6 months later on TMW

For me this month marks one year of being sick and 6 month on the Myers way. When this picture came up on my Facebook as a memory from last September I could not believe that was me. The picture on the right is 1 year and 20 lbs ago... it was taken right before I became sick at a Barbie themed birthday party for my friend. The picture on the left was taken of me this weekend trying on dresses (I did end up buying that one- it even has pockets!).  I cannot believe I fit into a size 4! Last year I was somewhere around a size 8. It' was never about weight-loss- it was about healing. A lot of my other symptoms went away too that I am excited to share...

Before I started The Meyers Way Symptoms:

• Ringing and Grinding noises in ears
• Poor Sleep
• Heart Palpitations
• Uncontrollable Panic Attacks and Anxiety 
• Headaches
• Short of breath and Acid Reflux 
• Bed-ridden Fatigue 
• Hot face
• Faint and dizziness especially after eating 
• Numbness and Tingling on legs and arms
• Very Blurry Vision 

Symptoms I've had my whole life which improved:

• Seasonal Allergies (I had them so bad I was always stuffy)
• Very Oily hair and skin (I no longer wear any makeup on my face when I used to use a powder every day to absorb oils)
• Less acne or breakouts
• Skin that has always been rashy has improved.
• Better Moods
• Weightloss

Symptoms still present (hopefully will improve):

• Light sensitivity (has improved)
• Brain fog, ADHD, trouble concentrating (has improved)
• Blurry vision (only occasional now)
• Tiredness/fatigue (has improved)

New issues since The Myers Way:

• Bad PMS
• Bloating after eating 

I am hoping the rest of my symptoms will clear up. I know it can take a year to heal your gut.  I'm driving a lot more and doing a lot more now. Fall is my favorite time of year and last year I didn't get to enjoy it from being stuck in bed. I'm even thinking of adding new foods back into my diet.

Things have been going pretty well. While cleaning out my cabinets because we are finally moving. I'm getting rid of a ton gluten free processed crap. I can't believe I ate that!

It feels great to wake up this morning and not be apartment-hunting. I would spend hours making phone calls and searching online. We have been looking since July as I am suspicious my current apartment has a mold problem. It's probably not a coincidence I came very sick 2 weeks after we moved here. It was so hard to find something in our price range! One place we walked into there was even mold on the ceiling. Or another we walked into smelled like cigarettes and cat pee. Or my personal favorite red flag moment: "there's a sex offender living on the second floor, thats ok right?"

Aside from apartment hunting, healing hasn't been easy; I had a regression a slight in August. I gained back a little weight, my thyroid levels increased and I started loosing a lot of hair. When my least favorite time of the month rolled around, my PMS was so bad for about 2 weeks; I was tired, headachy, extremely depressed, brain-foggy, bloated and crabby.

August was tough, I started working at the bar probably more than I should, as it was there busy season. I went from only working 2 slow nights a week to working 3-4, sometimes on very busy shifts. I loved the money and getting out of the house more but it definitely took away from the time I had to prepare meals. I started to eat a lot of the same things- salads with avocado to fill me and quick pieces of chicken. I was also eating a sweet potato a day. I wasn't cheating or anything outside of The Myers Way meal plan just not eating enough of a variety of foods.

I started reading about developing food sensitivities; how we develop them when we eat the same things all the time. So I started eating a wider variety of foods. I also cut out sweet potatoes after reading in the GAPS diet some of the downfalls of it and what a difference it makes. I stopped eating a lot of salad- only occasionally now as I know raw vegetables are harder to digest. I'm working at the bar less now that it won't be so busy there; I will have more time to move (possibly buying an organic mattress and clean everything incase of mold contamination!) and keep up with cooking (thank god the new apartment has a dishwasher!!!). Ive also been trying to keep my stress levels down. We got an adorable cat a few weeks ago and it helps a lot with anxiety. I would have never thought that I could have a cat because I used to have very bad allergies but they're gone since TMW. The hair loss stopped and Ive lost weight again. I'm not sure what exactly helped these problems but something did! Hoping the healing continues...

