Just after the New Year in 2011 we both realized that what we were doing wasn't working to the extent we needed and started searching. At this point my face had healed, which was major progress but my hands were still broken out with open sores. I still have itchy hives but was taking recommended doses of Benadryl so I was surviving. Shortly after that I also started a food journal to see if there was a connection between foods I ate and hive outbreaks, there was, I found four offending foods, I eliminated those and life was much better. I stopped taking Benadryl and now I know what people who take Benadryl for seasonal allergies feel like when it's no longer "allergy season" I was no longer groggy all day, it was wonderful !
Around March we discovered a lady in our area who has a fairly well known technology called "zyto scan" it's a device you place your hand on and it reads the different electrical impulses in your body, like muscle testing but it eliminates potential human error. Via a diagram the computer shows different areas of concern and imbalance and then the practitioner cross compares different supplements and the program tells you which will be the most effective for the issues at hand...cool huh? But it's only as powerful as the practitioner behind it. So, at $80.00 per appointment PLUS about $200.00 or more of supplements every 6 weeks I went again and again. I did experience significant improvement in certain areas which was very encouraging, but all progress stopped about 4-5 months in and the practitioner even straight up told me that she had no idea what else to do with me, she just couldn't figure me out despite over a decade of experience. I did however very much appreciated her integrity and forthrightness with her lack of confidence. She was the second lady who did her best and gave me everything she had... and again, I am grateful.
Attempt # 3 at fixing my issues...
As you read in the last post we made a massive 180 degree transformation from vegan to a more balanced approach to nutrition. Not because it was the "newest, coolest diet" but because I had been voraciously reading book after book trying to figure out how to make the vegan diet work. But, unless you are very intentional and break it down to an extreme science, get vitamin B12 shots among many other non traditional and semi-artificial methods of staying "healthy" and energetic I do not believe that long term the vegan diet is a viable option. That is why we made such a drastic change once I finally understood a large area of nutrition that I had simply neglected to study, we were not about to get shots and other things just to pretend things were working.
- It was around this time that I began to realize the extent to which our former diet had wreaked havoc on my body... vegetables, tons of grains, and copious amounts of fruit results in a very imbalanced amount of refined simple sugars to feed all of the little candida critters that had taken over my body.
- Here it is of extreme importance to point out that while I was suffering a whole myriad of symptoms both Basil and Pepper were doing just fine. Salt was skinny and lacked sufficient energy but both kids were unscathed. Had I not gone through two pregnancies and nursed for a combined total of a little over four years I probably would not have fared too bad myself either since we were only vegans for a few years. From the reading I have done, a woman's body will rob her of everything necessary at the expense of the mother in order to grow the baby inside the womb, or to feed it through the mother's milk..and rob my body did !!! At least one thing I was very efficient at was making milk because both kids are and were anything but scrawny and both had boundless energy.
- I knew that diet was the cause for my health problems and realized it was also going to be the solution as well, so I started researching with great intensity and that is when I discovered "The Primal Blue Print", A book that as a Christian I have many issues with regarding it's major reliance on Darwinian evolution, of which I do not agree one bit. However, nutritionally the book served as a catalyst that got me reading in an entirely different genre of nutrition and really opened my eyes. Shortly after, I read a book called "Body Ecology Diet" and since this book primarily deal with candida issues I thought this could be the final answer, the temporary dietary protocol to rid me of my troubles... but a few things about it just didn't feel right, deep down I knew it wasn't what I needed and so I kept searching and then further research led me to a book called "Gut and Psychology Syndrome" (Gaps for short) In short, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride describes how if the internal environment is out of balance, referring to your gut flora (good and bad bacteria) then the bad bacteria can take over, and when they take over any number of negative things can occur. The "Gaps" book deals with primarily psychological issues but also covers a myriad of physical ones as well. When I read this book, everything finally started to make sense and I understood why I was having so many fungal issues.
- I finally understood the nature of the beast... Candida is fungus that is naturally occurring in our systems and serves a purpose, however when it gets out of balance with the other hundreds and hundreds of bacteria in our bodies trouble starts brewing. How candida works is it bores holes in your intestines and grows roots spreading through your intestinal wall causing a condition called leaky gut. When you have holes in your intestines partially undigested particles of food easily pass though and get caught in your blood stream. When foreign substances are freely roaming in the blood stream your body targets them as the enemy and takes them out and deems them toxic to your body thus my sudden and totally random allergic reactions to a number of foods that I never before had problems with.
- After further research, discussion with Salt and prayer I went on the diet outlined in the book consisting of an intro phase which has 6 stages each slowly progressing from soups, boiled vegetables and meats to other foods as tolerated. Salt and I decided to do each stage for 5 days for a total of 30 days. My family progressed wonderfully and tolerated all the food really well, I however could not get past stage one, I was still on boiled meats and vegetables and very frustrated. This went on for about a month.
