Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Psoriasis, and Hope with "Jordan"

A “bad stomach bug” nearly took Jordan’s life and it became the moment she stopped trying to muscle through and started reaching for God again. Jordan joins us as a homesteader, artist, and future certified herbalist to share what it’s like living with IBS, PCOS, psoriasis, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and how chronic illness can expose both the cracks in our support systems and the places where real hope can take root.

We get practical about gut health, chronic inflammation, and why IBS can impact everything from energy to nutrient absorption. Jordan explains the changes that helped her most, including removing trigger foods, cutting processed foods, minimizing sugar, avoiding gluten, and using a gut bacteria test to identify overgrowths and missing strains. She also walks through PCOS symptoms like insulin resistance and stubborn weight gain, plus the long fight to find a doctor who actually listens. Her experience with direct primary care, targeted labs, gradual strength training, supplements, and a few key medications shows how much management can improve when care is personal and thorough.

The faith side is just as real. Jordan shares the Scriptures that hold her steady, including Revelation 21:4 and the story of Elijah being cared for with rest, food, and water. We also talk about unhelpful Christian responses to sickness, why “pray harder” can wound, and what’s better: listening, praying with someone, and refusing to condemn what they can’t control.

If you need encouragement, better language for your pain, or a healthier way to support chronically ill believers, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s tired of carrying it alone, and leave a review so more people can find Christians with Chronic Illnesses.

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Transcript

Meet Jordan And Her Homestead

SPEAKER_02 0:01

I'm your Jesus loving empathy host, Elise Break. Welcome back to Christians with Chronic Illnesses.

SPEAKER_03 0:19

Hey Jordan, I'm so happy to have you here on Christians with Chronic Illnesses.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

I'm happy to be here.

unknown 0:25

Thanks.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

Okay, so why don't you just tell us a little bit about yourself? What are some of your hobbies? You know, what do you do?

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Well, I run a farm, and so that takes up most of my time, but I actually really enjoy reading and painting and cooking.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

Is it like a farm at your house?

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

That's really cool. What all do you have?

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Not a lot. We bought it a year ago, and so we've been kind of building it up. So we've been working on fences, and we just finished the small barn for the animals, and then we're gonna start building a chicken goop soon.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

Oh, exciting! So no animals yet?

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Not yet. Chickens are going to be number one first. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

We're gonna get three more dogs, a puppy for our current puppy, and then two guardian livestock dogs to go with our goats and cows when we get them.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

That's gonna be so much.

unknown 1:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

It is, but I'm really excited. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see you manage that with chronic illness. That's that'll be an adventure, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

All right, so you're like, what do they call that? Is that like is that like homesteading? Is that homesteading or is that different?

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Yeah, that I I would think it's homesteading.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Okay, sweet. So you're into homesteading or at least farming. What else? What are some of your other passions?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Like I said, I'm I'm kind of simple. I I really enjoy art. I really uh I do a lot of painting. There's a lot of murals around that.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Oh, but that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

They are kind of nerdy, they're all Lord of the Rings themed.

SPEAKER_03 2:01

That's awesome. I love the Lord of the Rings, so that's great.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Oh, that's awesome. We do too. It's uh on our like bedroom door, I have Hobbit Hobbiton, like a Hobbit house with flower garden and stuff. So I plan on a few more. Like our guest door has like the prancing pony sign and stuff and looks like wood.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

Are the walls literally like are you is it painted on the wood or is it like things that you hang up?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

So the Hobbit door is actually painted on the door. I painted the other door to look like you know rustic wood, but there is an actual sign that I painted that says the prancing pony on it that is stuck to the door.

SPEAKER_03 2:41

Yeah, that's really neat. I love that. Which is your favorite movie out of the three?

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Oh man, that's hard.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

If you're a Lord of the Rings fan listening, comment your favorite. You know, okay, we'll include Hobbit in this too. How you can have the Hobbit, you can have the Lord of the Rings. I won't go Rings of Power because I feel like this is a series, so it's a little different.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

I've never seen that. Um I will say probably the last movie of the Lord of the Rings series, I think it's Return the King.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

Yeah, we love the hope at the end, it's great.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

I do, and just the giant battle. I don't know. It's pretty great, there's hope.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Yeah, favorite character.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Oh man. So here's the problem. One of my favorite characters is shown poorly in the movie.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Oh, but is awesome in the book. Okay, who is it?

