March 1, 2025
February 2025 is one of those months when I am glad when it is over…usually our wettest, windest, cold weather on the coast. Where our house is located, we don’t get sun from November – February…always in the shade of the hill from trees above us. I struggle in the winter months to have sustainable energy.
When I go for my daily walks, this is when I get the sun on my face, so I walk every day. The flu I thought I had in January (included in last months post) were allergic reactions, which also include lightheadedness ( came close to fainting a few times) For some reason my system became weaker and more sensitive to some foods and chemicals I have tolerated for years. For example, L-Lysine, fish oil (for my omega 3s) chia seeds, nutritional yeast, olive oil, all milk products (made my stomach nausous) laundry soap that I have been using for years, dish washer pods. After eliminating these items I was a little better. I wasn’t sick all day, but still exhausted and dizzy. I also have to keep in mind the vegtables and fruits maybe organic but that doesn’t mean that that they weren’t containated another way, such as the field they were grown in could of been grown by a highway, washed with chorine in the water, fertilizers not 100% organic, etc. I am not able to eat organic strawberries, grapes, some vegetables or pistachios(this is why I grow my own garden). Just pulled my last carrots out yesterday.
As I child when I was tested I was allergic to my own dander, so I always change my sheets once a week. Not only did I change my sheets but I vaccumed and dusted my bedroom and mattress and flipped it over, which I hadn’t done for a while. I felt a little better again. Short lived…I became exhausted and sick all day long AGAIN!!
I’m extremely exhausted in the mornings until late afternoon everyday. Usually feel more solid and have energy at night. I have taken my blood pressure and sugar levels many times…they are fine.
I questioned whether I would be strong enough to travel and see family this month…a 9 hour trip one way. My hope was with the change of schedule, where I sleep, dryer air, and different house, I hoped to feel better and I did!!!
I went shopping, had lunch with my grandchildren, took a hike in the snow on our families property…this was an all day trip. Felt much better on our trip.
Even in mornings I felt better. The room I slept in when visting family didn’t have a TV… so maybe the electromegnetic waves from the TV in my room at home was causing my fatigue. It’s always a guessing game and has been for 50 years…have to keep trying…
Took out the TV when we got back home; unfortunately, it didn’t make a difference. So tonight I’m not even going to sleep in my room…see if I can feel better tomorrow…fingers crossed. I have to have some reprieve…I swear if it’s not raining I’ll sleep outside! LOL
YES…better today…still tired, but bouncing back faster. I walked this morning but tired ( I had to sit and rest before I could walk and not eat much as eating will make me feel sick if I am chemically loaded. So drink to flush it out! Even though this month was exhaustly hard, I force myself to get out everyday; movement…being active is key…Thankful I live in a beautiful place. Fingers crossed March will be a better month. I will tell myself every moring…”I will feel strong today!”
In sharing my monthly health journey you know you are not along in your struggle, whether it is physical, emotional, mental…it’s all a fight. Stay positive, move forward, call a friend, walk in the sun, lay in the sun, watch an inspirational movie, tomorrow is a new day, with new possibilities, new opportunities, people to connect to and places to see. The stuggle is real but we can do it together:) We are warriors…
FEbruary 1, 2025
January of 2025 has been a tough one. Contacted an intestinal flu which made me super tired, nauseated, stomach tenderness. I had this 4 times each time 5 days. I finally got over it by eating chopped garlic daily and Ivermectin for 1 1/2 weeks. Then I had to build my strength back; however had trouble sleeping, which has been a on going issue of mine. Last night was the worst. Today I was exhausted and had to sleep a couple of hours.
I have made a committment to myself, that if all possible, I will walk everyday. My husband, Steve, and I got out of the house and walked down town by the rivers edge. It was a calm evening…I love to take pictures so took reflection pics. This makes me happy, fulfulled, at peace with nature…so healthy/healing for me physically and mentally.
