Progress this past year

After giving birth to Becca I was almost 200lbs, battling idiopathic hives (aka no known cause), could barely eat food, extremely anxious, etc. my journey started at an asthma and allergy facility where my nurse practitioner was AMAZING. She has been such a huge support in all this. I started my journey into allergy shots, which lead to a possible diagnosis of EOE (“allergic esophagus” – aka when eating certain foods the white blood cells in my body would gather in my throat to attack), I had several scopes with the GI who determined it was “just reflux”. But things still felt off, my symptoms weren’t improving as I had hoped. Talking with a friend who had a long history with EOE, she recommended seeing a functional medicine doctor. Functional medicine is eastern based medicine which meant it wasn’t a popular choice with my allergist but she supported me saying she only wanted what was best for me. (Thank you Sofia). It also meant it wasn’t supported by my insurance so it was out of pocket, but at this point in my journey I would have done anything to feel better. That’s how I found the Trivida Functional Med team in oct/nov of last year.

After 6 months of working with my wonderful functional medicine team esp my AWESOME coach Nicole I’m feeling the best I have ever felt. Sure, lots of changes have been made, I now sleep with a cpap machine, I haven’t had dairy, gluten or eggs for almost a year and currently I’m working through a mold detox. I can truly say that each change they helped me make felt absolutely earth shattering and I dealt with a grief cycle surrounding each change. Taking out gluten, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I loved bread, all the gluten, shit! during pregnancy I LIVED on bagels and cream cheese. But now, if I eat gluten, it’s instant how terrible I feel. Same goes for dairy and eggs. Now, I don’t react the same to all foods in those categories, for instance I had some famous Amos cookies for Father’s Day (dads favorite cookies) without consequence but give me shredded cheese or a part of a hamburger bun and I immediately regret it.

One of my biggest leaps this year though was therapy. As I’ve said in previous posts my therapy has taken leaps and bounds this past year. I think it was the best thing I could have done for myself. Mental health was just as, if not more important than changing my diet, exercising and focusing on taking care of my body.

Throughout this journey there have been plenty of days when I have questioned my progress. Then I see my strength gains, my ability to hike with my kids (and carry them), the fact that I am not constantly battling extreme fatigue, I’m officially under 160lbs and most importantly food feels more like an energy source then a nap starter. I still take naps (sometimes even daily) because mamahood!

All this to say I love taking progress photos and videos especially on a journey like this. That way, when you question how far you have come you have physical evidence to back it up.