SPEAKER_00 3:31

I love Pippin.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Pippin was not this goofy laughing stuff that they made him in the movie. Neither was Mary. They were actually pretty fierce, and I love it.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

Oh man. They just needed a comedy relief character, so I guess they got the target, huh?

SPEAKER_00 3:50

It was unfortunate, but in the books, they're amazing. They're still my favorite. I don't care.

SPEAKER_03 3:57

Very cute. Sweet. So you love art and painting, farming, homesteading. And I think you had also mentioned that you're studying to be what an herbalist?

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Yes. I want to become a certified herbalist. I'm trying to go through the Christian guild, which they have a number of things that you have to do, like so many hours of education with anatomy, physiology, that kind of stuff. And I'm still I'm still working through it.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

Yeah, that's really cool. I I look forward to hearing what that profession, I guess, brings you if you're gonna do profession with it. I don't know. But I'm looking forward to see where that leads you in the future. That's really neat.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Thank you. Excited to talk about it.

A Faith Crisis And Coming Back

SPEAKER_03 4:38

Yeah. Okay, so tell us a little bit about your faith.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

But I grew up in a Christian home and I would I got saved at 13. I was always kind of in the church until probably my teenage years. Unfortunately, I was on my own at 16. And so between that and my like mid-20s, I will say I probably had like a crisis of faith. Yeah. But I came back towards my later 20s. Like I never gave up on God. I always prayed and stuff, but I I was very lukewarm. You know, I had I hadn't been to church in years until we moved here. And so it was it was kind of an interesting journey. I really, and this is sad to say, I really didn't come back until I got sick and realized, oh, I I need a stronghold, like someone to lean on.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

Desperate times tend to do that.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

Tend to lead us to something bigger than ourselves, to needing hope and truth.

IBS Inflammation And Gut Testing

SPEAKER_03 5:41

So, what what's your diagnosis, if you don't mind sharing?

SPEAKER_00 5:46

I have unfortunately a number of them.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

All right.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

But I'll kind of interconnected. Uh it started with IBS.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

Okay. What's IBS?

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Irritable bowel syndrome.

SPEAKER_03 6:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

And then came the PCOS, which is polycystic ovarian syndrome.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

And after that, I ended up with psoriasis. And the most recent one was Hajimoto's thyroiditis, thyroiditis. That's a lot.

unknown 6:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

All right. So what was your first diagnosis?

SPEAKER_00 6:20

It was the irritable bowel syndrome.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

I've had that since I was 13. So what what is that?

SPEAKER_03 6:27

Like what I mean, you know, it sounds kind of self-explanatory, but why why are the bowels being irritated?

SPEAKER_00 6:33

A lot of people don't know. There's a lot of, I don't know. This is something you're just gonna have to deal with in the medical community. But what it comes down to from my research and from the doctor that I have currently, it comes down to uh just a lot of inflammation from what you're eating and what you're exposed to. And then your gut bacteria is out of whack. So you'll have a lot more overgrowth or bad bacteria than you will good, and that causes issues. And and then there's like different branches of IBS, like you can be chronically constipated, you could be constipated with diarrhea, or you could just have like diarrhea.

SPEAKER_03 7:12

Does it bring on any other symptoms besides constipation and diarrhea?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, you can have gas, you can have bloating, vomiting, nausea, and then it also causes chronic inflammation because it causes leaky gut, which allows like food particles and toxins to slip into your bloodstream, which causes your immune system to be like a high alert. And it can also block nutrient absorption, which causes a whole lot of other issues.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

What kind of issues can that cause?

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Well, if you're not getting, you know, B vitamins, you're tired. Let's see, if you don't have absorption of vitamin D, zinc, or selenium, that can affect your thyroid and other imbalances in your body.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

So is there a cure or has there been anything that's helped?

SPEAKER_00 8:03

There's no cure for it, but what my doctor had me do is one, we focused on, okay, we need to change your diet. And so I got rid of a lot of foods that I was allergic to. Some of them I didn't even realize. Once we did that, that helped a lot. And then we got rid of a lot of processed food. And then she gave me a gut bacteria test, which helped us see okay, I have these overgrowths. We need to get those under control, and you're missing these bacteria, so we have to get those back in there.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

Yeah, I didn't even realize there was a like test you could take.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

A lot of people don't. I I don't know if it's newer or not. I know it's kind of expensive, but it's worth it. It's kind of awkward. I'm gonna warn anyone who uh decides to do it. It's awkward, but it's definitely worth it.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Okay, so changing diet really helped for you and getting that test to kind of navigate where the imbalances were.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

So what were some foods for you? Like I know that you mentioned like you started going more, did you take it more like natural foods?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Natural, yeah, natural foods, trying to do clean eating. I was I did the lion diet for a while, and then I switched to cut carnivore, and now I'm eating a more balanced diet now that I'm more stable.

