I did not see any of this coming. Not my recovery, not the change in my clinical practice, not the resistance from dietitians and medical colleagues. Nor did I anticipate becoming a banned speaker for creating false hope by the National MS Society. I didn’t expect the small pilot study or my TEDx talk would have such an impact. Fortunately, I was mostly oblivious to the criticism and outcry, focusing instead on the next task at hand.
While I was working hard, speaking around the globe, presenting my research and teaching the public and my colleagues about the power of focusing on health creation, things changed. I went from banned to brilliant. More researchers wanted to collaborate with us. More departments invited me to have a secondary appointment, including the Department of Neurology. I was honored by the organization that was critical to my healing journey, the Institute for Functional Medicine. The 2018 Linus Pauling Award was presented to me for my work as a physician, researcher, teacher, and patient advocate. I confess that I cried, thanking all who had contributed to my journey as I accepted the award. So much has happened in just seven years.
In the beginning, my peers, though thrilled at my recovery, criticized me sharply, telling me that it was not good medicine to use the same treatment for every patient. My colleagues thought I was at best very eccentric and at…
