My Journey to Wellness

It all seemed to have started after the birth of my last child.  When I was pregnant with her, I was clinically depressed.  I got to the point where I stopped preparing meals for my 3 and 2 year old, they were getting cereal for dinner most nights.  My husband would come home from work, and I would basically ignore him.  I remember telling him on numerous occasions "I have nothing left for you", it was so bad I wouldn't even speak to him! I just wanted to sit in my spot on the couch and be left alone.  It was one of the worst times of my life.  

When I saw how much it was starting to affect the ability for me to care for my kids, I went to see my Dr.(I was almost in my second tri) and she put me on Zoloft, (1/2  pill).  Yes I know you shouldn't be on antidepressants while pregnant, but I did the research on it and decided, it was better for my toddlers fif I were able to take care of them and for the unborn baby to not have a mother that was crying all the time!   This was extremely hard for me, I don't even take medication for something as simple as a headache, however I did it. It took about 1-2 weeks and the change in me was drastic.  I was able to function and enjoy my kids and my pregnancy!!  I only told one person I was on zoloft, and that was my older sister.  I was embarassed because I had to take meds, I was able to pretty much hide it from everyone outside of my husband and kids. Then once on the pills I didn't have to hide my depression anymore!  When I was pregnant with F, I craved Orange Crush, Taco bell Gorditas, and fudge pop tarts...weird but some of my favorite foods growing up, I had them all weekly, which I was eating pretty healthy for the past few years so it was not normal for me too eat so crappy. 

After F was born, she was breastfed exclusively, however her babyweight didn't come off, in fact I started gaining weight.  I went to the Dr's and she of course ran some blood tests, and everything came back normal.  I stayed at this high weight for years actually.  I had myself tested by www.enterolab.com and tested postive for gluten sensitivity...BLAH!!  So, I tried Weight Watchers, (while avoiding gluten) it didn't work. (I actually tried it 3 different times in the past 3 years)  I tried atkins diet, didn't work.  My friend told me about an HCG diet, I tried it and lost around 18lbs!  I was ecstatic.  However it didn't stay off, I slowly started gaining it back in 2-3 lb intervals.  SIGH.   I then tried it again like a year later and lost 10lbs.  Once again it slowly crept back on. UGH!   So, for the third time I did the HCG diet, and lost 18 lbs again!  I kept 12 of it off for the summer, then yep it has slowly started creeping back on.  This is where I am currently. Not only does my weight stay on, but my energy level was decreasing dramatically.  I started homeschooling this year, so I just attributed it to that. But, it started to get so bad, I was crying at the thought of getting out of bed in the mornings.  I was 100% convinced my adrenal glands were depleted and running on empty.  

I started studying to be a gluten free practitioner at www.thedr.com which intorduced me to www.cyrexlabs.com , a lab that tested for other foods that can be cross reactive to gluten.   Then I got an email from a colleague who had some sort of comprehensive blood work panel, I emailed him immediately. I am always amazed at how God continually guides me, when I feel I am most lost.  I ran the comprehensive blood panel and then I had my blood tested for the gluten cross reactive foods.  Six tubes of blood later, I just waited....and waited... LOL it felt like forever but within 2 weeks I  had two of the labs back.  I FINALLY had answers!!!

Here are the first results I got:

Hard to see on this picture, but you want green, anything going to the left is "low" and to the right is "high".

Basically the gist of the bloodwork said, I am iron defiecient, low on vitamin D, slightly high insulin.  Those were the "biggies". Yup no adrenal issues at all! I was floored.  With every pregnancy the midwives(yes i delivered in a birth center, that offered NO epidurals, because really I don't like medication of any kind...lol) made fun of me b/c I had the iron levels of a man!!!  I would have NEVER even thought of iron levels. 

Well with these results, it was clear to me I am on my way to Celiac Disease.  I have the genes for CD and gluten sensitivity, my labs from enterolabs, confirmed that.  One of the first things that start going haywire in CD is malnutrition, which leads to Iron deficiency, and vitamin D is the rubber bands, that help control intestinal permeability. I couldn't wait to get my foods result back.   

Here it is:

The left hand column are foods that your body is okay with, the right hand column are the foods your body is reacting to in an inflammatry way, b/c they are mimicking my gluten allergy. the middle are on the border of being high, so if you eat them alot they will be moving to the right column. YUP, so I can eat buckwheat, soy, and potatoes. I have to avoid dairy of all kinds, grains of all kinds, rice, coffe yeast, eggs(in the middle) oats, sesame, quinoa, my body doesn't like ANY of it.  No wonder my body felt great on the HCG diet, it was void of all my allergens. So, I am starting the HCG diet again, to detox my body of all this crap.  I have purchased supplements to help heal my gut and get me back to feeling 100%.  This has been an exhausting road, and I am excited to have answers, I am just praying I have the will power to not eat all the foods that I love, because they are slowly killing me. If anyone has any questions or has experienced anything like this, message me!!!