Taking pictures gives me purpose. I am not able to do as much as I use to…so taking pictures is therapeutic. Helps make to use my creativity when finding the best shot then editing the picture. Helps to take the focus off how I feel and on a positive activity.
This would be my advice to anyone with a chronic illness, no matter what it is, try to do something positive each day. Take a walk, walk your dog, go outside and just enjoy the view (the sun, trees, water, flowers) call a friend, a relative, keep a journal, listen to music, learn an instrument (playing music is refreshing and rewarding) watch a funny movie…laughing is music to the soul. I hope you find your happy place, activity, or person who can help you continue on your journey of wellness with grace and positivity.
Remember your health includes many different aspects of your life, physical, emotional, psyhological, mental, spiritual; a life time process to wellness. All takes time, comittment, energy and work. My hope is to let you know your are not alone in this journey.
January 2025
I’ve taken a vacation from my blog due to health issues. When I think I have my health under control, kind of like a remission, I get hit again. In October I spent a week with my daughter and her family. Two days went great but then I started waking up sick…very tired and lathargic. The weather was still nice to spent as much outside as I could. I became more exhauted. I concluded something in the house I was reacting to. I was eating my own food, my own water, sleeping in cotton bedding…etc, however, still feeling very sick. I would feel a little better at night. I even tried sleeping in different rooms of the house to see if something in the bedroom was bothering me. After staying a week I had a flight on Wednesday but was too sick/fatigued to make my flight, which was depressing to me, as I knew I would be sick until Saturday when my husband was driving 8 hours to take me home. I don’t know what was in the home that I was so sensitive to…I can only guess???
Very frustrating…took me a couple of weeks to get my energy back. Halloween I managed to carve a pumpkin!
November was a good month, walking daily, family coming for Thanksgiving, but always dealing with a level of fatigue. I wanted to ride my bike before the weather got wet and cold, and our ATV out on the dunes, but I never felt strong enough before winter came with rain, wind, and cold temperatures.
Still eating AIP diet (Anti-inflamatory diet Protocal ) very healthy. My grandson shot an elk…I was so excited!!!!
Now we have elk meat to eat and elk bones for making bone broth!!! It is the best meat!!! Makes the bests bone broth! Since I am sensitive to beef, chicken, pork and fish (mercury), I’ll have a great source of protein!
Thanksgiving vacation was good as we also had several families come. Since our kids know I struggle with health issues they brought food and helped in the preparation. The day after Thanksgiving I felt well enough to go Heceta Lighthouse and walk the trails. It is a spectacular beautifulj place on the Oregon coast. It was especially nice to be able to go with family and grandkids!
Needless to say when I got home I was tired. Glad we had so many left overs to eat!
December is always busy with decorating. I have to do it in phases…slowly a room per day so I don’t over do. On the 10th of December I got a flu bug…or I thought…still not sure, with lasted 5-7 days. I got back into walking my grandson’s dog, Tucker, and finish decorating, baking, shopping, etc. Christmas was great with family.
Steve and I went down to Shore Acres to see all the Christmas lights. They are always amazing!!! However the day after Christmas I got sick with the same flu bug again. Down another 5-7 days. Missed our Idaho flight to Idaho to spend the New Years with family. I was bummed. Currently in January I have had this flu three more times. Symptoms are nauseousness, super tired you just want to sleep, sensitive stomach and stomach cramps. After getting having these “flu like episodes two more times and an entire night of my stomach hurting all night I went to ER and got two series of blood test, CT scan on my abdomen, as I have been so tired, nauseous and crampy for three weeks. The good news blood test were good and cultures were negative.
I was so tired of feeling tired and sick, I had not left the house for a week and a half, so I started on Ivermectin for a virus and chopped fresh garlic, ginger, cloves daily for parisites. I will posted how I feel in a couple more days. Fingers crossed I feel better…trying to cover all bases…
January 28, 2025
I have been feeling better the last few days…always a good thing! I had my doctors appointment today and since all my labs are good he is referring me to an endocrinologist. I am excited about this direction! At seventy years old I think it is time to check my endorcrine system.
