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When I interviewed Dr. Natasha, she said we need to take responsibility for our own health – let me share from the interview exactly what she said:

Your health is your own responsibility, and it is your own power to look after yourself and don’t give away that God given power to anybody else. Your own body heals you, not the doctor, not any other specialist. The doctor can only advise you and recommend what he or she knows and quite often that knowledge is limited. Your body is infinitely cleverer and wiser than any medical specialist, so listen to your own body and allow your body to heal itself.

That’s what I wanted to do with the GAPS nutritional protocol, I want to put power into your own hands, into the hands of the patients and the parents in particular because it is in the hands of parents to heal their own children, not a doctor’s.

I remember at one of the medical conferences, I said to the doctors, that I would like to put the power back to the patient’s hands and one of the doctors turned around and said, “Well that’s unacceptable to us,” so beware of that, do not give your power to anybody else, it is yours.

You’re in charge of your own body, you’re in charge of your own health and we live in a wonderful world of abundant information. We’ve got Internet, which the previous generations didn’t have. So younger people now, before they go to any doctor or any specialist they scour the Internet first and they get all the information available and yes, there is a lot of different quality information on the Internet and there is different levels of information but if you do a thorough homework you will always decipher what’s right for you and what’s not right for you, but the information is there.

So take the healing into your own hands, it is your own responsibility and the people who have done that usually have achieved good results.

One of the callers asked for guidance, and here was Dr. Natasha’s response:

You do need to work with a practioner because you have tests that need to be done. You may have an accumulation of heavy metals, or other toxins, what I say to a lot of people that before you start putting cherries on the cake you have to bake the cake itself and GAPS is the cake that you bake. The cherries then on top can be chelation, can be homeopathy, can be certain detoxification techniques, certain herbal products, certain supplements, certain various approaches which help people and in order to get the cherries on the cake you have to work with an experienced practitioner who can identify what your specific problem is. Everybody’s different, GAPS is a basis, is a fundamental thing to do to start the healing process and I would say that for more than 80% of people that works out to be just enough, just the one thing that they have to do. But for that small percentage of people who are very ill, and have severe conditions and have had them for their whole lives, there are some other issues that have to be addressed.

In light of this advice from the good doctor, I have an appointment this week with a naturopath who I hope will partner with me in finding “cherries” for my GAPS cake.

I’ve been on GAPS for 21 months, and I need to move to the next step. I saw a lot of healing in the first six months, and was feeling pretty good up until December. That’s when I got my hair cut. I did okay at fixing my hair but extraneous self care like fixing hair every day starts to fall by the wayside when I get tired. I’m still getting my hair cut, but now I’m just pushing it back with a hair band. I need to stop getting it cut, but I feel like the woman is now depending on me as one of her clients…

I’ve been feeling increasingly worn down this whole year. I have had a good day here and there but have been declining in my energy levels. The stress level rose for me significantly when my husband’s business began to have some difficulty… in December. His response was to eliminate sleep… sometimes getting only 2 hours sleep, sometimes pulling all nighters… occasionally he’ll get 8 hours… and every once in a while his body will revolt against his mind and he’ll sleep twelve hours straight, he is like a walking zombie at times and it worries me half to death. He’s lost so much weight that people are starting to wonder… I was able to tolerate this new schedule until about April, but then I started to wear down, and began to grow more weary and anxious and stressed. I finally had my adrenals tested and started on the bio-identical hormones. Something I’d sworn I would never do, is take bio-identical hormones… but I did it to help my adrenals. I started to feel better, but then the Attack of the Jalapeno Peppers (I like that so much better than the Jalapeno Incident, hehe) occurred and I believe this was a whopping hit to my adrenals, and I have not felt quite the same since then. I finally caved, went to Urgent Care and gladly accepted their steroids to get the swelling to go down.

Then I found out that the bio-identical hormone creams had ingredients which both raise and lower cortisol at the same time, so I stopped taking them. Only my energy level was almost non-existent. I had to do something. I cannot quit my job, although I would dearly love to, I cannot. So I ended up beginning a regimen of HC cream. I am still doing GAPS! I just need to figure out the cherries now.

I also have known for years that my thyroid is functioning low, in spite of what the test results say… most doctors don’t know how to test correctly for thyroid issues and millions of people are suffering needlessly.

