The Reintroduction

Someone should preface the AIP with DIET PREREQUISITES: PATIENCE. Maybe this is the same as willpower?

It is recommended to maintain this diet for 6-8 weeks although I know some doctors prescribe it for only three weeks. Maybe it depends on your level of gastrointestinal issues? Prior to the diet, I really didn't have gastrointestinal issues, but I did and do have a bizarre neuro-inflammatory problem. Well, that's my guess. I know it originated in the back of my head at the base just above my spine so I assume it's neurological. I've been reading a lot about the brain-gut connection and I had hoped this diet would relieve the constant burning sensation that travels throughout my body.

After five weeks on the AIP diet I started testing foods that were restricted. I got impatient. Not being able to find the livers and bones was discouraging. Food reintroduction is a slow process so I decided to start early out of frustration. It's hard to DO a diet if you can't get the right ingredients and I was ready to be done with it all. The reintroduction instructions are to test one food at a time and wait from three to seven days before trying another. I admit, again, I'm just not that patient and most of the foods caused a reaction immediately so I'm not sure why I needed to wait for seven days. I waited three days on most foods or after I felt better.

The instructions also say to eat only one tablespoon of the food, wait fifteen minutes, and eat another tablespoon, wait fifteen minutes and then eat it as you would for a normal helping. I know this is to make sure you don't have a serious reaction, but again, I'm not that patient! I was this meticulous with the first few foods, but then I got tired of it and just ate. It's not like I was testing chocolate or tomatoes or other known foods of misery.

I had a variety of reactions to the food reintroductions. The problem with being chemically sensitive is it's hard to determine if a reaction is caused by the food or something else. Also, at the beginning of the diet I had more problems with digestion than before the diet so it's really hard to say if the individual foods caused a reaction or if it was the diet in general. I was also under the assumption the diet would heal my leaky gut, making all foods tolerable, but I recognize I spent the first half of the diet sans organs and bones so I failed at following the diet exactly as instructed. I've never been good at instructions. It's like I'm ADHD when it comes to following directions. Or impatient.

Here are the foods I stopped eating then reintroduced:

Almonds seemed fine during the first test. They felt good going down. I waited and tried again a week later and I felt a bit queasy, but it could have been because I was really hungry and my digestive tract wasn't used to such a dense food. It didn't last long. Third test I had no problem.

Cashews seemed fine at first followed an hour later by gas and diarrhea.

Pecans are not my friends. Immediate stomach pain and then within the hour neck pain. It didn't last long. This is surprising. I've been eating a lot of pecans in the last few years.

Eggs are not only NOT my friends, but my enemies. Immediate back itch followed by neck and spine pain for two days straight. A week later I tested only egg yolks and didn't seem to have a problem. I've eaten way too many eggs in my lifetime, more than anyone should, so it's time to give them up. However, I now know egg yolks can still be used for recipes if needed. But what will I ever make that needs eggs? Baking is out as it always involves foods that are problematic.

Coconut, coconut milk, coconut flour and coconut oil are not only on all diets but highly recommended. Since my Christmas holiday recipe bonanza, these coconut products have caused me nothing but grief. During this diet I stopped using them. Later I tried some coconut oil and immediately my stomach started hurting. I also tried some coconut milk and immediately felt queasy. I might have over did it during Christmas and my body is retaliating. Coconut products are out.

Canola oil mayonnaise was fine, which I thought strange since it's made with eggs. Mayonnaise, however, is a food one wouldn't eat more than a tablespoon at a time so I don't know if the test is truly accurate since I might not be eating enough of it to incite a reaction. I have no desire to shovel an inhuman amount of mayo down my throat for the sake of testing. I didn't really miss it during the diet so I think for an occasional recipe it's fine, but I won't be eating much of it in the future. The Paleo diet restricts processed foods so it's time to get rid of this processed food.

Plain, organic yogurt made my stomach hurt immediately. Then my back hurt. Then my head hurt. Then diarrhea continuing the next day ALL day. I didn't even eat very much. In the last year I haven't eaten any yogurt so it won't be missed.

