136: Healing Journey Through Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Mold Sensitivities, MCAS & Chronic Pain with Jason Cornish

00:00:00 Chazmith: Welcome to Our Power Is Within Podcast. I'm your host Chazmth and my mission for this podcast is to inspire you to take your power back and to realize that you are the healer that you have been looking for. All along, we are all capable of healing in mind, in body, and in soul. Today's episode is brought to you by CFS School, which is founded by Jen Mann and Cardin Robin. If you're not familiar with Jen and Cardin, please check out a recent episode number one 19 where I get to pick their brains and hear about their personal health healing journeys and discover how CFS school was birthed. CFS school is a nervous system healing program that includes an integrative brain retraining approach, polyvagal therapeutics, trauma resolution techniques such as somatic experiencing tools, inner child work and parts work. It's designed to help guide you, support you, and empower you on your self-healing journey to heal from a variety of mind body disorders, some including CFS, fibromyalgia, pots, autoimmune disorders, sensitivities, and more.There is a cell study option that is perfect for people who want to go at their own pace. There is also a live cohort that begins at the end of June for people who want more guidance and live support. This cohort tends to fill up fast. So if you are interested, I highly encourage you to click the link in the show notes and book your free discovery call today. Also, before I introduce today's guest, I do wanna ask that if you are enjoying the content from this show and have yet to leave a review on Apple Podcast or my website, please consider doing that today and help me support my mission. My website is our power is within.com. You can also follow me on Instagram. Our Power is Within. And lastly, remember to subscribe to the podcast channel on YouTube if you like to watch videos as over the next few months, I will be posting more video interviews. And thank you for tuning in. So today's guest is Jason Cornish and he's here to share his testimonial story. He's still very much on his healing journey as most of us are, but he's made tremendous strides and he has had an awesome enough experience to come on and share with us what this healing ride has been like so far for him, what he's learned for himself and what has and hasn't worked for him. So let's welcome Jason and please enjoy Jason. Thank you so much for being here with me today to share a healing testimonial for everyone out there who's listening. As we all know, these stories can be really inspiring and supportive for other people on their journey, so thank you for a willingness to be vulnerable and show up and share today.

00:02:59 Jason: My pleasure, Chaz.

00:03:00 Chazmith: So what I'm going to do, let's see, I know that you're still on your journey and so many of us are, right? Like where does it actually end? When does it end? What quantifies or qualifies being totally healed? Is it really just the elimination of all symptoms or does it go deeper than that? I really always welcome people at any point in their journey where they've really experienced wins and successes along the way. So I think, I don't know if this is something that you could share, but if you do actually have like a summary or a synopsis of simply what you weren't once able to do and where you're at now, like what I can do now, like I wasn't able to do this, but now I can do that. Do you think you could start there?

00:03:40 Jason: Yeah, so let's start there. So as a brief summary, at my lowest point I was near death. I was in zombie mode. I couldn't do much and my days consisted of maybe an hour of energy. I got that low and now I'm working full-time. I've  my own business and you know, I have experienced this year of sleeping a room with fresh wet paint, which is a big change for me.

00:04:09 Chazmith: That's amazing. <laugh>. Oh, okay. Fresh wet paint. Yeah, and for some people they'd be like, well, what does that matter? I'm sleeping paint. But for anybody who's ever had any type of chemical sensitivities, we know that that is a huge deal.

 00:04:23 Jason: Yes, absolutely. .

 00:04:26 Chazmith: So let's talk about your pre perfect storm. Let me first ask, did you have what could be quantified as a perfect storm, as some people call it?

 00:04:35 Jason: Yeah, I could. So I remember early on in life I had a few symptoms show up. Like I remember having really sensitive eyes that was labeled or linked to dairy intolerance. But my perfect storm really culminated in a knee surgery. I had a biological knee replacement in 2014, which is kind of an uncommon surgery. But the surgery itself along with the opioid drugs that came with it and being on bedrest afterwards for three weeks, that was the final final straw that pushed my body into, well, basically close to death.

