Monday, March 11, 2013

Health Update - Personal Testimony and Journey

I suffered from chronic fatigue for over 13 years and many, many trips to the doctors, tests after tests after tests just to be put on handfuls of medications. Over six years ago, I set on a different path and began seeking healing through diet and nutrition. I had AMAZING amounts of energy, lost 80 pounds and kept it off for five years. I had found a healthy weight and stayed there, even when I fasted or detoxed, I maintained my weight. I was eating about 95% raw and vegan with an occasionally sushi treat. What can I say, I LOVE sushi!!!!!!!!! You can read more about my story here. About three years ago, I began to get lazier with my eating, I moved to Hawaii and had no control over my food prep, in 2010 spent three months in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, got a parasite, and in 2011 spent three months in Japan and Thailand. I tried to stay raw as best I could but it wasn't always possible. I had several food allergies (dairy, corn, almonds, and yeast), many people prayed for healing and I would attempt to eat those items again, only to make me sick again. Progressively I began having more and more food intolerance. I did several detoxes and a few 40 day fasts, I introduced Kombucha and Kevita drinks into my routine to incorporate probiotics. I began running again in July through October and was feeling and doing great. 

On October 13, 2012 was the Ironman World Championship in Kona. The best of the best come to compete. I was volunteering with a professional triathlete's ministry leading up to Ironman and was super busy for months. On Wednesday, October 17th, I went to the office early, bringing my Morning Glory Drink with me. A good 40 ounces, as I had been doing every day for weeks. Around 11am I went to check the mail and say goodbye to a friend that was leaving that day and quickly began to feel very ill to the point I thought I was going to pass out. I returned to the office and went home immediately. Crawled in bed and slept until the next morning. I thought I was so exhausted from working so much, yet something in my spirit told me to call the doctor. Now I hadn't been to the doctor in over 8 years and hadn't even had health insurance for about seven years so for me to go to the doctor is a big deal, after all, 13 years of repeated doctor visits in tests got me sicker. Since I was a new patients, they told me someone would have to call me back to schedule the appointment. I called right when the opened at 8am, by 4:30pm I still hadn't heard back so I called again. They couldn't get me in for 8 days, I pleaded and said something wasn't right, I had been sleeping for a day and a half, after talking to the triage nurse, they squeezed me in the following Monday. I continued to sleep from the time I came home on Wednesday at midday all weekend until my appointment. The longest I was up was an hour here and there. They ordered a blood work which I had done the next day and the following Monday I got a call from the nurse saying that I was really anemic and the doctor wanted to order some additional diagnostic tests. Back to the lab the following day. This continued on for weeks. What I really appreciate about the doctor (actually the Physician's Assistant) that I was seeing is that he did NOT just prescribe me meds for the anemia, which turned out to be due to iron-defficiency. He was really working to figure out what was causing the anemia. 

This continued on for 8 weeks, tests after tests, with no answers. I was hoping to use medical science to tell me 'what' was wrong so I could use alternative medicine to correct it. It didn't make any sense to me, as I was taking in plenty of iron in my diet. I told the doctor repeatedly that it really seemed like an absorption issue to me. One of the tests they did appeared that my iron was in a normal range but my ferritin (iron storage was almost nothing) and hemoglobin was low. Ferritin is what gives you energy so needless to say this made sense that I had NO energy, ZIP, ZERO! And that I continued to spend my days in bed, sleeping, barely able to move. Any kind of activity, even going to the grocery store and coming right back was physically exhausting. I began doing a lot of my own research in the little time I was actually awake. I came across an article that talked about one of biggest causes of Iron Deficiency Anemia was due to improper balance of gut flora (good bacteria in your digestive tract). Let me back up a sec, right before Thanksgiving I went to see an allergist. My list of allergies had significantly grown. I'm now allergic to peanuts, pecans, black walnuts, sesame, soy, beef, chicken, lamb, pork, turkey, and eggs, in addition to the previous allergies. Nice, huh! Oh, and I'm asthmatic so got a breathing treatment and prescription for an inhaler, which I went through in two weeks. My doctor prescribed a maintenance inhaler and another emergency inhaler, which seemed to help a bit. He also encouraged me to try an iron supplement, which made me really ill and therefore haven't been able to take. I've tried taking it in smaller doses, different times of the days etc. 

Fast forward to February..........still tired, still no energy, back to eating almost only a raw food diet and staying away from allergens. Still no improvement. Take that back, I progressed to napping daily but not sleeping all day! Let's go back to the article I read about gut flora being the main cause of iron deficiency anemia, this made a whole lot of sense to me. Since I'm allergic to dairy, I can't eat yogurt and therefore don't any probiotics, which help with gut flora (good bacteria). When I went to Haiti and the Dominican, I did take some while I was out of the country. As I mentioned before, I've done a lot of detoxes and fasts over the last few years, sometimes for health, sometimes for spiritual reasons and sometimes for both. Detoxes are good to give your body, specifically your digestive tract a break and flush the toxins out. One thing I never gave much thought to was probitics and restoring proper balance after cleansing my system. When I first began the healing process in 2006, I followed Dr. Don Colbert's Bible Cure book for Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia. I cut out everything processed, everything white (flour, sugar, potatoes, rice, etc) and sugars (including fruit) for over 3 months (may have been closer to 6) to clear candida (overgrowth of yeast in my digestive tract). For the last month, I've eaten a pretty good raw food diet and still no improvement. 

Fast forward to March........I'm staying with a friend in Orlando, resting and focusing on getting well. Six days ago we began doing a candida cleanse. We are following The Candida Diet, my friend, Mariah, is doing it with me. It makes a HUGE different when you have someone doing it with you and supporting you! I'm super thankful for her hospitality for the last four weeks and her friendship! We haven't eaten in six days, just a vegetable broth twice a day, a detox drink three times a day (water, liquid bentonite clay, and fiber mix) followed by water, and a liver flush in the evening. It's been good. You do this for seven days and then begin a strict diet (no sugars and other foods until symptoms improve), adding a good probiotic and anti fungal. So that's where I am today. Oh, I forgot to mention, in less then seven weeks, I packed on 30 pounds, which doesn't seem to be budging! Super frustrating when you are eating so healthy. 

All this to say, I have faith! I believe! I know the Lord is watching over me, I know He has my best interest at heart and He is in control. I know I will be healed and I'm doing my best to REST, learning to REST in Him and continually wait on Him! I would appreciate your prayers and I will update you on my journey to restored health! Stay posted for lots of good healthy recipes. Feel free to message me if you have any questions mailfontaine@yahoo.com

Lots of love, Christine

p.s. sorry for the long post

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