Food Intolerance

I don't remember if I've commented about it on this blog yet, but one of the chiropractors I see is also a functional medicine practitioner.  (Functional medicine is all about improving a person's health from the cellular level up.  This is largely through diet and supplements to ensure the body has the nutrients and resources it needs to function optimally.)  They took blood at the end of May to run an IgG allergy test. (I've since learned that these tests aren't accepted by traditional medicine as being useful or definitive, largely because they haven't been vetted through large trials and research yet; this tends to be true of most holistic and complementary methods.  But I figure - what the hell? My regular, traditional med docs don't have any interest in helping me get *healthy,* only not sick, and I really need to get healthy, so why not give it a whirl?)

I got my results back today, and tomorrow begin an elimination diet to remove those things the test showed I have a sensitivity to.

Luckily for me, most of my big no-nos are stuff I don't eat anyway, like cottage cheese and mushrooms.  I was really worried I was going to turn out to have a digestive issue with corn or wheat because they're in SO MUCH anymore there's very little way to avoid them and still be able to eat, you know, food.  Thankfully, I'm not allergic to either.

(Quick aside to explain: IgG "allergies" are reactions to certain proteins.  Rather than making a person swell up, get hives, or experience the terror of anaphylaxis, they affect the system anywhere between a couple hours and two or three days later.  They cause an inflammatory response in the body as various processes get interrupted. They can also injure the lining of the intestines, which causes food particles to enter the blood stream and travel to places around the body they're never supposed to be where they act as toxins. (This is called Leaky Gut.)  My body composition test a couple months back already suggested I had a lot of toxins in my system and (along with my general progression of symptoms over the last decade or so) a general worsening of systemic inflammation (goiter, anyone?).  IgG problems might be responsible for digestive issues like IBS or chronic, whole-body problems like fibromyalgia; again, not a lot of scientific research yet.  So when I say "allergies" in this post, I don't mean antibody-specific; I mean possible negative, inflammatory response happening way down deep.)

I am apparently super sensitive to baker's yeast and cow's milk.

Which potentially means I can never have bread again (if I want to stay healthy, anyway...).  Or ice cream.  Or hot dog buns. Or soft pretzels. Or pudding. I have to go back to butter substitutes.  I can't eat pizza, except on no-rise dough.  And I shouldn't eat CHOCOLATE (except the dark stuff, which I don't like).

BREAD!  CHOCOLATE!  AAAAARGH!

So, starting tomorrow, no bread. No chocolate. No milk. No barley or fermented beverages (take THAT every peer pressurer who told me I was full of poo when I said alcohol makes me feel lousy! This only bums me out because I can't have my favorite canned soup).  No nuts. No peanut butter. No oregano. Limited cheese (but I can still have yogurt - yay for protein changes during various food processes!). There are a bunch of smaller ones I should cut out, too, like onions and cinnamon.

One month of a heavily restricted diet, and then I can start adding the minor sensitivities back in to see if they bother me.  Three months on the modified diet, hopefully with a healed gut, and I can start trying out the moderate and significant sensitivities.  ('Cause again, the test is a tool to find possible problems, not a definitive answer like an IgE allergy test, which says, "If you come into contact with this, you could die...or just have a super stuffy head.")

3 months without bread, chocolate, or milk.

You know the funny thing? I started limiting my milk (except in cooking and the occasional bowl of cereal) and bread intake months ago.  Score one for intuition!

I can't have almond milk or almond butter, so...I dunno what I will use for nice alternatives.  Goat's milk?  I shouldn't have soy because of my thyroid, so my options are kind of limited.  I can still get my calcium from yogurt, which is a pretty big staple of my diet right now, anyway.  So no worries on that front.

Bread and buns I can replace with pitas and those green wrap things they use in restaurants.  I might have to find an unleavened bread recipe for my bread maker so it can be of use again.  (I really wish I had the recipe for our old church's communion bread - it was some dark molasses thing, and it was TASTY.)

