It is exactly 5 years since I first heard, at that stage, that unknown acronym AIP. The Autoimmune Protocol.

I thought it would be nice to give a quick look back at where it all started for me, what happened in between and where I am now. As hard as it is to condense 5 years into one blog post, I will summarize and link to other posts and then share what happened last year that led to where I am now…

1. Where was I when I started?

January 2014.

I ended up in hospital after a very scary few days of having vertigo, feeling very wonky and then starting to lose the vision in my one eye. It was made even more scary by my GP mentioning that something was clearly going on in my brain, that sounded tumour- like and that I likely would have  to have it cut out! So many of these terrifying medical traumas had occurred over the years, by that stage, it seemed quite incomprehensible to me that I could be going through it all again. I go into more detail about this in this post and in my book.

After waiting for what felt like an eternity and fearing the worst that I was having a stroke, an MRI scan confirmed new, active lesions in my brain, and thankfully not a tumour.

 My third autoimmune disease had been confirmed: Multiple Sclerosis.

For those that don’t know me, my other two are Celiac Disease and Hashimotos.

That was the moment I discovered Terry Wahl’s Tedx talk (my husband sent me the link, while I was lying in my hospital bed, with an eye patch over one eye) and then soon after that I discovered Sarah Ballentyne,  aka the Paleomom.

 I began researching the AIP/Paleo idea from my phone in hospital with limited vision in my eye. I was already pretty determined. By the time the choice came around of whether to go on the side-effect ridden, self -injecting medications or make some changes to my diet, you can see why I was willing to try the AIP, with relative ease.

The idea of doing AIP is really hard for many people, but at the time, for me, it was a much easier option. (For more on my decisions)

2. How I did AIP?

I had already begun eating a paleo style diet in hospital, as I was eating from the gluten free/ dairy free menu anyway, and then when I came home, I still ate eggs, but was beginning to add in a larger quantity of vegetables.

Then, as luck would have it, Sarah Ballentyne’s book, The Paleo Approach, was fortuitously, released that very week.

I read it from to cover to cover, like I was studying for an exam, but I was loving it and finding the science behind it fascinating. It might not be as important to other people, but for me, the ‘why’ question was very important. I needed to understand the reasoning behind why I could eat certain foods, or why I should add others in, for me to proceed with it.

 Give me a good explanation and I’m happy to do it.

I then transitioned to full AIP pretty quickly. I had quick and fantastic results and in 6 weeks, was feeling more energetic, had lost weight and wasn’t as fatigued.

As the months and then years passed, the diet part became easy and a way of life, it was then, that I realised, the more difficult aspect for me was the often-overlooked lifestyle aspects.

I had gone through a lot of stress, that I often didn’t have control over, and those things affected my health badly. I had to work more on my stress levels, getting my adrenals right, working on my mindset, my emotions and my reactions to stress. That was ultimately much harder for me than the diet part. (For more about mindset)

3. Then what happened?

I had ups and down with my health and particularly struggled with my gut, despite all my dietary interventions. I then began using a supplement called sachromycces boullardi, a beneficial yeast, that seemed to be the first thing in a very long time to sort out my gut issues, more than likely due to a possible, untested for SIBO. After that, I began to be able to reintroduce many more foods than I had before, and my stomach become a lot more tolerant of new and different food and introductions of food. (More about my gut issues)

My MS behaved itself and I didn’t have any flare ups. I was however struggling with lots of migraines and daily headaches, which had become very debilitating.

My biggest hassle was my thyroid which despite medication changes and healthy diet continued not to come right.

In 2018, my thyroid antibodies were at the lowest level ever, and the one set the Antithyroglobulin was 69, within the ‘normal’ range.

I don’t know what caused this, but the levels came down, happily. I also changed medications back to a synthetic T4 and I am doing very well on it, which is a good sign that my own body is converting T4 to T3 well. My energy levels have also improved.

What happened in 2018?

Then in March 2018, I got sick with a terrible flu and bronchitis. A few weeks later, my one dog Jesse, was severely ill with pancreatitis and spent a week at the veterinary hospital and we almost lost him.

No sooner had Jesse recovered then, my other doggie Dasch was diagnosed on a Saturday morning with multiple tumours in his liver, gall bladder pancreas and all throughout his abdomen, having showed no symptoms, until he stopped eating on the Friday.

We were told he would have only a few weeks to live and there was nothing more they could do other than palliative care. As a 12-year-old dog it was terribly sad, but then suddenness of it was quite shocking. I brought him home with a box full of medications to ease his pain and nausea and make him as comfortable as possible for the next few weeks.

 He started deteriorating so rapidly and so severely by the Sunday evening and no medications were helping him. He was dehydrating, and bleeding and we were not going to let him suffer any longer. Only a mere 36 hours since diagnosis.

As hard as it was, we ended up having to rush him to the emergency 24 hour vet at 11pm on the Sunday night to put him to sleep. He wasn’t going to make it until Monday morning.  We couldn’t let him suffer for another minute. We were heartbroken.

 It was very traumatic and very stressful time and only 2 months later, in the middle of a freezing Johannesburg winter, I got another terrible flu’, that led to me ending up back in hospital… ( more on that here).

4. Where am I now?

I am doing well. After my severe flu that landed me in hospital, I ended up on MS medications. ( more on my decisions to go on Medications)

 I am stable on the Aubagio, MS medication, with luckily no major side effects despite many fears about that.  I also am taking a migraine prevention medication which has helped enormously with the daily migraines I was getting.

I eat a mostly paleo diet, but I do eat some grains. I always eat gluten free and dairy free, but know that I do tend to overindulge in too much sweet good things, so must control myself around those things 🙂

I have some bad days, but I am mostly having good days these days. I have a part time job that gives me the flexibility to work from home and the second half of 2018 was way better than the first half. My energy levels and mood are also better.

In November 2018, we adopted a new rescue doggie, called Coco.

5. The Road ahead.

I am really looking forward to a good 2019!

 I would like to now get my other thyroid antibodies into the normal range as well, and get my thyroid levels into optimum the range, and be as symptom free as possible for Hashimotos- and as close as I can to remission.

I would like to keep my MS obviously as stable as I can and my gut as healthy as it can be.

I think I need to also start being a little more adventurous with some foods that I haven’t even tried to eat again; things like chickpeas or quinoa; foods that although not AIP, are nutritious and if I can tolerate it would help vary my diet. I previously had a bad experience trying fermented food and I would like to try that again. I feel like I am long past ready to do some of those things…

And then, of course keep working on mindset, reducing stress and helping share with all of you my progress and inspire you to keep working on your health. It is worth it..

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