So I posted yesterday about us moving and life being crazy busy and my skin is doing awesome! But I wanted to share this next new chapter in my life because we have had to put it off due to my TSW which I started over 4 years ago. About 6 years ago we bought 68 acres in Kentucky and wanted to build a home and start a homestead - we wanted to live more naturally. Well we had plans t o move there in 2013 - but that Valentine's Day is when I learned about TSW and immediately (without hesitation at all) threw away every last tube of cortisone cream I owned. My husband was behind me 100% even though we both knew we were putting our dreams on hold. We knew I would not be able to work for an extended period of time and he would be stuck working over time just to make ends meet so I could heal. We had to forget building our home and moving. But here we are now.... ready to move into our new house on our 68 acres!!!! We move in 2 days!!!! Of course we may be without electricity for a few days as the power company has been tied up with recent storm damage. But this new chapter is beginning for us! And it really hit home when I got the 8 am phone call that our keets were in (baby guinea hens). I had wanted us to already be moved into our new place, but delays kept happening and the keets were already ordered months ago. I will post pictures and videos of them soon. But for now, here is the link to our very first video introducing us and our new homestead.
https://youtu.be/VvRak9rcx1M
You will see in the video that my skin is clear. I look tired as I'm currently working nights and that has taken a toll on me. But I am so happy that we are finally here!!!!
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Healing Continues and MOVING!!
My healing journey continues - I have been free from TSW for quite some time.... about 2 years. But dealing with the extra weight, the asthma, and itty bitty patches of eczema are on my to do list when it comes to full healing. I have had to put off my healthy eating and such for some time given we are moving (finally) to our 68 acres here in Kentucky. Our house is just about done. All we have left to wait for is getting the electricity in. The power company has had to deal with emergencies from recent storms which has delayed us. BUT electricity or not, we are moving our stuff in this weekend. We will stay here at our rental house until the power is all in. So there has been a lot of stress dealing with putting a house on a piece of land out in the middle of nowhere. But we persevered and here we are getting ready to move! So excited!!! My skin has been wonderful and have had very little asthma - in fact it bothers me once every 3-7 days, depending on what I'm eating. For the most part, I think I have it nearly cured....but need to be on a strict diet for 3-6 months and find the appropriate probiotic that won't cause hives. Otherwise....I have a tiny patch on my right wrist and a dime size patch on my chest. Personally I think it's yeast related as almost all my eczema cleared up when I started the caprylic acid. But going sugar and carb free for a short time should do the trick.
In order to eat right and whatnot, I need not to be under so much stress. I'm a realist so I knew my diet was not going to be the best during this time. Hopefully once we move and get somewhat settled, I'll be able to focus on eating better. In the meantime, I took off next week from work so I can get the house somewhat settled. We can't afford the new furniture we want right this minute, so we plan to buy one or 2 pieces at a time. Unfortunately we have a ton of things to buy out of pocket right now, so furniture comes last. Our garage won't be put up until end of August and our front deck in the fall. We also have to put up fencing for the dogs, and homes for the future chickens and guinea hens. Actually our guinea hens are coming in tomorrow so we will have to deal with them while also moving - bad timing but such is life. They weren't expected to ship until first week of August, but coming in early.
Just so everyone knows, I will from time to time update here on this blog, but planning on starting a homesteading blog and video series (on starting up a homestead).
That's it for now...hope you all are having a decent skin day!!
In order to eat right and whatnot, I need not to be under so much stress. I'm a realist so I knew my diet was not going to be the best during this time. Hopefully once we move and get somewhat settled, I'll be able to focus on eating better. In the meantime, I took off next week from work so I can get the house somewhat settled. We can't afford the new furniture we want right this minute, so we plan to buy one or 2 pieces at a time. Unfortunately we have a ton of things to buy out of pocket right now, so furniture comes last. Our garage won't be put up until end of August and our front deck in the fall. We also have to put up fencing for the dogs, and homes for the future chickens and guinea hens. Actually our guinea hens are coming in tomorrow so we will have to deal with them while also moving - bad timing but such is life. They weren't expected to ship until first week of August, but coming in early.
Just so everyone knows, I will from time to time update here on this blog, but planning on starting a homesteading blog and video series (on starting up a homestead).
That's it for now...hope you all are having a decent skin day!!
Hubby and I out to dinner a few weeks ago
Our house in some stage of being set up.
Me and my youngest a few months ago
The sunset from our property
The kids enjoying some nice weather this past spring on our land.
Friday, June 16, 2017
Relief at last!!!!
