Food Is My Medicine (Mostly…)

Back in late March, I began a sort of “experiment” with my body. After years of being very, VERY ill… I went on a super strict nutrition protocol for people with autoimmune diseases. My goal was to (hopefully) reduce inflammation, better control pain, lessen the intensity of flares, and… lose weight. By losing weight, I mean a LOT of weight, because I had gained well over 100 pounds over the course of a couple of years. Being mostly bedbound from illness can do that to a person. Add in a wonky thyroid, and well… yeah…

This nutrition protocol is called the Wahls Protocol*, and it is a form of the Paleo diet but with modifications in place for people who suffer from autoimmune diseases. Certain foods CAUSE inflammation (who knew?) so cutting them all out was a vital first step for me. With Wahls, I consume no gluten, no grains, no lentils, etc… NO PROCESSED FOOD OF ANY KIND. I eat fresh produce – lots of green leafy veg, cruciferous veg, lots of berries, some nuts, and lots of meat and seafood. Mind you, it ALL has to be organic… the meats have to be grass-fed, organic, etc… and the fish needs to be wild caught as opposed to farmed. In other words, this is NOT a cheap way to eat! It is one of those diets where you initially cut EVERYTHING out, pretty much, and then you proceed to reintroduce a few here and there to see how you tolerate them. With that being said though, there are certain core ones that you never reintroduce, and that’s okay. Technically, on the protocol, I am not supposed to do dairy, either… but in limited bits, I do eat some Greek yogurt, as well as filmjölk (it’s a Scandinavian sort of fermented milk – a bit like a cross between buttermilk and yogurt?) and I do very limited bits of certain (organic) cheeses. Dairy, as a whole, has never bothered me, except for plain milk. My whole life, I have broken out in proper rashes all over my body whenever I consumed a glass of milk. In an odd twist of events though, I’ve discovered that if I do the ORGANIC, WHOLE MILK, I do not have that issue at all. It’s crazy!

It’s also bonkers the kind of crap we let them get away with in this country with regards to what they can toss into our foods… and the pesticides… ugh! Don’t get me started… Let’s just say that when I lived in the UK, I wasn’t nearly as sick as I have been here. The food in the United States is dangerously unhealthy. With my health being so precarious, I have GOT to be super picky about what I choose to consume. My mantra now is “FOOD IS MY MEDICINE“. I say that with the most love and affection in the world, too… because since March, I have experienced some wonderful changes in my body and my overall health. I’d call it a miracle, but I don’t want to come off as some sort of nutter. 😂

First of all, I began to notice the stiffness in my joints easing up. Next, I started getting more and more range of motion, overall. Then came the shocker – my right leg, which had not worked properly in several years (and rendered me unable to walk) was starting to “wake up”. The nerves were reawakening! I got super excited about these changes and consulted with my rheumatologist (who oversees my autoimmune stuff) and she was thrilled! She was more than happy to get me signed up with a physical therapy practice near me to see what, if any, of my mobility, I could reclaim. Over these past several months, I have gone from not being able to move around much, to getting up with a gait belt and a physical therapist holding onto me, and taking some steps! It did not happen overnight, and it isn’t happening super fast, but it IS happening! I still have some pretty awful balance problems, as well as extreme weakness in my legs and my back. There’s a lot of muscle atrophy that happens when one is largely bedbound for four and a half years – it’s unavoidable. BUT… we are working on that!

I have been so motivated to get back as much as I can… so I have even set up a little “physical therapy room” in the spare bedroom of my house. In it, I have things like ankle weights, hand weights, various sizes of yoga balls, a yoga mat, a grab bar mounted to the wall to help me do the “sit to stand” exercises, and mini squats, etc… I also have some resistance bands that I use for various things. Additionally, I have a straight-back chair in there and have done a few little “chair yoga” exercise videos for people with mobility issues. Most recently, a very dear friend bought me a very gently used recumbent elliptical machine for me to strengthen my legs even more! (We don’t have it in the upstairs PT room yet, as it is long and heavy, and would be a big deal to get it up the stairs… It’s in my office for now).

I think it’s safe to say – I have been working extremely hard!

