My name is Julia Milner and I am originally from Canada, but have lived in the UK for the last 12 years, so this is now home. My husband is from Northampton, which is where we live, and my two kids are British (though they
are bilingual and can translate my accent and odd words into the local language!)
I originally arrived in the UK because my dad got a new job in London. At the time I had finished high school, but I was too ill to go onto college as I had a debilitating condition called M.E. or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that started 3 years prior to my graduation. The main symptom was relentless fatigue of body and mind, but I had headaches, insomnia, stomach aches, and a list of other symptoms I have in part forgotten about (memory loss was another symptom!). I was fortunate to have a doctor who pointed me in the direction of nutritional supplements and healthy eating early on in my diagnosis, but it got me only so far out of the rut I was in.
When I arrived in London in Oct 2000, I was able to be out of bed for about 4 hrs each day. I explored the city in short bursts and usually paid for it recovering for days after. I would wake up late, need a nap after lunch, and then pass the time until bedtime, which would mean hours of not sleeping before falling into a light sleep. My body craved the rest, but my mind wouldn't let me.
It was a few months after we settled in London that my parents took me to an M.E. specialist in London. After a 2 hour appointment complete with live blood analysis, allergy testing, adrenal testing, complete blood work (and a bill of £500), I began a new regime of supplementation, allergy shots, bio-identical thyroid medication, and a strict anti-candida rotational diet (involving no sugar, fruit, refined products, yeast, etc). Without the pressure of course work, I finally had the time and space to recover.
The road to recovery was a bumpy one but it was the road I was on, none the less. I noticed improvements in my energy, my mood, my digestion and my family did too. I was able to ease up on the severity of the diet after 8 months and found I could handle the re-introduction of food. I started to add more and more hours to my day of productivity and by the summer I knew I could contemplate doing something with my life--I wanted to study naturopathic medicine to help others like myself.
I enrolled in London's College of Naturopathic Medicine and began my training in 2001. It was a heavy schedule for one still on the road to recovery--I had only managed to get myself to 70-80% better and had to be very careful with my diet and use of energy. But I loved it. And after 3 years I graduated as a Naturopath, with a specialisation in Herbal Medicine. Through my studies (experiments on myself!) I left college 90% better and that was more than I could have hoped for given the collapse in my health. I knew how to manage myself with energy and diet and I could function almost as well as a "normal" person.
I worked in two clinics in London after I graduated--Napiers Herbal Health Care on Goodge Street and another in Fulham (across from the Westminster and Chelsea Hospital). They no longer exist, but at the time it was a wonderful training ground to try out my new skills. I loved helping people, but there was an element of dissatisfaction in it: people didn't always get the results I expected based on my training and reading. They also could get their supplements from anywhere once they had my advice, so I was completely dependent on appointments for my income. The problem was, once they had my advice, they didn't always come back. And I eventually learned the hard truth about being a naturopath: if you do your job right, people get well and don't need you anymore!
My career went on the back burner after getting married in 2005 and moving to Northampton, and then having my daughter in 2006. I was able to keep my skills active through part-time work, but it wasn't profitable. And yet I persisted because I enjoyed helping people.
However, during my 2nd pregnancy with my son almost 3 years ago, I found my knowledge wasn't sufficient to help myself. I was dealing with increasing fatigue, so much so that I needed a 1-2 hr nap every afternoon to function and I was crashing in the evenings. I developed a very painful pregnancy-specific condition called SPD where the ligaments of the pelvis relax too much and bone moves across bone anytime the legs are moved independently. What that meant was I was in pain if I walked, went upstairs, got in my car, rolled over in bed, etc. I was told that it usually goes away after the birth--but that was 4.5 months away and I had a toddler to keep up with! On top of that, my hair was falling out in clumps, and I developed eczema on my hand. I was eating a sensible diet, taking the supplements I knew to be safe and beneficial in pregnancy, and yet I had these issues I couldn't treat.
That's when a friend told me about a supplement that helped her get over migraine headaches and allergies to 15 different foods. She also got her energy back. I was skeptical and stubborn because of my training, and my disbelief that one supplement could be as good as she said. But, she told me of the 30 day money-back guarantee and (after about 5 weeks!) I tried it in desperation with low-expections.
My expectations didn't remain low for long. Within 3 days I woke up before my alarm clock feeling refreshed and well rested. After a week on the product I noticed significant changes in my eczema and by the end of the 1st month the eczema completely cleared. Not only that, but my energy came back and I didn't need a nap anymore in the afternoons and I could function in the evenings. My husband also told me that I wasn't grumpy anymore and I was going to stay on the product if he had anything to do about it! My SPD pain was also almost gone (it took about 6 weeks for that). After 3 months I stopped loosing my hair in clumps.
I then had my son at the end of January 2010 and found I recovered much quicker than I did after my daughter, and was up and moving around within days. Even though I had sleep-deprived nights with night-feeds for the first 3 months, I could still function through each day and felt well. As I returned to a normal sleep pattern what I found was my energy continued to improve and I felt like I had finally returned to my "old self"--that self which I believed I said goodbye to at 16 and would never know again.
As I've seen what this supplement has done for me, I haven't kept my mouth shut and have told a lot of people about it. I have seen results with it that I have never seen in the clinic. I have helped people I would never have been able to help if I still worked as a Naturopath. I have chosen to share the information with as many people as I can and now have a rewarding and profitable business that I can fit around my many and varied commitments.
I have chosen not to disclose the name of the supplement on purpose: 1) for compliance issues with the company and 2) because if you are reading this and you are interested in hearing more about it, the internet is not the place for it. This is best shared person-to-person so that YOUR individual needs can be met and the information YOU need to hear (not what some website tells you you need to hear!) is given to you.
If you want to hear more, please get in touch. I'd be happy to hear from you:
jpmilner@ymail.com