SPEAKER_03 9:23

Yeah. Did you find those helpful?

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Yes. Oh my goodness, yes.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

Good. I'm really happy to hear that. I've never heard of the lion diet before, though.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

So it is literally eating red meat. You eat like steak and lamb and some salt, and you it's basically a very strict diet. I only did it for a few weeks to get rid of everything else in your body. And even doing that, I felt amazing.

SPEAKER_03 9:50

Oh, that's really good to hear. All right. So after you did those diets, the carnivore diet and the lion diet, you've been able to kind of reintegrate other genres of food.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Yeah, pretty much mainly fruits and vegetables. And even then, I'm kind of limited, but I haven't really brought back a lot of processed stuff. Because that's I know something that I can't handle very well. Um, sugar, I do very minimal. I do not do gluten at all. I do very minimal dairy. I can't do soy at all. I have a severe soy allergy, and then I can't do nuts. So that kind of stuff completely stays out of my diet or mostly out of my diet.

SPEAKER_03 10:31

It's quite restrictive.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

It is. And it it stinks sometimes because you feel left out once in a while, but at the same time, it's like if I eat that, I know how I'm going to feel.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

And usually you said it's like it can be nausea, vomiting, things like that.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Yeah, and in my case, the bloat gets so bad it hurts like under the ribs, and I'll just be in pain. And so trying to lay down when you're sleeping while you know you have like this severe bloating, it's just miserable.

SPEAKER_03 11:00

Yeah. Sounds tough. So it started when you were 13 with iridobal syndrome, and then eventually you mentioned that you got more diagnoses. So what was the next

PCOS Symptoms And Insulin Resistance

SPEAKER_03 11:13

one?

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Uh the polystystic ovarian syndrome.

SPEAKER_03 11:16

Okay. How old were you when you were diagnosed with that?

SPEAKER_00 11:19

No, I was guessing how old I am now. I think I was 29 when I finally got the diagnosis, but I I knew that I had it. Kind of. Like the symptoms were all there. I just couldn't find a doctor who would actually listen to me until I found my recent doctor.

SPEAKER_03 11:39

Yeah. I'm glad that you found a doctor that listens to you.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Oh, me too. It's been a huge blessing.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

So, was that when you got sick when you got PCO or when you started realizing you had PCOS? Is that when you got sick and felt you were returning back to God?

SPEAKER_00 11:55

No, that so that's something I've had for a while that just kind of affects more lady problems than anything. And then there's also some embarrassing side effects like unwanted hair growth on your chin and stuff like that. And weight gain. Oh, the weight gain from that was terrible because you you develop insulin resistance, and so your body stops responding to insulin and it just keeps creating it and creating it, trying to make your body you know, respond to it. And you have high testosterone, you have low progesterone, and then you have estrogen dominance, which creates its own problem. Wow. So that that is something that was just it was miserable, but it's something I could kind of come to terms with. The turn into God wasn't until 20. Well, really coming back to God wasn't really until 2019, 2020 when I ended up with a very severe infection.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Nearly killed me.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Oh my goodness, are you serious?

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Yeah. Wow. I ended up, I don't know if you've ever heard of it, it's C. diff. And it's a severe infection in the colon that a lot of the bacteria is, it doesn't respond to antibiotics well. But the problem was I was misdiagnosed two or three times, and they were like, Well, you just have a bad stomach bug. So they would give me medication to stop me from going to the bathroom because with C. diff, you can't stop going, which is TMI. I'm sorry, but that's not true.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

No, but it's fine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

And so the toxins were building up in my system. And so finally, when I got a diagnosis, they gave me medication and I was on that, but it didn't kill the infection and it came back. And that second infection with that other second round of medication is when the alarm bell started going off that hey, something's really, really bad. And I actually got scared to the point that I I I earnestly started praying again and going to the Bible because I didn't know what else to do.

SPEAKER_03 14:02

What caused this infection? Was it from was it related to PCOS or was it something completely unreal unrelated?