Unsweetened carob chips...I nearly forgot how much I love carob! Of course the chips are not just carob but made with soy lecithin, whey and palm kernel oil. These are bad, bad, and bad ingredients not allowed on the Paleo-Hashimoto's diet. It's hard to say exactly which ingredient caused the gas that followed. In the past I've never had a problem with carob chips, but I know carob is naturally constipating. In fact, during the yogurt-induced day of diarrhea, I was desperately desiring carob! But if gas is just bacteria working to digest food is that bad? Or is it good I have bacteria doing their jobs causing all that gas??

I find this really interesting since I normally eat carob chips with nuts, like a healthy Hershey's Bar, but all this time carob chips are constipating and nuts give me diarrhea...so it all evened out! Who would have known?

Rice. Oddly enough while on this diet I didn't have any rice for six weeks. I didn't even miss it! Amazing. I remember when I would crave it so badly I'd start pacing. I didn't test it. I've never really liked rice and only used it as a filler food. It is restricted on the Hashimoto's diet as it's a cross-reactor to gluten. White rice is a food that is forbidden on most diets due to its lack of nutrients. I can do without. If anything this diet has weaned me off of some not-so-good foods.

Sweet red bell peppers are fabulous. I didn't realize how much I had missed them. They sure add an enormous amount of flavor to a dish. I had no problem with them before and didn't on reintroduction.

Hot peppers. I had absolutely no problem with habaneros. Hooray! Ditto jalapenos. Hooray!

Butter is another food one wouldn't eat much of at a serving and not a food I have reason to eat often especially if I don't plan to be eating eggs in the future. I didn't have a problem with it before nor after the diet.

Potatoes tasted great! An hour after I ate them I feel really energetic probably from all those extra carbohydrates. A few hours later my legs hurt so badly I could hardly walk. Pain is what also happens with tomatoes another problematic nightshade. Hmmm.... However, it was near bedtime so I wasn't sure if it was the potatoes or just over working those muscles while feeling energetic. I get this incredible urge to dance when feeling energetic and since I'm not used to so much movement it's difficult to determine the origins of random pain. I waited a week and tried potatoes again. Didn't get the energy boost nor the dancing frenzy this time so all that could have been a reaction to something else. Everything was fine for the second testing. Needed a tie-breaker, the third test also no problem.

The very last test wasn't a test, it was a cheat. Cranberry-Almond Gluten-Free Cookie with all kinds of gluten-free garbage in it...no problem whatsoever. Hallelujah!

That's it! So in conclusion: pecans, cashews, eggs, coconut products, and yogurt are out. Butter, mayo and potatoes seem fine although are forbidden on the Hashimoto's diet so I'll continue to avoid those. All peppers are wonderful, almonds are in, Cranberry-Almond Gluten-Free Cookies are my reward, and carob chips in small quantities if I'm feeling particularly masochistic and just don't give a shit. (Or don't want to give a shit....)

I'm still drinking bone broth daily and trying to work up the courage to eat more liver. I haven't given up if on this diet and I haven't really discontinued it aside from the testing. I wonder if I stick with it long enough if my gut would totally heal and all foods would be tolerated? Or is that just wishful thinking and this AIP stuff is just bogus?

A friend of mine told me one of the reasons bones are hard to find is our local football team is drinking bone broth. It's bad enough football players get paid way more than any human should, but because they are treated like royalty in the USA, they are allowed to hoard the bones leaving us peasants nothing. Damn Hoarders.

Fasting

I'm feeling great these days. Better than I have for a long time. I am wondering since my DNA mutations indicate drug metabolism issues if all that thyroid drug is being horded in my liver. I am still experiencing inflammation which presents itself as an intense burning itch just under my skin. It got really bad when I was on the drugs even brought back the vaginal fires of hell for a day. Now it's mostly at night. So I thought, How can I detox my liver and get rid of the excess drug?

Granted, this is a risk. It could be all that drug stored in my liver is what is keeping my energy levels stable. I am feeling great! Do I want to compromise that?

