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AWARDS
 BETSY'S IN THE PRINTED NEWS  by KIM COPELIN, Reporter Betsy Billingslea says for eight years she couldn’t even get out of bed except to drive her children to school. But now she’s living life to the fullest. Today the 53-year-old retired nurse says she feels better now than she did when she was 21 years old. She credits the dramatic change in her life to a holistic approach to health care and the benefit of vitamins and supplements where pat medical solutions have failed. Today she owns her own health food store where she helps others through the same approach. Although she doesn’t dispute the necessary role of physicians, she feels the holistic approach to health care - particularly preventive care - is being overlooked in today’s society. Billingslea says her own health troubles began when she was in her early 20s and became afflicted with a multitude of allergies and infections. She had difficulty raising and caring for her family. Billingslea couldn’t cook or do housework, and she barely had enough energy to drive her children to school each day. Driving at night was almost impossible because she suffered from poor night vision. “The kids raised themselves,” Billingslea says. She went through extensive testing at a number of Houston-area hospitals and was prescribed numerous antibiotics. Billingslea says doctors couldn’t pinpoint her problem and she was told that if she moved to the suburbs and relax she would feel better. She moved to the FM 1960 area but her condition became worse. She went to a doctor who found she had 62 food allergies. “I was even allergic to Houston water,” Billingslea says. Even though part of her problem was diagnosed and treated, Billingslea wasn’t cured and still felt very ill. Things began to unfold for the better when a pediatrician came to speak at Billingslea’s church. Billingslea spoke to the doctor after her lecture and told her about her problems with night blindness. The doctor told her to take a vitamin supplement. Billingslea, who once vowed she would never take a vitamin, reluctantly followed the doctors advice. Within a month she had no night blindness and her mind became open to the help of supplements. “I thought ‘If that (vitamin) can work, what about other supplements?” she says. Through research, Billingslea began to get to the root of her problems. The numerous antibiotics Billingslea had taken for her various illnesses caused an overgrowth of yeast, which in turn caused joint and muscular aches which left her incapacitated. Neither Billingslea nor her husband or her daughter have taken an antibiotic since 1976. “Not because we’re against them, but because we haven’t needed them,” she says. But Betsy takes about 12 supplements each day. While her interest in holistic healing has grown to the point she can help other improve the quality of their lives, she says she isn’t trying to take the place of a physician. “I think there is a definite place for physicians,” she says. “Where I think we need to work together is in prevention of different types of illness,” she adds. While vitamins and supplements have been the subject of debate for many years, some physicians say scientists are coming closer to a consensus that vitamins play a complex role in preventing illness and delaying the aging process. Billingslea says that 15 years ago she could hardly get out of bed, yet now she walks miles and works out three times a week. “I feel like there’s nothing I can’t do now,” she says. “Mentally I’ve felt stronger at this stage than I ever felt in my life.” | ||||||||||
