Who Are You Calling Crafty?

So I have been quite ill lately and have been poked and prodded more than any human should have to be.  It started back in April and I was having extreme pain on my lower right side I was scheduled for surgery and I slowly got sicker.  My blood work came back abnormal and I had a bone marrow biopsy.  They tested me for every disease imaginable and the only test that came back positive was the ANA test.

They have cleared me for surgery which will happen on June 7th and I go back for more test on the 15th.  Since I found out about the Lupus I have been reading (probably too much) about the disease.  The more I read the more I am convinced it is lupus.  For example I have always attributed my problems with not being able to eat fatty, greasy, rich foods with not having a gall bladder.  Not the case at all.  The reason people have their gall bladder out is to eat foods like that.  For me it got worse so I just stopped eating those foods ultimately making me healthier.   I don’t eat fried foods, rich foods, a lot of meat or drink soda.  I am a borderline vegetarian not by choice but because I had too or I would become horribly ill.

What triggered this “flare up” if it is lupus?  Well I stopped walking everyday because my side started hurting and couldn’t walk.  I started eating more tomatoes, potatoes and my favorite eggplant (all in nightshade family) which can cause flare ups in lupus.  Drinking my milk and eating my white rice with tomato sauce,  I thought nothing of it.  Until I got the ANA test back.  Since the ANA test is a primarily test they are going to run more tests.  I wanted to know more about lupus because I hear lupus and I think of people internal organs shutting down and going on experimental drugs and steroids.  None of which I want to happen to me.  I want to manage this without the drugs The more I read the more symptoms I either have or have had.  At one point and time I have had 75% of the symptoms for lupus and no one has ever done the test.

• Have I have an enlarged spleen before?  Yes, in high school the doctors wrote it off as a baseball injury.

• Have I had fluid in the abdomen before?  Yes, twice before both times they attributed it to a virus.

• Have I had red checks (aka: butterfly rash)?  Yes, I have had red cheeks my whole life, more so in the summer time.  This week is the first time my cheeks are normal (no red) in a long time.
• Have I had swollen glands?  Yes, I had my thyroid out in 2001 because I had a multi-nodular goiter. 
• Swollen Joints?  Have you seen my knees – lol?  Yes .  For the record I did have cankles during my pregnancy.
• Dairy Products (including ice cream) have never really agreed with me.

So looking back it makes perfect sense to me.

What have I done to make changes in my diet?  After I had my gall bladder out I stopped eating a lot of fatty, greasy foods so the diet isn’t going to be that drastic.  We already use whole wheat bread, we have lots of fruit and veggies.  The hard thing for me will be giving up my dairy and night shade veggies (tomato, egg plant, peppers and potatoes).  Jeff was nice enough to buy me Almond Milk to try, if you have never tried it I highly recommend it (I even made chocolate pudding!!)  I have also changed to whole wheat tortillas opposed to flour and started taking Fish Oil again.  Another thing I am trying is 1/2tsp of baking soda to 4oz of water (on an empty stomach, twice a day) that neutralizes the PH in your body so if you eat tomatoes they won’t be as acidic and you won’t get a tummy ache.

I am learning more about lupus and right now I am happy knowing what it is or could be because I always knew there was something but we never knew what.  Knowing that there really is something there and that there are ways to prevent it makes me very happy that I am not crazy.