Thanksgiving diet does not equal Pagano

Hi all! I thought I would give everyone an update.... 

The holidays are upon us and I have been off the wagon - the Pagano wagon, but still holding up pretty well.

I have indulged in egg nog with rum, more wine than I usually drink, I had lasagna with tomato sauce, tomatoes, white potatoes, etc.

But... I indulged more carefully than past years.  I have also been drinking my Golden Milk every night. Winter is here and weather is dry and I have been using lots of lotion - but not steroidal cream... none!

And my skin continues to improve. Here is a picture of my last plaque as of this morning.

I feel blessed.  I hope all of you are also on your way to healing.

Happy Holidays!

m

7 1/2 months later .. not too shabby

Ok, no preaching - just results.  Yes these are the same hands and feet.
There is still some slight redness on my left foot but I imagine this will be perfect by summer.

Getting a little better every day

All,
It has been a long time since I last posted and I am sorry.  The great news is I am really doing great. I'll let the pics speak for themselves. If you have follow my blog you've seen that I have been through just about every holistic cure.  I rarely (maybe once every 2-3 weeks) use a little steroid cream.  I do this if I am going to do a lot of walking and I don't want to inflame my feet.

I hope this blog serves as hope for people that have psoriasis, that there is a way to heal.  But know you have to take responsibility for your health.  You have to eat better.  You have to drink water and limit alcohol and anything else you know is bad for you.

I hope this blog gives you some ideas of how you can cure yourself, but I do believe everyone is an individual and what works for me, may not work for you. You have to experiment and be patient.

Here are some before and after pics....

My feet and hand in May

My feet and hand in June

My feet and hand in Sept

Today I enjoy wine 1-2 times a week.

I try to steer clear of night shades and gluten but I am not super hyper about it.

I try to eat organic all of the time but that can't be controlled all of the time.

I am starting to get back into my work out routine - now that my feet are not in pain anymore.

I will post again when my left foot is as clear as my right. maybe next month. ;)

Thanks for reading.

week one of detox done

This week I started drinking this detox (Mediclear) powder 1x a day for the first 4 days, but now I am up to 2x a day.  Sticking to recommended diet this weeks has been easy as I have been doing it for a few months now.  Next week however will be going no meat what so ever. Won't be extremely hard, but I will have to do a little more will power.

OK one little cheat I have allowed myself is my moring cup of coffee. But I have go to organic beans.
I am sorry but I am not ready to give it up.  My left foot was feeling pretty raw last Thursday so I allowed myself one dose of steroid cream and that has calmed things right down.

If I am not better off after this detox then I am going to start looking in to homeopathic medicine as many people have lots of luck with that.

My right foot still looks fine. ;)

Started Detox MediClear Plus Today

The post says it all. This morning I put Mediclear in my smoothie.  The diet changes that they call for will not be a big deal for me considering what I've been doing already.

I also saw a pretty neat video on nutrition so I am cutting down on animal products again.
check it out!
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/more-than-an-apple-a-day-preventing-our-most-common-diseases/

Toxicity Hair Report in

As you may recall I had a hair sample sent in to the lab to test myself for toxic metals.
I am dangerously high in Cobalt, Nickel, Barium, Gold, and Titanium.

Colbalt and Nickel are especially known to cause skin issues so maybe just maybe this is the key/cause to my psoriasis.

I have no idea how I got these metals in my system.  I work in an office in California - no exposure to manufacturing - but there it is.

My holistic Dr is going to put me on MediClear by Thorne to help me detox.  It you have any experience with this let me know.

He also told me to stop worrying about every little thing that I eat.  I seem to have a healthy diet and I am going to drive myself crazy trying to avoid everything that might give me a reaction.

So with that news I treated myself to a chocolate chip cookie. What I am really dying for is my saugage lasagne!!

My hand and feet are about the same as the last set of photos so nothing new to report there.

GMO Wheat and Gluten Bad Bad Bad

If you are reading this and you are still eating gluten stop now.
Doctors are now admitting to links to gluten and psoriasis. Today I took my son in for a gluten blood test for he has had nausea for 3 months.
Many people have allergies to gluten found in bread because most bread is a new form of GMO wheat that has a higher percentage of gluten in it. Our bodies see this as a foreign substance that our immunity system tries to fight. Eventually your system tires, causing bad symptoms. Nausea, constipation, psoriasis, overall inflammation, the body, joint pain, etc.

July 5th

I had a blast on the fourth of July with friends and family.  I was able to paddle board and swim in the bay and the water was warm - very rare for California.

