My Exact Autoimmune Healing Plan & Putting Results To The Test

A lot of kind folks have reached out with very sympathetic notes of well-wishes and encouragement, how things have gone.
often telling me "it must be so hard" to go through this. You know what? I'm OK. I'm better than OK! I love life right now and am not resentful or angry about

In a weird way the autoimmunity (AI) has been an unexpected blessing in disguise. The progress I've made in my life this year has made me happier than ever, more at peace than ever, and on track to being healthier than ever. I feel like I understand my body on another level, I have patience with myself, and I'm not using my body as a means to an end. I have made headway with managing my exercise addictions, and I am getting back to the root of what sport/activity really means to me--no secret agenda. I feel like my mind and body are working in synergy rather than being in conflict.

It's like January thru March were just a bad dream as it relates to the havoc that was unfolding in me. I hit some lows during those months and couldn't help but just cry and feel depressed. I was still holding onto a lot of past baggage too--still trying to find myself and break from stressful habits. By April things started getting better quickly, in May it really started coming together... and it just keeps getting better. The bad dream seems like it's over. Although, I don't want to speak too soon and get cocky about it.

For now, let's just talk about this mega healing plan I've undertaken. If you want to jump around this post includes:

1) Healing through lifestyle and mindset

2) Doing the AIP diet with success

3) My exact supplement protocol (3-phase plan)

4) 'Testing' the results and finding balance

It might help to go back and skim over my post covering 10 Causes of My Autoimmunity, which will help the rest of this make more sense.

~~~

Major Lifestyle & Mindset Adjustments

It's hard to label the most important variable in healing. There's not just one thing; there's no magic pill. We could argue that healing via diet and supplementing to fix the gut is most important, but if lifestyle and stress are still out of whack even the best of diets and supplements won't heal you or your gut. This I've learned--old supplements I used to take that didn't work back then are working now. The right lifestyle and mindset is everything. These are 6 things I made priorities...

1. Set Goals: #1: Heal all-naturally, no drugs, reverse the condition. // #2: Be back to a good state of health by my wedding on June 11. Back in March I said by June I want to be off the autoimmune paleo diet (AIP), not swollen and puffy, able to eat anything and not fear the consequences, and drink wine on my wedding night (or maybe a rum drink is more appropriate being that it's in the Caribbean). // #3: Figure out a sustainable lifestyle approach and get off this rollercoaster of "feeling great" followed by epic setbacks and lows.

2. Environment: #1: Make it positive and not stressful. // #2: Don't be a "closet" work-a-holic. I made some minor but important adjustments to my businesses to make my job(s) healthier for me. I quit working at my gym as a trainer (it was taking a toll for years; I now use my basic at-home weights/equipment for local clients). Better utilize my hired help and delegate tasks as much as I could. Let go of needing a "perfect" email inbox," etc. // #3: Moving into a place that overall is a better environment for us, especially for a couple who work from home. No mold or toxins anymore either! // #4: Support. I surround myself with a lot of loving people (friends, family) and my team of experts to help me heal more than ever. I couldn't do this alone; I certainly don't want to be isolated. // #4: I try to avoid anything that could be "toxic" in my life that could bring me down.

3. Acceptance: I took this AI diagnosis as the mother of all red flags. It's as if it were saying to me, "Beware." So, I listened. It was hard, but the more I accepted it the less shitty I felt and the more it became a matter-of-fact thing not a death sentence. I probably could have ignored the signs and let it just get worse with time, continuing with my stubborn ways. And I could have saved $3000+ by keeping those root canals in. I do believe a lot of AI conditions go undiagnosed even when one has symptoms because it's just hard to accept and act. It requires change and....

4. Vulnerability: At first I was terrified of what having autoimmune disease would say about me. I felt like a failure especially given my profession. But then I realized I had it all wrong. It was ok to be vulnerable and imperfect. I think being vulnerable is the ultimate sign of strength.

5. Self-Love: It's something I haven't been great at in my life. It's much easier to be self-critical, strive for perfection, and use and abuse my body. For years I lived to a standard that was not sustainable and would get annoyed with myself or anyone who got in my way (I got good results for a while but it of course didn't last). I've let that shit go as best I can at this point. I'm learning what It's like to fall in love with myself and all the good that comes from it. More self-love has certainly allowed my love for others to grow, as well as my love and appreciation for this world.

6. Routine: "Rush, rush, rush!" "Get in the workout, get the work done, don't stop!" "No pain no gain!" Then: "Just have a glass of wine to chill." Who can relate?! That was me forever, even before the triathlon days. I was born that way. So you can imagine what it's like to undo that way of living. Patience. Baby steps. It started with little things like chillin' on the couch for a day and not worrying about what I wasn't doing. Then it grew into things like going for a mellow sauna session instead of a hard workout or long run. I have learned to not feel guilty about slowing down, doing less and going easier--these are not signs of weakness. It's ok not to be training. It's ok to exercise solely based on listening to my body and respecting its needs and limits.

Finishing Ragnar, and in tears over a lot of shit but in this moment mostly it was tears because of the pain in my body (literal pain) and the pain of the reality I was facing. It's ok to have these dark moments and be vulnerable. It's part of the healing process. "It's during our darkest moments we must focus to see the light."

