Treating the Cause, Not the Symptoms: A Listener's Life-Changing Lifestyle Story

On this episode of Our American Stories, at thirty-eight, Tim Hennessey looked like the picture of health. He lifted weights, played racquetball, and kept a busy schedule. But inside, his body was breaking down. Chronic pain, migraines, and high blood pressure left him desperate for answers. A doctor diagnosed an autoimmune condition and prescribed medication for life, but one look at the side effects made Tim pause. Instead, he chose to start over. Here’s Tim with the story of how he turned his life around—and how he’s feeling better than ever almost two decades later.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Up next, a story by Tim Hennessy. He's an IT
professional from Texas, and, like so many families in America,
grappled with his own health issues, primarily pain. Here is
Tim Hennessy on the story of his own health journey.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
The late nineties. I was in my late thirties and
I had all kinds of health problems. On the outside, physically,
I look pretty darn good, you know. I worked out
a couple hours a day, I played racketball for two
or three hours. I lifted weights. So on the outside
I looked pretty good. By the inside, I felt like
I was dying because I had chronic pains all day

(01:00):
long my elbow, my knees, my back, had hard time sleeping.
I had migraines literally a couple times a month, the
kind of migraines where you got to shut the light
out from your eyes. I used to put ice on
my neck laid down. I had this pulsing almost like
you hear a drum boom boom boom. I had higher

(01:22):
blood pressure, I had skin issues. I would play racquetball,
and the next day I could barely walk down the stairs.
And I'm in my late thirties, thinking what's it going
to be like if I make it to fifty. So
I was recommended to visit a doctor in Calabasas, California,
where I lived, and he was a pretty famous doctor.
A lot of Hollywood people would go see him. And

(01:44):
he took a look at me and he basically diagnosed
with a form of autoimmune disease. When I looked at him,
I said to him, doctor, could it be what I'm
eating and drinking? Could it be my diet? Because I
knew a secret that he didn't know. I knew my
diet was horrible. He kind of gave me an out.

(02:06):
He says, no, Tim, it's nothing you're doing that caused this.
It's more likely hereditary. So I'm like, oh good, I'm relieved,
and he says, these things kind of happen to people,
but the good news is we can control it. And
you know, some people get heart disease, some people get cancer.
You're lucky it isn't cancer. As he pats me on

(02:26):
the shoulder, you know, with his gentle bedside matter that
he had, you know, and I wanted to believe him
because I wanted to continue drinking my diet Doctor Pepper
for breakfast with four milk chocolate Macadamian, not pepper charm cookies.
That was my typical breakfast, and I will alternate the
next day, I have donuts instead of the cookies. With

(02:47):
my diet doctor Pepper. I wanted to be able to
go to McDonald's or other fast food places at lunchtime,
and I didn't want to think about what I was eating,
so I didn't tell him that was my diet. But
I thought, oh, good, you can control this. I can
continue eating crappy food. Great, this is awesome. Then he
handed me a prescription. He said, Tim, why don't you

(03:10):
take a look at some new drug And I asked him, well,
how long do I have to take this drug? And
he said most likely for the rest of your life.
There is no cure for what you have. And he
said the best we can do is help control what
you have. And he said, I'm pretty confident that we
could help you. So I drove home from the doctor's

(03:31):
office with this prescription and I didn't know quite what
to do at first, so I talked to my wife
and I said, She said how to go? I said, well,
the doctor gave me a prescription for this drug and
he told me to look it up, and I decided
to look it up. With the internet in the late

(03:52):
nineties isn't what it is today, but each company had
a website. I went to this company's website and I
looked up this particular drug. Yeah. The funny thing is
the first thing I noticed when I looked a drug
up it said for the symptom of this, for the
symptom of that, and what I was looking for, and
maybe naively, I was looking for the word cure, but

(04:15):
I didn't see the word cure. I then saw the
side effects, and the first thing I noticed was it
said lower your immune system. The second one was potentially
increase risk of heart disease, and the third one was
potentially increased risk of cancer. So I turned to my

(04:37):
wife deb, I go, Wow, what could possibly go wrong?
I take this drug to the rest of my life
and I had a lower immune system, a greater risk
of heart disease, and greater risk of cancer. But I
got rid of my migraines and my pain. Needless to say,
I didn't want to take this drug. I wanted to
see if I could find another way. Then there's a

(04:59):
woman who came into my life through another front of
my wife's and she handed me this book. It's called
You're Not Sick, You Are Thirsty by Doctor bat Melon,
Jahel and something. It's a long Indian name. I call
him doctor Batman. I think that's his nickname. So I
decided I'm going to increase my water and get rid
of my soda habit. And I haven't had one since.

(05:20):
And that that was August two thousand and four. And
I have to tell you, I haven't had a migraine.
I haven't had a headache, maybe mild heache once in
a while if I don't sleep enough. My blood pressure
was back to normal and it continues to be back
to normal. All my pains went away. So I thought, well,
what can I do if I change my diet. Here
I am. I'm in my sixties now, I still have

(05:43):
normal blood pressure. I have no more pains than my
knees back an elbow like I did in Originally, I
haven't had a migraine in twenty years. I don't My
die is not perfect by any means, but I know
if I get a little bit off track. I got
to get back to the green juices and making sure
I exercise, making sure I get vitamin D and sunshine.
So the proof is in the pudding. I could have

(06:06):
been twenty five years ago on medication the rest of
my life, as I mentioned, and who knows what my
immune system would have been. Who knows if I'd still
be alive today being on medication for twenty five years
with a increased risk of cancer, increased risk of heart disease,
and a lower immune system. You know, for me personally,
I have an open mind. I'll hear both sides, but

(06:29):
let me decide. As an American, I should have the
personal freedom to choose my doctor, to ignore my doctor
if I don't agree with him, to choose an alternative
health practitioner, to ignore their alternative healthcare practitioners advice. If
I choose to let me decide what my health is.

(06:50):
And I believe that's what all Americans really want. Let
us choose And.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
A special thanks to Greg Hangler on the production of
the story of Special Thanks to Tim for sharing his
story and so many Americans grapple with these choices. Do
I just work on my diet and health Or do
I go see a doctor and it's not an either
or you need doctors and you need to eat better.
The story of Tim Hennessee's health journey, the story of

(07:15):
so many Americans. Here on Our American Stories. Liehibibe here
the host of our American Stories. Every day on this show,

(07:36):
we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country, stories
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