The endocrine gland system functions releasing hormones from various glands into the bloodstream, which then travel to different parts of the body to regulate a wide range of bodily processes in cluding growth, metabolism, mood, reproduction, and organ function…acting as a chemical messenger system to maintain hormeostasis with the body.
Pituitary gland: Produces hormones line growth hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
Thyroid gland: secretes thyroxine and triiodothyronine, regulates metabolism.
Adrenal glands: Release cortisol, the stress hormone.
Pancreas: Produces insulin and glucagon to control blood sugar levels.
Pineal gland: produces melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep and circadian rhythms.
Hypothalamus: is a part of the grain that produces hormones that regulate many bodily functions…to maintain a homeostasis state in the body.
Body Temperature
Hormone production
Heart rate
Hunger
Mood
Sex drive
Sleep
Thirst
With this information above I realize I have many of these issues. So I am excited!!! Keep you posted!
May 2024 – My Wellness Journey
My hope in sharing my health journey is for those who are ill to know there are others who are ill too and we are all struggling together. Some of us are sick not knowing how to “fix” it as I didn’t know the cause or why I felt so weak/sick everyday and I didn’t know anyone who felt as weak as I or as sick; it was a very lonely place. Some of us do know why we don’t feel well and are too weak/tired to visit friends, travel to see family, ( I had to cancel plane tickets several times) cancel dentist appointments, not able to enjoy summer activities…swimming, tubing, ride ATVs , all I could just lay on my deck in the sun and sleep. Sometimes I would force myself to do activities I use to look forward doing.
So if you are reading my story I want you to know you’re not alone. There are answers as your body is made to heal every day…there is a reason it is not. You have the tenacity to keep moving forward until you find the right person to help you. Someone who will listen, understand, do testing to see where to start to balance your system to heal the cells. I’m rooting for you! My goal for my blog is to help you with healthy clean recipes. Explain what AIP (anti inflamatory Protocal) is, where to find AIP compliant recipes, daily food menus, low key excersises, what to purchase and where. Foods to help lower inflamation. Also, direction, connection and postive motivation. Tricks and tips I have learned these last six years that have helped me in my health quest.
My Story
My health journey began 50 years ago when I was 23 after our third child was born, an achy tiredness, flu like symptoms appeared. Back in 1977 it was hard to find a Holistic or naturopathic physican. Most doctors said it was all in my head and asked me if I got along with my mom….or my dad. I finally found a naturopathic doctor who did food and chemical testing. There I got my answer to not feeling well…food and chemical sensitivties. So as long as I ate organic food, organic soaps and shampoos, conditioners, slept in cotton sheets and blandets, and wore cotton clothes, drank filtered water…etc I was able to function in a chemical world, however, there were still some tired days as hard to stay away from all chemicals. I worked at home taking in children…had my own daycare business. This allowed me to sit down when needed. As time went on I felt I was getting stronger. I had started running to feel stronger than most, so when I had down days I could still function.
We had four more children so I was a busy mom. Most of the time I was able to keep up with the demands of children, home, daycare, sports events, church…etc. When only three children were still living at home, I was forty five I applied for a job working at our local high school as an aid ,then an librarian, as I felt strong consistently enough to work outside of the home, which I did for twenty years, even coaching track, cross country, JH volleyball and yearbook advisor.
In 2009 I graduated with my Assoicates In Liberal Arts transfer degree and planned on furthing my schooling in Education to teach junior high level.
I had worked ten years getting my degree and planned on getting my bachelors. I continued to work even while my body was starting to become weary; the death of our son, grief, family trama, increased food allergies, more chemical sensitivities, more susceptible to viruses with longer recovery time, I felt I never really recovered from mono or shingles. Some days I would be so exhausted. So I retired at 65.
