Time to make a big change...

In my list of things I meant to blog about in the last week and didn't (but still plan to), I mentioned big changes coming...and to ward off any and all rumours, I figured I better start there!

If you have been following my posts over at Get Fit Chicks recently, you know more than you ever wanted to know about my crazy diet.

The quick history (imagine the long history!) is that about six years ago I was unwell for months, but for no obvious reason. I had the very best doctor in the world at the time and she was patient and listened when I told her what was wrong (or what wasn't right) and told me that regardless of what test results say, she thinks most patients know their bodies better than their doctors do and if they think something is wrong, well something is wrong. She eventually made me take a good month off work (in part to determine if this mystery illness was environmental - physical or mental. That experiment was a good one, but had no definitive conclusion) and sent me to see another doctor to get a second opinion just in case she had missed something. More tests, more blood work, same answer: everything falls into the "normal range."

Usually I'd be happy with that. But I wasn't. Something was still wrong.

I was too tired.

I couldn't get out of bed when my alarm went off - it was physically exhausting. Depression was ruled out.

I couldn't exercise. After 15 minutes of light walking, I needed four or five hours of rest to recover.

It was a vicious cycle - I'd hang out with my friends and have a great time visiting and feel better - usually something low key, a meal out or tea in someone's living room - but then I didn't see anyone for ages because that made me tired too and I needed time to recover.

I figured I was going crazy and was prepared to try pretty much anything. I had drained my savings by taking a month off work while working at a place that had no sick leave policy. I was worried. What would happen to me if I got sicker and needed to take more time off. I was picturing packing up the Hobbit Hole and returning to live with my parents. Not really something I wanted to do.

But my doctor figured there were a few things left to try. She told me that modern, Western medicine didn't have the tools to figure out what was going on and help me get better, but that complementary medicine might help. She sent me to a massage therapist and suggested I go see naturopath and if that didn't work, an acupuncturist. And thankfully, while I wasn't entitled to sick leave, we did have decent extended benefit coverage.

Through word of mouth I found a naturopath who specialized in fatigue and headaches (with the fatigue came extremely frequent headaches and migraines every 7 - 10 days). I'd never been to an naturopath before, and I thought this guy was quite interesting - he was also a pharmacist.

And I decided he was a miracle worker! He did some testing, put me on the crazy diet, gave me some of those drops that naturopaths like to give, and added a few supplements to my daily multivitamin (some Omega 3s and something else, maybe more Vitamin C?). He told me I'd see an improvement in the headaches within the first week and they should keep improving over the next 6-8 weeks until they stopped almost entirely. The fatigue would take longer, but I should see an improvement within 4-6 weeks.

He was right about the headaches - the change was almost immediate.

And on day one of the 5th week, the fatigue changed. It didn't go away completely, but I was able to take the short 15 minute walk I used to take every morning without feeling tired. But the end of the 5th week, I could do my morning walk and my longer (45 minute-ish) walk in the afternoon. By the end of the 6th week, I felt great, I was walking in the morning and all the way home in the afternoon (just over 4 kms), and I had energy again.

I stuck to that diet like my lift depended on it. On special occasions like Christmas day, I let myself indulge. Everyone was scared of my diet and wanted to try to accommodate it, but after the first six weeks of super-strictness, I could eat small amounts of the foods on the elimination list, as long as I paid attention to what I was eating and in what quantities.

It worked. And whenever the fatigue would set in again, I would completely eliminate the stuff on the list for a few weeks and slowly add it back in again.

Life was good. But the last two times I've tried to do it, there have been no great results.

So, to head off another spiral of unhappy health, last week I decided it was time to go back to the naturopath.

I've been seeing another naturopath since the birth of J - this one specializes in women's health, pre- and post-natal women, and pediatrics, so I felt like she was a good fit.

And the new plan might just be crazier than the old plan. She did a test to make sure my hormones are fairly stable, my thyroid isn't out of whack, and to check a couple of other things, but I'm basically going to be doing the GAPS diet and using a cookbook called Nourishing Traditions. I've been doing some research and there's all kinds of interesting information about both of those. GAPS is often used for people with autism, but seems to also have been effective in dealing with fatigue. I'm glad it's winter because there is a lot of soup on this diet for the first little while. I'm not looking forward to the sauerkraut and animal organs...I think I can get away with not using the organs, but probably am stuck with the sauerkraut.

And, because I do most of the cooking and I'm not prepared to make two different dinners every night, J and Alex are going to have to get used to eating strange stuff too! The naturopath thinks three months should be enough time to sort everything out and then, like the last crazy diet, I should be able to add things from the NO list in small quantities, some more occasionally than others.

There are going to be some big challenges - especially with the holidays around the corner - but I don't want to end up where I was six years ago, so if doing this now will prevent that, well, let's do it!