AmaZING! That was my very first thought when I received The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook and that is why I decided to start my presentation of the book with this adjective. In France we say Chapeau! (literary translated as “hat”) and this expression can be translated into English as “Thumbs up, well done or bravo”.

Let me proceed by telling you a story of a little girl, who was blessed to have the most loving mother in the world. The girls was growing healthy, except for the fact that she developed asthma right after a course of antibiotics. Luckily she grew over asthma, but subsequently she started to have some minor health issues. For example, she used to catch cold more often than other kids and she seemed to suffer from minor vitamin deficiencies, which mostly manifested in early spring and resulted in excessive drowsiness and fatigue, but apart from that she seemed to be fine. The years went by and the girl finished school and started to work towards her future career. But then came the bad luck: her mother died. Shortly after, the girl started to experience other health issues and one of the most unpleasant symptoms she had was associated with sneezing. Since this symptom was very annoying she tried to do all she could to get rid of it. She visited many doctors and got tested for various allergies. She followed homeopathic treatment for years and used local drops whenever symptoms were unbearable. The cause, however, was still unknown, though some tests showed that she was allergic to ragweed and dust. Eight years after her sneezing commenced she was diagnosed with Hashimoto. The onset of the disease was abrupt and severe as it brought in insomnia, palpitations, anxiety and of course the notorious sneezing was still there. Interesting fact is that the onset of Hashimoto started right after her first trip to France – the country of the most delicious patisserie, croissants and baguettes… After being diagnosed she went through a lot of literature trying to learn about “the beast” behind Hashimoto and she was choked to find out that all the scientific literature was saying the same: the cause of ANY autoimmune disease is unknown…It looked like official medicine couldn’t answer why we get sick on the first place. As you may have guessed this is my story.

Many years have passed since then and alternative medicine brought in more clarity. Now we know that there is that is called the leaky gut condition, which is  directly linked to the autoimmunity. Another thing that is common to all autoimmune sufferers is the fact that we are losing precious years from the time we start experiencing various health issues and until the time we finally get “labelled” with autoimmune disease. I still remember my doctor saying: “Well, there are some minor antibodies, so we will have to wait and see when they develop into a condition that we can diagnose”… And in between we are losing precious years, during which we could do something to prevent the disease from developing.

Luckily this situation is changing! In fact, we live during very exiting times because thanks to the books, like The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook people are getting more aware of the causes of the autoimmune disease.

There are so many aspects I love about this book! Apart from being zesty (at last, my favorite flavor is getting all the attention it deserves!), it gives you tons of valuable information on how to manage your autoimmune condition. Mickey and Angie, by means of The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook will put you on the right track by thoroughly describing 7 key steps to wellness: inform, collaborate, nourish, rest, breathe, move and connect. As someone, who spent years trying to figure out how to manage the disease I know that all these aspects are important for the overall health, both physical and mental. They become crucial if you are struck by any form of autoimmunity. The best thing of all is that these steps can be applied to prevent onset of an autoimmune disease, which means YOU will be in charge of your own health from the very beginning!

I also love that the authors mentioned overlapping diagnoses, which I personally experienced with anxiety. “Madame, it’s all in your head, we don’t find anything wrong with you”, and with these words  I was being sent “packing”. Therefore I had to manage all my symptoms on my own unless I wanted to take strong medications, which of course I didn’t. I remember being surprised each time someone would mention that thyroid disease is the easiest to treat: take daily medication and that’s about it. I wish it was that easy… However, The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook makes it easy for you as it guides you through! For example you can find the list of tests you could take: I recognize going through majority of blood tests mentioned in the book, but it was made possible through a lot of research on my own. You don’t have to learn it by yourself because you have this amazing resource available now! I could go on and on, but shortly speaking, this book is extremely informative plus it is beautifully designed and flavorful!

Let us have a sneak peek to the “nourish” element of the handbook and I will let you discover all the other key steps by yourself. After all, discovering the tools that can help you regain your health is pretty exciting, isn’t it?