Sharing my strategies and how I increased inflammation and addressed some health issues over the past year.
***WARNING: This article contains images of red eyeballs. If this scares you, feel free to skip this article!
Hi friends! I hope you have a great week. Our house has been slowly being put back together – I’ll be sharing some photos of the new floors soon! — and get ready for spring travel and adventure.
In today’s post, I want to share more about my health journey over the past year and my plans.
Please keep in mind that I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. If you are not in good health, contact your doctor and get the support you need. Also, please don’t answer with “you’re going to have to live with this.” There have been times in our family where I have been told that this was the case, but it was not. Sometimes you need a third or fourth opinion, but there are people out there who can help you. You can heal and you deserve to be surprised.
This time last year, my eyes got weird. It was a very stressful time – the pilot was traveling a lot, it was dance competition season and I had to compete in a few dance competitions, and a big Disney trip with solo parenting. It’s all fun stuff, but it’s a lot. We were getting ready for our end-of-year party, preparing for Liv’s first communion, and I was pushing myself to the limits I’d ever pushed with strength training and interval training.
I don’t want to retell the whole story with my eyes – I have a post here and a podcast episode here – but in short, they were neon red for weeks, and multiple ophthalmologists had different opinions on what made a difference perception caused it. At first they thought it was pink eye – I took antibiotics but it didn’t resolve and kept coming back – and that something was triggering it. The only thing that can suppress inflammation is very strong steroid drops. One doctor told me to take it for three to four months!
I kept getting different answers, and after seeing multiple eye doctors and my PCP, who helped me do some digging, we learned a few things:
– I suffer from blepharitis, which is inflammation of the eyelids, MGD (meibomian gland dysfunction) and dry eye
– Positive for two lupus markers (ANA and DS-DNA)
– Something is causing inflammation in my body
The lupus thing makes some sense to me. I have had stress rashes for years and my hands sometimes hurt. I think it’s because I spend so much time on my phone and typing. I feel low on energy, like all the sleep in the world won’t make me feel rested, and it’s hard to recover from exercise. I would do a really hard workout and then not be able to work out again for 3-4 days. I started getting sick more often…when I came down with the flu, I was in bed for 9 days. I knew something was causing my immune system to go on high alert.
My hair is unpredictable. I wouldn’t lose hair for a while, and then all of a sudden, I would lose handfuls of hair in the shower.
I was referred to rheumatology but decided to wait until I could do some functional testing to see if I could find some answers. While I knew this was happening to my body, no one could tell me why. Why did it happen so suddenly? What causes my eyes to flicker so frequently? Why am I a host to blepharitis? Since I wasn’t experiencing anything dire, I decided to come up with a plan of action to see if I could reduce the inflammation.
I have been 100% symptom-free since the end of December. When we re-ran the blood work at the PCP in December, both lupus markers were negative. (Quick tip: I didn’t “cure” myself of lupus. I was never diagnosed because I didn’t go to the rheumatologist.) Honestly, every day when I wake up and check my eyes, I hold my breath. When I wake up, they are bright and clear, I can wear my contacts again, I no longer have joint pain, and I wake up with energy.
While I’m still working on healing myself and finding balance with my body, I’m really grateful that things have improved so much. As you work to heal yourself, it’s important to remember that this is not a quick fix! Repair may take years, but your body really wants to heal. <3
my personal treatment plan
Here’s what I did and what I’m currently doing:
No gluten or dairy:
– I started reading and researching everything I could about autoimmune diseases and lupus. All the books I read had a common theme: getting rid of gluten and dairy. I had them all removed last July – and have only used them a handful of times since – and noticed an immediate improvement. Honestly, I don’t even miss them that much because there are so many amazing gluten-free and dairy-free recipes and options in restaurants, and I feel so much better for not having them. (I’m working on a gluten-free yeast and I’ll post the recipe when it’s perfect!)
function test:
– Since I completed my IHP2 certification last year, I’ve done some testing on myself. I had a hair tissue mineral analysis, candida, metabolic and vitamin testing, and an IgG food sensitivity test. From here, I can see how stress depletes my body so I can work on rebuilding my mineral levels.
I learned that I had high levels of bacterial, candida, and yeast markers, as well as multiple nutritional deficiencies that I could work on fixing. As I begin to heal my gut, I also need to avoid some food allergies.
Record trends:
– I record everything on my phone. When I have a flare—my eyes will start itching, get super red, and watery—I write down my food intake that day. I began to realize a common theme: histamine.
Histamine Load:
– Histamine was a huge lightbulb moment for me. It’s not just high histamine foods that trigger my eyes, it’s the combined effects of histamine and allergens. The most severe flares – one in April and one in August – were the result of a combination of factors. In April, I went out gardening all day without wearing sunglasses. The wind was so strong that dust and pollen flew into my eyes. We went to the movies and I drank a big cup of black tea. I now understand that black tea and green tea are huge triggers for me. Once I cut them off, my life changed. The good news is I can still drink coffee 😉
That’s why I can eat some high histamine foods here and there, but I just watch my histamine load throughout the day.
Gut Repair and Healing Program:
– Gut repair. I am currently on a CBO protocol to heal my gut. It was 12 weeks, and although it was a little challenging at first, I felt great. I can definitely share a review of my experience with CBO.
– I eat tons of vegetables, fruits, lean protein, healthy fats (I eat avocados or fatty fish most days of the week), and more beans than I’ve ever eaten in my life. I also ate more potatoes (goes great with Kerrygold butter and Raymond salt) and root vegetables.
– I’ve completed the parasite protocol – parasites live in biofilms, just like the bacteria in my gut and the Demodex mites in my eyes! – So I want to clear it. The protocol is simple.
exercise:
– Since last year I have only been doing strength training and low intensity workouts. I finally feel like I can add weight again and do more intense cardio. I think aerobic exercise helps us a lot, but when you’re in a high-stress situation, doing less aerobic exercise can be helpful.
– This is my current daily routine:
F45 twice a week (strength or mix days only)
Barre once or twice a week
Hot yoga once a week
Peloton or Sculpt Society once a week for cardio
Take a daily walk or hike
Detoxification:
– I do a quarterly functional detox and work to reduce toxins in my home. We got these amazing shower filters, continue to filter our drinking water, and also got rid of our couch and carpet because they tested positive for mold. I also stick to sauna blankets, dry brushing, and castor oil packs.
Nervous system regulation:
– This can have a huge impact on treatment. When my eyes first flashed, I felt so nervous. I haven’t slept in weeks because I spent all night googling my symptoms and crying. This is something I 100% shouldn’t do, but I can’t help myself. I had to start telling myself that I was going to be okay, my eye was going to heal, I was going to be okay.
I started making more time for silence and stopped trying to fill every moment of every day. I take sleep more seriously and aim to sleep 8 hours a night and 9-10 hours on weekends. I pray every day and meditate on the PEMF Go Mat while doing the eye mask; it’s such a relaxing treat.
While nervous system conditioning has been the most challenging aspect of all of this, and I still have a long way to go, I’m proud of my progress this year.
It looks like a lot when I type it all in, but it’s been building and growing over the past year. It’s all just part of life now, inherent; I don’t have to really think about it anymore. As I learned more, and as I continued to heal, I made adjustments to my plan. I’m just looking forward to our next trip to Europe when I won’t have to worry about my eyes all the time 😉
Thank you for making it this far and sticking with me. I was at my lowest point when I was in the thick of it. All of you were the highlight of my day.
If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them!
If you are curious about functional testing, please email me at gina@fitnessista.com Subject: Testing
Have a nice day and I’ll see you soon!
XOXO
Gina