Chronic Fatigue and Epstein-Barr Virus: Nora’s Recovery Story

Podcast Intro and Nora's Background 0:00

One of the things I would want to say to anybody out there who feels like, okay, so I don't have cancer, I'm just tired. I will say that you are worth investing your time and your money in because you've got one go around. I can't believe what a better mom I am. I feel more like myself. If I would do it again in a minute, I'd spend the same amount of money. It wasn't two weeks, so I felt good. No, but I've been feeling better every month. Every month, like I just got over, oh, she's 50. Oh, menopause.

Now, that I did when I was like 40. Welcome to the Deeper Healing Podcast. This is for everyone who's been dismissed. misdiagnosed or told to just live with it and refuse to accept that answer. You're going to hear amazing patient recovery stories, raw and real in their own words. People who found answers after everything had failed them. you're gonna hear from medical experts we trust that are pioneering new approaches to healing the body because we deeply know we're designed to heal. Let's dig in.

Okay, hi everybody. I am here today with an amazing guest. This is Nora. Nora is from Pennsylvania and we are actually having a little bit of a freak out because we're from the same town. We're a town called Orland, Pennsylvania, which anyone from outside of Philly knows is a very tiny little town and I was like, I used to live on Burke Road and she's like wait I literally live right there. So that's just crazy. And we just figured that out right now. So Nora is a deeper healing success story, and I'm going to let you run with the whole story.

But she is, it's one year now after her stay and heal because people always ask me, well, yeah, but does it last? you know, like all the skeptical people out there. And I think let's, why don't we start at the beginning, Nora, where you went awry. So I have Epstein-Barr virus, which I never knew until recently is something that stays with you. If I back to when I got it, I was 12 years old. That's a long time, always feeling like I've never had the same amount of stamina as other people. didn't think anything of it.

Fast forward, high school had wisdom teeth taken out. Come to find out from my two weeks stay that that can create cavitation sites. And I got the list of stuff that was living in my mouth and not knowing. So basically what happened was very type A personality had children. And then once I was done with that phase of my life, it's like I never recovered. It's, like, I've never felt like myself again. And when we talk about a 10-year span of trying everything under the sun and I'll list the things I tried and I think they all worked until they didn't work because they weren't getting at the root of the situation.

So as far as the people asking, oh, does it last? Well, I've tried lots of things that lasted for maybe a two week span and then didn' and we're talking. Acupuncture, elimination diets, neuropeptides, peptides. Multiple vitamins, multiple supplements, reiki, essential oils. I mean, you name it. Functional medical doctors, regular doctors. And it was like, I had this fatigue. anxiety, depression, and there was no visible blood test, like a normal blood panel, that could measure what was wrong. No x-ray.

Did you know? So that was a lot of symptoms. So did you then know you had Epstein-Barr? Or were you just like chronic fatigue, mystery, autoimmune?

Years of Fatigue and Failed Treatments 4:00

Exactly. But nothing on my blood work showed anything. my blood work was fine. You look normal, Nora. And all I wanted to say is, well, F, fine, I don't want to be fine I want it. I'm going to feel great. There's the Philly. Yeah, the philly I. Don't wanna be. Fine. Fantastic. So there was no way of measuring my symptoms. This is quite literally exactly what happened to my husband. He didn't know he had up steam bar, but he. Had that same symptom list and I think there's say it all the time. Do you want, do you wanna jump off a bridge?

Join an upsteam bar support group. Let me tell you, because as a seventh grader, I got mono and the joke was I must've kissed a boy, which I didn't at that time, just so you know. And so it was like a shameful thing and you just forget about it. But I had no idea that it would just rev up. Yes. So just for clarity, and I'm not a doctor, but in Epstein-Barr I am a pretty deep expert on that because I went through so much with Marty. You get mono and most people recover and it goes into dormancy. So it's a very rare person that when we see their blood panels that they don't have the titers from a previous infection.

In fact, if we don' we're like, wow, where have you been living? It's so common. But when it really gets ugly, I call Epstein-Barr the monster. It has so many tentacles. I mean, not literally, but in my mind, that's how I think about it because it's the fatigue, it the joint pain, the heart palpitations, severe brain fog. It's like everything starts falling apart and yet your laughs look normal. Yeah. Um, so you can't keep up and especially as a young mom. And the other thing is that to this day, if you look up Epstein-Barr, It says no treatment, no care.

