A discussion on Lyme, mold illness, chronic symptoms of all sorts, ways of eating, general health and HEALING so that you and I can get well. Plus bonus travel pics!
The Petrified Forest, Historic Route 66, Navajo and Apache Counties, Arizona
Hi everyone! My energy levels during week 11 were awesome. I was getting so much done. It really made me see how much of my life last year was affected by being drained all the time. This week I was able to accomplish so many tasks needing to be completed as I prepare for the fall as well as do some exercise. I walked the dog, biked at the Y, mowed the entire front and back yard and cleaned the whole house. I also spent one day tubing the James River soaking up the sun for 6 hours. When I would return home after teaching I still had energy to tackle emails and planning as well as tidy up. This was noticeably different, for in the past after a full day of work, even putting the dishes in the dishwasher required energy I did not have.
Being drained also highlights your poorest skills. While I would prefer to pick up after myself and keep my room and house tidy, when I am weak this is the first area of my life to go. Slacking on all things violin related is not an option, so inevitably the laundry piles up and the house chaos starts to accumulate. I love the fact that when I feel good I can keep the chaos at bay and go to bed in a tidy room and wake up to a clean kitchen. It makes me feel like I have my act together! I am a functioning member of the human race!
The Petrified Forest is populated with ancient logs, trees which were uprooted by flooding streams in this now desert.
This week I began practicing the violin again after a long summer break and found myself noticeably excited for the musical projects up ahead. Being excited about anything is also a good sign. When I’m exhausted even though mentally I know something is worthwhile, it is hard for me to attach any emotional desire to it. Everything just takes so much energy. Practicing and teaching while otherwise enjoyable feel like a slow torture. After the season ended last spring I never thought there would be enough time that would allow me to recuperate. I felt physically burned out and therefore musically as well. I am happy to say that with small steps towards renewed vitality I am looking forward to the fall rather than bracing myself for it!
Quartz has replaced wood tissue.
This week however my stomach started to bloat a little. Nothing like it used to be, but still I’m wondering why. After a month on this beef diet my stomach shrunk down and I was feeling so much more attractive. Finally I can fit into my jeans! Now I feel like I’ve lost a bit of that, although it is still better than pre-beef. I’m really missing though putting my hands on my hips and feeling a waist line. That was great! I had also lost 4 pounds and have regained 2 of them although I’m not concerned about that. I have heard that you should eat as much and as often as you are hungry. Your body is starved for the nutrition. Eventually, even if there is initial weight gain, after time the weight drops off. But losing weight is nice and I was a little bummed that the downward weight trend is now zigzagging.
More of note however is that my digestion really slowed down. This is very surprising. Up until this point I have really had no problems. In fact it was quite the opposite. Hmm. What’s going on here?
The Mars-like landscape we see today was once populated by prehistoric plants reptiles and dinosaurs!
I’ve also begun to wonder if ground beef doesn’t agree with me. I would really like to try eating all but ground for several days to see if there are any differing results and I can’t get enough of Perrier or San Pelligrino. I am totally addicted! Separate blog post on that to come.
I seem to be doing better with the electrolytes. It would be nice not to supplement, but I seem to have hit a sweet spot–at least for this week with the supplementation. I divide a packet of LMNT into 4 parts and sip as needed. If I pay attention I can tell how much my body needs. Sometimes it will take me 3 days to drink the entire packet, sometimes 2. Sometimes I take ph mins before bed or some CALM (magnesium citrate.)
Well, there was a lot of odds and ends to cover but I can sum it up by saying that my energy levels are increasingly moving upward while some of the bloat and digestion patterns are off. I’ll see what happens next week. Thanks for reading! Have a great day!
The sky and the land compete for beauty in this corner of the Painted Desert found in the Petrified Forest.
Fellow wanderer Gina D overlooks the South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
This week contained a massive victory as well as continued struggle to balance electrolytes or blood sugar issues. First the frustrating. This week my meal times were all over the place. I don’t know what happened, I didn’t have a properly stocked fridge; I was postponing eating my first meal which then skewed lunch and dinner times. My brain was not clear. I felt awful. By the time I finally ate breakfast, lunch should have been not far behind. By around 1pm I should have consumed already almost two pounds in order to fill the fuel tank.
Instead of learning my lesson I kept doing this day after day. I was so engrossed in my projects that I did not prioritize my eating schedule and it resulted in BAD. That being said I’m not sure that the blame lies on my eating schedule only. I also was working non stop on the computer which I think highly contributed to foggy brain, for that has often happened. It’s hard to tell the real culprit.
I was a bit bummed about all of this because I had found previously that my blood sugar was very stable and I could be flexible with my eating schedule. This sudden dinner bell task master seemed to be a recent unpleasant intrusion. But like I said I’m not sure how much the computer O.D. contributed. This week, however, you can be sure I am going to get my meals on time. We’ll see what happens. I still have one last big computer job.
Another thing is the continued puzzle of the electrolytes/minerals. I stopped supplementing as I mentioned last week and began following the approach of simply eating more to aid my body in regulating on its own. However, to be honest I didn’t feel great. Again how much is related to not eating meals on time with relentless computer use I don’t know. I took a yoga class at the Y and it was a real struggle: weakness, urge to pee, creaky joints, weakness, brain that had vacated… I ate when I got home and felt better, but could have used to have eaten more. Note to self: don’t let the fridge get empty! Another fail!
