In 1978 and 1983 I became ill with a splitting headache. I did not receive any proper diagnosis until 1984 when doctors found that I had contracted inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) which was then too late for treatment. Alternative activities helped me get a little better but it was not until I started with Zhineng Qigong that my health started to return.
The illness manifested itself as a terribly painful aching in one half of my body; my head, neck, shoulder, arm and leg. Also my jaw, neck, face, teeth, eyes, ears and last but not least, the muscles. Furthermore I suffered from very strong hypersensitivity to light and noise as well as problems with my sense of balance and dizziness. Everything I did was done very slowly, a condition which gradually grew worse. I slept 15 hours every night and I was depressed at times. The function of my brain, such as memory and powers of concentration, failed me. I was referred to about 40 different doctors and at last I got help from a neurologist and Rehab. Every six months I would find little improvements.
Those hard years made it impossible for me to keep my job as a teacher of domestic science. After three years I started on a work rehabilitation program. After much strain I was eventually able to manage a half-time job as an assistant to the school librarian. The complications to my personal life were disastrous but my family gave me support. I had to just sleep and rest and I would scarcely have the energy to do anything else. The weakness and slowness forced me to cut down on most things: work, domestic chores, relations and hobbies.
In the Autumn of 1994 I started to practise ZQ and I joined every Weekend Course in Gothenburg. I attended the first nine-day Summer Course in 1995. For the last few years I have joined the Weekend Courses more sporadically but I have practised at home all the time except for some few short breaks. I have become much more conscientious about my daily training because during these ten years I have really got results and I have realized that the results depend on the extent of ones training.
Now (in 2003) I am just about completely recovered and I feel younger than my 69 years of age. The greatest surprise for me was on the 1996 Summer Course. While I was practising the “sheet” that had divided my brain in two, was removed. After that I was convinced that ZQ could help me in the future as well.
The constant pain which I had for 25 years and which was reduced with Qigong, disappeared without a trace in 2001. I am able to deal with the depressions through the training. My movements and my endurance have improved. The pain in my head disappeared completely in 2002 and the muscular pain in my shoulder in 2003. My memory has returned and I am back to a normal pace.
Nowadays I feel fine, I can cope with a lot more and my brain works. I have, at long last, bought myself a dog. What is left for me now is to conquer my hypersensitivity to noise and my allergy.
Inger Kaulio