So you get left feeling, and that's if you're lucky enough to figure out that that is what your problem is, because we went about eight years without knowing that. So when you finally figure that out, you are like, OK, I know what I got. I've got this virus. And you start to look into it and you very quickly kind of sad because you realize, oh, there's not really a lot to do. Or you join the support group. We did the same thing. The spirulina, the dose flakes, and the medical medium. Literally, it could go on and on.

The Cassia Klein's book, The Medical Medium book. All the things that are out there. And my God, did we do them all. We did them, all sounds like you did. Lots of money, lots of time, suffering. For Marty, It was worse than ever. So you're declining. You're continuing to decline. Yes. So nothing was working. And then to boot perimenopause hits. I'm doing hormone replacement therapy, which is great, but it still wasn't the only thing. Right. It wasn' addressing the virus. Yeah. Yeah. How did you find your healing?

Well, I have a friend in the area whose daughter has an autoimmune situation and the mom and I are good friends and we had a conversation and she said, �I'm thinking of sending my daughter somewhere for two weeks. Tell me, am I crazy?� And she told me everything about it. And I said now you've done your research. what's crazy about wanting your daughter to feel better. And I said, and by the way, what is the name of this test? They're like, I could use that. Yeah. So then I called and did the consults and thought I'm doing a leap of faith.

I love it. She came down for her stay and heal and that was a year ago. The one thing that I loved and I know you started that in the beginning is, the one that we say all the time is We want to make sure when people are traveling in and they're making such a big commitment to put their trust, energy and time into deeper healing. We wanna make no stone is left unturned because So many of them have been failed by so many things. And this is how I explain it. Everybody's an onion. So we like what's nor is onion because if everyone has Epstein-Barr at some point in their life and they get better and it goes into dormancy and causes them no problems, which is loads of people, what's wrong with you that your system can't get over the hump?

What's from with Marty? For Marty, it was a trauma and it high heavy metals. So what was your, I know there's a list. What was it? It's trauma. I don't know anyone who could get through life without trauma, trauma We had mold in the house and Deeper Healing would not let me come down until I had the mold tested and fully remediated and retested. So kudos to you, Deepers Healing.

Discovering Epstein-Barr and Hidden Root Causes 9:00

That was huge. I have that done. Then once I got here, we found out not only did I mold situation, heavy metal situation and parasites. Wait, and the dentistry. Oh my goodness, yes. No, that's a huge part of it because it can't be minimized. So four things right off the roll, which can feel overwhelming, but on the other hand, it's like, okay, these are all very fixable things. And the dental thing can be minimizing. We've really gotten We have some really good biologic dentists and we literally, the dental thing can't be minimized because we've had numerous patients and they manifest differently.

It might be, I have a severe anxiety and here it was a dental infection 24 seven going into the belly, going to the stomach, affecting the gut, brain, you know, connection. And so the body's going problem, problem problem. The person's like I've got all this anxiety, but nothing's And here it's the dental problem. So that can't be minimized. Okay, so what I love about this is, okay, now you know. What am I dealing with here? I'm dealing a virus, a parasite, molds, heavy metals, and dental problems.

Wow. Okay. Yes. And so Dr. B immediately said right away, anyone who tells you that you're going to heal in two weeks is lying. He gave me the steps. It took me a year to complete everything. it was not overnight, but after every little check, I started feeling that much better and that, much, better, and when I tell you the winter before I got here, which was I slept every day in the middle of the day. Every day, in this winter, which is one of roughest winters we've had up north. I think I napped five times for your fatigue to leave like that.

And it wasn't a two week thing. Like the other things that I tried, this is taking care of my body was not getting rid of toxins. So I imagined like a vacuum that you never empty out the bag, the suction you'll still hear it operating, but it's not doing anything. I feel like my buddy was like, we're trying. The two-week thing is the thing that it's an obstacle to get over. So this is what actually happens in the two weeks. And I like that you just use the vacuum analogy. I'm going to steal that.

