A friend pointed me in the direction of the low-histamine chef, and the low histamine chef was a major step in my feeling better. I've been examining and experimenting with so many different approaches, sure that one must be a more profound approach than another; but the value of the bloodtype diet, the low histamine approach, and the leaky gut fix along with the hormone diet all seemed important to me. So I tried to do them all at the same time. I prioritized the leaky gut, while keeping the other three in mind as "important"...
What I ended up with was much less variety, but I kept in mind my friend's advice (she's on Facebook as Roots to Vitality). She is a really knowledgeable nutritionist, and we worked together while I was living in Santiago...my set of symptoms was intriguing, even then. She reinforced my experientially developed idea that if foods were part of the problem, then foods were powerful enough to be part of my solution as well. She helped me work on the idea of variety, to help prevent new sensitivities, and I've stuck to that idea in trying to incorporate the kernels of the four approaches I mentioned above.
Also, I need to credit the doctors here, in Colombia for helping me get the thyroid issues managed, and the other issues investigated. To summarize- thyroid almost dissolved and gone, so my body needs the traditional T4 supplement...and very likely a natural replacement as well to add some T3 hormone into the mix. Just increasing the dosage of the T4 isn't the whole solution, as the T4 seems able to bind into the sites where DHEA should go- and when there isn't enough of that, I get the sore hands and sore feet...but adding DHEA as a supplement wasn't so fun, so I'm hoping this combination approach does the trick. I've found out that no matter where I am, there's a mail order pharmacy in Vancouver that can ship--that's the hope anyway!
The allergist here ran all of the tests, confirming that I haven't a single allergy- which contradicts the blood allergy tests I had done in Santiago (casting doubt on those results for the kids and me). The other tests showed systemic inflammation-which is where I was taking my approach to eating...I figured if my gut was leaking, and food particles were out of order and activating immune response (i.e. release of histamine, and "allergy" responses that way, instead of the traditional allergy) then I wanted to do whatever I could to stop that process. For me, that's a gluten elimination first and foremost...meaning I'd continue with greater vigilance, and supplements with the amino acids to try repair the lining, and a cleanse, in case candida was contributing to the micro-perforations of the lining. Did that.
Simultaneously, I was taking The Hormone Diet advice of Dr. Natasha Turner, who focused on reducing the stress hormone response...that helped too. Because it was in the category of "it can't hurt" I was incorporating the ideas of The Blood Type Diet of Dr. D'Adamo. Honestly, I still find this one conceptually difficult-but, the foods that are supposed to work well for me are the ones that have done so in the past, so there's something there, though I find all the info around it so...I'll just say...'difficult to stomach' because he's taken a story-teller's approach and isn't so forthcoming with the research details that I like to know... however- the veggies and meats on the list seem to behave as he predicts they would, so I've taken that information on board as well.
Now, after all of that, and getting the confirmation in my bloodwork that I do indeed have inflammation issues, I have been driving my reading research over the last few weeks toward figuring out how to reduce that inflammation. I know it's not just foods, because when I meditate, and do yoga, and the more gentle-so-I-don't-spark-a-cortisol cascade kinds of cardio I do feel different. Until I didn't have a kind of 'clenched anxiety' happening, I didn't register that it was there...put another way, I didn't realize I wasn't as relaxed as I could be, until I was more relaxed. And my relaxed, I don't mean on the sofa, I mean standing tall, breathing deeply, with my shoulders down, and feeling more able to concentrate. That's what the food and exercise and meditation do for me...
If you haven't felt stressed, try this if you want to empathize: scrunch your shoulders up, breath as shallowly as you like for a few seconds, and hunch forward just a bit. If you were to look in a mirror, your posture and manner would likely remind you of an animal ready to dart away from a predator... Now, drop the shoulders, breathe deeply, lifting yourself to your full height, and check out your reflection-I predict you'll feel and look more capable in every regard. I feel that way when I exercise and meditate. Better, all around, I think!
As well, and I'll not sugar-coat how good this feels either, I've dropped nine pounds without being hungry or focused on my appearance. My hair is growing faster, my nails are too, my posture is improving, I hardly ever have a headache...and I like the new jeans I had to buy. I'm still working on the aches, but I'm optimistic there. I'm still working on the foods that are compatible, because -gross alert--I'll frequently reject something that doesn't work for me by skipping to the loo for a vomit. I'm still testing foods this way, because before I totally give up chicken and potatoes, I want to be sure. I'm pretty sure now, because after last night, I feel far more achy, and when there are other foods I could eat, why go through all the trouble of vomiting, and having a food hangover?! I had to go through the same cycle when I went gluten-free too...of coming to terms with the continuing need to avoid it to feel good. I know I'll get there...it is a process indeed.
So as I began this post, the low histamine chef has this same conclusion in her post The inflammation bucket. I'll leave her with the last word to describe the experiences of someone whose cells frequently dump histamines into their own systems. "I don’t know how it works in “regular” folk, but in histamine peeps, you can pretty much bet on the stress hormones causing mast cells to break open, releasing histamine and other inflammatory elements into the body. So stress = inflammation. Inflammation = excess histamine. Excess histamine in the body = less tolerated dietary histamine." The same approach I've been working on in the last few weeks! And it's lovely to have a confirmation that it's working for someone else too.
Cheers and chao!
No comments:
Post a Comment