I feel like my right foot looks normal - if you didn't know I had psoriasis I think it would be hard to tell there was something wrong with it.  However my left foot and my left hand still look like I have issues.  I don't want to say they look bad because I have seen them a lot worse but they don't look cute.

However I must say that today my left foot and hand actually look better.  Maybe it was a day at the beech with the salt water.

I am running out of many of my supplements and I don't see that dr again for another week or so.  I think he should be starting me on my detox clay soon.

Also, I am not sure if you guys have seen this on inspire, but I found an interesting article that talks about salt in take being linked to auto-immune diseases like psoriasis.  The article that I first saw said it isn't so much the salt we eat, but the type we eat.  Most of our salt is stripped of over 80 minerals that are found naturally.  So I have invested a few bucks in some pink Himalayin salt.

I wished I could find the first article I read so I could post it. But simply google yourself and you will see many articles written about salt and auto-immune diseases.

Take care!
m

Summertime pics

Hi all, it has been a while since my last post.  I wanted everyone to know that my healing is going very well.  I have maintained my detox diet about 80% of the time. :(  I will try again to get it closer to 95%.  I have started to work out again.  My feet feel great.  The left foot still looks bumpy but the right looks healed. My hand is ok.  I say ok because I think I have been abusing it too much with dishes and cooking and cleaning.  If I babied it more I think it would be in better shape.

I am still taking my supplements.
I am eating more meat (chicken, fish, and lamb) than I was before because there is no nickel in these products.
I am making fresh fruit smoothies every morning.
I eat salads only for lunch.

Now for the progress picture.

My holistic doctor thinks my body internally is doing much better

As you may recall I am on a bunch of supplements to help me cure my body from the inside out.  My Dr uses a process called muscle testing to determin which of my systems are weak and strong.  Today he reomoved probiotics from my list because he felt I didn't need them anymore.

He also cut off a patch of hair from the back of my head to get a complete toxology report.  He said that would help me definitively rule out certian foods.

Hand and feet are still doing well.
I am do the steroid cream every other day for now.

Another week and feet look good

Hi all, I just wanted to check in and let you know I am still on the program. I had a couple of glasses of wine last Wednesday and 2 weird mixed drinks on Friday. Other than that I have been on the program. I am typing on my iPad. I will see if I can take a pic and post it.

Btw I am using a small bit of my steroid cream. I think next week I will take another break from it to see what happens.

Just a quick note...

Hi all,
nothing much new.  I did talk to my holistic doctor today and he articulated his 3 part plan for me.
1. Clean up my gut with supplements. 60 days
2. Detox me with clay (another 60 days)
3. Maintenance program.

I also talked to him about my concerns about me being zinc deficient.  I read an interesting article that said Zinc and Nickel look a lot a like.  Bodys that are low in zinc start to bind to nickel instead and guess what?
Im allergic to nickel.

He agreed but said that my multi vitiamin should be giving me enough zinc.

Feet feel great but don't look the best.  I have been a little sloppy with my diet and I need to get that back in order.  Today I had glutten and chocolate. Tomorrow is a new day.
Ciao!

Pain is Unavoidable, Suffering is Optional

All, I am so sorry for the long delay in an update.  I want you to know I have not given up on diets or healing.  I have just been so busy I have been unable to sit down and write about it.  But there is a lot to catch you fellow psoriasis sufferers up on. 

First off, as you may have read, I used some steroid cream for 1 week exactly and it really cleared my rashes up.  My trip back east was pain free.  In fact when I got back I worked out twice, and I went running with my daughter yesterday, and I am probably going to go again today.

However, I did get over zealous with my healing that I messed up on my diet a bunch. I had alcohol, I had gluten, and pork! And I stopped taking the steroids and guess what. I am starting to see bumps return.

I saw a new dermatologist yesterday.  I had made an appointment with her about a month ago and I went in with low expectations because I thought she was just going to throw more pharmacueticals at me, but she actually is more into natural healing.  She reaffirmed my diet choices but made some suggestions.

1) my type of psoriasis and locations has been linked to nickel allergies.  I knew this but got overwhelmed with the nickel foods that I didn't act on it.  I need to revisit this. 

2) she has a PHd in genetics and warned me sternly about the evils of GMOs.  I have already made huge efforts to go organic and GMO free, but I am going to push that for the rest of my family.  My husband is still buying the frozen waffles, and boxed cereals so I need to curb that for my poor kids.

3) the humira and other biologics that I was afraid to even consider is not even a good option for my type of psoriasis so I can stop even worrying about that. (yay) I have Postular psoriasis.