SPEAKER_00 14:10

It's unrelated. So by then I've already I already had autoimmune problems because the psoriasis and stuff had already kind of kicked in, which already weakened the system. But I was on antibiotics for two or three months before that. So my system was completely wiped out. My gut bacteria was pretty much wiped out, which is where your immune system, a lot of your immune health comes from, is the intestine. And so a lot of people, see diff won't bother a lot of people because when you have the good bacteria in your gut, it kind of keeps the bad at bay. But when your good bacteria is gone, the bad bacteria kind of becomes a bully and takes over. And that's what happened after so many rounds of antibiotics.

SPEAKER_03 14:59

Oh man. So what did they have to do then?

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Uh for the infection?

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

I was just on round after round, very strong antibiotics. Wow. Until it finally went away. And then after that, my body pretty much crashed. And that's what caused the Haji motives and everything to kick in because my immune system was just, you know, shot.

Psoriasis And Hashimoto’s Daily Reality

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Okay, so tell us more about psoriasis.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

So you were diagnosed with IBS first, then PCOS, then was it psoriasis next?

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

So I'm not I'm not familiar with psoriasis at all. So I would love to hear what it is and what it's like to live with it.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

Inflammation in the skin, it's when your body starts attacking your skin cells and it makes them multiply too quickly. So with people who with psoriasis, you'll see like very red areas and it's scaly, like skin flakes basically. And you'll see it a lot of times in the scalp, on the elbows, on the knees, and it can really go anywhere. I have it across the back of my scalp, the back of my neck, behind my ears, in my ears, and on my knees, and occasionally sometimes on my face, but I have to be in a bad flare-up for that. And it is incredibly itchy. Like, have you ever had an itch that one of those random itches that just itch so bad that you have to get it because it's so annoying? It's like that, but all the time.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

Oh no, no, no, no. Uh, I don't like that idea.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Something goes. Sometimes when the immune system finally calms down, or if you're on steroids or something, it'll it'll go away. But when you're in a flare-up, or even like say when the weather changes, or you know, you eat something wrong, yeah it comes back.

SPEAKER_03 16:55

Dang. So is that the main symptom is like really itchy, flaky skin?

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Yeah, I would say.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

Man, oh, that sounds just it sounds irritating, like a constant kind of pestering.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

It is, and the worst part is, at least for me, there are times where I don't realize I'm like scratching or I'll do it in my sleep, and then you have cracked, bleeding skin, and then you get sores.

SPEAKER_03 17:20

Yeah. Yeah, that sounds painful. And I bet if it gets bad on your hands too, that would definitely damper a lot of ability to work with certain things too.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Yeah, and then there I have had a little bit of arthritis with it, but not enough to like keep me from doing things. But there are people who end up with psoriatic arthritis, and it just, you know, they're not able to do things anymore.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

And like they used to like sew and you know, write. Man, and that's just because it hurts so bad.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

Yeah. Oh man, that's so rough. So you said that it kind of there are medications that can help it to tame down and there are medications.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Um, you can you can be on steroids, but you don't want long-term steroids use because it can cause issues. And then I have never tried any of the serritosis medications. I was told that they're very expensive, and I usually pay all my medical stuff out of pocket. So I was like, I'll just, you know, put some aquiflo on it and hope for the best.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

And it's been fine, like doing that as help.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

It keeps it moisturized, which helps with some of the flaking and itching, but it's it's still there. But it it helps a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 18:31

Oh, I'm glad it at least soothed it a little. But that's that's kind of a bummer that the main thing is steroids, because like you said, I've I've heard I don't know the specifics of complications. If you're listening and you want to educate us on the damage that taking steroids long term can do, feel free. But I've heard that that it causes issues. So that's kind of a bummer because you know it'd be nice if it were a medication that's just kind of like you know, you take a pill and you're fine. Like you don't have to worry about adjusting or anything. So that's tricky.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

It is. I know there are other medications that are specifically fursorized, as long as I said I've never tried them, but you you have to weigh the pros and cons because from what I've seen, at least on those, you know, those medical commercials, you know, there's like 20 side effects you would wanna every single medication for sure.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

All right, and then your last that you developed was Hashimoto's, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

Okay, so tell us more about that.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Hashimoto's and the thyroid I just kind of go hand in hand. I have hypothyroidism from it, and so I don't know really the specifics, but I know basically my body sees my thyroid as the enemy and is essentially trying to destroy my thyroid. Oh man. And which when your thyroid isn't working properly and it's not creating the hormones you need, it creates a whole lot of problems because every cell in your body has to have the thyroid hormones to work properly. And that also puts me at risk developing other autoimmune diseases because my body already is attacking itself. So there is still a chance that I could get, you know, other autoimmune issues, you know, like type 1 diabetes, lupus, uh, multi-this, like all sorts of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

So what are like your day-to-day symptoms like with Hashimoto's?

