Well, I said last post that I would post about all of the medical issues I am facing. So here I am.
For the past several years I have mostly been seeing a Naturopathic team. I have no health insurance and even with the affordable health care plan it was cheaper for me to pay the fine. That is a whole 'nother topic on a whole 'nother blog for a later date. Coming from Canada where Health Insurance was pretty cheap when I left (apparently they are starting to move in the direction the US was before the Affordable Health Care Act-- not wise if you ask me, but again, that's a whole other story for a different blog) this not having health insurance at all has been pretty scary. But since I was paying out of pocket anyway, and since I believe that our bodies have the ability to heal itself with the proper care and nutritional support, I chose to go the natural health route. People who know me from when I lived in Canada will recognize that about me. Don't get me wrong. I believe there is a time and a place for Western Medicine too and even for drugs. And I have been known to go to the MD once in a while.
So hard living and stupid choices when I was a teenager and young adult led me to being morbidly obese. Now, let me take a moment here to clarify. I really didn't do anything differently from most teens and young adults. Pizza in the evenings with friends, high carb intake, candy bars here and there. As a young adult I started drinking on weekends. I experimented a little with drugs but didn't like it so I didn't continue beyond one or two experiences. I consider that I did become an alcoholic though. I only drank on weekends and not even every weekend, but it was excessive. And I rarely had a hangover so I didn't have a reason to stop. Along with drinking came some very stupid decisions. Looking back, I think the drinking age of 21 is wise, and I would even go so far as to say it should be 24 because before that the young adult brain doesn't make rational decisions very well at the best of times, let alone under the influence. But that too is a topic for a different blog. Anyway, as I was saying, I did things that a lot of my peers did too. But ever single person's genetic make up is different and so we all respond differently. My best friend at the time was blessed with a metabolism and genetic make up that kept her slender despite what she ate or did. She was naturally athletic and moved more than I did as well.
My genetic make up included a biological connection to a long-time Type I diabetic. We have learned in the last few years I was in Canada that my body produced more insulin than normal, and we think it probably did from birth due to this genetic relationship. So though I was neither diabetic nor hypoglycemic, this issue contributed to how I ate. Every time I had carbohydrates, my body released more insulin than was needed. The extra insulin got into my body and didn't have anything to work on so it said, "Hey!! where are the carbs and sugars?" So then I had cravings and being an idiot at the time I gave in to them. So then more insulin was released, etc. When the insulin processed the carbohydrates, it turned it into fat on my body to store for later use for energy. Ok, So we add into the mix that I was not an active person... I was raised by older parents who were not active and I never had any interest in sports. Partly because I was never good at them and I got teased in school because of it. I was always the one picked last when picking teams (unless my bff mentioned above was doing the picking, the she usually picked me first). So that extra storage never really got used. My metabolism was very slow and though I was not morbidly obese back in those years I was heavy. Add in some psychological issues... Feelings of abandonment when my dad died when I was 7 years old. Then being a smart teenager I figured out the best way to rebel against my mom. My mom had been harboring a low self esteem in a lot of ways and she was very concerned about what others thought. How would it look to the neighbours? Appearance was important to her. So after a lot of therapy we figured that on a subconscious level, I chose appearance as a way to rebel. And the weight really began to soar. Again, don't get me wrong. I loved my mom and my adoptive dad (her second husband adopted me when they got married). And I did not rebel in any way outwardly. Not consciously. But something in me, perhaps the abandoned child, decided this was a good thing to do. And with each pound I gained, the metabolism slowed even more. It became a vicious cycle.
Fast forward 20 years. Now I am morbidly obese. For many years, doctors were stumped as to why I could not lose weight. In that 20 years we just fast forwarded I saw doctors, I tried diet after diet, I worked out, I did step -aerobics, weight training, walking programs, I would start out well and then lose the momentum because I did not lose weight. I put muscle on, lots of it. And with it I gained more weight, because the muscle weighed more than fat, but I didn't get rid of the fat. No idea why. Anyway, all those doctors I saw did test after test and all of them would invariably say, "on paper there is no reason you should be overweight." I gave up. And I got fatter. The good thing that happened is that I stayed working on my feet the whole time I put the weight on. Even now my massage therapist comments on how strong my leg muscles are. They have to be. They are pressing all of my weight with each step I take. My goal is to maintain that muscle as I drop weight and become healthy. So when I got married 10 years ago, I was still pretty healthy and able to move around. My only main health issue was asthma. Especially when I exercised. But then I hit 40. And over these past 9 years, I have seen an increase in health issues. We went to Florida for our honeymoon and I ballooned up with access water. And it never went away. I had always had some issues in heat and humidity but once I cooled down it went away. This time it didn't. And that excess fluid added weight. By the time my naturopathic team got the BIA technology (bioelectrical impedance analysis), I had about 135 lbs of excess fluid on my total frame. Since then I have probably added more, though they no longer have the equipment to measure it on me. So you add that to my already heavy body on my 5'2" frame and I am now topping 400 + lbs.