4) She did recommend light therapy but honestly the time commitment with my job cannot happen right now.  So I passed for now, especially considering I feel like I have got this under control.

5) Stay away from gluten.  She said there are few studies that show real food linkages to psoriasis but gluten is a definite offender. This was only a suggestion in the Pagano book.  Also she said people of Irish and English decent are more likely to have gluten intolerances.

6) She did feel like grass fed beef was ok.  I am not so crazy about beef that I need to have this, but again for my family I will try to be more of a stickler about it.

She made another good point that America is such a melting pot of races and ethnicities that it is really hard to determine what each person needs.  We can't model ourselves from a popluation with a similar background.  I know for myself that is very true, I am over 7 different ethnicities, and my childern are over 10.  We each have our own unique set of triggers and allergens.

So I am very happy with my current progress.  I feel like the diet is making a huge difference, but a little steroidal cream when things get too bad is VERY effective.  I need to adjust my diet to remove the nickel. 
And  I need to get back on the wagon as I fell off a bit.

Final point.  The steroidal cream that cleared me up in 3 days was the same cream that I used for 4-5 months with very little effect.  So I do think something is different, and that something is diet. :)

On my business trip feeling good

All,
As you know if you have been following, I decided to use some of my old steroid cream that my dermatologist prescribed back when she thought I had ezcema.  I needed my feet to heal real quick so I can walk around airports, train stations, buildings, etc.  Boy oh boy did it work.

Before I left I saw my accupuncturist and he was disappointed that I started the steroids because it is not natural and only masks the symtoms by supressing the cells.

I also saw my holistic doctor that totally understood but he felt my quick healing with the cream is because my body is a lot cleaner.  We all agreed that I am going to stop the steroids this weekend and see what happens.

I will upload pics when I get back home (day by day so you can see the progression yourself).

Now this is the first time I am traveling on my special diet.  I had a nasty chicken caeser on the plane - I am 100% sure it was not organic - in fact it tasted plastic, but it was the best they could offer.  I had nothing but water.  The biz woman sitting next to me has a couple of vodka tonics and I was a bit jealous.  That used to be the way I traveled.

I didn't get to the hotel until 10 mins after midnight and the kitchen was already closed so I had hot herbal tea, a granola bar and one of those naked green juices that I always wanted to try.  It was delicious.  I checked the label 3 times to make sure no sugar was added because it tasted so sweet. 

After taking my supplements and drinking my water I wasn't hungry but I woke up in the morning as hungry as a bear! I ordered room service - eggs with salmon, goat cheese, onion and spinach.  All of these items are on Pagno's approved diet list but I personally would have never eaten that much animal protein in one meal.

I am now waiting for my meeting to start so I thought I would pop in a note so you know I haven't forgotten about y'all!

Later

What a difference a few days make

All,
As you know I have been doing the Pagno diet as well as:

• limiting all meat
• limiting all gluten
• Working with a holistic doctor that is giving me a bunch of supplements
• Taking vitamins (D and one a day)
• Aloe, Glycerin, etc as topicals

And as you may know last Friday I decided to use some of my old  dermatologist steroid cream to accelerate the feet from healing because they have been really sore.
I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

My Feet and hand on Wednesday (before steroids)

My Feet and hand Tuesday (today) (after 4 days of

 steroids)

I really need to accelerate this healing

Hi all,
My work schedule is picking up a bit and I cannot afford to be hobbling around waiting for nature to take its course.  Yesterday my holistic doctor called to check in on me.  I told him I really needed to get better asap and he said that I should use my topical steroid in order to get some relief. 

I really wanted to see if I could clear this up with diet alone but unfortunately I am running out of time.  I am using Flucinoide - has any one used that? I don't think it is too heavy duty.

I also started to eat fish and chicken and guess what? The hip pain came back.  So I will go back to my veggie diet.  My doctor says I should stay away from wheat completely for now.

Not Much New today

No real skin change from yesterday. I don't have much to report.

I am taking my new supplements twice a day.
I am trying to drink my water.
Staying away from wheat, nightshades, and alcohol.

I had a great lunch that I want to brag about. I made a platter of butter lettuce (to be used as a wrap), smoked salmon, raw diced onions, lemon wedge, Jicama, and a steamed orange beet.  (all organic btw).

Very delicious, but it does take some time to get used to not having any carbs.  I am kind of used to not having carbs but there is a thread on the Inspire where someone swears by cutting out all grains and beans.  Kind of like the Paleo diet.

