Journey to Health,
One Step at a Time
If you have landed here, you might be looking for information about brain inflammation.
You or a loved one might be newly diagnosed with autoimmune encephalitis.
You might be looking for ways to decrease inflammation and promote healing in your body.
You are in the right place.
While no two journeys to health are the same, approaching recovery one step at a time, and healing using multiple approaches starts here.
Early and aggressive treatment leads to the best outcomes in cases of AE.
Decreasing inflammation in the body is key to healing from autoimmune disease and my doctors were doing everything they could to calm down my overactive immune system.
Using my background in nursing and public health, I knew that to reverse this autoimmune disease, it would take a combination of conventional and holistic approaches.
There was more to do that was within my control. Making changes to my diet, environment, mindset, and more helped to decrease inflammation, and helped me heal.
I became a participant in my recovery and not just a patient waiting to see if the medications would work.
A devastating diagnosis of brain inflammation caused by autoimmune encephalitis, led Lisa to leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of recovery.
In 2017, forty-five-year-old Lisa Lauter experienced mysterious neurological symptoms. For months, she didn’t feel herself and doctors had no answers. A mother of three preteen boys, Lisa had many reasons to explain away her odd symptoms. In her situation, what parent wouldn’t be tired, forgetful, and sleep-deprived? But that didn’t explain the weakness in her left side, the tingling feeling, and numbness. It didn’t explain why, on a relaxing summer day, Lisa had her first tonic-clonic seizure.
Her new book, Songbirds Keep Singing: A Memoir of Healing from Autoimmune Brain Inflammation, blends memoir, research, and her public health background as she searches for answers following her first big seizure. It provides the knowledge and tools needed to approach brain healing comprehensively, by combining holistic and conventional approaches. From multiple therapies to trying different diets and exercises, Lisa tries them all. As she researches the environmental, hormonal, and lifestyle factors that contribute to inflammation, she also learns how to listen—and advocate—for herself.