Getting Better Can Feel Uncomfortable… But Not for the Reason You Think

Mindful, Healthy, Balanced Health Coaching LLC

Helping you find your mindful, healthy balance

Now first it’s important to say I am NOT a health care provider and this is NOT medical advice.

This is written strictly from my perspective of once being heavily reliant on a cocktail of pharmaceuticals while being told I would never get off these medications nor could I possibly ever improve my health outcomes.

I simply was a victim of “terrible genetics” and I was helpless to effect any meaningful change.

That was the framework I was given.

And for a long time, I believed it.

Because when you’re living in that space — managing symptoms, adjusting medications, trying to stay stable — you don’t really question the direction.

You just try to keep up with it.

Medications get adjusted. Doses get increased. New medications get added.

And over time, that becomes what “normal” looks like.

Not necessarily ideal. But expected.

So when I found myself at a crossroads — down to the absolute LAST medication on the market that could possibly help control the symptoms of narcolepsy — I had no choice but to consider alternative approaches.

Including one that is often dismissed or even mocked: a ketogenic diet.

Truth be told, I had no idea what a ketogenic diet was.

I didn’t understand ketosis. And most importantly… I didn’t care.

I was desperate. And I was scared.

This had come down to longevity and quality of life.

I had followed the directions. I had been a “compliant” patient.

And yet here I was — at the end of the road — with doctors essentially throwing up their hands and suggesting that at the age of 52, it might be time to start getting my affairs in order.

I started my last resort narcolepsy medication called Xyrem.

And I started a ketogenic diet as a backup.

I did not ask permission.

And I did not work in coordination with my doctors.

And almost immediately… things started to change.

I found myself in ketosis.

My body began responding differently.

And instead of support — I was met with resistance.

Why?

Because I was doing something people had never seen before.

I was improving.

My medications were becoming too strong.

Doctors who were accustomed to increasing medications were now faced with something they had never been trained to do: reduce them.

They had never tapered patients off:

• blood pressure medications

• asthma medications

• antidepressants

• anti-anxiety medications

They had never witnessed the reversal of NAFLD.

They had never seen dementia-like symptoms improve.

They had never seen a patient they had quietly written off… come back to life.

And me being exactly who I am…

I took a certain amount of pride in proving them wrong.

I pushed back when cholesterol numbers didn’t align with what they considered “normal.”

I watched a cardiologist struggle to explain a CAC score of zero.

I listened — politely — as doctors tried to convince me that despite everything improving… I was somehow still at risk of dropping dead at any moment.

And I told them this:

"Even if you’re right…I’ll take quality of life over fear of a prediction."

That was ten years ago.

Ten years ago I took:

• my last antidepressant

• my last anti-anxiety medication

• my last sleeping pill

• my last prophylactic asthma medication

• my last blood pressure medication

• 
  

And I replaced them…

with food.

Now — I am not medication free.

I still use medication for Narcolepsy. I still manage Hashimoto’s.

But here is what matters:

In ten years… neither has worsened.

Let that sink in.

Because according to what I was told:

I should not be here.

I should have declined.

I should have deteriorated.

And despite reversing all metabolic markers, I was then warned based solely on one lab value — I was supposedly at risk of sudden death at any moment.

And yet…

Here I am.

So why is medication reduction uncomfortable?

Because it’s not the norm.

It’s not what doctors are trained to do.

And it’s not what we as patients are trained to expect.

But in the world of ketogenic and carnivore nutrition, there are thousands of stories like mine.

People who refused to accept decline as inevitable.

People who questioned what they were told.

People who were willing to see what was possible.

There is nothing special about us.

We were simply willing to look in a different direction.

If you’re trying to make sense of your own health and what direction to take, that’s exactly the kind of process I help people work through. Improving metabolic health through nutritional and lifestyle changes can influence how the body responds to medication. As blood sugar, insulin signaling, and inflammation improve, medication needs may also change. Understanding this process can help individuals navigate health changes more confidently.