I’m having trouble figuring out how to start this blog post. How do I even begin to explain that everything I thought I new about my life has changed…nearly overnight? I have been battling one health challenge after another (Lyme disease, mold, and related illnesses) for 13 years now. Just when one problem got better, it seemed that another would take its place. My latest challenges have been with food sensitivities and multiple chemical sensitivities. Yet now, just days after getting back from an in-person DNRS seminar (Dynamic Neural Retraining Systems) …I’m realizing that there has been a significant shift! My life is completely different!
I first heard about DNRS from someone who reached out to me through my blog. They messaged me and told me about this amazing new treatment that changed their life. I thought that was nice, but I didn’t look into it that much. It seemed too easy. I didn’t want to waste my time. Then a second person contacted me through my blog, saying the same thing. And then friends on Facebook and Instagram started sending me messages about how it had helped them. I continued to think it was just some weird trend, a quick fix that wasn’t going to work for me. Until finally I ran out of options.
It was becoming increasingly more and more challenging to go to work each day with the harsh cleaning chemicals they used. And finally, a few months ago, I reached my breaking point. I realized it was either find a miracle cure or quit my job. I went with the first option.
I started researching DNRS, reading and watching testimonials. It sounded like it was made for ME! I ordered the DVDs and as soon as they came, I threw myself into them. I started waking up at 3 am just so I could have time to watch them for a few hours before leaving for work.
Here’s a quote from the DNRS website: “We directly target brain function and a maladapted stress response that is at the root of suffering for so many. We do not chase your symptoms – we teach you how to change the function and structure of your brain. When you rewire the limbic system, you move your body from a state of survival to a state of growth and repair – where true healing can take place.”
I had my first wow moment about a week after finishing the DVDs and starting my 1 hour of daily brain retraining practice. I was sitting in the hallway at work, focusing on something, and I was there for a good 5 minutes until I looked up and realized that I was just feet away from the bathroom. From all those dreaded chemicals that had turned my life upside down. And for the first time, I didn’t even notice!
At one point it had gotten so bad that I had to wear a face mask while walking into the building each morning, just to push back the start of the symptoms a couple hours. But even through the mask, my face would burn. The next “aha” moment was when I realized I could walk by the cleaning chemical cart with my mask on and be okay. A week later, I walked by that same cart without my mask on. I haven’t put it on since. Every week I was having new “aha” moments, and my excitement was growing. This was working.
The biggest wow moment for me was actually on the last day of school. I was in a different part of the building, near a bathroom that still had the fragrance in it. (I had to get an accommodation to have the bathroom closest to my office removed of all fragrance items) And I needed to wet a paper towel to help a coworker clean her room. I chose to just go in and out as quickly as possible, instead of walking clear across campus to my “safe” bathroom. But to my surprise, when I walked in, I took a sniff and smiled. They had taken the fragrance out of this bathroom, too! I ended up going in that bathroom several times throughout the day, and was just so touched that someone had taken the fragrance out of it. And then the last time I was in there, I had a thought… What if the fragrance had not been removed…? I bent over and looked under the sink. And there it was. It had been there the whole time! I bent over to take a picture, and couldn’t stop smiling because here I was, breathing it in and feeling fine, just FEET away from the item that had made everything fall apart. That moment was when I knew, without a doubt, DNRS was going to change my entire life.
Three days after school was out for the summer, I was on a plane to Calgary, Canada for the in-person DNRS seminar. I had done the DVDs and did my hour of practice every day for 43 days in a row, but I was very excited to learn the program even more in person. We stayed at a beautiful location out in the middle of nowhere, and we had personal chefs to make all sorts of accommodating meals.
The first day I ate like I normally do. No wheat. No dairy. Low carb. No fruit. No sugar. No mushrooms. No Cauliflower. For years now I’ve dealt with severe food sensitives and mast cell and histamine issues. I knew that people had made amazing recoveries from mast cell, histamine, and food sensitives with DNRS, and I wanted to target it, but it had taken a back seat to all my chemical stuff while I got through the rest of the school year.
However, on Day Two I wondered… What if I could eat more foods now after having done DNRS for a month and a half…? I tried a banana, just to be a rebel. It had been 3+ years since I had taken a bite of banana. I ate it, and felt the same as if I hadn’t eaten it. For dinner that night I tried some more fruit, and some roasted cauliflower. Again, I felt fine… The next day I added dairy, and not just dairy…but dairy inside a sugary, chocolate-filled gooey brownie! And again, I felt fine. By the end of the week I had added in every single one of the foods I have been avoiding for years, and was even having seconds (and sometimes thirds…) of the desserts!!!
How could this be happening?!? I knew the science behind it. I understood the changes being made to my brain…but I still couldn’t fully grasp that this was happening. For years doctors had told me to avoid. Avoid anything that caused symptoms. But why not instead just fix the underlying limbic system impairment that causes those symptoms…?
