A woman who endured a long and crippling battle with Lyme disease, like supermodel Bella Hadid, has revealed how a life-changing visit to a healing grotto helped her finally reclaim her life.
Dominique Stelling spent more than two decades in agony.
She struggled with severe pain, difficulty walking and – at her very worst – was unable to dress or feed herself and was on 12 different medications, including fentanyl patches and heavy opiates.
But after discovering the grotto, the mum-of-one felt a “tremendous stillness” that sparked her recovery.
The 55-year-old says she gradually retrained her body and mind until she was able to come off all medication – something she once thought impossible.
Her remarkable turnaround comes as celebrities such as Bella Hadid and Justin Timberlake open up about their own struggles with Lyme disease.
“I suddenly became very ill with a serious illness,” she told Need To Know.
“Whenever I was treated, I felt an initial dramatic improvement.
“But when I stopped them, the disease came back, and I would spiral downward.
“That’s when it became extreme; I was housebound and bedridden.
“I could barely shower.
“The vertigo was very severe, and I couldn’t lift my arms to the steering wheel.
“It got so bad I couldn’t go anywhere.
“It was like a prison, like torture.
“No matter what I tried – strong painkillers, physical therapy, massages, osteopathy – nothing could break the cycle.
“Cutting a zucchini, lifting a book, showering or climbing stairs could feel impossible.
“Sometimes the pain felt like my muscles were being ripped out; other times it burned, stabbed or gnawed from within.”
For years, Dominique went from doctor to doctor searching for answers, and was misdiagnosed with conditions such as lupus, fibromyalgia, reflex sympathetic dystrophy and myofascial pain dysfunction.
Nothing explained the crushing fatigue, spasms and migraines that left her barely functioning.
At one point, she was told to consider having a morphine pump fitted permanently to manage her pain.
Living with pain for 26 years, she says, was “like being trapped inside a body that no longer feels like your own”.
Eventually, by chance, her mother, Tina, attended a lecture about fibromyalgia, where it was suggested that Dominique get tested for Lyme disease.
The results finally confirmed it – with doctors speculating she may have been bitten by two ticks as a child, with the disease silently progressing for years.
She said, “When I finally got my diagnosis, I felt both relieved and devastated.
“There was comfort in knowing I wasn’t imagining my symptoms – but that comfort quickly turned to despair.
“It meant there was proof something real was happening in my body, but it also felt like being handed a life sentence.
“There was a lot of controversy around Lyme treatment.
“So while there was validation, there was also grief – grief for the life I thought I’d lost, and for the version of myself I used to be before pain took over.”
While in the hospital, Dominique was introduced to a patient who had also battled Lyme disease, who invited her to a special sandstone cave known as the Emma Kunz Centre in Switzerland.
Dominique said, “He was curious as to why I was so sick because I was only around 30 years old.
“He invited me to the grotto, and I started going every week.
“I was interested to find out how to cope psychologically, spiritually and energetically with hardship, loss and suffering.
“I knew the answer was there in the mind-body connection, but I was too young to practise it because I just wanted to be like everyone else.
“I just sat there [in the grotto], practised awareness, worked with the healing earth and meditated.”
The Emma Kunz Grotto, located in Würenlos, Switzerland, is set inside an old Roman quarry – a vast chamber carved from golden sandstone known as Aion A.
The mineral itself was once used by Swiss healer and artist Emma Kunz, who believed it carried powerful regenerative properties.
Dominique said, “When you enter, you’re surrounded by raw stone.
“Time slows down, and the body begins to realign.
I had to stand at the entrance for a while to let my body adjust.
“Once I went in, I could feel layers of heaviness start to dissolve.
“There is a tremendous stillness when you sit in the grotto – it feels like entering an inner laboratory.
“I actually started to feel better right away and allowed myself to be enveloped by it.
“Gradually, over the years, I improved even more.
“I still go to this day.
“I then began to study for myself about chakras, energy systems and meridians – and most importantly, Buddhist philosophy.
“I took every single course in alternative healing methods.”
Bit by bit, Dominique claims she was able to wean herself off painkillers and slowly but steadily her health improved.
While still in pain, she now uses the mind–body techniques to manage her symptoms and prevent them from controlling her life.
Dominique added, “The more you avoid something, the bigger it becomes.
“When you live with pain, you accept it and breathe through it and go where the pain isn’t.
“I’m literally a walking miracle.
“I started understanding the subconscious, the mind and how emotions affect you.
“I was on a fentanyl patch and a lot of opiates.
“Doctors wanted me to apply for disability and have a morphine pump put in for good.
“I never believed I could get well, but I became the medicine myself.
“It was through this alternative healing path that I turned my life around.”
Dominique has also retrained as a life coach and self-mastery guide, teaching others how to reframe pain, use mind–body techniques and regain control of their lives.
