My Health Journey
Freedom of Health
Although I didn't have a name for it at the time, I realize now that I had symptoms of high and low blood sugar, or reactive hypoglycemia, since childhood. By my early 20's, I had learned to eat a lot at one sitting and to eat frequent snacks. If I didn't, I would become irritable, shaky, and lightheaded. When I was in my junior year in college, I studied abroad in Costa Rica, and took many rounds of antibiotics for various ailments, from sinus infections to yeast infections, UTIs, and skin rashes. I also went on birth control pills.In the years that followed, my cravings intensified, and I depended on sugar, coffee and diet soda to get me through the day. Sometimes after exercising, I would faint.
And yet, even with all that, the thing that most bothered me was the yeast infections, which by this point had become chronic. They got so bad that the only time I would get relief from the intense burning and itching that kept me up at night was the five days a month when I was on my period.I went to multiple doctors who, each time, confirmed the yeast infections with a culture and gave me another prescription. I didn't really know what a yeast infection was. I assumed it was like any other infection, which is treated with medication. And so I took it. And self-administered a LOT of Monistat.
It didn't get better. Internet searches made me worried I had diabetes or HIV. A couple of places would mention frequent antibiotic use in the past as being a culprit (check) but I didn't know what to do about that — just try never to need antibiotics again?
In 2010 I started to do my own research to try to get to the bottom of things, and read about yeast possibly feeding on sugar in the diet, but I really couldn't wrap my mind around how a problem "down there" would have anything to do with the food that I ate. Then I came across the phrase "heal your gut" and The Gut and Psychology Syndrome diet by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. So many things I had never eaten: homemade lactose-free yogurt, egg yolks, bone broth, grass fed meat, liver, leafy greens, sauerkraut, and sardines? Because I was desperate, I was willing to give it a try.
Sure enough, the GAPS diet taught me to eat in a way that balanced my blood sugar. And did the yeast infections go away when I stopped eating so much sugar? Yes, they did. I've not had another once since. I became voracious for more information. I learned what makes food high-quality and how to optimize absorption of the important nutrients I was ingesting. I learned that I had likely developed resistance to the anti-fungal medication I had been so frequently taking. I learned that there are practitioners and organizations out there that specialize in bioindividual nutrition. Like peeling back the layers of an onion, I started a journey to find my true, holistic, wellness. The yeast infections were the outside layer, the most noticeable problem, and the easiest to make go away. But, that was just the beginning.
Over the next several years I went through extensive trial and error introducing new foods and therapeutic lifestyle practices. I geeked out on the emerging science of the gut microbiome and epigenetics. I found the foods that made me feel well and those that made me feel poorly. (Many foods on the GAPS diet made me feel poorly because I now know I have histamine intolerance and FODMAP sensitivity.) I realized what types of exercise was supporting my body and what was breaking it down. (Long distance running was breaking it down.) I learned how to chart my menstrual cycles to understand when I am fertile and when I am not fertile so I don't need to take synthetic birth control pills. I no longer suffer from anemia, asthma, acne, IBS, chronic constipation, fainting, or reactive hypoglycemia.
I became a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and an Instructor for the Nutritional Therapy Association so I may educate others about food. I am so grateful that now I feel healthier and more balanced than ever! While my health isn't "perfect" — that doesn't exist — I wake up energized and clear-headed, ready to take on every day, and I can live with that.
I look forward to meeting you and hearing your story!