5 REASONS WHY the AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) DIET WORKS FOR ME

A few years back I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. That's all six months of going back and forth to Cleveland Clinic produced - well that and an offer for pain management to step in and get a pain block and a recommendation for a psychological evaluation because - yep, they told me it may all be in my head. I don't totally disagree that some of our pain comes from experiences that manifest themselves in parts of the body (for more information on this go to Body Pain Linked to Emotional State)

However, I knew and still know that I my body is struggling with something that is beyond the emotional state. It is an actual degeneration of my healthy cells because they are attacking one another and causing my body to be in a constant state of heightened stress literally in constant crisis mode. A body can only exist in this state for a certain amount of time before it starts to deteriorate. It profiles itself for the more terminal illnesses such as heart disease or cancer. 

When it comes to modern - conventional medicine I have discovered a couple things - 

1. Being on antibiotics repeatedly (5-7 times per year for 25 years) causes your body to become "immune"... allergic to multiple strains of antibiotics. I only have one class of antibiotics I can use at this time in my life. My nurse practitioner saw that and has attempted to keep me OFF antibiotics if at all possible. We had been fairly successful up until my surgery on my arm - where they gave IV antibiotics and I didn't even know they did that until after the surgery.  
2. Pain killers, whether over-the-counter or prescribed - should be used on a LIMITED basis. See chart below for more information! 
3. If a doctor doesn't think he can help you, he will dump you. Not every doctor is like this, and my doctor stuck it out for almost 4 years with me, but after my run to Cleveland Clinic my doc decided he, nor any doctor in his practice, would be able to see me anymore and sent me a letter to notify me of this. That was a very painful and eye-opening moment for me. 

My autoimmune state was brought on by several factors and one of the major factors was yeast overgrowth - also known as candida albican. If I had caught this in its initial state I may have been able to avoid the resulting Fibromyalgia or not have had a immune compromised body that would have been able to battle Lyme Disease. But that's not what the Lord had planned for me - so here I am. I honestly battle for my life - some days the battle is harder than others - but I will take where I am now in comparison to where I was three, almost four years ago. I owe a great deal of my current functioning health to my naturopath - he listened, he learned and he figured out several things my body was battling and he put me on a very strict AIP diet and detoxed me over a two year span. I have not been released by him yet - just can't afford the flights to Colorado right now so it's been put on hold. HOWEVER, the AIP Diet was a God-send and here are my FIVE REASONS THE AIP DIET WORKS FOR ME...

1. It cuts out sugar. Check out what Wellness Mama has to say about sugar here. Sugar is an inflammatory agent which causes my joints to swell and increases my pain. 
2. It cuts out processed food. There's a lot of junk we put into our bodies - cutting processed food eliminates that junk and gives our body a fighting chance to heal itself. 
3. It encourages healthy eating habits. The AIP Diet may seem limited, but when we start eating properly we begin to feel so much better our body actually craves the good food over the bad. 
4. It provides a guide that works for me. By following the foundational eating recommendations for the AIP Diet, I have less brain fog, less inflammation, less pain, and more benefits!
5. It gives my body a chance to heal. By sticking with the AIP Diet my body has a chance to heal from all the damage that has been caused by what I've put into it prior to the autoimmune issues. There are so many things I have done in the past that have exacerbated this problem. BUT I will save that for another blog post - this one is long enough already! 

If you struggle with fatigue, brain fog, chronic pain, and more, this may be a program that can help you! If you have a program that is helping you with your chronic pain, autoimmune condition, etc. feel free to share in the comments! Happy Hump Day! 

BY HIS WOUNDS WE ARE HEALED

INTRODUCTION
First of all it's probably time to reintroduce myself. It's been awhile. But this...is me...

 This is me about a year ago - on my AIP Diet.  This is me today - after 4 months on SAD Diet.

Admittedly, it's not a great shot and one was taken in a yellow bathroom while the other was taken in my new house. BUT...you will notice two things - my face is swollen in the picture on the right, my eyes aren't as clear and my hair is "lifeless." I am grateful that my skin tone has maintained but I have a healthier glow even though I look yellow.

I am Yuki and I have been living my autoimmune adventure for several years now but was formally diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2011.  From 2013-2014 I was under the care of an amazing naturopath who encouraged me to maintain a strict diet, use supplements and detox my body. Because of his work I was basically thriving until recently when I decided to chuck it all and eat like everybody else. It started with just ONE DAY...one day of ditching the diet - Thanksgiving, then it led to two, and you I'm sure you can figure out the rest. My body began to crave sugar, to crave breads and grains, and I began to have inflammation issues, the pain in the joints and muscles began to increase from it's gentle state of 3-4 to running around 6-8. My mobility began to suffer and my energy has been non-existent. Keeping up with life has been difficult...

My refuge is my comfy bed with my heated mattress pad!!

My strength comes from one place and one place only. 

I've been working on a Jennie Allen study called Restless. This study is focusing in on the struggles of Joseph and the suffering he went through but ultimately focuses on Jesus and how He suffered and how His suffering makes Him our ultimate advocate with our God. It is He that understands all that suffering entails and relates it to His purposes for our lives. 

 As tonight's study stated, "the greatest thing you have to give to the world could be hidden in your darkest moments. What if your scars point to a greater story? Every time I want to be mad at God because of suffering (whether it is my own or someone else) he shows me JESUS.

I have known Jesus most deeply in suffering; he seems to inhabit suffering and he endured it first."

"His glory will be revealed, and those who have suffered most will be the most overjoyed."