No one really knows why I have this fluid. Nothing seems to help a lot... except last year, I figured something out.... but more on that later... Now my knees were hurting. A couple falls on ice where I ended up hyperextending my knees have caused them to pop in and out on me and I believe arthritis is settling in. During weather changes they hurt. Just like the spots in my foot where I broke it when I was in my 20's. I have lung issues. Every summer I come down with a respiratory infection. It began in 2011 during a year that was really difficult for me and very stressful. That year I came down with bird flu, followed by the swine flu, followed by a relapse of both together, followed by a flu in my trapezoid muscle. And the a foster to adopt placement with my son's bio sister disrupted, a friend passed away, our cat died and then my mom passed away. Since then my immune system seems to have been compromised and I have caught every bug that passed my way. I am now fully insulin resistant. I have borderline thyroid disease. I have so many toxins in my body that it is causing my liver, bowels and kidney to work overtime. My early lack of interest in caring for my skin has caused me to have extremely dry skin which is not effective for eliminating waste, and my sinuses are chronically inflamed. I have a lot of inflammation in my whole body. I have had problems with plantar fasciitis. The knees and the foot issues make it hurt to walk sometimes. Last year I came down with yet another respiratory ailment and my nautropath put me on antivirals, several kinds.. nothing worked. I went to the MD. She put me on three rounds of antibiotics, each one stronger than the last. It didn't work. I went back to the naturopath and he said, let's try fungal. Sure enough it was a fungus infection. So I took antifungals and started an antifungal diet... and wouldn't you know, the swelling in my feet came down. Interesting. No other inflammation came down but it was a start. I am sure my body is filled with fungus. And then we discovered I am allergic to xantham gum, all things soy, aspartame and some seasonings.
So now... my tools.. This is what I am doing now...
1. slowly and steadily eliminating toxins and chemicals from my environment and body. The liver processes all of this stuff and mine is working overtime anyway. Toxins are stored in fat cells and I have plenty of those!! Then add in new ones from the environment and food and there we go. I use Norwex products. Norwex is a wonderful little company that offers cleaning options that are chemical free. I am not starting to switch to a chemical free personal hygiene regimen. More on that later.
2. changing the way I eat. I switched to organic (as much as possible) several years ago. With the antifungal diet I was cutting out most of the carbohydrates from my diet and then my chiropractor turned me on to the principles of the Ideal Protein Diet. I cannot use their products because of allergies but the principle is to stick to less than 9 grams of carbs a day. This rests the pancreas. And it works wonders for me. I feel really good when I am eating this way. Due to allergies I am also having to make all my own sauces and salad dressings, etc. from scratch. It's time consuming and I don't often use either because of the carb count in them... but for my family it works too.
3. eliminating toxins going into my body from "cleansing". A while back I switched to an organic shampoo and body wash because I knew I didn't want to continue to tax my liver. A note about the liver: Your liver handles over 1000 functions in the body. It is the organ that cleans all the toxins from your cells and deals with allergens etc. My increasing number of allergies indicated that the liver is not handling things well. So I didn't want to tax it even more. I switched, as I said, to organic body wash and shampoo. I stopped colouring my hair. In May I wanted to do something and I had heard that there were now all natural hair dyes. So I went to a place to have some colour added to my hair. All they had that was natural were bright non-natural colours. I thought what fun to have purple in my hair!! But they would have to bleach. So they bleached some of my hair but kept it at least two inches from my scalp. It was well done and looks great, and I love it. I have over 24 inches of hair so there is still a lot of purple. But I wanted this colour to last. So I went researching to see if my shampoo was safe for coloured hair. I learned about parabens and sulphates, all not good and still in my organic shampoo... and that was when I came across the "no-poo" movement. I decided to try it. I learned that the baking soda part that most people use along with apple cider vinegar is too alkaline for coloured hair, but that I could wash with just the apple cider vinegar. Sooo that's what I do. I have not used shampoo on my hair now in over a month. And I only wash my hair every week to ten days. It is great. For some extra conditioning I use Organic Argan oil. I may do more on my experiences with no poo in a future post. So I loved the Argan oil so much I decided to look for a body wash that contained it. I looked and looked and finally settled on one, ordered it off of Amazon, but when I got it, they had taken all those bad things out and put in a lot of good things... but then they also added fragrance. Oh no!! I am allergic to most fragrances. And this one is not natural. So that led me to more research and I discovered a soap-free movement. There is oil cleansing which I intend to start when I get the oils I ordered... but I started this week with dry skin brushing and just water in the shower... and so far so good. I will blog about those experiences later as well.