~~~

Healing My Gut: AIP Diet and My Supplement Protocol

AIP Diet:

It was a no-brainer to start right away on a strict AIP diet (i.e. the autoimmune paleo diet). I contemplated doing a lower carb version of AIP due to my SIBO and candida issues (I can be so sensitive to carbs) but opted against it because we agreed it would have been worse for me to be too low carb as it relates to HPA axis, thyroid, adrenal and hormonal side of things. And of all things in my life, my hormones have still been rocking (which I talked about here) and I did not want to mess that up again. My carbs of course do not contain gluten, wheat, sugar bombs, etc. I just resorted my fair share of butternut squash, kabocha, spaghetti squash, sweet potato (very small doses to begin; eventually tolerated them normally), and any gluten-free homemade goods. I got real creative with preparing these things; I never got sick of my "squash porridge" mmmm. Who needs oatmeal?!

Tangent: I believe in low-carb high-fat (LCHF) nutrition will recommend LCHF when it's clearly needed and healthy for a person, but I'm not pushing "LCHF dogma" as the one way. Hell no! Carbs have their place, and for most of us, healthy carbs have a vital role! Most the ladies with whom I work can tell you how I am about this. I will still eat LCHF meals or have LCHF days, but I equally don't shy away from carbs, and the right ones are a staple in my diet. I take more of an intuitive approach nowadays as to how much I need, and overall I would call myself a moderate-carb, higher-fat person. Even with less exercise/training I maintain healthy carb intake never below 100g/day I'm guessing. (Have you seen me with a bag of Jackson's sweet potato chips?!) 

For four weeks in March I ate AIP at home for every single meal: breakfast, lunch, dinner. I didn't eat out once--not even on my birthday. I didn't do much at all that month, except a lot of grocery shopping, kitchen time, planning, researching, and ME time. I also got the two root canals removed amidst all this! Thank goodness we didn't have any big commitments; I had the opportunity to just fully invest in this. I was not forced to travel or dine out and risk compromising the goals at hand. It's a bit extreme, but I knew it was temporary and would also be enlightening, so that made it ok.

Within two weeks I noticed positive changes on AIP: a decrease in inflammation, less swelling, gut improvements and better energy/cognitive function. After four weeks most if not all my initial symptoms were gone. By early April (before Boston) I was able to wean off strict AIP. It was a good time to reintroduce with the travel I had coming up, and I started reintroductions spacing them three days apart.

How do you know when to reintroduce? 

... 1) When many/most/all of your symptoms have dissipated/disappeared; for me my big symptoms were the chronic hand swelling, joint soreness, and brain fog. 2) When gut issues start to feel better and digestion improves; for me this meant no more bloating, gas, pain, constipation or loose stools/diarrhea.

Eggs, fine. Tomatoes/tomato-based things, fine. Chocolate, fine. Nuts, not a definitive trigger but iffy, and now I keep them to a minimum anyway. Nightshades, fine. Alcohol, fine in low doses. Gluten and dairy, not exactly sure. I've tried gluten and dairy a few times and survived, but knowing my history with these and knowing the nature of most gluten in general I'm not ready to bring them back completely. It's nice to know I can survive a little gluten, but I still feel gluten is evil. And coffee? Well I'll admit I never totally quit it, but I got down to having off days from it or merely 4oz a day. Now I have no more than 8oz a day at home, and when we travel I may sneak in a bit more.

I'm now back to more regular Paleo (if I had to categorize). Have not noticed any setbacks. I don't eat perfect every day (more like 90-10 at the moment), and I'm mentally and physically totally ok with that, which is nice. Meanwhile, the AIP changed my palate in a way that has me more flexible with meals, interestingly. I used to only rotate through a few breakfasts, almost all with eggs, but now I will have things like leftover "big ass" salads with meat, zoodles with sausage, or pretty much any leftover even if it's completely non-traditional breakfast food. Yesterday I had broccoli-mushroom soup with collagen powder stirred in and bacon.

You have no idea how happy I am to be able to eat and tolerate broccoli, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, cabbage, more FODMAPs again, AND even more "adventurous" foods too like those gluten- and dairy- filled cannolis and Italian pastries in Boston! Never in my dreams in recent years. There was a desperate point when I'd use charcoal just to ease the bloating (not daily, but also more than what was probably good). I haven't brought back fermented foods yet because quite frankly I'm scared due to what was going on with them and me in January, but that's next.

Natural Gut-Healing Supplements:

Aggressive supplementing was just as integral to the diet. I firmly believe that even the best of diets aren't enough in cases of severe gut dysbiosis or other health issues, and supplements come in to do what food nutrients alone can't achieve. In fact I tried NO supplements just to clear my system over most of January and February (logic was if something I had been taking was a trigger to the swelling etc so why not go cold turkey for a bit). Things just got worse....

So first of course there was the testing to avoid guessing. This allowed us to hone in a very specific protocol. My supplement plan was divided into three phases to tackle one main issue at a time along with several subsequent issues; 95% of it was built out by my practitioner and I added a few other things on my own. My plan was built uniquely to what I was presenting with and while we can take some of this and apply to others, it is not a one-size-fits-all supplement protocol so please don't copy and paste and start it yourself without consulting with a health professional who can adjust to your needs.

Phase 1: 1) Kill the bad bacteria/pathogens that had made themselves a comfy home in my gut. This included excess/unhealthy levels of salmonella, enterococcus, pseudomonas, staph, etc., found on the GI MAP test. 2) Get rid of the small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) found in breath test. 3) Support general gut health (i.e. fix leaky gut), detoxification, methylation, anti-inflammation, and begin to kill the systemic fungal overgrowth; a lot of markers on my blood pointed to these issues.

