So the good news is that I paid $800 to get these two blood tests and they have been totally worth it. I know my body cross reacts to avocados, kiwis, bananas, etc, thinking it's gluten. So I know more triggers. That's super helpful.
Now I know I'm auto-immune. The good part of this is that it was caught early. MD's don't catch autoimmune issues until it's too late to go back - ie, Rheumatoid Arthritis, lupus, diabetes, etc. There are so many diseases out there that are constant painful reminders to people that they are autoimmune. So the good news is that I'm not at that point. I'm at the point where I know it, I have to watch my life and food and stressors so that I don't get to that point, but it's manageable.
Again, I only retain like 10% of what the nutritionist tells me. So here is my feeble attempt to regurgitate what she said... 1) my body is too weak today to be cleared. Odd, but not unusual. I kept my last clearance ,which is a big deal. It's a very positive thing that I keep my clearings and don't lose them. My nutritionist loses her clearings monthly. So the fact that I'm keeping mine is a good thing. 2) My autoimmune results came back with three things on them. While they are tough enough to deal with, they are not the ones that hit my nerves, or my collagen, or are things that keep me in constant pain. So I'm thankful for that.
These first two areas are less serious - but still serious - than the last one. First is the Parietal Cell and ATPase. That means that when I get stress in my life, or walk into a heavy-chemical area, or eat the wrong foods - anything that messes up my now-sensitive immune system that is already deregulated, it will derail easily again. This area means it hits my stomach (as we already know). Gives me leaky gut, makes me bloat, means I won't digest food as easily, will give me stomach issues.
The second area is Tropomyosin. My nutritionist was a little fuzzy on this one, and is going to get more info. It affects the proteins in my muscles, which means that when any of the above-mentioned things happen, my muscles will hurt. WELL, this is very true - since I had the hand and feet cramping, and since my wrists were in a lot of pain and the workman's comp doctors couldn't figure out why I was still having pain. So this validates me and what I've been feeling. So that's the silver lining.
The third area is the hardest and most serious. It's called Platelet Glycoprotein. This was the highest out of range and if I have any of the above triggers, it will affect me in the autoimmune, cardiovascular or lupus areas... So basically that means, if I don't regulate and monitor my diet, i could get lupus.
Technically I'm "at risk" of getting any autoimmune disorder b/c my immune system is weak. I can support my immune system by eating the right foods, but I can't "go back". My body has the anti-bodies in it now, and will always be fighting itself, which causes inflammation. That's why it's important to eat non-inflammatory foods.
But this means that since I'm auto-immune, I have to be very careful to maintain variety in my diet so I don't develop more sensitivities. Ie, I can't have green tea every morning. Has to be every three mornings. I have to keep major variety. The good news is that if I can handle green tea fine every morning, and then one morning I'm like whooooa that green tea didn't sit well! Then I just take it out, let my body calm down and try again next week. If the next day I start to notice other foods not sitting well, that I should be able to eat, then I opened up my leaky gut again, have to do this repairvite diet again, and get myself back on track.
My nutritionist said that I will constantly be working with my body. Embrace the hiccups along the way. If I let myself stress out about them it will make them worse. I will have hiccups, but I'm being given tools how to get through them. So at least that's good to know.
She said that at least I have all this data so if I get to be pregnant one day, I'll know how to best handle it. It'll be imperative to be stress free for the 9 months and then be careful about what I feed the baby. I won't worry about that now, but am tucking in the back of my head.
She also said that it's going to be very important to be stress free. In general in life, that's important. Same with the way I'm eating; ultimately that's the best way to eat - foods that don't inflame a person's body. As organic as possible. that's great. stress free is great - then I'm not getting cortisol into my system which can cause so many issues. Ultimately this is good...I have to remind myself of that.
But I think I grieve that my big dream in life right now is to get involved physically fighting human trafficking. But how can I do that when I can't be stressed? I love adrenaline. I LIVE for adrenaline. Can I do that without being stressed?