4. walking... I started walking in 2012 when my mom passed away. I did really well and was up to 2 miles a day... and then plantar fasciitis set in. I had had it once before and the first few steps hurt. This time it was in both feet and it did not go away after the first few steps. It even hurt when I was laying in bed sometimes. But this winter I started seeing a wonderful chiropractor who did acupuncture and now the plantar fasciitis is gone again and I can start walking again... I go slow to start. And on days when the knees hurt I go really slowly.
5. That same plantar fasciitis brought my yoga to a halt as well. In 2013 I started yoga. I had a personalized class with my yogi and she modified yoga poses so I could do them all either standing or sitting. Getting down on the floor at this point is hard and getting up is even harder. So for now, I can do it modified. And I am ready to start doing that again. My yogi has moved and I don't have the extra money for class now, but I am certainly ready to continue with what she taught me.
6. Lymphatic Drainage massage. The lymph system is pretty intricate and it doesn't have a pump like the circulatory system does. The lymph is pumped through our body by the movement of our body, specifically the legs. Well, since I am pretty much sedentary and my body is pushing through tons of toxins, the lymph system is overworked too. So the Lymphatic Drainage massage helps with that movement. They also use a lymphstar machine which uses light and sound waves to help break up and move some areas of heavy congestion in the lymph system. It penetrates to the deep lymphs as opposed to the massage which helps with the lymph system right under the skin. (btw, the dry skin brushing is really good for the lymph system too)
7. herbs, nutritionals and homeopathics.. I am on stuff to support the organs that are overworked and on stuff to protect the organs that are still working ok (like my heart). We recently started a regime to address some of those emotional issues too... like abandonment and grief.
8. acupuncture. I already stated how acupuncture helped me get rid of the plantar fasciitis. It has also helped me with sciatica issues and I go in for a tune up periodically.
Tools I plan to use shortly... moving slowly into each new one..
I have been doing some thinking about this whole detoxing and overtaxing the liver thing. I think my bowels move sluggishly and my kidneys are overworked too because of the amount of toxins I am moving, so I have been doing more research on other methods of elimination. After discussing it with my lymph therapist, she concurred that it might be a good idea to try other methods as well. So...
1. himalayan salt patches for the bottom of my feet when I sleep. Apparently it is very effective. There is a lot of controversy over whether these things work or not, mostly by scientic types who do not believe in detoxing. I read one account that purported that all toxin removal comes through the kidneys and my response is... what the heck is the skin's job then? The skin is one of our eliminatory organs, along with the bowels and the kidneys. Detoxing takes place through the skin as well. I don't frankly care if anyone believes me or not. I believe it will help. It is not expensive and if there is even a chance it will help to alleviate some of the work my bowels and kidneys have to do then I am going to try it.
2. oil pulling... now there is scientific evidence for this.. It will reduce bacteria in the mouth which in turn will reduce the amount of crap that can get into the blood stream and travel to other organs. Again, whether you believe it will draw toxins too, do and that is all that matters. I already have the oils, not gonna be too expensive for me to do this, and if there is even a chance that it will help reduce the quantity of toxins handled by my kidney and bowels I am going to try it.
3. a fitness tracker. I am currently researching these. I have not yet decided which one I want, but I want one to monitor my sleep as well.
I will be sure to continue to blog about the results of all of these tools. For now I think I may have overstayed my welcome. I just have so much going on in my body right now and I promised to share it. So here it is. You know all my deep dark dirty secrets now. :)
So with that I take my leave. Until next time.
Make a Great Day!!
Shannon
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