- Enter AnnMarie of Cheeseslave.com a blog that I greatly enjoy. AnnMarie was running a month long challenge and the prize was a 12qt Le Creuset stock pot...I will admit it, I sinned in covetousness :-) whoever drank the most bone broth during the month of July won. It was perfect timing since a large portion of the Gaps protocol is daily consumption of traditionally prepared bone broth due to it's healing properties. I was determined to win and I did, I won't go into all the details but I met some amazing gals through the challenge that I am blessed to still be friends with, oh and not to mention I have a sweet new 12qt Le Creuset stock pot that I use weekly :-)
- But, I digress... on the forum I also met a lady named Amy who kept answering people's questions. I learned that Amy really, really knew her stuff so I kept emailing her question after question after question...I even had a list of questions in my email drafts box so I wouldn't forget my unasked ones, but I staggered them so I didn't barage her with too many at a time :-) but to be fair, I did tell her that she could tell me to buzz off at any time since I wasn't a paying customer yet. Amy is such a blessing though, she is a natural health practitioner who owns the company Real Food, Whole Health and has helped many people over the years by coaching them in how to eat healthy and overcome a number of different health challenges, oh and she's very patient, I figured that out first hand :-)
- I have to say at this time we had already spent a considerable amount of money on different people and things to try to heal me, so Salt was not exactly excited about the idea of me working via the phone and internet with a lady who lives 10 states away and I knew better than to push. But something about Amy really intrigued me, it wasn't just her gentle nature or her deep knowledge of the inter workings of the human body, I really had a solid feel about her, and so I kept asking my questions. Eventually Amy asked if I would just like her to call so we could get more info shared in less time, I jumped at the opportunity even though I really don't like talking on the phone. Amy called and we chatted for what felt like 25min or so, I took notes and had my never ending list of questions, but when Salt came into the other room and asked if I was going to make dinner I glanced up at the clock and realized it had been about eighty minutes since the start of the conversation!
- I could not believe the information Amy was telling me, I felt like I was reading an anatomy text book, but sooo interesting. Amy put the final pieces of the puzzle I was really struggling with in place and I literally about cried because I had been searching, reading, praying for so long to be able to understand the why so I could figure out the how and Amy really, very plainly laid out the why, as well as the how.
- To make a ridiculously long story a bit shorter Amy had me take an online test or questionnaire of a few hundred questions and despite my skepticism of such a test she deciphered the results put the pieces together and then called me and we went over some charts she also emailed based on my results. You see, Amy has a very similar story to mine, she used to be a raw vegan and vegetarian and has so many of the same symptoms that I had, so she had knowledge from personal experience not just books. Finally I understood why I couldn't digest food, why my candida was still out of control even though I had stopped eating all forms of sugar a few months prior (grains, fruit, sweet vegetables...anything that is sugar or turns into sugar) She explained that I didn't have adequate HCL and so it didn't digest the food and because the HCL levels were not high enough my body didn't trigger my pyloric sphincter to open to pass the food from the stomach to the small intestine. I don't remember all of the details but my liver wasn't functioning properly, it was terribly clogged and toxic, and due to my lack of animal products/fats for the past 5 or so years my gall bladder almost stopped working... it didn't need to when I was only eating fats in the form of nuts, avocados and coconut oil since they are digested entirely different from animal fats.
- I was also anemic and very low in a lot of different vitamins and minerals even though I had been eating a nourishing diet for a few months by the time I had met Amy The reason for that is...you guessed it, candida, those little buggers love certain vitamins and minerals, they also like iron, so it was as if I was starving them from all forms of sugar but in an attempt to remineralize myself I gave them a buffet of other foods they also loved.
- First I started on some whole food supplements to help jump start my sluggish gallbladder as well as some HCL pills to aid in digestion, and man, was it nice to be able to digest my food.... it was amazing to actually get hungry around lunch, then again at dinner time. One time in church I turned to Salt and had a huge grin on my face and told him I was hungry... if anyone else had heard that they would have thought I was nuts for looking so happy, but Salt got it and was genuinely happy for me.
- The final step was to go through a candida cleanse, I have finished the first of four steps and I feel amazingly different. Night and day different...I am by no means all better but I have had so much improvement that I want to shout from the roof tops. I am far from depressed and back to my super happy self, I don't have the dark thoughts of death and suffering I used to have nightly, I am no longer constipated and do not have and more joint pain, as far as "extra curricular activities" goes, I now have a renewed interest and energy in things that felt like I never would. One last positive is that since I started with the Gaps diet and working with Amy, neither of my hands have broken out once, it's the longest I have gone without a breakout !!
That is where I am at now... I am on part two of my candida cleanse, slowly taking my gall bladder support and still on HCL, but things are going well. My journey is not done, I still have a number of foods that if eaten I will break out in itchy hives but that is to be expected since I have not killed off the over grown candida and it's spores so my gut has not had a chance to heal and seal off yet. It has been a bumpy and emotional ride but I am grateful to God that we're on an upward trend with lots of hope and optimism. I still have a number of months until I am projected to be officially "healed" but after all I have been through I feel like I can handle pretty much anything...anything except for itching that is. :-)
I realize that all that I have gone through pales in comparison to the struggles others have endured such as a life threatening disease or debilitating accident, but I want to take a moment to let you all know the meaning of a faithful husband, one who keeps his vow of "in sickness and health". Salt did everything possible to help me, he would run to the store at midnight to buy something I needed, he took over many of the household chores because I just couldn't keep up, he made sure I took a bath once and sometimes twice a day because he knew not only did it help but mentally it kept me sane because it was the only place I got relief from my physical pain and itching, he did his best to keep the kids occupied and happy so I could have some rest during the day when I needed it. For three weeks when I didn't leave the house due to the the second degree burns on my face Salt did all the grocery shopping and much of the cooking on top of running his brand new business. Not only did Salt do all of the physical things I needed him to do he also covered me in prayer sometimes for hours at a time when he couldn't sleep.Lastly, not once did he utter a word of complaint or annoyance with his extra work load that he so willingly took on, he was my hero during my hardest time. It showed me a depth of love and commitment that until you go through something hard together you don't realize is there, you can hope it is, and assume it is, but until you've been through it and come out hand in hand you don't really know... and I know... Thank you Salt, I love you dearly and very much respect the strong man that you are.
Sage
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