SPEAKER_00 20:27

When I'm not flaring up, generally I I have like just kind of chronic fatigue, regardless.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

But if I am in a flare-up, like depends on the severity, a really bad flare flare-up for me, I will have the worst vertigo, like hanging onto walls to walk. Oh yeah, it really is rough. And then just painful exhaustion, like you can't gather enough energy to really do anything, which stinks because it's hard to sleep. Also, but all you want to do is sleep, and then it also affects your gut, your gut motility. So your stomach, because you're not getting that hormone, will won't digest things properly. So you could eat breakfast and it will be undigested by dinner. And so that causes a lot of you know vomiting and constipation, which creates, you know, more problems like dehydration. Yeah. And then in a less severe flare-up, like I've had recently. One, I'm just exhausted, but two, I'll get cold, like unbearably cold on the inside. Like it was 75 degrees. I was in a sweatshirt, sweatpants, slippers, and a blanket because I just couldn't get warm. And it felt like I had a fever, but when I took my temperature, it was like 97.6. But you know, when you get that fever, get a fever and you have that skin ache. your joints hurt. That's what it felt like.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

Oh man. Just feels like you're sick. Yeah. Oh, that sounds painful. Why did which which ill illness was it that brought you kind of back to Christ?

Desperation Prayers During Severe Infection

SPEAKER_03 22:19

I think you might have brought that up a little bit. And yeah, what what was that process like? Because I I know that you mentioned you were at such a point where was this when you you had the infection?

SPEAKER_00 22:32

It was I was to the point I couldn't eat. I was battling dehydration really bad. I couldn't even walk I was so weak. And this is gonna sound crazy. I was laying there and it you know this is like the second month of me being sick and there was almost like alarms in my head going off of you're dying. And so I was like I I don't want to die yet. And I started praying and I started reading my Bible and reading verses about healing. And I had my husband pray over me and you know I I started talking to Christian friends and family that I hadn't talked to in years and was like hey this is what's going on can you please pray and that's that's really what got me out of that lukewarm situation.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

It was that desperation yeah okay so when you got out of the hospital with the infection as the infection healed when were you diagnosed with your other illnesses and what was the process like was it like you know like it took years to get those diagnoses was it immediately after it was 2023 so it would be it had been three years.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

I had been to a number of doctors some specialists I had to fight to get in with the specialist because like I said I pay with everything out of pocket and they don't really want to work with you unless you have insurance and a dedicated doctor. And so it was hard getting people to listen because they're like well you know that that inspection rocked your body you'll just get better eventually okay they're like well the hormone stuff you gotta lose weight. Well I can't like with the PCOS and and the Hajimoto's it's it's very difficult. And even dieting and exercise I could do that and track everything and in six months maybe lose five pounds. Wow and so they were telling me these things and I was like is there any tests we can do is there anything we can do because it's not just hey I'm fat and lazy there's something else going on and so we had moved out of the city into the suburbs and I was just tired of being sick. I was like I'm tired of feeling like this I am barely 30 years old and I should not be in pain all the time you know I wasn't able to do the things that I used to do and it was frustrating for my friends and my family and it was frustrating for me. I felt like a prisoner in my own body. So I started looking for doctors because I was like you know what I'm gonna find a dedicated doctor so we can figure this out and that's when I came across my current doctor which is really cool because she does direct primary care. So if you don't have insurance you just pay a monthly fee and you get like all these free services and you can go in there as like many times as you need and she'll spend like two hours an hour to two hours with you every time because she only takes so many patients. And so when I found her you know we spent two hours talking and I'm telling her all these things and she's like okay I think you have this this this and this like to do all these tests. Amazing and I was like yeah oh that's so relieving so once I got some answers we started you know different lifestyle changes and protocols to try to get things under control. Was that just like diet changes and experimenting with foods to say how your body reacted a lot of it was that the dietary changes made the biggest difference and then being more active which was difficult because when you're tired and in pain you don't want to move and so I started out slow, you know, trying to walk more and then eventually started lifting weights and stuff which helped and then I had a number of supplements to help my body start healing on its own but there were a couple medications also added into the mix to help with the inflammation and to deal with the autoimmune issues. Yeah would you mind sharing what some of those supplements and medications were that helped you vitamin D and vitamin B were big ones because I was low on both of those. And then a lot fixing the guts I had something called phytobiome you can find a lot of this that like designs for health or something phytobian which feeds the bacteria it's like a prebiotic and then I was on acromantia which is a vital bacteria that I was completely missing. Oh wow yeah I was on a couple other probiotics I was on a digestive which is basically adding stomach like more acid to my stomach because there wasn't enough of it. Wow and I know one has like selenium in it for my thyroid and then another one has a lot of anti-inflammatory stuff like I can't think of the word the name of it but it it's this the chemical that's in like turmeric that helps find inflammation.