Then the things that I always say is, what we do is... So you might be taking some supplement, making up a detox supplement. That means you're opening the window a little bit, but the fire's in house and there's smoke everywhere. It's like you are coughing. You can't get well. What we do at the stay in heels, we open every window, every door and we turn the fans on. That's literally what we're doing. We are attacking everything physically. So the blood, the colonics, cellular level, trauma, everything.

And so it's intensive in two weeks and basically we've blown out the garbage. Then the path is you got to deal with the bigger thing. so we know mycotoxin is a three month. We know that the dentistry, you're not going to, I mean, some people have done the biologic dentist in South Carolina, but it usually makes more sense to do that in your home state so you can have that kind of set up and separate. But the key thing is that you knew you had to address it. That was something that like I've had people like, i've been to the dentist 17 years and I have no one's ever talked to me about that.

Yeah, that was high school. So like Epstein-Barr virus was like age 12, age 18 was the wisdom teeth. So you just figure you're going throughout your whole life with that in your body. Like this is how I am. Yeah. I mean, it's funny because the other thing is the expense. Because I thought about you saying about, so let's get over the fact that like standard of care out there doesn't cover any of these things. And they say that Epsteen-Bar is no treatment, no care, which we absolutely know is not true.

But then there's like, I got to pay out of pocket for that. Even if you just took the amount that you spent for your stay in Yale and divided it by the hours that You gained in your life over just one year. Now, this is gonna last. It's gonna be the course of your Life. Well, it's just the beginning. You're gonna Be like it cost me 50 cents a day. Yeah, like I had to get hours back, you know what I mean? It is going to be so nominal. I always say to people like Your time is priceless. Well, one of the things I would want to say to anybody out there who feels like, okay, I don't have cancer.

I'm just tired. No, no, just I'd say that you are worth investing your time and your money in because it's like you've got one go around. That's it. I can't believe what a better mom I am. I feel more like myself. If I would do it again in a minute, I'd spend the same amount of money. Because I've seen this level of I, feel better. It wasn't two weeks, so I felt good. No, i've been feeling better every month. Like I just got over, oh, she's 50. Oh, menopause. like 40. So I am saying the stuff that you're doing to take care of your body is worth it.

You are worth. And that's part of it when you when your ending, you'll be always like, I don't want to leave. It's so wonderful here. But you go back to your life, but you leave with a plan. Okay, what are you going to continue doing? And so it's not like we're like, bye. I'm going to say I was excited to leave because I felt empowered.

Stay and Heal Treatment Plan 15:00

You've got a lot going on in your body. And I've never had anybody validate that before. The empowerment I feel now, it's mine to control. I'm not left to doctors because someone finally said to me, look, you're not detoxing. And that is something that I can handle. So even though it's not cancer or a bigger thing, like your body needs to be able to detox and it is a lifelong thing that you need to do and you are worth it. I feel like after going to so many doctors and then saying, yeah, your blood works fine, you lose faith.

that this is worth to pursue. But I'm telling you, you are worth the time, the energy and deeper healing was just the beginning. Was where you got your answers. And I've heard this so many times. It's funny that you said about the cancer thing. I have had over a dozen Epstein-Barr people say to me, Not kidding. I wish I had cancer. And do you want to know why? Because then my hair would fall out. People would make meals for my kids. They would literally help me get through my days because right now no one's helping me.I look normal.They think that I'm just not interested in socializing and having fun.

Like you don't have any energy. You're like happy.You're, like, I am winning. Showered. Going back to bed. And it's like you're right. If you were visibly sick, you would have family, friends, neighbors. Oh, Nora needs support. You don't get that when you have Epstein-Parr. No, You feel crazy. And then the doctors tell you it is in your mind. We have that many times. I'm so sorry. Yeah. Yeah, when I think back to what I used to accept as normal, I am heartbroken. I wish I found this 10 years earlier.

So stop waiting. Don't wait anymore. You can get back. Because now I'm like, yeah, let's do this. Listen, the right people find this message and we will put a steam bar recovery story because there are very, very few people really unraveling this box. And it is an onion to unpeel. Typically, typically. Like I said, Marty had numerous layers, you had many layers. That's kind of what we see a lot in here. And that is the beauty of doing the deep dive, stay and heal. Yes. The blood work now is showing where I was a year ago to where i am now.