To top this all off, my youngest son came home with a cold which he’s still coughing from. He passed it to his older brother, who has Down Syndrome and I almost keeled over from worrying about him and how he would handle the cold. Because he has been diagnosed with asthma, there is the potential for a cold to exacerbate the asthma and could also turn into pneumonia. You would have to know how frightened my son is of doctors, needles and hospitals to be able to understand how worried I was. Thank God, and I truly mean that, thank GOD, he did not become so ill that he needed to be seen. I had him keep up with breathing treatments, and he got through the cold without incident.

And then I myself came down with the cold. I had to go to work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday feeling exhausted and with a hoarse voice. Apparently this cold takes its sweet time… finally by Saturday my throat hurt so badly that I had to take Ibuprofen for the pain, and ended up staying in bed the entire day. Thankfully my youngest son decided to cook for his sick old mother. He woke me at 8:30am with bacon lettuce, tomato and avocado sandwiches, made with my homemade mayonnaise. No bread – he wrapped everything neatly into a lettuce leaf, oh, it was so delicious! 🙂  For dinner he made me butter fried chicken, tomato slices with Celtic salt sprinkled on top, steamed snap peas in the pod and faux-tatoes. I felt truly loved and cared for.

I’m better today… still low on energy, but I did manage to wash three sinks full of dishes, wipe the counters and stove, make breakfast, sweep and mop the floor and get my clothes into the washer and dryer. And today I’ve worked on our 2010 income taxes… another stressor that has been killing me knowing it is due in three short weeks.

Finally, my job has become even more stressful with deadlines than ever before. I thought it was bad before? It has gotten worse. I’ve asked my husband to please take two weeks off and just stay home and hold down the fort and cook. This will be a vacation to him and I need his support right now during this extra stressful period. I have been having to work overtime every single day and this leaves no time for cooking, if I want to try and get enough sleep. And my sleep has been awful. Just awful. Every Monday night I cannot sleep and go to work Tuesday morning exhausted. It is hard to function when that tired! Not to mention having to drive!

So I have to tell you Saturday is the nicest day I’ve had in months… my son loaned me his iPad and I read up on some blogs, I listened to a couple podcasts, I watched *three* movies off Netflix. It was like a wonderful mini-vacation. I should really consider staying in bed all day one day each week. I think it would help me to feel much better… although the awful thing is I get that much farther behind… agh…

Back to those cherries… as I said, I have an appointment with a naturopath who I hope will help me with the blood work and lab tests that I need to have. My insurance will not pay for the naturopath (but it will pay for the lab work and prescription medication), but I believe she will be a good fit, so I am willing to put out the money for the sake of my health. I cannot fathom the idea of fighting with a “regular” doctor trying to get them to agree to do the recommended labwork. I simply do not have the energy to even contemplate going through that kind of stress. I’m hoping and praying this doctor I have found will willingly prescribe the tests and then will help me with the necessary medications. I’m a little bit nervous because I don’t know if she will want to take the reins and lead, or will be willing to be my trusted advisor.

If you think you have adrenal fatigue and low thyroid issues, here are some books you might want to look into, suggested to me by an awesome GAPS friend who is very good at figuring out this stuff:

• Stop the Thyroid Madness: a Patient Revolution Against Decades of Inferior Treatment
• Your Thyroid and How to Keep It Healthy
• Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome

I am honored you stayed with me to the end. Here’s to the future and finding those cherries! 🙂

Yesterday I told you how I ended up with basically what turned out to be a chemical burn to my face due to working with jalapeno peppers. When we left off I’d just told you how the skin around my eyes had swollen up and become very puffy, and I found some relief from Benadryl and Tucks Medicated Pads (which are basically just Witch Hazel, I didn’t know that) and using frozen peas on my eyes. I’d also realized that my face must be shedding capsicum microbes onto my pillow case and came to the conclusion this was aggravating the skin around my eyes. As I mentioned yesterday, I started to suspect everything. Was it that new clothes soap I was using? I usually use non-scented but since I’ve been doing GAPS I’m not so sensitive to scents so when I ran out of my laundry detergent I used what my husband has been using. Was it the detergent? It seemed as if I was caught in a perfect storm.