Following the yoga day I did a hike; nothing too severe, 2.4 miles with pretty decent incline/decline. On the way down my legs were shaky, my brain fuzzy and on the return incline I had to stop and rest far too often for what I thought would be appropriate for my fitness level. Good thing I was alone with my dog, so the only impatient one waiting for me was a four-legged creature with wagging tail. Midway I did supplement with some LMNT electrolytes (1000 mg sodium, 200 mg potassium, 60 mg magnesium) which I think saved me. I also ate a bunch of burger, but I don’t weirdly get too hungry when I hike and didn’t want to force feed.
When I returned from the hike I was wasted. I took an epsom salt soak bath, baked a ribeye and then landed on the couch and watched a movie. Afterwards I went to bed and my entire body ached with pain. It kinda reminded me of being a kid with “growing pains.” I could hardly move. I was dreading the next morning, hoping that the DOMS wouldn’t turn my legs into burning logs of cement. This morning I divided the LMNT packet of electrolytes into 4 servings and continued to supplement. This afternoon while definitely still feeling the slow recovery of the hike I am not as bad as I could have been, sore but still mobile and functional. I’m thinking adding the electrolytes is still key on big work out days!
Also, as to the electrolytes I had an appointment with my trusted holistic health practitioner. He was the one who diagnosed me with having Lyme before I even had the blood work confirmation with my MD. He has been spot on again and again and over the last four years and I have seen incredible improvement in my health by working with him. I asked him about the electrolyte situation and he muscle tested that my mineral point was off and that by supplementing with the ph mins which I already love corrects it. So it seems my body is still lacking.
The whole mineral deficiency problem is not a result only from adopting the beef diet. I have had two hair analysis tests in the past six-ish years which showed deficiency in pretty much every mineral tested and most ratios between complimentary minerals were also skewed. That I’m struggling with it now is no surprise, although I am waiting for the beef diet to improve the deficiency, but if it is making it worse then I need to be on top of it.
So how am I going to address this? I am still going to experiment with eating more to help my body regulate, but go back to supplementing. The electrolyte thing is most noticeable when I do exercise, practice violin (but not baroque interestingly–easier physical demands) or do the sauna routine. So on days where I do any of that I am going to give myself a boost with supplementation. Last week it definitely seemed that eating more was working, but perhaps I still am in need of some aid till more healing takes place.
Now for the major news!! All the problems of electrolytes and possible blood sugar issues seriously don’t even compare to this victorious break through, an apparent healing of a truly awful co-infection. I will write thoroughly about this shocking situation in another blog post but here it is: I have had a parasite infection for at least three years, an unfortunate side effect of having a seriously compromised immune system. Now anyone who was interested in dating me will no longer be interested if they’re reading this post, but whatever. Maybe my honesty will help some other unfortunate soul dealing with the same thing to have strength and hope for the future. There’s not a lot of information out there about people suffering from parasites. Most doctors think that only 3rd world countries suffer. Interestingly I’ve read many places about Lymers with parasites, just another side-effect.
Over the past three years I’ve tried numerous natural supplements, drugs and herbs and nothing was able to wipe out the sinister nasties. It was really a nightmare. Fortunately I am blessed with a personality that doesn’t freak out that much at gross things so I could proceed with as good an outlook as anyone could hope, however, enough is enough. I was ready to wage war on these primitive scourges. Finally I had collected from 3rd world countries (via Canada) an entire cabinet filled with MD prescribed pharmaceuticals for a protocol that would last an entire year, rotating four to five drugs. I was ready to annihilate.
But then after going on the all beef diet I stopped seeing signs. For two months there have been no signs of an infection that has been plaguing me for years. Since I have found and read about these mini-monsters to be quite stealthy, I was not naive to think that they were gone, but perhaps holed up in their horrifying cysts somewhere awaiting the day the beef stops (they subsist primarily on carbohydrates.) And that may be the case; however a very, very positive sign is that my holistic practitioner did a thorough muscle test of each parasite vial and found that no longer were ANY active except the smallest, almost microscopic kind.
And for those of you who are rolling your eyes at my talk of a natural doctor, all I can say is people who don’t have nightmares in their gut can roll their eyes all they want. The healthy can afford to be cynical and judgmental of the methods used by the suffering. The reality of sickness is that you follow what works and believe me it is not straightforward!
The tiny serpents may emerge again, but for the time being they have at the very least signified a break in the onslaught. They clearly do not like my beef diet for I have eradicated their food supply. This is the first major sign that my overall health is massively moving in a positive direction. Maybe my immune system will now have a chance to heal itself while the evil tiny terrors are hibernating (if not dead.) And when they wake up, if they do, my now future strong immune system will burn them up with a vigor so mightily powerful those slimeballs won’t stand a chance.
I was staying out of town with some friends and they invited me after our concert to attend a potluck at a farm where they had priorly attended a birthday party for a goat named Flowers. I love farms and animals so it sounded relaxing. There was going to be a big bon fire and kids running around. It all sounded very idyllic. “By the way,” she said, “they’re vegan so you’ll have to eat before or bring your own food.” Later as I was en route she said, “Actually, you’ll need to eat before. They are pretty strict about it.” OK, no problem. I already had my mouth full of a bite of overdone London Broil.
Her husband and I arrived later, as we were coming from the concert, and upon approaching the owner grilling up some veggie burgers, my friend blurts out, “This is my friend Christi. She won’t be eating with us tonight because she is on a very special diet. She only eats one ingredient: beef.” I am already laughing inside at this situation. This is hilarious. I have no reason to be contentious when I am the guest and I have full power to either attend or not attend the potluck, but since my friend honestly and simply described my situation with no intention to offend letting the “strict” vegan know I only eat flesh, I found this to be a notable way to start the evening. ” “Oh dear,” I thought, “This is quite the introduction.” The man was very gracious to me and perhaps thought my friend’s statement was a poor joke, or maybe he just chose to be hospitable, but I couldn’t help but feel awkward.
I went inside the building where the food was laid out to get a drink of water and I discovered the true purpose of the farm. This farm was primarily a refuge for animals to keep them from being slaughtered for food. There was much literature on “compassionate eating” and vegan recipes and pamphlets like “why vegan?” But the full intensity of the owners’ ideology sunk in when I read that they are currently attempting to raise $2000 a month to support cows to come and live and graze on their farm (without being consumed or giving milk.) In other words please help rescue cows from being eaten and pay their rent.
I was the last visitor of the day. I don’t think I could close my mouth for how excited I was to emerge upon this classic gem of the route. The owner graciously gave me a tour, introduced me to his pig and told me the history of the place.
It is obviously a losing effort to save the world’s cows from being eaten, but part of me admires their devotion to an impossible cause and sticking with it anyway. On the other hand I think that raising $2000 a month to send cows to starving villages in Africa would be a better use of the money. But that is how it often is. Whenever money is being talked about we or others think how the money could be used better. I give money to a dog sanctuary in Costa Rica and I’m sure some would say it is better to support a hungry child each month than a hungry dog. But the world has many problems and they all need to be addressed. Sometimes we don’t pick the most urgent or dire problems to attend to, but is our hearts which choose indiscriminately.
So we hung out a bit, looked inside their yurt, took a little walk, and sat under the lanterns hanging in the trees. It wasn’t a bad way to spend an evening. There was laughing coming from the porch where a bunch of adults and kids were playing Uno, the hot sticky North Carolina air hugging you too close. We left and as I was lying in my bed I laughed out loud, I eating only beef showed up at a save the cows animal refuge. How ironic.
I can’t fault the passionate vegans for wanting to save the cows. I don’t agree with it OBVIOUSLY, but they seemed gracious and are trying to make a difference peaceably about that which they care about. I do think our mass farming practices are abhorrent in this country and I loathe cruel treatment of animals. I wish I did not have to eat animals at all, but I don’t believe I could be healthy without it. I think that there are alternatives to eating animals from mass produced commercial farms that are sustainable to the environment and humane to the animals, but I can understand that some people would skip this and go straight to not consuming animals at all.
But in actuality I don’t know if we were both honest if it would be possible to get along at a deeper level with each other, the owners and me. I know how upset I become when a friend dismisses the need for better farming practices and worse treating animals with undue harm. Though I try to make careful decisions about what meat I eat when I have the option I know that for someone who believes that animals should not be eaten at all could harbor incredible judgement for someone like me.
Also I contemplate, wondering if there are ramifications for devoting your life to something that if carried out to the global extreme would have profoundly negative consequences. I believe that if the world didn’t eat animals many people would get very sick; on the other hand if the entire world only ate cows like I do there would not be enough cows. That is why I am not religious about it or think it is a good global idea.
relics from the past
I also don’t think that simply being a compassionate person is equivalent with being a good person and sometimes compassion can lead to negative illogical consequences. I wonder about insidious consequences of extreme “empathy ideology” like reasoning and bargaining with children at the expense of needed boundaries and teaching them to mind their parents. I have witnessed wild children screaming and punching, hurting others because the parents were practicing “empathy,” and children that can’t go to bed on their own because parents don’t want them to cry and be scared even well past an age that the child has the ability to confront the darkness. Sometimes it is compassion which keeps us putting up with bad behavior in others for far too long instead of calling them out on it.
Sometimes compassion creates weakness in others because it originates in ourselves. We can’t let go and thus keep others from developing the strength required to deal with the world. It requires wisdom to know when something or someone is vulnerable needing protection and when something or someone needs to be allowed to grow.
Compassion can keep someone from sharing advice with a friend which needs to be heard for fear of hurting their feelings. Compassion can keep us from standing for the truth in public for the same reason. I don’t think that compassion is typically something we have thought we need to keep an eye on, but just as aggression needs to be watched, so does compassion, for compassion can often be masking fear and weakness and our own inability to confront and wrestle with reality. Of course true compassion is combined with wisdom, is not willfully blind and acts out of strength.
In sum, I don’t think that the farm has any negative consequences as long as those involved do not propagate the “compassion shaming” that is the m.o. of the day. Often today others engage in “empathetic” behavior or viewpoint and they shame us for disagreeing. “Only a monster would disagree with such a compassionate viewpoint.” Then those that dissent cower in a corner feeling like a horrible person for having an “oppressive” view point, bite their tongue in fear, shrug their shoulders for the losing battle, or rage inside for the world losing their minds. Or maybe a strong someone speaks up.
As long as people do not feel shamed for eating animals and speak up for themselves when necessary (not when you’re invited to a vegan potluck at an animal refuge) everything is fine. People pursuing non-violent ideologies can and should exist peaceably in the world along someone with a contrasting view, as long as those who are not engaging in “compassionate” behavior are not shamed into silence. Obviously on both sides we need to examine our beliefs and continue to refine them, change them when necessary, but it is up to those who disagree to stand up for their own viewpoints and refuse to be shamed in order for there to be a continued free dialogue among humanity.
Wishes do come true on Route 66, an epic adventure filled with surprises. It feels like Christmas morning every day.
One of the most challenging things about being on an all beef diet is finding quality beef. It doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult, but I’m writing this after consuming local, grass fed beef from a farm up the road that has left me with a pounding migraine and a feeling like I want to vomit to be rid of the queasiness.
