PICTURES - finally!!!

I was never able to find my camera cord - however hubby reminded me that he plugged in my camera once to our cell phone charger on a trip when the battery was low and it charged just  fine.  Lo and behold - I was able to connect the cell phone USB cable from my camera to my phone and voila!  Pictures downloaded!  Yippee!

This week was super busy!  Went for an acupuncture appointment which went well and my itching seemed to go away for about 2 days.  For it to work well, one must go every 3-4 days if I read that correctly.  That would get too expensive so I decided to research Qi Gong (thank you Dan for the information!) and will try acupuncture points at home.

I also saw my ND - he didn't think I was over methylating, but said even with the homozygous mutation he found that the majority of people do well on the 1000 mcg dosing of the active B12 and active folate.  So I decreased my dose and will stay on that for the time being.  He said I was probably in need of more antioxidants like Vitamin C, E and the glutathione.  I still had some oral glutathione at home so he said if I started to feel better in terms of fatigue and healing then I should consider a month or two more of weekly IV glutathione since it seemed to help my overall well being before.  I also realized I never bought more vitamin C which I ran out of a month or so ago - so I bought some more.  He also wanted to check my thyroid due to my lingering fatigue and recent weight gain.  But I declined at this point and started taking a few drops of Lugol's iodine a day to see if that doesn't help.  That was about it.  I told him about my stagnant healing - not getting any worse skin wise, but not getting better either.  He reminded me with my type of gene mutation that my body has 40 years of cellular repair to catch up on...and that's for my whole body - not just for my skin.  Oh, and for the ladies - he suggested I take some extra B6 and 5HTP the week before my period to see if that helps with my fatigue during that time of the month.  He said the hormone changes can cause a shift in neurotransmitters causing the fatigue and mood swings.  I will have to report back on all this in another month and let everyone know how all the changes have helped.

As for life - going well.  Took a trip down to NC and back - got to see my sister and 4 of her children.  Also got to see my Dad and step-mom.  It was great seeing everyone - and while I missed my hubby and kids - it was nice to have some time to think for a few days without any distractions/  :)  Also working on that contract to go back to work.

Diet wise - starting the Maker's Diet tomorrow.  I went shopping today and stocked up on a few things.  In the process at this moment of cooking 2 full chickens - when done I will strip them and shred the meat for chicken salads and for plain chicken to eat when one is hungry and "there's nothing to eat".  Also made a dozen hard boiled eggs - again for lunches and salads.  We will be on the strict version - 2 weeks of no dairy or grains.  No sugars - the only fruit allowed are berries, grapefruit, and cherries.  All veggies are organic.  We use raw butter from grass-fed cows,  All meats are organic and animals are fed food they were meant to eat.  All fish is wild-caught.  After 2 weeks we can add in fermented dairy and more fruits and beans.  My kids have actually started asking to go back on this diet as the recent eating out from traveling so much this year has taken its toll.

So will my change in diet help my skin heal faster - alone by itself - probably a little bit, but taking the whole picture into consideration of diet, supplements, exercise and whatnot, I am hoping to see some improvement in the lingering fatigue and the lingering dry skin patches and sores.

Now for those pictures:

Taken a few weeks ago with my 2 day flare of the neck - apparently my face was affected as well but I never noticed any itching of the face.  

Face today - slightly red from tanning this morning (as evidenced by the white goggle eyes) - neck not flaring, but not healing from that flare - this is the stagnant skin I went to see my ND about.  

Neck and chest a few weeks ago...again right after my 2 day flare.  

Neck and chest today - didn't notice it was blurry until now - skin is slightly pink around broken skin - but this only bothers me about once a day when it gets itchy - otherwise I don't notice my skin is irritated - it doesn't burn or hurt - clothes, wind, air temperature all have no negative affects on this area (or any area of skin for that matter).

Left hand 2 weeks ago - so slow to heal!

Left hand today - obviously healing is taking place here and there, but slowly

Right hand a few weeks ago

Right hand today - this is where I have had the most healing in the last few weeks.

Left hand palm side a few weeks ago when the skin started getting dry patches and itchy

Same hand today - the skin continues to be really dry and itchy - scratching open a few areas here and there.  

Left inner arm a few weeks ago

Left inner arm today - irritated and stagnant.

Left forearm/wrist where the few sore I have remain stagnant in healing.  They don't bother me and hardly ever itch - it's just annoying really that they take forever to heal.  

Right inner ankle where the sores still won't heal.  I have the other older pictures on my other computer - but they can be found in older posts on my blog as well. 

Left inner ankle - most sores are healed except for the one big one there.  The purple areas are scars from the sores that have finally healed.  Again - like my arm these sores don't bother me nor are they getting worse.  They aren't infected, they hardly itch, they don't hurt, burn, or get bothered by anything I wear.  It's just so frustrating they are still there.  

Top of right foot where I had irritated skin months ago - just scarring and dry skin, but otherwise no problems.

Left foot with no problems!

One sore on right calf - otherwise legs are fantastic

Left lower back - see the left corner - old sores now healed - just left over scarring.  Otherwise skin on back is great - a little dry up close, but doesn't itch at all.  

Left elbow - new problem!  This happened a week or so ago - left elbow was itchy - scratched and now this.  This reminds me of my "old-school eczema".  Just dry - otherwise it doesn't bother me.  

Left leg smooth and clear (although I need to work on the fat deposits!)