What I learned from feeling sick and recovering again

My transformation from severe IBS symptoms to a healthy gut 16 years ago changed the course of my life. That experience made me prioritize my health.

My food choices and life choices revolved around supporting my physical and mental health. My recent health hiccup reinforced the idea that the body and mind are inseparable.

My recent health crisis

This summer, my health took a dive and my confidence in my body and health faltered.

What I learned is that no one is immune to stress. But also that the body can recover from stress induced illness if given the proper support.

Diet and supplements are two key healing supports. But not everything. Taking a holistic, mind body approach is important. Because if stress started the problem, it needs to be addressed for the best results.

My story is relatable and may have some important take aways to apply to your situation.

My symptoms

The symptoms that started around June of 2020 were very low blood pressure, dizzy spells, fatigue and tingling and numbness in my hands and feet.

I had insanely painful and irregular menstrual cycles, which was unusual for me. And my hair was falling out.

And I started having heartburn and intermittent bloating as my h. pylori flared. I had episodes of heavy brain fog and then anxiety and depression set in.

The anxiety and depression were the worst part.

To top it off, a thyroid test revealed elevated antibodies and I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease of the thyroid, called Hashimotos.

Spoiler alert: I did not actually have Hashimotos yet, but my body was heading in that direction.

At the time, I did not know the diagnosis was premature and incorrect. I was devastated and felt like a fraud and a failure.

But because I am who I am, I did not accept the diagnosis and medications they offered. I did my own research and created a plan.

It took me 4 months to start feeling better and 6 months to fully recover.

I’ll explain how it all started, how I addressed it and what I learned.

How it started

There’s typically a perfect storm of events that lead up to people getting sick.

For me, the foundation was the stress of living in Argentina in a moldy apartment for two years.

But it wasn’t until I piled onto that stress that my body began to crash.

Travel: In the months before my crash, I traveled to Patagonia, Colombia, Florida and then to Germany just as the pandemic was starting.

My entry into Germany was traumatic. I was told my flight was canceled from Madrid to Berlin. I felt helpless and terrified. It worked out in the end but the emotional damage was done.

Weeks later, I had another traumatic shock. I was bitten by a tick that carried two infectious and dangerous bacteria, anaplasma and rickettsia. I had Lyme disease before, and it set the stage for IBS. So this was deeply disturbing.

Through some miracle and high doses of astragalus, I never got sick. But the stress was mounting. That experience made me feel unsafe and out of control.

A few weeks after arriving in deeply locked down Berlin, I was hired by a publisher to write a book with 100 recipes in 6 weeks.

With the crazy book deadline and my client load I worked way too hard. This was a distraction from feeing the stress of my weird new life but not a healthy one.

An international move. A pandemic. A pathogenic tick bite. Past mold exposure. Working too hard. No social support. No huge surprise that my health crashed.

I knew that stress can crash the gut, but experiencing it personally really brought the point home.

How I resolved my issues

I went into self-health coaching mode. Here are the tools that I used to support my body.

Diet: Before leaving for Germany I took a food sensitivity test so I knew which foods flared my immune system. Laying off the foods that inflamed my immune system, whether I felt the inflammation or not, helped take some pressure off my immune system.

Supplements: I started taking inositol and selenium to lower my thyroid antibodies. I added B vitamins because B vitamins are depleted with stress and a deficiency can cause symptoms of neuropathy.

I also did an h. pylori protocol with a round of Matula tea.

My research revealed that both food sensitivities and a gut infection like h. pylori can drive up thyroid antibodies. H. pylori in particular has been tied with Hashimotos. The tea addressed both the h. pylori and the candida overgrowth that it caused.

Addressing another low grade infection: I finally fixed an infected implant with dental gum surgery. Every little bit counts. The more pressure I take off my immune system, the easier it can heal.

Mind body work: Addressing the body only, while ignoring the mind and emotional state will slow down healing.

I started a homeopathy treatment for depression and anxiety that was very supportive.

I also prioritized rest and pleasure. As the weather improved I visited lakes, took long walks and rode my bike. Time outside was relaxing.

I also started working with a somatic experiencing therapist over Zoom.

And I practiced chi gong several times a week through Zoom classes.

Lastly, I had a good friend visit me for 2 weeks. It felt really good to cook for her, talk to her and show her around. This filled my soul.

Towards the end of her visit, I started feeling much better.

It was not an overnight fix, but a culmination of the diet, the supplements and the therapies I did. Slowly my body soaked up the support and healed at steady pace.

A retest showed that my thyroid antibodies were slashed in half.

I think crashed adrenals drove some of my symptoms (low blood pressure, dizziness and fatigue).

Stress also fueled the immune attack on my thyroid, which caused the brain fog, menstrual issues, hair loss, anxiety and depression.

I have reintroduced almost all of my food sensitivities and have regained my confidence in my body again. I feel more calm and those disturbing symptoms are gone.

What I learned

It was awful and humbling to have a health crisis.

Healing is a head game. When we get sick we freak out. Especially when there’s trauma around being sick. When symptoms intensify, we lose faith in our body and dive into stress mode. And this delays or stops healing.

We don’t doubt our body’s ability to heal a cut, but with IBS we become riddled with fear and doubt. This can exacerbate the problem, driving more fear and doubt.

Thoughts matter. My thoughts when I was sick were “How did this happen to me? I’m a failure. Will this turn into multiple autoimmune diseases? I feel helpless and angry!”.

I needed to give myself a large dose of compassion and stop beating myself up. When I started taking it easy on myself I felt things turning around.

Attacking myself emotionally/mentally is a metaphor for my immune system attacking my own tissue. Is there a relationship there? I can’t prove it scientifically, but intuitively it makes sense.

I think that stopping the self-attacking thoughts were an important part of my recovery.

That is when my anxiety and depression began to lift.

Mold cleanse and my takeaways

Currently, I’m doing a mold mycotoxin detox. A test showed there’s still a lot of mold in my system.

My breathing has improved. I feel grounded and am excited about the future.

For my detox, I’m taking glutathione, charcoal binders, blackseed oil, monolaurin, saccharomyces boulardii and NAC.

This experience has inspired me to keep working on my subconscious mind, where many of our stress programming is located. The more I heal this aspect of myself, the less vulnerable I will be to future stressors and getting sick.

I am not trying to do my mold cleanse perfectly. I eat pastries, spend too much time on social media and avoid practicing yoga, but I don’t beat myself up for it. I’m doing my best to get through the rest of this pandemic life.

Gratitude and routine helps me stay grounded. Here is a summary of my most important take aways.

1. The body is a powerful healer.
2. The more I research online, the more panic and negativity I absorb.
3. To speed healing we need to calm down and get out of the way.
4. Our thoughts and emotions have a huge but underestimated effect.
5. That you don’t need to be perfect to heal.
6. A diagnosis can be mentally damaging & stressful. Don’t let it be.
7. The universe wanted me to grow and share my lessons to help others.
8. Fear of mold is just as toxic as mold.

What have you learned during this pandemic? And your health struggles? Hope this great pause has imparted some helpful lessons.