Healing Autoimmunity // My story part 2

When my mom had bought me The Autoimmune Solution by Amy Myers I was not ready to change my eating habits. I had felt too sick get off the couch, never mind change my diet. When I was finally ready to follow The Myers Way about two months ago, I started improving drastically. This is how I'm healing through whole foods and all about The Wyers Way (read part 1 here: how my health declined & the medical chaos that came with it).

I remember my boyfriend Kyle and I corralled into a corner at the busy grocery store thinking, "Isn't this crazy," with my ridiculous cart filled to the brim with fruits and vegetables, many of which I had never had before, mixed in with grass-fed meats we couldn't afford. I wanted to put it all back, grab my usual boxes of gluten-free mac & cheese and call it a day. "Financially we can't do this every week," Kyle said. I agreed with him, however I knew I needed to try. At the time I could barely handle the grocery store. The fluorescent lights made my head pound in pain. I had no energy and just using my brain scan the isles made me feel mentally fatigued.

At home laying the food out on the counter felt even more ridiculous- will I really eat all of these vegetables in one week? On TMW you eliminate all refined foods (dairy and grains) along with anything processed because they are toxic to your body. I had already been gluten-free for months but this woul be more of a challenge. Myers explains to get rid of foods that cause inflammation (your immune system’s response to invaders which causes symptoms) like eggs, corn, tomatoes, nuts, caffeine and more. I could only eat seafood, grass-fed meat, a tiny amount of fruit and most organic vegetables. It felt weird not having any colorful boxes of processed food.

The first two weeks were a challenge; I remember crying because I didn’t have enough energy to cook all the organic meals and keep up with the dishes, but the changes in my body were noticeable. My headaches went from constant to occasional. I had more energy, my brain seemed more focused and my mood increased dramatically. 

About 2-3 weeks in I could cook all my meals easily and even started going for small walks. A month in, I was going to stores with my friends. A lot of my other symptoms were wtill there (tiredness, weakness, mentally foggy, blurry vision, sensitive to light) but it felt amazing to be more active. Before TMW I spent most of my time in bed. By now I hardly forgot what what my constant symptoms felt like (aside from the occasional flair up): dizziness, feeling faint and lightheaded, scary heart palpitations, constant anxiety, strange noises in my ears and constant headaches.  

Thankfully TMW had a meal plan to follow, with step-by-step recipes. If this wasn't part of it, I would have struggled. I had no idea how to cook brussels sprouts. In fact, I didn't even know they looked like! The program trains you for eating in a healthier way.

I actually loved the food; eating organically felt great. Looking at the menu in advance I thought I wasn't going to (maybe 20% of me still craves a bowl of ice cream but most of the time I am content). The food makes me feel full for what seems like the first time in my life. I've always felt I was a bottomless pit that could just keep eating; on TMW I was no longer hungry after eating. 

The weight loss was not expected but a bonus, dropping 13 pounds in the first month and it leveled out for the second month. For the previous few years I have struggled with my weight. I would explain that none of my pants fit, despite exercising but because I am a fairly thin tall person no one saw a problem. I have never lost a significant amount of weight in my life, only gaining slowly. My rings, shoes and clothes fit again, some that haven't fit in years.

I also started talking to a doctor training in natural medicine who advised me about healing your body through supplements and diet. My aunt who has Celiac Disease like me shared advise with her experience. I have tons of support. I started to simplify my beauty routine to organic, safe products (even using coconut oil as conditioner!). We even had to detox our house with air and water purifiers, as recommended by TMW. 

There were definitely detox symptoms. I would get dizzy while eating, even if I knew it was an approved food. I would be very emotional. Sometimes my skin would get blotchy and one time my whole chin broke out in a rash. The probiotic makes me tired and moody still to this day....

