My name is Melina, I’m 23 years old from Brisbane, Queensland and I beg you to READ MY STORY.
For 22 years I have struggled with eczema, the kind that when you first wake up in the morning and stretch means an instant flinch back to the position you woke up in because you’ve just split open all the wounds behind your legs or in the folds of your arms. For 3 years I struggled with psoriasis so bad that I had to quit my job, crawl on my hands and knees around the house because my feet were so badly covered in psoriasis that putting any pressure on them to walk meant immediate splitting of my heals, my soles and toes. The pain was so bad I would crawl into my parents room just to sit on the floor and cry.
I saw how my pain affected my parents and they have tried everything over the short 23 years of my life to make me better. Add to that a weight gain of 30kilos due to Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, along with all the other ‘fun’ symptoms associated with POS, and a 3 year undiagnosed battle of Clostridium Difficile.
By the age of 22 I was not only ready, but looking forward to my death. Every single night before going to bed, I prayed and I prayed for over a year that somehow someway my pain, suffering and sickness would be taken away. So many things going wrong, so many doctors with no answers, or just the usual “you’ll grow out of it, try this medicine” which never helped.
I was finally referred by my doctor to see a specialist from the Dermalogical department at the hospital, when he saw me limping into the medical centre and saw the puss, blood and ooze from my feet. I was so excited, I had waited 3 years just to get on the waiting list. Once there, I had a different specialist every visit, which would spend 10 minutes of my 15 minutes appointment just reviewing my case. Different doctors, same results nothing was working. They even prescribed me a cream that was like rubbing metholated spirits into my open wounds and when I mentioned how much it hurt and how after just seconds of applying it my feet were red raw swollen and puffing up he looked me dead in the eye and said, “yeah that’s normal keep using it and you’ll get used to it”!!!! I was asked if I had considered having children. I thought that was a very strange question. I was offered a tablet form medication that would treat my psoriasis but had a vast array of side effects including infertility! If I wanted to start that medication, I would not be able to have children.
On November 14th 2010 I was diagnosed with Clostridium Difficile after going to my GP with more than the usual amount of blood in my stool with the presence of mucus sacks the size of plums. He phoned the H.O.D. Gastrointestinal specialist at the RBH and whilst on speaker phone said I needed to be tested for x,y,z, my doctor looked at me and said, “Oh I didn’t think of that”.
For 3 years I was not only seeing my doctor on a weekly basis for psoriasis but also because every time I went number 2’s on the loo, the bowl was bright red with blood. After the blood test came back positive, I was prescribed antibiotics with a 33% chance of success. If that medicine failed, I was on standby to be quarantined and given a drip fed straight steroid treatment with a 47% success rate, should that fail, well my GP said maybe I should get my parents down and start organizing things.
So here I am, 22 years old being told I could potentially die, covered in eczema, 30kilos overweight, skipping menstrual cycles, hardly able to walk, some days only being able to crawl, 20+ trips to the toilet each day and in a total mess.
By an absolute stroke of luck, or touch of fate, my parents heard about this seminar happening in town in celebration of this lady, Mel, a local in Dysart who had lost 40kgs and never been healthier thanks to The Chocolate Frog Diet program. They weren’t sure if they even wanted to go, but both decided why not, “they’re might be something that could help Melina”.
They listened to Monica speak and were completely blown away by her knowledge, the testimonials and the results of the Chocolate Frog Diet. The moment they were won over was when they heard Monica speak about soaking infected feet. I was told by all the specialists to soak my feet for 20 mins minimum with my foot soak medicine, mainly coal tar. Monica mentioned that the feet should only be soaked for 8 minutes because after that they become like a sponge and start drawing back in all the gunk they’ve just expelled.
After the seminar they approached Monica and gave her an account of my struggles and she told them while she may not have all the answers straight away, she would put her all in to finding a solution to fix the problem, not just treat the symptoms.The rest, as they say, is history.
I still remember my first phone call with Monica. The realization of all my problems as I was explaining it to her just made me feel horrible. I didn’t really understand or realize just how much I had been putting up with and how much it had been putting a toll on my wellbeing.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY ENTRIE LIFE summer of 2010 I HAD NO EZCEMA. By December of 2010 we had won the battle over c-diff, and by May 2011 my psoriasis was COMPLETELY GONE!!! I walked bare foot on grass for the first time in 3 years and I cried because I was so happy.
To date, I have lost 34kgs, have no eczema, have no psoriasis, regular menstrual cycles, my eyes are clear and sparkle again, oh, and I only go to the bathroom once a day now.
Monica & Cheryl really are angels. I believe that it was a chance meeting with my parents and Monica and I thank god for them everyday.
Monica and Cheryl will help you all they can, research all the information and give you the steps to take, but it is YOU that must make the change. YOU must walk through the door and understand that you are not going to see results of a life time of problems in just a week. You must keep at it and be strong. I make my own jam for crying out loud. What 23 year old do you know who does that?
This program was run entirely online and on the phone. One day I hope to meet Melina in person…maybe we will need a box of tissues that day.