 00:05:18 Chazmith: Yeah, I've never definitely heard of that kind of surgery before. So this will be interesting. What was life like before that though? Like who were you, what were you up to? What were you doing in the world?

 00:05:30 Jason: Hmm. So I would say my life really took off as a teenager. I really got into fitness and health and I was actually quite good at it. And within that time, you know, I like somebody, young men, I got into bodybuilding and along with that came for the first time like a lot of success and confidence goes, it's like, dang, I'm good. I weight. But through that process, that's when I first learned that my body is actually quite different than most people. And what I mean by that is this, my muscles were always super strong. I only weighed 155 pounds in high school, but yet I could bench press 325 pounds. But I was never good at sports and I never found out why until later in life. But you know, I'm on the, what is it's Danlos syndrome. I have very loose connective tissue, which is why I always got injured in sports. So I was this mixture of yet on one hand a really athletic person, but on the other hand I was always injured <laugh> and I was also that kid that could put their leg behind their head and do pullups to entertain classmates. And I guess to go on with that, this is also where my first major bout of chronic pain came in when I was 15 years old. In the same year I injured a disc invertebrae in my upper back and also got a disc herniation by just doing box jumps at the gym. And it's just crazy to think that both those incidents, that was a sentence of 15 years of chronic back pain, that was a big issue every day of my life until I figured out a way to rehab it.

 00:07:24 Chazmith: Hmm. Which I imagine came long after the perfect storm.

00:07:28 Jason: Well actually some of that started before the perfect storm because I was in chronic pain for so long from the age of about 15 until 25. My perfect storm happened when I was about 27, 28.

 00:07:43 Chazmith: Okay. And then so what was it for you? Like what was the main catalyst for you for healing for chronic pain?

 00:07:51  Jason: Yes. It's really important that we talk about this and you know, I love this about your podcast. So many of your guests talk about the power of the mind to heal the body. And I believe that not fully cause I'm still in the process, but I just wanna let everyone know. All the listeners know that sometimes it is just mechanical for me in my back pain, both the upper and lower back pain. It wasn't until I found a really old school master therapist who changed my life and after doing very diligent dedicated therapy for both my upper back and lower back, I was able to escape this debilitating chronic back pain and got it reduced in both places by 89%. And since becoming a fitness professional now and master in these crafts, I still have occasional back pain flare up, but I can manage it so well now and I can use this knowledge to help so many other people deal with more mechanical based back pain.

 00:09:01 Chazmith: <affirmative>. So you have had some healing through approaching things from a purely physical perspective, which is awesome. And I honestly completely agree with you. Sometimes we can want so badly to believe that it is 1000% always not physical, but there can absolutely also be physical elements as well. I've seen some people experience profound healing through approaching and addressing  physical injuries and physical pain through a physical approach <laugh>, you know?

 00:09:38 Jason: Yes, yes.

 00:09:39 Chazmith: And yeah. And so it's very real. I think that's why there's a lot of really great mind body practitioners and physicians out there who firmly believe in the importance of proper thorough diagnosis to really rule out any type of physical issue before approaching it purely from a mind body perspective. You know, then there's also the very real fact that generally what could start as a physical issue, like an actual real legitimate injury can turn into chronic pain due to the neuroplasticity factor and the fact that the brain begins to essentially learn the pain and it can get stuck in feedback loops very similar to like a phantom limb pain. So that is also something that can also happen. And sometimes we can approach our healing from a physical perspective and yield phenomenal results. And I would personally say that there's likely an element of the physical aspect that was a part of that healing. And also that through those physical approaches we were actually teaching the brain a new way of being and therefore basically teaching the brain to unlearn the pain, if you will. Yes. Through physical action.

 00:10:59 Jason: Yes.

 00:10:59 Chazmith: Very similar to incremental training, right? Or exposure therapy. If you are somebody who's like chronic fatigue or you have issues like with walking, it's very much the same. We go out and we do little bouts of walking to teach the brain it's safe and create safety around it and elevated moves. And we do that over and over as we build that physical capacity and also help the brain unlearn the old pattern.

