Pain

For the past few years I have had weird things going on with my body. It all started when Calvin was a baby. I had numb, tingly spots on my back. They kinda felt hyper sensitive, like I could feel everything touching them, and it hurt. I went to a doctor in Provo, and he wanted to get an MRI done. He mentioned it could be Multiple Sclerosis. I was scared, but didn't think I would ever have anything like that. We didn't have any insurance, and really couldn't afford an MRI, so I just pretended that the numbness was normal.

Fast forward to a couple years ago. My feet and hands started going numb and I still had the numb spots on my back. I started really feeling the need to get the MRI done, but again, we were at a job with no health insurance.

Last year we finally had health insurance, and the numbness had progressed to weird electrical feelings in my legs. Plus, I would feel a lot of pain in my legs sometimes too. My bones just really ached. I finally decided to get the MRI. Nothing was there. They said I had arthritis in my neck, and maybe it was Fibromyalgia. I was happy, but frustrated at the same time. I felt like maybe I was making it all up, and it seemed that people thought I was too.

All last summer the pain increased into my abdomen, back, and joints. I just ached, especially by the end of the day. I had constant pain in my kidney area. I went to a doctor who told me I was just dehydrated. I didn't believe him, but I drank tons of water for 3 months and the pain was still there constantly.

I went to another doctor, and she scheduled an abdominal ultrasound. Nothing. I don't want anything to be wrong with me, but my pain is real. I feel like no one thinks it is valid unless there is a diagnosis stuck to my pain, and a mass growing in me somewhere.

So after an MRI, ultrasound, and numerous blood tests, I decided to empower myself and take matters into my own hands. I have been a vegetarian for 8 years. Some of the time I have eaten extremely healthy. Other times I was a potato chip vegetarian. I really didn't pay attention to vitamins, minerals, etc. I know person can abstain from meat and still be healthy, I just wasn't doing a good job of it. I discovered that I was probably deficient in several vitamins. I found out that many of our foods are depleted because our soils are depleted. I also found that we need tons more vitamins than the FDA recommends. Doctors scare us that we can overdose on vitamins, but the truth is that the drugs they prescribe are far more scary than vitamins. I also found that the vitamins I am most likely to be deficient in show the exact symptoms I have been feeling.

For the past week I have been mega dosing on vitamins. I am a girl who hates swallowing pills! But I have been taking 15 pills a day, and guess what? I feel good. Most days I can't feel the pain. It still comes back, and it took a few days to notice a difference, but I feel markedly better!

While I know this isn't a good long-term plan, it is helping more than anything else has. I am making a more conscience effort in planning the food we eat. If I am having these symptoms it makes me worried for my children. It took me 8 years to build up to this, so I am sure it will take a while for my body to get all the nutrients it needs back.

I think vegetarianism is a good thing. I don't think I will be eating meat anytime soon, but I do think we need to be more aware of our food and how nutritious it really is. I think many symptoms people have are related to the food they eat, but they just don't realize it. Doctors don't get much training in nutrition, and when they do blood work, they rarely check vitamin and mineral content.

Food for thought.

xo
~Sarah