AIP Paleo - Day 21 - 26

Brittany Bowman
Sep 5, 2016
6 min read

Aloha!

This past week has been a strange one for me. In both a good & bad way. Let me explain. The first half of this week, I was feeling awful. Very sluggish, extremely tired, my joints & muscles hurt & I was going through an elevated level of brain fog. I was experiencing sharp headaches also, which is rare for me. Trying to be productive is almost next to impossible when you feel this way. To be honest, I was in bed sleeping most of the beginning of the week because I had absolute zero energy. I am not talking about being lazy. I am talking about not even being able to lift my arm without it feeling heavy. I do not know how else to describe it. I would get up, get the most important stuff done for work & what not, then I would go straight back to bed. I hated every minute of it because I am a very motivated person who has a million things to get done all at the same time.

Wednesday, I picked up my thyroid medication & did some grocery shopping after so I could get back on track with the AIP. This was probably the worst day I had out of all of the days. I was still feeling horrible throughout the entire day, with the addition of being really shaky & feeling weak - almost like I was going to pass out. When we got home, I started making dinner which almost didn't get made. I was standing there, preparing all of the food when my hand started getting shaky. My body felt as if I had drank 5 red bulls back to back. I felt really sick to my stomach, everything slowed down around me & I felt as if I were going to faint. I left everything I was doing and sat down. If anyone has every fainted before, or come close to it, you will know what I am talking about. It's that queasy, walls-feel-like-they-are-closing-in, something-isn't-right feeling. I went through about 3 rounds of getting up & sitting right back down. After the third round, Jason told me to go lay down. He could visibly see I wasn't doing good. But try to tell that to someone who is strong-headed, motivated & tired of just laying in bed. I sucked it up & pushed through. I was determined to make that dinner even if I fell flat on that kitchen floor. At some point, the roller coaster stopped & I felt well enough to finish out dinner. It was really good by the way. I made the Guacamole stuffed Chicken wrapped in Bacon. (I have the recipe here.)

I cannot say for certain what I may have done to feel this way. It could have just been my thyroid acting up on its own without outside influence. I did take my medication earlier in the day when I picked it up. That could have had something to do with it, although I think it is unlikely because I was feeling this way before I took my prescription. I definitely know my eating habits leading up to Wednesday didn't help because while I was on the AIP, I felt great. After dinner, immediately I felt much better. I still was experiencing all my symptoms except for the shaking stopped & the fainting feeling stopped. All of the other symptoms were definitely still there but they weren't as prominent as they had been. Fast-forward to Thursday, I popped right up out of bed. No hazy brain fog. No aches & pains in my muscles & joints. No exhaustion. It was the first day, in a few days, I had so much energy! I almost didn't know what to do with myself. I made my morning ShakeO for me & Jason. I made breakfast & took care of some much needed business. I later took my thyroid meds after the 2 hour window of eating. (I either have to take my thyroid pill right when I wake up with no food, or wait 2 hours after food so it doesn't affect the pills absorption.)

The past few days since, I have felt great! None of the symptoms I had been experiencing during the beginning of the week has come back. I have been sticking to this AIP lifestyle as ever as before. I do not want to experience what I did ever again. I have never felt the affects of my disease that bad before. Although, I did have vertigo for almost a month straight when I was 22. At the time, no one knew what had been causing it. They wanted to do a spinal tap to see if I had contracted meningitis. Of course, I didn't do it. After talking with a few people, it seems vertigo is a symptom of Hashimoto as others have experienced the same thing. If you ever want to know about that, let me know. I'll get into all of the horrible details. The symptoms I was experiencing this past week came pretty close to vertigo though.

The reason I said earlier, "this week has been strange in both a good & a bad way," is this. Given the above, it was bad. It was strange because I had never felt or experienced symptoms like that other than when I had vertigo. It is good because I have found a way to alleviate the symptoms. It may not be the answer but I am very convinced my diet has EVERYTHING to do with how I feel. What was the common denominator in the way I felt? My diet. What did I change? My diet. Maybe I am more sensitive to the way foods make me feel because my thyroid function has changed. Who knows?! All I know is I have used myself enough as a science experiment to know what has worked & hasn't worked. I have been taking my thyroid medication everyday since Wednesday. I do not believe this would have an impact so quickly as my own doctor says it takes up to 2 weeks to experience any changes. Again, who knows at this point? By just changing my diet, I felt the immediate effects of it. If that isn't a testimony, I do not know what is.

What I have eaten the last part of the week is: shrimp "tacos" with mango salsa in a lettuce wrap, Salad with chuck tuna, guacamole stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon, meatball in an onion, wrapped with bacon & smothered with Pumpkin puree bbq sauce (AIP), & of course my daily ShakeO. Many of these recipes you will be able to find in the "Good Eats" section of my blog. These recipes make a ton of left overs for a family of 2 - 4, so I was able to eat leftovers to fill any gaps for lunch or dinner.

As for my hair, it is still falling out. I haven't taken a recent picture to track its progress yet but I am getting clumps falling out in the shower. My pillow in the morning looks like Cousin IT. It is disheartening as ever but as I have said before, I know being on the AIP is the right track just based on the way I feel. I am at a point with this process that I know where I need to be with my diet. This will be my primary focus when it comes to healing. Moving forward, I will also begin focusing on the best ways to grow back my hair. A few of you have given me some ideas & recipes to try. I am definitely going to pursue these options, of course not all at the same time. I'll try one for awhile until I see results or I don't. I will be using different shampoos & conditioners to oil treatments & hair masks. I'll always give an update on what has been working with pictures & what hasn't been working. Along with my hair, I will be focusing on my skin. I am extremely dry - another side effect of Hashimoto. Many times, certain oils you can use for your hair, you can also use for your skin. I figure if I can find something that works for both, it will be a win in my book!

Until Next Time!

Mahalo!