I need to stick with one set of advice at a time, but I keep educating my self.
Later.
m

Turning a corner - Week 8 done

I swear it looks like my hand is getting better.
You tell me.
Before I started the Pagano diet my hand wasn't even an issue so I didn't take a picture.  This is my hand on April 27 - see how rough and red? And believe me it was very painful.

This is my hand as of this morning.  It isn't rough any more nor is it painful.

This was my right foot about a month ago.

This is right foot as of this morning.

I think my Left foot still looks a mess but you tell me.

This is a picture of my foot last month.



And this is my left foot today.  Like I said  - it still needs work. ;)

Happy Feet Friday

Hi All,
my feet feel a little better today but now the name of the game is keeping them moisturized.  If I don't they dry out and crack which makes every step painful.

As you know I am on a new regimen for my leaky gut that I was 'diagnosed' with yesterday by my holistic doctor.  I take all sorts of pro-biotics and herbs to deal with that.  Will it work? I hope so.  I think the Pagano diet is the right approach, but I do think there are ways to accelerate the healing.

I also learned that we should be rinsing our rice over 6 times because of the toxins that farmers put in the rice to protect it from rats.  The rice bags always says to rinse it but I usually do this quickly.  Having this poison gather in your gut can't be good.

As promised, here is what my feet and had looked like this morning.  Like I said, not much different.

A quick post before I go to bed

Tonight I have been helping my 3rd grader with his book report but since he lost the original assignment I had to step away before I got medieval on him.

I wanted to give you a quick update about my holistic doctor appointment.  It was over an hour and we discussed the leaky gut syndrone.  He did some "muscle testing" on me and based on that he believes I do have leaky gut.

I am now taking over 20 supplements!  I am supposed to see him again in 2 weeks to see if my muscle testing is responding to these supplements.

Does my skin look better.... It is still very red but it feels a lot better.  Not worth the pictures tonight.

later!
m

The Eye of the Storm

Yes my skin is red but I actually think it is getting better. I mean, those scaly bumps seem to be gone and it looks like burned skin is underneath. I am not sure if it my imagination or not, but my kids thought it looked smoother too.

Tell you what - if I still think it looks better tomorrow, I will upload a shot of it.

I guess I was expecting my skin to just fade into normalness, but maybe the skin on the abused hands and feet take a different route.

PS I was able to walk a little today - I even went to the market. Yes I did wear frumpy bedroom slippers but my feel felt good. ;)

Tomorrow I see a holistic healer dude. Wish me luck!
m

Derm called me back and confirmed psoriasis

OK, she said definitely psoriasis. So I am back to the Pagano diet, but now that I am reminded of the nickel allergy I am going to make some modifications just in case.

Before I was trying to be a vegatarian. Now I will eat the meat that Pagano says is ok.
I am going to cut out brown rice and oatmeal as they are high in oatmeal.
I am adding low fat dairy.
I am cutting out lentils and beans.... for now.
I am cutting out nuts, especially almonds and almond milk.

I typed up a 4 page document on all of my medical history to get my holistic guy up and running.  I don't know what else he can cut out of my diet.

I also made an appointment with a new derm for June, just in case.

Right now my foot is still too sore for me to walk.
And now for the pictures.  I did an all in one pose. :)

How do you know if you have psoriasis, really?

Seriously, how do you know you really have psoriasis?
I had a skin biopsy last February and a week later my dermatologist called me and said, "the lab says the biopsy is consistant with psoriasis".
  I said, "so I have psoriasis?"
  She said, "it seems consistant to psoriasis."

  Well since I am seeing an holistic doctor on Thursday I figured I would look up my test results to get accurate on dates and stuff.  All of this information is put on line.  When I looked at my "derm biopsy" in February the prognosis said, "Dyshidrotic eczema".  Why does it say eczema if my doctor told me psoriasis.  I called my doctor and left this question on her voicemail and I have yet to get a call back. 

Further more, if look up Dyshidrotic Eczema it says a lot about nickel allergies being a trigger. Further further more, the foods that I have been eating on the Pagano diet are actually high in NICKEL!!

I learned about Dyshidrotic eczema while I was home soaking my feet in Aveeno oatmeal bath because my feet were on fire all weekend and all last night. Guess what? Oatmeal is high in nickel. LOL!

I quicky rinsed my feet off and I am using a new cream called Miracle  Foot Repair which is actually quite soothing.  The glycerin seemed to keep my skin soft but I found it to be irratating at times. I tried cocnut oil but it didnt really soothe. I tried peanut and olive oil but it was too thin and too ineffective.

