“Optimism is Good Medicine,” Naomi Judd Tells Epilepsy Foundation National Conference

By Sylvia Blair
Epilepsy USA staff
Posted: October 27, 2003

Although most people know Naomi Judd as a country singer and mother of celebrity daughters Wynonna and Ashley Judd, participants at the Epilepsy Foundation 35th national conference got to know her as a woman who overcame a devastating case of hepatitis C that left her in a fetal position and resulted in a prognosis of three years to live.

Judd was the keynote speaker at the conference, held at the Wyndham Palace Resort in Orlando. She addressed the audience that included people with epilepsy, their families, caregivers, medical experts, Foundation representatives and industry partners.

An entertainer with 20 top ten hits and five Grammy awards, Naomi Judd's singing career came to an abrupt halt in 1990 because of serious illness. But out of that suffering she created a new mission for herself—to help others face life’s challenges and to find balance between mind, body and spirit.

She told the audience she felt a special bond with them. “Before I was a singer, I was a nurse," she said. "I did treat people with epilepsy in my line of work. I also know people who have epilepsy."

She shared her own struggle with illness. “I was in the intensive care unit one day and got stuck with a contaminated needle. I was diagnosed with hepatitis C afterwards,” Judd said, as she wove through the audience with her microphone, speaking warmly and personally to each person in front of her.

“Something happened when I was told I only had three years to live,” she remembered, saying she was angry with what she called a “medical curse.”

“I realized the human body moves along its path of expectation. Your beliefs become your biology.” But she resisted that path and forged another one.

“I decided I would go on a journey to wholeness,” she said. “The first thing I did was realize I was a spiritual being having a human experience, so I started asking questions about the spirit/body/mind connection. I started understanding how powerful our thoughts are.

“My stress hormones would have shut down my immune system, if I let them. So instead, I flipped the switch and realized optimism is good medicine,” Judd said.

Judd eventually recovered from her illness, and today is a sought-after lecturer, an author and a humanitarian.

She has observed eight characteristics among people who survive catastrophic illness. She described them as faith, a support system, humor, connection to nature, goals and purpose in life, diet, exercise and an open belief system.

Judd said she uses complementary techniques such as acupuncture, guided imagery, chiropractic, massage, music and yoga to help her “turn down the background noise of life.”

She stressed how important it is to be in tune with oneself in order to cope with life’s big challenges.

“I’ve known kings, queens, celebrities, and politicians. Many of them are in search of happiness. What they don’t realize is that material things are not the goal. Peace of mind is the goal. Peace of mind is the big prize,” Naomi Judd told her conference audience.