It's been a while since I've written. Things have been busy as always! Almost ready to move onto our 68 acres with a new house.... probably in about a month. I'm working full time back in the ER and absolutely NO skin break outs on my hands since last year!! My biggest thing in the last 2 years have been the hives and asthma. I couldn't shake them. Even with the l-glutamine which helped over 80% with my asthma, it was still there. I had been taking custom probiotics but still having hives here and there. So I finally decided to attack the Candida I felt was responsible for my inability to heal all the way. For the last month, I took colloidal silver 4 times a day and caprylic acid 2 to 3 times a day. And within 2 weeks my asthma and hives disappeared. I've literally used my inhaler once in the last 2 weeks. And no hives. I have only minor dry skin and I might itch slightly after eating dairy and gluten. Mind you, I did not alter my diet and have been eating horribly. Working nights in the ER brings on a lot of stress and I eat when I'm stressed. Trying to change that but not having luck. Think I'm just going to have to wait until after we move to focus on a more strict all natural diet. I'm just too busy to make that a focus.
But here are some pictures of my arms and hands... where I was having problems with normal eczema from dairy and gluten. The skin is still dry and old looking. But no eczema or itching. In order to truly clear everything in terms of dry skin, itching, and the occasional breathing problem, I need to go completely sugar free for 3 months and take the caprylic acid during that time. This will be my final goal to getting rid of the slight itch and the extra weight I still carry on me.
I am 4 years TSW. I've had to take oral steroids once for my asthma about 1.5 years ago. Otherwise no steroids. I am so thankful to be where I am now. With 30 years of TS use, I don't think I should be this well off if I just let time be the only way to heal. Steroids in general will cause yeast to overgrow. This is well documented in the medical world. So it behooves those of us subjected to years of steroid use to address a yeast overgrowth in our bodies. I wish I had addressed this sooner in my journey but my mind was not working right with all the pain I was in during the first year.
So here are some pictures of my dry but mostly clear skin.
But here are some pictures of my arms and hands... where I was having problems with normal eczema from dairy and gluten. The skin is still dry and old looking. But no eczema or itching. In order to truly clear everything in terms of dry skin, itching, and the occasional breathing problem, I need to go completely sugar free for 3 months and take the caprylic acid during that time. This will be my final goal to getting rid of the slight itch and the extra weight I still carry on me.
I am 4 years TSW. I've had to take oral steroids once for my asthma about 1.5 years ago. Otherwise no steroids. I am so thankful to be where I am now. With 30 years of TS use, I don't think I should be this well off if I just let time be the only way to heal. Steroids in general will cause yeast to overgrow. This is well documented in the medical world. So it behooves those of us subjected to years of steroid use to address a yeast overgrowth in our bodies. I wish I had addressed this sooner in my journey but my mind was not working right with all the pain I was in during the first year.
So here are some pictures of my dry but mostly clear skin.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Everything is Coming Together
First off, all is well....very well! No more asthma, skin is almost 100% clear, and I only get hives about once a week or so. Itching is WAY down...I now sleep without any benadryl or any antihistamine for that matter. I itch maybe twice a day if that and it's very minor and sporadic.
Here is what I am doing...I did a 40 gram a day trial of l-glutamine for a week and then tapered down to my current maintenance of 10 grams a day. I take this for gut healing. Within 4-5 days my asthma symptoms improved dramatically. And I am currently not taking anything for asthma - haven't needed my albuterol in over a week. I then started a new probiotic that got rave reviews for people with histamine issues like many of us have. It's called Custom Probiotics and I take the 6 strain one. It supposedly has the probiotics that highly benefit the gut but are lower in histamine than many others. It's VERY expensive. $100 for one bottle. I'm not joking and would have cried snake oil had I not tried it and saw a difference that very same day. My first reaction after taking one adult scoop was to almost vomit and have diarrhea for a few hours. I then cut back to 2-3 pediatric doses and then worked up to the adult dose. With taking this, my skin has become almost 100% itch free. I would put my itching at about 1-2 % right now. I get a few twinges a day but no frantic itching. Oh and the BIG kicker...I can now have dairy and gluten with no asthma or itching! And the hives are almost gone. Had a few yesterday and that was the first time in over a week. They lasted all of 30 minutes and went away on their own.
So why are probiotics so important? Here's the thing. As a nurse, I know that steroids when taken on a long term basis (orally) can lead to a depressed immune system and fungal/yeast infections. Why couldn't topical steroids do the same? Especially when slathered on daily for 30 years? So when the fungal/yeast count goes up in the body, one is prone to skin problems, especially itching. And if one also is placed on multiple courses of antibiotics over many years, that kills the good bacteria as well in the gut, allowing the yeasts to grow and multiply rapidly. See the problem? Now taking probiotics alone will not fix this. Maybe taking excessive amounts might do something but there are more healthy ways to balance everything out.