Phase 2: 1) Focus on killing the systemic fungal infection--candida! This stupid candida has been around for ages especially now that I understand its symptoms. And it's a bitch to get rid of it. Meanwhile, continue detox and methylation support, gut health, lowering inflammation and general health support. Start to add more re-seeding of the gut with good guys.

Phase 3: 1) Re-seed and rebuild a robust gut. While this was addressed in 1 & 2, it will be the main focus on Phase 3, as well as anything else that wasn't achieved in Phase 1 or 2 I suppose.

I'm through Phase 1, mostly through Phase 2.... Weeding and seeding, as Dr. Grace Liu says.

Phase 1 Supplements:

Gut/Detox/Health Support:	upon arising	with breakfast	mid morning	with lunch	mid afternoon	with dinner	before sleep	Notes:
Homocysteine Supreme		1				1
Inflammatone			1-2		1-2		1-2	Take away from food by at least 30 minutes.
Vitamin D3/K2		5,000- 10,000 IU/day of D						Thorne brand, Vitamin D appeared low on last blood chem
Readisorb Liposomal Glutathione		1 tsp				1 tsp		Start at ¼ tsp and work up
GI-Revive and/or Restore Liquid		1				1		Gut lining, gut health
IG 26 DF		1 scoop						Same idea as hyperimmune egg
L-Glutamine		5g scoop						Gut support
GTA Forte II (thyroid)		2		2				Started in February

Salmonella/Enterococcus/SIBO—6 weeks	upon arising	with breakfast	mid morning	with lunch	mid afternoon	with dinner	before sleep
Hyperimmune Egg		1 scoop				1 scoop		Started after IG 26 DF finished
Lactobaccilus		1		1		1
Andrographis		1		1		1
Oil of oregano		2		2		2
Grape Seed Extract (GSE)		1-2		1-2		1-2
Allimax Pro (garlic)		2		2		2
NAC (have tab and pill version)		1		1		1		Glutathione/ antioxidant precursor
Additional	arising	with breakfast	mid morning	with lunch	mid afternoon	with dinner	before sleep
Prescript Assist Probiotic		1
Boswellia		1						used briefly after root canal extraction to fight inflammation further
Allergy Research Group CoQ10		1
Natural Calm Mg							1 scoop

Digestion Aids	upon arising	with breakfast	mid morning	with lunch	mid afternoon	with dinner	before sleep
Dipan 9		1-2		1-2		1-2		Digestive enzyme by Thorne
Thorne's Betaine HCL W/pepsin		1-2		1-2		1-2		Help stomach acid production
Iberogast		20-30 drops						Quit by April--didn't need!

I know what you are thinking: That's a shit-ton of stuff!!! I know, right?! And it didn't end there.... I started getting B12/folate injections and a Meyer's Cocktail IV for even more support (I started these more late April ish and still have a few more). I was also taking fish oil too, but not really daily since I eat a lot of fish like salmon, sardines, etc. Brie had me doing some heavier fish oil dosing around my period to decrease all the PMS symptoms I was getting. I think it helped? But too many variables to be sure it was the fish oil; bottom line is that my periods are "easier" the past couple times.

Graduated from that successfully, and moved on to Phase 2 by later April.

Phase 2 Supplements:

6-Week Candida Protocol:	upon arising	with breakfast	mid morning	with lunch	mid afternoon	with dinner	before sleep
Candicid Forte		2		2		2
Interfase Plus	3				3			Take 20 minutes prior to meals/herbs
Candibactin-AR		1		1		1		1 month only
S. Boulardii		1		1		1
Lactobacillus		1		1		1

Continued Health Plan:	upon arising	with breakfast	mid morning	with lunch	mid afternoon	with dinner	before sleep	updates to program:
Homocysteine Supreme		1				1		Active B12/folate/methylation support
Inflammatone		1-2		1-2		1-2		Take away from food by at least 30 minutes. This has turmeric, boswellia, and other things that lower inflammation and help balance the immune system in AI conditions.
Vitamin D3/K2		15000 daily						Aim for D3 levels of 60-80. Retest in 6-8 weeks.
Readisorb Liposomal Glutathione		1 tsp				1 tsp		Start with ¼ tsp and work up gradually. Addresses AI, metals, detox, and inflammation/oxidative stress.
Restore Liquid/GI Revive								As directed. These are potent leaky gut support. Good used before, during, and after GI infection clearing protocols.
GTA Forte II								Same dose as previous
EXOS AM/PM Multivitamin		2-3				2-3
Selenium		1
Prescript Assist Probiotic		1

Digestion Aids	upon arising	with breakfast	mid morning	with lunch	mid afternoon	with dinner	before sleep
Dipan 9		1		1		1		Digestive enzyme by Thorne
Thorne's Betaine HCL W/pepsin		1-2		1-2		1-2		Help stomach acid production
...and/or ACV drink before meals

Still finishing this up, and it feels like I'm barely taking anything compared with Phase 1, haha! The goal is to get to needing next to nothing supplement-wise; minimal is best. Brie also wanted a brief anti-candida diet but I haven't done it entirely yet due to a lot going on--events, travel, etc., and she agreed now's not the time to restrict more especially with the progress I've made already. So, we're going to see how things are after my wedding when life calms down a bit more and see if we need to extend Phase 2 to work on the fungal/candida if it's still there.

Of course, that means sometime this month it's time to RE-TEST!

Test don't guess.

After our wedding, I'll do a full blood chemistry, stool test (another GI MAP, also going to do a GDA GI Effects Stool Panel just for good measure), and a Great Plains Organic Acids because it looks awesome. If all is clear then we can move onto Phase 3, which will really work on rebuilding the gut microbiome, as well as more detox support/heavy metals (if it is an issue), and further immune/AI support.

