I’m sharing my strategy and how I’ve reduced inflammation and resolved some health issues over the past year.
***Warning: this post contains red bulb images. If that freaks you out, feel free to skip this post!
Hello friends! I hope you have a wonderful week. Ours has been slowly spent redoing the house – I’ll share some photos of the new floors soon!- and we’re getting ready for spring travels and adventures.
For today’s post, I wanted to share more about my health journey over the past year and my plan.
Please note that I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. If you are experiencing health problems, contact your doctor and get the support you need. Also, don’t get a, “you’ll have to live with it” answer. There have been a few times in our family where I was told it was like that and it wasn’t true. Sometimes you need a third or fourth opinion, but someone is out there who can help. You can heal, and you deserve to feel amazing.
This time last year, things went weird with my eyes. It was a pretty stressful time – the pilot was traveling a lot, it was dance competition season, and I had to do some of the dance competitions and the big Disney trip for the solo parent parade. It was all fun stuff, but it was a lot. We were getting ready for the end of the year party, planning Liv’s first date, and I was pushing myself as hard as I had ever pushed myself with strength training and breaks.
I don’t want to recap the whole story with my eyes – I have a post here and a podcast episode here – but the short version is that they were neon red for many weeks and the many eye doctors had different opinions on what caused it. At first they thought it was pink eye – I went on antibiotics and it didn’t go away, and they kept coming back – and something had triggered it. The only thing that kept the inflammation down was very strong steroid drops. A doctor wanted me to take them for three to four months!
I kept getting different answers, and after seeing multiple eye doctors and my PCP, who helped me do some digging, we learned a few things:
– I had blepharitis, which was inflammation of my eyelids, MGD (meibomian gland dysfunction) and dry eye
– Two markers for Lupus came back positive (ANA and DS-DNA)
– Something was causing inflammation in my body
The Wolf thing made some sense to me. I’ve had random stress rashes over the years and sometimes my hands hurt. I thought it was because I spent so much time on my phone and typing. I was feeling low on energy as all the sleep in the world wouldn’t make me feel rested and I was having a hard time recovering from my workouts. I would do a really hard workout and not be able to work out again for 3-4 days afterwards. I started getting sick more often… and when I got the flu, I was in bed for 9 days. I knew something was causing my immune system to be on high alert.
My hair was unpredictable. I wouldn’t lose hair for a while, and suddenly I’d lose handfuls in the shower.
I got a referral to rheumatology but decided to wait until I had some work ups done and see if I could get some answers. While I knew this was happening to my body, no one could tell me WHY. Why did it happen so suddenly? What was causing my eyes to flare up so often? Why was I a host for blepharitis? Since I wasn’t in dire straits, I decided to create a plan of action to see if I could reduce the inflammation.
I am 100% symptom free and have been since late December. When we had my blood work done again at my PCP in December, both Lupus markers were negative. (A side note: I wasn’t *cured* of Lupus. I was never diagnosed because I didn’t go to rheumatology.) Honestly, every day I hold my breath a little bit when I wake up and check my eyes. When I wake up, it’s bright, clear, I can wear contacts again, no more joint pain, and I wake up with energy.
While I am still working on healing myself and finding balance with my body, I am truly grateful that things have improved so much. When working to heal yourself it is important to remember that it is not a quick fix!! It may take years to repair, but your body wants to heal. <3
My personal treatment plan
Here’s what I did and what I’m currently doing:
Gluten or dairy free:
– I started reading and researching as much as possible about autoimmune diseases and Lupus. ALL the books I read had a common theme: get rid of gluten and dairy. I cut them both out last July – only had them a few times since then – and noticed an immediate improvement. I honestly don’t miss them that much because there are so many amazing gf and dairy free recipes and options in restaurants and because I feel so much better without them. (I’m working on gluten free sourdough and will post the recipe when it’s perfect!)
Functional test:
– Since I finished my IHP2 certification last year, I’ve been doing a few tests on myself. I did a hair tissue metal analysis, Candida, Metabolic and Vitamin Testand one IgG food sensitivity test. From here, I could see how stress had depleted my body so I could work on rebuilding my mineral levels.
I learned that I had high levels of bacteria, candida, and yeast markers, as well as multiple nutritional deficiencies that I could try to correct. I also had some food sensitivities to avoid while I began to heal my gut.
Description for trends:
– I was taking notes about everything on my phone. When I had a flare – my eyes started to itch, become extremely red and watery – I noted my food intake that day. I began to realize a common theme: histamines.
Histamine Load:
– Histamine was a huge moment for me. It wasn’t just high histamine foods that triggered my eyes, it was a compound effect of histamines and allergens. The worst flares – April and August – were the result of many things. In April, I was gardening all day and not wearing sunglasses. It was blowing and dirt and pollen were flying into my eyes. We went to the cinema, where I drank a huge black tea. I have now learned that black and green tea are HUGE triggers for me. When I cut them, my life changed. The good news is that I can still drink coffee 😉
This is why I can eat a few high histamine foods here and there, but I just watch my histamine load throughout the day.
Gut Repair and Healing Protocols:
– Gut repair. i do it CBO protocol right now to heal my gut. It’s 12 weeks and while it was a little rough at first, I feel amazing. I can definitely share a recap of my experience with CBO.
– I eat lots of veggies, fruit, lean protein, healthy fats (I have an avocado or oily fish most days of the week) and eat more beans than I have in my entire life. I also have a lot more potatoes (so good with Kerrygold butter and Redmond salt) and root vegetables.
– I’ve done it parasite protocol – parasites live in biofilms, just like the bacteria in my gut and the demodex that was in my eyes!- so I wanted to clean it. This protocol is easy.
Excercise:
– Since last year, I have only been doing strength training and low impact training. I finally feel like I can lift weights again and build in more intense cardio. I think cardio is great for us, but when you’re in a high-stress situation, it can help you taper off.
– This is what my routine currently looks like:
F45 twice a week (power or hybrid days only)
Barre once or twice a week
Hot yoga once a week
Peloton or Sculpt Society for cardio once a week
Daily walks or hiking
Detoxification:
– I have kept up with mine quarterly functional detoxes, and have made an effort to reduce toxins in our home. We got these amazing shower filters, continue to filter our drinking water, and also got rid of our couch and carpet because they tested positive for mold. keeping up with mine sauna blanketdry brushing and castor oil packs too.
Regulation of the nervous system:
– This can have such a huge impact on healing. When my eyes first opened I was SO incredibly stressed. I didn’t sleep for weeks because I was up all night googling my symptoms and crying. This was 100% what I shouldn’t have done, but I couldn’t help myself. I had to start telling myself that I was going to get better, my eyes were going to heal and I was going to be fine.
I’ve started to find more time for peace and I’ve stopped trying to fill every moment of every day. I’ve made sleep even more of a priority and aim for 8 hours every night, 9-10 hours on weekends. I pray every day and meditate PEMF Go Mat while doing my eye mask; it is such a relaxing treat.
Although adjusting the nervous system has been the most challenging aspect of it all, and I still have a long way to go, I’m proud of myself for making strides this year.
It looks like a lot when I type it all out, but this has been building and evolving over the last year. It’s all just a part of life now and it’s inherent. I don’t really have to think about it anymore. As I learned more and as I continued to heal, I made adjustments to the plan. I’m just looking forward to our next trip to Europe when I’m not worried about my eyes all the time 😉
Thanks for making it this far and sticking with me here. While I was in the depths of this, I was at a low point. You all were a bright spot in my time.
If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them!
If you are curious about functional testing, email me gina@fitnessista.com subject: TESTING
Have a great day and see you soon!
ho ho
Gina