I realize I'm not leaving room for God to step in and work miracles and bring healing. This is my knee-jerk reaction to what the nutritionist said. I'll be processing awhile. At least I have the tests, I'm gathering data, and am armed with knowledge. I feel like she's on to something, and my body responds how she said it will...
But quite frankly, this sucks. It's life long. I will constantly be thinking about foods, about how to eat, what to have. It consumes me so much right now that I'm sick of it. I'm sure I'll get to a point where I'l figure this out so much more. But it might be another year until I'm comfortable cooking for others and am not overwhelmed with the idea of going to the grocery store. I think this sucks too just because I'm already disappointed with nothing to do on my birthday, and feeling lonely. Guess it's a great time for God to step in :)
And...to end on a positive note...she said I can have my unsweetened coconut with agave nectar on my birthday... Wonder if I can put a candle on it?? ;)
The third area is the hardest and most serious. It's called Platelet Glycoprotein. This was the highest out of range and if I have any of the above triggers, it will affect me in the autoimmune, cardiovascular or lupus areas... So basically that means, if I don't regulate and monitor my diet, i could get lupus.
Technically I'm "at risk" of getting any autoimmune disorder b/c my immune system is weak. I can support my immune system by eating the right foods, but I can't "go back". My body has the anti-bodies in it now, and will always be fighting itself, which causes inflammation. That's why it's important to eat non-inflammatory foods.
But this means that since I'm auto-immune, I have to be very careful to maintain variety in my diet so I don't develop more sensitivities. Ie, I can't have green tea every morning. Has to be every three mornings. I have to keep major variety. The good news is that if I can handle green tea fine every morning, and then one morning I'm like whooooa that green tea didn't sit well! Then I just take it out, let my body calm down and try again next week. If the next day I start to notice other foods not sitting well, that I should be able to eat, then I opened up my leaky gut again, have to do this repairvite diet again, and get myself back on track.
My nutritionist said that I will constantly be working with my body. Embrace the hiccups along the way. If I let myself stress out about them it will make them worse. I will have hiccups, but I'm being given tools how to get through them. So at least that's good to know.
She said that at least I have all this data so if I get to be pregnant one day, I'll know how to best handle it. It'll be imperative to be stress free for the 9 months and then be careful about what I feed the baby. I won't worry about that now, but am tucking in the back of my head.
She also said that it's going to be very important to be stress free. In general in life, that's important. Same with the way I'm eating; ultimately that's the best way to eat - foods that don't inflame a person's body. As organic as possible. that's great. stress free is great - then I'm not getting cortisol into my system which can cause so many issues. Ultimately this is good...I have to remind myself of that.
But I think I grieve that my big dream in life right now is to get involved physically fighting human trafficking. But how can I do that when I can't be stressed? I love adrenaline. I LIVE for adrenaline. Can I do that without being stressed?
I realize I'm not leaving room for God to step in and work miracles and bring healing. This is my knee-jerk reaction to what the nutritionist said. I'll be processing awhile. At least I have the tests, I'm gathering data, and am armed with knowledge. I feel like she's on to something, and my body responds how she said it will...
But quite frankly, this sucks. It's life long. I will constantly be thinking about foods, about how to eat, what to have. It consumes me so much right now that I'm sick of it. I'm sure I'll get to a point where I'l figure this out so much more. But it might be another year until I'm comfortable cooking for others and am not overwhelmed with the idea of going to the grocery store. I think this sucks too just because I'm already disappointed with nothing to do on my birthday, and feeling lonely. Guess it's a great time for God to step in :)
And...to end on a positive note...she said I can have my unsweetened coconut with agave nectar on my birthday... Wonder if I can put a candle on it?? ;)
Aww :( Good luck!! I'm glad you get something for your birthday! I'm so sorry that you have to deal with all this, but I know you can do it. Just keep your head high :) You know I'm here to help as much as I can! I'm glad you figured this out before it got too bad. Though it still seems pretty bad. But you can do this and balance it all out. Just work on things like making food schedules so you make sure you aren't eating things too often. But I'm you can get that figured out. Good luck! Love you :)
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