I decided inflammation is never good. It can do all kinds of bad things to your body. I decided I would do the fast in Datis Kharrazian's book Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? It's his advice to detox the liver every now and then for optimum thyroid function and if you are taking thyroid hormone medications, so they will work more efficiently. It's four days of drinking just fresh, organic lemon juice, water and Grade B maple syrup. It's the Master Cleanse without the cayenne.

I've done the Master Cleanse and it definitely cleanses. Although all directions say you must sip the drink all day long to avoid a blood sugar crash and avoid hunger, I am STILL hungry. One day of hunger is all I can handle.

Yesterday I lemonade-fasted for one day. Kharrazian says if you are hypoglycemic you will feel really poorly, but if you are insulin intolerant you will feel great as your digestive system is being given a rest from food. I felt fine, just hungry. My back also itched all day. In the evening I ate a simple green salad with carrots, onions, peppers, zucchini, lettuce and orange juice. I also ate some sardines since they are incredibly high in selenium and calcium and I was hoping the protein would counteract any blood sugar issues. I slept fine.

Today the inflammation doesn't seem to be as bad as it was and my back still itches, but I woke up with really low blood sugar, very tired, like I hadn't eaten for a whole day, or in this case eight hours. I also felt slightly nauseous until I drank some water. This is a common symptom of adrenal fatigue, but I realize it was probably my body just needing sustenance. I ate protein for breakfast.

Not sure if it did as much good as I would have liked. Maybe if I wanted to subject myself to lemonade for four straight days it might have, but I hate being hungry.

NOTE TO SELF: NO MORE FASTING! Yeah, it's good to give your liver a vacation, but the problem is my liver never wants to go back to work! Now after every meal I feel really sick and get a headache. It doesn't matter what I eat. I'm also waking up in the morning feeling sick. Not good. And it didn't really do anything about the inflammation. I read recently someone said serious detoxification should not be done by those who are autoimmune as it creates problems. Hmmm...OK.

Drug Purge

I tried. I really did.

The first thing I noticed is eight hours after taking the 30 mg. thyroid pill, I'd get incredibly tired, crash, and feel the need to nap. I stopped crashing when I changed my diet so although low-level fatigue is what I was trying to address with these drugs, crashing was a newly returned symptom. My new health care provider agreed I should take a second 30 mg. pill in the afternoon. We assumed the drugs were wearing off. This seemed to work...for a short time. Then I started getting more tired in the afternoon, earlier in the afternoon each day, then waking early in the morning and beginning the day tired.  This was not an improvement.

I was also hungry all the time which wasn't new, but I started overeating.  Constant, compulsive overeating nearly to the point of vomiting. I had to pay close attention during a meal to know when to stop. I never felt real hunger and even after overeating, I'd still feel famished.

My legs and hips started hurting all the time. I read that hip pain is a hypothyroid symptom.

Then last week I started feeling borderline depressed. Just off. Like everything was not quite right. At first I thought this mild depression might have been residue from the heater chemicals offgassing. That would make sense, but it should have gone away once the heaters ceased to be a problem.

Prior to starting this Paleo with Hashimoto's Twist diet, I had severe inflammation, mostly at night. My skin would burn uncomfortably and my face was often burning red. It went away with the diet and since taking thyroid meds, it has returned. Inflammation is never good.

Unfortunately, all the muscle pain, muscle weakness and lack of muscle recovery never went away. The adrenaline rushes and hot flashes got worse. I had hoped a thyroid prescription would help with some of it. For a short time I did feel slightly more energetic and not as stress intolerant.

I worried about these new or returned symptoms and questioned whether things might get worse with a dosage increase.  I made an appointment with the formerly fired Nurse Lady.