This has led me to where things started coming together in my head. You see, many years ago when I first started trying to eat healthy and researching eczema, I came across the hype of candida overgrowth...I had all the symptoms and went on a mission to naturally kill the candida. I took caprylic acid, ate lots of garlic, and tried to curb the carbs and sugar. But I never succeeded. I kept right on itching...and I felt worse than ever. I did this for over a year. Then I stumbled upon the Maker's Diet and went on that (no sugars or carbs for 1-2 months) and started back on my milk thistle. I lost over 50 lbs in 2 months, stopped itching, and looked and felt great. I was applying scant amounts of TS I believe to my arms now and then, but basically had not been using them very much as they never seemed to help. I spent 2 years feeling good and getting great sleep. Then I returned to work and started eating bad again and started amping up my use of TS again and lo and behold gained 50 lbs back and kept getting worse. Then I found out about TSW and went off all steroids (4 years ago now).
My TSW got better with the gene mutation treatment but I still had chronic hives and itching. And my asthma kept getting worse. It felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. I went back on the Maker's Diet to no avail. Tried the GAPS diet and again no significant changes except in my asthma as my asthma seemed directly linked to what I ate. Took milk thistle to no avail. Still itched and itched (although thankfully no longer TSW skin so wasn't tearing my skin apart - just normal eczema). Then I read that fermented foods and drinks (important part of the GAPS diet) can actually make candida worse. And that candida overgrowth will cause generalized itching and eczema. And here's the kicker... I read that when one takes anti-fungals, the candida that die release horrible toxins that need to be processed through the liver. If the liver is not functioning properly, then itching can be a symptom of an overburdened liver. Hence, milk thistle or other liver cleansers are critical to take when taking anti-fungals. And that's how it all came to me the last few days...when I was taking the anti-fungals years ago, I was not taking a liver cleanser. When I started the Maker's Diet and milk thistle after I had already taken a year of anti-fungals, I cleared up miraculously and just attributed it to the diet and milk thistle (and probiotics I was taken at the time).
So while gut health I believe is critical in getting the immune system to function properly, one has to approach this carefully or disappointment will ensue. I know many people who tried GAPS while in TSW. A few did very well while many did awful and got only worse. Makes perfect sense... the ones who did well probably only had a small candida problem from the TS. While the ones where it made them worse probably had horrible candida - the more ferments they ate, the more they were feeding the candida.
I personally would recommend a good naturopath or functional doctor. Yeast in the blood stream is rare so a stool sample is the best way to measure the levels of candida in the body. Since I have seen my share of alternative practitioners and have tried so many things, I think I have finally come to the near end of my chronic health problems and can go it alone on this. I have started back on caprylic acid and garlic while increasing my milk thistle. I also wanted to try large doses of vitamin C but broke out in horrible hives with the vitamin C powder. So now I just juice my own grapefruit and oranges at home daily for fresh vitamin C - not going to get the large doses I wanted but should get enough to boost my immune system. I take the l-glutamine daily with the 200 billion probiotics daily. I also take my hydroxy B12 and folinic acid for my MTHFR mutations. I also take a few drops of sea-adine in my water for my thyroid which is on the low end of normal functioning. And I take a few other supplements like magnesium, zinc, vitamin E, and B vitamins that have B12 and folic acid missing. Currently I'm very tired...killing yeast is taxing on the body and causes fatigue. But I know it is only temporary. I figure I should have my good energy back within a week or two. I'll keep you all posted! I do have pictures - but they are on my phone and I'm feeling lazy tonight - so I will post this blog post in the Facebook TSW page with my current pictures of a nice clear face and neck!
Here is what I am doing...I did a 40 gram a day trial of l-glutamine for a week and then tapered down to my current maintenance of 10 grams a day. I take this for gut healing. Within 4-5 days my asthma symptoms improved dramatically. And I am currently not taking anything for asthma - haven't needed my albuterol in over a week. I then started a new probiotic that got rave reviews for people with histamine issues like many of us have. It's called Custom Probiotics and I take the 6 strain one. It supposedly has the probiotics that highly benefit the gut but are lower in histamine than many others. It's VERY expensive. $100 for one bottle. I'm not joking and would have cried snake oil had I not tried it and saw a difference that very same day. My first reaction after taking one adult scoop was to almost vomit and have diarrhea for a few hours. I then cut back to 2-3 pediatric doses and then worked up to the adult dose. With taking this, my skin has become almost 100% itch free. I would put my itching at about 1-2 % right now. I get a few twinges a day but no frantic itching. Oh and the BIG kicker...I can now have dairy and gluten with no asthma or itching! And the hives are almost gone. Had a few yesterday and that was the first time in over a week. They lasted all of 30 minutes and went away on their own.