SPEAKER_03 27:36

Okay cool very cool dude I'm so glad that those have helped so I know obviously you still have your flare ups and you mentioned that often you can get like extreme vertigo and you're always pretty much tired really tired but it it has improved I I presume with the treatment and diet and medication those have helped you to manage symptoms.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Yeah overall it has I don't get severe flare ups as much as I used to once in a while if I'm not sleeping right and if I'm overly stressed. Yeah but most of the flare ups at this point are are pretty minor.

SPEAKER_03 28:19

That's so awesome yeah that's super cool Jordan oh that's incredible okay so you had mentioned that you came back to Christ through that desperation of your infection you were diagnosed with all these different things and so I want to hear about how seeking out Christ talking to your Christian friends reading you know scriptures on healing how did and has all that helped you with your chronic illness?

SPEAKER_00 28:50

It's giving me hope because once everything had hit I just felt hopeless you know being in pain all the time being sick all the time feeling terrible not being able to think straight and with PCOS you know being

Hope Scriptures And Learning To Rest

SPEAKER_00 29:04

embarrassed with like facial hair and stuff you just you know you feel terrible you feel hopeless and so being able to lean on God has given me hope that not only that you know maybe one day I can be better or put stuff into remission but even if I can't that it's going to be okay.

SPEAKER_03 29:26

So why what truth have you clung to that's given you hope in that what's like what's assured you that everything's gonna be okay despite being sick?

SPEAKER_00 29:36

I think if we're going to the Bible I think Revelation 21 4 has kind of given me the most hope and it If it's okay I I don't mind reading it for you. Yeah that would be amazing he will wipe away every tear from the eyes and death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away and he who has who was seated on the throne said behold I am making all things new and so just thinking that one day all of this will be over one day we won't be you know crying from pain or mourning our health or mourning loved or whatever you know the pain is it's going to be gone and we are going to have such a joy that we we can't even imagine in this life. And that that really gives me hope.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

So kind of believing in in the afterlife of heaven with Christ and believing in that all pain will be gone that whole wipe away every tear that's giving you hope it is I don't like sound kind of muff being like hey I'm waiting for death but it's more just I know it's that promise that God has given us that we hang on. What about hearing the present has there been and if not like that's just fine I I love your honesty and I love hearing your different perspective I know a lot of Christians the thought of heaven is very comforting. So are there any other things for the present now like how how does the Holy Spirit strengthen you day to day do you think there's any specific like example of that I think the Holy Spirit one will always remind me that I'm not alone in this which is helpful.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

And then there's actually a Bible story that is very comforting for me in the present in the present because I'm one of those people I don't like to rest I am a very much get stuff done kind of person. Yeah me too and then I feel guilty when I try to rest and so are you familiar with first Kings 18 and 19 no tell me about it so Elijah who was a prophet was exhausted after dealing with the prophets of Bill or Maul I don't know how to say it. Yeah and he was fleeing from Jezebel who wanted to take his life and while running for his life he had asked God to just let him die and then he went to sleep well had sent an angel who gave him and I'm paraphrasing a snack and a drink two different times. So two different times he took a nap and two different times God sent him a snack and a drink. And so it's comforting to know that you know God wants us to rest and he knows that sometimes we just need a snack and a nap. And I have to remind myself that hey if it was good enough for Elijah if it was a prophet of God I can rest too.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