I was also advised to test for Lyme's Disease throughout all this as Lyme's can mimic AI conditions, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I have ordered the test forms and kit and will do this month as well just to rule it out.

And so with all this mega supplementing, the results?

PHENOMENAL!!! My gut and digestion haven't felt this great in years. TMI, but for the first time in ages I have normal, daily and complete bowel movements. This is huge for me to not be plagued with all that horrible stuff. I feel less like I have less inflammation and better vibes in my body too--things don't feel out of whack. Most of all, I feel like I have freedom with food and I can handle eating nearly anything (nearly). As such, I don't find myself getting stressed/worried about how a food may react in me with my gut feeling robust again--and thus those dark ages seem to be over, lol.

~~~

Testing the Waters

You still with me? ;)

Before my wedding, I've had other big trips/benchmarks to hit that would be test runs because I'll be damed if I live in a cave because of all this. Trips to Boston (for the marathon), Big Sur (for my backpacking bachelorette party) and Belize (for a friend's wedding) all within weeks in April and May. Just the travel alone is a lot on the body, right? But I was up for all of it. Feeling good again and excited to adventure and step away from "strict living" mode.

All trips were a success. My body responded well, and each trip showed me how I'm improving on so many levels. I was able to run a marathon (at a "safe" pace not getting all ego'd out), backpack coastal mountains accumulating 20 miles in 2.5 days, and SCUBA dive multiple times in the Belize Barrier Reef.... these are probably not the typical things you hear of with someone who just got diagnosed with autoimmune disease. But you know me ;) I believe I could do these thing because a) I wanted to so badly and b) I do not neglect the recovery and respect for my body in the process. In between all the adventures I don't continue to push and push like I used to. After Big Sur I rested for days, and in Belize when my triathlete friends got up early to workout, I chose to hang out in my hotel room sipping coffee, enjoying breakfast and catching up on work (not caring about calorie burn and miles).
 

It was also so nice to pass these tests in the food-gut department! I let loose, a little more on each successive trip, and never felt restricted like I had to be in March. These trips were a chance to test all kinds of food in different environments, and I did not get screwed over for once. Even in a place like Belize where it was a lot of Caribbean/Mexican food and a fair amount of rum drinks I was thriving and feeling awesome. Of course, i'm not going to take this as a sign to go off the deep-end with my diet. But, having flexibility and 80-20 living--or 90-10; whatever I'm not counting--is so important to me; I do not want to live an overly strict life. I'll be strict when I have to, but I don't think that needs to be 365 for the rest of my life at all. Granted, it's no secret I have a sensitive body which makes this harder, but I think if I can find the right balance--which it seems like I'm getting there--I'll be ok in any situation. It's all about building that badass gut health.

Next up? OUR wedding, and it looks like I achieved that aggressive goal I set back in March :)

Where I haven't yet tested the waters is training and/or exercise like I once knew it. Which I don't mind. At all. The routine I have going on now is awesome (next blog post will cover this). I can feel deep down that if I were to try and push it, that'd be bad. That would probably be the thing that would lead to a setback. After all, it has only been 6 months or so since I first noticed my symptoms. Patience! Training/racing isn't out of my life forever, but right now I don't miss it and don't need it. That stuff doesn't define me, but I am starting to understand why it was so important to me. For now, I'll stick to the wide variety of other things I'm doing that fill my craving for a good challenge and stepping outside my comfort zone--SCUBA, backpacking, practicing yoga, and whatnot.

Oh and btw, without all that hardcore training my body composition is better than ever. You don't need extreme exercise to look and feel your best.

~~~

If I hadn't been told I have lupus/RA this year, I'm not sure I would have been so fast and diligent to do a lot of these things. It's been a heavy heavy undertaking, and I can seriously understand why many people go the drug route vs. healing with intent to put in remission. Not that I support the prescription drug approach, but it looks "easier" in ways (but also a different outcome). I'm stoked to have some traits I've channeled for the good of my well-being this time--like my relentless nature. Nothing or no one can stand in my way of my goals and this challenge to heal naturally.

10 Causes of Autoimmunity

If you need to get caught up on the latest, start here :)

Once I was officially diagnosed with autoimmune disease I dove into how to heal like it was my job. I refused to accept that my condition would gradually worsen and that prescription drugs were the only option. Healing from the inside out is no easy feat, though, and it started with getting down and real with myself on what really led to this condition. I knew genetics played a role, but only a third or so, which meant two-thirds were things that have happened in my life--whether in my direct control, in my environment, or something that happened to me by chance.

If you really start digging into it, you will find that there seem to be a million and a half reasons why one gets an autoimmune disease and it can be overwhelming. Autoimmune conditions are fairly common. I've read stats such as autoimmune conditions affecting 80 million Americans and 5% of the population in Western countries--and those are the diagnosed cases. Many conditions go undiagnosed. So how do you figure out your unique situation? How do you figure out how to get your body to stop attacking itself? Hack away at it one variable at a time. I sought help from experts, played investigator, did some heavy self-introspection. I feel like I have boiled down my main reasons, which I'll list below.

