Synopsis

Many people have been asking.... so what exactly is wrong? Good question.

To start at the most recent beginning....when I came back from Germany, something started to go wrong. Headaches. Dizziness. Unexplained fatigue and strange cognitive impairment... like a cloud or cotton crowding out everything in my head. It was particularly bad when I ate sugars or carbohydrates. Sleeping became a disaster. No matter how long I slept, I was still tired. Like I hadn't slept at all. The thing is, when I was in Germany most of these symptoms went away. The first few weeks in Germany were horrible as I went through sugar withdraw, as if I was addicted. My host mom seriously thought something was wrong with my blood sugar. What was strange was that being in Germany made me realize that I didn't even realize I wasn't healthy while in the USA. In High School I always knew that I was tired and my thoughts "fuzzy" and so many other things. But I always thought that that is how life was!

Well, coming home to the USA was not easy. I didn't want to come home because I had never felt healthier in my entire life. I came home, symptoms came back. I moved to Wooster. By October I was in the health center and thought I was going crazy. I missed many of my classes on a regular basis. By November the doctors at my school health center were getting desperate to find a diagnosis. I was therefore diagnosed with Lymes Disease. They were wrong. And I went through 2 cycles of Tetracycline. Which made things worse.

Going home for Christmas break proved to help... instead of focusing on myself, I had to focus on my life self-destructing as we found out that my father had a boyfriend and we faced foreclosure on the house. It only took 2 more months before my father moved out. I almost got kicked out of school for lack of funds, but my aunt and uncle saved me. I worked really hard at my studies because I got an opportunity to go to Mexico on a medical missionary trip in Oaxaca during my Spring Break and I also wanted to prove to my aunt and uncle that I was grateful. Of course I became deathly ill in Mexico. And when I came back I just burned out. Couldn't work, couldn't study, couldn't do anything.

Over the summer I worked on campus and slowly built up my health again through healthy food choices and rest. I was wonderful the first 2 weeks of fall semester. And then I slowly slipped. I couldn't keep up with the constant exhaustion, the "crashes" after everything I ate, and mental cloudiness that interfered with my school work. The cafeteria worked with me to prepare a special diet of low carb/no carb recipes. I finally convinced one of the school doctors to let me take a glucose tolerance test. And I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia. That means that my blood sugar drops too low. It is the opposite of Diabetes, which is also known as hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar.

But the endless quest for a diagnosis after years of asking "what is wrong with me?" left more questions than answers. I was burned out again. I had been on the hypoglycemic diet for over 6 months by now, long before my hypoglycemia was confirmed, and my symptoms were not better. Sure, better than my previous semester, but not like I was during the summer or in Europe. I couldn't waste another semester at school. So I had to leave. And with winter coming up I new that San Diego would be best for me. Everything here is about healthy living, alternative & holistic medicine, and organic wholesome food. Plus, I'm a cultural city person... even if I have never lived in a city. And going back to the countryside of New York where the job market is dying just didn't appeal.

So, here I have been for 3 months. I have been working with a naturopath here who has been absolutely wonderful. Her name is Monique Mazza. It has been tough facing the insurance issue. And I had to find work to finance everything. first it was determined that my adrenal glands are freaking out. My DHEA levels are too high. But no one really knows what DHEA does. Its kind of ambiguous. Also, my adrenals are facing fatigue. That means that they have been working overtime to produce extra hormones and will, if let alone on this path, wear out and stop working all together. Stress is the number one culprit of this. So therefore it was imperative that I reduce/eliminate stress from my life. That is like telling someone to stop breathing smog in LA. Just not possible, even if I wanted to. Thus I started working with a psychologist, Nicole Kahn. This has been very helpful! :)

But possible Adrenal fatigue didn't explain everything. I started taking multivitamins to help with proper glucose balance and metabolism. It helped A LOT! my vitamin and mineral stores were severely depleted and out of whack. I then took another Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) coupled with an insulin test at 30 minute intervals for 5 hours and I had an ultrasound done as well to make sure I didn't have cancer. It was hell to be stuck with a needle 10 times!

But the results were worth it. I was officially diagnosed with Insulin Resistance!!!! That means that at the cellular level, the glucose (sugar) in my blood is not being absorbed by my cells because the "key" that facilitates glucose absorption is insulin (a hormone) and my cells are ignoring insulin. Thus, my pancreas is producing more and more insulin each time I eat trying to "knock down the door" on my cells to let the glucose in. When the door is finally "knocked down" my blood glucose level drops too low because insulin and glucose enter the cells in a 1:1 ratio. For example... if there is 1.5X the amount of normal insulin, then 1.5X the normal amount of glucose in my blood will be absorbed. So I went on more supplements to help that.

The supplements have been helping. But something else was seriously wrong. Dr. Mazza suggested that I might have allergies. We tested for 96 and discovered a few (but things I don't normally eat). She also suspected a half a dozen others not on the list. So I did elimination diets for each of them and discovered that I have a sensitivity/allergy to yeast! It was amazing!!! Eliminating yeast was like discovering I was a whole new person!

So now I have been trying to get my body used to the idea that it doesn't have to be constantly fighting against yeast and all these other problems. It is adjusting, slowly. And of course taking it's toll on me. But I'm more hopeful than I have ever been. :D