this year has started out like no other. It's only January 10th and I've been in the ER twice. The first time I was in the ER was on January 2nd when I just got back from Jamaica. The allergic reaction situation that I spoke about in a previous post came to a head on that day. I woke up at around 7:30am with my eye swollen almost all the way shut, my hands swollen and my side, back, legs and stomach had a rash...And it felt like I was on fire.
My hand normally (I'm not engaged, it's a decoy ring)
My possessed hand
Here's a blurry picture of my stomach during the outbreak.
We went to the ER after several failed attempts to make appointments with allergists in the area and the doctor in the ER gave me Prednisone (my favorite) to suppress the reaction and told me that I need to see an allergist.
Next day I saw an allergy/immunology doctor who knew exactly what the problem was: Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria. Which is basically a scientific way of stating, "You have an autoimmune disorder, but really, we have no idea what is wrong with you. Your body is just fighting itself for some reason." He prescribed me two more prescriptions (yay) and told me to continue taking the Prednisone for a few more days.
The next day I woke up with a horrible sore throat and still some of a rash/swelling.
Everything came to an extreme point this past Wednesday (January 8th) when I woke up at around 5:30am with an intense sharp pain in my lungs. It continued for the next almost three hours before I went to the ER because, by then, I couldn't stand the pain anymore (to add to this, my legs were covered in hives as well as my back and parts of my face). After running some tests, they found some nodules on my lungs (which I need to get checked out) but everything else was either fine or inconclusive.
They also prescribed me more Prednisone.
I'm a twenty *cough* something year old girl who eats decently healthy and weighs 115lbs on a good day. I'm thinking: can't be on three prescriptions for an issue that doctors know very little about.
Being on Prednisone for the past few days made me feel more sick. I do know that Prednisone suppresses your immune system, so it may be due to the fact that my body couldn't naturally fight off the illness (it seems as though I had a cold/thrush on top of everything else).
So, I have decided that I'm going to take my health into my own hands.
I watched "Food Matters" and "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" while I was home sick yesterday (both available on Netflix, by the way) and I am so interested in exploring new ways to try to combat this autoimmune disorder. My doctor told me that the disorder can be developed (genetically or otherwise) and that it can go away and never come back...but they don't know how or why or to whom or anything.
If we both don't know anything really about this disorder, then why exactly should I throw some side-effect inducing steroids down my throat in order to combat this thing that we know nothing about? These steroids that have warning labels out the wazoo and that can suppress my natural ability to fight off other things...yeah. No.
I think we discredit the amazing healing abilities that are provided in our own bodies and in nature. I think that we discredit the fact that so many fruits and vegetables are so high in nutrients (that are easily absorbable) and that our bodies can be rewired. We don't think about that. We think, "I have a problem, I need to be fixed now and I don't want to change my lifestyle."
Well, I'm not about to take medication that can sit in my body for months (because it's a foreign, man-made substance and it takes longer for the body to process it) until I have exhausted the option that I can fix this thing naturally.
So, I'm juicing (the guy in "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" has Chronic idiopathic Urticaria as well and he saw amazing results from going on a juice fast for 60 days). For the past three days I've done it and for the past two days I haven't taken any Prednisone.
Today I woke up with some swelling on my hand and neck area, but I decided to put on some anti-itch cream and drink my kale, spinach, mango, banana, apple and strawberry drink and voila! It's 3:30 and the swelling has gone down completely. I'm, of course, going to consult with my doctor before fasting completely (if I decide to fast completely, I may just cut out meat and refined/processed foods for a while) but I don't want to be on all of these medications. I'm trying to strengthen my body naturally and hopefully reap the results!
Studies show that high doses of vitamin C, ginger and garlic are great for you. I plan on incorporating those into my diet as well and drinking my way to better health.
My goal as of right now is to keep making a variety of kale/spinach juices, switching it up a bit (Simple Green Smoothies is a great website for all sorts of recipes) and to eat an almost raw fruit, nut and vegetable diet with very little meat, alcohol and refined sugars and flours.
Only 6% of graduating physicians in this country have formal training in nutrition, so this is kind of like a self-medicating process that I'm doing here. However, I'm eating fruits and vegetables, not taking a million prescription drugs, so I don't see there being any harm done here. This is going to be a journey for me and I don't expect any miraculous healing to happen over the weekend. But I want to be dedicated to this healing, so I'll be writing updates every now and then (this is going to be a bit difficult because I absolutely love bacon, Jamaican food, Italian food, homestyle burgers and a good martini). I will definitely cheat, but I need to try to stay on this path and as of right now, I'm fully committed!
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment