My Journey to Here: Unanswered Questions, Years of Pain, Heart Surgery – Healthy Living [Guest Post]

Growing up I remember feeling weaker than the other kids. Sicker. I couldn’t run as far or as fast. I had a lot more headaches and body aches than everyone else seemed to have. Not to mention all the tummy troubles. As I got older, doctor visits became more frequent. Test after test came back perfectly normal, while I got sicker and sicker. I baffled every doctor I saw.

There was a time in my life when I could hardly get out of bed. Showers were a strenuous activity. I couldn’t even stand at the sink and do dishes. My hair was falling out in clumps. My skin was covered in large sores that would leave holes in my shoulders and arms. My mouth would turn to shreds making it nearly impossible to eat. I had frequent heart palpitations, often reaching 130 bpm and above while I laid perfectly still. I had intense stomach pain regularly. And every doctor still told me I was fine. It was “all in my head”.

At 19 a doctor who happened to be a friend of a friend finally listened and believed me. It wasn’t all in my head. One heart ablation later, I saw dramatic improvement. I’d been living 19 years with Supraventricular Tachycardia. And bad. I’ve met many other people who also have SVT but never needed the ablation because theirs only acted up once every 5 years while mine acted up 10+ times a day.

As my heart got stronger, I began my journey to natural living. I began to nurture my body, paying very close attention to what went in and on it. I used the most natural conditioner I could find and I lived with greasy, tacky hair. I used natural deodorant and smelled awful. I tried natural makeup and just looked flat and cakey. And so my quest to find non-toxic products that actually work began.

Life after my ablation was exponentially better than life before. I was enjoying my new life of natural beauty and “healthy eating” but I still had symptoms I couldn’t figure out. The ablation hadn’t made me 100% better. Why?

It’s apparently very common for pregnancy to make all previous allergies worse. So when I was pregnant with my daughter, my food allergies blew up in my face. That was my wake up call. During all of my doctor hopping as a child, I’d been allergy tested and told I was allergic to soy. Since my throat never swelled shut and I never broke out in itchy hives, we never really thought anything of it. (Looking back that makes me feel so stupid.)

So I cut out soy and saw more dramatic improvement. Now I was curious if all my symptoms were somehow food related. I cut out dairy, also knowing from my plethora of childhood tests that I’m lactose intolerant. More improvement. I decided to cut out grains and see how that made me feel. Even better. I started making Paleo dinners each night and had eggs for breakfast every morning. Wow. I was a new person.

I was so shocked at how vastly different my life was from just two and a half years prior when I spent my days in bed.

I had boundless energy. I could think clearly. My nails weren’t peeling anymore, my hair was staying put, my skin was clear, my mouth was intact, my joints didn’t hurt anymore…. symptoms I didn’t even know I had were gone!

This birthed in me an incredible passion for natural living and primal eating. I know how many people go throughout life not feeling their best, and most probably think there’s nothing they can do about it. There is. It’s my dream to see people throw out all the crap that’s hurting them, eat real food that nurtures your gut, feeds your body, and nourishes your family too. I want to see people off medication. I want to see people being intentional about what goes in their pantry. I want to see people free of the symptoms that are slowing them down and keeping them from the best life they can possibly have.

If you’re living life with mystery symptoms or a real illness, I beg you to just try primal eating for a few months. The detox and withdrawal suck at first and it does take quite a bit of adjustment. I’m not going to lie to you. But it is so worth it.

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Note: This is a guest post from my wife about her journey. All rewards will be going to her to use as she wishes :)