 00:11:24 Jason: Yes. And to get more specific, and for the audience sake, with my upper back pain, it was largely resolved by doing exercises that would bring my shoulder blades closer together. Anatomically speaking, the shoulder blades of most humans should be about five or six inches apart. Mine were nine inches apart, nine inches. So after months of shoulder and upper back work, bring in my, you know, anatomy, my shoulder blades closer together. I remember waking up one morning and my brain body just took a deep breath and I felt so different. And in term with my lower back, my pain was caused by physical disc bulge. Now I know with your other guess, maybe it was disgusted that you know, if you take an MRI of hundred people, 50 of them may have a disc bulge, but only 25 have pain. Like I get that information. But sometimes when a disc is bulged out and touching a nerve, no amount of DNS or brains gonna change that until that disc bulge is reduced to a certain extent. So the main therapy that I used for my low back pain, my disc, her nation bulge is the work of Robert McKenzie to basically use back extension techniques to push the bulge back into place. And that worked very well for me. Whereas yoga, something that I used first to try to deal with my back pain actually made it worse. But yet when I did yoga, when I stretched, it felt better, but only in the moment. Whereas the extension based techniques actually resolved it over time. And in my own work with clients, I find that a very common story where they can find certain tactics that kind of help short term, but year or two later they're still in the same cycle of pain and dysfunction. Mm-hmm.

 00:13:23  Chazmith: <affirmative>. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, definitely not a one size fits all <laugh>.

 00:13:30 Jason: That is correct. That is correct. 

 00:13:32 Chazmith: And you've definitely learned that and it's so great to address any angle that we can, you know. But I also know that you did do some brainer training, correct?

 00:13:40 Jason: Yes. So yes, on from the mechanical after my knee surgery, which I mentioned before, I was on bedrest in opioids for three weeks and there was one night where my body just shifted for the worst. And I remember so vividly that was the night where I only slept maybe five minutes and for the entire night my heart rate was accelerated. I didn't know what the heck was going on. And that was the beginning of my mast cell activation syndrome and chemical sensitivity, which is kind of all the same when it comes down to it. I understand that. And after being really lost with this condition and applying that mechanical principle to this, which didn't work in the end, I needed for that condition, both pharmacological or you can say mechanical and brain retraining to resolve it.

 00:14:38 Chazmith: When did you begin a brain retraining program?

 00:14:41 Jason: So, I hate to admit this, but I was lost for probably two years before I gave brain training any serious thought. And the first program that I came across was DNRS before it became an online program. I ordered the,  what was it, a CV or download. And I remember receiving it and I was open minded and I remember watching it, but gosh, my skeptical mind was so on fire as I listened to DNRS the first time. And I did give it a try, but after probably three months I gave up on it and actually asked for my money back. And it's interesting to think that if I hadn't given brain train another try, I would be one of those people that give a negative review saying this is BOLO <laugh>, this brain retrain stuff is fly flam. It doesn't work, it doesn't make sense. I would be one of those people, but because of my life situation, I was forced to give it another try.

 00:15:54 Chazmith: I'm glad that you did,

 00:15:57 Jason: As am I. So in working to better my health, the main practitioner I've worked with is Beth O'Hare, who I'm sure some of your guests and listeners know about, but she's my main MA cell practitioner. And in talking with her, she guided me towards the Gupta program instead of DNRS. And that was a better fit for me with Ash's approach. And I especially enjoyed the meditation component of that and using brain retraining and meditation along with working with my own spouse who was a psychologist, which makes all this all the more interesting. I was able to stick with brain retraining because of the science behind it and understanding the mechanisms of how the brain can change over time.

 00:16:52 Chazmith: Mm-hmm <affirmative>, so you did Gupta then after DNRS?

 00:16:57 Jason: Yeah, so after I gave up DNRS, I was like okay, I'm willing to give brain training another try cuz I was very desperate. . So then the Gupta program did resonate better with me.

