How many times have you said, "If I knew then what I know now"? It could have been about your love life, a job, school, a large purchase like a car that ended up being a lemon because you didn't do enough research. I know I have said that about many decisions in my life.
A Snapshot of My Story
Not too many of you know my full story. My "why", if you will. My story is the reason why I am so passionate about a food forward approach to getting and staying healthy. It is why I spent years studying science-based information about health with Wellness Forum Health. It is why I love teaching others the skills for adopting and maintaining optimal habits. And I am still learning!
What is Autoimmune?
In the mid-80's, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. Crohn's is one of the autoimmune diseases that takes a toll on the lives of millions of people in the United States every year. There are many autoimmune diseases: Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Celiac, Type 1 Diabetes, Graves disease, Hashimoto's, and many more. This is the short list (there are over 80). Autoimmune diseases are the third most common category of disease in the U.S. after cancer and cardiovascular disease and more than 78% of the people affected are women. Autoimmune diseases can affect every biological system in the body, including the endocrine system, connective tissue, gastrointestinal tract, heart, skin, and kidneys. Sounds like the plague, doesn't it?
Autoimmune means "immunity against self." Your white corpuscles-which were designed by God to fight off disease-are identifying some healthy part of your body as an enemy invader and attacking it to destroy it. It is the body attacking the body. In the medical community, the diagnosis of an autoimmune disease is a life sentence. When I was diagnosed, I was given a myriad of prescriptions with potentially dangerous side-effects and was told that food had nothing to do with it. Their best shot was to control the symptoms. There was no looking into any root causes or methods to bring healing. The last medication prescribed was the biologic Humira, which can potentially cause cancer.
The Search for Information
Back in "those days", there wasn't any internet to look for information. I took my meds, cried, and became even more stressed, sinking into depression and episodes of anxiety. Was this going to be my life? If only I knew then that stress and anxiety is a major trigger for any autoimmune disease, so my mental state certainly didn't help.
I will fast forward because the road was long and there isn't enough space to write about the battles, the pain, the weight fluctuations, the different medications, my hopeless mental state, the "pretending" that I was okay, the mental anguish of travel preparation (making sure I didn't eat because I will be on a plane for 4 hours). I was not in a good place physically, mentally, or spiritually.
By 2009, it was bad enough that the GI doctor said my colon was so damaged and inflamed that I needed a bowel resection, and a large section of my small bowel was removed. If I knew then what I know now, I would not have had that done. Why you ask? Because now I know the root causes of inflammation. When you read further, you will learn the consequences of that decision. Now I know how my horrible way of eating was triggering my Crohn's disease (and other autoimmune issues). If I knew when diagnosed in the 80's what I know now, I might have prevented the years of illness. But that is not how life works. We all face trials, traumas, undealt with emotions, and setbacks. We don't know what to do at the time, or we receive poor guidance which makes it easy to sink into the mode of self-pity and fear. These traumas, whether big or small, and our emotions, lead to actual physiological changes in the body.
A Snapshot of the Journey
My road to healing was not easy. It is its own story, and I am thankful to God for teaching me how to listen to my body and how His desire is for us to be whole: body, mind and spirit! My healing started in 2014 and is still ongoing. I share more of my testimony in my free lecture "What Does the Bible Say About Health." He led me to many resources in the nutritional science community and I started to cut out many of the foods that I learned cause inflammation and foods that trigger symptoms. I was starting to feel better, lighter, healthier, and focused. I have not taken medication for 9 years because I radically changed the way I eat, managed stress triggers, and increased daily exercise (which I was finally able to do because I had more energy!) It was a dramatic mindset shift, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
A Setback
Let me sum this up and get to the point of why I am sharing. Think about having surgery anywhere on your body. When cutting is involved that way, it needs to be stitched up or put back together. This results in scar tissue. The scar tissue from my bowel resection has thickened and as a result, caused an obstruction from the stricture. I started looking into that possibility a few years ago and hoped it would not happen. But last November, I could tell that things weren't "moving" the way they should. I went to the GI doctor, but he did not agree with my self-diagnosis. He scheduled a colonoscopy a few days before Christmas. I rescheduled it for their next available appointment, which is in February because, well, Christmas. Ugh, if I only knew then.
In the early morning hours of January 18, I went to the ER as I had been vomiting all night long. The obstruction was bad, and I was hospitalized for 5 days. I had an NG (nasogastric) tube down my nose for 2-1/2 days to drain my stomach. The results of the CT scan done in the emergency room showed the blockage was caused by the scar tissue. The surgeon visited me daily with his scalpel sharpened (kidding), waiting to see if I needed another surgery. I was on a regimen of steroids to control any inflammation and calm things down. Thankfully, I did not require surgery.
So now I wait until February 22 to assess the damage. I was down but have learned to give my adversities, and my scar tissue, to God. I know when to rest and give myself grace.
Choose Life
We can all learn what our bodies need: physically, mentally, and spiritually. If you are not aware of what your body needs, you cannot take care of it. In her groundbreaking book "Radical Remission", Kelly Turner writes about the lives of people who have defied a serious diagnosis of cancer by not only radically changing their diet, but by deepening their spiritual connections, dealing with their emotions and much more. This can be applied to any serious health issue as well. There is healing power available to all of us!
We are all scarred from our circumstances one way or another. Every one of our scars has a story, but they do not define us. God loves our scars, especially when they draw us closer to Him. He invites us into relationship with Him so that we can live in "Shalom", which means more than peace. It means to live in wholeness: body, mind, and spirit. We don't need to identify with our disease, as that is embracing death. We are created with a purpose and a plan. Part of that plan is to learn to be healthy so that we can be of service to others.
Thank you for reading to the end. Please email me with any questions on autoimmune issues. I wish you all Shalom!
Liz Fattore
Nurture Your Health
Licensed Food Over Medicine Professional
www.lizfattore.com
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