I'm also supposed to cut out all artificial sweeteners, which was on my list of dietary changes to eventually make, anyway.  I need to buy a filter for our Brita pitcher so I can go back to drinking tap water without flavoring.

I go back in a week to review my big health picture.  Then a week after that to discuss nutritional needs, supplementation, and possible detox.

Meanwhile, my chiropractor adjusted my ankle today after spraining it.  Holy bells on a hell hound, that HURT!  Also, I've discovered that I bruised the living daylights out of the entire outside line of my foot and ankle from falling on it.  That hurts almost as bad with even the lightest touch.  Owwww.  Next week, if it's not back to top form, he's going to use ultrasound on it to help the muscles and tendons heal.  That'll be a fun first. :)

Dern Ankles!

So, we've been sick ALL MONTH with the head cold that won't quit.  Jeremelon has laryngitis on top of it, and of course the Berrykin was only sick for three or four days.  Since then, he's been super hyper because we haven't wanted to leave the house.

And then, just as I was feeling better, I sprained my ankle.  I really thought I broke it this time, but the family streak continues - no broken bones!  The hospital gave me a sexy boot to wear to protect it that I have to wear whenever I walk anywhere.

You know how I did it?  My foot slipped off the sidewalk ten feet in front of our apartment.  Crunch, smack, ouch.  Right in front of the pool.  I sat there for probably ten+ minutes while Jeremelon got the groceries inside and Berrykin attempted to run off in any direction he set his sights on, and none of the dozen or more people at the pool came to see if I was okay or needed help.  It's not like they didn't see me - at least three of the women were staring at me when I finally managed to stand up.  Some of them were probably only six feet away when it happened.  Jerks.

Today, my ankle feels much better and isn't nearly as swollen.  The arm carrying the box that broke my fall, on the other hand, feels like I climbed the side of a mountain one-handed, with no feet.  Oof!  But the vicodin they gave me at the hospital gave me some fun, zany dreams, so it all works out. ;)

With the exception of ComicCon, this month has been a pretty big bummer (oh, and except the Andybug is visiting!).

In other news, Berrykin is finally ALMOST potty-trained.  In fact, I'd call him Naked Potty-Trained.  He hasn't had a single accident in two or more weeks...so long as he doesn't have a stitch on.  If we're out of the house, he doesn't usually go in his pull-ups.  But at home with pull-ups or undies on?  Fuggedaboutit.  I think the next step is to start making him wear undies all the time at home and letting him have accidents until he figures out that undies are not pull-ups and pottying in them gets him all wet.  If he's going to start preschool in August, though, he's GOTTA get trained!  There's also an issue with telling people he has to go or answering yes when someone asks, and he doesn't have the wiping/asking for assistance part down yet, but that can wait until the rest of it works.  (I'm open to suggestions if anyone has them!)

And that's June!  Ugh.  I hope July has good stuff in store to make up for it. :)

Doctors and Batmen and Jaynes, Oh My!

(Yep. I used the reference for two posts in a row.  Score!)

Anybody who says geeks don't exercise has never been to a con.

Seriously.  For every scrawny, enthusiastic Spiderman, there's a toned, muscular Master Commander.  For every plump, awesome steampunk lady, there's a flat-bellied Sailor Moon.  Takes all kinds!  Plus, at a con, you walk.  And walk.  And WALK.  Sometimes at high speeds so you can leap into line and then sit.  And then stand up as they scrunch the line together.  And then sit.  And then stand.  And then sit.  It's a WORKOUT.

