Continued Story Day 2
Again, I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. On weekends I would always end up taking naps during the day, always exhausted.
I did have my gallbladder removed in 2016 and that was a decision I will forever regret. I no longer was having the gallbladder attacks, but my digestive issues were so much worse than they used to be. As I had said I now had chronic diarrhea and when I had to go I had to go and I always had to make sure I knew where a bathroom was whenever I was out.
Still dealing with menstrual cycle issues as well, I was told I had a few polyps and decided to have them removed with a procedure called a hysteroscopy. I thought this would help with the heaviness of my cycle, but that did not change either. At this point I was so frustrated with the medical system. I knew in my gut there had to be a better way. This is the next step in my health journey.
At this point, I went to a Norwex party at a friends house. The idea of not cleaning with toxic chemicals made so much sense and I left wondering why I had not figured this out so long ago. I purchased some of the products and decided that I also wanted to sell the products. I had a home party with not much turn out, but I guess I was more in it for the products for personal use and not to make an income from it.
After that I started researching genetically modified foods and the link between all kinds of health issues. This intrigued me as well, so I decided to start switching out to all organic non-gmo foods. At the same time, I decided to do an elimination diet to see if it would help all my digestive issues. I cut out meat, dairy, corn, alcohol, and wheat from my diet. Within only a week I noticed such a huge difference that I decided to stick with it. I then watched the documentary Forks Over Knives and decided that maybe meat and dairy were my problem food. I had new energy I hadn’t had in years. Almost every single issue I was having disappeared except my hypothyroidism. Even my back pain from a car accident in 2014 which left me with onset arthritis in my low back and mid back pain with long standing or yard work had almost gone away. I felt like a new person
I did bring alcohol back into my life, but very infrequently. I was not much of a drinker at that point as it usually made me not feel well. This lasted for a little over a year and then symptoms started coming back. I decided to have my hormones checked in bloodwork. I then found out that my progesterone was at almost zero and I had really high estrogen, 519. I started a supplement called DIM which did work and brought my estrogen levels back to normal. However, I was fatigued again, diarrhea came back more frequently, along with bloating and gas pains. I also started losing a lot more hair and I already had thin hair. This went on for some time and once we moved to Florida in 2021 I decided to see a functional medicine provider as I was done with the medical system.
I knew after all the things I had done, that there was a better way. Initially we did lots of bloodwork, stool testing, cortisol testing and I was a mess. It just confirmed all the symptoms I was having. I was switched from levothyroxine to NP Thyroid which is a more natural option. I was put on many supplements. I was still doing a whole food plant-based diet and my symptoms seemed to be getting worse. I ended up finding I had candida, gut dysbiosis, malabsorption, aflatoxin in my body, high cortisol from morning to night. After taking many supplements, I was able to lower my cortisol and get my hormones to a better place, more balanced. At this point I had supplement fatigue. I realized after almost 3 years not much had changed with my issues.
Now, this where I did a 360 degree shift in my health journey. I decided to bring meat and dairy back into my diet and see what happened. To my surprise, it did not cause me any issues. Not to say I didn’t have an issue with them prior, but my gut was so messed up that my body couldn’t digest them properly.
I also started looking into the nervous system and how it affects almost all chronic dis-ease. My next post will start with this next chapter of my health journey. Trust me it’s all connected and I finally figuring out, which was so empowering and I now realized the medical system had wronged me for almost 20 years or basically my whole life.