I bought about 7 pounds of grass fed beef from Aldi and spent the entire week having diarrhea. Coincidence? Maybe, then again, the sheer sight of that beef makes me feel sick, so I’m thinking maybe not.
Then there’s the hoards of grass fed beef I bought from a vendor at the local farm market that has such a gamey smell to every cut of beef that it was really off-putting. It didn’t taste great, and I’ve spent way too much of my life chewing that tough meat. It’s hard enough to be on an all beef diet without the sickening strange game smell and tough sinewy chunks that ram wads of meat strands between your molars. Yeah, this is my life. Dental floss is my best friend.
So far really, the Simple Truth Organic grass fed beef from Kroger has been the most dependable, likeable, non-sickening beef. It is the bulk staple of my diet, but at my local grocery the varieties are only ground beef and expensive ribeyes. I have read online from several zero-carbers that ground beef can disagree with overly sensitive guts due to the mixed up bacteria and that other cuts are preferable, but really if one is committed to grass fed there’s simply no way to afford not incorporating regular rounds of ground beef on a musician’s salary. Besides, ground beef provides a respite from the jaw ramming chewing on other cuts!
I have had some cuts of beef from local vendors that were enjoyable enough and where I felt good afterwards, but they didn’t provide enough fat, and then there were some cuts which simply to my palette are lacking without marinading or spicing. For example, it’s possible the short ribs I made would have been scrumptious marinated, but I just didn’t enjoy that cut of beef alone.
The Originals!
So far ribeyes are the most satisfying because they provide a nice portion of fat and let’s face it, they’re simply mouth watering. Ribeyes seem to be the cut of choice for most Carnivores, but again for me it’s too pricey to eat every day.
In addition to the repulsion I’ve experienced taste wise or in my bowels to several different brands of meat, there’s my own handicap of failing to cook the meat to an edible capacity again and again. I’m really struggling to not overcook! It seems the meat goes from raw and bloody to a cardboard block in one minute flat! But truly this is just the fact that I need to devote my focus to the task at hand and not wander off. That all being said, few meals I would finish and think, “Wow, that was truly scrumptious.” Too often it’s like, “Man, I’m glad that’s done.”
One such meal however was on my birthday. I went out to eat at a local restaurant in the little beach town Salvo in the Outer Banks, NC, and I ordered a big, fat prime rib. To date, that has been the most epic meal I have had on my beef diet. I dream about that prime rib.
Most times I’m just happy to have a neutral experience. I would love to find a local vendor where I enjoy every bite and so I will continue to try different farms. Luckily where I live in Virginia gives me many options for exploration. My new m.o. is to buy only one or two pieces so that I don’t end up with a weeks worth of meat that smells or tastes weird, or worse.
One day while vacationing, my friend walks into the room, wrinkles up her nose and says, “Eww, there’s something wrong with that meat!” I guess it’s not just me.
So here’s to a week without diarrhea, migraines, nausea, relentless chewing and off putting smells! Setting the bar low! All joking aside, all beef eating is not easy, but I am still convinced that for the time being it is totally worth it.
Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, Montezuma County, Colorado
This week was a rough one as far as chewing beef goes. I participated in a week long musical retreat in North Carolina, wonderful not only for the incredible music making, but also for the celebratory social gatherings abundant with feasting and imbibing. I longed to sample the savory Iranian eggplant stew with fresh Mediterranean salad, roasted corn, bouillabaisse, and beet and kale and caprese salads. Some red wine wouldn’t have hurt either! It was a little rough socially because I ate my beef while everyone is um-ing and this is sooo good-ing over the gourmet meals. And obviously there was a lot of explaining to do on my end, which was fine. Did I mention the chocolate cakes? But I was strong people! I did it another week.
I really don’t get the zero carbers who are just fine with letting vibrant colors and mouth watering aromas wash over them with nary an inner tear for having to abstain.
BUT
Guess who didn’t feel like junk at the end of the retreat like I did the last two years? ME!
So the first five days we were on base at the camp and I had access to a kitchen complete with quality pots, but the sixth day I needed to get my meals out. This was the first time that I had to do beef without being able to prepare ahead of time or use a kitchen. So this is what happened: $18.50 for one pound of ground beef happened! Ugh! I had called a restaurant to see if they could make me only beef patties and they said, fine, no problem. The waitress told me two patties would be one pound. $16.50 (including tip) later I received my patties and they were not close to a pound. Believe me. I’ve gotten good at telling what a pound of chewing feels like. I thought, I’m going to need more food.
I have found that if I don’t eat enough my electrolytes get off and that is BAD. So what did I do? The Unthinkable. No judgement here if that’s your thing, but seriously I never do this. I went through the McDonald’s drive through and bought 2 more hamburger patties for $2. I thought that that sure beats out $16.50!
So phew, I made it through lunch, but after the rehearsal we had a short dinner break and then there was a concert for which I would need full brain power! What was I going to do for dinner? Certainly not repeat that experience! So again, I did the unthinkable, seems there are many of these on an all beef diet: my very first all you can eat Hibachi Grill buffet, and I even had a friend accompany me! Well, that certainly turned out to be a disaster. Yes, it was definitely beef that was grilled before my eyes with no sauce, but I didn’t think that I would react to the oil that the cook was using to fry it up. In the end I had terrible brain fog and also felt like barfing . I’m afraid that my playing dramatically suffered from the meal, and that is always a bummer.
Square Tower House
So what did I learn? I’m going to simply have to cook in advance or perhaps try a steak house. At least then the meal might actually come closer to being worth $16.50. One other note on eating out. On the way south I did stop at Five Guys and they awesomely only charged me $2 per patty. They were delicious and I didn’t have any brain fog, so if I can find a Five Guys again I’ll definitely do that!
The main health news of the week is how I’ve been continuing to explore the electrolyte situation. Recap, the past weeks my electrolytes seemed to get so skewed that I was supplementing at least four times a day and it seemed to be getting worse. Then I read a post about how the focus should be on eating more so that your body can regulate electrolytes, which is what it wants to do without outside help. Having low electrolytes is just a cry for more food. So I thought I would give it a try. Results? People this is pretty astounding. I ended up eating an additional pound of meat per day and did not need to supplement even one time. I can tell that I’m overall still a little low, but I’m going to keep eating more and see if my body won’t tweak it to perfection.
I found that I had to be super careful about eating enough before rehearsals, because one time I didn’t and I had those scary symptoms of low e-s, spacey brain, feeling like I have to pee, shaky etc.. But as long as I kept the fuel coming I was fine. I am very excited about this development, because I was becoming worried about the escalating out of whackness of the electrolyte situation. I knew if I didn’t find a solution the meat eating might not be sustainable. But who knew, I just require a lot more meat for fuel! This is a major breakthrough for me on this way of eating.
Additionally, I found that I was drinking much less water. Normally I am so thirsty all the time. I just guzzle water. After not supplementing I only drank about 1.5-2 liters per day. That was very nice as normally it could easily be double that.
Other positive: After a week of playing baroque violin every day for about 5 hours I had no significant pain in my neck, shoulders, back or arms. I still have difficulty with circulation and thus quick motor skills but the lack of any pain is HUGE! Baroque violin does seem to be a lot easier on my body than modern and perhaps some of the body resiliency is attributed to that, but nonetheless a great sign.
“The Ancient Ones” depicts a Puebloan climbing rock face using hand and toe holds to farm the land above the cliff dwellings.
Negative: last week was the week prior to my period, and I’ve noticed for two months now that I feel totally exhausted and miserable during that time. I don’t recall it being this noticeable prior all beef, so I’m not sure what that’s about. I was so fatigued if I had no commitments I am sure that I would have spent half the days in bed resting. It was pretty rough and very challenging. I felt discouraged during those days and I will definitely be keeping an eye on this trend.
However in sum, I’m really going to celebrate the electrolyte progress and the lack of pain while doing what I love to do. I’m naming this week overall a success!
Route 66, Farm to Market Road 2161, Panhandle of Texas
So here I am wrapping up TWO MONTHS on beef, salt, coffee and water! This week I had my first two legitimately bad days, but thankfully that was due to an unsuccesful attempt at introducing a mixture of herbs to treat a co-infection and not a flare up. I’ll write more about what I was hoping the herbs would treat in another post. I was very excited about these herbs; I waited a long time for them to arrive, but alas they were a disaster.
So what happened? Immediately following one evening dose and one morning dose I became an emotional maelstrom of irritability, anxiety and sadness. I thought I would combust into flames and burst into tears at the same time. I felt completely out of control. This anxious energy contrasted itself with periods of down swing. Remember the driveway litmus test? I could hardly walk up it and sometimes I felt like I couldn’t speak. I’ve gotten over the years adept at being in tune with my body and picking up cues; you have to be because it’s such a giant puzzle. So I deduced from the symptoms that this was definitely not die-off but an allergic reaction. It was entirely no bueno. I continued the herbs for two days to make sure the symptoms were consistent and certainly there was no mistaking the misery. Two days of that and I called it quits on the herbs. That was yesterday. Today is entirely better and I have my life back! I feel like a different person.
After the 6 week mark I reintroduced gentle exercise and sauna. I found that my body still does not repair itself quickly after even yoga and while the benefits of sauna have been noticeable I find that it also depletes my electrolytes. I started thinking that if I balanced my electrolytes I could recover quicker from exercise and it would give me the consistent brain clarity throughout the day. I was really starting to have problems with electrolyte depletion and guessed that if I solved this I would really be doing optimally on this diet. I had already seen that if I took electrolytes consistently throughout a hike that I wouldn’t have any DOMS at all the following day, versus an almost debilating combo of pain, cramps and stiffness. It seemed to be the only missing piece!
Texas is wide open. Miles and miles of fields and then a gateway sign to a ranch. It gives you the feeling that you are not privy to what goes on behind the curtain. You the driver, the onlooker only see it like this, but cowboys are still very real.
I already take some electrolytes I love, Ph Mins from Premier Research Labs, but those favor higher magnesium and lower sodium, a practically negligble amount at 20mg. So I ordered LMNT Recharge electrolytes with 1000mg sodium, 200 mg potassium and 60mg magnesium. I only tried these twice on days where I didn’t do any taxing physical activity or sweating and immediately after drinking my brain became cloudy and my hands felt swollen. Woah! Ok, maybe I’m actually not that deficient in sodium after all. I’m going to still hang on to them for a serious workout and try them again.
I started to rethink the electrolyte thing and began reflecting on how much fuel I was consuming. After days of intense sauna therapy (20 min sauna, 5 min cold shower X 3), hiking, water skiing and yoga I didn’t focus on if I was actually eating enough. I came home from water skiing this week and was ravenous, but got sidetracked helping my dad with a project. It was late by the time I ate. Next day same thing; work and coffee date and finally dinner by 9pm. I think that not eating when you’re hungry has ramifications.
I read a long reddit post by a 9 year Carnivore that many people think electrolyte supplementation is the answer, but the real problem is that people are hungry and need to eat more. I have heard other zero carbers say this, that the body WILL regulate itself, but if you keep tampering with supplementation it remains confused. I thought about this and started listening to my bodily hunger cues. Today I’ve already eaten more than I usually consume in a day and it’s only 2pm. I feel great.