I found a great article called, "Healthful Eating's Dark Side: Nickel Allergy"
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/03/25/health/healthful-eatings-dark-side-nickel-allergy.html

OK so what? If I indeed have eczema due to a nickel reaction this should be super simple to fix.  But I need to start all over again.  I will wait to get some confirmations from my derm and my holistic dude.

But what is the lesson learned? Never give up and keep researching your symptoms.

Also, at 3 AM my feet were on fire and I couldn't sleep.  So what did I do? I googled beautiful feet and looked at over 200 images of beautiful feet and I saved them on my iPad. I flip through those pictures and say to myself, my feet are going to look like those by June.

Today my feet feel a lot better. :) Tomorrow they will look a lot better and I will put the pictures up.

Mental toughness is so important.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

First off, happy mothers day!

I need to continue this blog as often as I can because it does keep me mentally positive.  I must admit that I have been having a pity party lately.
My left foot that got so raw from a long walk last week is still in a lot of pain.  It is mother's day and I am moping.  (I guess that is better than mopping) ;)

I need to snap out of it and review my plan and to update you guys with some information.
First off, I want to thank Olive, Lyndal, Nim75, Jitterbug and Jennifer for writing me on inspire or inboxing me because just when I was feeling hopeless, I looked at your messages and felt renewed.  Thank you!

I have to remind myself of my wins.
When I first started I had some small patches that have disappeared, my joint pain is virtually gone.  I have also lost about 10-12 lbs.  I say 10-12lbs because I always considered myself 144 lbs, but truth be told that scale was creeping up to 148.  There I said it.  But now I am 134!  That is 4 lbs below my goal weight.

I got my blood work done a couple of weeks ago.  I think I already mentioned on this blog that everything was good except for my vitamin D was low.  Well yesterday I studied all of the results and it looks everything is Optimal except for vitamin D.  So I am a pretty healthy person.

Now that I am finished typing up my wins my losses don't seem that big of a deal. The only problems that remain are on my feet and my left hand.  These spots are stubborn because I am active and I keep abusing them with cooking, cleaning, walking, etc.  I need to take it easy and that is what this weekend was about.
And of course sitting on the couch taking it easy becomes moping.  I need to let that go.

Now I have a news break through.  A couple of months back I did test positive for nickel allergy.  Not a big deal I don't wear much jewelrey and never had a problem with belt buckels, but I started looking into it more and the All-Clad cookware set my mom gave me is 18-10 stainless steel - which means 10% nickel.  Then I looked up nickel free diets and it turns out a lot of the food I have been eating on this Pagano diet is considered high in nickel content! Here is a quote from the livestong site for a nickel free diet:

Foods to Avoid

Meat and other animal foods are generally low in nickel, except for some types of seafood, according to the Melisa Foundation. Foods that tend to be high in nickel include beans, peas, cocoa, chocolate, oysters and mussels. If you are highly sensitive to nickel, you also might need to avoid eating herring, dried fruits, pears, rhubarb, asparagus, cabbage, corn, mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes, peanuts and tree nuts, grains and foods containing baking powder. Tea also can be high in nickel.

I have added a lot of lentils and sweet peas in my diet over the last few weeks.  My only treat has been 70% organic chocolate. I have been eating portobello mushrooms 3x a week because it is like meat. I have been eating nuts for snacks at work.  I have a fruit smooth with pineapple and pears almost every morning.  I mean.... maybe this is why I am not seeing more progress on my feet?
I am not going to upload pictures today because I am too lazy to look for a cable to down load them. ;)
But I took pictures and honestly, nothing looks much different so you're not missing much.

I am going to spend the rest of my day reading a good book and visualizing good health.

PS!!!!

I almost forgot. Yesterday I fell off the wagon a bit (remember I was having a pity party).  I ordered Chinese food and ate somethings that weren't allowed:
Potstickers: gluten and Pork
Tangerine beef: beef
Chicken and Broccoli: technically this is allowed but I was trying not to eat meat at all
Shrimp: a big no no in pagano book

I didn't wake up any worse so maybe I can go back to these foods some day.
One can dream, can't one?

This Saturday will be the REAL end of week 7

As you may know my feet are in bad shape this week mostly due to my long walk looking for my car over the weekend. :)  But like I said I am very proud that I have been able to stick to the diet regardless.  While I started this journey with Dr Pagano 8-9 weeks ago, I didn't really stop eating the night shades until March 23rd which really puts me at the 7 week mark this week.

