Healing Naturally, Failed (Part 2)
*Link to part 1 below.
Switching from a pescatarian lifestyle to a plant based one has worked for me.
I believe intuitive eating is the right path and it’s a deeply personal thing.
We all know there’s that basic truth that many fruits and vegetables are healing foods. Beyond that, it’s trial and error sorting out your food sensitivities, allergies and staples.
When I discovered that my body was housing several benign tumors, I thought I could fix it with a change in lifestyle.
The realization that eating foods designed to cut me off from the intuition I rely on to guide what I consume was scary and needed healing, fast.
I incorporated more clean plant based foods, eliminated most soy products, ate less vegan junk food and began cooking as many of my meals as possible.
Whenever possible I carried a BPA free water bottle, switched over to glass Tupperware and started taking different supplements.
I began incorporating a multivitamin, DIM (a supplement that seems to require taking thousands before something possibly starts happening), and dropping Shepherds Purse into my water and tea.
Tea became my juice - raspberry leaf, a detox tea (not the Instagram kind), ginger, green in moderation, cinnamon, and roasted dandelion especially.
There was chaste berry tea too (not as fun). I started taking black strap molasses as a supplement (nauseating), maca powder, ashwaganda, reishi, and chaga powders.
I added chlorella (still my cabinet) and spirulina (in the trash).
Worth mentioning: I suspected spirulina was connected to some nerve symptoms I developed and so I did some digging only to learn there is a lot of suspicion around this celebrated “super food”. The word “neurotoxin” came up.
Spirulina notwithstanding, it felt like it was all starting to add up. The benefits were showing up in the way I felt.
Wanting to do everything I can, vegan keto became a thing and I’d take coconut oil as a supplement. After 2 months of that, I noticed cellulite for the first time. Fun!
Never doing that again.
Autophagy became a topic of interest. I adopted intermittent fasting.
There were castor oil packs, I eliminated sweets at one point because I noticed a link between the consumption of sugar and how much I could see the largest myoma pushing against my stomach. Now I’m convinced it was just inflammation in the body pushing it forward.
Man important observation but now what I thought initially.
My gym schedule was 4-6 days a week. I’d weight train mostly with some cardio.
Dr. Sebi’s food list became my shopping guide.
I read countless studies, watched hours and hours of videos from doctors, patients and people who are just really passionate about food, the human body and self healing.
What I learned is I was probably 10- 15 years too late in this attempt to totally heal myself, maybe more.
There are factors that increased my odds of developing these myomas which I hadn’t considered. I’ll share the main 4.
First not only am I a black woman, I am of Afro-Caribbean descent - among the group of women most likely to become symptomatic.
Second, I learned that my mother and grandmother also developed fibroid tumors, there’s the hereditary box, checked.
Third, another risk factor is an earlier age at first menses - I was 11 when I had my first cycle.
Fourth, I haven’t had a child yet.
Add to that a heavily American influenced diet growing up where breakfast sometimes included spam, Honey Bunches of oats was wholesome and Chef Boyardee was considered a sensible after school meal. Not to mention a period in my life where much of our food was packaged freezer food (mostly microwave prep), and take-out.
Our traditional and incredible Haitian food always featured some version of a giant plate of white rice, a food not known for it’s perfect glycemic index and indicated among foods that spike blood sugar.
These spikes, likely endocrine disruptors are linked to hormonal imbalances.
Here’s a little more on that from Flo Living:
“Your endocrine system perceives mismanaged blood sugar as a stressor. Your adrenals glands respond by sending out a lot of cortisol (the stress hormone) and adrenaline. This begins the hormonal havoc.”
Food is the hardest thing when it comes to developing behavioral changes since what we eat and drink is linked so deeply to identity.
We ate red meat, pork, and chicken. Breakfast sausages, fried eggs and bacon were a treat.
In high school stress eating an entire cake was my business.
At 18 I worked in a hair salon and eating a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked for lunch seemed perfectly sensible. During this time I was living with my then boyfriend in the most stressful and difficult relationship of my life.
Plus, I started to drink somewhat regularly at the age of 15 (first drink at 13), then there was my late teens to early 20s when drinking until I forgot how I got home was one of my favorite pastimes.
When the stress of waitressing and living at home got to me, I’d come home and grab a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread as my dinner.
We haven’t even the touched abuse and trauma yet.
It seems that before my 21st birthday most of my existence had been creating the perfect storm for this malfunction of cells.
Looking back, several gynecologists failed to diagnose me earlier when there was a better chance at reversing things or at least managing them.
Then fast forward, there I was trying to undo a lifetime of inner chaos of all kinds in 2 years.
Of course it didn’t work.
I learned so much from this experience and for that I’m grateful.
With that said, it seems we have to take a closer look at child rearing to understand this epidemic.
I suspect there are some well meaning parental figures encouraging habits that may cause more harm than good in the long run.
As a community we have to start trying different things, we have to question our diets, our lifestyles, all of it.
When something like fibroids affects a community at such an alarming rate, we have to look at our traditions.
The best place to hide something is in plain sight.
Anyway, this year I developed other (seemingly unrelated) symptoms like numbness and tingling. I had to have a nerve test, an EEG and an MRI.
Those tests are hard anticipate, to sit (or lay) through without feeling elevated levels of stress.
My primary doctor ordered a couple of rounds of blood work.
I started physical therapy and I’m not even sure they really know what’s wrong.
My tests all came back pretty normal with the exception of dangerously low iron.
My neurologist prescribed a B-complex and a part of my thigh is still numb as I write this.
It all became too much. Never mind regular life stress.
On top of everything, I knew I had to make a decision about the surgery.
Ultimately, the tumors grew in spite of the fact that I was feeling better. They started to compromise the structural integrity of other organs.
They were taking over my mind, my body and my life.
What was even more shocking is that the ultrasound is not able to pick up on everything.
Based on what it picked up, I had almost triple that amount removed via an open myomectomy.
So in the end, would I recommend the natural approach?
What I recommend is early detection and yes, giving the factors we can control all we’ve got.
Even though I ended up on the operating table, the knowledge and good habits I picked up like something as simple as adding lime or lemon juice to my hot water have definitely changed the way I think about what goes into my body.
Have I given up ice cream or fries completely? Absolutely not, but they’re not among my main food groups like they used to be.
My experience also taught me there’s a time for chakra healing and there’s a time for medical intervention. Sometimes we need both and then some.
Thank you Dr. Susan Khalil and your incredible team at Mount Sinai West.
I’ll follow up with you in a few weeks and share my experience from the day of surgery through the early weeks of recovery.
Will definitely include things that helped me along the way.
Until then, be well.
💞
If you missed part 1, here it is: https://www.ehlieluna.com/the-talk-1/2019/7/2/epdi9krh0el6ciedl56hatlv0htdie
Photo: @Aana.create
Hair: @alstyling
Set Design: @isabellawhitney
Producer, stylist & mua: Ehlie Luna