So this is my new path. Every time I’m feeling low and recognize those electrolyte cues I’m just going to eat more and see if I can let my body do its thing. I will still carry my electrolytes with me to the gym because an electrolyte crash is one of the scariest things I’ve experienced and it is difficult to function. I’ll also consider supplementing with electrolytes if I don’t have access to eating right away or if I’m doing an intense hike. If I can figure this piece out I will be soaring!
So that’s the update! Thanks for listening! Good luck all of you and however you stumble forward moving the needle on your health.
Not knowing what’s wrong with you is a specific kind of overwhelm; learning a diagnosis or two while relieving in one sense creates a new kind of overwhelm: confronting the endless information on the web and perhaps even personally trying to make sense of acquaintances’ myriad of therapies. Thoughts can flood the mind like, which therapies have worked? which ones haven’t? which ones are right for me now? do I have the money for any of this? It’s so complicated; how will I ever understand the disease let alone the path forward? This disease is worse and weirder than I thought. Feelings of discouragement have washed over all of us with chronic illness at some time.
In the case of Lyme disease there is perhaps no straight path from A to B, and if there is it’s certainly not one that all naturalists or doctors agree upon, so finding your way can seem a lot like a maze with frustrating dead ends. BUT there is a way forward, and once you confront the initial shock of how much there is to learn everything gets better. Today I am here to encourage your heart and share some advice which can help focus your action into basic steps.
Find a naturalist or a MD you can trust, preferably both. I’ve found that using a dual approach gives me maximum knowledge and thus options for healing. You’ve probably already been to some sort of practitioner to have received a diagnosis but you may need to go beyond where you’ve been to find the best care available. Making regular appointments will keep you accountable to following through with protocols, hopeful because the experts will help you to craft a plan that is a good next step and you’ll feel empowered for having taken an actionable step toward health. Your chosen healers can help you to see the big picture. Knowing how far you’ve come is not always tangible when you live with yourself day after day, but doctors and naturalists can remind you of the progress you’ve made. So make an appointment or two! Do it!
Roy’s Cafe an oasis in the desert
Pick a small number of therapies to try, keep learning, but stick with what you’re doing. Keep doing it until it stops working or shows you it’s a dead end. However, knowing you have options will keep you from feeling disappointed if a protocol does not work and can give you a new direction to go in. You may doubt that the protocol you’re doing is the best one out there or maybe you want to try everything at once. Take comfort that most everything is a cumulative effort. You have to start somewhere. Keep it simple and expand on what you know. I’ve found that most protocols do work a little bit or enlighten the reality of how your body works. For example, cholestyramine was too heavy duty for my body. My liver could not handle the load of toxins that the cholestyramine was pulling from my body, however it did reveal that we were on the right path. My body was indeed full of toxins and the cholestyramine revealed what a heavy load I was carrying. This told us we were on the right path but needed a gentler approach.
Make the computer your best friend. Learn as much as you can about the disease, but take breaks when you become overwhelmed. Take screen shots of information you find poignant so that you can refer to it later. Even if you can’t remember the mounds of information you encounter keep reading and learning. You will see patterns and start to recognize the information. Even if spending hours googling isn’t your favorite thing, carve out some time each day or week to learn more online. The various blogs, websites and chat rooms have been a huge source of information and support to me. I have learned so much and believe that a massive part of my progress has been things that I have decided to try on my own or with a doctor’s support. But remember to do something relaxing or enjoyable to put dealing with the illness on hold to give yourself a break. Sometimes it just becomes too much and we have to remember that there is life still to live while all of this is going on.
Truly the US Postal Service is a miracle when you get out to remote parts like this.
Have a support system. Fighting chronic illness is a team sport. Being able to share your experience is crucial. If someone doesn’t validate your reality thoughtfully examine your relationship with this person. Surrounding yourself with supportive people is imperative to healing. I am grateful everyday for my family and friends who continue to acknowledge my reality and cheer my every step forward.
Celebrate every step forward, any improvement is a sign of healing. Healing from chronic illness is more akin to putting in small pieces in a jigsaw puzzle than winning a game with a home run. Each cumulative action compounds until a beautiful work of art is revealed, your robust and vibrantly healthy body. I want to encourage you that the information does start to shrink. You can learn and understand your illness and you can take tangible steps that will make you better. So be diligent about doing the work, one piece at a time and you and I, we WILL get well.
Fast food magnate Albert Okura is currently restoring Roy’s to its original 1958’s charm
One of the reasons I’m addicted to traveling is because I feel so good. I feel alive and like every day is my birthday. The days go slow and are filled with wonder, beauty and adventure. I have energy and my brain is clear. Lately I’ve been thinking about what the reasons for that could be. I ask myself how it could be possible for me to walk or hike 11 miles a day for weeks (with some days off) when on the road, but when home, I could have days feeling crappy with barely enough energy to do what is required of me. I think it has also confused some people close to me to think that maybe my illness isn’t really so bad. Maybe I just need to de-stress?
The answer is I don’t really know, but I’ll take a stab at it here with some theories. I’d love to hear from you if you have had similar experiences and how you interpret it. Has this ever happened to you? If we can figure it out perhaps we can adjust our (alas) non-vacation life to feel better.