Yeah yep absolutely I am familiar with that and I've heard that but I do think that's genuinely so important. Like I think that sometimes we can neglect for lack of better words I guess our flesh like sometimes we neglect that we're just human and that it's okay and there's no shame in resting in getting the food and water that you need there is no shame in taking Sabbath when God literally like when he created the world how the story goes is that you know he on the seventh day he rested and he told us to rest and so I think there's a lot of people like you and me Jordan out there who like we just want to push push push and so this is one thing I've actually been living through my chronic illness and I think like this is gonna sound arrogant but I sound arrogant all the time so say lovey but like I I think that's one way God like humbled me is because I was so like go go go you know and I think very much valued my worth on on my work and like what I could do what I can contribute to society and I still do. And I think that I'm being humbled because when you're chronically ill as you talked about earlier with experiencing chronic fatigue you know there's just so much less you can do like another person I interviewed talked about how you know his energy percent went from maybe 100 to 80 and then now it's like down to 30 you know whereas it used to be like he was in full swing and now on a day-to-day basis he's dealing with like 30 30% of the energy he used to have and so I think that lots of people will be able to relate to that Jordan that sometimes even even God knows God made us human and there's also like a verse in Psalm 103 that talks about how God remembers that we're dust like he remembers we're human he knows what we're made of like he knows we're mortal and finite and and he loves us and he wants to take care of us even if that's through you know a snack or even if that's through taking a nap.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

So yeah that was a great great scripture to share thanks I appreciate that welcome and I want to say something on what you said I don't think it's arrogant at all I think I think it is humbling and I think a lot of times I believe I believe that God turns ugly into good so bad things that happen because we live in a fallen world that God will use it for good and I think sometimes us being sick is the only way he can get our attention. That's rough it is it's kind of sober because it's like wow I couldn't pay attention to him until I you know had nothing left and it it it kind of makes you feel a little guilty because it's like I I should have been doing better.

SPEAKER_03 35:54

Yeah well I think I don't know I think that's like hmm I I think that that can be like a harmful mindset to to be careful of because I think we do shame ourselves a lot for like our chronic illness and we think you know kind of like what you just said like oh man like if only I was doing better if I only I was listening better you know like and there's always like the possibility like God could be using it to you know get our attention or like using it to to wake us up but also sometimes like I I kind of just believe sometimes that like we live in a fallen world and like just because of that you know like sickness happens.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

And so I would encourage you to that like you know like I wouldn't you know you know shame yourself too much but I really don't it was more of a a realization that I wasn't paying attention to God until I got sick. Oh I know shame is the voice of the enemy and it's not something you know I live under because I know I know who I am in Christ but it was it was more the realization of I I really wish I had focused on God before I got sick. And I know I can't turn back time and that I'm doing what I need to be doing now.

SPEAKER_03 37:11

Yeah. Yeah that's awesome yeah okay so it's like you realize you started listening to more once you got sick realized how nice that was and wished that you know more of your life would have been like that I feel like things would have been a lot easier had I had that hope. Yeah hope is so important dude seriously you don't have hope I mean you don't really have anything to hang on to right I think it's beautiful that you're able to find hope despite your chronic illness and I'm glad that it's been Christ in scripture that has been that for you.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Yeah I really don't think I would be able to do this without my faith and without God.

SPEAKER_03 37:57

Yeah well that kind of segues into the next question I wanted to ask you as we're talking about hoping in God and relying on God do you think that there's like a balance of relying on God and relying

Supportive People And Harmful Christian Advice

SPEAKER_03 38:11

on others and if so like I don't know what that's looked like in your life and your your marriage but yeah I was wondering if you could speak a little bit on that.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

In my marriage it it does go God and then me and my husband and then everybody else and I think in life when it comes to like all of this I think first and foremost I have to rely on God and then generally when it comes to my illness I will say I kind of put me and my doctor kind of at the even heal because I do a lot of my own research and she's helped me a lot and I know she's also a good Christian woman and then I'll put my husband there too not because he he does not that he necessarily does research and stuff but he is my biggest supporter and the one who understands the most and protects me in the sense of you know a lot of people don't see that I'm sick. And so he I have a hard time saying no to people. So he will have to step in for me and be like hey she's not feeling well or hey this is gonna put too much stress on her. Yeah. And then I will say comes you know my other Christian friends and family.

SPEAKER_03 39:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:27

So you find a lot of people kind of just in intervening for you in a way mainly my husband and my doctor not so much everyone else there are people that are understanding and then there are people who are very much less understanding. And I will say there are also I have some Christian friends who I love dearly who mean well but aren't as helpful as they think they are. Yeah. What does that look like? I have some friends who who are very holistic too but they take it a little bit to the extreme in the sense of not trusting doctors whatsoever and then if I tell them hey this is what's going on they'll tell me that well you need to rebuke that you can't accept that you need to pray harder or you're not praying enough or you're not having people lay hands on you enough or you did this in your past and that is worse based works based faith. Yeah and I don't think it's right you know God like you said earlier some we live in a fallen world sometimes we're just sick and I believe that God will use it one way or another but we can't we can't make God do something. Like we're supposed to pray pray right pray constantly and I do but if I'm not healed then I assume that God has a plan and I'm not going to pretend to know what that is. Yeah and so I think even though they mean well that can be a very hurtful thing because it does make you feel like you're not doing enough or it does sometimes make you wonder like is my faith not good enough? Is it are my prayers not good enough? You know?

