Day 25 of my second W30

[Diannah]

Wasn't sure I should do this. After all, what's so special about my journey that I should be bragging/sharing it? But then something happened yesterday, with results today, that really made me stop and think about this journey I'm on.

 

A few months ago May 8 to be exact, I was hospitalized with unexplained dizziness. I am 51 and have a host of medical conditions, including fibromyalgia, chronic ulcerative colitis, mild hypoglycemia, an achalasia variant and an asthma variant (nothing's normal or simple about me!). I'm also allergic to an ever growing list of antibiotics and other meds, including albuterol, the traditional rescue inhaler used by most asthmatics. Going into the hospital, especially while my usual GP was on vacation, can be a very scary proposition for me. Treating me "by the numbers" or using "cookie cutter medicine" can literally kill me. I had already had a couple of "discussions" with docs wanting to just shove yet another medicine in me when a youngish woman in a white coat came into my room, saying she was a neurology nurse practitioner, coming in to check on me. Since I was in the middle of one of the dizzy spells that sent me to the hospital, she had great timing. After doing several neuro checks, she began to ask me about my sleep habits and nutrition. Wait, what?? A neurology specialist interested in more than just reflexes and the latest neuro drug? She suggested that I pick up a book, called "It Starts With Food", and read through it before we met for a follow up in 6 weeks.

 

I picked up the book a few days after being discharged (diagnosis? Unexplained dizziness possibly caused by either a too high dose of progesterone and too low blood sugar levels or an aberrant migraine caused by the same things). The book made so much sense to me that I started my first W30 immediately. I had already been off all gluten grains for 6 months or so, so this didn't seem like quite so huge of a change to me as it might to some. The first few weeks were rather rough, especially as this coincided with rehearsing and performing in a musical that required me to dance and run at levels I've never had to maintain before. A quick check in with the Neuro NP, and a few more supplements were added to my regime in the hope that they would help my legs recover more quickly. By the end of that W30, I had lost 9lbs (something that had taken 3 months before) and found the show much easier to perform.

 

A few weeks off after that W30 included attempting to add some things back into the diet (non-gluten grains are a big no-no, as is sugar. Bummer.) The state fair came, with all it's indulgences. Then it was back to a second Whole30. I felt too good during the first one to not try it again.

 

The second time through has been a bit more challenging. A few more cravings than last time. A LOT more moodiness (ah, the joys of peri-menopause!) A little more frustration with not being able to just quick grab something to eat. But still too many positives to just give up.

 

Then yesterday, I was asked to work putting away our remaining product shipment. I work as a dog training instructor in a large pet supply store. The only thing remaining were 5 pallets of mainly dog and cat food and cat litter.  Normally I would have only been able to work maybe a pallet or two, and be almost unable to move the next day. I worked every pallet, completely cleared the truck, totally by myself. I went to sleep last night dreading how I would feel today. Imagine my total shock to wake up this morning with NO soreness. None. Nada. And no Fibro flare either, a common result of over-extension.

 

I see my GP this Friday for blood work. I can't wait to see her reaction to all the changes. We already know that my cholesterol numbers dropped almost 40 points. I have dropped from the obese category to overweight. And I've dropped over 20lbs since starting all this. More importantly, I have energy, no stomach pain or cramping, am sleeping like a baby, and can exercise 30 or more minutes at a time without cramping up or triggering a flare.  All because a young-ish woman in a white coat recommended a book.

 

Thank you, Dallas and Melissa. You have, without a doubt, changed my life. For the better!

[DesertHealing]

Awesome! great to hear Diannah! How long did it take for your fibro pain to subside? I am on day 16 and have better energy but still lots of pain. Do you take other meds like cymbalta?

[Diannah]

Deserthealing - Since starting my first Whole30, I have had exactly 1 flare - when I started trying to add foods back in. I still have some achey-ness here and there, but none of the full blown "I don't really want to move right now" flares. I was never on anything more than Remeron at night for my fibro. We have to be rather careful when adding new meds - I don't always react predictably. I learned most of my flare triggers early - caffeine, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, weather changes, stress and Menses - and learned to avoid as many as I could. Stopping Gluten helped a ton, the Whole 30's seem to have taken care of most if not all of the rest. Had a colonoscopy a bit back, and my colitis is GONE. As in, if they didn't have pictorial evidence of past flare ups, they'd call me a liar.:-) I'm having to learn how to live as a healthy person. Kind of a nice challenge to have, I must admit.

[Freyheron]

Diannah- fantastic news about the colitis disappearing!  Today is day 1 of my first W30.  My naturopath ordered me to start this healthy eating to help with a whole host of issues for me and the two we have in common is achalasia and asthma.  I had surgery for achalasia last year after I was unable to swallow water or saliva.  Surgery was successful but my small intestine bacteria overgrowth never rebalanced, even after 2 months of only consuming nutrition from an IV- it should have starved.  Recently been to the ER because of an asthma attack.  Now I have an elevated eosinophillic protein marker that spells signs for diseases that destroy the esophagus and cause achalasia type symptoms and will destroy my intestines until they are all completely removed by surgery....trying to prevent this from happening by rewriting my eating patterns. I would love to hear how your achalasia respnds to your second W30.

[Diannah]

Freyheron - I've actually done 4 W30's now. I live pretty much 90/10 most of the time. When I go off road too much, I do a W30 to reset. I'm still getting all the positive effects noted here. My achalasia was not a "normal" variety - they've now added the diagnosis of dysphasia. But the effects are very much muted compared to what they used to be. My cough variant asthma is also much muted. It will still get triggered on occasion (I got the flu earlier this year and it took a few weeks for the cough to go away. Luckily, we caught it early enough to put me on Tamiflu and knock it out early) but I've never been hospitalized for asthma. So I do believe that continuing on this program has made a huge difference in my health. More than anything, my medical team is now able to get to root causes of issues, instead of "putting out fires" and just treating symptoms. I hope you get the same results! Good luck on rebalancing everything. Hopefully they'll find a non-surgical treatment that works!