KNOW YOUR BODY. Tracking Your Autoimmune Symptoms is a MUST for Healing.

I had pepperoni pizza last night and it was GOOD! Two years ago, that was a total no-no, as my body was a mess and not ready to handle the onslaught of the pepperoni or the pizza dough or the cheese (all of which I react to where my symptoms flare up).

Today, however, I can have some once in a while and be pretty much ok because:

1. I know EXACTLY how it affects me.
2. I know EXACTLY how much I can have and how often, to stay balanced and not let my symptoms come back full force.
3. I know EXACTLY how to support my body afterwards to reverse the effects pretty quickly, within a day or so, so I can get on with it.

And that’s what I want you to be able to do.

If you live with an autoimmune condition, food allergies are a fact of life. If this is news to you, please read this fully!

The “chicken and egg” conundrum comes in because:

(a) Autoimmune means your body has started treating some foods as allergies / intolerances / sensitivities (these are different things) even if you were never allergic to those foods to begin with, usually because, now, your digestive system (which is intimately connected to your immune system) is compromised at a deeper level, and;

(b) When you eat these foods you make the Autoimmune condition worse, which may cause you to become allergic / reactive to even more foods.

And so, which comes first? The Autoimmune condition or the food allergies?

When it comes to Autoimmune, we need to stop thinking in a linear fashion, in straight lines, as in “A happens, then B happens.” It’s more of a circle, see. Think of all the letters in the alphabet strung together like on a necklace clasped around your neck. A, C, P, T are happening at the same time and they might all lead to B and even back to C and P again.

EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED in your body. Autoimmune doesn’t just pop up overnight although it may seem like it (that’s how it showed up for me). If your head hurts and your feet hurt, these are not two disconnected, random symptoms.

And what complicates things even further is that no two people tend to react the same way or have the same symptoms.

For example, when I eat pepperoni pizza, I wake up with a puffy face and puffy hands, my ribcage gets sore around the lower edges and it hurts to breathe, I get a bit short of breath, and usually I start wheezing too. (And, yes, I have no shame or qualms about sharing this…) my stool gets whacked out – but even how that shows up is changing nowadays so I need to pay attention. (FUN! =) But for you, your reaction-causing foods and your symptoms are likely to be different.

The trick is to KNOW YOUR BODY.

YOU know your body best. Not your doctor, not me, not your mom. YOU.

For months, I tracked all my symptoms. I had almost 10 whole pages, typed out, of symptoms. At one point, it was so bewildering because my symptoms would change weekly, sometimes daily. Some would appear only once, such as my legs swelling up from the knees on down, and some were absolute constants, such as the pain in my feet, or tingling and numbness in my hands, arms, legs, and feet. These days, I don’t need to write it all down because now tracking these connections comes naturally; it’s become second nature because I tracked them diligently earlier.

In time, you will start noticing trends and you’ll get to know the signals your body is sending you. You’ll see which choices seem to affect which symptoms show up, whether it’s how much or how well you sleep, exercising too much or too little, inability to express anger, nervous or happy stress, some of your food (either what you’re having OR what you’re not having!). It really can be anything, as this is just life. It’s a circle. Everything is connected.

The point is, you can get your symptoms under control but it’s up to YOU.

If you ever need help figuring it out, you know who to call. =)