 00:17:10 Chazmith: Yeah. Okay. I mean everyone has a different perspective for sure. And his program is a little bit more. Yeah. It's just very different. And you said you liked the meditation aspect, which I know some people really get into and you know, and other people don't. Just like some people love visualizations and other people just are very adverse to them. So I'm glad that you found something else. So when did you start Gupta?

 00:17:33 Jason:  I started that probably two and a half years ago. Time flies. Time flies. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So yes, I started Gupta in a very desperate situation, which hopefully we'll talk about soon. But I remember being very diligent with that program at first, doing my rounds in the morning, doing the meditation and using the various tools and tactics that he gives his subscribers. And I am definitely not one of those people that is an overnight success. I remember with both programs talking about people who see results in three days, results in a week, results in a month. I am not that person. That is not my story. So just know that with these programs, if you stick with them, even maybe for years because of my understanding of how the brain works now I can say with authority it is bound to reduce your symptoms. I don't know to what extent for people, but if you keep with these things, you know, just like with physical exercise, you are gonna see results over time.

 00:18:43 Chazmith: Absolutely. Yeah. So tell me what drove you to give brainer training a second chance?

 00:18:48 Jason: Ah, that's a great question. So I actually became, you could say part-time homeless. What happened with my house, I live in Alabama, a very humid place. Our HVAC system, which the system in houses that provide heating and air conditioning became infected with bacteria in the south. There is this condition we can get in our HVAC systems called smelly sock syndrome. Please look it up. It's fun to research. But basically bacteria inhabit the coil of this system and it spits out air that smells well, like dirty gym socks. So because the air in our house had these bacterial endotoxins and such, my body rejected my house. I could only spend limited time in the house and I certainly could not nap or sleep or rest in my house. So although I had access to shower in a kitchen, I had to spend most of my time outside and with sleep I had to sleep in my car and in a hammock. And that was quite the journey. And I'll never forget that the rest of my life.

 00:20:03 Chazmith: Wow, that's crazy. But you're not there anymore. You like sleep in your house, now you live a fully functioning life. Same house.

 00:20:11 Jason: Same house, same house. So with that, I will always be grateful for the comfort of four walls and heating and air conditioning. He goes, gosh, Chazz sleeping out in a car when it's 22 degrees. That's tough. That's tough. But I must say from another standpoint, I'm proud of how I did that. I survived that and did life sleeping in a car through the winter, through the summer I did it and I survived. But yes, speaking of my house, we have the same house. And for me to get back inside my house, it was really two things we had to do the the remediation work, yes. But it also had to do the brain retraining. The two in combination was what got me back in my house full-time. And I must say it was mainly the remediation that helped me, but the brain train also helped me as well.

 00:21:09 Chazmith: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And when was this? Like when did you get back in your home?

 00:21:14 Jason: Okay, so I have been in my home now for probably three or four months in a row. Prior to that I would sometimes have to sleep inside and outside dependent on what we're doing through remediation. And by the way, we're dealing with water damage. We've had water damage to our house three times. Ugh. It's been a beast. And my dear spouse who I must give have to give much credit to because of my chemical sensitivity, we have had to do everything by hand with low chemical, more eco products, which a lot of carpenters and contractors refuse to use cuz it's not their usual stuff. Right. So yeah, if it wasn't for my spouse, I don't know where I would be. But you know, she has slaved away and sacrificed so much for energy and health and time in order to learn everything about how to remodel a house and do it from scratch.

 00:22:16  Chazmith: Wow. She's a keeper. <laugh>. Yes.

 00:22:21 Jason: Well, but back to your question, I think I got in the house, I think it was last May, so May, 2022. And then depending on what we were doing with the house, I would still react to freshly laid chemicals where it would be caulk or paint and things like that. But over time I have found new ways to train my body and brain to accept new applications. Heck, just this weekend she applied some eco-friendly caulk and I slept in the house. I did not have to retreat outside to the  hammock or my car. So that's a win, right?

