I was thinking I should update my experience with all this, from the last year. Its been a little over a year, since I really started to figure out what was going on with my health, and I have come so far, and learned so much! One thing I have discovered, is that auto-immune disorders are so common, and yet a lot of people don't realize that is what is going on with their body, and they continue to live in misery. My biggest hope, is that through sharing my personal experience, it might help someone else, to get on their own path to healing, as different as their experience might be.
You can read here at this link, about the beginning of my journey. It was intense, and overwhelming, but not as overwhelming as being sick was. While I am still healing, I really do feel so much better mentally and physically now!
A little over a year ago, I started noticing some weight loss. I was 145 lbs, and had been stuck there for years, after having 4 kids all within 6 years. My gut felt bloated all the time, and I just could not lose anymore weight, no matter hard I tried. I was always tired before, and felt depressed 90% of the time, and my house was a wreck. I could not keep up on anything. I was sick and sad mentally, and physically, and spiritually, despite all the healthy lifestyle changes I had made in the last 7 years.
At first I thought, "Awesome, my healthy mind set is finally paying off!", and I excitedly reported to my family and friends that I had lost 15 lbs without trying.
After a few weeks went by, and I was losing 5 lbs a week, without changing any eating habits, I really started to wonder about how healthy this weight loss really was. I am still not exactly sure what caused it all, but I have a pretty good idea that parasites, histamine intolerance, and leaky gut syndrome were the biggest culprits.
I had been experiencing frequent headaches, and weird reactions to foods, that I was ignorant too, but miserable about.
I never knew if I was going to have a good day health wise or not. I couldn't pin down, what was triggering all these crazy internal reactions to everything I ate either.
I ended up just a few short months later at 100 lbs., and no end in sight of when I would stop this unexplainable weight loss. It was scary. What was even worse, is I found myself in an anorexia nervosa state of mind.
After discovering what foods I was sensitive too, and learning about histamine intolerance, I was afraid to eat. Not only that, but because I had finally lost all this weight, I was afraid to gain it back too. I was losing a lb a day, at the end. I lived off of quinoa and zucchini and honey and about a stick of organic butter everyday, for pretty much every meal. Even though I had gone through some muscle testing sessions, of finding what I could eat, and could eat a little more than that, I still ate very little for about 3 months straight. Histamine also raises your metabolism, so because of too much histamine in my body, I was losing weight from a high metabolism too. At times I would eat more, just to try to gain some weight, and I just kept losing.
I spent a lot of time indulging in reading and studying about my condition, and even though some of the things I learned made me even more wary of eating, I am so glad I did learn what I did. I am glad I went through this period of learning, despite the scariness, because I have been able to grow from it all so much.
A lot of people who noticed this weight loss, thought I was just happily losing it, because of healthy eating choices. It was hard to tell them, that I was sick, when I wanted it to just be from healthy eating so badly! I have spent the last 7 years, learning how the body works with wholefoods, and herbs, and have made drastic changes, but I could never quite get a grip on own personal symptoms.
While I was definitely more conscious of what I was eating, and my diet focus was whole foods, it had not changed much at all from before, and there really wasn't anything I had done differently to cause my body to lose all that weight.
Another thing that was happening was hair loss. I had terrible breakage, and my hair was very thin. It still is, but it is manageable now, and growing back a little.
While all of this was happening, I did hit a breaking point throughout it, and I started some intense detoxifying, and healing, that you can read about on my previous post from about a year ago.
I am happy to say, that the weight loss did finally stop, and I have gained 17 lbs back. 7 of that was in the last month and half, but its happy pregnancy poundage! :) I had to do some mental work, to overcome the anorexia, but I have found a very healthy balance for myself since.
The past 8 months, (after the 6 of cleansing) have been a time of joy for me. I spent a total of about 6 months, of all this coming to a head, and then during my last session of muscle testing, last January, I discovered that the detoxifying mentally and physically was over, and that I needed to focus on healing and nurturing instead. This is when my weight came back.
I no longer worried about studying, or what I couldn't eat. I focused on a whole foods, and a mucusless diet instead, and added back in several foods.