Yesterday I ate a hamburger and French fries. I thought I would never have French fries again in my life. It had been 4 years since I had taken a bite of a single French fry, and let me tell you…it was freaking delicious. Then I felt that I was on a roll, so my husband and I went to Cinnabon, and I got a sticky bun. I had been very content with never again having a sticky bun from Cinnabon due to how violently ill I felt after having them in the past. And here I was, about to eat wheat for the first time in years, with a food that I have on record as making me feel the most sick of all the foods that have ever made me feel sick. And guess what? I ate the whole dang thing in one sitting, it was amazing, and I felt like I had just eaten a Rachel-approved gluten-free, no dairy, no sugar, low-carb dessert! And DNRS played a huge role in that!
My life is 100% different than it was just days ago. I now get to learn how to live as a healthy person, who does not take loads of meds every day, who doesn’t have appointments each week, who can eat anything at all and feel fantastic, and who is not limited in places to go by what chemicals other people choose to use.
I took too long dismissing DNRS without really researching it, because it seemed like there were too many success stories. Well…I am honored to now be one of those many success stories. So please, if you are still fighting your own health journey, I urge you to look into DNRS! It just might change your life too.
~ Rachel
From the DNRS website:
The Dynamic Neural Retraining System™ is a natural, drug- free, neuroplasticity-based healing program that can help you recover from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Lyme Disease, Food Sensitivities, Anxiety, Chronic Pain, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and many other conditions. Many of these conditions are related to a chronic stress response and limbic system dysfunction.
To learn more about DNRS, click here
Resiliently Rachel 
Wow! This sounds amazing. Congratulations on your recovery. Are you still continuing your other treatments, or do you feel like this has done enough? I’m sick of all these antibiotics and herxes. I don’t have chemical sensitivities, but I do have chronic fatigue/post-exertional malaise (I spend a week in bed after a few minutes of moderate exercise). Does DNRS help with that, too? I feel like the treatments have made me sicker than I was before because I could run 15 miles until very recently. You may have convinced me to give this a try. Thanks for sharing.
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People have been really helped with chronic fatigue with DNRS. I’m doing so well that I’m not on any other treatment but DNRS at the moment. Some people did Lyme treatment and DNRS at the same time though. And that can be great because then you are killing the Lyme at the same time as residing your brain. I definitely recommend looking into DNRS!
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Do you have any idea if this works with hashimotks or thyroid disease?
Or other immune diseases like lupus,rheumatoid or scleroderma?
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At the seminar they spoke about how it has definitely helped fix autoimmune diseases. I would look into it for sure!
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Does this work for people that have been diagnosed with bipolar? After finishing the program, are they able to reduce their medication?
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I actually don’t know the answer to that! It’s a very good question! I would suggest reaching out to the DNRS people and ask them if they have found lessening of symptoms with bipolar. I know they see great success with anxiety and depression…but I never heard anything specific to bipolar.
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I hesitate to ask this but…do you think this might have worked for you instead of the mold treatment you did? Also, do you have to do an hour of daily “practice” forever?
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I don’t believe this can fully replace the mold treatment I did. I had to detox the mold and heavy metals that I was exposed to, but I do very much believe if I had started this sooner, that I would have recovered much faster. With DNRS we learn that our limbic system gets stuck in a trauma loop, so instead of having the mold treatment work and then be done…it worked, but then my brain was still stuck in its trauma loop, and it kept the symptoms persisting, even after the original reason for the symptom was long gone and taken care of. I know there has been a lot of success with other people doing DNRS for their mold problems. But everyone is different. 😁
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And they say to do the hour of practice for at least 6 months. Many people do between 6 months to a year. I figure I’ll do 6 months and then reassess the situation. 😊
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Hi Rachel. Your blog post was sent to my inbox and I am so thrilled to read about all your changes-which I was witness to at the program. That dessert table !!!!!
You were such a delight and rockstar at our DNRS week. I watched some of your other videos and read in more detail your history here on your blog. Wow – so much in common with Riley. So, so excited for your continued healing. You are an amazing light in the world and it was such a pleasure to have you in the group at Ghost River. All the best as you continue your DNRS journey.
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Hi!! Thank you for your kind words! Your comment just made my day! 😄 And yess!! That dessert table! We have a very active Facebook group for the Ghost River DNRS family, and a number of us have tried to replicate that gooey chocolate brownie using the recipe they handed out. There’s currently a whole discussion going on about different oils, and which one might make it the same gooey texture, because no one has gotten close to the same type of brownie as the Ghost River chefs! 😂 But we’re trying…that’s what matters. 😂
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Hi Rachel – Like you, my 19-year-old daughter is recovering from debilitating illnesses [severe fibromyalgia, CFS, POTS, CIRS aka mold illness, Lyme co-infections, vulvodynia, interstitial cystitis, to name a few] that put her in a wheelchair last year, and like you, she could no longer even brush her own hair. We were fortunate to find DNRS last summer and did the DVDs, then we attended an in-person seminar a few months later. Like you, her recovery has felt nothing short of miraculous! She is still not 100% and will continue to practice DNRS and other mindfulness protocols until she reaches the 100% point (and mindfulness in some form or another will now ALWAYS be part of our lives … it is the way to live) … but her recovery-to-date has been AMAZING.