My sister and I walked 5 miles yesterday at Comic Con.  Her favorite costume was a pretty spiffy Sora from Kingdom Hearts, complete with kick-butt keyblade.  My favorite was...oh, heck.  There were so many!  There was an absolutely GORGEOUS 1960s Penguin in dove grey with the cigarette holder and everything.  A Star Wars tie-fighter pilot in day-glo orange who looked authentic enough I believed he was in on leave.  A Stargate officer in simple but awesome jumpsuit.  There was a group of about 13 girls cosplaying some pseudo-anime I'd never heard of, but it was a huge group and they were downright adorable.  Saw a family of Dr. Whos, another of awesome steampunkers (minus the 8 year-old boy who apparently insisted on being Robin), and a Batman trio wherein the wife was a sexy Poison Ivy, the dad was a beefy Bane, and their four-month-old was in a Batman onesie (adorable but somehow just...wrong...in a funny way).  The best costume moment was probably when we walked into the game demo area and discovered a Master Commando from Halo hanging out on a bench playing a video game with his vizor still on - so essentially a game character playing a game...it was awesome.  The trio of Tetris blocks made me laugh.  We caught a glimpse of a pretty sexy Ash, complete with chainsaw arm and a perfect female Hellboy complete with rock arm.  Jayne hats were everywhere.  The only Firefly character I didn't see was Kaylee.  Because they had two of the Doctors in for the 50th Anniversary, there was one Doctor Who tweed jacket for every four costumes, and quite a few of the girls wore cute blue dresses that suggested Tardis call boxes.  There were even two Daleks (one a giant, engulfing costume and the other a cardboard-fronted baby stroller).  We passed a Batman in super-hero position staring at a wall and an Assassin's Creed assassin in "you don't see me" pose leaning unobtrusively against a column.  As we were leaving, we passed the LARP station where they were having a full-on, knock-down brawl - the general dark clothes of the combatants broken up by the flash of a perfect green Link darting in and out with his sword.

We went to a panel on the Whedonverse, saw a preview of a web show that's filmed here and starting in August (which sadly wasn't very good), then separated so I could see Raphael Sbarge (Jiminy Cricket on Once Upon a Time) and she could go to "History of Video Games."  Then we reconvened for Bruce Campbell.  I checked on the line at 3:15 'cause it was next door to Raphael's room, and though there were a lot of people, it was nowhere near what it was like at 4:05 when I came back.  The line filled up a ballroom, so they directed us upstairs and to the left.  From there, to the end of the hall and to the right...whereupon we discovered the overflow line that just went on and on and on and ON.  When we arrived at the back, we were told it was unlikely we'd get in.  Sad day.  We waited for an hour, during which we heard that speech about three times and a nicely-dressed steampunk lesbian couple casually maneuvered themselves from behind us to six places ahead of us in line like nobody was going to notice.  Or maybe that nobody would object...which we didn't.  'Cause that's not what cons are about.  But it marred an otherwise awesome day.  They weren't very nice, either.  Boo!

Anyway, we did end up getting to see Bruce, which...well, it ROCKED.  HARD.  He started out by saying he didn't have a moderator so three audience members would get to audition by reciting, as close as they could to Michael Westen's voice, the opening monologue of Burn Notice.  First guy did okay.  The girl did pretty darn well.  The third one...of course, the third one turned out to BE Jeffrey Donovan, the actor who played Michael Westen.  Epic.  The whole experience was just EPIC.  Campbell is a quick-witted comedian, and though it wasn't a very personal Q&A, it was fantastically funny.  (At one point, he turned the tables on the audience and said, "Okay, now I'm gonna come down there and ask YOU annoying and personal questions."  He even fake-kiss-dipped one of the middle aged women in the front row.)  I can't say what sort of person he actually is in real life 'cause it was all very theatrical.  I found him a little crass and rough-edged...but that might be his "public front Bruce Campbell character."  Jeffrey Donovan, on the other hand, was a lot more down-to-earth and boy-next-door than I expected.  And then at the very end, Denise Crosby (she played Yar on ST: TNG, the mini-reunion for which was coming up next and to which we sadly didn't have tickets, and guest-starred on The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.) showed up and sort of panel-bombed by going all fan-girl on Bruce.  I was hoarse from laughing and going "Wooooo!" by the time it was over.  Yep.  Pretty darn EPIC!

