A More Holistic Approach

I was pretty disappointed after my last MS check-up. All of the disappointment and uncertainty that I felt immediately changed to encouragement and hope after my visit to a more holistic doctor yesterday.
Instead of potential long waits, hustling and bustling you in to get vitals, and a hurried discussion with a physician, this visit was so calm. There was soft music playing, hot tea in the waiting area, and stacks and stacks of different reading materials.
It's hard to put into words how completely different a more holistic approach to healing is.
I chose to go to Nashville Integrated Medicine because I knew that they focused a considerable amount of attention on what is called the Five Pillars. They are as follows:

• Nutrition/Diet
• Movement/Exercise
• Sleep
• Emotional Stress
• Meaning/Connectedness/Purpose

Turns out going grain-free/gluten free almost 7 months ago was actually very good. That would have been the first area that we would have addressed in a holistic approach. Dr. Forbes suggests eliminating wheat, corn, sugar, and dairy from the diets of almost all of his patients.  It was nice to have some confirmation that what we are doing has some very good potential benefits. We've already seen some of those too.
We wanted to know what else we could try without just simply relying on medicine. After going through the five areas of a holistic approach we left with several things we are going to try which include taking lots of specific vitamins, eating lots of cruciferous vegetables, eliminating all dairy, continuing with the running and possibly adding in some yoga or other exercise, and learning how to meditate.
Dr. Forbes seems just as excited as we are to see how these changes will affect my next MRI. Its really the only way we can see how things are progressing, especially if I am not having apparent flair-ups.
As always, I'll be sure to update on things along the way.