But first, I also have a theory on what ultimately caused the autoimmunity (AI) to trigger when it did despite living relatively healthy as can be these days. I heard some stories from others on there being one "traumatic" event in which their body was never really the same and AI set in. For me, I am fairly convinced the final trigger that caused everything to blow up happened in December '15. I got a really bad case of the flu where I was sick for 14 days at a level that was worse than I had ever experienced in my life. It simply wrecked me, and ever since that I never really felt the same to be honest. For example, I was weak working out into January--I figured I'd just have to patient yet tough to build back--and I also had a gut setback in which I was sensitive to everything yet again (ugh) among other noticeable symptoms. Now I'm thinking that flu and its bugs threw things off just enough in an already-vulnerable environment. Combine that with go-getter me who was trying to workout thinking about marathons and ultras, and it was a perfect storm that blew up on me.

I did a stool test in January (the GI MAP) to assess the current state of my gut and it came back showing elevated levels of salmonella, staph, enterococcus, and pseudomonas. Say what?! I was shocked. I also tested positive for moderate candida and some small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), both of which were nothing new and had been taking a toll for a long time. Interestingly fungal infections (eg candida) are present in most autoimmune cases.

So there's that, but I would never blame just the flu. I know it's more.

My Top-10 Reasons For Developing Autoimmunity

1. Gut dysbiosis -- chronic infections, overgrowths and an imbalance between beneficial and harmful gut bacteria.
2. Leaky gut -- little particles of food getting into the bloodstream and triggering an immune response, this one is all too common and dangerous. Read more here.
3. Other hidden infections -- in my case, those two root canals one of which I got when I was 16 years old.
4. Nutritional deficiencies -- not because of a poor diet, but rather malabsorption due to gut issues.
5. Stress(!) -- This is where I get real and admit I have a deep history of chronic stress, high-stress living, and spending too much of my life in a sympathetic state. 
6. Impaired detox and poor methylation -- all my resources were tapped and body not able to do its job to be resilient and full-functioning. The deficiencies can be detected in blood testing and even some hormone tests. Methylation what? For more on what it is and its role especially with inflammation and immunity read here.
7. History of adrenal insufficiency and mild hypothyroidism -- mostly in my 20s. Thyroid interestingly tanked even more right before AI triggered.
8. History of HPA Axis dysfunction and other hormonal imbalances -- I've made this no secret.
9. Environmental toxins, mold exposure -- living in small beach apartments for the past 5 years.
10. Genetic susceptibility -- up to one-third of one's risk factors for developing an AI disease.

Other factors branch off from these 10, like why the gnarly gut dysbiosis? It's not because I've had a diet rich in refined carbs and sugars, that's for sure. So this is where you have to play investigator and often it's not that hard to nail down the reasons. 1) I was a C-section baby which put me at a gut deficit on Day 1 due to not being exposed to all the beneficial bacteria in the vaginal canal. I am not crazy here; there is plenty of evidence to support this link. 2) Having an eating disorder (ED) and the stress/diet issues related to that were a huge factor in worsening my poor gut, there's literature supporting this connection as well. 3) Replace ED stress with endurance training/ triathlon stress and this is when my gut issues got really bad. Oh I could tell stories but I don't want to lose my readers ;) 4) And then other things like being a wine drinker.... and heck, let's be honest: I've enjoyed drinking alcohol for many years of my life... a little in high school, a lot in college, and on and off in my adult life since. I think alcohol can be fine (in moderation), until it's not. I reached the point of even moderation being too much for my body and I'm sure it ties into the aforementioned reasons.

All those 10 things, and some, and at the end of the day it was a big body burden... 

And What Else in the Present?

I also pondered deeply and honestly, what else besides the flu was I doing in the present time and mostly in my control that could have also triggered this thing? I wanted to uncover anything that I could change....

1. Stress -- while I love my life, love the present, and the direction it's going, I was still addicted to that stressed out way of living--letting little dumb things set me off or becoming overwhelmed when it's easily preventable. It was time to change once and for all. Adopt new habits and no bullshitting it. Even though I've eased up on training/racing in recent years, I think I was still stressed about my role as an athlete and races like Boston, so on.
2. Diet -- yes, of course I eat healthy and avoid junk, but there are certain healthy foods that can still be gut irritants to the sensitive person such as nuts, eggs, chocolate, nightshades, dairy, gluten and alcohol, as well as foods implicated in SIBO and candida such as FODMAPs. I was having all these except gluten. None of these things had to be eliminated forever; rather, just long enough to heal the gut, make progress, then reintroduce slowly.
3. Alcohol -- I already described a bit of my history with alcohol. Last year I really cut back. But then over the holidays it crept back in and I was back to regular wine consumption. Not a ton, but it was too much for my current state. In March I went cold turkey and it helped a ton. In a future post I'll discuss my reintroduction and how I've found what I believe to be my ideal balance.
4. Mold/toxin exposure -- I didn't pay thousands of dollars to test this so it is more speculation on my part, but I trust my senses. I'm fairly convinced the beach apartment we lived in from early 2012 until February 2016 had mold/mildew in the bathrooms--I could smell that smell, you know what it is. Plus I often woke up felt groggy, congested and shitty no matter what I ate, drank or did the day(s) before. I think our old bed/sheets/comforter played into that as well--it was like 10 years old--and the more of a deficit I got into, the more sensitive to everything I became. We moved in February and most of my morning issues of feeling crappy disappeared instantly!
5. Exercise -- Without a doubt my exercise habits have changed in the recent few years trying to promote health above all, but I still had an exercise addiction, and with a race on the calendar (Boston) plus toying around with more race ideas (ultra) I am just used to doing a lot and pushing my body--but that doesn't mean it's right in this context. It's so funny talking to my functional doctors who think the amount of running/training I do is absurd, yet to me it's just normal lol! Looking back at 2015 into this year I have to admit i was still going relatively full-speed (marathoning, backpacking trips, hours-long trail hike/runs, a 30k race in November, this year back to weekly running in the 20-40mpw range for Boston, strength training, etc). And that's just exercise; doesn't even touch on my workload and all the other stuff we do.