Days 9, 10, 11, 12
I worked from home on Monday and Tuesday, but I had to go in to work on Wednesday and Thursday. My face was peeling all over – my nose, my chin. By Wednesday my eyes were much better and on Thursday they looked almost normal. Still almost constant burning or itching over most of my face. I would also wake in the middle of the night to my face burning. I tightened down on the foods I was ingesting, hoping to take the burden off my body as much as possible. I was feeling extra emotional and just one piece of fruit would cause my mood to deteriorate quickly into depression. Fruit, honey [affiliate link] and high carbohydrate vegetables can have this effect but usually after a few days of indulging but my body was in such a state of crisis that I had to be really careful.

Day 13
On Friday my cheeks right beside my nose on each side was stinging and bright pink, as was my forehead. Also, my lips were chapped and peeling. The top lip was red and inflamed and I had to be careful about what I ate. I couldn’t open my mouth very wide as my lips were chapped and hurting, and if I happened to eat something with any heat, then it would burn and my lips would get ever redder and would burn. In June, a pretty bad cold sore appeared on my right lower lip. I’d wondered if my body was retracing since it has been about 20 years since my first cold sore, which was on exactly that spot on my right lower lip. Anyway, this newly healed area was affected badly from the pepper exposure. Also the top of my lips were read and swollen and chapped and hurting. I had already learned that putting any kind of oil on my skin only spread the capsicum microbes into my pores so I finally resorted to using a product that contains petrolatum! My poor body! One night I tried using Cortizone 10 Cooling Gel to ease the burning and itching. Bad, bad move! It stung ferociously and I had to dash cold water on my face to relieve the painful stinging. Finally I resorted to using some “anti-itch” cream typically used for other itchy areas… this product numbed my face within seconds and provided temporary relief.

Day 15
I woke on Sunday morning to find my eyes were puffy again. My eyes had big pink rings all around and it felt like my skin was chapped. My face was swollen on my cheeks and I could feel the swelling inside my mouth, against my teeth. I realized I’d forgotten to change my pillow case for two nights in a row, and asked my husband to stop at a thrift store and buy me a bunch of pillow cases so I could change them often. I began taking Benadryl again. I tried the Tucks, but the skin around my eyes was so sensitive it stung badly and brought tears to my eyes. The swelling didn’t seem to be affected by the Benadryl this time. Wow, as I recount this experience no wonder I feel so exhausted. I can’t believe I went through so many days in such discomfort.

Day 16
On Monday morning my eyes were the most puffy and swollen they’d been. My eyelids were so swollen and the bags under my eyes were huge. I looked as if I was wearing a gruesome Halloween mask. I was just miserable. My husband says I sent him a text that said I wished I was dead. Uh… I thought I saved that to my drafts… but I guess one of them must have made it to him.

Day 17
I thought I had to go to work on Tuesday. On Monday night I was feeling so horrible that my husband volunteered to drive me to work and then come back and take me home at the end of the day. The previous week at work I was told we had a contract renewal and we had been given an extra week. I thought this extra week took us to August the 24th. Tuesday being the 23rd, I knew I had to get in to the office, since that would only give me two days to get it completed. I had a terrible time pulling myself from bed that morning, but finally I was dressed and ready to go. I was feeling so miserable. My husband took one look at me and said, “Maybe it’s time. Maybe you should go to the doctor and find out why this isn’t going away.” And other friends had been making the same noises, but I hate going to the doctor. I hate fighting. I hate having to make a decision to use their medicines which often don’t work. I even called a close friend and asked her for help in what I should do. She was relieved I was finally going in and told me not to fight anything, just do what they recommended.

I was miserable and worn out and obviously my body wasn’t winning this battle. I had already determined that I was not going to the Emergency Room. My one and only experience there left me with such a bad taste in my mouth I will not go there unless I’m in an auto wreck and the ambulance takes me there. The doctor I’m assigned to I’ve never seen before, would she let me come in as a walk-in? I had no way of knowing so I opted to go to Urgent Care. $75 co-pay to be seen, and $10 for prescription medications.

I called work and told them I’d be there as soon as I could get out of Urgent Care.

The Urgent Care I went to was a very nice place. There was only two others there, a man and his young son. They took my blood pressure, and I was surprised that they did not ask me my weight, and they did not weigh me. Nowadays I wouldn’t care, but I thought it was nice that they didn’t want to know my weight. They did say my blood pressure was a “little” high at 153/86.

