I began to get sick again, and experience bad symptoms all over about 3 weeks ago. I didn't know what to do. I talked with my doctor and decided to start GAPS all over again. This time just go down to the bare minimum - broth and meat, then slowly add a vegetable in one at a time. (I'm still at broth and meat - but it's ok). My body really needed to heal, and I needed to allow it time to heal. I had a short "honeymoon" period of one day :) Wow! did I love it!!! My brain fog completely cleared, my mind calmed down - no more racing, I could concentrate, my anxiety was gone (especially after eating) and the crazy, depressive thoughts that were becoming increasingly present had stopped.
Then the "detoxing" began. This has been one of the hardest and longest detoxes I have ever experienced. I can see now that one of the problems with the SCD diet is that when you go on the full version, you then start to eat A LOT of high oxalate type foods - nuts, spinach, quinoa etc. A lot of the substitutions used for baking are high in these. I have been consuming almonds, quinoa etc for a long time now. I can see that they were almost like an opiate for me. Would be my "calming" food. This isn't good, but hard to see when you are in the thick of it. It was REALLY hard to stop eating these things. I noticed I would crave them, even though I wasn't hungry. I finally was able to just stop them 2 weeks ago. What I didn't know was what would happen if you had been consuming high oxalate foods for awhile, and then stop it. The first few days, my large joints were badly inflamed, and it was hard to move. I noticed that it was mostly on parts of my body that I had been having trouble with previously. The inflammation would move as well, almost moving downward. I joined a yahoo support group for Low Oxalate Diet, and discovered that the vitamin Biotin can help with the pain. So I bought some and was surprised at how fast it worked. If you take the right dosage, then within 5 minutes the pain would be gone. I LOVE BIOTIN!!!
I am still feeling the effects of detoxing after 2 weeks, but they are not as severe as when I first started. I am also noticing that I am calming down inside even more than before. It's a great feeling! I went and got acupuncture done yesterday, and have noticed even less inflammation today with my joints. Tai Ji and some QiGong movements have also been helping.
So what have I learned during this time:
- GAPS has been working for me so far. My digestion problems are much better, as well as the brain fog, and calmer thinking.
- I NEED to go much SLOWER than I originally thought, and have more patience with myself. Luckily my body is really loving the added fat to my diet. I noticed that I feel so much better after eating it, and calmer.
- Fermented foods, and probiotics are beneficial, but also can be strong. These need to be added in slowly to not detox too fast.
- You don't need to just "suffer" through detoxing reactions. There are some great tools to helping reduce or eliminate the symptoms - enemas (the BEST really fast fix), epsom salt baths, activated charcoal, Biotin, magnesium.
- When I go to full GAPS to watch my oxalate intake, and not get too carried away with all the almond flour, etc. in order to to eat eat baked goods.
- That I love learning how to cook all these old traditional meals - bone soup/ meat stock, sauerkraut. And am looking forward to learning how to make Yogurt in a crockpot, Kefir, etc.
- Knowledge is so important. Reading the book has helped as well as finding additional information online, and other people's experiences. Also talking to others, so you can hear yourself as to what is going on, or getting insights from others. Sometimes I don't notice reactions, or things I am doing to hurt myself. I am grateful that my two others sisters are doing intro with me - it does help.
