're struggling with.
When you have neurological symptoms, you've gone through a lot. You've lost freedoms in your life.
You haven't been allowed to fully express yourself, play the reindeer games, live your life to its maximum, play tennis with your friends, go on hikes, dance, exercise and travel.
You've been withheld.
Maybe a whole bunch of you haven't been and you've been able to experience even some of those things.
There are people that haven't had a chance to really experience too many of that.
You've lost friends and become distanced from certain family members, which you've seen with chronic illness all the time.
As a result of the many small wounds of losing these freedoms compounded on top of one another, you can get PTSD.
A psychological component could develop, yet it has nothing to do with the symptoms you've been faced with along the way,
meaning you don't have neurological symptoms because you're psychologically causing them.
Any PTSD or psychological effects you experience from living with a neurological condition
are on top of the neurological condition you were dealing with in the first place.
It's rare to find validation and support for this understanding.
So here's what's important to remember.
You are stronger than you know for being able to push through, survive, and live with your symptoms.
It takes a special ability and profound power.
So remember this on this Christmas Eve.
You are powerful.
More powerful than you know, even if you've been called sensitive and even if you're sensitive neurologically.
you have something profound inside of you.
A spiritual power.
Spiritual experience.
Your soul has grown.
Many of you will be pressured this holiday season
because you've chosen to change your foods
because you're working on your healing process.
I understand 100%.
It can be so hard.
This time of year, being around friends and family
who don't understand why you're sick to begin with
or why you're even making these choices of healthier options.
If you're somebody that you just said,
I'm jumping off the wagon, man.
I'm jumping off the wagon.
I can't do anything medical medium right now.
It's the holidays.
I'm doing the best I can.
I totally understand as well.
I'm not judging you one bit.
I will never judge you.
Because until I've been in your shoes
and understand everything you're going through in your shoes,
I can't judge it at all.
I have to trust.
I have to entrust
you know why you're doing that
and I have to respect that
because this is your life in the moment
so if you're somebody that's
trying to stay
on some healing options
during the holiday
and you're getting ridiculed for it
or you're somebody that just had to jump off the wagon
I'm behind you
and just know that I care
and I'm proud of all you guys
for all you're doing
and all that you've done
this year
some of you are probably with a lot of family
some of you don't have much family
some of you are with a lot of friends
some of you don't have much friends
some of you are just alone
some of you can't travel
some of you wish you can go someplace
but you can't,
just know that I care about every one of you
and what you're going through and what you're doing.
Anyway, thanks for hanging in there
while I read a little and just talk about all this.
Merry Christmas.
Happy holidays.
Lots of love.
God bless you.
