Lab Work Results Part II – Is My Near Death Experience Part of the Problem?

In previous visits, Elizabeth has said that I am practically a carbon-copy of a few women she also treats for RSD. We have several things in common: our age, our general health, our lab results, our weight and our body type. The one thing we also have in common is we have all had a near death experience. Our medical files are so similar that she and the other doctors who she meets with don’t believe that this is a sheer coincidence.

Elizabeth understands that because I had this near death experience in Namibia, there is no way that I will be able to get accurate medical records. Many years ago I attempted to do this and the medical notes were very skimpy and sometimes completely inaccurate.
Elizabeth explains that the reason why a near death experience can literally change a person’s life is because of what it does to the hypothalamus. As defined to Wikipedia, “The hypothalamus (from Greek ὑπό = under and θάλαμος = room, chamber) is a portion of the brain that contains a number of small nuclei with a variety of functions. One of the most important functions of the hypothalamus is to link the nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary gland (hypophysis).
The hypothalamus is located below the thalamus, just above the brain stem. In the terminology of neuroanatomy, it forms the ventral part of the diencephalon. All vertebrate brains contain a hypothalamus. In humans, it is roughly the size of an almond.
The hypothalamus is responsible for certain metabolic processes and other activities of the Autonomic Nervous System. It synthesizes and secretes neurohormones, often called hypothalamic-releasing hormones, and these in turn stimulate or inhibit the secretion of pituitary hormones. The hypothalamus controls body temperature, hunger, thirst,[1] fatigue, and circadian cycles.”
In layman’s terms, Elizabeth explains that the hypothalamus is the “computer” of the body. When someone has a near death experience, the hypothalamus is “reprogrammed” and, as a result, sometimes the person experiences changes in healing, energy levels, body temperature and metabolism. She asks me how I felt after I had healed from my c-section and I admitted that I never felt the same again. I began to gain weight, my energy level was incredibly low and my sleeping patterns changed. I just assumed that all of these changes were a direct result to being a new Mom (and consequently having another child), getting older, working, and moving around a lot. It never occurred to me that the pain in my legs and exhaustion had anything to do with an auto-immune disorder. Elizabeth honestly believes that when I nearly died, this opened the door for RSD to slowly develop in my body over time, masking itself as other ailments as it normally does until my accident in July was so dramatic that the diagnosis was finally made. Yes, I lost my “mojo” when I had that c-section and I have never gotten it back. Problem is, once you lose your “mojo” to RSD, especially almost ten years ago, is there any hope at all to get the “mojo” back?