'But You're So Healthy!'

Everyone always tells me, "You're so healthy, you are the healthiest person I know! How could YOU be dealing with this?!" I agree, I do pride myself on a healthy lifestyle and I feel like I have all the tools to do it right. So this was a wakeup call for sure, and quite humbling, but at the end of the day it does make sense and I've totally made peace with it. I'm actually finding an immense amount of personal growth and deeper happiness because of it! Go figure.

Hopefully this post explains that even "healthy people" may be at risk. A lot of the normal things we do and are exposed to can build up over time and create an unhealthy body burden. You can see in my case that there were just many variables in and out of my control that added up over time and were too much on a sensitive body. Sometimes our healthy habits aren't even enough to offset the negatives, and things happen. Not to mention those of us who are Type A'ers and who don't easily slow down. I'm a go-getter by nature and not one to take a back seat and observe, but this wake-up call has forced me reevaluate a lot. I realized I can still be a go-getter but take a different approach, slow down a bit, find better balance and foster a better environment for my body.

As I have opened up more about my AI condition, I've received an outpouring from others who tell me about their condition--varying levels of some kind of autoimmunity--and the tools they use to work through it. I'm coming to find it's really common, and I know i'm not the only one. Folks like Dr. Mark Hyman and others mentioned on my last post are doing a great job to create awareness on appropriate healing methods.

In my next post I'll go more into my healing protocol that allowed me to achieve a ton of progress in a relatively short amount of time. 

Being Boston Strong

I had some folks reaching out to ask me if I'm ok after seeing my Boston Marathon result, and I so much appreciate the thoughtful messages. I can imagine how my time looked odd to those who know me. After all, I was an hour slower than my BQ time 11 months ago. I'm usually a pretty consistent athlete, so this was certainly an atypical performance for me.

I am ok—kind of! No injuries, no race-day disasters, no bonks, no nutrition woes. And in fact, this race went way better than I expected it would! I am very pleased with my 4:28 finishing time, and pleased that I was able to run most of it, probably 90 percent, not walk. I had been mentally preparing for a 5-7 hour day with mostly all walking...

That said, there is certainly a reason why I was slower and couldn't run to my potential this year. I wanted to wait until after Boston to talk about what's been going on. I'm ready now. "Project Open-ness" continues :)



The Symptoms & Diagnosis
It's been a tough year so far and I've had to put health and healing at the forefront again. Late February/early March I started investigating and testing because something was off and it had been off since the new year. I had some unusual symptoms, unlike anything I'd every experienced. The most disturbing were my hands—they'd become chronically swollen/puffy (I couldn't even wear my rings), and had weird red spots surfacing on them (but not a rash). There were other things too like unexplainable fatigue, brain fog, weight fluctuations, odd aches and pains plus sore joints especially in my hands, increased sensitivity to foods that were once no biggie, and a greater intolerance to any toxin like wine. I was congested daily, and my gut and digestion were all over the place again, definitely some kind of setback. I just seemed so sensitive to every little thing! All these new symptoms; yet, nothing I did had changed, at least that I know of. Diet, training, work, life—all the usual. I'm not a complainer so I tried not to make a big thing out of it. But I was getting concerned. My gut feeling told me something was up and I was compelled to find out more.

After consulting with a couple doctors and practitioners, researching, zeroing in on possible issues and doing mega blood testing, I got my answer on March 2:

I was diagnosed with autoimmune disease. 

Autoimmune (AI) disease is when the immune system attacks healthy tissues by mistake. Symptoms and severity manifest in many different ways. There are more than 100 kinds of AI diseases, with more than 700 million affected around the world. AI diseases are connected by one central biochemical process: An rogue immune response caused by systemic inflammation.

To put it another way: “Autoimmune diseases are born when your body is working hard to defend itself against something potentially dangerous, such as an allergen, a toxin, an infection, or even a food, and it fails to differentiate between the intruder and parts of your own body. Mistaking certain types of tissues for harmful substances, your body turns these antibodies against itself, wreaking havoc on your organs.” - PaleoGrubs.com

My official diagnosis was early-stage lupus and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which the rheumatologist called "rupus" being that it was a blend of the two but not extreme in one or the other; more leaning toward lupus. For example, I am certain I was not in as much pain as you would expect with a typical RA case, and I also tested negative for rheumatoid factor. I got second and third opinions just to be sure—all in all I reached out to functional health practitioners, my MD friends in addition to the local rheumatologist (who also gave a physical exam to further validate her diagnosis). No one doubted the diagnosis.

Why Me: Seeking Answers & Solutions
The news came as a total shock as you can imagine. But wait, I'm healthy! Being healthy is my thing! What is happening in my body and why? Was this my fault? Was it genetic? Was it both? Why now? Why me? These are things to which I did not yet have answers. I didn't even fully know what lupus was until I was told I had it! Once I wiped away the tears and accepted the reality I got straight to work trying to answer the biggest question of them all: WHY ME?? If I could find out why, then there's a good chance I could fix that and fix the condition.

I knew enough of conventional medicine's approach to AI disease that this was not the route I wanted to go for treatment. Conventional medicine says that basically we don't know why people get autoimmune diseases, and that there is no cure; at best you can manage symptoms usually by using drugs to fight inflammation and suppress the immune system. Often hardcore drugs are prescribed like prednisone and pain killers, and even regular use of NSAIDs, all of which have negative side effects.

