health

I've done a lot of medical testing in the past few weeks, to try to figure out why I'm sick so much. I'm sick so much that I've already used up all my sick time for the year! Granted, that's not a whole lot of time, but still.
I did blood work labs, a very thorough physical, and allergy testing. It's fascinating how much the findings support the other methods of medical information I've been using (Traditional Chinese Medicine and a medical intuitive), but that's another post.
The lab results: I am anemic (that's low iron), have an Omega-3 deficiency, and a frighteningly severe Vitamin D deficiency. Those are all being addressed through taking supplements; its too big a deal to wait for a change in diet or something to be worked out and kick in. I also have a Urinary Tract Infection that it looks like has been around for a very long time... months and months. My symptoms are abnormal so I never picked up on it. Basically I just get weird lower abdominal pain at times, but I've had none of the discomfort during urination or anything like that. That's not being treated with antibiotics right now, though my doctor is thinking about trying sulfa drugs instead. The reason we aren't doing antibiotics is....
The allergy testing results. The biggest thing is I am completely over run with candida yeast. My recurring sinus infections, it seems, are not recurring sinus infections. They are yeast infections in my sinuses. I also probably get them in my lungs which is why I almost always have a mild cough. Basically anywhere there is a mucus membrane, I have at least a low-grade yeast infection. I thought my random skin itchiness was due to the different water here, or maybe a detergent or soap allergy. Nope. Yeasties again. So a large part of my brand new diet is avoiding foods that feed yeast. So that's all grains except rice, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, and millet. Also all sugars, including natural ones for a while, except for one serving of fresh fruit per day. In unrelated-to-yeast allergies, there's nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, some squashes), all dairy except for butter and whey (that's milk from any animal, not just cows, that I'm intolerant to), soy in any form, peanuts, nitrates (those are found in almost all food preservatives and colorings so it pretty much rules out anything except fresh foods and home made items), chocolate, coffee, and any corn product, and gluten.
Here, let's make this easier: here is what I CAN eat:
-any fresh meat, but it's much better if it's antibiotic-free
-any vegetable except for nightshades and white potatoes, but only limited amounts of beans, winter squash, yams, and sweet potatoes
-rice, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, or millet, but only one serving the size of my palm per day
-one serving of fresh fruit per day
-any nut except peanuts
So that's pretty much how I'm eating this past week and a half. Plus the 3 afore-mentioned supplements, a probiotic, a multivitamin, vitamin C, and a grapefruit seed extract pill (kills the candida). For those counting, thats 8 different kinds of pills and comes up to about 24 pills per day.
I've been struggling with feeling restricted and such, but yesterday I had some pretty cool revelations in a dialogue.
1. Things can be big without being hard. So, this is a big change, with a lot of adjustments, but it isn't difficult. It's a lot, but not hard.
2. Cravings are awesome! My body craves sugars and breads because it doesn't have enough of those chemicals. Which means those chemicals are working their way out of me and I am getting healthier!
3. I know empirically that this way of eating and taking care of myself is working. I already have way fewer headaches, sleep more deeply, and wake up feeling awake (instead of having a groggy hour or two every morning). So I know that I am taking the best care of myself that I can by taking such good care of myself.
I go back to the allergy doctor next Wednesday (April 23) and get re-tested for some things. The idea is that the diet will change over time; get less restrictive (like maybe I could have limited amounts of natural sugars again, or could do a rotation diet with some of the foods, or have them once in a while), so I am excited to see what the results will be this time. I don't expect a whole lot of change, to be honest, because there's been some cheating going on in the diet and a few times I've forgotten to take my pills in the mornings.
Eating takes more planning now. I can't just grab anything from anywhere. Once I get into the groove though, I think it's gonna get even better.
Oh, I also have pretty much every environmental allergy there is (dander, dust, mold, quite a few pollens, several household type chemicals), which can be controlled by... well... not being around those things.
Here's to health!