Why am I telling you this? Because I am sure we all go through the same thing.  I get a little bummed when I hear someone cut out sugar for 2 weeks and they are healed. What am I doing wrong?  I am not doing anything wrong, but it is my journey that is taking longer.

With all that said I do want to get a food allergy test done. Perhaps I am still eating something that I shouldn't.
Here are the feet this morning.  Remember, these poor things are bruised and sore.  But I think that is more external abuse than internal.

My feet hurt today

No good deed goes unpunished. My son was begging me to take him to iron man 3 this past weekend so I did. The movie was so good that I forgot where we parked the car. So I walked around for 20 minutes in the heat with uggs on and now my feet are raw.

I won't bore you with the redness. Hopefully my insides continue to heal as I have stuck with the diet pretty well. Also I wanted to share a link with you guys about food combining.
http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/DietandLifestyle/Food_combining.htm

Just like dr pagano's book, this seems to make sense to me. Dr Pagano does not call this out explicitly but some of his recipes seem to follow these principals. Check it out and let me know what you think. 

Good night last night

Last night I had a good time at a Casino party.  I wore these 6" DJP shoes and got a few compliments.  Around 10:30 I slipped into my flats and people commented, wow you are actually human - you're not that tall! I am 5'8" but with the shoes I was easily 6'2"+, and that is tall for a woman.

When I got home my feet seemed to fair pretty well.  I greased them down with mineral oil.  I do love the Palmer coconut oil that someone recommended, but I am concerned that do have a fragrance alergy.  So I am sticking to stuff that is more bland.  I am beginning to ease myself off glycerin because I feel it makes my skin puff up.

I have to say the party was a success. I was not preoccupied with my feet.  I didn't drink any alcohol, and what was very nice is they had waiters walking around with glasses of red wine, white wine, and water with lime wedges, so it wasn't hard to stay social and clean. 

They had a few appetizers that I could eat but I ate a bowl of beans and salad before I left so I wouldn't be hungry.

I did have some chocolate though.  Sorry I have to indulge a bit.

Today my hands and feet are ok, but I think I am going to be losing a layer f skin soon on both.

Pictures later.
m

Mental Toughness is So Important

In Dr Pagano's book he talks a lot about having a good attitude.  I think he says something like, "if you think you can't get better, then you're right.  If you think you can get better, you will also be right."  When I read this chapter I skimmed it because I was more interested in knowing what I had to do physically, in terms of diet, colonics, etc.  But now that I have the diet part down, I can see the importance of the mental toughness that he talks about.

On inspire when someone validates that diet is a cure for psoriasis I immediately feel hopeful and lighter in my heart.  Then inevitably someone responds - "diet is not a cure, I tried it and I am covered from head to toe..."  When I read that my heart sinks. What if after all of this hard work I still have psoriasis?

A couple of days ago I read a man's note about him ‘giving up’. He sounded suicidal! He said he has tried everything, including diet.  In fact he described himself as a vegan fitness nut.  I had a moment of weakness and thought - oh no, if he has been a vegan for 21 years, how the hell do I have a chance?

Then I asked him if he avoids night shades.  He responded, "only recently", and he also gave up coffee, smoking, and alcohol because he wanted to know if these were triggers.  Now I don't know what “recently” means; 2 weeks? 2 years? Nor do I know how much coffee, tobacco or alcohol he used to take, but it was clear to me that he really wasn't following the Dr Pagno diet which gave me hope again.

By the way "Ignite", if you are reading this, I hope you are not offended.  I am not trying to put you down, I am simply trying to illustrate how my faith in my own healing is so fragile that written words of success or failure have a huge impact on my mental state.

Back to Pagano's book:  I cannot afford to be in a fragile state.  I know that I am healing.  I have started making travel plans for June because I honestly feel like my feet will feel good enough by then to do lots of walking.  Tonight I am going to an office party and I am going to wear the hot 5 inch heel shoes I got in Las Vegas.  I won't do any dancing, but I know my feet feel good enough to strut into the place with my head held high, with a smile on my face.  My left hand that has been burning all week, shows some real signs of calming down today.  The skin is cool and it isn't "oozing" - yuck.  My right hand that was close to flaring a couple of weeks ago is completely clear! My Right foot feels great and looks better each day.  My left foot feels better today than it did yesterday, and yesterday it felt better than Wednesday. Wednesday I was limping around the office.

Thank you to the people at inspire that assure my faith with their own successes. 
And a special thank you to the people who test my faith; for these tests only make me tougher.

I often ask for comments here because those words help me.

I wish everyone luck in there healing.
Now for the pics....
My Left foot before Pagano.. not so bad....