After sleeping in and resting in the sun after retirement in June, I felt I would feel better come September. I invisioned subbing a lot as I loved working with the students; I LOVED my job. While subbing in December a harsh flu virus hit the school and I was called to sub until Christmas break. Of course I got the virus and was very sick, which I never recovered. I never had the energy to go back and sub. I didn’t have the energy to run, if I tried then I was down for seven days with the “flu” or I thought. I became exhausted if I vacuumed upstairs and downstairs I was down with “flu” symptoms for another 7 days. During this time I didn’t have the energy to get our mail fifteen feet from our front door. My food and chemical senitivities got much worse. I was “sick” for over half the year. I felt broke. I felt like the cartoon… anytime I went anywhere, such as our grandson’s sports events, I was having my husband drag me.
After four years of taking every supplement under the sun to build my immune system, help my body produce energy, build muscle stamna I was still exhausted and limited in what I had energy to do…my body/legs ached all the time. All I felt like doing was sleep. A friend suggested a book “The Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome” by M. Lam MD. which I read cover to cover. This was me! I called a phone# in the book for a consultation. I was able to have many test done. This helped pin point where my problem issues were...high levels of mercury (mercury poisoning) high antibodies of epstein-barr visus, severe gut biosis, high inflamation numbers, more food and chemical allergies, and adrenal exhaustion which caused burning aching legs, sore tired muscles, brain fog and hormone inbalance and severe debilatating fatigue; tired but wired, tinnitus, chemical and food allergies reactions were more severe, over all chronic fatigue. However, everything I tried in their program to heal just made me feel sicker. After two years with this medical group with no improvement I was told, “I was just too sensitive for their supplements and programs to help me.”
hEAL THE CELL…
After going on a celery cleanse for 6 months…which made me feel even more exhausted, I connected to another medical group. Their focus was to cleanse the cell so the cell can heal. Good nutrition in and wastes/toxins out. It was a very thorough program…build the cells to get ready to detox neurotoxins and heavy metals. I could connect on Zoom for mental health coaching, essensial oils presentations, zoom with health coaches once a week, introduced to an AIP diet protocal (Anti-Inflamatory Protocal diet), this program included a spiral bound workbook to keep you on track. A four month supplement detox program which took me eight. After this phase I could sleep better and I could drive short distances. It was a start!!! (I hadn’t driven for four years)
Currently I just finished the neurotoxins and heavy metal detox for the second time and have improvement, my legs feel stronger, I have better balance. Improvement is exciting!! My next protocal will be the parasite cleanse. It will take me 4-5 weeks to get my strength/body back this last detox. I hope I see positive changes…more energy.
On this health journey I have learned how to eat clean every day. Lower my inflamation level, make healthy drinks, acquired many clean recipes, it is a life style change… you feel better when you eat healthy. Home made bone broth is my favorite. I continue a maintenance supplementation for my own issues. I can walk about a mile now, I have a light excersise program as well. I still have to be cautious to not over due so I don’t stress the adrenals and cause a crash. The mercury all but shut down my adrenal glands, and caused celluar disfunction resulting in chronic fatigue.
As long as I stay the course…I can be stronger!
June 2024
Hiking on the Siltcos Outlet in Oregon…a Good Day! I try to take advantage the days I feel good.
My health journey is a day by day process. I have a very strick menu and prioritize what and how much activity I can do each day. Some days I can do more than others…some days very little.
If I go on a mile hike I will need to rest…simple dinner or order out.
AIP diet won’t heal everything as there are many factors which affect your health; food can be medicine to your body. It can definitly decrease inflamation, help water retention, improve sore joints, help high blood pressure, lessen or relieve brain fog. Below is a list of AIP compliant foods.
Clean Eating
- Grass-fed meats (including nutrient-dense organ meats)red meat
- Wild-caught fish and seafood
- Herbs
- Leafy green vegetables (spinach, endive, herbs, etc.)
- Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, etc.)
- Root vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, etc.)