So why are probiotics so important? Here's the thing. As a nurse, I know that steroids when taken on a long term basis (orally) can lead to a depressed immune system and fungal/yeast infections. Why couldn't topical steroids do the same? Especially when slathered on daily for 30 years? So when the fungal/yeast count goes up in the body, one is prone to skin problems, especially itching. And if one also is placed on multiple courses of antibiotics over many years, that kills the good bacteria as well in the gut, allowing the yeasts to grow and multiply rapidly. See the problem? Now taking probiotics alone will not fix this. Maybe taking excessive amounts might do something but there are more healthy ways to balance everything out.
This has led me to where things started coming together in my head. You see, many years ago when I first started trying to eat healthy and researching eczema, I came across the hype of candida overgrowth...I had all the symptoms and went on a mission to naturally kill the candida. I took caprylic acid, ate lots of garlic, and tried to curb the carbs and sugar. But I never succeeded. I kept right on itching...and I felt worse than ever. I did this for over a year. Then I stumbled upon the Maker's Diet and went on that (no sugars or carbs for 1-2 months) and started back on my milk thistle. I lost over 50 lbs in 2 months, stopped itching, and looked and felt great. I was applying scant amounts of TS I believe to my arms now and then, but basically had not been using them very much as they never seemed to help. I spent 2 years feeling good and getting great sleep. Then I returned to work and started eating bad again and started amping up my use of TS again and lo and behold gained 50 lbs back and kept getting worse. Then I found out about TSW and went off all steroids (4 years ago now).
My TSW got better with the gene mutation treatment but I still had chronic hives and itching. And my asthma kept getting worse. It felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. I went back on the Maker's Diet to no avail. Tried the GAPS diet and again no significant changes except in my asthma as my asthma seemed directly linked to what I ate. Took milk thistle to no avail. Still itched and itched (although thankfully no longer TSW skin so wasn't tearing my skin apart - just normal eczema). Then I read that fermented foods and drinks (important part of the GAPS diet) can actually make candida worse. And that candida overgrowth will cause generalized itching and eczema. And here's the kicker... I read that when one takes anti-fungals, the candida that die release horrible toxins that need to be processed through the liver. If the liver is not functioning properly, then itching can be a symptom of an overburdened liver. Hence, milk thistle or other liver cleansers are critical to take when taking anti-fungals. And that's how it all came to me the last few days...when I was taking the anti-fungals years ago, I was not taking a liver cleanser. When I started the Maker's Diet and milk thistle after I had already taken a year of anti-fungals, I cleared up miraculously and just attributed it to the diet and milk thistle (and probiotics I was taken at the time).
So while gut health I believe is critical in getting the immune system to function properly, one has to approach this carefully or disappointment will ensue. I know many people who tried GAPS while in TSW. A few did very well while many did awful and got only worse. Makes perfect sense... the ones who did well probably only had a small candida problem from the TS. While the ones where it made them worse probably had horrible candida - the more ferments they ate, the more they were feeding the candida.
I personally would recommend a good naturopath or functional doctor. Yeast in the blood stream is rare so a stool sample is the best way to measure the levels of candida in the body. Since I have seen my share of alternative practitioners and have tried so many things, I think I have finally come to the near end of my chronic health problems and can go it alone on this. I have started back on caprylic acid and garlic while increasing my milk thistle. I also wanted to try large doses of vitamin C but broke out in horrible hives with the vitamin C powder. So now I just juice my own grapefruit and oranges at home daily for fresh vitamin C - not going to get the large doses I wanted but should get enough to boost my immune system. I take the l-glutamine daily with the 200 billion probiotics daily. I also take my hydroxy B12 and folinic acid for my MTHFR mutations. I also take a few drops of sea-adine in my water for my thyroid which is on the low end of normal functioning. And I take a few other supplements like magnesium, zinc, vitamin E, and B vitamins that have B12 and folic acid missing. Currently I'm very tired...killing yeast is taxing on the body and causes fatigue. But I know it is only temporary. I figure I should have my good energy back within a week or two. I'll keep you all posted! I do have pictures - but they are on my phone and I'm feeling lazy tonight - so I will post this blog post in the Facebook TSW page with my current pictures of a nice clear face and neck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)