Same foot 3 weeks after Pagano

5 weeks later - I know it is hard to see but the lower arch is a lot clearer.



Like I said before - my Left foot is my biggest problem.  The right foot and the hand look like this today...

Getting Healthier Every Day

Yesterday morning I measured my saliva's Ph level when I first woke up in the morning and it was a 6.2! This is a little better than the 6.0 I was getting when I first started. My rashes honestly do not look much different but I know I am getting healthier.

Last night I re-read some parts of Dr Pagano's book.  This is like a religion, every time my faith wavers, I reach for the good book.  Many of his case studies talked about people healing in 3 months or 4 months or longer.  I am not even and the 2 month mark yet so I need to calm down.

I also reread many stories where people did get worse before they got better. Dr Pagano talks about how many people freak out during this period and some give up.  But detoxing the system can cause a release of many toxins that break out.  The good news is it means it is working.  Honestly, my psoriasis got the worse 3 weeks into this program.  I haven't really healed from that flare up but I am healing.

I read a chapter about a 91 year old woman that was able to cure her self of eczema in 10 months using roughly the same Pagano regimen. 91 years old!!!! What an inspiration to see what needs to be done at such a late stage in life when it would be easier to give in.

With all of that said I have renewed faith in the system and I will continue. Yesterday I had a juiced veggies (that gave me a head buzz!), I had a salad for lunch, and for dinner I had more salad and a bunch of grilled veggies with quinoa and 3 bites of fish.  I took the following supplments:

Omega 3s
Spirulina (supposed to help with Ph)
1-Multi vitamin
1-vitamin D (my blood tests came back and said I was defficient in Vitamin D)
My cleanse products.
Saffron Tea (3 cups)

Rather that showing all of my pictures I will just show my right foot before I started the program (not that bad), 3 weeks in, and now at 5 weeks. You be the judge yourself.

March 27th - After my colonics I thought I was going to be cured in weeks! You can hardly see the rash.

3 weeks later - this was a pretty angry rash and it hurt to walk.

Today - I feel like it is healing.  BTW my left foot still needs a lot of work. The clearing is harder to see.  I am just being honest so others don't get discouraged if they are not healing that fast.

Counting my blessings

Just a quick update.
I actually think my feet are looking a little better.  My hand sometimes looks great but then after I shower/do dishes it goes back to looking inflammed. I am trying to stay off all of them as much as possible.

Kport78 from inspire.com suggest "Keith White Healing Psoriasis Naturally".  It is a 178 page pdf for free (but he is taking donations) that journals this person's journey with psoriasis and how he researched a lot.
I read it and what I like is I seem to be heading down the same path as him.  That is he started with Dr Pagano's book but felt something was missing.  He started to ready about Leaky Gut Syndrome, and also Ph Balance in the body.

I have been focused a lot on my Ph balance lately. I've read that it can take years of me eating a very alkaline diet before I am back to where I need to be. 

So I am counting my blessings that I am learning about the different aspects of health before I have something really seriously wrong with me.  As far as my GP is concerned, I am super healthly - blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI, etc.  But metrics like Ph levels is still not considered by the medical community.

If you are reading this, and you have psoriasis, and you have not learned about Ph levels yet, I highly recommend you do so.

I will up load pictures later.
M

It is official, I have arthritis.

Today I went to the chiropractor to get my 7-8 vertebrae adjusted per Dr Pagano's suggestion.  My back had been bothering for a few weeks so I figured, why not.  In case you haven't read my earlier blogs, I have had hip pain and thumb pain before I started the diet, but that pain all went away.  My doctors thought the hip pain was bursitis or arthritis, but told me to get an x-ray to confirm.

I never got the x-ray because I didn't want to hear that I had arthritis. When the chiropractor suggested I get an x-ray today I resisted a bit but was talked in to it.  Lo and behold, he saw some bone spurs which is arthritis.  I do not think this is causing me the back pain.  My back and hips were all misaligned.  After he adjusted me I physically felt great but was still sad that I have been officially diagnosed with arthritis.

The good news is the Pagano diet also alleviates arthritis, but now I am more dedicated to the diet and I will continue to cut out all animal fat. The only thing I am allowing myself is the occasional yogurt.

The pics of my hand and feet don't look too different from yesterday - see for yourself. :) :(

Learning a lot... No real answers

I have read so much about diets and theories about what we eat,  why we should eat different things, and in which order that frankly I am beginning to get overwelmed.
I have bought so many nautural remedies: Vitamin D, Pro Biotics, Lecithin, Saffron tean, Slippery Elm, Spirulina, Omega-3, Colon Cleanse, flax seed oil, PH strips, glyerin, castor oil, dead sea salts, etc.