My liver is so happy. And it now makes sense. All I want to do is take this blood work and go to all the other doctors and be like, I wasn't crazy. My body was not getting rid of its waste. And, and you're sluggish, your blood, you know, everything is just like I always say, like it's like the old oil in the car. You're just, nothing's working. Nothing's turning. You just can't. You can just get it going. One other thing that I just had a thought about that you just said. Chronic fatigue. So that's one of the main symptoms that i hear all the time.

And first of all, I actually think it's funny because you know you hear the word fibromyalgia and it sounds like a horrible disease and really when I talk to fibro myalgia people it literally is an autoimmune condition. But chronic fatigue cracks me up because it's like, so my disease is always tired. That's my diseases. Is that the most uncreative name you've ever heard? It's almost like saying, I've been diagnosed with headache. I'm just always amazed. So you are not meant to be always tired. And it's not because you're 45 and it is not, because your stressed out and its not cause of the la la, la.

You're not tough enough, you don't have enough grit. All the things. We're gritty Philly girls. Please come on, we're tough. I've noticed a lot of people are just, they're sliding down and they are like, really sluggish, propping my eyes up with Adderall, prepping eyes with caffeine. Just getting through the day, just waiting. I remember this one girl told me the second my kids leave for school, I lay down and I wait until 2.30 when I know the bus is coming and act like I had a full day. And I'm sleeping the way every day and then I go into mom mode and cook dinner and it's like wasted time and life.

Yeah, it was a fragile box. I felt like I had a very regimented life. It was such a regiment box and anytime I would travel or lose a night of sleep, It would take me like four days to recover. And I just thought, who lives like this? Who can live like that? And there's nothing wrong with me? I noticed this with Marty when he was really in it too. Little triggers, something happened, not even a big deal, would put him in bed for two days. It would even be something like with the kids or with a dog or something so dumb.

And I'd be like, I got it. I knew he wasn't feeling good. He'd like I've got to go to bed. Like little stressors became way blown out of proportion. Then as the partner, would get really annoyed. This isn't that big a deal. It's going to put you in bed for two days, but I didn't get it until I So I know a lot of you out there are gonna hear that and be like, oh my God, that's my husband, That's My Boyfriend. So Epstein-Barr can absolutely be handled. And the way out of it is to figure out what is holding your immune, I feel like in your doctor be yelling at me right now, is figuring out, what holding you immune system back from being able to get over top of that virus that you used to have in dormancy.

Sensitive people, you can slide But as long as you're maintaining your resilience, your strength, you fixed your teeth, You've done the things.

Recovery, Validation, and Life Changes 21:00

You're now, like you are in the full upward spiral. It's a year, it's becoming sustained. Marty's the same, Marty is better, eight years. Eight years, my husband is a better. We are leaving on vacation tomorrow. People always say, Like you and Marty are doing a lot, if you follow us. And I'm always like, when you lose 10 years of living, It kind of changes your mental state. You're like, you want to go to a concert? Yeah, let's go. Because you know what? You can't get the time back, but you can squeeze the lime out of the.

Seriously. So how are you squeezing the line now? What are doing that you couldn't do before? I just feel like I am more engaged, more present, and it's with the relationships that mean the most to me, my daughters and my husband and immediate family, extended family. They're probably so happy to have you back, but it has only been a couple of months. I'm laughing because I be bopping around the house. Like, like, do you guys see how much better I feel? Like do not see it. And maybe I put a good face on, but it is night and day.

Yeah, it's night. I also think as the partner, um, and the person Marty says all the time, he's like I mean, It wasn't that bad in life. Oh, I know exactly. What were you talking about? And then he's like, oh yeah, it was bedridden. And I couldn't think and I could talk. I think it's almost like a bad pregnancy when you're over it. You're just like yep, that happened. When you move on. So I'm so happy for you. Back to life, It's amazing. Nour just came in today to visit and we had talked about sharing your story, but I actually think its even more impactful.

a year later because we were going to do it right after you were here. Cause she like knew like, I finally had answers. I know what I'm doing. And I feel so much better. Like, but it is a, um, yeah, no, it, and we're very, we say that all the time. It's a journey. You're not going fly away like a bird in two weeks. Can I just add this? I remember sitting in the office with Dr. B and it was kind of a moment where he looked at me right in my eye and he said, you have to believe you can heal. And it like the record skipped, right?

