5 Years TSW (2/14/2018)

This past Valentine's Day was my 5 year anniversary of TSW.  I thought I was completely healed of TSW definitely by the 3 year mark and only suffered chronic hives and asthma.  I have since cured the asthma I believe as no inhaler use in 2 months - no asthma attacks or shortness of breath - even when I go into the barn full of hay.  My chronic hives were on and off - more off lately since fixing the asthma.  My whole premise behind curing the asthma was getting my gut healthy again - which I have accomplished to a point - still think I have a lot of work to do in that area given I get the occasional hives about once or twice a week.  I really re-booted my gut recently with a 3 day water fast.  It seemed to make my skin worse, but after eating for a few days, my skin calmed down - but then flared again.  I can only assume this is an anniversary flare?  Of course this is still nothing close to the flares I had the first 2 years of TSW - still no oozing or surrounding redness (just redness at the sites of irritation).  I also have no significant swelling - maybe a little but nothing noticeable to anyone.  For the past week I've had burning itching skin on my neck, arms, and most of my back.  A little on my upper chest too.  I'm still on top of my supplements for leaky gut - l-glutamine, collagen, vitamin A and D, and slowly increasing my amount of probiotics I take each day.  I am also taking natural iodine as well as caprylic acid, magnesium, calcium, and milk thistle.  I had taken milk thistle years before I learned about TSW and it helped dramatically with the itching - but the one I was using (bought at the grocery store) wasn't doing a thing for my itching.  So I switched to Gaia herbs brand and WOW - my skin may still feel like it's burning, but seriously down 90% on the itch!  I can now sleep all night the last few nights compared to last week.  And the flare is still strong - my skin on my back can't be touched or it really hurts.  I can still shower but experience slight burning with the water. 

Overall, I think I'm getting somewhere finally with my health!  I have lost 10 lbs since the water fast and surprisingly have kept it off.  I stay away from corn and most gluten - although I do have some natural homemade einkorn bread from time to time which does not cause me to itch.  Before, eating anything caused me to itch!  But as of the last 3-4 days, I can eat without any itching.  I also do not think the milk thistle alone is responsible for the decrease in itching.  Last week I was doing some reading about leaky gut - the premise of the article was that due to vitamin A and D deficiency, we as a people eating poor foods in general lack a proper mucousal lining - the mucous lining of the gut specifically causing bad viruses and bacteria and yeast to create holes in the gut lining.  I started the high doses of vitamin A and D a week ago and everyone at home thought I was sick - the congestion and runny nose I had suggested I had a cold - but funny thing is I felt completely fine.  The increase in mucous lasted for the first 5-6 days but has gone down since.  I'll stay on the high doses for another week and then take them 2 or 3 times a week only.  I am also planning to add humic fulvic minerals that will help with mineral deficiency and also are known to help the gut lining.  They should be arriving tomorrow or Tuesday. 

And the best thing of getting healthier - THE ENERGY! Since my fast, I seem to have at least 50% more energy than normal.  I still have an occasional low energy day like Friday -all I wanted to do was sit around and do nothing - felt so drained - but the other days since last week have been full and I have felt great.  I plan to do a 3 day water fast at least once a month for this year - I truly believe it has kicked off some major gut healing for me.  In the meantime I will continue to eat as healthy as possible - no sugar, corn, and limited gluten.  And I have learned that eating healthy and TSW are not always directly linked - eating a pure diet will not fix TSW - BUT I do believe it has helped my body to heal other major areas making this recent flare very easy to deal with. 

For all those still struggling - please continue to seek out things that will work for you - fixing my gene mutations with proper supplements truly healed me way faster than expected and kept my flares to a bare minimum since starting the treatments.  Finding the root cause of the initial skin problem that started us on steroids is also crucial - in my case I believe it was leaky gut and poor diet since I was born.  That is not going to take overnight to fix, but so far I am seeing the most improvement in that area thanks to the fast and starting on the proper supplements.  Hang in there warriors!  The other side is SO AWESOME!  It is nice to be living life, working, and having fun with my family.  I've had more than TSW to contend with, but fixing these issues one at a time has been crucial to me living life at its fullest now. 

Gut vacation Day 2

So my fast is going very well.  Have not been hungry surprisingly. I'm still itchy on my neck and arms but no hives today.  Last night before bed I got a bad itch attack on my back and it felt like hives but hard to tell.  My headache is gone and I feel more mentally clear. I'm still tired but able to get things done.  I was able to go into the kitchen and work with food without mental anguish. I guess for me, knowing I'm just going to itch if I eat really helps me not want to eat.  There was only one time I started craving food... my daughter made pasta and homemade meatballs which smelled amazing!! I wasn't tempted to break my fast, but the smell got some cravings going!!

All in all this fast is going well.  My goal was 3 days but after all the reading I've been doing, I'm very tempted to make this a long fast... anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks depending on how I feel.  My only concern is work. Working a 12 hour shift will be tough during a fast but thankfully I'm no longer working in the emergency room.  I'm now working in a small community hospital labor and delivery. It is significantly less stressful and I have more time to sit and chart.  So doing a fast now and working may not be too bad.  Going to increase my activity tomorrow and Monday and see how I do.  If I get too dizzy or foggy brained then I know I won't be able to work during a fast and will have to plan a week off this spring for a longer fast.

The good news is I am already in ketosis.  So any major hunger problems are hopefully behind me.  However some say the 3rd day is the toughest while others say the 2nd day is the worst.  I guess we'll see how tomorrow goes for me!  Oh by the way I'm also doing oil pulling with coconut oil as my mouth feels gross.  The oil pulling and then brushing made my mouth feel very clean opposed to just brushing alone.

Fasting for healing -POST TSW!

At nearly 5 years TSW, I feel the need to fast.  I wanted to fast my first few years of TSW but knew it would be too dangerous as our bodies are in bad shape.  Fasting is known to cure health problems but being ill when doing a fast can be fatal.  I have lingering hives and itching that comes and goes.  Some things and certain diets helped but only short term. I feel my gut needs a break from work in order to heal itself.  I see this as anyone taking a vacation from work to rest their soul and mind. 

My gut's vacation started last evening.  My last food was around 7 pm.  Today I feel awful. I'm a coffee drinker so I got the caffeine withdrawal headache going on and I feel drained.  No issue with hunger today which means tomorrow will be pretty rough. They say the first 2 days are the worst.  My itching is down by over 50% and no hives today.   I'm flared on my neck and face and arms from recent probiotics and kefir.  Thought I had a dairy problem but I'm learning it's an intolerance to probiotics which is bad because probiotics is supposed to help with healing not make things worse.  Oh well... I will see how I do tomorrow.