Hi Friends,
Sorry for the delay. I'm still doing quite well, but I'd like to share my update:
Sleeplessness & Insomnia
Recently I've suddenly had a hard time sleeping. Ugh. Then all of a sudden I couldn't sleep for 2 days straight, and on the 3rd day I just got a few winks in (like a couple of hours). What was going on!? I was so concerned and saddened by this. It doesn't take any genius to recognize that sleep heals, and the lack there of is a ticking time-bomb.
Well, after I started a few remedies for my sleep (homeopathically), I also incorporated a supplement from my Divine Nature people (
see prior post about live blood analysis and the supplements I take). They had me start a pretty hard core regimen on my adrenals, which involved taking 4 adrenal capsules in the AM and 4 more at Lunch. One should not take these before bed or after 1 pm because it can keep you up at night.
That very night I began sleeping again, and I am still on track. I know that most of us IC-people have adrenal problems, and I HAD been taking the adrenal supplement already, but I didn't realize that I probably should have been taking more. A few of MY adrenal fatigue symptoms are:
1) Dizzy upon standing (drink more water for this!)
2) Difficulty FALLING asleep
3) Difficulty STAYING asleep
4) Heart pounding in the chest
5) A 'jumpy' and 'jittery' feeling...like my adrenalin was always on guard to pulse through my body if anything normal but unexpected happened...like the telephone ringing.
Anyhow, due to the improvements I have already seen in 1-5 above with my Divine Nature supplements, I fully expect to fell better month by patient month. I have full faith in the Divine Nature supplements, as I carefully researched and discussed with the creator what is in them, how they're manufactured and how each ingredient is sourced. Here are the facts about my adrenal supplement:
It's pretty good stuff. I talked to Randy, and he explained that if one
can't fly down to AZ to get your live blood analysis done,
you can phone the office and have an appointment with Randy, who will give you the protocol for your diagnosis (in my case, IC). Talk it over with him. See what he thinks.
Sleeplessness & Emotions
As far as homeopathy goes for my sleep, I have been taking Ignatia. People joke that it is homeopathic Prozac. Ha. I think that Ignatia should be a premier remedy for IC people. I know that emotional stress/etc is a problem for most all of us IC people (especially women), but I also think that just having a chronic illness alone is stressful on the emotions.
So Ignatia is the Banerji Protocol for sleeplessness related to emotional stress...which (as you may know) the adrenals manage stress. One goes with the others. Ignatia is also the Banerji Protocol for emotional distress in any way (not just lack of sleep). It really helped me get through my tragic miscarriage last year.
Remember, homeopathy uproots, it does not suppress. So when one takes Ignatia for emotional stuff, the remedy is helping you work through and past the feelings. It helps you get 'unstuck' in your current dissatisfying emotional place. It really is a wonderful little remedy.
Here is a great article about Ignatia and it's
benefits to people who suffer from PTSD. And here is one more article about
wonderful Ignatia. While this is not my case, it is amazing how powerful (and gentle!) homeopathy is.
Food & Meals Right Now
I am still on the GAPS diet, and I'm still on the phase where I can drink Raw Milk. I struggled a tiny bit with milk when I was at my worst with sleeplessness, but all troubles that were seemingly related to milk have dissipated with the improvement of my sleep. So what I thought was milk issues was actually the lack of sleep (I get loose stool when I don't sleep well...anyone else?!)
I'm also reintroducing fermented vegetables into my diet. Naturally fermented vegetables are a probiotic rich way of getting soil-based probiotics into your diet. The main problem with fermented vegetables is that it creates natural vinegar and yeast (beneficial yeast). Many of us IC people have an intolerance to yeast (bad or good). So you need to be careful when you add this into your diet.
But adding good food to your diet is like a snowball effect: Once I added raw milk to my diet, the pace of my healing dramatically jumped forward. I imagine the same will occur with fermented vegetables. But you can't start these things until you feel like your body is healed enough and ready. For me this simply means the improvement of IC symptoms. When my symptoms were less dramatic in both level of pain and duration, I added raw milk. Now that I only get the tiniest twinges right before my period (and I subsequently take Cantharis 3o or 200 at that point), the twinge lasts for less than 30 minutes! For that reason, I feel ready to add in fermented vegetables.
Fermented Vegetables and War
Wars in general, and particularly World War II actually did a lot of terrible stuff to our food. Post-WWII was when governments needed to 'find jobs' for the biochemistry engineers who were developing neurotoxins as weapons...
these people became the produces of pesticides after WWII. Damn Hitler. But I digress. Back to Fermented Veggies and War. In war times, food was scarce and often army's died of starvation and not just battle.
After the invention of canned food, death by starvation became a significantly smaller problem. Before canning food (
heat processing jars or cans to preserve food for years), people would ferment their vegetables.
Fermenting vegetables, like traditional sauerkraut, kimchi, and even salsa, is where you create a brine with salt and water, add the vegetables to the brine, add perhaps a bit of natural whey (or a bit of extra salt if you don't have any whey), and you let the veggies sit on the counter for a specific amount of time...the length of time depends on what food you're fermenting.
For example, yummy, crunchy, delicious sauerkraut involves:
a) slicing up cabbage using the slice feature on your food processor,
b) adding salt to the cabbage
c) squeezing the water out of the cabbage
d) packing the cabbage tightly into jars (push/beat/smush the cabbage down so that it rests below the water line. When the cabbage is submerged in it's own brine, it won't mold. Even if a bit of mold develops on the surface, skimming off the mold from the top is not a big deal. Everything in the water is safe)
e) Let the kraut rest on your counter for about a month, and out of direct sunlight. In the end, you're left with crunch yummy sauerkraut!
f) Your health food store likely sells this in the refrigerated section. Look for Bubbies brand Sauerkraut:
We here at my house got sick of eating so much Sauerkraut. :( It's yummy...but a year later they were pooped. So since it's tomato season around here, we ended up making Fermented Salsa! We used the recipe found in the Nourishing Traditions cook book by Sally Fallon.
It was easy, delicious, and
fermented foods will last about 10 months in a cool place like a basement or fridge!
This is me and my gal-pal Rach. She loves eating real food and is game anytime I have a big food-project. I buy the food, and as a 'trade' for her help, she takes home a couple of jars of whatever we made together :). You're the best girlie!
Come visit this blog again soon. I already have a post written and scheduled for later this week.
Yours in love and health,
Paola
