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Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookFall 2006 I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis but I’d been suffering from it for at least two years before that. It’s in nearly all my joints but worst in my feet, hips, shoulders and wrists. I was only 37 and I was terrified I’d spend the rest of my life in pain. February and March 2007 I hardly got out of bed at all. At that time I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I was on chemotherapy, steroids, pain pills, and wearing and estrogen patch from a hysterectomy. My meds cost close to $500 a month but I was still in pain, depressed and terrified I’d be in pain for the rest of my life. Even my husband and children were scared for me and depressed.
Then in April 2007 my brother mentioned a website he’d found www.doctoryourself.com. I read everything on that site. I bought a juicer and started reading everything I could find on juicing. On May 7, 2007 I went on a vegetable juice fast for 8 days. Then I went to a vegan diet, probably 85% raw. After two months I felt so amazingly better that I weaned myself off all my meds. Then I came down with a full body rash, radiating from my hip, where the estrogen patch was, so I quit wearing it too. A month later my estrogen levels were within “normal limits” for the first time in 7 years. I was still having enough pain that needed the occasional pain pill. So I went 100% raw around July 1st. And I haven’t looked back once.
I’m not completely cured…. I still have little aches and pains, but I can bear it. I’ve lost 45lbs and I’m more active than I’ve been in years. But the best about all of this is that I’m happy now… My family is happy! Last year was bad. The kids had bad grades, my husband was always grumpy, I was in pain…. This year is looking great. The kids are liking school, everyone is smiling, everyone is happy. And my family will sometimes even try my food. Most of the time they won’t, but more and more at least they are trying it and everyone is eating healthier now too. Also, it’s pretty great to hear one of my children defending my new life style to strangers, waiters, and even friends. (Oh, and they wouldn’t let me cheat even if I wanted too!)
Comments
Hi Aleta! I am so happy for you! Did you go back to your doctors for follow up tests? It would be neat to show that things changed for you that can be documented. Just to show other dr.’s and such. Do you have a standard set of foods you eat on a daily basis? There are so many choices to make it can be over whelming!
Incredible!!! What an amazing journey you’re on!
Aleta, I am so happy for you, I too am an emotional eater (but this will change), never been a heavy person though since I have a high metabolism, but it made me sick, tired, depressed. I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia a few years back. And I also had a hysterctomy back in 1992 but still have my ovaries intact. We seem to have alot in common. It must have been so much more difficult with the arthritis and the fibromyalgia together, can’t imagine. You sound like you are doing great now! I have been going raw gradually (I am about 70-80%) depending on my days.
Sounds like that rash where the estrogen patch was, was actually the toxins coming out of your body. It’s amazing what raw food will do for the body, keep it going, you will get better and better. : )
Brava, Aleta! So many of my relatives suffer from chronic conditions which would be greatly improved by simply eating better, much less trying Raw. I have family members with high blood pressure and diabetes who don’t think twice about store-bought chocolate cake for breakfast. They can rationalize anything in order to continue their SAD way of eating. Such significant change is tough. Good for you for making it happen for yourself!
Thanks for all the support! It’s soooo very good to have such support. If not for my husband and children I could not have done this. And now I have a whole group of people to keep me going.
About my rheumy – I still see him every three months. He is keeping a journal of my progress. We plan on re-taking some tests the end of the year. He is surprisingly supportive of my lifestyle and choice of not taking his drugs. He admitted his family are vegetarians. He asked for, and I gladly gave him, a list of books and websites (this one included!) about raw food.
About what I eat – I juice veggies every morning (most of the time). Then I eat a simple spinach salad for lunch and then I make something for dinner. My favs are Zucchini w/alfredo sauce or nori rolls. Also, I drink one kombucha nearly everyday.