I'm a little bummed we didn't get to see the TNG reunion - I've never seen Marina Sirtis or Jonathan Frakes, and I really wanted to snap a shot of Shatner (who was moderating) to send to my dad today for Father's Day.  But even though we could have bought tickets at the door (I think), we were wiped.  Plus, I would've felt guilty asking my sister to spend more money, since the day was on her.  'Cause she's the bestest sister ever!  She's back again today, manning her company's booth in the video game room.  I'd love to go back just to admire costumes.  We've been told, in no uncertain terms, that next year we are expected to dress up.  So I guess we have a year to make that happen. :)

It's also one of my first major career goals to sit on a panel at this con (and then eventually at the full-on San Diego Comic Con), so going was a fun step. :D

And now we can say we lost our (Comic)con virginity with Jeffrey Donovan (it was his first con, too)!

Doctors and Bloodtests and Adjustments, Oh My!

I've set myself the challenge of going Facebook-free for a month.  All of June.  Not just Candy Crush (which I'm proud to say I haven't played in months!).  Not just lurking with no interaction allowed.  Nothin'.  Nada.  No logging in, even.  I've now gone over 24-hours...it would be longer, but I needed to check on someone's reply to something.  But that's the last time.

I now don't know what to do with myself.  Random, two-second FB checks were a staple of my day.  Come home, open FB.  Get bored, open FB.  I never really did anything with it, but opening it was part of my routine.  It structured my computer time, signaled bedtime, helped me wake up in the morning.  Not having any of that has left me stupidly listless.  I don't exactly feel lost, just...unfocused.  Add to that the bummer that we went through yet ANOTHER power cord for the MacBooks (seriously - those are the shoddiest piece of electronic paraphernalia I've ever had the misfortune to use) and have to wait for a new one to be shipped, and it's left me restless, mindless, and always ready for a nap.

That, however, could be the combination of extra exercise and a functional circadian rhythm.  I've been going to the chiropractor for about three months now, and I feel like a totally different person.  Okay, that's mostly the Vitamin D supplements.  I was desperately low on Vitamin D; I don't know how long that's been going on.  Over a year, at least.  Probably since I was pregnant with the Berrykin.  Maybe since before that, even.  'Cause what those sunscreen ads don't tell you is that if you always apply sunscreen before going outside, you never absorb the UVA rays necessary for Vitamin D synthesis.  If, like me, you also happen to be obese (it's a fat-soluble vitamin, so the more fat you have, the more vitamin d gets usurped before it can do its job), no amount of vitamin-d-containing foods are going to cut it.

Two weeks on a low dose of Vitamin D, and my depression was almost gone.  Another two and my anxiety largely evaporated.  I no longer needed to go back to bed after only being awake 2 or 3 hours...not to sleep (because I wasn't doing that), but just to rest because my body couldn't keep going.  I also gained about ten pounds (which strangely happens to me every spring without a dietary change and an *increase* in activity).  A few months later, my functional medicine chiropractor looked at my dose and said, "Uh, that's...that's way low.  Quadruple that for a week, and then drop down to a double dose."  After that week, I kept finding myself smiling for no reason whatsoever.

Vitamin D, man.  It's awesome.  (It's also part of, like, everything.  Estrogen and testosterone production.  Muscle growth.  Metabolism.  Neurotransmitters.  Bone density.  Skin sensitivity.  Immunity.  Everything.  Practically, anyway.)

