My journey in search of answers about my health began when I was in my early 20’s; when the chronic symptoms started slipping into my every-day life. I was exhausted no matter how much sleep I got, woke up with a splitting headache every day without having had any alcohol the night before, and had body aches. You could basically say it was like I had a mild flu, all the time. This was accompanied by brain fog, difficulty concentrating, and anxiety. I had to quit several jobs because the hours were too much for me, which was painful because I’ve always been very ambitious. This led to stress, and even more stress came from doctors telling me I’m fine.
I felt completely out of control of the situation and even started to think maybe my body is just officially shot (after all I did a great deal of partying starting at just the age of 13 and dealt with long bouts of insomnia). Then people told me that stress is what could be causing my symptoms…I knew it was the other way around – my unexplained symptoms were causing stress. My inability to be normal was causing stress. People said I look great. My primary doctor kept coming back with perfectly healthy blood tests and markers; the advice was to cut back on alcohol and caffeine. The problem was I had already cut back significantly on my social life involving alcohol because I didn’t have enough energy to go out, and I was relying on caffeine just to function for work. My visits to the doctor’s office with no answers went on for years.
I had done the Western blot test through my primary doctor several times, which came back negative for Lyme. It wasn’t until a friend recommended me to a “Lyme literate” doctor when I was 25 that I was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease, after sending my blood out to a specialty lab. The theory was that I had contracted Lyme disease as far back as when I was in high school (which made sense because I was diagnosed with Mono when I was a junior in high school and missed school for 2 months). That Mono case certainly could have been a missed Lyme diagnosis – who knows; I do remember never feeling the same again after that episode.
This was fantastic that I finally had some sort of answer, but it wasn’t until several years AFTER that diagnosis that I saw a breakthrough with my health and vibrance. The Lyme specialists wanted to treat me with rounds and rounds of antibiotics, which I tried. I wish I hadn’t even tried knowing what I know now about antibiotics. A few years later through research, I learned about terms like “autoimmune” and “inflammation” which were new terms for me at the time, and I’m not sure why they were new – they certainly shouldn’t have been. This led me to learning about the “elimination diet” aka “autoimmune paleo” diet when I was 28. Within 48 hours of starting the elimination diet I felt like a new person – most of my headaches, fatigue, and body aches lifted, and life has changed for me ever since. Through further personal research and seeing functional medicine doctors I eventually was also diagnosed with high levels of heavy metals in my blood, mold toxicity, very low vitamin levels and adrenal fatigue.
It’s been a few years since this break-through, (I’m now 31), and I continue to be on some form of the elimination diet at all times – gluten, dairy, added sugar are the ones that you will NEVER see me eating, along with as little processed food as possible. It is important for me to note I have NO actual food “allergies” whatsoever. I’m now on a celery juice routine as well and have messed around with intermittent fasting as well as meditation to name just a few other things. I continue to do research as I’ve become obsessed with optimizing my health. With my new lifestyle I’m able to do the things that I want to do and accomplish the goals that I want to accomplish. The journey is not over though, I know my health can still improve. We are in this together.
I felt completely out of control of the situation and even started to think maybe my body is just officially shot (after all I did a great deal of partying starting at just the age of 13 and dealt with long bouts of insomnia). Then people told me that stress is what could be causing my symptoms…I knew it was the other way around – my unexplained symptoms were causing stress. My inability to be normal was causing stress. People said I look great. My primary doctor kept coming back with perfectly healthy blood tests and markers; the advice was to cut back on alcohol and caffeine. The problem was I had already cut back significantly on my social life involving alcohol because I didn’t have enough energy to go out, and I was relying on caffeine just to function for work. My visits to the doctor’s office with no answers went on for years.
I had done the Western blot test through my primary doctor several times, which came back negative for Lyme. It wasn’t until a friend recommended me to a “Lyme literate” doctor when I was 25 that I was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease, after sending my blood out to a specialty lab. The theory was that I had contracted Lyme disease as far back as when I was in high school (which made sense because I was diagnosed with Mono when I was a junior in high school and missed school for 2 months). That Mono case certainly could have been a missed Lyme diagnosis – who knows; I do remember never feeling the same again after that episode.
This was fantastic that I finally had some sort of answer, but it wasn’t until several years AFTER that diagnosis that I saw a breakthrough with my health and vibrance. The Lyme specialists wanted to treat me with rounds and rounds of antibiotics, which I tried. I wish I hadn’t even tried knowing what I know now about antibiotics. A few years later through research, I learned about terms like “autoimmune” and “inflammation” which were new terms for me at the time, and I’m not sure why they were new – they certainly shouldn’t have been. This led me to learning about the “elimination diet” aka “autoimmune paleo” diet when I was 28. Within 48 hours of starting the elimination diet I felt like a new person – most of my headaches, fatigue, and body aches lifted, and life has changed for me ever since. Through further personal research and seeing functional medicine doctors I eventually was also diagnosed with high levels of heavy metals in my blood, mold toxicity, very low vitamin levels and adrenal fatigue.
It’s been a few years since this break-through, (I’m now 31), and I continue to be on some form of the elimination diet at all times – gluten, dairy, added sugar are the ones that you will NEVER see me eating, along with as little processed food as possible. It is important for me to note I have NO actual food “allergies” whatsoever. I’m now on a celery juice routine as well and have messed around with intermittent fasting as well as meditation to name just a few other things. I continue to do research as I’ve become obsessed with optimizing my health. With my new lifestyle I’m able to do the things that I want to do and accomplish the goals that I want to accomplish. The journey is not over though, I know my health can still improve. We are in this together.