Let me clarify. Yes, I had planned to fire Nurse Lady for failing at follow-through, but then I spoke to the pharmacist who said this was unusual behavior for her. So I thought I'd give her another chance. Maybe she was having a bad week? I know she wasn't having a bad week. She went to Hawaii. Can I blame her? Would I love to drop my life and go to Hawaii? Of course! But health care providers have a certain responsibility to their patients especially ones who's prescription needs refilling before it runs out. She should have done the research and settled her accounts before leaving. Instead she left me in a panic not knowing what to do. She never did get back to me about anything. Her failure makes that first appointment a waste of time and money.

Yeah, I should fire her, but then where do I find another fragrance-free health care provider? One who has Hashimoto's, acknowledges chemical sensitivity, recognizes my sensitivity to drugs, understands compounded pharmacies, and seems to have researched ideas relevant to my issues? Other than lack of follow-through, I really liked her. I wouldn't even know where to start looking for a new doctor. So she's not fired. I just won't rely on her to do what she says she will in the future. I really hate it we have to accept substandard health care for lack of any other choice.

My second appointment with her she said, "So, it's been over a year since you've been in?" Hmmm... I was in your office two months ago. She has no clue who I am nor what year it is. That did not inspire confidence. Did she leave her brain in Hawaii? I told her about my many new symptoms. The fatigue I have now is slightly worse, inflammation has returned, hips hurt, body hurts, and I am starving. During the course of the appointment I told her three times about the feelings of starvation and each time she stared at me with an occasional grimace. She had no clue. Her response was to give me dietary counseling. She knows I'm on the Kharrazian diet-that-saved-my-life and I know my diet is better than the diets of most Americans. It was frustrating to waste my time having someone tell me how to eat. I know my diet is what has improved my health, but she's not listening to me. I resent people who treat me like I'm a moron.

I did, however, lose two pounds which was odd since I'm eating like a horse, and my temperature is lower than the last visit (96.6). I asked her about how these meds work as I'm assuming they are killing my own thyroid's function causing more hypothyroidism which then demands a higher drug dosage to compensate. She disagreed but only on my choice of vocabulary. They suppress the thyroid. She told me people who take thyroid and want to quit can be weaned slowly off it and the thyroid will bounce back. I am skeptical. The thyroid gland doesn't just bounce back or no one would need any medication. I asked about a dosage increase since I read most people need to take three times more drug than I am, and she suggested the dose should be raised to 60mg. in the morning. The goal eventually was to take one pill strong enough to carry me through the day. I smell a drug addiction coming on. I just want to see an improvement. She ordered labs.

Breakfast...Yum.

So, the next day I took a double thyroid dose (60 mg.) and within an hour I was so incredibly hungry AFTER eating a multiple-course, multiple-helping breakfast, I wanted to eat my furniture. All day I was climbing the walls feeling like I was starving. I laid in bed that night and decided this isn't right. I checked online. There are others who have reacted to thyroid in the same way. Feelings of excruciating starvation not due to hunger. Their health care providers also had no answers for them.

The following day, I stopped the drugs. It was the first time in four months I was not hungry after eating a meal, did not overeat, and did not feel like I was starving.  Later that day, I felt no fatigue and it was the first time in four months I actually felt real hunger just before a meal. The next day I awoke to absolutely no depression and feeling really content and happy with everything.

Those damn drugs are poisoning me and messing with my brain.

Dessicated thyroid is real thyroid glandular from a pig, therefore, it has all the natural ratios of thyroid including T3 and T4. This natural balance is the reasoning behind taking it. Problem is it also comes with natural iodine, or iodide. Hmmm...I know people with Hashimoto's are supposed to stay away from iodine as it triggers immune attacks. Is this causing my reaction? Is this why I felt better at first and then slowly declined?

Kharrazian's book says taking thyroid medications unnecessarily will cause cells to develop a resistance to it creating pituitary hypofunction. The patient will feel fine at first, but then symptoms return. Hmmm....so the drug is killing off organs one by one? Kharrazian says your body's natural function will be permanently lost and dependency on medication will become lifelong. Great. That doesn't sound like anything will bounce back in fact quite the opposite. The whole thing is really frustrating and I get the impression most health-care providers fail to see the holistic side effects of any drug. Thyroid drugs are considered the easy answer, but everyone I know who takes them still suffers from fatigue which does not inspire confidence.

