Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Be A Scientist! Day 10 of GAPS Intro

Only ten days in and I have screwed up.

I started too many things on top of each other and lost any clarity I had. Oy. The reason I know is that karma smacked me again: Vertigo. Double oy. I haven't had it in ages, years maybe. So I am hoping this is a good thing, you know, like eczema reappearing in the process of healing it for good.

I had thought it was a reaction to one of several foods, but I didn't know which one. This is why Dr. Natasha and Baden recommend adding each new food or preparation separated by several days. But in today's wonderful post Baden suggested, almost insisted, that we all re-read GAPS Guide and Dr. Natasha's FAQ's to answer for ourselves the questions that have been popping up (and to be fair, to relieve poor Baden of having to answer each one repeatedly--it takes work folks! She is doing Intro too!)

And you know what? Dr. Natasha talks about vertigo! She says it's related to overall toxicity which reaches the brain, and to histamine produced by pathogenic microbes, which affects blood pressure. But the best news of all is that she says GAPS will change all that. So I suppose that Intro has stimulated a sort of "healing crisis", which is akin to die-off, and I should be happy for this opportunity.

I am going to do my best to remember that when the bed spins as I turn over tonight. Because of all my various symptoms, this is the one that freaks me out the most. It's positively frightening when my whole world goes topsy turvy (not to mention quite unfair, since I did nothing remotely fun to deserve these bed spins!)

So, time to back up and start anew--back to the point where I know I was feeling well and having minimal die-off, back to soup with eggs--and limited probiotic liquid. Because now I know that I really have to be a scientist, as my dad, The Shrink says, and study my reactions as if they were under a microscope.

As a slightly nit-picky person, I already keep notes about my health process (both brief narrative in a journal and temperature and weight on a graph. OK, maybe that's more than slightly...), so you would think I am already doing that. Being a Scientist. But when I got sick, I got lazy about noting what things I had added and what reactions I was having. And I wasn't looking at the patterns.

Now that there is a concern, you can bet I pored over those notes. And there it was: dropping temperature, rising weight, poor sleep. Ignored until, bam, the world was spinning. For sure, that got my attention. And that is just what my dad meant for me to avoid when he said to be a Scientist: respond, don't react. You be in charge. Don't let things just happen to you.

The Shrink is always right.

4 comments:

Maggie @ Maggie's Nest said...

I did the same thing! It's so easy to give in to the desire for more variety, but it seems that our bodies need a slower process. Good for us for (finally) listening, eh? :)

Justine Raphael said...

Yeah, easy to give in to the neglected child who thinks she deserves something more, different, new, like everyone else--whatever! I need to tell the inner kid to be quiet during Intro!

And yes, so glad we are finally listening.

Jennifer @ 20 something allergies said...

I adore your writing style! It's a pleasure to read your posts while trudging though this GAPS intro...well, introish for me I'm afraid. I'm so glad Baden shared links to some other bloggers paddling away in the same boat! And the vertigo? I get it too & never thought about it showing up as a symptom. I'll have to keep an eye out for that one too (as if I need more).

Best of luck righting your top turvy world. ;) I look forward to hearing more of your adventures.
Jennifer
http://20somethingallergies.blogspot.com/

Justine Raphael said...

Hi Jennifer! Welcome!

Thank you so much for your sweet compliment. And I am thrilled if something I write helps you cope...

I am going to look at your blog--just as soon as I write today's post.

Justine

 
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