So, I haven't written in this for some time and all three of you that follow this may be wondering why.....Let me begin by saying that I stuck with my diet up until about ten days prior to my thirtieth birthday. It was at that point that I started a whole new, revamped, completely different diet. A vegan diet. Now you may be rolling your eyes and thinking things like "that self-righteous bitch" or "what a frickin hippie", believe me - I have read all of the thoughts behind the looks I get when I tell people that I am now vegan. I have a good reason and I will share this with you.
First off, my birthday was a blast. My closest friends were there, well most of them. We had dinner at The Wild Grape, delicious! I even finished dinner with a yummy chocolate and PB vegan cupcake from City Cakes and Cafe. Danced the night away! I stayed with my workout plan and it was fantastic. Thirty is definitely the new twenty. Anyone says otherwise, I'll pimp slap you.
Ok, so the whole vegan thing. Yes, I still shave my pits and my tids and bits. No, I don't wear hemp everywhere. Yes, I believe in being humane to animals and I wish that was a good enough reason for me to become vegan but perhaps I loved cheese too much or maybe I am just too much of a selfish bitch to give cheese up for the cows. Yes, I try to wear "cruelty free" makeup and use "cruelty free" pamper-me products, but I am not perfect and this does not happen all the time. No, I do not give a shit if you eat steak for breakfast, lunch and dinner and NO, I will not give you endless lectures about how being a carnivore is ruining the environment.
About a year and a half ago I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that targets the response my body has to cold. I have Primary Raynaud's Disease/Disorder/Retardism. Basically it comes down to that when any part of me is exposed to cold (ears, fingers, toes, etc) my body's cardiovascular response is exagerated to the point that parts of my fingers and toes become white and purple and numb. I literally can't feel a thing. This may sound silly, but here is the shitty part. Once my circulation starts increasing again, I have an "attack". My nervous system tries to shunt blood to the parts that are becoming frostbitten and it isn't getting there fast enough because the vessels are so contricted. My body in turn begins a nueropathic pain response which feels something like having roofing nails driven through my knuckles and my fingernails peeled off slowly. Hooray!
I was diagnosed in January 2010. The following April, my eyes were swollen shut every morning. EVERY MORNING. I started getting blisters on my lips. I looked like a mix between Quasimoto and a pug dog. Pretty, I know. This lasted through the summer and into fall. I saw an allergist at the U of U hospital and found out that an added "benefit" to having an autoimmune disease is intense allergies. I've never been allergic to anything in my life. I am now what Dr. Gleich refers to as "acutely allergic" and recommended I return for possible immunotherapy treatments. Immunotherapy is a clinical procedure where they inject you with small doses of what you're allergic to, watch to make sure you don't die and then do it some more to try to change the immune response you have to certain allergens. I was on 3 different allergy medications and I am allergic to everything green in Utah, which pollen seasons are from April to November. So there are 3-4 months that I am "symptom free". Oh, the joy. When I asked the doc what I could do, he said "move to Hawaii".
So, any of you that know me may be able to imagine the emotional turn that this has had on my life. I am an extremely outdoors person. I live to be outside and in the winter I live for the snow. This past winter I was barely able to get out and in February it got to the point that I was too terrified of the pain to venture into the mountains, let alone my backyard.
I currently work at the U of U hospital with a vegan Physiatrist. I had a lunch with my dad in March, who is vegan/vegetarian. My dad believes that autoimmune responses are due to the body's inability to process meats and animal products. I listened to his advice and then told him I would talk to my doctor friend. At first, I thought "I am on this protein diet! I can't do this now, I'll wait to try it." Upon talking to my doctor friend I was convinced I needed to give it a try and waiting any longer was not an option. The doctor I work for was also diagnosed with an autoimmune disease while he was in medical school. He then read this book "The MacDougal Plan" and revamped his entire lifestyle to vegan. Since then, not one physician has been able to find a trace of his disease and he has been pain-free. He also recommended that I try veganism. He suggested a 6 month trial. Sound too good? Maybe it is, but since I changed my diet, I am down to one med a day.
So now, I am changing this blog for a few reasons:
1. I am thirty and fabulous.
2. All new VEGAN recipes :)
3. I am too stubborn to believe that I can not change my body. I will not accept this diagnosis.
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