Chiropractor discovered that my left hip is sitting a whole inch higher than the right, which has caused some serious lower-body issues.  (A regular spread, one hip to the other, is up to 3 mm.  Just for reference.)  After three months of adjustments, I no longer have back and hip spasms.  My spine has started straightening back out again (the hip difference was making it sag to the right).  We've brought the hips about 3mm closer to even.  I can walk without pain!  I can JOG!  (Sort of - my feet and ankles are so weak still that I get massive cramps going...but I CAN jog if I stretch the heck out of my feet.)  I gained another two pounds when I quadrupled my VitD intake, but my body is steadily changing shape, even without significant effort on my part.  (I mean, I'm watching what I eat and JOGGING in intervals, but...yeah.  Before, I could've done that and MAYBE seen a difference after three months.  Not three weeks.)  My berrykin belly is tightening up.  After 4 years.

Functional med doc also took a look at my symptoms and suggested the likelihood that I suffer from Leaky Gut Syndrome, so I had blood taken on Saturday to run food allergens.  I'm both excited for and afraid of the results.  It's been suggested that my never-ending eczema is actually my body trying to flush toxins.  And that if I improve the water inside my cells versus the water outside of them, I could potentially lose 35 pounds without doing anything else.  Insanity?  Yes it is.  But if I'm chronically eating something I have an unknown allergy to and then stop eating it...yeah, I can see how that would make a difference.  Plus, healing my intestines so I don't have junk floating around in my bloodstream is just a good call all around. :)

I'm also trying to find a new dentist.  Berrykin was being wild the other night and jumped up into one of my front teeth, and I'm worried he cracked it.  I think it would have been okay except that I have a permanent retainer behind my two front teeth and what happens to one sort of happens to the other, but not really.  Plus, I haven't been to a dentist in years with all the moving around we've done.  I've never had to find a new dentist (except for the Berrykin, and that was easy), but my childhood dentist that I loved retired pretty much exactly during my last appointment.  That was...siiiix...years ago?  No.  I'm pretty sure I went in as a pre-pregnancy precaution, when his replacement told me I had HUGE fillings and would need essentially a whole new tooth next time I get a cavity anywhere.  Fun stuff.  But I do need to go.  That's still been four and a half years.  (Which is better than Jeremelon's "not since we've been together" stretch.  He has one of those irrational fears of dentists.)

Might have to see a plastic surgeon in a couple weeks if the steroid shots I just got in my arm today don't help the lumps leftover from my last flu shot (back in October).  I got to be one of those "adverse response" reports to the CDC.  Hoo-ray!  And I have an endocrinologist check-in in a couple of weeks.  Hopefully she'll tell me I'm a bad girl for not getting my thyroid checked every six months like I'm supposed to (to make sure it isn't suddenly going cancerous) and that everything is fine.  And then I'll be all done with health checks great and small, minus my functional med attempt to heal me from the inside out.  Whew!  (Although I still need to do some long-term TMJ treatment, that'll have to wait until we have money.)

Speaking of money, I have to get a job.  I'm actually trying to get something outside of retail.  In fact, my *perfect* job showed up within two days of finally being at an acceptance level amenable to applying...so I applied.  I don't normally ask for this, but if you're a person who prays/sends out light/crosses fingers/etc., couldja direct a little of it my way?  We REALLY need me to get a good job, and this one is seriously everything I've been looking for over the last three years.  Spectacular opportunity, good environment, possibility of future tuition payments, enough income to pay for everything that needs paying and then some (including daycare, if necessary).  I would be so grateful for any good thoughts you send my way. :)

And that's mostly catching you up on what's going on here.  Berrykin is bigger, talks more, is FINALLY on the potty training road (mostly my fault that he's almost four and not there yet...see the paragraph on Vitamin D).  He's a very focused, stubborn, active, and silly little boy.  He loves dragons (and dinosaurs, 'cause they look like dragons), video games (he is seriously good at Ratchet and Clank), Tinkerbell, and "kickin sanwiches" from Chick Fil A (seriously - you could offer him a giant cake with cookies on top, and he'd still pick a chicken sandwich with great, wide-eyed enthusiasm). He's less than two months away from turning 4, three months from starting preschool, and both of those things seem utterly impossible.

How's everybody else doing?

Happy summer!