First off and most importantly, thanks so much for checking out my blog! The reason for creating this blog was 2 fold, one to help me journal my experiences and secondly to help share everything I’ve learned along the way so that others would have this information readily at hand, all in one place.
Who am I and what’s my story? Up until this point, I had neglected to post anything in this section because I just didn’t know what to say. So I just started to type…
Where do I begin?
For as long as I can recall I have always hated the looks of my hands and feet – they were chubby and not very feminine. I’ve also been a little on the heavier side my entire adult life – I’m 5’8 and averaged 180Lbs. I was a total foodie! I lived to eat vs eat to live and in particular loved the least healthy foods – chicken wings, steak, BUTTER, bread, chocolate. If it was full of calories and flavour, I probably loved it! I also loved wine and had a nice wine collection (3 wine fridges full) and even took a wine certification WSET Intermediate (Level 2). Notice how I use past tense here?
Since 2011 I have had some wonderful experiences:
- Bought a house Oct 2011
- Had 2 pregnancies
- 1st son Liam born Dec 5th, 2011 (born naturally without a epidural – 8Lbs 7oz & 22″, full term)
- 2nd son Luke born June 12, 2013 (born naturally without an epidural – 8Lbs & 21.5″, full term)
I have also had some really shitty experiences:
- Dec 2011 my maternal grandmother passed away
- Jan 2012 lost my job of 10 years while pregnant with my second son
- Feb 2013 newly renovated basement had water damage from all of the rain
- Spent tens of thousands of dollars to waterproof the basement so that it wouldn’t leak again
- Repaired the damage to the floors etc
- May 2013 waterproofing solution fails and basement floods with the heavy rain fall
- I was due in less than a month and had to pull up the floors and remove damaged materials myself with the help of a few dear friends
- Repaired damage and relay flooring
- July 2103 humidifier on AC leaks
- Dec 24th 2013 safety release valve on water heater breaks and leaks a large amount of water in basement
Despite all of the stressful times over the past few years, I didn’t break down, I managed to keep myself together and kept pressing on. No crying, no self pity, just “suck it up buttercup” and move on! Why bother telling you all my woes??
Around the end of July beginning of August my joints started to hurt. The pain started in my feet, it felt like my feet were broken, in particular my baby toes on both feet. The pain then spread to my ankles, Achilles tendons, knees, elbows, fingers, wrists, shoulders. The pain was so bad I had difficulty going up and down stairs, dressing myself, sitting and standing, I even tried to sleep it off days on end just so that I didn’t have to face the pain, but it didn’t really work.
My hands and feet were extremely swollen and the symptoms would get worse overnight and I couldn’t bend my fingers because they were so swollen and stiff. It would take hours from the time I would wake up to get back some of my range of motion and even then it was probably only 50%. My hands and arms would go numb at night and I would sweat so much I soaked the bed. Some days were so bad that I couldn’t even move my hands and arms enough to feed my baby. My husband had to stay home and place and hold the baby so that I could breastfeed.
I couldn’t fully close my hands, so I couldn’t properly hold grip anything (forks, knives, pot handles, steering wheel), I couldn’t even pull up my socks, pants, do up my bra, button anything up, let alone change a diaper or do up the snaps on a onesie. It was the worst pain I had ever been in in my life and I felt totally dejected. I knew something was wrong and finally got in to see my GP mid-August.
I had blood drawn and my RFactor was 293 (normal range is 0-13.99), my ESR was 29 (normal range is 0-20) & my ANA was positive. Given these results, my GP referred me to a Rheumatologist and I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) which is an autoimmune disease. I was devastated, shocked, in total denial! This can’t be happening to me! I’m young and “healthy”. Why is this happening to me?
From what I understand if you have a certain gene, RA can lay dormant in your body. It can be triggered by excessive stress – physical, mental or emotional. I think its safe to say that over the last few years I have had more than my fair share of stress and that the natural birth of my second son Luke was the straw that broke the camel’s back as it were.
The Rheumatologist wanted to get me on medication ASAP – Plaquenil and 1 of the following: Methotrexate, Sulfasalazine, Leflunomide, Doxycycline, or Prednisone. When RA is caught early and treated aggressively with medication remission is likely to occur*. My first choice was and is to treat this naturally. The drugs mentioned above have terrible side effects and because I was breastfeeding, I would not consider, even though they are thought to be safe for the baby according to Motherisk.
For months I didn’t want to believe it, but I knew I couldn’t do nothing, so after consulting with a few Naturopaths (NDs), a Chinese Medicine Doctor (CMDs), Acupuncturist, Physiotherapist, Massage Therapist, Osteopath, Nutritionist & Chiropractor I completely changed my lifestyle. I went from eating and drinking everything, to a very specific diet. I started with an elimination diet for 1.5 months to get my body as clean as possible, then slowly started to introduce new foods, however, no dairy, wheat, gluten, grains, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, shellfish or red meat. I also avoid nightshades which tend to bother people with arthritis. So essentially my diet now allows vegetables, low sugar fruits and limited protein – some poultry and fish along with many supplements.
From the day I delivered Luke (June 12th, 2013) to present I have lost 90Lbs, of which 50-60Lbs was my normal pre-baby weight and my arthritis pain has gone from 9 on the pain scale to a 1-3. I can function quite normally and have had very little flare ups. I am being monitored closely by my Rheumatologist via ultrasounds, x-rays and blood work, so that if there are any changes happening in my joints that are irreversible we can discuss at that point what my options are, but I remain optimist that I can continue to manage this naturally and without hard-core meds. Only time will tell.
Hindsight is 20/20 and if I knew then what I know now, I would have made changes to my diet years ago and maybe, just maybe all of this could have been prevented. It’s not too late to make changes! Will it be easy? No! It will be really really difficult, but pain is a good motivator and I would rather give up food and alcohol than be in pain. Here’s a quote I read recently by Heather Morgan, MS, NLC that really hit home for me:
I find it interesting that my whole life I have hated my hands and feet and those are the body parts and mostly affected by my RA. Coincidence? Probably not. I’ve been planting a seed of hate in my mind, and look what manifested.
Don’t take your health for granted. You honestly can’t image what it’s like to be in constant chronic pain, every movement you make, big or small can be excruciating! I know we are all busy and we have a ton of excuses on why we don’t eat healthy or take time for ourselves, but make yourself and your family if you have one a priority.
Be well!
Meghan
Do you have a story to share? Comments? Thoughts? Good or bad, they are all welcome!