SPEAKER_03 41:15

Absolutely so what do you think would be you know if if often I think that's a very common thing that Christian brothers and sisters particularly those of more charismatic denominations no shame like no no flack but like I think that that is a a common theme that in belief in those circles is that you know if you have enough faith you will be healed and you know and then just people in general tend to insert their opinions where they're not necessarily helpful.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

So grace grace to you guys much love love that you're here but what do you what would you say is a more helpful way that they can respond I would say for the first for the first thing just listen just just listen don't be quick to admonish somebody based on what you think they're doing wrong and then I will say if you're really concerned about their health or whether they're accepting you know whatever just pray with them you know just pray with them don't tell them they're not doing enough and stuff or go to scripture find healing scriptures about my brain is like Bible verses about you know healing like Matthew I think it's 920 where the woman reached out and touched Jesus's hem or you know there's a number of great passages about healing that you could give someone to uplift them.

SPEAKER_03 42:46

Mm-hmm yeah so you think that listening praying with them instead of saying oh you're not praying enough and then giving them scriptures that remind them of the truth.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

You think that's sort of helpful things I think that is one of the most helpful things don't get me wrong I do believe in laying on hands um I do believe that we're supposed to pray for people and stuff but I also understand that again God has a plan for everything.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

And sometimes you know the plan doesn't look like the way we think it's going to be yeah what do you think like when you think that God has a plan for you in your chronic illness where do you see

Herbalism As Service And Final Encouragement

SPEAKER_03 43:33

God using it so far God has I think used it to for me to help others because I had to kind of look at my own health and because I was failed by the medical system so much I started looking into more natural ways of healing and that's how I got into herbalism.

SPEAKER_00 43:57

And through that I have been able to help people Considerably with you know, salves and tinctures and teas, just a variety of things I've been able to make to help people deal with illness and pain.

SPEAKER_03 44:13

So you're definitely being educated on more natural ways to help.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

Yeah, and I think I think God has used this to, like I said, help me help others. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:28

Oh, that's so sweet. Dude, like kudos to you for, you know, I think that you're you're honoring God with that. Like with that, you're wanting to be educated and learn these things, not only to help you, but to help other people. That's really beautiful. Because I think, you know, it can be easier sometimes to just take those resources and not share them. So thanks for sharing them with others.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

Yeah, of course. And I'm not gonna lie, originally it was for myself. But then as I started learning and hearing other people with other problems, I was like, okay, okay, I see what you're doing, God.

SPEAKER_03 45:09

Yeah, that's really cool. I love that you're gonna use it to serve others. That's beautiful. All right. Well, thank you so much for being on us on the on this podcast with us. What would be the last thing that you would say to the audience? What's one final word of encouragement that you would give to chronically ill brothers and sisters, or one word that you would like to give to the church about chronic illness?

SPEAKER_00 45:36

For people who are chronic chronically ill, you are not cursed. It is not your fault. Don't feel bad about it and just take care of yourself and keep clinging to God because if you don't have hope, then you don't have anything to look forward to. And as for the church, don't condemn people. People can't help it if they're sick. Just you know, love them and pray for them and you know, uplift them like Christ did. That's bars.

SPEAKER_03 46:11

I love that. Well, Jordan, thanks so much for sharing your story. It means a lot, and I have no doubt that people listening will find this encouraging.

SPEAKER_00 46:24

Well, thank you for having me. I I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

Thank you so much for being a part of the Christians with Chronic Illnesses community. Please remember to follow Rate and subscribe to the show. You can also follow us on our socials at CWCI Podcast. And if you're interested in sharing your story, please email us at cwcipodcast at gmail.com. If you are interested in contributing to the production of Christians with chronic illnesses, please see the show notes below for subscriptions starting as low as $1 a month, or email us for a more direct way to give. This show is hosted and produced by Ellie Sprague, and our incredible logo, thumbnail, and overall CWCI artist is Brianna Middleton. This show is intended for entertainment and encouragement purposes only. Please talk to your doctor before trying anything you hear on this show. Until next Monday!