On the other hand, functional medicine will answer the question of "why me?" and provides hope for healing. With this medical model we can hunt down root causes and thus find solutions, rather than just manage symptoms. Functional medicine evaluates a person's whole history to determine why an autoimmune disease occurs. What is the source of inflammation in the body? Why did the immune system get overworked to the point of getting confused and waging war? There is a plethora of information out there—case studies, research, books, articles, etc—that outlines common underlying causes to autoimmunity and healing success stories. There's hope! I am not saying these things are a cure. There still is no cure, but with the right tweaks you can put your autoimmunity into remission and live a normal life. Just don't slip back to old ways that led to the AI to come about in the first place. I can do that! Functional medicine FTW again!

I read books like The Thyroid Cure by Michelle Corey (great resource for all AI issues not just thyroid) and Dr. Amy Meyers' Autoimmune Solution—I felt so connected to each woman's story, nodding and agreeing with how their stories paralleled mine. For example:

"I was shocked... Because I was doing what I thought were all the right things already, being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease was shocking and frightening /// [It] was a real wake-up call for me. I discovered you can be doing all the right things—or what you believe to be the right things—and still get terribly ill." - Dr. Meyers
 
... That's what I'm sayin! Reading those words by Amy made me feel so much better. Furthermore, Amy is an amazingly brilliant doctor, which helped me come to terms with the fact that even the "best" and "smartest" who seem to have it all figured out may be at risk, and it's nothing to be ashamed about. This helped me because, to be honest, at first I was feeling guilty, responsible and most of all like a failure—I had invested so much into gaining good health, and this is what happens? Was this some cruel punishment for my past sh*t? But that was not the right way to approach it, and thankfully I was able to step outside that silly mindset. At the end of the day, I realized this is just one of life's many challenges and it will make me smarter, wiser, more compassionate to myself and to others, and an even better coach to my clients.

I read other books, conducted endless research online, listened to very specific podcasts on the matter and reached out to my amazing network of health professionals, including my main practitioner Brie Wieselman who thankfully is an expert on these conditions.

Brie especially drilled in the point that I simply couldn't be so hard on myself and couldn't look at this as if it were all my fault. This didn't happen overnight and it didn't even happen over a few months; this disease was a lifetime in the making, and a very intricate combination of variables—many of which were out of my control!

On Track To Healing
I started to truly see and understand the patterns that lead to autoimmunity, and the light bulb went on. My whole life—a combination of variables in and out of my control—combined with the genetic susceptibility played into triggering my AI disease. (Many experts cite that genetics are one- to two-thirds responsible for one's risk to developing an AI disease.) The say leaky gut and gut dysbiosis are a huge factors and I know those have plagued me for years, not to mention chronic stress. It was starting to make sense. As such, I gained hope and got excited. Hope that I could and would heal. It would take a mountain of work—I've been calling it my new full-time job—but it'd be worth it!

This post is intended just to share the news of what's been going on and in this blog post I dive more heavily into specific causes of autoimmune disease. I will discuss the main causes of why I developed an autoimmune diseases, specific details of my healing protocol (it's been eight awesome weeks so far), and everything else I'm learning along the way including preventative information. What an education it's been! It's actually increasing my passion for functional medicine; if I could only figure out how to go back to school to become a practitioner—without too much stress ;) I digress. 

Anyway,  I started keeping a daily log on me—everything that could be significant. It took a few weeks on my healing protocol to start seeing and feeling the results, but it was undeniable that what I was doing was already working! I know I'm on the right track; the real results I'm getting are mind-boggling. I also think I caught this very early so that helps too. For example, my hands are no longer swollen and affected, I can literally feel that my detox & methylation have been rebooted, and my gut is very much back in order.

A huge help was doing four weeks of a strict Autoimmune Paleo Diet (AIP) protocol to eliminate any trigger foods and/or gut irritants, which wasn't "fun" at first due to some pretty gnarly restrictions. No eggs, chocolate, nuts, seeds, nightshades, caffeine!? The horror! Meanwhile, I was totally fine eliminating alcohol, gluten, dairy and non-nutritive sweeteners. It was an adjustment, but in the end it was so empowering and eye-opening, not that hard to follow, and it even allowed me to get out of the rut of eating the same old things day in, day out. I can't say enough good things about the benefits of a (temporary) elimination diet, disease or not.

During my reintroduction phase I was very lucky to have success with most the foods and even a bit of red wine. I will say, though, I think I've lost most desire to drink at this point—it's just too risky to justify going back to my glass-a-night kind of habit. I'll also keep nuts and seeds to a minimum because even though I've been ok with little bits, I still believe they are a gut irritant. I haven't and won't return to gluten anytime soon, nor dairy—minus one exception: After the Boston marathon, there were Italian pastries and cannolis that showed up at our place, and I decided to enjoy. It was a first, and I have no regrets.

All the reintroduction was complete before our Boston trip, and my plan was to use Boston as a test. It would entail a lot of eating out, and I was excited for that, excited to see how my body held up and if I would get a setback or be fine.

On Running with Autoimmunity
With all the improvements I've seen so far, the one area that was and is still suffering is my running. There's no doubt that by April I felt in a much better spot health-wise and like I was getting the AI condition under control, but running was still a bust. I know why: My body was/is putting all energy into healing and there's not one ounce of energy leftover for athletic performance at this point. I had to respect that.