Two months in, I am finally comfortable mentally (in small amounts) to use my computer again practicing what I had gone to school for, design. I thought I would never able to again; that I had worked hard for a degree I'd never use. The brain fog is much better but still there, making me feel unsafe to drive at times. My body is still too weak to participate in activities like jogging. And occasionally my symptoms knock me off my feet. I am hoping it will continue to improve with time!

Autoimmunity takeover // My story part 1

The past year of my life of my life went from completely normal to suffering from my illness. During those dark days searching the internet for answers I would stumble on stories. Maybe someone will find my story and feel there is hope. 

It was the average Friday and I was more than eager to enjoy the usual outing with my friends after a long taxing week. Like most of the working class, weekends were sacred. This week was stressful but tonight would make up for it, for sure. I breathed in the satisfying summer night’s air not realizing it was actually one of my last evenings like this.

I had felt more tired than usual that summer but I had chalked it up to starting a full time job as a graphic designer after graduating from my bachelors degree that May. Accompanying this was the strange new migraines I was getting every few weeks; they would impair my vision and even cause my hands to go numb. I couldn’t lose weight no matter how hard I tried and I was always either suffering from a cold or insanely bad seasonal allergies. I recall updating my status to read, “Who gets sick with a cold in July? This girl.”

All of the foreshadowing seems like a bright red flag now, but at the time I accepted them as normal. I still worked my nine to five job. I still went out with my friends on the weekend. I never thought to see a doctor.

My 22^nd birthday came and it was nothing like TSwift describes. My energy continued to plummet until one night while out to dinner the room felt like it was spinning. I felt like I was going to faint. At the time, I thought I was having an allergic reaction to shrimp, and went to the hospital. The emergency room dismissed me as “dehydrated.”

The following week I could barely work. I would always try to, but would end would end up lying face down, embarrassed in the conference room. Within a week, I had to stop going in all together, unable to even leave my bed.

My body began to falter fast. The dizziness and the faint feeling worsened, followed by chronic headaches. One day I would wake up and my hair started falling out, the next day my vision would be blurry and remain that way for months. I couldn’t tolerate loud sounds or bright lights; watching television or going outside was too much to handle. I was always hot, and my face would turn bright red. My heart would race with any physical activity. I was so fatigued I could barely prepare myself food or use the bathroom. I would shower sitting down. I was afraid to be alone.

Within a few weeks, I was back at the emergency room. They ran more extensive tests, and when they came back negative they called in a social worker. They told me it was anxiety- that the symptoms were in my head.

The medical chaos continued. It seemed like no doctor wanted to take me on as a patient, either brushing my symptoms off as “anxiety,” or “migraines,” or my personal “favorite” worst answer: “You are a perfectly healthy 22-year-old- go out and live your life but take prenatal vitamins to prepare for childbirth.” How could I live my life when I was having trouble just sitting up to eat dinner? How could he assume I was thinking of having a child when I could barely take care of myself?

My symptoms were ambiguous- nothing seemed to add up. I had seen more than twenty doctors, every kind of “ologist” you can think of, each making me feel more hopeless then the previous one. Each day started fading into the next, falling down what felt like a depressing rabbit hole. There wasn’t a doctor who was going to be able to help me; my health had to be taken into my own hands.

Two months later after my dad heard a story from work, I asked my doctor to have my thyroid checked. Despite resistance from her, I pushed for the test, and it came back as hypothyroidism (meaning my thyroid gland wasn’t producing enough hormones). The thyroid controls your metabolism, temperature, mood and even heart function. I was prescribed a pill that would produce the hormones my body lacked. There was hope this would make me feel better, but it only did so much. After a month on the pill it was clear there was something else going on.

After hearing about my illness, my aunt who lives across the country messaged me explaining she was very sick until she learned she had Celiac Disease, a disease that causes gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley and rye) to damage the intestines. Because of my genetic predisposition, I got tested and it was positive. I went gluten free, and while it helped some I still had raging symptoms.  By January I had been laid off, feeling more depressed than I had at any point before.