It's been a week and I actually feel much better without drugs than with them. I'm waiting for the thyroid lab results to see what has happened to my body while taking the drugs. I no longer think my low-level fatigue is related to just the thyroid, although I've been saying this for years. I was hoping this one piece of the puzzle would help a little. Not many people seem to know what to do with adrenal health problems. If I'm waking up every hour throughout the night with adrenaline rushes and hot flashes, it stands to reason I'd feel tired a lot. I read low cortisol incites the adrenaline rushes and this excessive cortisol will lower your blood sugar causing sugar cravings and digestive problems as well as muscle pain and weakness. I've known all along I should address the adrenal problems to support the thyroid and I've read if the adrenals aren't working properly, neither will any thyroid medication. Back to square one.

I'm currently trying to decide if I should go back to Nurse Lady or go to Gyno Doctor. The gynecologist has drug posters on the walls of her office and in the exam rooms. This indicates she will have little acceptance of chemical sensitivity, but she might know more about weird menopause symptoms than Nurse Lady. Also, her husband who shares the office with her is the only endocrinologist for miles. Still any treatments she will have will focus on chemical prescriptions and I already know I'm not very tolerant of drugs. What a game.

Health care sucks. It always feels like such a waste of money like I'm running in circles and getting nowhere. Just poorer.

Fungus Among Us

Where I live in the land of no sun and overabundance of rain, mold is taken for granted. It infiltrates our lives living in the walls and basements of our homes, wafting through our car's heating system, floating in the air, and buried in the dirt. If I don't wash my van a few times each winter, green fungus-y growth can be seen in the outside seams of metal. Lovely. Our environment is so saturated with mold that state real estate laws were changed regarding disclosure statements. It doesn't matter if your home is crawling with the fungi, and no one cares if you disclose it because they won't be allowed to sue anyway. It's assumed if your house is located here, it's moldy. Everyone's house is moldy. That's life. Get used to it. Mold is our official state...flower? Animal? Is there such a thing as an official state environmental health problem?

Since I've lived here most of my life, I have a history of mold exposure. It's always fun to watch the eyes of a new doctor light up when I start confessing the highlights of my life: the basement of my family home used to flood every winter, I grew up around apple trees and my sensitivity tests claim an intolerance to apple mold, I lived in Arizona for a short time and I've tested positive for molds that grow in air conditioners, and right around the time my chemical sensitivity began disabling me I was living in a basement apartment with carpeting from the 1970s. Just saying basement apartment and holistic health practitioners get very excited.

Although conventional allergy testing rated me negative for mold, I don't know if it really matters in terms of danger.  There are thousands of different kinds of molds. Which molds did they test me for?  I never take the information from any doctor at face value.  Do you really need to be formally allergic to mold for it to affect your health?

One of my neighbors has never had allergies of any kind throughout his life, but his sinuses and lungs have been messed up since moving to the state of mold. His house is very old and wasn't very well cared for. He has since repaired it, rebuilt parts of it, and after getting rid of the water-rotten wood and termites, it all dried out so he claims there shouldn't be a mold problem. While inspecting the thick layer of dust on his computer I replied, "So you DRIED the mold and it is now AIRBORNE? Floating around like toxic dust?"  The furrows appearing on his forehead betrayed his confidence. Breathing for him has become uncomfortable for sure, but he's pretty lucky. At least he's not dying from it. Yet.

I knew a woman who's newly-constructed house came down with a bad case of black mold. Before she realized what was happening, all her pets died mysteriously, one after the other. The house was eventually condemned, unable to even be sold and her family after losing everything moved into a tiny apartment. Shortly after that her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor and she died from ovarian cancer about a year later. She was only in her thirties.

