I'm getting ready to go see a new functional medicine doctor next week and in preparation, I've been outlining the key turning points in my health journey, recounting when I first starting noticing autoimmune symptoms. As I went through the past 10-12 years of my health symptoms, I remembered my lifestyle habits that probably majorly contributed to my current problems. At the root of all these habits?
Stress. Furthermore, every major negative progression happened at a time of heightened stress. I've always been a type A perfectionist personality. Add to that major control freak. Add to that regimented work out schedule and vegan diet. I would wake up at 5 am to get my morning work out in, follow that with a large soy latte, 8-10 hours of a very rewarding, but stressful job where I had to be "on" all the time (difficult for this introvert), and then lots of afternoon sugar to pull me through the brain fog and fatigue that I usually felt before dinner. And of course, to reward myself for a long hard day, I'd look forward to even more sugar after dinner- daily dessert. My work outs were always long, hard cardio sessions and I prided myself on the fact that I never really needed more than 5-6 hours of sleep. When my to-do list started to overwhelm me, I would just internalize my stress and move on. "Just deal with it" was my mantra. Every time my husband and I moved homes, my lymphatic system would completely crash. I would have tremendous anxiety attacks. I would get achy joints (apart from the soreness of actually moving boxes). So now, we are moving once again. In addition, we are possibly going to be embarking on a major home renovation. And before we have even moved once piece of furniture, I felt it coming on-- the catastrophic effects of stress. For the past year and a half, I've been hyper-focused on nutrition and following AIP. I never really thought about modifying the way I dealt with stress. I overhauled my diet and tried to get an extra hour or two of sleep, but I completely ignored stress. However, as the upcoming move is on the horizon, I've realized I need to take a proactive approach to dealing with stress. I've been eating AIP and sleeping more, but my autoimmune symptoms are starting to flare and I know it is completely connected to the added stress!! So, here's some things I've already added to change the way I deal with stress: 1. Work outs As I've said before, in college and my early twenties, I did one kind of work out-- running. I love running and I spent a lot of time training for marathons and races. I haven't given up running, but now, I run maybe once a week and whereas my long runs were 10-12 miles and my minimum runs were 3 miles, NOW my runs are just 3-4 miles tops. Not only was just doing long cardio workouts bad for my adrenals, but it was horrible for my mechanics and overall fitness. It made me injury-prone, imbalanced, and sore. It has been a gradual progression, but my work outs are now much more well-rounded, balanced, AND effective. I am much more toned and thanks to AIP, my muscles recover much quicker. I try to move and do something 6 out of 7 days a week, BUT only 1 or 2 of those 6 "work outs" are actually strenuous. For example, two work outs might be restorative yoga, two work outs might be a long leisurely walk, one work out might be a HIIT workout, and then one 3 mile run. I also add variety to my work outs. I use Class Pass so I like to throw in a random class like Pilates, Pure Barre, or a TRX series. While the physical differences of my workouts are critical, what's equally important is that I decide what work out to do OR NOT DO based on how my body feels that day. Before, I would white-knuckle it through whatever work out or run I had planned. Now, I gauge my sleep, diet, and prior work outs to determine what I do each day. 2. Yoga Technically, you could count yoga under the category of working out, and when I do yoga, I count it as my workout for the day. However, as many yogis can attest, yoga is definitely about more than just stretching, flexibility, and balance. For years, I hated yoga. I tried to like it. I tried it once in high school. Then I tried it with three classes in my mid-twenties. And once more when we first moved to Dallas. I tried multiple types of yoga and different studios. To no avail. Yet, now my body craves yoga. I try to go to a class about once a week and then practice on my own 3-4 times a week when I am alone in my house. So what happened to help me transition from hating yoga to feeling a deep need for it? Persective. I used to go to yoga class looking for a work out and wanting to maximize the physical impact of the "time I was putting in." (See how the language I mentally used even indicates my attitude?). I would spend my time in class wondering if I was getting my heart rate up enough or counting down the minutes till the end of class. That whole Savasana thing? I hated it! But then in January, I forced myself to go to a yoga class at a time in my health journey when I was feeling pretty discouraged. I had just returned from an international trip and had eaten something that was cross-contaminated. I wasn't feeling very kindly toward my body. During those few early yoga classes, I realized I finally felt ready to love yoga. I had come to a place where I recognized I needed moments of slowing down, connecting with body, and taking stock of what was going on in my body. For so long I had felt so disconnected from my body, but the flow of yoga helped me feel like for the first time in a long time, my body was working in synchrony. Now, by the time I get to Savasana, I feel put back together. Now, when I feel anxiety creeping in, I take out my mat and schedule a quick 15 minutes for some yoga. It doesn't completely resolve my feelings, but I can tell it does help tremendously. 