PICTURES & Starting GAPS Diet

Things are going about the same - asthma is still better but not completely better.  Using my nebulizer or inhaler about 3-4 times a day.  Skin is irritated in small areas - neck, arms, and tiny sections of face.  Hives are better since starting the Chinese herbs but again, not completely better.  I have known in my heart for a long time that clean eating is the one step I MUST take in order to fix these issues permanently.  But it can't be haphazard clean eating like I do - 70-80% clean and 20-30% crap.  It's an all or nothing approach in order to turn the tide of my gut and immune system healing.  That has led me to the GAPS diet - the one diet that has shown to reverse autoimmune health problems.  I didn't try GAPS when in TSW - GAPS will cause massive detoxification of the body and since the skin is the main detoxifier, it was not a good idea to aggravate my skin even further.  So now that my skin is strong and has been able to handle me working full time, it is time to attempt GAPS.  I have started a new blog for this journey alone, just like my TSW journey.  I will continue to update things here but not as often.  You can follow me here:

http://thegapsdietjourney.blogspot.com/

Here are pictures from the last 2 days....as you can see my skin is strong and relatively healthy.  My patches of eczema and irritation seem to stem from my diet as it gets better or worse depending on my dairy and gluten intake.  Hopefully GAPS will fix this issue once and for all.  

As you can see, my forehead and chin both have small patches or irritation as well as my cheek.  They are small and not bothersome.

The other side of my face is about the same.  No obvious swelling or redness.

My neck is probably the worst area - instead of patches, I have lines of irritation.  Very weird.  Other than the area around the lines, no other redness or swelling.  It feels like regular eczema to me and nothing at all like TSW.

My right arm is the worst out of both arms.  But still nothing horrible - just scabs from where I scratch the hives - no red arm/sleeve.  

My hands are dry and have very tiny cracks from the weather I'm guessing.  You can see where I scratched at the dryness of my hand.  

Left hand same as the right.  

And the only area on my legs that is irritated - one small tiny spot.  

Changes....and more changes....ALL GOOD!

I know it has been a month since I last blogged.  Shame on me!  I had a draft from 2 weeks ago but I deleted it because things have changed dramatically since then.  A few weeks ago my flare was already gone.  But the hives and itching continued after every single meal.  I have tried so many things in regards to my histamine problem.  All anti-histamines do nothing for me.  So I have been at my wit's end given I know there is a "cure" for all of this.  In my opinion I believe it is a system wide approach that begins with healing the gut.  But many of the healing gut foods are also high histamine. It's a vicious circle I've been on the last 2 years.  But I'm getting ahead here.

I'll take it back about 3-4 weeks ago.  My flare was subsiding....it really only lasted maybe 2 weeks. It only stayed on my face, neck, upper chest, and upper arms.  And I can't say it was a full TSW flare.  I didn't have an ounce of ooze anywhere.  It was just really irritable flaky skin that tore easily when I scratched.  I changed up my supplements at that point as I felt everything I was on obviously wasn't doing the whole job.  I added in milk thistle and my go to MSM powder and glutathione.  I still stayed on my active B's, but put everything else to the side.  It seemed to do the trick.  But my asthma was getting worse as well.  It all started with the change in weather.  I broke down and started taking Singulair.  It worked wonders!  Within 2 days I was no longer needing my albuterol.  It was wonderful.  Until a week later.  (At this point all men and children should stop reading....it gets personal and very female from here).  So I started spotting which was so odd.  My periods have been like a steady rock for me....always on time with a day here or there thrown off by something minor. Spotting was rare.  So here I am spotting a week before my period was due.  Then no period. I had my tubes tied years ago but took a pregnancy test anyway...completely negative.  So 3 weeks later I started with what I thought was my period.  Except it wasn't normal.  I thought I was going to bleed to death.  It was awful.  A big box of super tampons and bag of super pads gone in 3 days. Something was obviously very wrong.  So I put 2 and 2 together and realized the problems started after beginning the Singulair.  Yep....a rare but serious side effect are nose bleeds and vaginal bleeding. OY!  I stopped the Singulair that day.  In 2 days all bleeding had stopped.  It was obvious to me that Singulair was not going to work for me.  So I called my doctor and asked if I could try the Chromlyn (sp?) inhaler....it's an old preventative inhaler for asthma that is not a steroid.  Know what mu doc said?  Singulair would not cause bleeding so you need to stay on it and go see an OB/GYN.  Not even joking.  I literally almost lost my shit.

So here I was a few days ago with my asthma getting worse by the day and knowing my doctor was not on my side.  I then remember reading on the FB page about Beth White doing a lot of research on mast cells and so much more (please read up on her findings as they are remarkable!).  She had been reading up on Dr. Li's work out of NYC.  So I did some research as well and read about the Chinese herbs that Dr. Li is having amazing success with regarding asthma and allergies.  I was so amazed at her findings and how much success she is having, that I ordered my own concoction of herbs to help with my asthma and allergies.  Beth just went to NYC to see Dr. Li and I am looking forward to her results.  For me I am only taking 4 herbs that I found would be best to target my specific problems.  I only started them today and already less itching and hardly any need for albuterol.  I'm really excited about this given this is a more natural way to heal the body.  The amazing thing is Dr. Li has discovered that certain herbs will calm the immune system down to the point that some people can now eat things they were once severely allergic to.  Very excited about this!  And she is doing her research at Mt. Sinai so we may end up with some hope for all people with allergies and asthma!

Well, I need to run.  There are more changes to talk about like my new job that I LOVE LOVE LOVE!  I will also have to get some pictures up here soon!  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!