So most people know about my intestinal gut health issues, but that is a small part of a bigger picture. Loving myself and valuing myself enough to care treating myself.
Love Your Mind
I feel like most of the stuff that was driving me crazy like my porn addiction had been rectified. But still, we are creatures of habit and comfort behaviour that supports and facilitates self-sabotage and other destructive patterns.
Love Your Body
I am currently running an experiment on healing my leaky gut as well as reversing intestinal inflammation (and ulcers) and also IBS and SIBO.
Love Your Soul
I like to think that a lot of this is in alignment
In 2017, 2 days before my 40th Birthday, I was robbed at knifepoint around midnight as I walked along the beach in Zipolite in Oaxaca.
Over the next 5 days, my body transformed into the state that is currently in.
There may have been underlying conditions before this evening (I can recall several instances spanning about 5 – 7 years previous to the event), but the instances were not constant and on a daily basis where I couldn’t ignore it. But hindsight and retrospect, I can see a few cracks appeared on the wall, long before I moved to Mexico.
So since the attack, I was mainly noticing I was not 100% digesting my food, not forming real stools, a lot of symptoms and side effects, the doctors unable to diagnose me with anything. I saw a total of 9 different specialists, nutritionist, dieticians and even homoeopathic doctors.
I was told I had.
- SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth)
- IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
- Leaky Gut Syndrome
- Celiac Disease
- Ulcerative Colitis
- Crohn’s Disease
- Intestinal Parasites
- Candida Overgrowth
- H. Pylori
- Guardia
I researched and studied all different types of diets and I tried them all. Low FODMAP’s, Keto, Paleo, Vegan, Blood type Diet, Vegetarian, Carnivore, Pescetarian. None of them unanimously brought me any relief. Then I found 2 people online.
- Kenny Honnas
- Mikaela Stamp
Both of them had been diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and had managed to reverse all their symptoms, reduce inflammation and able to eat a full diet. I spoke with both of them via social media and after some backwards and forwards, I came up with a plan.
Body Ailments to Track
Working my way from head to toe, I noted all of the things with my body that were causing me some grief or I was concerned about. Many were related to what was going on with my guts, but others not so much. If I was going to be healing my health, as well as sorting out my physique in tandem, then I almost needed a before and after.
- Migraines (I had only recently started suffering these, but they were so bad, I am glad their recent)
- Headaches
- Breaking Out Into Hot Sweats
- Shooting pains in my head
- Brain Fog
- Leaking / Weeping Eyes
- Foggy Head/lack of concentration
- Hayfever
- Nosebleeds
- Dry Mouth in the morning
- Gasping For Breath In The Middle Of The Night, Mid Sleep.
- Bad Breath
- Tonsil Stones
- White Furry Tongue
- Chest Palpitations
- Pain Of Left Side Of Body / Left Arm
- Shooting pains down the left arm
- Pain in stomach after eating
- Random pains around the torso.
- Gas
- Smelly Gas
- Excessive/constant gurgling of intestines
- Pain Palpitations in my intestines
- Trapped Gas
- Diarrhoea of varying consistencies
- Constipation
- Discolouration of faeces
- Undigested foods
- Mucus in my stools
- Intestinal Pain as food moves through the body
- Painful left hip
- Unable to bring left knee to chest.
- Itchy shins
- Sensitive point reactions (after eating). Mainly fleshy parts of the thumbs, the laces and outside part of the feet/
- Inflammed joints
- Restless Leg Syndrome
So from the top of my head, I am listing all of the issues I am having with my body and will be tracking to see how many of these are triggered by diet. Some of these have been in my life for a while and others really only since the attack.
- Pain Of Left Side Of Body / Left Arm
- Waking Up With Backache
- Chest Palpitations
- Tight Chest
- Chest Pain
- Heartburn
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Acid Reflux
- Stomach Pain (Dull Ache)
- Stomach Ache
- Bloating
- Constipation
- Gurgling
- Pulsing Intestines
- Painful Bowel Movements
- Putrid Gas (Unpleasant Smell)
- Gas / Wind
- Diarrhoea
- Haemorrhoids
- Pins & Needles
- Inner Groin Pain
- Restless Leg Syndrome
- Hip/Knee Pain (From Walking)
- Right Wrist Pain
- Inflammed Joints (Little Fingers)
- Pins & Needles in Legs after Bowel Movement
- Numbness/Tingling In Fingers
- Itchy Shins
I also have a couple of permanent things that maybe it is possible to fix
- I cannot breathe through one side of my nose
- I have Tinnitus
- Tightness in the tendon on the left index finger (injury)
- Waking with backache for nearly 10 years
The plan was to start on my 43rd birthday (8th July) and to track until the 8th January 2021.
What happened between 8th July and 30th September 2020 was a steps forwards, 1 step backwards type affair. I was confused by some of the ingredients and a few times I went “off the rails” (a term my mum uses in abundance)
Body Ailments to Track
I know a lot of online tests have been somewhat frowned against and scrutinised about their validity and accuracy, but I took the plunge and decided to go with
- Thriva
- Healthpath
I wanted one to check my overall health and the other for a deeper analysis of my gut health issues. I opted out of getting a SIBO test. I figured I probably have it (they say that up to 80% of the worlds population have it that have followed a westernised diet).
I wanted all of the tests to be tracking me from the 1st October, but they didn’t show up in time and so, I’ll just use them as the monthly marker point.
I am also tracking my ailments and conditions via a series of apps.
- PCal – The best poo tracker out there.
- My Symptoms – It is a combination of all of the other apps, but I like that I can do symptoms
- Cronometer – macronutients tracker
- Lifesum – diet and weight tracker