My story: 12 years ago, I spent 6 weeks in the hospital and was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. My entire intestine was inflamed, and I was on the verge of getting a stoma. I was really sick for a few years and took daily medication to suppress my immune system, and had monthly infusion treatment. The hospital literally saved my life, but after a few years of living with all this medicine, I just couldn’t accept that this was my new life. I knew there had to be another way, one where the root problem was treated and cured, not just the symptoms.

And so my path of healing began.

It was a path of emotional and physical healing, with lots of trial and error and lots and lots of trust. I tried out many different therapies and approaches, and slowly I began to see differences in my body. I started to restore the connection with my body. I found the cause of the disease and felt strong enough to quit all the medicine. My doctor did not agree with this (due to the severity of my Crohn’s), and I ended up calling all the hospitals in Holland to find a doctor who would help me. I found one. She didn’t agree with stopping but could feel that I would do it anyway. So I went to see her, and I stopped the next day, cold turkey. After two years of 3-monthly check-ups (pfff I can´t describe how stressful those were), she told me my numbers were still stable, and I was dismissed.

I remember walking out of the hospital that day. I was confused, happy, and scared at the same time. No more check-ups. Now I needed to fully be there for my body, to listen and to be on my own check-up. And also, no longer identify with being “sick.” Now I was just Lidia again.

I wish I had known someone at that time to help me, someone who had cured themselves, to see that it is possible! To show me the way. To tell me their path so I could try and see if that would work for me. Or even to share experiences.

I want to be that person for you. This is not an invitation to drop your medicine and just cure yourself. The hospital helped me amazingly. But if you already feel that you want to do things another way, I can help you.

It looks like another life: laying down with pain in my belly after every meal, feeling so tired, sick from the medicine, thin hair, pale skin, scheduling days off to deal with the pain, all the hospital visits, living from one check-up to another, always with those numbers in the back of my mind. I can tell you that 80% of the people I’ve met over the last few years don’t even know I had Crohn’s disease. It’s just not there anymore!