Wow, all of that easily ran me at least $300. All still cheaper than one tube of ointment that my derm perscribed a few months ago, but still.

Enough is enough! I really need to simplify.  I can see why people give up and just want to be told what to do. "Give me a pill for my ill." - It seems easy but if you are reading this blog you know the "easy way" just might make things worse.

I am not giving up but I am simplifying:
1. no meat except for fish 4 x a week.
2. raw food every day for at least 2 meals.
3. I am doing a 30 day Deep Cleanse. No one told me to do this but I think it makes sense to me.
4. Fruit in the mornings only on an empty stomach.
5. If I eat fish in a meal - then no grains or dairy for that meal.
6. Glycerin every chance I get - it is keeping the feet soft.
7. Omega-3 2000 units.
8. Probiotics 2x a day for the next 2 weeks.
9. no booze until I heal.
10. 1 cup of coffee a day with no cream
11. try to avoid gluten

I will stick with this and only this for 4 weeks and stop over thinking this.
Now for the pics:
The hand is the worse it has ever been, but I think it was because of the baking powder mix I put on it on Sunday.



The left foot looks worse than it feels.

The right foot looks like it is healing.

A quick post with pics

My feet and hands took a turn for the worse last weekend when I decided to do 3 hours worth of gardening. I spent most of Sunday with my feet propped up.  I used the baking soda and glycerin mixture that Pagano suggests.  It was too harsh for my hand but my feet didn't mind.

Today my feet are not in pain, in fact my right foot is looking a lot better.  The left foot looks pretty scary but at least it doesn't hurt.

I am sticking to the diet with no cheats.  I made the baked rainbow trout and sweet potato soup last night for the family.  We had it with a salad.  Hubby complains because it isn't our usual poison but he can always cook for himself if he hates it so bad.

Now for the pics:

Sunday Morning after the gardening

Monday Morning.

I actually think this is beginning to look like real skin!

Oops, I did it again

My hand and feet felt pretty good today, so what did I do? 3 hours of gardening. And guess what. My feet are bright red and so is my hand. And wait it gets better. My right hand now has an active plaque. This plaque has been dormant for a month. :(

Good news, no joint pain.
Good news, I planted fresh herbs and vegetables and had lots of fun with kids.
Good news, I stuck to my diet with slippery elm, lecithin, pro-biotics, and saffron tea.

I also has sushi today. I will look it up to make sure it isn't a no no. I did not have white rice at all.
I will post a picture of my feet in the morning, they always look better then.

I also remember someone saying the flare is worse between week 3 and 5 on the Pagano diet.
Tomorrow is a new day.
M

I started to pay for last nights blunder at 3am this morning

At 3AM this morning the sore on my hand got wet and hot and painful - I can't say itchy.
I rinsed it will cold water and the skin was thicker than it has been, ever.

This morning I looked at the package of salmon patties I got from Trader Joes.  The last ingredient - which I missed before, was paprika for coloring. That's right, I had a nice healthy dose of a night shade last night.

Today I will try to flush it from my system with lots of water.

My feet don't look too much worse -but definitely not any better.

I took 2 ibuprofin to take down the inflammation.

I will up load pics later - gotta run to work first.

Staying Stong - Trying not to Stress

It has been a couple of days since my last post. Honestly, I don't think my feet look much better.  I will keep posting the pics so you can see for yourself but I think they look the same.  However they don't hurt, and they don't itch but, I am still not ready to put on sneakers and do any sort of serious exercise.  I really do need to start getting exercise because it was a big part of my life before and I feel like my body aches when I don't exercise.  I am going to try to make it to my gym's pool 3 times a week starting tomorrow.  Hopefully the chlorine water won't hurt anything. :(

Since today I have been a vegatarian for 1 month, I decided to have a piece of fish.  I baked salmon burgers from Trader Joe's and boy, am I disappointed. It tasted like rubber.  I should have picked something different.

I also need to pick up my water consumption. I think I only had 1 glass today!  And my final indescrection today is I had a bunch of chocolate cookie crumbs that my daughter was baking for school.  The good news is they were gluten free.  I didn't think I missed processed foods but man! when that warm cookie hit my tongue I felt like I was home. :)

I need to get back on the horse and clean up my act.  Please send me some encouragement in the form of a post so I stay away from the bad stuff.

ok, now for the pics....

My daughter thinks they do look better - what do you think?