Beat it

A month, not even a month. My next doctors appointment is on June 15th and I am anxious. I want to know, if I am on the right track. I feel that I am and hope the results then will back me up. See, my doctors don’t know that I took myself of the medications, I decided not to tell them. I won’t tell them right away either, when I will sit in their office in June. I want to see what they have to say first. I want to see the results of the tests and blood work first. I want to know, if I made progress or if things got worse. If they got worse, well. then I screwed up….big time. But I don’t think so. 

I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis last year in June, just a few months after I quit smoking. It started in my fingers and wrists, they were swollen and awful stiff in the mornings. It lasted all day long. Soon it spread further, to my legs, my hips and my neck. I woke up in pain and felt like a real old woman when I got up…couldn’t even go down the stairs without hanging on to the railing. One step at a time. Gosh I hated it. Finally I saw a doctor and “boom” there it was. The words “auto immune disorder” and “chronic disease” were crushing down on me. Where was that coming from?

So, my immune system is out of whack and decided to attack my joints, instead of doing its job. I have this theory about my immune system. I kept it busy for 35 years with all the chemicals I inhaled on a daily base. Then, after I quit my immune stystem got bored and looked for something to do. 🙂

Lots of females, especially longtime smokers, have to deal with autoimmune disorder when they get older. I was crushed, but although not ready to just give in. I mean think about it, they give you medications “chemical bombs”, but tell you in the same sentence that there is no cure. Where is it coming from? What triggers it? They know somehow smoking is related to autoimmune disorders, especially to Celiac disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis, but don’t really know how. Smokers get lots of warnings about cancer, and COPD, signs and advertisement everywhere, but there is no warning about autoimmune disorders. Nowhere and millions suffer from it…hard to believe isn’t it? I think that’s one of the reasons that I decided to start a blog and shed some light on some things, that are still hidden in the dark.

I decided to research Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) a little bit, looked all over the world for answers. I wrote to different Universities in Europe and Asia and got answers, lots of answers and some of them just floored me.

So many people have it, I was not the only one, I was not alone. And like me, a lot of them decided against medications and looked for an alternative way to live a pain free life and they are successful.  I talked with so many people, in so many countries, it made my head spin. Talk about an overload of information. 🙂

A lady mentioned a little movie called “fat, sick and nearly dying”. What an appealing title? I am neither fat, nor dying…but she talked about it a lot and made me watch it. I streamed it, played it and my eyes popped wide open. A guy in Australia found his own way to deal with an auto immune disorder and it made sense to me. I watched another movie called “fork over knife” and my jaw dropped, I must have sat there with my mouth wide open.

My husband came home and I turned it on again, we watched it together, talked about it. “Reboot your system” it did make sense, lots of things made sense…even though I didn’t like it. Next day I went and bought a juicer.

I started juicing for 10 days. The first 3 days were hell, I was hungry all the time, my stomach was growling and even the dog food looked appealing. I started to feel better on day 4, my stomach was empty and the pain was gone. I didn’t feel hungry anymore and was full of energy. No stiffness in the morning, no swollen fingers. I could run up and down the stairs with ease, went for long walks with our dogs. I dropped 10 pounds in no time.

“I be damned”…they are right.” Rheumatoid Arthritis and food are related. I can control it with what I eat and with the food-choices I make. Talk about good news and bad news in one sentence.

I am a foodie, love to cook, love to prepare meals and love to eat. I don’t eat too much, but I eat everything, try everything and have fun doing so.

I made a decision New Years evening and started to experiment with food. I wrote a food journal, wrote down what cost pain and what didn’t, wrote down how I felt. Left the medications they gave me unopened.

I juiced for a few days after a bad day and felt instantly better afterwards. I reacted badly to dairy, sweets and gluten. The pain was the worst the day after I ate fried food. Cheap oils are a killer, they cost pain in many ways. I didn’t even know what gluten was, had to look it up. Not being able to eat dairy products hurt the most, I love cheese, yogurts and milk.

I looked at the Paleo diet. “Eat like a caveman”, it  made sense, since it cuts out all processed foods. Then there was the Gasp diet -never heard of that before- and looked into it as well. It’s a two year commitment (Bummer). Homemade broths, probiotics like kefir and sauerkraut…that was easy. I loved it all and gave it a try and I felt instantly better.

It’s already May and I haven’t popped a pill. I eat a healthy diet, pretty much a combination of all. Lots of homemade broth, lots of vegetables and lean meat, once a day a smoothie or a homemade juice.

I am not a Saint, I have “cheating days” and enjoy them. That’s when I eat whatever I want, but I don’t overdo it. The price to pay is too high and I know it.

This year is going good so far. No complaints on this end.

Is it an achievement? Not sure about that. It’s a step in the right direction that’s for sure.

 

State of Your Year

How is this year shaping up so far? Write a post about your biggest challenges and achievements thus far.

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “State of Your Year.”