My suffering is not anything to write home about. My suffering is very character building and God has used it to transform my heart and mind to be stayed on Him. He has used it to make me more aware of my need for His intervention, His healing, His promises, His faithfulness. He is my strength and my portion forever and it's because of Him that I have been able to come back from something so debilitating, so depleting of life, that I can sit here and type this blog post. The idea that I can even walk without being crumpled over. The idea that I can think without the fog of prescription pain killers clouding my thoughts. GOD IS GOOD. But I have fallen off the "wagon" so-to-speak. And I am struggling to get back on. Maintaining this lifestyle of Autoimmune Protocol eating and cutting out the foods that are stimulating the interstitial cystitis IS hard. It is a journey whose path I traveled once and will travel again. My next post will elaborate on those foods that I had to cut initially because of how broken-down my body was. It's an incredible testimony to a great God and His hand in my life! 

DEALING WITH INVISIBLE ILLNESS

I have an invisible illness. Actually I have a couple invisible illnesses.

The problem is when they act up we are never really sure which one it is. A week ago I landed in the ER because of a flare. I don't know if it was the Lyme's disease or if it was the fibromyalgia. All I know is that my left side of my body hurt...horribly.

When it comes to invisible illness, I don't really talk about it much. It's not that I want to ignore it, it's not that I don't want others to understand, it's more of the fact that it's simply part of my life. It's the part of my life that I don't always appreciate. It's the part of my life that I would love to be able to forget. But that's not how this works.



So when I have a flare, I try to be transparent and let people know that it's not a bed of roses over here. I try to be open and ask for prayer for strength. That strength could be literal, physical strength, because when I have a flare it usually zaps me of all strength. That strength is also emotional, mental, strength because when I have a flare and I am left with a body that doesn't want to function properly, I wrestle with those thoughts that often plague my weakened state of mind. Thoughts like I am worthless, I am a nuisance, I am a pain to those around me. Crazy thoughts, senseless thoughts, but honest things that cross the mind of one who feels like her body has betrayed her.

It takes diligence and mindfulness not to let an invisible illness define you, set your limitations and become the main preoccupation of your daily life. There are days where I think that I am never going to be normal again. Well...it's true. And I must accept that my life just isn't normal and that's okay. But to let it drag me down and leave me depressed (which it has done in the past) and leave me despondent (a place I've been in the past as well)...I just don't want to go there.

There's so much life to live still, regardless of how much pain you're in, regardless of how heavy your arms and legs feel, regardless of how fuzzy your brain may be functioning at the moment. When my eyes are on Him, I still have hope, joy and peace.

So I guess the best way I have found to deal with invisible illness is turning to the greatest balm I have found in the wake of each storm...seeking and finding rest for my soul in the Lord's gentle care. Granted, having family that understands, family that knows when they need to boss me around a bit to get me to do what I should be doing in order to heal from an episode is a huge blessing!!! I am one fortunate woman to have family that can tell when I've pushed beyond my limits and when I need to drop everything and let my body catch up with me.

It's not easy, I know this full well. But it's worth every anxious breath, every pain-filled moment of every incredibly blessed day! Maybe someday I will figure out how to share about this invisible illness stuff, but for now, I choose to share it with my Comforter.

And in case you're wondering how I'm doing...I'm better than I was a week ago. I'm still in a good deal of pain, I haven't recovered my coordination and I am dragging my body around these days, but I am functioning...and I'm still smiling! :)

When the Pain is Too Great

Pain...
There are days when this word DEFINES me. I can honestly say, and I don't use this term lightly, there are days when I hate it. Then I have to check myself and look at what is going on and remind myself to be thankful, grateful, to look to the One who makes it possible for me to deal with this pain, the one who has kept it under wraps and bearable for this long. Having the pain hit right around Easter is a humbling experience to say the least. Thinking about all He endured on my behalf, pain that I cannot even imagine, leaves me biting my tongue and rethinking my personal response to my own discomfort. That's really all it is...discomfort. I've not been maimed, beaten until unrecognizable, had a huge cross place upon my back to carry through the dirt roads and up a hill. NO, my pain is really nothing and yet it's everything. It keeps me from doing what I want to do. It keeps me from accomplishing all that I have to accomplish. It keeps me from participating in things I want to participate in. HOWEVER...it also keeps me focused on God. It also keeps me cognizant of those around me who are also suffering. It keeps me from ever thinking I can do things in my own strength. It keeps me relying on HIM!

I think the difficult part of this pain, this time, is the fact that I have had a lengthy reprieve. I have been blessed to have had nearly eight months of minimal pain, tolerable pain and some days, what felt like zero pain. It was such a blessing, I had almost forgotten just how awful the pain could be. THEN IT HIT...and I was NOT prepared for it...AT.ALL...

For a couple days I floundered in my own world filled with pity parties and an exorbitant amount of dark chocolate covered almonds. Then I began to pull myself out of my self-inflicted misery and turned my attention to the One who could make the pain go away. I dove into the Word. I searched for passages on strength and courage. I prayed them out loud and asked Him to transform me into a person who exemplifies just that - God's strength and courage. I am definitely not there yet, but God is working on me!

As the pain continues - my knees ache, my elbows have their nodules and sensitivities to touch, my arms have a constant dull ache in them and my "paw" game I played with Sadie will have to hold off because just a slight hit from one of her puppy teeth sends me reeling. There's also the gut pain - the internal organs protesting my Easter gluttony have led to internal spasms that keep me up at night. Then to add to it all I have a diverticulitis flare happening that just started today. SO, as the pain progressively worsens, I am looking to Him to be my strength!

SO...to keep me from wallowing in self pity again - feel free to leave me a note about 

something you need prayer for. I would love to spend time in prayer FOR YOU! :)