On top of all of this, I have also lost 45 pounds. I hope to lose about 55 more. The only downside to this is that my clothing is, quite literally, falling off of me. I need new trousers. I don’t worry about shirts as much right now because they’re tee shirts (I rarely wear any other type of shirt… lol) and I can deal with those being a bit big… but when your trousers start falling around your ankles as you are relearning to walk – it can become a safety issue. 😲 Sadly, with only drawing a disability stipend, I am unable to buy more clothing at this time, so I just keep trying to be careful. There are quite a few pairs that I have had to sort of “retire” for now (until or unless I can learn to sew well enough to take them in or put drawstrings in them) because they were just WAY too big on me now. Some of the leggings, I have been able to get away with… for the time being… even if they keep sliding down. I just keep hiking them back up a lot. I’m actually kind of kicking myself for having donated all of my old trousers that I wore before I got sick… I gave them to charity thinking I would never be able to wear them again. If I had only known… Ah well, hopefully someone out there is getting some good use out of them. I LOVED those jeggings so much, too – they were comfy! They came from a shop in London called “Yours” and I don’t think I have ever owned more comfy trousers. If I had the money, I could order more online from their store, but… the shipping fees would be outrageous! *sigh* So for now… just call me “Droopy Drawers”… 😂

Overall, I have been doing WONDERFUL on this protocol.

Now… do I still have flares and pain? Damn right, I do. I still have six autoimmune diseases – that won’t change. There’s no cure for them, thus far. But I have noticed my flares are fewer in frequency AND duration. My average pain levels have gone from about a 7.5-8… down to about a 3 (ish) most days. Even in a flare, the pain’s around a 5 or 6 now. I had previously had flares that hit me at around a 9 or more! MARKED improvement!

Now for the mental health bit…

My depression and anxiety have been wildly uncontrolled for several years now. I’ve had anxiety since the age of four (was diagnosed as a child) and have had struggles with depression off and on for most of my life. In the past few years, however, both of those have been astronomically worse. I have even had suicidal thoughts and came a bit too close to that than I would like to admit. Scarily close. Since going on the protocol, my mental health has improved, but I am still struggling. I am eating LOADS of foods that HAVE been proven to help those issues (lots of berries, tons of foods full of antioxidants, etc…) but I guess on their own, they are still not QUITE enough. This week, I took the step of going to my GP (or Primary Care doctor here in the States) and he has prescribed some medication for me to try and help with the anxiety bit. The depression seems a little better than it was, but I am still having crap loads of panic attacks. Like full-on panic! I’ve even had to go to the hospital for it. Granted, the inordinate amounts of stress I have been under these last few years, and the financial stress I am under now definitely play a key role here – but I SHOULD be able to cope far better than I am. Hence… the medication. I’ve been put on 10 mg of Lexapro to be taken once a day. I took this medication many years ago for a short while in 1999 after the death of my mother and that of a dear friend really knocked me for six. I tolerated it well then, as I recall, so I am hopeful that will be the case now. I know that our body chemistry can change over time, so I am crossing my fingers that all will be well. My doctor told me he trusts this medication, and that a close family member has taken it for a couple of decades with no worries. *Big sigh* Okay… I guess we’re doing this, then.

*LATER EDITED TO ADD: I have not started the medication. It turns out that it was flagged in my medication app telling me not to take it due to severe interactions with my Lupus meds, so I need to wait until I go back to the doctor again to re-visit the matter.

I feel a bit “let down” that I am having to resort to medication for this. Let me just say, that I do NOT believe there is ANY shame in taking medication for mental health issues or for ANYTHING at all – it’s fine. I am just disappointed because after I went on the protocol and lost some weight, etc… I was able to come off of TWO medications I had been on for blood pressure. I was down to only 3 a day – one for thyroid, one for Lupus, and one for stomach acid (which I hope to be able to come off of eventually). But now I am ADDING one… so, yeah… It’s just disappointing to me. I don’t know why, but it is. I guess it made me feel like a bit of a failure because I was trying so hard to come OFF of medications – and now here I am adding one back into the mix. It’s silly, I know. I’m just one of those people who hate having to take meds and who would rather solve issues the “natural” way, if at all possible. I do realise, though, that sometimes the situation dictates otherwise. It happens. I just need to make my peace with it and move forward. I think it’s one of those “choose your battles” things… I want to get better, so I have to do this. Plain and simple. *shrugs*

So, we shall see… It seems as though this journey keeps constantly changing… there are a LOT of good things happening, all of which I am super grateful for…. but there are also some wobbles along the way. I guess, really, that’s kind of just how life is – for everyone – not just someone in my position. And… we just kind of have to get on with it, don’t we?

So food is STILL my number one medicine at the moment, but… as of today… I am also adding in some “happy pills” – stay tuned!

FTC NOTICE: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If there are links from this site to Amazon products, I could possibly earn a small commission from sales.