 00:23:00 Chazmith: Yeah, it is. You said you found new ways to train your body to not react. So what are some of the things that really worked for you in retraining your body to, no, let's say it's not really your body, it's your brain, but your brain to no longer react or respond in a exaggerated way to the scents.

 00:23:18 Jason: Yes. So I'd love to share that. So the number one technique that has worked for me would is I get around an object that I reject. And that could be a spice, it could be oranges, it could be food, it could be, it could be anything. And I find that if I sit with the item and I touch it and I breathe calmly and stay relaxed, you can say breath meditation. Sometimes I just count to five in breath for five out, breath for five. I do anything to stay calm around the object. That has helped tremendously. <That's awesome.> Now, on top of that, I also find that if I visualize me sleeping with the object, that my body will then accept it in time. . Now has this worked? A hundred percent of the time it hasn't. But gosh, even with my skeptical mind and disposition, I have to admit that this has worked.

 00:24:20 Chazmith: Yeah. And you know, it will continue to work. I mean it's layers, you know. So sounds like you've made huge strides. I'm at the very beginning. In your summary, you explained that you've recently slept in a room with fresh paint. That's huge. Yes. That's a huge stride.

 00:24:37 Jason: Yes. So how my symptoms work is with my, you could say mast cell activation, my immune system going awry, my brain going on fire, it always happens at night. I have delayed reactions so I can be around chemicals during the day and I don't know if it's gonna fully affect me until it's nighttime. So that manifests in two ways. I can either A, not fall asleep at all, which is actually the easier route. Or B, I will wake up at three, four o'clock my brain and heart will be fully on and I will not be able to sleep again. I will not be able to fall back asleep and my immune system will go off. Wow. So I have,  I had an event and it was a very scary night for me. I had anxiety. So the room that I sleep in, which is a little bit different than the other rooms because we  have blocked off the air conditioner. So there's not a lot of free flown air when I sleep in there at night, which I'm gonna train out of eventually.

 00:25:39 Chazmith: Okay. I was gonna, that was gonna be a question I was gonna say, are we gonna work towards eventually just normalizing that too?

 00:25:45 Jason: Yes, absolutely. Once the remodeling is done, we'll work on that

 00:25:50 Chazmith: One step at a time. Right.

 00:25:51 Jason: That's right. But there was a night where my wife had to paint my sleeping room and to push myself. I decided I'm not gonna automatically retreat to outside. I'm gonna see if I can do this and sleep. And you know what, despite all my skepticism it worked. I fell asleep just like usual.

 00:26:15 Chazmith: Yeah. Yeah. I think that's really important because you know, something that we learn is avoidance isn't necessarily our friend because we think, okay, well if I avoid this then I won't have a reaction or the symptoms. However, often when we avoid things, we're actually reinforcing the old pattern and teaching our brain that what we're avoiding is not safe, hence why we're avoiding it. So I think that was a very courageous and bold and productive act on your behalf to say, no, I'm gonna sleep in this room still. Because that's literally sending a message to your brain that you know it's safe and then your brain can actually go, oh, okay. All right. It's safe.

 00:26:59 Jason: Yes, absolutely. Now that was a victory and it felt so good. But to give an example of something I'm still working on is we, my family, we need a new washer and dryer. They have put, companies have put new soundproof technology into a lot of new washes and dryers that my body reacts to. So we've had this washer and dryer in my garage for over a year now and I've yet to train to, to have my body tolerate them in the house yet. And that's still a work in progress. I'm not gonna give up, I'm gonna keep going, but you know, that's not a victory quite yet.

 00:27:37 Chazmith: That's okay cuz that's the whole thing that we're talking about is you're on a journey. And I think that's important to highlight is you know, a lot of people, a lot of us, we have like the more stubborn things that kind of linger or take the longest to rewire and retrain around. So I hear all the time people make huge strides and have huge progress, but maybe there's just that one lingering thing, one thing that they just haven't been able to teach their brain is safe or one symptom that they haven't been able to get to calm down. And the idea to not give up that hope and to just continue to move forward and trust that the steps you're taking will yield the results in the right timing. And I imagine there's huge growth potential and opportunities for learning along the way.