- Fermented vegetables
- Sea vegetables
- Avocados
- Fruit: berries, citrus fruit, apples, cherries, grapes, cantaloupe, watermelon, etc
- Olive oil and coconut oil
- Vinegar with no sugar added (balsamic, red wine, cider vinegar)
- Sugar substitutes: honey, real maple surup, non sugar apple sauce, date sugar, and coconut sugar.
I have been on this diet for two years and will continue to eat this life style for the rest of my life. It is healthier in every way. The last labs showed my inflamation was nonexistant, blood levels were good, all test were with in the parameters of health. I still continue to detox; 70 years of an intake of toxins my body didn’t detox at a fast enough rate due to my cellular disfuction…unhealthy cells can’t detox fast enough for a healthy functioning body.
Remember…food is medicine to the body!!
September 2024
Summer is in it’s final stages and we are moving into fall with chilly wet mornings and cool evenings. The sun is setting at 7:35pm and rising at 6:56am. As I look and evaluate my summer vs my health…am I stronger than last summer? What was I able to do this summer that I couldn’t the previous summer?
In October of 2023 we committed to go on an Alaskian cruize with our son and his family to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversery. I was super surprised and it all sounded to so fun and exciting. So after making the committment I questioned my this decision everytime I was exhausted, tired, and truly fatigued. The cruize wasn’t until July of 2024. I hoped this would give me time for my health to improve. I never want to deny anyone a great opportunity because of my limitations, but I worried about it continually, thinking many times, “What was I thinking?” I continued clean eating (AIP Diet), taking my supplements, walking, jumping on my rebounder to try to get stronger, and a light weight workout..still not having the ability to increase longer time rebounding, walking or lifting heavier weights.
July 2024 – our cruize
On July 5th we left for our cruise and I am happy to say I was able to do most all the activities and see the sites of the towns we stopped at and went on a fishing trip off the waters of Juneau Alaska.
I did sit a lot on the boat and by the time we got back to the cruize ship I was so exhausted I just laid on my bed turned off all the lights, didn’t move and luckily slept while everyone else ate dinner. I had to do this several times on the cruize. All in all it was a great trip, I had to make adjustments for myself, take time out, but I saw and did some really cool things. Alaska is beautiful and very majestic.
Unfortunatley, my reality, I got covid on the cruize. Started with headaches for two days before the cruize was over, the following week it when I really got sick. Because of my chronic fatigue, it was a month before I felt I had some of my energy back. In September I got two viruses which currently are taking me some time to get my energy back. Most days very tired and having trouble sleeping.
These are the times when I self talk, many times out loud, all the activities I did do this summer vs what I didn’t.
I did go on a cruize
I did go tubing at the Lake
I did go to a Semi Pro baseball game
I did go float on the river.
I did go blackberry picking…exhausting!
I did go crabbing two times with family members! Fun!
I did go sit at the beach with our grandson’s dog several times.
I did go riding up in the mountains on our grizzly.
Next year I hope to ride my bike
I rarely feel 100% strong when I do most of these activities but it is good for my mental health…to be active to be involved, and to feel connection to family. Prayers can make things happen:)
I will continue on my quest for energy and health everyday. Good food, healthy drinks, my supplements, excersise, movement, positivity, etc. There is no other option.
October 2024
There has been many fall sunny days here on the Oregon Coast…day at the beach, dunes, walking,etc. Every fall my husband & I go to Idaho to see our five of our grandkids and try to do a marathon of watching their activities.
This year was no different…we watched a football game, four women rubgy games, also a granddaughter who is in a high school marching band, and a play she was in. The picture to the right was senior day…this is her senior poster.
I always have to pace myself as to not get too exhausted, as a result I missed her senior presentation as it was early in the morning and we had arrived in Idaho late the night before. The picture to the left is my grandson who is a junior in high school.
The picture in the middle is our granddaughter who plays in the high school marching band for the 3rd year. So fun to see her and hear the band play their songs as the band marches in their many formations. The poster I am standig by is our granddaughter Kenzie and she plays rugby for Centenial High School, and will be playing rugby for Boise State. Go Kenzie!!
Lulu's Health Journey 