So, I am properly afraid of mold. I should have seen the signs when I considered buying this house but I was so eager to get out of that basement apartment, I wasn't thinking rationally. First, there were air fresheners all over. Normally, I would walk away from any house that had air fresheners, but for some reason I held my mask tightly to my face and didn't run. The laundry room had walls removed and the floor removed down to plywood. I figured someone must have been remodeling. I justified purchasing this house because there were no obvious signs: no black fuzz crawling up the wall, no drips, no visible water leaks, the crawlspace didn't smell either. I had seen all manner of mold infestations in my very, very long search for a new home.  This house looked awesome in comparison, even with the air fresheners. I told the house inspector of my mold concerns and he said, "I don't know why people worry about mold. Mold is good for you!" I should have fired him on the spot, but I was desperate to get out of the basement apartment. And I really loved the house.

On purchase, I immediately removed the air fresheners and got a closer look at everything. I could smell the mustiness. Oh god, what have I done? I assumed it was the heating system that I found out hadn't worked for years and yeah, I got under the house and animals had made nests out of the heat vents. This was another clue I missed since lack of heat during the winter would have created a whole lot of dampness. I later found out the house was unoccupied for a few years, too. Who knows what can happen when tenants aren't there to watch over a house? I went to work eradicating the problem: spraying the whole crawlspace with Four Thieves Oil (herbal stinky stuff, but tolerable), re-covering the ground under the house with thick plastic, getting the heating system fixed, replacing the missing walls, having all the plumbing inspected, redoing the floors, fixing the rain gutters, and re-roofing the whole house. No more musty smells and I felt safe and secure. It worked.

Or did it?

Since I've been in this house I been in a constant state of fatigue. Every doctor I've seen is quick to assume any fatigue must be my thyroid, but thyroid medications don't help. My thyroid labs aren't really bad enough to cause these symptoms and the Kharrazian diet hasn't improved my energy on any level. In fact, nothing seems to work. During the spring and summer months when everything warms up I experience periods of exhaustion on top of the fatigue. Mold loves wet and damp, but warmth enables it to grow and spread.

My early theories were mold. I had an online chemically sensitive acquaintance from California who told me when she visited her friend in the moldy state she could smell the mold in the yard. Another chemically sensitive person said she was tested for dirt mold and came up positive. This got me thinking.  If it were thyroid, I'd be tired in the winter when the weather is cold.  Instead, it's seasonal during the warmer months, when the environment begins to heat.

In addition to the fatigue and exhaustion, about three years ago I started experiencing burning. It started at the back of my head, crawled up and over my head and down through my body. It's constant. I've been to many doctors and no one seems to have any idea. I've read a few possible theories online, but most information comes back to MOLD. Mold keeps popping up. Mold, mold, mold.

Is there a connection between mold and chemical sensitivity? Did the mold in the basement apartment contribute to my overexposure? Has continued mold exposure in my current house kept me from healing or detoxing adequately?  

So what to do?

There are diets that lower your yeast/fungus levels but that involves giving up fruits which are naturally moldy and I'm not sure I want to do that since the foods I can eat at this point are so limited. Besides, I really don't think if you live with mold as a roommate changing your diet is really going to make a difference.

I think the best plan is to move...easier said than done in this economy...but eventually. Where to go? Is there really any place that is safe?

I've heard Colorado doesn't have mold.

Girls Only

What did one tampon say to the other? Nothing. They were both stuck up bitches.

Menstrual Supplies  Sanitary pads, panty liners and tampons are normally made with all kinds of synthetic materials, pesticide-grown, bleached cotton and perfumes that can make chemically-sensitive lady parts react badly. There was a news alert many years ago about feminine hygiene product manufacturers adding arsenic to tampons so women would bleed more, and therefore, buy more. I have no idea if this is one of those urban myths, but when it comes to the money-making machine, anything is possible.

I've always believed the theory if it's trying to get out of your body, you shouldn't be plugging it up and keeping it inside. It would be like vomiting and holding it in your mouth for a few hours. I imagine the old, rotting blood festering the walls of my vagina and seeping into my blood stream. I stopped using tampons years ago after reading about the arsenic.

