AIP Paleo - Day 16-20

Brittany Bowman
Aug 29, 2016
4 min read

Aloha!

I know I was suppose to do this update yesterday. I waited until today because I had a doctors appt. & wanted to include it in the update. If you read my previous posts, you will know I have not been following the AIP Paleo diet for various reasons. Not my first choice but circumstances have not made it easy to do so. With that said, my eating habits have been abhorrent & I am paying dearly for it. I have been having severe stomach upset, extreme brain fog & lethargy, & my joints have been pretty sore. Today was the worst of all days. Queasiness, headaches & muscle aches included in the above. I basically went to the doctors, had lunch & then came straight home to sleep. Unfortunately, sleep did not help any.

When I spoke to the doc today, she said my levels were elevated & I needed to be on medication. Of course, that is an obvious one. She will be starting me on Synthroid 50 mg. She wanted to stay conservative with the dosage so I wouldn't have any negative side effects. I will have blood-work done in 5 weeks & will see her again in 6 weeks to reevaluate the dosage. When I spoke to her about my symptoms, she said it was all a sign of Hashimoto. Something I knew but it is good to have doctor confirmation so i'm not "self diagnosing" myself. She also said my Alopecia is also caused by Hashimoto & I should begin to see a significant difference after about 2 weeks of taking my medication.

With all of that said, I am not giving up on the holistic lifestyle nor the AIP Paleo diet. I still believe our bodies are very capable of correcting many issues if given the proper nutrients. I know right now I am still having a hard time with the lifestyle so I have no choice but to go on medication. Until I can get everything leveled out, I cannot say for sure if I'll ever be able to go off of Synthroid. I guess it is something that is "To Be Determined."

For my Alopecia update, my hair is still falling out as rapidly as ever. I have included two pictures below. The first was taken on 8/22/16 & the second was taken today. You can see how much hair has fallen out in just 1 week. It is disheartening but I know by not being on the AIP right now & not taking my medication, it is going to keep on happening. I'm not depressed about it because I know with God willing, I will get this healed up. It is just a process & I have to embrace it. Life circumstances have put a little obstacle in the way of my healing but it will not deter me from pushing through.

1. Taken 8/22/16 2. Taken 8/29/16

For some better news, I have started the AIP again just this evening. Because today was the worst experience since starting this whole journey, I had to finally say enough is enough. My health is not worth being a "victim" of circumstances. I was able to go to the store & pick up a few things for the next few days until my next check. I cannot say enough how much of a blessing our family has been to us. I wanted to keep it simple so just had an Acai bowl. It really helped cool my core down & give me more energy. I am still experiencing brain fog, fatigue & headaches but it isn't as bad as it was earlier. I picked up bacon, sausage & fruit for breakfast tomorrow. For lunch, I will be having shrimp "tacos" using lettuce leaves & mango salsa for the filling.

I want to say thank you to everyone who has messaged me words of encouragement & those who have shared their own stories with me dealing with Hashimoto. I will not name anyone because it is not my place to do so. Dealing with health issues is a very private matter & is to the discretion of the individual to share or not to. I will never violate that. But I just want to say thank you to those who have shared with me, have been helping me & giving me amazing advice. You all know who you are. Your help has been so valuable to me & so appreciated. My heart has broken from your stories but is also joyous for you in the ways you have found healing & recovery. I realize this is a lifelong journey none of us would want anyone to go through. Although I am not happy we are going through this, I am happy we at least have each other to reach out to.

Mahalo,