My gut and I, my journey to healing.

As long as I can remember I’ve had issues, gut issues that is. Since I was a little girl I remember my mother making frequent trips to Mexico and bringing back homeopathic remedies for constipation. I was embarrassed. I was always the one in my family with skin issues. I had white patches on my elbows- itchy and dry. Yuck, I hated it. Doctors said it was eczema; I just needed a medicated ointment. We blamed the water, the laundry detergent and once a doctor suggested it may be related to stress. Fast forward to teenage & college years in Oklahoma- dry skin, brittle hair, eczema, acne was my new normal and the constipation was something I had learned to live with. Not fun, I felt gross, bloated and self-conscious about my skin. But doctors said eczema was just something I had to learn to live with. And then came another ointment. I managed. 

Later I married, moved to Georgia and started a family. I was watching my diet, doing all the healthy things I knew to do at the time. I was drinking my soy protein shakes, eating whole grains and avoiding fat like crazy. And yet,  I was tired all the time, unmotivated and the constipation was relentless. I had my first son and I cried having to change his diaper. The moist wipes would make my skin burn- the eczema had pretty much taken over my hands. I’d cringe washing my hands since the soap burned and dried my skin out even more. Doctors said I just needed a steroid cream. 

I remember sitting in my living room in the middle of the night; frustrated, crying and wanting to literally cut my hands off because the burning, itching, bleeding and oozing skin on my hands was too much to handle. I’d sob and think, I’d do anything to find relief. I’d do anything to find answers. I continued to feel exhausted. But I was a fighter and thought I just had to be strong. I was tough on the outside, but I was falling apart on the inside. At the time, my sister was taking a nutrition course in college and was fascinated with it. I was intrigued about her fascination and thought, what’s the big deal about food and nutrition? 

I decided to take a nutrition course myself. Perhaps I could get my family to eat healthy. I learned how food had a big impact on how you feel. I learned about food sensitivities and how gluten could be implicated in digestive dysfunction as well as skin disorders like eczema. No way. This couldn’t be real. There was no way I was going to give up my 2 pieces of whole grain toast in the morning. After all, the food pyramid clearly suggested I needed 7-8 servings of whole grains daily to be healthy. I was in denial.

Then I had my second son. I was anemic, skin inflamed and now it was hard to get out of bed. I thought this is normal after having a baby, but I’m strong. So I’d shame myself for feeling weak and forced myself to do all the mommy and wifely duties. But I was unmotivated, exhausted, frustrated and cold ALL the time. And yet doctors said it was the pregnancy, that I should bounce back in no time. I didn’t. I was desperate for answers. In the back of my mind I still remembered the information on wheat/gluten and decided to give it a try. Nothing else was working. So I stayed away from wheat, which meant no more toast, bagels, cereals, pastas or pizzas. I wasn’t happy but I was desperate. A couple of weeks later I noticed less inflammation and itching. Could this gluten thing be real? I thought maybe the improvement in my skin could’ve been from a new ointment I had tried, or perhaps I’d prayed extra hard, or maybe it was the new multi-vitamin I was taking. Again, I was in denial.

At the time, around 2010, my sister was living in Switzerland with her family. She fell ill with pneumonia and I decided to visit her. I stayed a couple of weeks and during that time my sister felt well enough to take me out to dinner. She said, “the pasta here in Switzerland is amazing.” I was reluctant since my skin had been better since avoiding wheat. I thought, maybe the wheat here is different, surely I’d be fine. I had a big bowl of pasta carbonara and it was magical. I loved every bite of it. Seriously. But the next day my hands were on FIRE, they were red, itching and puffy. That was it. That was the final straw, it was at that moment that I could no longer deny that my body was screaming at me, telling me to stop eating wheat for the love of God and all things holy.

The pic on the right is of me when my eczema was as its worst; before I realized I had multiple food sensitivities. On the left is me a few years later after working on healing my gut and removing food sensitivities. It was hard, really, really hard, but it was so worth it.

I returned home to Georgia, immediately looked for an integrative doctor and made an appointment. I couldn’t do this on my own, I needed help from someone who could guide me and order the right labs for me. Luckily I found Dr. Milton and my life changed after that. Labs revealed my thyroid antibodies were elevated and i was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. I was also anemic, my Vitamin D was extremely low and my thyroid numbers were off. He suggested I completely eliminate dairy and gluten in order to start healing my gut. 

I continued to study holistic nutrition and learned everything I could about autoimmune disorders. I learned that Hashimoto’s is only one of many, many autoimmune disorders that share common traits. I learned that autoimmune disorders start in the gut! Imagine that, I had had gut issues since I was a kid. If only I had worked on healing my gut sooner. But I have spent years working on my gut since then; eliminating food sensitivities, eliminating microbes and yeast, adding back the good stuff and healing my leaky gut. Yes intestinal permeability is real. Since then my thyroid antibodies have improved, my iron levels are up, my Vitamin D is optimal and my constipation is a thing of the past. But most of all, I no longer feel gross and I absolutely [heart] my body. 

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