Long, long ago in a galaxy far away women used menstrual rags, or strips of fabric,  which is where the saying "on the rag" started. Fascinating, until you are faced with the reality that you'd have to wash these soiled rags daily. YUCK. Hand wash even, because I doubt if you'd want to put all that mess in a washing machine. I confess, I was intrigued and gave it a trial run because 1) I wanted to control what was used near my body, 2) I liked the idea of using something recyclable rather than wasteful filling up our landfills, and last but not least, 3) at the time I was disabled, unemployed and trying to think of creative money-saving ideas. Sanitary pads are expensive when you are thinking you'd rather be able to afford rent. The non-toxic kind are even more expensive. Even with my financial woes, I didn't last a day. Too gross for me.

I couldn't use the regular, chemically-made sanitary pads. When I first became hypersensitive, I started having problems in the nether regions (see below) and I wondered why my lungs hurt and my sinuses were congested during my periods. I questioned the safety of cheap, conventional sanitary pads. They were barely scented, but scented nevertheless.  I eventually forked out money for the organic cotton, latex-free, plastic-free, chlorine-free and fragrance-free sanitary pads by Natracare. They are found at health food stores and some grocery stores.

The latest thing is the Diva Cup. Bloggers are raving about it. According to the instructions, it's a little cup that comes in two different sizes (selection depends on your age and childbirth history), you stick it up there, it catches all the menstrual blood, every ten hours or so you remove it, empty it and wash it out, re-insert. Once a month you give it a good washing with soap and hot water and store it in a breathable cloth pouch until next month. I like that it is environmentally friendly. I'm not sure about putting silicone up in my lady parts, but I guess it's safer than plastic. It costs between $24.00 and $34.00 depending on where you buy it. If anyone has tried this, please leave a comment.

Douches  Douching shouldn't be done by anyone unless prescribed by a doctor and even then, who wants to trust doctors who have sold their souls to the drug and chemical companies? With chemical ingredients such as sodium chloride, citric acid, sodium benzoate, disodium EDTA, octoxynol-9, and fragrance, is it any wonder douching would screw up our natural vaginal ecosystems and make us more susceptible to pelvic inflammation and yeast infections? The package claims it will make you feel fresh and clean. I want to know who brainwashed society into believing that fresh and clean is far better than healthy and safe?

Feminine Hygiene Sprays  Ah, yes, another product designed to make us feel more self-conscious about the way our natural human bodies smell. Ingredients include: glycerides, polyoxyethylene, benzalkonium chloride, chlorhexidine, isopropyl myristate and perfume causing bladder infections, burning, itching, swelling, boils, and blood in the urine. These sprays are also linked to cervical cancer. Anything with -ene on the end causes cancer and anything with chlor- is chlorine.

Contraceptive Sponges These are little sponges soaked with spermicide used as temporary forms of birth control. The spermicides used are benzalkonium chloride, sodium cholate or nonoxyl-9, the latter being problematic for many women. One horrible experience was enough to inflict psychological damage to last a lifetime. Unbeknownst to me due to lack of pain, this nonoxyl-9 inflamed the walls of my vagina so severely I woke up in the middle of the night bleeding profusely. When I say profusely I think I went through a whole box of sanitary pads in an hour. It was all I could do not to panic and to hold on until morning when I could rush myself to the free clinic at my university. The doctor told me I had deep lacerations as my vagina walls had split open. I have scars to prove it - physically and mentally. Contraceptive sponges in general make one more susceptible to yeast infections, urinary tract infections or toxic shock syndrome, and, well, vaginal disintegration.

Birth Control Pills  Yeah, they are drugs, and yeah, lots of women have bad reactions that may or may not go away once the dosages are adjusted, and yeah, they make one more susceptible to cancer, but if you don't want to be pregnant non-stop, this is the best way to prevent that. Oh, except abstinence.

Other Nether Region Issues

I like the term "nether regions". It sounds like hell which is an accurate description of some of my experiences. Let me preface this story with I have rarely had yeast infections in my life, maybe two at the most. I've never had urinary infections,  bacterial infections or sexually transmitted diseases.