 00:28:24 Jason: Yes, absolutely. And now to share another victory, which is big, is my diet. So I am one of those people that got down to about 10 foods. Anyone listening beyond the  carrot and chicken diet, it gets really old.

 00:28:44 Chazmith: Yeah.

 00:28:45  Jason: So with my dietary restrictions, that's, gosh, that is one of the hardest things about having these chronic conditions. Restaurants are a nightmare. Family get togethers, holidays, ugh, all horrible, all anxiety, all stressful. But recently my diet has opened up and I, gosh, I can't believe what I can eat now Chazz. It is insane. So what has worked with that primarily is I would say prescription medications. For me, my story is about prescription medications and how that has helped my body accept more food. So what's helped me the most is antihistamine  and mast cell stabilized medications and we're talking hanlin and things of that nature. And also antifungals. Antifungals I mentioned I worked with Beth earlier and you know, I've definitely been down the mold path I have that it makes sense and using binders and pharmaceuticals has been part of my story. But the pharmaceuticals has really been able to  allow my body to accept a lot more foods. Now I still use brain retraining with some foods because my body has reactions to things like spices and aesthetic foods like oranges and strawberries. And yes, I do need to use brain retraining and I actually should do that more. But for me to heal my gut, I've really needed those pharmaceutical medications and that will be some people's story. And that's OK to use medications to get back to normal.

 00:30:25 Chazmith: I think it's very much okay for people to take whatever route they want to take for their journey cuz it's individual, you know, and I, my hope would be though that eventually you won't need the medications. Maybe you need them now and maybe someday as you continue to retrain you'll discover that you can wean off certain things. That's also a very common path I hear about.

 00:30:43 Jason: Yes, that would be fantastic.

 00:30:45 Chazmith: Yeah. And it's, but it's good to highlight that like sometimes we can become so afraid of things like a medicine but you know, it's a very individual choice and there's a time and place that choosing to take a certain medicine to help me feel better to function and live a life I desire can be a huge catalyst in healing long term. Because the more that I can function and live a life that I desire, which then allows me to create more joy and more wonder and more peace and calm and love in my life, the more I'm gonna heal deeper layers ultimately maybe eventually leading to not needing said medicine. You know? So yeah, very individual and definitely think that sometimes we can get very judgmental of not to other people but of ourselves. I, you know, like, oh I'm failing if I have to take this. And it's like, no, no, not at all. There's no one way, there's no one solution. We can just be grateful that something like that exists as an option to support us if we

 00:31:50 Jason: Choose. Yeah, yeah. And I have the experience of being able to reduce certain medications or even get rid of them. A lot of people with histamine problems and ma cell problems have GERD. I was on acid blockers for years. I'm no longer on an acid blocker, thank goodness.

 00:32:08  CHazzmith: Yeah. Yeah. So it'll just be a journey that you continue down and as you continue to rewire and explore those next layers, you just never know what will unfold. It sounds like you're very committed though to your rewiring and your healing and continuing to retrain your brain and in different experiences.

 00:32:26 Jason: Yes. I very much look at my brain training. Like I used to look at my low back care. So in my own journey with my low back, my back injuries and also my clients, I have looked at the science behind low back pain and I see the mechanisms, I understand it very well after my initial I guess rejection of DNRs, I went to the Gupta program but also learned about this. So now I understand how the brain works more and that's been very important for me to have that I guess drive to be disciplined and committed to it where I understand yes, this is what the brain is like, this is what it needs to change and if I continue to give the right inputs it will change and my life will be better.

 00:33:14 Chazmith: Yeah, absolutely. So do you have any  daily rituals other than like your brain retraining stuff?