Being outside
First off, when I travel I’m OUTSIDE, like all day outside. I’m away from mold, chemicals, electrical devices and artificial lighting and I’m breathing fresh air and soaking up vitamin D ALL DAY. Whether it’s hiking a beach side trail in Costa Rica or walking the streets of New Orleans or swimming in a waterfall pool in Fiji (yeah, just reading that made me feel really lucky) it is not recycled HVAC air in a tiny studio with florescent lights or a dark performance hall with bright overhead lights blazing into my eyes firing off my nervous system. My doctor tells me that HVAC systems are a breeding ground for molds and then you get to breathe that nasty air all day. Even if they’re not it’s no substitute for outdoor oxygen. Maybe as modern humans we underestimate how much direct sunlight we actually need. But when it’s winter who wants to go outside? and the days are so short!
Mold
After I returned from a five week road trip last summer feeling great, immediately a day or two later I was miserable off and on in bed. A month later we ripped up the carpet in my bedroom and found traces of mold on the back, so that definitely could be why I so quickly succumbed to sickness, but it’s not like I returned to robust health after ripping them up either, although it did make a difference. Lynchburg, VA, bless its beauty, is a verdant little corner of USA where lots of molds and allergens flourish. However, the problem with placing too much blame on its location as the cause for my misery is that I spent three weeks backpacking in Costa Rica where nothing ever dries and I felt great. It doesn’t get greener or wetter than Costa Rica during the rainy season, and if you want to smell something stinky, just leave your clothes on the line overnight. Why is this?
Mental and Physical Stress
As much as I may joke about that my friends or family may think I just need to de-stress, there is a lot of truth in that. I work as a free-lance violinist and teacher and I am constantly under stress to learn music by deadlines and to perform at a high level. That is just inherently stressful even at one’s healthiest mentally and physically, and I work a lot with few days off. Man, it’s just intense. By contrast the summer when I adventure in the US or around the world, every day is like the best day of my life and because my trips keep getting longer, I’m having the best days of my life for a pretty long time. So, now we have being outside all day plus no stress. Sounds great right? The weight of the world has lifted, leaving me light and free as a bird.
The next big thing I see is that a la vie normale I am physically burdening myself by playing or teaching the violin all day long. Playing the violin is quite demanding on the body and with Lyme/mold symptoms compounding with possible old repetitive strain injuries my body locks up and does not recover well post intensive exercise (practice). Stress begins to stack upon stress until my body is at the place where it starts to do upper body twitches, shakes and spasms, physically maxed out at the drop of a hat, or in this case a smell, a bright light or one more minute of practice.
The upward spiral allows for exercise
A difficult thing about being ill is that exercise becomes a challenge. Momentum is difficult to achieve because two great days could be followed by two bad days. Just when I think I have enough strength to exercise and am mentally gearing up for it I get side-swiped and feel crappy (although lately that is changing!! ). Even though I believe that exercise is essential for regaining health, doing so seems sometimes like an insurmountable challenge. How is it that I can walk and hike for miles day after day when I travel? My best guess? I think this is all part of the upward spiral.
Feeling good consistently allows me to be constantly moving which only sends me higher up the spiral to feeling good to being able to constantly move. Plus, walking and non-strenuous hiking is about the most gentle form of exercise on the body. It’s the most natural thing in the world. We are made to walk and step up. It’s mostly anaerobic and the demands are consistent.
During my past cross-country trip the weather was warm in many of the cities we toured, naturally inclining us to a southern pace of walking. We made jokes that each town had its own pace, and none was as slow as St. Augustine. So the way I see it, I was constantly moving in as non-stressful, gentle way on the body as possible. Slowly this added strength so that weeks later taking a more strenuous hike in Zion National Park was possible.
Protocols/die off
Another significant reason for feeling better while traveling is that I have put all protocols on hold. The thing with Lyme and mold illness is that the process of purging the body of all bio and mycotoxins actually makes one feel worse. All that crud dying inside of you causes an array of symptoms until it can all get out. The liver is often overloaded and can’t handle the sudden onslaught of garbage. It is not pretty people. In fact I spent the majority of the last two years feeling awful simply because I was often in the throes of die off. But that’s just the nature of treating the illness. Feeling bad while doing a protocol is often a sign that the protocol is working. Twisted huh? Anyway, having a respite from die off and an overburdened liver is a joy–even if it means halting progress in this area for a time.
Not many demands
I guess this could go under the category of stress in a way, but I think it’s slightly different. While adventuring, the hardest thing I’d have to deal with is a tossing and turning, bunk-shaking hostel mate or that I couldn’t find what I was looking for in a chaotically packed car. It’s easy to feel good when anything which if put to the test would reveal symptoms never was challenged. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I was functioning entirely better, only that few buttons were being pushed which would reveal the true nature of my health. Just like how in life when everything is going our way our true character is not revealed.
But while traveling was my health really all good?
If I think about it as honestly as I can, there were still negative symptoms which have manifested while away from home. Last summer, after 2 weeks of traveling and physical exercise I did begin to exhibit major electrolyte depletion. One really close call was at Bryce where I became very dizzy, like I was on some drug and had to hold on to my friend to bring me into the restaurant where I was able to recharge a bit after eating. I was chugging the electrolytes during that trip but still I had occasional episodes like that and some muscle cramping.
Same vacation my vision was a mess. I had to change prescriptions mid trip, did not feel right driving, unsettled, hard to describe like there was a weird brain/vision connection (not unheard of with Lyme) and also a new fear of heights possibly brought on by the brain/vision issues. I also developed night blindness after 3 weeks.
In Carlsbad Caverns the air at the bottom of the cavern began to cause brain fog. And in general although I felt overall better than usual, I could tell that my energy level still was not where it should be, and especially in relationship to my companion. Then again she was 26!
