zoe ashcraft

Health Interests

Brain function,  Nervous System,  Dysautonomia,  Connective Tissue Disorders,  Neuropathic Pain,  Joint subluxation,  Isolation,  Depression,  Dissociative Identity Disorder,  Prolapsing Organs,  Suicide Prevention,  TMJ,  Functional Cranial Settling,  Cranial-cervical Instability,  Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome,  Seizures,  Fibromyalgia

Drugs I am Taking

Methadone,  Neurontin,  Topamax,  Fioricet,  Lorazapam,  (Ativan) Prozac,  Buspar,  Fentanyl Patch,  Spiriva- (I think this one's a no brainer- no-go for me though!)

About Me

I've got to be thankful~ for most of my life I was 'as healthy as a horse' - a little bit of scoliosis didn't slow me down- I just exercised more than the average girl and conquered the daily pain like the little sibling I never had. Hand in hand with over-exercising, was that secret malady of anorexia- bulimia- for which I sought out help on my own beginning at age 17~ and shortly thereafter I lost a sister, I mean LOST a sister~ in the jungles of the Amazon~ never to be found. This seemed to be the axiom on which my life turned~ Joyce's disappearance was an unanswered question-- and sure enough unanswered questions are the hallmark of my curious, bizarre life. I managed to get over bulimia~ only to begin hearing voices~ and having odd neurological quirks. My head would loll around, twitch, my legs would give out, spasm uncontrollably. I went from doctor to doctor, specialist to specialist only to have- You guessed it- an unanswered question. "Psychosomatic" illness is the label doctors give people when they don't understand the source of the problem - anD- more importantly- they don't want to take the time to investigate further. I spent years in and out of psych wards and now have a litany of hilarious experiences from which to fulfill my childhood dream of writing- oh, being in a locked ward is really something. I also found out that I have what used to be called Multiple Personalities, and is now called Dissociative Identity Disorder- and that diagnosis could fill many a volume! Fast forward 15 years, I am a partially functioning adult, have 3 children and yet my pain level has risen to the point where I spend some days 7-8 hours, contorting my body in ways it was never meant to bend. Anything- to alieviate the pain. (Including self harm, but that's another story) A friend with cancer told me my lymph nodes were suspiciously large so I experimented and found that with deep tissue massage I could make a difference in both the size of my lymph nodes and my pain level- I had a clue! Amazing to me- was that many nurses and medical people didn't even Know what the lymphatic system was- this was when I started TryINg, really trying to get help medically. I told my doctor I had EDS, and something was going wrong with my heart. I was throwing up spontaneously, during exercise- up to 20x a day- and believe it or not, it got worse! "No, I couldn't have EDS. No, there was nothing wrong with my heart." Yeah, sure doc. I heard it all until I reached one sound physician who ordered a more specialized test for my heart and verified my EDS. All of sudden, I needed heart surgery. (because of the EDS) - that I didn't have....before!!! Oh, naive me~ I thought that surgery would give me my life back- because, little by little, of course, I could do less and less exercise,(waiting for my insurance to approve the surgery)-- still--- I persevered- took my Yoga training course, (not eating all day and just throwing up in the evening)and started teaching * I loveD iT -- but alas, heart surgery was the worst thing that ever happened to me. Oh, they made my heart work better-by degrees-- but what they DIDn't do was protect my neck. Which, having EDS- a connective tissue disorder- with hypermobility and spontaneous dislocation in all joints- I needed to be treated like a fine piece of china. NECK INCLUDED! Two months aftTER my heart surgery, (when the surgeon discharged me) I started losing control of the left side of my body, falling over, having seizures, being stuck unable to mover or speak for at least an hour each time. This- went on for a year+ 3x a day- an interesting way to learn about immobility. My then, 11 year old son was schooled half a day and we tried using walkie talkies- we tried having him check on me every half an hour, it was what it was and although I regret it for his sake, I know he will be a better man for it in the long run. (He still helps me a lot now) Since NO ONE in the medical world was helping me, I took matters into my own hands, took liberties with my meds. and did research on the internet. I wound up diving - by faith- from California to New York to the Chiari Institute where 20 years of being called a nut case, were explained in a single day- (imagine~) I had not only Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, a heart condition, dropped organs, but Functional Cranial Settling and Instability,Tethered Cord and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Oh yes, and the Seizure condition. The crux of the problem was that 3 of my conditions caused brainstem compression- which in turn- caused a myriad of neurological problems. The Neurosurgeon advised a surgery to cut the part of the spinal cord that is tethered too low- (thereby pulling the brain out of the skull) and then, Invasive Cervical Traction- (Screws in your head- pulling your head- up- out- to double check before-) the next surgery- Cranial-cervical Fusion- (fusing the spine to the skull) which for persons with weak connective tissue is very iffy- as far as success goes. He assured me I would never be in a wheelchair.(I'm just about there now) I wouldn't die. *darn* ~ I am a firM believer in the providence of an Almighty Loving God* and he's kept me alive- Yes, KEPT ME ALIVE! Even when I didn't want to be* He has his purposes, and I'm a part of them. So are you~ From somewhere over the rainbow, zoe