 00:33:21 Jason: So with that, having a daily ritual, that's very tricky. I'm one of those people where as long as I don't get triggered, I'm a pretty high functioning person. So I run my own business. My wife has her own business. We have a busy household, I have a very busy life. So because of that busyness, it is hard to have consistent routines. So in short, I've turned into one of those people where I brain train on the fly whenever I have the opportunity. So yes, I do have David rituals every day I try to do meditation, I get to a calm state every day I try to do a device called brain Tap. I don't know if any of your guests have talked about that, but I try to do that for at least 15 minutes. And then every day I do some visualization work, whether that be in the car or at home for five minutes holding an orange or maybe  some dry paint or whatever I'm working on.

 00:34:25 Chazmith: That's awesome. And if you miss doing one of those things one day, that's okay too, right?

 00:34:31 Jason: Absolutely. And there are many days where I have to skip and maybe I just do two minutes. I do revisit in my mind a little visualization every day. But sometimes that just doesn't happen. Life is busy.

 00:34:44 Chazmith: It can be. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think that having compassion and forgiveness and acceptance for wherever we're at is absolutely also important part of the healing journey. So you mentioned having clients and you also mentioned that you're now working full-time. What are you doing now and is it different from what you did prior to like your perfect storm?

 00:35:04 Jason: You know, it's not a lot different. I'm just a whole lot better of a practitioner because I have so many more tools and more life experience. So before my current job and have my own business, you know, I worked as a personal trainer and after a few years of that I became a medical fitness professional and a rare breed. There's not too many of us, but basically we are geared toward providing fitness and workouts and therapy for people with broken bodies that we aim to heal and to help over time. And I should tell this story real quick, how I got my own business is I actually, when my wife and I moved to Auburn, Alabama, I started to work at a hospital fitness facility. And I love that place so much. That was a great job, the best job I've ever had. But years ago, it was probably four or five years ago when this place was still open, they had a company come in to paint the walls and they used oil paint and that was the end of my career at that gym. So that pushed me to have my own business. So because of my circumstances, I'm actually quite happy, have my own business now. And I guess that was a strange positive of having chemical sensitivity.

 00:36:23 Chazmith: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So you now have your own business and you work as this a medical trainer?

 00:36:29 Jason: Yeah, I work as a medical fitness professional and you know, I get clients that have a ton of mechanical issues, but every once in a while I do get some people with more brain-based issues and I'm so happy that I can provide for them a means out of that dysfunction as well. So I love the mechanical stuff, it makes sense to me. I have a lot of experience with it. But now that I have personal experience and now a few client experiences of people bettering their health through BRAINER training, I can use that now. Yes.

 00:37:02 Chazmith: That's awesome. What are your next big goals?

 00:37:05 Jason: Well, the major goal that I have my family has, we're gonna finish our house. Our house has been under construction for about two and a half years now. And once that I guess settles, I believe I'll be able to try more aggressive treatments to better my body and brain. And I've already dipped my toes into some things like ketamine treatments and the use of psychedelics and other such therapies in order to I guess fully heal. Cause that's what I'm after and that's what we're all after in the end.

 00:37:41 Chazmith: what is your next thing that you really wanna train around? Is it your washer and dryer or like, do you have any goals specifically around the next thing you wanna route train around?

 00:37:51 Jason: Huh. That is a great question. So the washer and dryer are definitely on the top of the list. And I must say we actually just successfully got pets for the first time. Cause I have a daughter and she's one of pets for years. But finally at a place where I feel comfortable enough doing that. So I don't have a big next goal because I just accomplished it. We now have pets.

 00:38:15 Chazmith: What kind of pets?

 00:38:16 Jason: We just got two cats.

 00:38:18 Chazmith: Awesome. I bet she's so excited. <laugh>

 00:38:21 Jason: She is. She is.

 00:38:22  Chazmith: Yeah. That's awesome. So finishing the home and you got pets, that's a big one. You slept in a bedroom <laugh> with wet paint. That's huge. Huge wins. I hope you celebrate your wins. Do you celebrate your wins?

