Friday, May 31, 2013

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

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

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)


Friday, May 24, 2013

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.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

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

Monday, May 20, 2013

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. ;)

Friday, May 17, 2013

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.


Thursday, May 16, 2013

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

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

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

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

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. :)

Monday, May 13, 2013

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.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

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?

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

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.



Tuesday, May 7, 2013

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. 

Saturday, May 4, 2013

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

Friday, May 3, 2013

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...

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

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.