Wonder if that title "Confused and desperate" hits home with anyone else? I set up this blog with the intent to chronicle my journey to health and between then and now I've embarked on at least two approaches that all promised results only to find just partial help. I'm not quite where I started, but not at all near where I need to be for normal life.
So, where is it that I am? I guess a beginning point needs to be declared. I am presently at 223# over 5' 3" of me, with a large bulk in the midsection. That's the bare bones, or should I say the "fat facts". My ankles tend to swell and I have a whole litany of physical symptoms to plague me daily: burning and blurring eyes, fatigue, nausea, chills and hot flashes, itching, headaches, and muscular pain in my legs and neck. The neck pain is probably a residual from the car accident I was in three and a half years ago; the leg/calf pain and sometimes restlessness is undecipherable, even to the doctor.
Yes, there is menopause complicating things probably, as I am "that" age (55 years, I think. It changes every year...) I also have hyperthyroidism - though for me it doesn't mean a skinny body - for which I take methimazole (10 mg) daily.
That's my beginning.
The false starts included juicing, which helped me lose about 10 pounds in total, and the Kathy Abascal To Quiet Inflamation Diet (TQI), which taught me to enjoy quality food and lose about another 10 pounds. Which brings me to now.
Currently I am exploring the wisdom in Allergies: Disease in Disguise, a book loaned me by a pharmacist friend. It seems to be a logical extension of the TQI diet that has you identify foods that you can't tolerate well. While the TQI approach is to only eat those poorly tolerated foods as treats, the Allergies approach is to heal the digestive tract system so the foods can be tolerated again, eventually.
Personally, I'd rather heal my body to allow all good foods than avoid foods for the rest of my life. Foods and eating socially is so much a part of our world. I'd rather not be the square peg in a round world. And, I'd rather heal than avoid.
So, for the next bit, I'll be exploring the wisdom in Allergies with you all. Next time I'll get a link up for the book - until then, realize it is written by Carolee Bateson-Koch DC ND.
Having said this - I am also very open to alternative approaches. In truth, they are my first choices. Accordingly, I am using the Tapping protocol that Gary Craig teaches at http://emofree.com/eft/recipe.html. How this will mix and meld with eating strategies and pain medication - I'm not sure yet. When I tap it seems to cut the pain in half or more - depending how many times I repeat the procedure. Yet, there are times I just seem to need to take some Ibuprofen for the pain.
This all points to the emotions of our lives and how it all figures in with health. More on that next time, for it needs space on its own.
Join me in pursuing peace, healing, and health.
Jan
