Human Weakness or Divine Intervention?
You can take your pick.
Let us do a little recap:
Those of you who have known me since I was young, know that I have lived a rich life full of love, laughter, and family. However, you also know I have always gotten sick a little easier than my peers, but over all I was a happy, healthy little girl. I could not possibly mention every unexplained sickness I have had over the years, but I will mention the few I remember to be most frustrating, I am sure my mother could tell you much more. As a young child, I threw up frequently and unexpectedly. I would feel fine then all of a sudden my heart beat would pick up in speed, I would vomit on whatever unfortunate thing or person
(sorry, Mom) who was in my way, and then I would carry on feeling just fine. I also remember telling my Mom that my heart was "running" a lot. My mother took me to the doctor over and over; we got no answers.
"Take her off dairy" "Its a bug" so on and so forth. My mom tried everything to get answers for me. It just didn't happen. I eventually "out grew" these episodes, but then in high school I caught the flu, just like all of my friends. But unlike my friends, my flu wouldn't go away. I unexpectedly dropped 30 lbs in a few months. I was so tired, eating constantly, and losing weight. The doctors were never able to tell me why and my symptoms slowly faded on their own. Then in college my heart would race uncontrollably at times. It would jump up to the 200's in a matter of minutes. I had one terrifying episode in college where during a livestock judging meet, I vomited bright red blood and was rushed to the emergency room. I never got answers as to why it happened. They pumped my stomach, stabilized me, and sent me home. The doctors prescribed beta blockers. Well.... I trustingly took those beta blockers for 3 years only to find out that I did not need them and that they had damaged my kidneys that were once perfectly healthy. I had some serious kidney infections after this when I had never had a kidney or bladder infection in my life. As you can imagine, by the time I was a young adult, I had grown quite weary of doctors. I have had so many tests ran, underwent hundreds of blood draws, and I have even taken some medicines that I didn't need to. Needless to say, I do not like going to the doctor and I often choose to suffer as long as possible before going.
Where we are now:
In July of 2013 I had a small cyst removed from my kidney and I felt GREAT after that healed. My blood work showed pretty severe anemia, but I felt fantastic so we went on with our happy life! I LOVE life with my wonderful husband! My urologist suggested giving up dairy and gluten, so I did. Then in late December of that year, right around Christmas, I caught a "bug" and really have not felt well since. In Early January, about a week after the "bug," I began having nose bleeds like you would not imagine; several a day and some at night. I was cranky and I could not sleep at night without waking very frequently. I felt tired and achy. My head throbbed daily, and when I would lay down at night to sleep I would feel shaky and I could clearly feel every pound my heart made, this made it very hard for me to sleep. Keep in mind I am only 24! After talking with my doctor she concluded that she thought it was an autoimmune issue, which kind of makes sense given my history, but she would need to send me to a specialist if that were the case, (over my dead body). Since I was very clear about not wanting to be poked over and over only to not get answers again, she suggested I do an elimination diet where for 30 days I would give up all food except fresh turkey, wild game, long grain rice, certain fruits, and certain veggies.
If I have a food sensitivity I would feel better during this time and then we would slowly add back in other foods and document how I felt. At the end I would know what foods I can eat without feeling icky. Sounds great, doesn't?
I only made it a day and a half. I felt AWFUL.
I realize I did not try very long, and that embarrasses me because I wanted this to work. I am ashamed to admit that I gave up so quickly. But, let me explain how those days went. I was eating constantly on fruit or veggies. My stomach was always full, but my body felt deprived. At the end of the first day, after eating the allowed foods all day, I felt miserable. I totaled my calorie intake for that day and it was
875. I need at least
1200. I had eaten ALL DAY long. I told myself I would try again, that I would find allowed veggies with more calories and I would DO BETTER. Well, the next day I made it until noon following the diet and I had the worst headache of my life. Meanwhile I am thinking, "
THIS IS SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME FEEL BETTER. WHAT IS WRONG." I happened to read an article about low blood sugar. It caught my interest because my Granny was hypoglycemic and I never knew much about it. Anything that reminds me of my Granny is worth a read :) Turns out low blood sugar
could cause all of my symptoms. But, I knew the doctors had taken blood a lot over the years. They would know if my sugar was low. But, given my state of misery, I decided to call my doctor to let her know how I felt and to ask if she knew my blood sugar numbers. She pulled up my file and informed me that my blood sugar levels had never been "flagged". I asked her to read them to me anyway. The highest reading I have had in the last 5 years is 74 and the lowest was 64. She explained to me that normal blood sugar levels are 70 to 100 and anything below 70 is considered too low. I asked her how come I had never been told about it before and she said that my numbers were not alarming, but the fact that I do not have
any numbers above the 74 mark is interesting. She also told me that my sodium levels are always low and that I have always been at least borderline anemic, which I already knew. She said it is possible that a combination of anemia and low blood sugar could be causing my immune system to crash, but that it is not the most likely answer but that blood work and testing could tell us if I have a sugar issue... But, we all know how I feel about that.
I felt so confused.
I just want to feel healthy again.
The next day I decided I needed a break before continuing the elimination diet. So I ate something small every 2 hours and drank 8 large glasses of water that day to try to rebuild my system to get me through the next 30 days of torture. I ate from all food groups, I just ate very small portions at a time and very frequently. By 9 am I was headache free. I slept 6 straight hours that night and it felt glorious. The next day I tried it again, and out of pure curiosity, I even ate 2 gluten items, but I paired them with a small protein source as well. Still no headache. Slept through the night again. I still have some weird symptoms we would like answers to, but for now I feel much better and my nose has not bled the last couple days of eating this way. So perhaps it is a sugar issue? I do not know.
It does not make sense. I do not care :)
So, maybe I am too weak (or too weak minded?) to do the diet. Maybe it really would be best for me. But, if drinking tons of water and eating every 2 hours is all it takes to make me feel like a human again, then I will carry almonds and apples in my purse for the rest of my life. I do not know why I have these weird symptoms, and I will (most likely) eventually go have more tests ran to be sure, but for now I am going to try eating this way and see if I continue to improve. Oh and to any of my doctor friends, it is nothing personal ;)
Sorry if you were looking forward to the elimination diet posts. If I have to do it again, I will let you know! Thank you for the support and prayers.
The Hunters Wife