I mostly shut down marathon training as of March. My body simply was not responding to the running I wanted to do so badly for Boston training, and even short easy runs took a monster effort and left me more fatigued than usual. As such, my long runs got shorter instead of longer, and became less frequent. I gritted out a couple more long sessions in the final six weeks before Boston, but they were more akin to a death march rather than quality running. I cried. It hurt physically and mentally to feel this reality. Meanwhile, any intensity I had been doing was out; a bummer as it had been so fun! My aerobic/MAF runs also slowed incredibly, and I was walking a ton more on every run. I quit all strength training because it hurt and made me too sore. It was not your normal marathon training; it was not normal Tawnee training ;) It was sad to see my fitness slip away, but I got used to the new norm eventually and gave myself a little more self-love and respect, which had been lacking. Instead of fighting the inability to train I gave myself a pat on the back for any exercise outing. Likewise, I gave myself a pat on the back for knowing when not to exercise or push it, and to rest instead.

I had everyone telling me to just shut it down and don't run Boston. But I couldn't quit. I wasn't ready to give up. I couldn't let it go that easily. I needed to do it for me, just this last one. And then after Boston I would shut it down and not train/race until it was time again.

Before Boston, I "participated" in the Ragnar Relay with my amazing Endurance Planet team and that was a very emotional reality check that even if I wanted to race hard my body was saying no. I missed my old athlete self. Thankfully my EP team consisted of kind, understanding people who were my rocks, and not to mention they all happened to be great runners so we still were 5th or 6th overall out of nearly 700 teams!

Ragnar verified that I could not do anything stupid in the marathon (i.e. I could not try to race like my old self but rather run appropriate to my current condition). I honestly thought this could mean a 5-7 hour day in Boston. I really didn't know. I was willing to do whatever it took to cross the finish line and I was ok with a really long walk.

And Then There Was Boston
Sadly, to add to the hard times, the night before the marathon our amazing dog of 12 years had to be put down. She was diagnosed with cancer, and her condition declined so incredibly fast. I said my goodbyes to Sydney Arrow before we left for Boston, bawling over this dog who meant so much to me. I was hoping she'd hang in until after I got back, but she was suffering so badly, it was obvious, and my parents couldn't bear to let her continue in that state. So on Sunday marathon eve I sat on Face Time with my family as they laid our Sydney Arrow to rest. It was beyond difficult to go through this; I'm just thankful for modern technology that allowed me to be in the room with my family even though I was 3,000 miles away. Thankfully I had John by my side the whole time.

Monday morning came. I surprisingly woke up with a really strong mindset and attitude. It would have been easy to stay tucked in my bed and avoid reality (who would blame me at this point?), but no way. I decided to rise to the occasion and use this marathon as a test of strength. Do it for Sydney, do it to show that this AI disease won't ruin my life. Persevere.

Still, I wasn't sure if I could do it. I was nervous in a different way than usual. I used to get nervous about how I'd perform and what others would think of my times; but at Boston those were the least of my worries and not even thoughts in my head.

Eventually at 11 am (so late lol!) the gun went off and the rest was magical. I'm certain I was in a state of flow. I was able to just be. It was hard, there was pain, but it was not impossible and I felt at peace. I was respecting my limitations and in return my body allowed me to run. I was running, and actually faster than I expected!! I was 100 percent grateful for each step I took that led me to Boylston Street. I've never been so proud of a "slow" race before and my 4:28 finishing time felt like a gift. The whole day I knew I had my Sydney Arrow running next to me in spirit, along with all my friends and family who knew of my condition and were rooting for me. So much emotion went into crossing that finish line. It was a moment I'll cherish forever.

A lot of people make excuses why they don't perform well in their races. Heck, I've made tons of those excuses in my time (I'm sure some you can find on old blog posts right here lol). I'm sick of that shit. Own it. Own the situation. Whether you had a good, bad or mediocre day, it is what it is. You'll be so much happier and better off if you just let it go, take it from me. In doing so, you'll find the silver lining in all your performances.

I'm reminded of pro triathlete Amy Marsh who recently kicked cancer's ass (GO Amy!). She posted a tweet not too long ago that said, "Ran 20 minutes today. No walk breaks :) #10monthstoday." Now that is what I'm talking about! Twenty minutes of running is nothing to most of us, but in her situation it probably felt as gratifying and special as winning the world championships—and rightly so! What an incredible woman she is to fight such a battle, win, and now be making her way back. I just can't say enough awesome things...... I'm not trying to compare my AI disease with cancer, but I think I can now better relate to what it feels like to receive some really shitty news, fight to overcome and deeply appreciate the baby steps made on the path to healing. Being diagnosed with a disease affects everything; it changes you. It changed me as an athlete and a person, and I have to believe these changes are for the better. No matter how fast or slow, I won on Marathon Monday.

At the end it was all smiles! Thanks to Vespa for fueling my run. I was slow thus in total fat-burning mode,
and Vespa got me through the day. Get a 20% discount on Vespa when you use the code #EPRagnar2016. Expires 4/30/16.

Thanks for reading.

Select resources:

http://paleogrubs.com/autoimmune-disease-101

https://chriskresser.com/pills-or-paleo-preventing-and-reversing-autoimmune-disease/

http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/07/30/how-to-stop-attacking-yourself-9-steps-to-heal-autoimmune-disease/

http://www.thepaleomom.com/autoimmunity/the-autoimmune-protocol

http://draxe.com/4-steps-to-heal-leaky-gut-and-autoimmune-disease/