For those of us who remember records. Like the records skipped and I thought, And after 10 years of being disappointed, just like fail after fail, after failure, thinking it was the thing and it wasn't, I had to really sit and take a minute. Like, do I believe I can heal? And I'm telling you, yeah, it believed I could heal. You can. And you did, and you are. The numbers show it, not just how I feel. I always say that labs are always a moment in time. Marty was a big like number watcher. He wanted to see his numbers went down and they did, but it was in controversial.

I can't even say the word I'm trying to say. It was undeniable. to see the change in him, the inflammation, that the life change back to basketball, back, to being a dad out of bed, all the things, just having a body that was regulated and knowing what numbers to be looking at on those labs and no, and also knowing why to avoid. And it's the other thing you'll leave deeper healing with is like, here's all of the potholes out there. Don't fall in them. Do you, do you sauna? I bought one. Okay, I was going to say that.

I didn't know. That's one thing we often recommend is finding a way to do a regular sauna. Amazon delivered. My husband and I just 20 minutes put together. We have ones that we like on the site, but we have cheap ones and we the full-blown Heavenly Heat or the ones like the little zip-up ones. The point is to use the skin to sweat out toxins. It's urine, poop, and sweat. These are the things and it's obviously putting in the good things. If you're going to eat junk all day, well, that's going be contributing to your toxin level.

I mean, some of that is so obvious. For many of the patients that we see, they've already done all that. You know, these guys aren't coming in here. They've done lots of diets over lots years. And it's really, that's why we don't spend a lot of time on that. We really go after the big guns. Not that diet isn't important, it is important. I just didn't have the time to make the energy to maintain any of that now. Now I'm like, woohoo, let's cook. Yeah. It's, and it. Enjoyable. Like it, is empowering.

and that's where I want it to be. Okay, so what's the message to you guys out there? Be empowered. Don't keep the slide back as your normal. You may not be broken yet, but you know, I know inside you're listening to this and you are like, I'm not good. I know I am not. Good. Don't assume it's going to turn around next week. Just assume you have high toxin levels, because almost everyone does. And how much better can I be? And what is that worth to me? Do I think that what we do at Deep Rehabilitation should be standard of care?

I say it all the time. It should standard care. Should be covered by insurance. Absolutely nonsense. My hair could go on fire. If I had an emoji, my hair would be on the fire, but I can't fix broken systems. but I can help people who feel broken. And that's what we do here at Deeper Healing. The more stories we put out there, because you know we're going to throw this in some Epstein Barr support group. Get off the fence. They're literally going be like, I want this. I was kicked off of an Epsteen Barr Support Group.

When I shared my husband got better, I didn't even have deeper healing yet. I was just trying to help people. They kicked me out and the admin told me, you can't recover from Epstein-Barr and you're giving people false hope.

Encouragement and Closing Remarks 27:00

And I said, I thought the point of the support group was to help people figure out what's working. My husband was bedridden. He's completely better. She's like, nope. I know you're lying. Banned, banned me from the group. So I'm throwing this out there. Don't, and that was a big Epstein-Barr support, support groups. Yeah. so don't assume your support. Group's goals is to. Help you find what works because I knew for a fact that that's not always true. So we're going to close on that. Nora from Pennsylvania, fellow Philly girl.

So happy you are willing to share your story. It helps people, especially so many people who circle deeper healing for a while. They're recommended to stay and heal and they kind of hesitate because they're like, It's a big commitment, I have to travel, it's money. I don't know, is it gonna work? They're afraid of being let down. This is why we publish these stories, because hearing it from real patients who have gone through real hell and have come back on the other side, you'll find that gem that you're like, that's me.

So I hope some Epstein Barr people hear Nora's story and know that there is a way to unravel this. Okay, love you guys, thanks. We hope this episode inspired you. Here's how to go deeper. Visit deeperhealing.com to become a patient. Online we have loads of courses and a free toxin quiz. Subscribe and please, please share this with someone who needs it. It's always that one-on-one support that really gets people to find deeper healing. Remember, this is educational content, not medical advice. The information shared here should be discussed with your own personal healthcare provider.

If you're excited by listening to the medical experts or the personal recovery stories on here and you want to start your deeper healing journey, go to deeperhealing.com and start the process.