3. Essential Oils I am late to the essential oils game. Part of this is because the majority of what I know of essential oils is from the MLM that is plastered on people's social media accounts, which makes me automatically wary of anything being sold. [Here I feel like I need to address something with a side tangent so feel free to skip this paragraph. The majority of the things I've done to help my autoimmune issues are not FDA approved. They are not covered by insurance. And furthermore, no matter what anyone else says, every single person is going to react differently to different treatments. Therefore, it is incredibly important to approach every measure of attempted healing with a degree of caution and forethought. Doing your own research, taking stock of your own symptoms and health, and equipping yourself with as much knowledge as possible is your responsibility. You are the expert on your health.] Anyway, I became interested in essential oils when I heard a functional medicine doctor mention them on a podcast, but I still wasn't ready to try them out. Then, one day I was at my muscle therapist's (for a sports related injury--totally separate from AI stuff), and she asked if she could put an anti-inflammatory patch on my injury. I said yes and she put this white patch over my injury and sent me on my merry way. This was repeated several times and I realized every time she put this patch on, I felt an overwhelming calm for the remainder of the day. I could smell the patch, but I couldn't determine what it smelled like so after three or four times of me "sniffing" the patch to calm my anxiety, I asked her if I could see the packaging to find out what made this white patch help with my anxiety. Frankincense and myrrh. Straight up essential oils infused into this white patch. Those wise men in the Bible were on to something. I had inadvertently learned the power of essential oils and decided to take the plunge and invest in some. I did some research and ended up buying DoTerra, but I'm not a brand fanatic. Since using the oils, I've noticed some subtle differences in my quality of sleep and anxiety. I haven't gotten around to using them as cleaning supples (mainly cause I haven't cleaned my house since....well, a long time). But I'm sure once I switch over to all natural cleaners, they will come in handy. For now, I use a muscle recovery blend after work outs, lavender before going to bed, and frankincense throughout the day to help with my anxiety. 4. Detox Baths You may be picturing a "detox" bath as an Insta-perfection scene with a dimly lit bathroom, candles every where, a glass of wine at hand, and some Enya music playing softly in the background. While that scene may help with stress, that is not the type of detox bath I'm talking about here. Enter Pursoma bath packets. This ain't no bubble bath. The first time I used a packet, I was not prepared*. The directions say to have a lot of water nearby to drink before, during, and after you are in the bath. After the instructed 15 minutes in the tub, I was pretty sure I had taken some hallucination agents or something. I was sweating profusely, I had a slightly metallic taste in the back of my throat, and I felt like I was breaking a fever. TMI: Tom had to help me out of the tub and into bed, where wrapped in towels, I continued to sweat for another 20 minutes. I know this sounds so fun and you are totally sold. But after you continue to sweat, you get this slightly euphoric feeling and personally, I felt like I was floating. The detox baths help your body purge out any exogenous lurking toxins and afterwards, your mental clarity is unbelievable. When I have a flare, a detox bath can shorten the intensity and duration of the flare by aiding my body in detoxification. In addition, when I feel like I'm rundown and prone to having a flare, I can head it off by resting a little more and taking a detox bath. (*A word of caution about detox: Detox can actually be a detrimental thing if your body is not ready to handle detoxification. Or if you are too aggressive with a detox protocol, your body may not be able to handle the detox load and then those toxins you are trying to flush end up getting reabsorbed into your body. This can happen with baths, chelation, or infrared saunas. Talk to your functional medicine doctor about ways you can support the detox process-- you may need to look into taking supplements to assist your body in clearing toxins. In addition, I recommend researching how a herx reaction can actually set you back in your healing process. While it can be tempting to try all the solutions all at once, it is best to give your body the time it needs to heal one day and one step at a time.) 5. Acupuncture Finally, we get to my latest addition in the healing process. I went to an acupuncturist here in Austin on the recommendation of a friend who had found relief for her AI issues through acupuncture. At first, I was going to wait to visit this acupuncturist, but about a month before we moved, my anxiety hit an all time high and it seemed my autonomic nervous system was stuck in a vicious cycle. I was tense all the time and any little autoimmune symptom sent me into a hysterical frenzy of tears and depression. Since we were about to be doing a lot of traveling, I didn't want to be in this state on our vacation, so I booked three appointments with an acupuncturist. Honestly, how acupuncture works is still a mystery to me and I am one of those people who wants to know exactly how and why things work. But so far what I've noticed from acupuncture is that it helps me feel more balanced. I'm convinced that a lot of my issues are stemming from a brain imbalance-- one side keeps getting stronger and stronger and the other keeps taking a back seat. Going to acupuncture has helped resolve a lot of this. And while my anxiety is not completely gone, I don't feel myself prone to spiraling into thoughts of illogical fears as much as I was. That about sums it up. Integrating strategies to fight anxiety can be difficult-- sometimes more difficult than just making changes in our diet, but I've found it is a key component of having success on the path to reversing autoimmune symptoms. What strategies have you found helpful in fighting anxiety and stress to help your body in the healing process? Stay tuned-- later this week I'll be posting more travel guides on where to eat when you are AIP/Paleo and on the road.
2 Comments
Teresa Taylor
7/11/2016 08:53:10 pm
Thanks for sharing!
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Cher
2/18/2018 02:36:18 pm
Hi! I’m so blessed to have found your site. We have a TON in common, even down to being a Texan (I was born and raised in Dallas;) Are you still writing, as I only had time to look just a bit and will have to come back and scour your posts!
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