That moment that kicks you in gear...

[Merrye]

I had that this weekend.  I've been lurking on this website for a while now.  This is my first post and declaration to the Nerd world that I have found the motivation to change in the most unlikely place-a food allergy.

 

Earlier this year, I was struggling hard with a fairly serious food allergy.  Something I was eating was causing mild respiratory anaphylaxis,  Not good!  Through a lot of trial an error, it was determined that dairy was the cause.  This was terrible news as I'm a huge lover of most things dairy: cheese, ice cream, cheese, yogurt, cheese, half & half in my coffee, cheese, etc...cheese...  When someone figures this out, the logical thing to do is stop eating the freakin dairy, right?  Well, I attempted to abstain from dairy for a while, but it's hard to tell yourself you can't have something.  It made me crave it more.  

 

I visited an allergy specialist to try and receive confirmation on what exactly is making me sick (in the hopes of finding a loophole).  I was tested for all the common components in dairy that people react to which produced negative results.  Shoot!  But as the allergist explained, a negative result doesn't mean I'm not allergic.  It just means I can't produce positive results beyond symptoms.  And if symptoms are present, then most likely I'm truly allergic.  His recommendation: abstain from all dairy.  Double shoot!!!!

 

I became so focused on how sad I was without dairy that I eventually got pissed enough at the world about it that I decided my symptoms weren't bad enough to warrant giving up something I loved (read "cheese").  I had previously managed my symptoms with Benadryll to the point where I was immune to its sleepy side effects.  So let's just eat a ton of Benadryll and eat all the dairy I want.  Life is good again!  After a while the reactions were becoming so minimal that I tried going off Benadryll.  And it was still fine!  Maybe I had finally beat my body into submission.  I won the day!!!

 

And that brings us to this weekend.  I woke up Saturday, put on a pot of coffee and, once that was brewed, poured myself a mug complete with cream and sugar.  30 minutes into a WoW raid, and bam!  My throat started tightening up worse than it had ever before.  That's ok, I knew how to handle this: pop 3 Benadryll.  45 minutes later, I was getting worse.  I honestly should have gone to the ER, but if you haven't been able to tell so far I have a bit of a stubborn streak.  The solution was clearly more Benadryll.  2 more.  And many more throughout the day.  It helped a bit, but as you can imagine, I felt like a tranquilized elephant at this point.  And that was my Saturday.

 

Here's the really bad thing...prepare to judge...do you think that stopped me from having coffee with cream the following morning?  Hell no!!!  How about Monday?  I need coffee for work!!  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  And I definitely was having a break with sanity.  No shock here, the same thing happened as Saturday including the management of symptoms.  

 

Here I am on Tuesday.  And it's really hit me this morning that I can't do this anymore.  (I did NOT have any coffee with cream this morning).  I feel so sick, groggy, worn out (physically and mentally),and my breathing is taking it's time returning to normal (but it is getting there).

 

So what does this have to do with the topic of this site?  Well, this is truly the epic battle I needed to have to fix the block in my head.  I couldn't tell you why this.  But the first thing I did this morning was get up and throw away all the dairy in my house.  And I feel great about that.  I've resolved to find alternatives and replacements to help transition to a non-dairy life.  But the other part of this puzzle is that I'm currently in the process of doing a body and brain audit.  What else am I doing that isn't healthy for me?  It's opened me up to really think about the goals I have for how I want to be, how I want to feel.  

 

As I said, this is my declaration.  I am starting my mission to get healthy in every way I can.  If you made it this far, thanks for reading.  If I'm just talking to the great tube that is the internet, well...this was cathartic.  I appreciate the space to say this.  

 

Looking forward to joining the community!

[Laureleye]

Nope - I read it all.  Head for the "resources" page on the NF site and read up on Paleo (no dairy!) and healthy eating.  Get yourself all lined up for the next challenge - or join the one in progress.  Drop me a message if I can give you a hand. 

[IronGlider]

Whoah, that's some challenge, really I feel for ya, but it's great you removed the first obstacle out of the way, really great start.

 

Wow, and I thought I was it was a big limitation being a vegetarian! I'm sure once you experiment and ease into ya new lifestyle you'd be better in time. 

 

Keep us up to date!