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TRAINING SUCCESSFUL PRACTITIONERS

From Illness to Inspiration

Karen’s fight with Crohns disease led her to study nutrition and take charge of her life. Today Karen is a public speaker and superfood demonstrator. She runs two busy clinics in Oysterhaven and Kinsale in Cork where she practices a natural approach to achieving optimum health and wellbeing. Karen is a firm believer that prevention is the key to long lasting health.

This is Karen’s story

As far back as I can remember I suffered with digestive upset and as a very young baby had breathing difficulties. As my mum puts it, I was “not a happy baby”. Even as a very young child I still have memories of lying on the floor and crying in pain. No one could figure out what was wrong with me and eventually one doctor gave me a diagnosis of growing pains in my stomach! Through my teens and young adulthood, nothing much changed apart from the addition of a few more ailments to my ever growing list ranging from eczema and severe migraines to sinusitis, joint stiffness and a noticeable deterioration in my digestive symptoms.

After another battery of tests in my early 20’s specialists decided it was IBS coupled with a hiatus hernia. I was prescribed Losec and a number of antispasmodic drugs to help ease my symptoms but I didn’t see much improvement. In March 2007 I gave birth to my first little girl. My symptoms seemed to fade away during my pregnancy and it remained this way for a while, but by the following year the pain was worse than ever and I was diagnosed with Crohns disease. By February 2009 I had lost the whole right side of my bowel after a right hemicolectomy but I was alive and I was extremely lucky.

The reality was looking like a lifetime of immunosuppressant’s and full on biological warfare on my dishevelled body. As I looked at my recommended diet of cornflakes with milk, white bread toast with marmalade, tea with milk I had a “light bulb” moment. I wondered how I was ever going to heal my body with what looked back at me. It was that day I made the most important decision of my life: to take control of my health and not become another statistic. I started by reading every journal article on Crohns I could find. It was then I stumbled across a book called “Breaking the Vicious Cycle”. A book on healing the intestine through diet. It seemed almost too good to be true but as I turned every page I could feel something well up from deep inside me. I wanted to learn how to be healthy, happy, strong, and live a long life full of vitality once again.

Herein began my nutritional rebirth. With the help of my sister in law (a UK based Naturopath) we put a plan together that involved a complete dietary overhaul. As the weeks went on I was starting to feel stronger and I weaned off my medication. 5 weeks after Surgery I took my very last steroid and embarked upon a course of acupuncture to help support my body make its own anti-inflammatory steroids. As time went on and my gut began to heal. I rediscovered my love of food and cooking. I literally felt like I was cooking my way out of this awful disease. I felt strong and on a mission and nutrition was at the centre of it.

I realised there was nothing restrictive about this new way of eating, in fact it was quite the opposite and I couldn’t remember when I had last felt so excited about getting into the kitchen. I went from strength to strength. I didn’t however want my suffering with Crohns to be in vain. I wanted to learn as much as I could about the condition, and the role food could play in both driving and helping to prevent the condition. If I could help just one other person, or help prevent anyone in my family from developing this horrible condition then it was worth it.

It was my chance reading of a newspaper article for studies in Nutritional Therapy with the College of Naturopathic medicine that changed my life forever and I embarked upon my 3 year Nutritional Therapy course with CNM in Cork. Now, as a result of my experience and training, I specialise in helping people who suffer with Chronic Autoimmune Conditions including MS, Crohns and Ulcerative Colitis as well as the full spectrum of digestive related disorders from bloating to IBS and Gluten sensitivity and Gluten related disorders. I also offer support for those suffering from diagnosed/suspected food intolerances and offer a wide range of testing options in my clinic suitable for all ages.

karenwardBecause I have lived, breathed and done it for myself, I can relate and understand what it’s like to suffer with a chronic condition. My motto is putting good health in your hands and I believe in empowering people to take control of their own health by providing tailor made, personalised plans which help support their bodies move towards self-healing with food and nutrients.

Karen practices in Kinsale in Cork and can be contacted at karenwardhealth@gmail.com.
You can also follow Karen on Facebook.

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