Part 2

I wrote the paragraphs below in April of 2018. Maybe I will update with the rest soon. Maybe I won't. I would at least like to have this part on the blog before moving forward....

Let's back up a bit to before the swelling, itching and unGodly misery began. It was 2015. I was to the point of having more migraine days than non-migraine days. I could always schedule around them, though, as they coincided with certain days of the month. For example, beginning to end of shark week (period week) and when I was ovulating. On those days I was useless. I could barely open my eyes, I cried a lot, I saw colors that were usually normal as being extremely bright and glowing and I vomited when they were the most extreme. When migraines get to that point they're dangerous. I was scared I would end up having a stroke or something. I knew I had to go off of birth control pills. I never had these migraines before I went on them. I had experienced maybe 2 or 3 in my life before then. The only reason I went on them to begin with was because I was diagnosed with PCOS and was told that they would help. I was also put on Metformin because PCOS causes insulin resistance. This also explained why I had a hard time losing weight. All that aside, I still had to go off of BC pills because the migraines had gotten to the point of being debilitating. And they only seemed to get worse as time progressed. So in 2015 I went off of them. The migraines stopped almost immediately. However, I started having some skin issues. My skin was super oily and I started getting red splotches on my face. They were easily covered with  make-up since they were not raised like pimples. Just red splotches that had a slightly different texture. I was able to cover it for about 5 or 6 months. In that time I decided to go plant based in my diet. Prior to that I had been on the Paleo diet.

Before I tell you about the Paleo to Plant Based transition, let me paint a picture of my time on a low carb and Paleo diet. For the 7 year prior to making the switch to a Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) diet I had been on a low carb/Paleo style diet. I did still have dairy, though, which is debatable on a Paleo diet. In the years I was on a Paleo diet I fluctuated with my weight, I had doubled the amount of Methotrexate (chemo in pill form) and I had added an Enbrel injection (a biologic for RA), Atenolol (heart med), and 9 vitamin and mineral supplements. Plus the other RA meds that I had been on for years. Oh, and my RA was still not under control completely. I was able to get about fine, but my hands were still swollen in the mornings and my knee was never quite right. I had random flare ups that had my joints frozen for however long the flare lasted and I was sick a lot of the week after taking Methotrexate. I looked normal to others, but this was from having dealt with this kind of thing for years. I was, and still am, good at faking well.

So, I transitioned overnight from Paleo to Whole Food Plant Based. It was frustrating at first only because I had to relearn how to cook. The hardest part is having to check labels and find new staples. There is oil in almost EVERYthing!! And oil is not a whole food. It's extremely processed. Yes, even coconut and olive oils. I have to be honest, my skin remained the same and by this time it had gotten worse. I saw doctor after doctor. I had a biopsy that was inconclusive other than saying I had a virus that was likely already resolved by the time my results came in. So since my skin was still messed up they wanted to do more biopsies. One doc wanted 4 more biopsies and another wanted 7! Yep, 7!! I told them no and saw one last doctor. By that time I had decided to stop taking all of my medication. I felt like my body was shutting down and the poisons (medications) were the cause. Some were stopped overnight. Others, like the heart medication, were a slow process. By the time I saw my 5th doctor my skin had started clearing up. I was also at my lowest weight since high school. Yay!

Long Story Short

I'm watching a series on Netflix called Tales by Light. It's about photographers that travel the world and take once in a lifetime photos. By the end of the first episode I was bawling. Not just because the imagery and sentiment coupled with the end music was moving, but because I haven't been able to venture out into the world with my own camera in about 1.5 years.

As you may have guessed already by taking a gander around the links and title of this blog, I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. I've always hated that it's called that, by the way. It's so much more than joint pain and gets grouped with osteoarthritis by everyone that hasn't dealt with the disease. Osteoarthritis is caused by injury and age. Rheumatoid Disease is caused by your own immune system attacking your body. To include every part of your body. You have joint destruction and pain, but you may also have brain fog, heart problems, teeth deterioration, skin nodules, joint deformities, jaw misalignment and insomnia among a list of other problems. But still when I tell someone that I have RA I have to mentally brace myself for their next statement. Here are a few I've experienced; "Oh, I have a little of that", "Like what old people have?", "My grandmother has that", "Aren't you too young for that?", "Have you tried bone broth?", "Have you tried Autoimmune Paleo?", "Have you tried shark cartilage?" and my favorite, "Jesus can heal you".  Here's the thing; Unless you also have been diagnosed with RA, you shouldn't comment. Maybe just ask, "What's that like?" Or say that you have no idea what that's like. Or be sure you know exactly what RA is before saying someone you know has it. That's fine if you want to tell me all about your friend that has it. But don't mistake it for OA. And don't make suggestions on how I treat it. I've had my fill of that and you just might find out how hard a person with bad joints can elbow you in the face.

My journey with this disease started shortly after my 21st birthday. I was living in Lincolnton, Ga and working at a friend's preschool. I got very sick with something that was going around at the preschool. My temp went up to between 104 and 105. I didn't have insurance, so I didn't go to the doc. My Mom brought me some antibiotics. I eventually felt better and tried to go back to work. My ankle swelled shortly after. I didn't know what was wrong. I had broken up a fight between a wandering dog and my little pug recently by using my foot to scoot the bigger dog off mine. I knew of the dog and didn't think he'd bite me, but I wasn't putting my bare hands in between them to find out. So I used my sneakered foot to push him off. I didn't strain it, but it did pull. So when my ankle swelled a little while after I thought maybe that was why. When it didn't get any better I went to the hospital. They gave me meds for the pain, some crutches and told me to stay off of it for a week or so. They hadn't seen any break in the x-ray and said I may have pulled tendens. Long story shortened slightly, I ended up seeing several docs before being diagnosed by an Ortho and sent to Dr. McGruder at MCG in Augusta, GA. By this time both knees, my ankle and several smaller joints were swollen, painful and frozen. I was in bad shape. My Rheumatologist said I was his youngest patient and my disease was more aggressive than he'd ever seen. Gee, what do I win? Answer: Low dose chemo in the form of a pill called Methotrexate among other drugs. All of that was back in January-March of 1998.

Fast forward to my 39th year of life. After 18 plus years of being on drugs like Methotrexate, Enbrel, Plaquinil, Celebrex, Folic Acid, and a laundry list of others along the way, my body started to shut down. My skin looked like I had been burned or beaten. And I felt like I had. My eyes were swelled shut and my body felt like it was covered in ant bites. The itching was the most miserable experience of my life. So much so that I prayed for death. You have to put yourself in my position. I didn't sleep. I cried constantly. The constant itch was maddening. I sat with ice packs all over my body. I didn't know what was happening. I saw doctor after doctor and they just wanted to cut into me. None of them actually listened. I was at the end of my rope with no hope of healing.

To be continued...

This blog post was written and saved as a draft in August of 2017, and finally published on April 20th, 2018.

Test Post

This is a test post so I'm able to more clearly see how to make design choices. Stay tuned for actual posts about my day to day life as I heal my body using nutrition and other lifestyle choices.