I'll admit it... I was dreading having to write "part 2" of my story. I knew it was going to be fairly long, I also knew I would have to dredge up details from one of the most difficult years of my life so lack of motivation is an understatement. I decided to break it up into three parts instead of just two, so part three will be coming shortly.... But if I pump this out then I can get to much more fun posts, like recipes and such.
Because there is so much information and stuff to tell, way more than I first realized I will do some of it in bullet points for lengths sake....maybe I am just that long winded, yeah probably.
The beginning: all of my lovely symptoms
It's been a little over a year since the crap hit the fan in my body so to speak, it all started in August of 2010. I developed a very small rash consisting of a few tiny bumps on the back of my left hand, it was annoying but nothing of concern and it stayed that way for about 2-3 weeks.
- Near the end of October the small rash started to grow, and it grew, and grew, it eventually was about the size of a silver dollar and we were getting concerned, I scoured the internet and at the time both Salt and I decided it was ring worm since it had a number of the same characteristics and looked very similar.
- During this time I started running with a group of gals once a week and a few nights on my own, I felt as though I had arthritis in every joint of my body, it hurt to do anything but walk. Going up the stairs to my apartment caused significant pain in my knees. I could not even crawl around on my hands and knees with my kids because the pressure on my wrists was too much. I got adjusted at the chiropractor hoping that would fix the problems but since misalignment wasn't the source it wasn't the solution wasn't either. Also, I started needing to buy arch support shoes and on top of that needed new ones every 6 months or my feet, ankles and knees would just throb in pain, yeah, that gets a little pricey.... Salt was so gracious and loving he did anything in his power to help me even if it meant spending $90.00 on shoes twice a year, and no we're not that wealthy, it was a stretch for sure !
- I was so tired...so tired I thought I was pregnant. Anybody who's been there knows the extreme exhaustion that goes with growing another human being. I even bought a pregnancy test two different times, thankfully I was not pregnant, that would have been the LAST thing my body needed. I was taking a nap every day many times two or more hours just to get through the day, which thankfully both of my kids still took naps!
- I was very depressed and despondent, I often wanted to go hide under my sheets and just cry for no particular reason other than mentally I just felt so sad. Along with my sad thoughts I constantly had terribly dark thoughts always revolving around me or Salt dying, or something despicable happening to either Basil or Pepper... Every night I would lay in bed and these thoughts would flood my mind, always about death and pain, I hated it. Salt would pray over me every night asking the Lord to give me good thoughts and pleasant dreams, occasionally He would but most of the time I would wake up in the morning with vivid pictures of my most recent nightmare. All of this combined made it so I was not the most pleasant person to be around during the day, it was a constant struggle to hold my tongue and not snap undeservingly at one of my kids or my long suffering husband.
- Physically I had absolutely no interest in anything "extra curricular" unless it involved sleeping or soaking in the tub.... I was just trying to survive.
- My digestion was jacked up. I would eat something as small as one egg in the morning and it would sit in my stomach like I was trying to digest a brick for a good 8-12 hours. I just stopped eating. I would eat breakfast because I was hungry but then most of the time skipped lunch and sometimes dinner because my stomach just hurt...all. day. long. I lost weight and was getting too thin, I am five feet nine inches tall and was in a size two jeans and needed a belt... even though Hollywood would probably say I was still too fat lol, I knew I was unhealthy and too thin. Along with poor digestion the back end of that wasn't working so well either and I started to have issues with constipation.
Around November I started going to a wonderful gal who is a naturopath and also a fellow raw foodie friend that had recently started her practice. This gal did a series of muscle tests which resulted in a very large list of things I was allergic to and prescribed some supplements to help with my many issues.
- At this point both of my hands had broken out, my left from the base of my fingers covering the whole back and up my arm a little bit and it was slowly creeping down my fingers and around my hand. It had also spread to my right hand but on a much smaller scale, it itched, oozed and bled, not to mention it was terribly ugly, embarrassing and I had to keep it covered at all times.