I waited for the doctor and told him the whole sorry story. He listened to me carefully and gave his advice. 1) Continue to decontaminate everything in the house 2) he wanted to put me on a six day course of low dose steroids and 3) he was going to prescribe a steroid cream to put on the skin around my eyes to help with the swelling.

At that point I was so desperate I agreed to everything.

I called work and let my boss know I would be there as soon as possible, but I had to get a prescription filled first. He responded, “Starlene, why don’t you just stay home and take the day off?” I said, “But what about the contract?” He answered, “Oh, we got an extension for one week, don’t you remember? We don’t have to turn it in until August 31st.” AGHHHHH!! I had misunderstood when the week extension began and ended. I told him so, but then quickly agreed with great relief, to take the day off and stay home.

I took a dose of steroids within an hour of getting them, and rubbed the Fluocinonide steroid cream on my eyes. Within hours I began feeling better and the swelling started to go down.

Day 18, 19
I took off work these days, too. My face was healing, but I was physically exhausted, even though I was wired from the steroids. I needed to take it easy and just rest as much as possible. The skin all around my eyes was wrinkly and felt dry like paper. The steroids were affecting my sleep. I couldn’t sleep but felt exhausted. I was sleeping about four hours every twenty-four hour period. I ended up working from home on Wednesday night for six hours to save myself from having to go in on Thursday. My boss was kind enough to work with me to load the payroll checks into my printer in my office at work while I manned my office computer using Remote Desktop at my home computer.

When I began taking the steroids, I upped my ferments. One day I ate 2.5 cups of sauerkraut because I was craving it. I also had my husband pick up a product called Culturelle which contains Lactobacillus on the advice of a friend to attempt to stave off yeast infection due to the steroids.

Today is Day 22. The last day of the steroids. I am hoping and praying that the use of these products will have the desired effect. I know all too often we go in to the doctor to get the miracle drugs only to find that they don’t work their “magic” in the end.

I have been consulting with two close GAPS friends and they think (and I agree) what happened was my adrenals took a big hit due to the burn caused by the jalapenos. The steroids have been helping my adrenals, but each day as I’ve tapered down I have felt more sluggish.

I looks like it is time to figure out more of those “cherries” for my GAPS cake. Dr. Natasha tells us to give the diet a chance first and I have done that. A friend of mine counseled me to begin with my adrenals. I had hoped by addressing my adrenals my thyroid would come in line, but it looks like I am going to have to have my thyroid tested next and see what can be done there. I’m 48, I’m no spring chicken. Maybe my thyroid can’t bounce back on its own with diet and adrenal support. I’ve known for at least the last decade that my thyroid is low functioning due to low waking temperatures. The first time I asked for tests with a doctor he told me everything came back “normal” and he offered me anti-depressants. I refused. The next time I asked, and explained that I would like a full panel test to be done based on my low waking temperature, the doctor made fun of me saying, “Someone’s been on the Internet too much.” No, someone’s been trying to figure out what’s going on inside her own body, doc. And guess what, doc? That swelling in the ankles that you said was “normal” and a sign of aging? My ankles are rarely swollen and I attribute that to my being on GAPS.

So y’all… that’s where I’ve been the past three weeks… trying to recover from poisoning myself with jalapeno peppers. Silly me… the first few days I was happily eating the yummy spice I’d produced, but I finally realized maybe it was exacerbating the allergic reaction. I guess I will be waiting for several weeks before trying any of my beloved jalapeno powder again. And to be honest, I cannot see myself ever making it again… part of my motivation in making it was because I had found jalapeno powder would cost about $20 to buy online. I could not bring myself to pay that kind of money, but now I have spent probably over $100 between the Urgent Care visit ($75), prescription drugs ($25), Benadryl, Tucks Medicated Pads and I can’t remember what else at the moment. I certainly don’t want to take a chance on doing this to myself again.

For those of you who have made it this far… I finally started taking pictures of my face on Day 7 and I’ve put together a collage of the photos… I was really surprised at how much I look like my mother in the last photo. This is a very large photo, you may need to maximize your browser and click on the photo once to enlarge, then scroll from side to side to see all the photos – there are nine across and nine down. There are 78 photos in all from Days 7 to 19.

Thanks for reading all the way through… love you guys. Thanks for all the support on the list, too.