Well, I’m not finishing out the challenge very well. I’ve been down and out with an unfriendly virus or bacteria. When I get sick, my endocrine system tends to crash and my main symptoms become tiredness and weakness. It feels a bit like a cross between mono and the side effects of a lengthy fast. Not fun. The lymph nodes just under my jaw are slightly swollen and my throat is a bit red. I went into the doctor’s office to have blood work taken so I could confirm an infection and have a nutrient and hormone panel done. It’s time to do more specific healing, so I need to know exactly where my issues lie. It was a frustrating visit, but at least I was able to have the tests run. Most of what I told her flew over her head. I told her my symptoms were excessive weakness, tiredness, occasional nausea and shaking when I overexert myself, adema (water retention), listlessness, swollen lymph nodes, trouble digesting for a couple of weeks, and recent noise sensitivity that makes me irritable. She was looking for specific information so she could diagnose me with something obvious like the flu or pneumonia and was stumped with what I gave her. She believes I must be pregnant since I seem too healthy to have anything wrong with me and that I need to take an acid inhibitor for the nausea and digestion issues. I did explain that I have an endocrine issue and have had one as long as I can remember. The whole thing was very frustrating. I had to tell her twice that I don’t take man-made medications when she tried to prescribe an acid inhibitor. As she walked out the door, she did tell me that I’m doing a good thing by taking care of myself and not filling my body up with medicines. No thanks to her. Grr. One thing I am happy about is my heart rate. It has gone from the low 80’s to the high 50’s-low 60’s. My cardiovascluar system is much stronger from the change in diet and exercise. Yay!
What I believe my true diagnosis is: My entire endocrine system is damaged (very common in today’s world) and the glands are not able to properly do their job, affecting each other and the rest of my body’s processes – and accounting for most of my symptoms -. With the extra stress it is putting on my body lately, there isn’t enough energy left to do the ‘heavy lifting’ jobs properly like digestion. I’m happy to say a lot of symptoms I used to have have been healed already. Right now, it seems to be my pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands that need special attention. The nausea is just a warning system that I’m in rough shape, have extra toxins in my system, and need to rest. The adema issue can be attributed to a sluggish lymph system which corresponds to the chronic illnesses and stress my body has been under for 33 years. The overwhelming weakness, tiredness, and swollen lymph nodes are due to an acute infection that my body is fighting.
Two very different diagnoses. I wonder who will be right. 😉
I won’t be posting any more on the challenge. We’re at the end and all of the items I was focused on are already part of my daily life. I’m going to set up a routine, so I can be sure I keep up on the things that are important to my health. I need to finish healing so I can focus solely on hubby, my munchkin, and the rest of my ‘patients’.
Thanks for following me through this month of self-discovery. 🙂 Next up will be a December challenge of deep cleaning the house with the FlyLady’s methods to get ready for Christmas. I’ve been a little lax on the heavy cleaning and recently saw a cobweb, so I’m on a mission to get back on track there too! I’ve also joined another challenge (see a pattern here?) to cook locally one meal a week from now through the middle of March. I’ll be posting more on those over the next couple of days.
2 Responses
Thank you for taking us on this journey! I just recently found your blog through the gaps guides into challenge of last year and I'm finding myself very inspired by your honesty and experiences.I love the idea of giving myself a specific challenge with smaller daily goals to check off and I'm amazed at how well you stuck to it.Once my gaps books arrive I think I'll follow your example and thank heavens for FlyLady, I'm still figuring it all out but I know if anything can keep me sane through something like this she can!Thank you!
I'm so glad Erin! It's hard to share everything when I so often 'fail' in the conventional sense of finishing a challenge – such as intro -, but I do learn and gain greater health by what I learn each time so I count it a success (I try to anyway lol). I love knowing that sharing my experiences can help someone else. I wasn't able to complete my FlyLady challenge (and just realized I didn't post on that) because my adrenals we're completely exhausted, but I am still using a version of her system that works for me. Using the concepts I learned from her, my house is in much better shape with seemingly less work! My best advice is to follow baby steps with GAPS, real food, and this new lifestyle that it encompasses. I think it's more important to incorporate these ideals into your life and give your body time to adapt than to do any of it 'perfectly'. Best of luck and be sure to add your experiences to your blog or start a new one! I took a peek and you have a way with words and such a gorgeous family that you would be a great choice to help spread the word. 🙂