My Name is Rachael

My Name is Rachael, & this chapter of my story begins when I started experiencing depression, fatigue, joint pain, & brain fog; symptoms at the time I thought were Lyme's Disease... little did I know...

Over, roughly, the past 5 yrs I have been treated for &/or diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, CFS, Peripheral Neuropathy, & Depression; not counting the number of illnesses & conditions that were considered & discarded just to get to that point! Each of my "conditions" was ultimately researched by me & then brought to my Dr's; because they were clueless & completely UN-helpful - 1 even tried to put me on cholesterol pills when I went to him for joint pain, while proceeding to completely dismiss the actual list of symptoms that had prompted the visit!

I have never been a fan of "fake food" or "pill popping" there was even a time I considered myself to be healthy, fit, & active! I tried on & off over the years to eat healthy - switched to whole grains, avoided sugar "alternatives", Tried protein shakes, flirted with juicing, vegetarian & veganism; but nothing I tried made me feel better in any way. I would get discouraged, assuming I must be doing something wrong & either give up or let someone talk me out of it. Like so many people out there I knew that I should eat better, knew that I was hurting myself by not. But those brownies looked SO good & surely 1 Big Mac & fries couldn't do that much damage, could it?

Given my record of struggles its not surprising that when I got sick it didn't take very long fat all or me to become so tired & so sore that nothing mattered any more. I stopped caring about eating healthy or exercising; I was more than willing to take pills if only they would make me feel better, give me my life back. Unfortunately, there was no magic pill. No one understood Fibro, where it came from, what caused; they barely knew what it was let alone how to treat it. To treat my pain & fatigue they prescribed me anti-depressants.... which did nothing for the pain or the fatigue. They did make it impossible to wake up in the morning & they did remove any & all sense emotion. I could try another type or a different dosage or course; but was the "gain" worth it? Seeing as how I wasn't actually seeing a gain I decided no & gave up on the anti-depressants.

Time passed, I didn't seem to get better or worse for several months. Then all of a sudden i developed a new symptom. It started off slow, my hands & feet were more sensitive, holding things & standing became uncomfortable. A month later standing was painful & my hands & feet would tingle & burn. I assumed it was the fibro & there was nothing I could do about it but soldier on... until I happened to see a link posted by a group on Facebook, the link was about Peripheral Neuropathy - nerve damage. Some people accept this as simply being part of fibro, but I wanted more. I wanted to understand why. Why all of a sudden was I experiencing this new pain? What was it? What did it mean? So I began to ask question & search the web for any clues.

Once again an article posted by a friend on facebook offered up an answer. not just any answer but the first real glimmer of hope I'd seen in years. Gluten Intolerance. 

I'm only just starting out on this new journey; but already diet has taken on a more important place in my life than ever before. Every single symptom I have suffered over the years is linked to CD. Most I never would have thought could have anything to do with gluten - after I figured out what exactly gluten was. The first hurdle was knocking down all the falsehoods surrounding GI - both for me & my family. The more I read the more I feel like I just stumbled across the Yellow Brick Road. I truly believe that giving up gluten & taking my diet back to nature - away from boxes & cans - is the key to health.

Although the exact solution is different for every person, for me personally 1 thing stands out above all others; changing the food you put into your body WILL change your life. You cannot depend on Drs to find the answers for you & you certainly cannot depend on them to suggest that something as simple as food could solve your problems. Modern food is toxic. The snacks & treats we love so much are killing us. The Diet drinks people guzzle down believing they are doing themselves a favor are not only making them gain weight, the chemicals in those products are actually KILLING BRAIN CELLS!

Everything I post is about my quest for life; it's about being happy, being healthy: about taking your future into your own hands, learning about your ailments, & learning healthy treatments for them! I welcome advice from people with more knowledge & experience than me & I look forward to where the journey will take me. That's not something could say a month ago :)