 00:38:37 Jason: You know, I probably don't celebrate enough. I will try that. Maybe that's what I'll work on next. Chaz?

 00:38:43 Chazmith: Yeah. Make sure you celebrate them. Be silly. Like be extravagant with your celebration. Like really acknowledge yourself, your brain, your body. Really acknowledge your ability to like create those huge wins. That's so important. What else? Is there anything else that you feel like is missing that's an integral piece in this story?

 00:39:01 Jason: You know, I would say that one thing that I'm getting into more lately, and I know that not everyone can do this based on their energy, but you know, I am a fitness professional. I like physical activity. And I have found that despite having bad days, even when your energy is low, if you get after it physically, if you do something with your body to match whatever you're able to do. But subjectively make it hard, I have found that to be very soothing and good for my mental health and my body. And I would, I guess maybe present that as a missing piece. And key for some people's healing journeys is making sure that you take care of your body.

 00:39:45 Chazmith: Yeah. Movement is medicine. Movement is definitely medicine. Do you have a favorite style of exercise nowadays? Because I know you've gone through the gamut of different things and at one point you were even just doing body building. Is there a favorite, just favorite exercise or favorite movement or favorite physical activity that just makes you so happy?

 00:40:03 Jason: Okay, well I personally have a lot of issues and injuries in my body. I'm kinda a clinical quagmire with lots of things going on. And honestly I probably need a, not a biological but a bionic knee replacement. So I am limited in some, in what I can do. But I enjoy walking through the woods at a, you know, pretty brisk pace. I love lifting weights within my capabilities and that I have grown to enjoy my daily rehab maintenance protocols in order to keep my body pain free. So any movement is sweet to me. Cause at my lowest point, you know, I was on bedrest near death and once you've been in a situation like that, you know, you just going for a walk on a sunny day is such a glorious gift.

 00:40:58 Chazmith: Absolutely. Yeah. That's awesome. Anything else that you feel that you wanna share with anybody out there that you feel would provide value for anyone listening wherever they're at in their journey?

 00:41:09 Jason: I would say that what has kept me going is focus on the future. I've always thought and believe that with any major issue in your body or your life, someone somewhere has figured out a way out of it. So finding therapies, doing research, keep trying, don't give up. Cuz that has worked so well for me. Cause again, at my lowest point, I could not imagine that I was gonna live for another week and here I am years later, I have my own business, I'm getting my health back, I'm sleeping in a house again. And I never thought I would live to see, you know, I guess I'm currently at the age of 37. I didn't think I would live this long back five years ago.

 00:41:55 Chazmith: Hmm. Thank you. And you've listened to my podcast. So you know what question is gonna come next. If you could only share one message with the world for the rest of your life, what message would that be? And I wanna preface by saying, think about your daughter and what message you would want to share with her. If you could only share and impart one message into her life.

 00:42:17 Jason: Make everyday count. Make everyday count. Don't take your days for granted cuz they are numbered. Even if you're healthy, you never know how long you have. So don't take your days for granted. Make the most of your life every day. And when you have health and energy, when you have better days, enjoy them and use them.

 00:42:39 Chazmith: I love that. Thank you so much. That's awesome. And thank you for sharing your story and your insights through this journey you've been on. And I want you to just keep it up and stay committed to being true to yourself and continuing on this path and forging ahead because I absolutely believe that you will get to that place where you feel like you have accomplished everything you want to in this journey with your dedication and commitment to yourself and the process.

00:43:13 Jason: I believe so too.

00:43:14 Chazmith: And thank you for your willingness to be vulnerable and share with the podcast today. I appreciate it.

00:43:21 Jason: All right. Thank you for all your work

00:43:23 Chazmith: Friends, that is a wrap. As always. I hope you enjoyed today's episode. I hope you were inspired in some way or learned some new insights that can help you on your journey, or we're just reminded that healing is possible even for you. If you have a story that you want to share or a topic or guest that you want to request, send me a DM or a voice memo and I will do my best to make that happen. And until next time, make this week great.