A Mess of Being Sick

This past Friday I saw my doctor for the results of a massive amount of bloodwork I had done a few weeks prior. (They took nearly 30 vials of blood.) (I posted about it on Twitter.)

One of the tests was an ALCAT food sensitivity test that does a gut health profile.

My results and symptoms are consistent with patients with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. There are no official tests to diagnose these diseases.

It is a hard pill to swallow finding out I have an autoimmune disorder.

It is even harder to think of all of the healthy changes our family had already made, that I strongly advocate for and how they simply weren’t enough. (Side note, had we not made changes, there is a good chance my conditions could be so severe right now that I’d be bed bound some days with so much joint pain and inflammation.

In addition to these results I am vitamin D, iodine and melatonin deficient (I have since started natural, food based supplements to correct these issues. I’ll retest in 3 months.)

Furthermore, my ALCAT tests show I have an extreme case of leaky gut syndrome.

Out of 200 foods tested, 63 reacted with my blood, 10 of those severely reacted and I may never be able to eat those foods again.

I can no longer eat dairy (to be specific, casein), gluten, white potato, garlic, coconut, olive [oil], pineapple, pear, grapes, certain melons, carrots, cucumber, zucchini, chicken, rice, pinto and black beans, and so much more, obviously, since that doesn’t equal 63…

ALCAT provided a very detailed rotation of what foods I can eat on what days. It leaves me with kind of some strange combinations and I’ve had to get creative for sure but it’s taken a lot of he guess work out of meal planning and after just 3 strict days I’m already noticing some subtle changes. To follow along with my daily meals and snacks, check out my Instagram where I am keeping my picture food journal.