She started college in January (after missing her senior spring, and even her own high school graduation due to an ER visit instead), and she (and her older sister) have changed their majors to Behavioral Neuroscience. She recently started running and working out again. She eats nearly all foods now. She goes anywhere she wants, and is living a great life.
It has been an amazing journey since Annie Hopper connected the neuroplasticity dots for us.
Someone asked earlier about the necessity/effectiveness of mold avoidance protocol. I believe that everyone’s journey is unique, but I do know there are several people on the DNRS Success Stories who said that they no longer have to practice mold avoidance at all. Personally, I wonder if it is similar to how people with MCS no longer need to completely avoid chemicals & smells; once the brain rewires, it no longer reads mold mycotoxins as dangerous? Our own family made the decision to stop all mold avoidance research and protocols once we found DNRS, as we felt the mold detox remedies were possibly feeding unintended messages to the limbic system. I can’t say for sure if my daughter’s toxic load is closer to the “normal” range yet because we are forgoing further medical testing until the end of the summer, but her recovery milestones have continued to feel nothing short of miraculous. I would say that other than not yet playing soccer at full force, and having to physically pace herself perhaps a bit more than her friends, she is living a normal college student life. What a difference a year — and DNRS — have made. God bless you, Annie Hopper, for figuring out a way to heal your own brain then sharing it with others.
Congratulations to you, Rachel! I am so happy that you have regained your life!
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What mold treatment and detox did you do?
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I worked with a mold specialist and followed the Shoemaker protocol. Here’s a guest blog I did a few years ago where I spoke about my Lyme and then later my mold treatment. https://paradigmchange.me/lc/rachel/
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I have just finished the DVD program. I have histamine intolerance, as well as heavy metals, etc. Do you feel that you GREATLY benefited from the live seminars, or will i heal just as well, practicing daily?
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So although I do believe the in-person seminar helped me a ton, I had done the DVDs for over a month before going, and I was already seeing improvement. At the seminar it just allowed me to learn the process deeper. If I had to do it all again but without the seminar, I would choose to do DNRS coaching sessions, to make sure I was doing it correctly. Because at the seminar I learned a number of things I was doing wrong. So that’s the main thing. But there are definitely people who get fully better without the live seminar! And I saw it first hand myself with all the healing I had before attending the seminar!
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Oh! That’s great! I will reach out to get coaching ASAP- question my understanding and process so that should help. I already see some improvements from the 3 days so far. I had friends who tried this system and saw great improvements. I decided to finally look up histamine intolerance and the system and see if anyone with these issues had gone through the system, because I didn’t see it listed. I just had faith that my anxiety and stress were at the root of all the issues. I’m so thankful to have found your blog and thank you so much for your help! I praise the Lord that you are so improved and 100%. And I will give Him praise and glory for His work in my life as well! ! 🙂
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Rachel, what kinds of things did you learn that you were doing wrong when you went to the seminar? I just recently started the DNRS program, so I’m curious in case I’m also doing something incorrectly. Thank you!
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I had been trying hard to get the feeling of adrenaline going in the memory parts of my rounds! Lol! Which is the OPPOSITE of what we want to do in our DNRS rounds! But I misunderstood and thought that the more adrenaline I felt, then the more powerful it would be…so I learned at the seminar that that is NOT how we do it… 🙂 If I were to do it again, but not go to the seminar, then I would definitely have worked with a DNRS coach, because it’s so important to do it correctly! Don’t want to take all this time just to realize you were misunderstanding part of it.
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Thank you so much Rachel! I wonder if getting emotional during the “memory” part is not good then. Some of my good memories that I use such as when our first child was born or when I’m using a memory of when our children were little, stir up my emotions and I’ll get all choked up and fight back the tears (I don’t have that reaction all the time, just sometimes). Memories of experiences with my kids when they were little give me the most “warm fuzzies” but also can stir up emotions. I have other good memories but they just seem more blah in comparison. I used the birth of a child since Annie recommended that as a possible memory to use on her DVDs. Listening to your example on your page helped me especially with the “future” part of it because I was a bit unsure with what that should look like. 🙂
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Yeah, I’m not sure, and I think some emotion is okay, but they really stressed at the seminar that you want it to be happy and positive and calm. You want it to be the opposite of gearing up the adrenaline pathways.
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Do you know any way I can purchase used DVDs of DNRS? I purchased Gupta last year and I feel like it would be helpful to add DNRS. Because I am disabled/unable to work I can’t afford a second program at the moment at full cost. I would love to be able to watch the DNRS DVDs and see what I can glean from them. Thank you!
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I would suggest asking around in the Neural Retraining Friends Facebook group to see if anyone is no longer using their DNRS DVDs.
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Rachel, thanks to your recommendation I was able to procure a used program. Can you share any tips on how to deal with 25/7 ITS? My mind is constantly drawn to them..,
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Those ITs are hard. I would recommend adding as many things that help with brain rewiring, such as drawing or coloring left handed, into your daily routine. And keep focusing on your rounds. And I highly recommend either joining the Living DNRS support group, or getting some one-on-one coaching sessions, because they will have a lot more tools and support in helping to answer questions about 24/7 it’s. 🙂
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