- Shortly after my hand blew up I was sitting on the counter in the bathroom talking to my husband while we were getting ready for bed and told him I had this weird itchy red spot on my neck, we both kinds said "huh, that's odd" and went to bed, assuming it was nothing. I woke up and it was bigger, after about 5 days it covered the front and back of my neck as well as my whole face, I had an outbreak of hives. I was SO uncomfortable, and SO itchy I could hardly stand it. I consider myself pretty tough, my daughter was born at home and my son in our car on the side of the road (no that was not the way we planned it ;-) and while it was painful it wasn't terrible...but these hives drove me nuts, I felt like I was going insane with the constant itching. It was all I could think of ALL DAY LONG, I was irritable and just plain miserable.
- Nathan left for a business trip for a few days and the itching got so bad I decided to take matters into my own hands...BIG mistake. I looked up natural hive remedies and somehow I stumbled upon clove oil and I thought "yes!! I have clove oil in the drawer" (We have a small supply of essential oils and clove happened to be one of them). So I dutifully went to the bathroom and applied clove oil all over my face and neck.... it felt like I put my face in a bon fire, it burned so bad I literally cried, but after a few minutes I felt nothing, no itching for the first time in days, it was glorious, I was so excited I called Nathan and he expressed some reservation about using that oil undiluted, or even at all since it warns that it's strong etc.. .etc... but I honestly didn't hear a word of it, unfortunately. I used clove oil for a few days and was just overjoyed with how it eliminated the itching, I just reapplied about every 5 hours or so.... ya' know when you go to the dentist and he numbs your mouth, the sensation that happens when feeling starts returning, that's what my face and neck would feel like after a few hour when the effects of the clove started to wear off.
- After a few days of copious amounts of clove oil application my face started to ooze and get crusty, I had NO idea what it was from, it got worse and worse and I woke up one morning with my face swollen 2-3 times the size it normally was, I could barely see, my eyes were so puffy and my face was still oozing. Salt and I were extremely frightened at this point, we called my naturopath who basically said get some Benadryl now... I did and it very, very slowly went down. Salt had even arranged for my mother in law to watch the kids so we could head to the emergency room if need be. From that point on I lived off Benadryl every 4 hours...I would even get up in the middle of the night to take it so I wouldn't itch as bad in the morning.
- So essentially what happened was that I gave myself second degree burns from the clove oil and severely injured my face and neck. I felt just about as dumb as possible since it was totally self imposed, and Salt had warned me...but honestly, I wasn't even thinking clearly I was in so much pain, I would have done anything to relieve the itching, as evidenced with the clove oil. Lesson: read and listen to warning labels !!!!!! My face was so tight and painful, I couldn't move anything and could barely open my mouth without cracking the damaged and healing skin. My saving grace and relief came every night when I was able to soak in a warm bath for an hour, I looked forward to it all day with great anticipation, everything felt good in the bath. Salt was so caring and loving, he would do anything I needed to help and make me feel more comfortable, he was just amazing.
- In desperation Salt called a lady who was a distributor of the essential oils we use asking her if there was any way to flush my body of the massive amount of clove in my system. She lived in the area and she was more than willing to help!! Salt went to her house she was a bit peculiar but she did know her oils! The lady gave Salt some homeopathics for me to help reduce the effects of the clove internally and then she also gave him some diluting oil. The diluting oil was the only way I was going to be able to draw out the clove since I had put so much on. To top it all off I forgot to mention I put it on before my shower which pushed it further into my skin, since water and oil repel each other the only place it had to go was in! Gosh, I'm such a thinker...er not ! Because I pushed the oil deep into my face everything from my eye lids, ears and the inside of my mouth had the oozing blisters. I constantly applied the plain diluting oil on my face and neck and was shiny and greasy for a good four weeks, the amount of time for the oil to finally come out. After a while the burns healed but about once a week all around my eyes would get very red and burn with pain, then they would get crusty and heal, that was my body gradually pushing out more clove oil little by little. It was a fun little process that reminded me to really think, especially before I ingest or put something on my body.
Sage
Wow! What a story!! Looking forward to Part 3...
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