When I first became chemically sensitive I started getting symptoms similar to a yeast or bacterial infection: burning like the fires of hell in the nether regions. BURNING! See why I like the hellish term, nether regions? I did all my home remedies and nothing helped. I went to three different doctors who did all kinds of tests and they all told me I was fine. Nothing was wrong. Hello? Except I was burning like the fires of hell. One doctor told me I had the "cleanest" vagina he'd ever seen. Why, thank you! But he still had no idea what was wrong with me nor what to do about it.  One prescribed cortisone cream which made it worse. Another said Hmmm...maybe it's some kind of infection that didn't show up on the tests and she gave me antibiotics for fun. The antibiotics made it go away but then as soon as the prescription ended, it all came back and worse. So I figured out really fast doctors were pretty useless, as usual, and I started reading and doing experiments.


I read about VULVITIS. Ugly word, I know. This is an inflammation of the vulva caused by perfumes, soaps, bubble baths, shampoos or any kind of chemical that might have access to the lady parts. Well, that makes sense! This was what initially inspired me stop using all soaps and shampoos and I never went back. It didn't help. With each passing day, the burning got worse. I was in tears most of the time, wondering how I could have ever taken for granted a non-burning vagina. The good old days.


I switched from conventional sanitary pads to organic, non-toxic ones and my lungs and sinuses cleared. I was hoping this was an easy answer to the burning, too. Nope, but it did force me to rethink the menstrual supplies I was buying.

Then by chance I came across an article about detoxification treatments throwing off your pH balance. As your body cleans and re-balances itself, it will temporarily become more alkaline. I was doing all kinds of dietary detoxification programs trying to ease the chemical sensitivity. The author's example of a symptom was those little cold sore like blisters in your mouth. This would indicate a pH imbalance. Hmmmm...I was getting those. So I surmised if it's a pH imbalance, could my vaginal fluid be too alkaline?


How would I make my system less alkaline?  First, I began drinking gallons of unsweetened cranberry juice. Not pleasant and it did nothing to cool the fires of hell. The whole time I'm wondering if my body is alkaline, they why am I not getting bladder infections or urinary tract infections?  What are other ways to change the alkalinity of my vaginal fluid? Ponder, ponder....

Who would have thought that high school chemistry class would have real-life value? Vinegar. I tried washing the lady parts with vinegar which is the highest food-based acidic substance, just a little lower than battery acid. Yeah, this remedy isn't for anyone with a low tolerance for pain, but by this time I was in so much pain I had nothing to lose. The first ten seconds it burned like acid (but not worse than the fires of hell) then all the burning was gone! It was a miracle!

I have yet to meet a doctor who knows what it is or what to do. I am very thankful for vinegar. For a while if I ate an exceptionally healthy diet that caused any kind of detoxification, the burning comes back and if I ate sugar and junk, it would go away. Made me want to eat chocolate and ice cream for every meal!

Now I used panty liners and change them all the time. If the burning returns, I wash with vinegar and question my diet.  I think the healthier diet I now eat has controlled it for the most part.

More theories:

VULVODYNIA Symptoms include itching, burning, and pain. Statistics show 2.4 million women have this problem and it is thought to be caused by inadequate hormone levels causing inflammation. No one knows for sure. And no one knows what to do with it which doesn't help. I very recently read about a doctor who prescribes estrogen tablets to insert up the nether regions rather than ingest. That will be my next experiment, but I wonder why detoxing makes it worse if it's hormonal?

VESTIBULITIS (or VULVAR VESTIBULITIS)  This is another inflammatory skin condition causing itching, burning, and pain. Again, no one knows what causes it and this is no help.

Chemicals tend to be hormone-disruptors so blaming burning-like-the-fires-of-hell on lack of hormones actually makes sense. As I've said in previous posts, the fact that no one knows what causes it is a clue it has something to do with chemicals that doctors refuse to acknowledge. I get so tired of the AMA being so damn incompetent!

Does anyone have any other personal experiences of hell?

Has anyone found any alternative products?

Miracle treatments?