“I don’t understand why Kate can’t come out with us,” some of my friends would say. It was bad enough not being able to leave the house- hearing something like that would make it worse. Fortunately, there were a lot of people in my life who understood how I felt and I was so lucky to have family and friends who took me to doctors.

Each day was a struggle to do anything; my brain could not focus and I could barely read or write. I would lay on the couch with an icepack behind my neck, battling constant headaches and dizziness. Sleep was impossible; I would wake all throughout the night feeling uncomfortable.

In February I started going to physical therapy for my dizziness. Although all of my symptoms were still there, the dizziness improved drastically. I finally felt safe to shower home alone and cook food by myself. I was improving, but still struggled to feel normal, questioning what could I do to improve now?

I had heard of The Autoimmune Solution by Amy Myers, since my mother bought be a book about it in December. I knew it was a huge life change and I struggled to read anyways, so I did nothing about it even though I had two autoimmune diseases (Celiac and Hypothyroid) and I knew my aunt with celiac disease benefited from a diet similar to it. The book seemed so daunting and foreign to me. It was not recommend by an actual doctor, so I wondered if dieting so drastically would help me. One doctor told me, “why limit your diet like that; life is too short to not be enjoyed!”

Then I had a bizarre reaction to a gluten-free cookie. I was directed to avoid all grains (rice, gluten free flours, ect.) until I was tested for food allergies. Strangely, going grain free seemed to help my headaches and brain function- I even found it easier to read.  So I read the book and I started to learn the effects our diets can have on our bodies. Avoiding grains is a huge part of TMW so I began to believe it would help me.

I started to eat like a cave man- minus the hunting and gathering part. I eliminated all refined foods (dairy and grains) along with anything processed. Next I eliminated foods that cause inflammation (your immune system’s response to invaders) like eggs, corn, tomatoes, nuts, caffeine and more. I could only eat seafood, grass-fed meat, a tiny amount of fruit and organic vegetables. The diet helped but there are a lot of struggles that came along with it (read about it in part two: healing from autoimmune).

It is now the end of May and I completed over two months of TMW. On a getaway with my family and boyfriend, I went hiking and swimming, something I could have never done a few months or even weeks ago. My parents were impressed with the progress. I lost 13 pounds so far without really trying- the first time I’ve ever lost significant weight in my life. After conventional medicine failed me, it feels good to take my health into my own hands.  There is still much healing to do- I just have to be grateful and patient with the progress so far. I don’t know when or if I will ever feel like my old self again, but at least there is hope after what seemed like a long despairing winter.

Lazy bagged cole-slaw (TMW + dairy-free)

I will admit, I had a tough night tonight. I went for a walk and could feel my body dragging worse than usual. When I got home, it was hard to lift my arms and legs. My mind went fuzzy and I could feel my body shutting down. Isn't autoimmunity so strange? Symptoms just come out of nowhere, unexpectedly. I hadn't had an attack like this in a while, but I have a few inklings as to why it happened. After a very heavy unexpected nap I felt better when I woke up, but not well enough to make a fancy meal!

Then I remembered, I did buy a pre-cut up bag of cole slaw. I remember being at the store thinking, "why haven't I thought of this earlier?!" The bag I bought contained broccoli, carrots and red & green cabbage (which I could have easily chopped up from fresh veggies but a lazy night called for lazy cooking). All I did was add some fresh diced onions to the mix and toss it in a sauce. 

For the sauce I used the watery part of a can of coconut milk. I used a mixer to add in some of the coconut cream to give it a little bit of thickness, but not too much. When I got the consistency just right I added onion powder, garlic, salt & pepper. Finally I squeezed in some lemon juice! It worked really well paired with a salmon I threw into a frying pan to cook and a ripe avocado. I have so much left over for the week, which is helpful on this diet. Any break from cooking, chopping, juicing, or blending is a beautiful thing!