My headaches were mostly gone, all the lower bowel turmoil was gone, and the best part of all, is the depression was gone too.
I could focus on my little family! I started to love myself!
My house is a peaceful place.
While it needs lots of remodeling work, it has become a place that my family wants to be, and its staying clean.
I am a better mom. I have a ton of energy!
I was also surprised with a pregnancy, even though I was convinced I would never be able to get pregnant again.
I still struggle a little bit with some things, like a racing heart, and stomach inflammation, and some headaches, because I started adding things back into my diet, that should be eaten sparingly, but sometimes I can't get enough of them, lol, but at least this time around I recognize what these foods trigger, and its easier for me to avoid them most of the time.
I still have a lot of healing to do. A typical healing time is, 1 month for every year you have been sick, so I figure if I stay on top of it all with nourishing and positive actions, I have about 2 years to go. Although I do not find myself going back to the way I was eating a year ago anyway. Healing to me just means, no more reactions to the food I do choose to eat, because I feel great otherwise.
Its been a crazy awesome journey, and I have learned so much! I have a lot of links and information I would love to share, but if any of this sounds familiar to you, I would recommend learning about Leaky Gut syndrome, to begin with.
Histamine Intolerance, Mass cell disorder, genetic mutation, and all those subjects would be things I would recommend talking to your doctor about, and studying up for yourself. (Most doctors are new to the Histamine intolerance subject, but there is a ton of good information about it online. I would ask you to share it with your doctor, so they can be more aware of it, for others too) Make sure you have a good support system, for while you are going through a detoxing period, pray a lot, learn about energy healing, and herbal, and whole foods support.
Do it slowly if you have to, but don't be afraid to start doing what you need to, to heal. Its very possible to overcome it all and feel great again, or like never before!
Some things that have helped me:
B vitamin whole foods- alfalfa, dark leafy greens, Dr. Christophers herbal combinations,
Baking Soda- It is a natural antihistamine, and stops a reaction in its tracks for me. I drink about 2 tsp. to a tbsp at a time, in some water.
Garlic-eat a clove a day. Its a natural antihistamine, and it will boost your immune system, and kill yeast.
peppermint essential oil- I love all essential oils but this one is a great headache remedy. I take the baking soda drink, and then rub peppermint oil on the glands at the back of my neck, massaging any tender spots contributing to the headache. The histamine headaches are caused from 2 things. Toxins in the blood, that cause inflammation, and histamine build up, causing congestion. Eucalyptus is also a great oil, that will help clear congestion, and relieve histamine buildup. I like to put it on my hands and then inhale the smell.
pineapple- the core of a pineapple contains bromelain, which is a natural antihistamine too
Stop drinking liquids with your meals. Drink lots of water through out the day, and no other liquids, but do not eat anything within a 1/2 hour of drinking anything.
Chew your food to a paste- this will help your body process and break down food a lot better.
Histamine intolerant people, have a lower supply of stomach acid, and chewing your food to a paste, will help mix important ingredients from saliva into your food, which will help increase your stomach acid.
Use avacado oil-It is a natural liver cleansing agent
Vitamin C- People with histamine intolerance respond well to high doses of vitamin c, to help break down histamine also. Garlic is a great source of vitamin C
Meditate-learn about EFT and other energy healing techniques
Avoid vinegar, and find a list of high histamine foods to avoid. You can google the list.
Stay positive- for every article you read about your condition, spend twice as much time reading something uplifting, like scriptures or something else.
Avoid MSG, and TBHQ, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, yeasty breads, and pretty much any chemical you don't know about. Assume they are not good for you, and stick to clean foods.
Read ingredients.
Let yourself have a treat every once in a while too though. If you overwhelm yourself to much with avoiding chemicals, it can become unhealthily obsessive.
Find recipes that are gluten free, especially desserts. :) Seriously, this has saved my sanity, knowing how to make brownies from almond meal, maple syrup, and butter. Learning to bake from scratch, to be able to eat treats without yucky chemicals has been awesome for me! :)
While gluten isn't my biggest issue, avoiding it, sure helps the digestive healing. :)
Happy Healthy Healing to you all!