However, these maladies certainly did not prohibit me from living spectacular adventures for which experiences and memories I am forever grateful.
Making changes now, is that kind of life even possible?
So if being outside all the time while constantly moving with zero stress and no demands is the secret to optimal health it doesn’t sound like I have a chance, right? That doesn’t resemble real life at all does it? But perhaps it does offer some clues. Ultimately, I want to heal from Lyme, mold illness, inflammation, reactive nervous system, weakened immune system/gut and any repetitive strain injuries, but maybe understanding that which helped me to have the best optimal health while dealing with these illnesses and thus making even incremental changes will aid in my healing and even after allow me to maintain vibrancy and flourish.
So I need to ask these questions: can I be outside more? move more? and decrease physical and mental stress from my life? The implementation would not be easy and would require creativity, a vision, commitment and discipline. Over the next several weeks I am going to ponder these ideas and report back to you to see what changes I am able to make!
What about you? Are you able to get outside and move? Have you managed to tone down the stress in your life? Any avid travelers who have managed to implement aspects of a simple life into regular life? I’d love to hear from you your wisdom in the comment section below!
view from Meeting Street, Charleston, South Carolina
Blue Swallow Motel, Route 66, Tucumcari, New Mexico
Congratulations to me! I have finished week 6 of my all beef, salt, water and black coffee diet. I originally set out to do this diet for six weeks, so I am happy to have achieved this goal! I have made it through two birthdays, a week of vacation and July 4th with no cheating. And here’s how I feel: great.
I have lost four pounds, most of my bloating is gone even on 90 degree days, the merciless tight feeling in my body is gone, I have way more good days than bad days, and get this, I have even started exercising. I attended my first yoga class in years and teared up with gratitude for arriving at this point. Today was my second class and I was amazed again by how much more flexible my body is. I can’t believe it!
In central Virginia we have had about 3 weeks now of consistent 90 plus degree weather. In the past I simply could not handle the heat stress on my body. I routinely would be going back to bed, feeling uncomfortable, swollen, with many Lyme/mold symptoms flaring. This week I have been productive, have only taken maximum of 20 minute naps a couple of times, practiced, gone to the gym and done my normal routine.
Walking up our driveway is a litmus test for how I’m doing on any day. It’s a hill. Not a huge hill, just a hill, but some days I feel so crappy that it takes me a long time to walk slowly, like an elderly, feeble woman up the hill. This week even with temperatures soaring close to 100 I walked up that hill with strength, like a normal person.
Anything I’m seeing that’s not positive about my all beef diet? My electrolytes which have been pretty wacky pre-all beef are even more depleted. I am having to chug electrolytes all day to stay optimally functioning. When I get low symptoms are anything from bad calf cramps to major brain fuzziness to fatigue and lethargy to burning in muscles. I have heard other Carnivores say that eventually the body figures it out and regulates it. I’ve also heard that supplementing with electrolytes can keep the body from regulating, but I’m really not sure how I would manage without supplementation. So I’ll just see how it goes.
My digestion fluctuates from normal to quasi diarrhea, although I don’t really see that as a negative because it wasn’t great in other ways pre-all beef either. The fact that it’s normal about 50% of the time is actually an improvement. And no you don’t need fiber. That’s totally a made up thing.
Does this progress mean that I’m cured, good to go? No, I still have symptoms which impair the quality of my life that need to be reversed; but the progress is tangible and honestly elating. I am filled with joy to see these noteworthy changes in my body.
Sooo guess what? I’m not gonna stop now. I don’t know how long I’m going to keep doing it, but for right now, beef, it’s what’s for dinner.
I react to the slightest hint of mold, a whiff, practically an imagined presence of mold and for sure in actuality mold. When one has mold illness the nervous system can become so reactive in order to warn itself of any possible danger even before that perceived danger has had any time to do damage. It’s like “We know that mold will screw you up big time so anything that we perceive as being a threat we’ll let you know BEFORE the thing actually has time to do damage.” That’s why someone with a reactive nervous system post mold illness can have brain fog before it’s actually possible for the mold to do damage to the body. And of course if there IS mold well, that’s no bueno, duh. So needless to say I need less mold in my life, preferably no mold thank you.
But I like my coffee and coffee is often highly contaminated by mold. I would frequently get brain fog after drinking coffee in the morning, a couple times even horrible migraines. Dave Asprey the developer of Bulletproof survived toxic mold from a flooding of his house. His story is very compelling and can be found here: https://blog.bulletproof.com/my-flood-story-and-what-to-do-about-mold/. Because of his experience he developed a line of coffee that is sourced to be the least moldy possible and is tested for mycotoxins. Frankly I’m not sure if any coffee will be 100% mold free even from what Asprey describes on his website , but this coffee is amazing. It feels so clean. I would highly recommend it! Not ingesting mold (or as much) every day is a big deal. Thank you Dave Asprey for this gift!
Ultimately I would like to try to give up coffee because I do notice that if I drink too much I do start reacting to it. I’m not sure if that is from mycotoxins or just what caffeine does to me. Usually I have no problems with the first two morning cups, but if I overload in the afternoon I can get fuzzy brain, decreased circulation, feel stressed, muscles tight etc. But coffee is a hard drug to lick and on an all beef diet it helps me hang on at social gatherings. So for now Bulletproof brand coffee is the best choice I’ve found.
What has been your experience with coffee? I know a lot of Carnivores recommend abstaining, thoughts?
Caretaker for the Blue Whale, Blaine Lewis, son of Hugh Davis who built the Blue Whale for his wife Zelta in the 1970s
Gonna Get Well 