Friday, March 8, 2013

Feeling Better...Finally

Hey Ya'll,
So I am finally feeling more like myself these days. For almost the entire month of February I was in this terrible sore throat, achy ear, hoarse voice, blah-feeling haze. I'm thinking more and more that Western medicine is best for surgical needs or extremely innovative devices/therapies and that all of those everyday ailments and physical adjustments should be treated more holistically. (not that I didn't think this before) The doctors had no suggestions once it was determined that I did not have strep throat. "Just stay hydrated" that's easy to say when you are not the one in near tears trying to swallow your own saliva. I was never even asked if my diet had recently changed or if we got any new pets in the home. "Just, have you been in contact with anyone who has been ill? Do you usually suffer from allergies in this manner?" When the answer to both questions is "No" it was as if they were at a loss. I had to ask for an allergy referral on my own because that never even crossed either of the two different doctor's minds.
Fortunately for my exposure to the information I am receiving at IIN I have been thinking more outside the box. Which says a lot because I have never really been one for conventional thoughts anyway. But a few weeks ago food allergies and sensitivities was the focus of the work module and a lot of things made sense and really stuck with me. Well, towards the middle of January I decided to purchase another order of the Achieve shake blends from Zrii and come to find out they have changed the Achieve formula. It now contains Milk and Soy, which it previously did not. After doing "really well" and taking the shakes consistently twice a day for a couple of weeks my symptoms began. But I didn't really put two and two together until earlier this week and trying to figure out why I have been feeling so horrible for so long. Because I am rarely ever sick and when I am I recover fairly quickly, but I just could not shake whatever this was. I think I may have had a delayed allergic reaction to the new formula. I have made an appointment with an allergy specialist but I am really going for diagnostic reasons more so than treatment. I plan to have a better idea of my environmental triggers and maybe have some light shed on my food related triggers. I'm only hoping that there aren't too many because I would be SO sad to have to cut out an enormous chunk of my grocery list or something. But even after my appointment I am planning to conduct an elimination experiment on myself by omitting foods that are most commonly known to trigger allergic reactions and then one by one introduce each food to record my body's reaction to it. Hmm....I think that might make for a good blog series here. Stay tuned for that.

On another note, I joined a 108 Day Yoga challenge with a yoga forum on www.myfitnesspal.com. It began March 1st and we all have our own goals, but the constant is that for 108 consecutive days we practice at least one of the limbs of yoga. Meditation, asana, whatever your goal is to work on during that time. My commitment was to practice yoga each day for at least 20 minutes, to focus on eating more whole foods (yay for Lent), to allow myself to hear The Creator's voice and guide me back to the path he has carved out for me. At the end of this 108 day challenge I hope to have a calmer heart, a clearer head about my life, and a die hard yoga habit. I am excited and proud of this journey and so far I have managed to touch my mat each day. Be it morning or night I take the time to love myself and hear My Creator.
So here's to feeling better, finding allergy triggers, and developing habits that open up my life and body.
Namaste Ya'll    

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