Welcome to the first installment of Health Stories: uplifting stories of real people who have healed through nutrition and lifestyle.
Let me tell you the inspiring story of Dr. Terry Wahls…
Terry Wahls is an MD and a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa. Not only did Terry make it through the academic rigors of medical school, but she was also a high caliber athlete: a distance runner, competitive cross country skier, tae kwon do black belt, and more. However, all was not smooth sailing in her life; Terry was plagued by frustrating symptoms, headaches, depression, gait changes, visual dimming, and facial pain. For years, she attempted to ignore these symptoms just living her life, pursuing a career in medicine, and having a family. But the troublesome symptoms raged on to the point they were clearly interfering with her daily life. In 2000, she sought medical help. After much testing, Terry was unfortunately diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is a chronic debilitating autoimmune disease that targets the central nervous system including the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. MS impacts everything we do.
MS slammed into Terry’s life like a category five hurricane. Within two years, she could barely walk. By 2003, she was wheelchair bound. She sought out the best MS doctors in the country and got the best treatment conventional medicine had to offer. While she was doing well in her career as a doctor and a professor, her illness was rapidly progressing. She had arm weakness, lack of mobility, and brain fog. Despite being on some heavy hitter medications including an immune suppressant and chemotherapy, her symptoms advanced and her health declined. This avid outdoors enthusiast and athlete was gradually spending more and more time in her tilt/recline wheelchair, zero-gravity chair, or bed. She no longer had the muscle strength to hold herself up.
Terry’s neurologist suggested she check out the work of Dr. Ashton Embry, a PhD and parent of a son with MS. Dr. Embry had made the connection between MS and diet. This was news to Terry and something she had not been exposed to in her medical training. After assuring herself that Dr. Embry’s ideas were scientifically sound and not quackery, Terry began to research and implement dietary changes in her life. Dr. Embry led her to Dr. Loren Cordain’s work that suggested a paleo diet could help and that the amount of carbohydrates in our standard fare were causing excess insulin and inflammation. Unfortunately, adopting a paleo diet alone did not seem to make a difference for Terry. But neither was standard medical care.
Seeking a solution, Terry dove into the research looking for anything she was missing. Although her body was failing her, her brain, despite the brain fog, was still very capable. Hours and hours of research revealed that MS and other diseases in which the brain shrinks are associated with poor mitochondrial function. Mitochondria, those little organelles inside of cells and commonly known as “the powerhouse of the cell” proved to be intricately involved in MS. When mitochondria stop working, brain cells die.
Terry looked at cutting edge research on anything associated with improved mitochondrial function and came up with a list of supplements that had shown some promise. With her doctor’s approval, she began taking these supplements. Again, no immediate changes were evident, so after a couple months, she stopped them and lo and behold, a few days later, she could no longer get out of bed! Adding the supplements back in allowed her to regain the strength and mobility to get up.
It was evident that the supplements were doing something; they were slowing her decline and even better, giving her hope.
Terry doubled down on her research. She found E-stim, a therapy that uses electrical currents to stimulate muscles and she incorporated this into her regimen. She then found functional medicine, an approach to medicine that considers the whole body and uses nutrition and lifestyle to address the root cause of disease. She compiled a list of even more vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and essential fatty acids that were helpful for mitochondrial function. Taking all of these in supplement form would have been a whole lot of pills, so Terry searched for and found whole food sources for all of these compounds. Whole food sources allowed Terry to add not only the desired compounds but also the synergistic effects of all of the other phytonutrients naturally present in whole foods. This is when the big changes began.
After just three months of incorporating these whole foods into her diet, continuing her E-stim therapy, and incorporating mindfulness practices into her life, Terry was able to kiss the wheelchair goodbye! Initially, she was able to walk short distances using a cane. After 6 months this formerly wheelchair bound doctor was able to walk throughout the hospital without a cane. Within a year, she could bike ride again.
Terry experienced a profound transformation that changed her whole way of thinking. She went on to educate others, perform research, and present a TEDx talk called “Minding Your Mitochondria” that has been seen by millions on YouTube. Terry went to work to demonstrate through clinical studies that this plan would be effective for others with MS. She developed and implemented clinical trials that have shown that her protocol has statistically significant improvements in quality of life, fatigue, thinking, and mood. More studies are underway, but meanwhile, Terry put her ground breaking discoveries into an action plan called The Wahls Protocol®, A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions Using Paleo Principles which was published in 2014 and subsequently updated in 2020.
Our Health is in Our Hands
Terry Wahls made an astounding recovery from MS not through pills, surgeries, and medical interventions, but through simply nutrition and lifestyle. This is incredible. It demonstrates how good nutrition and intentional lifestyle choices are at the root of health. And the best part is that we all have the capability to tap into this same fountain of health simply by making nutrition and lifestyle changes. Terry’s story truly demonstrates that our health is in our hands.
Find out more about Terry Wahls and The Wahls Protocol® at https://terrywahls.com.
Learn more about how you can take your health into your hands in my post Ten Steps to Take Control of Your Health
I’d love to hear what you think about Terry’s incredible story and this tale of nutrition to the rescue. I hope that you will give her TEDx talk a listen and pass this on to anyone you know suffering from an autoimmune condition.
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