Almost 30 days raw and very sick!!!!

[ryana]

I know most will claim this to be detox and I came to the conclusion it is not detox. there is no reason for my body to have to feel this awful for this long. I'm very lethargic. My chest feels heavy to breathe. I can't work out anymore. It's hard enough to get up to go to work. this is making me depressed. I never had a lot of energy but this is worst than the time i was in the hospital and I was vegan at the time and the only thing they had that was vegan for lunch adn dinner was pizza with veges and no cheese. after a week of this i became very weak just as i feel now. i slep 12 hrs last night and woke up only to take a two hr nap a few hours later. I hate having to be home this much I just keep eating. This is not normal and I refuse this is all due to detox. anybody else wnet through this? anytips? I already missed a lot of work. I've come so far at 100% raw and i'd hate to throw it away. please help.

[Rawkinlocs]

Hi Ryana,

I'm sorry you're feeling so poorly. I'd like to congratulate you on sticking with it for (almost) 30 days...even despite how you were/are feeling and just for sticking with it period!

I know you don't want to hear that "detox schmetox" jazz and all...but...

I think that perhaps people either don't fully understand what detox IS...what sickness is or perhaps we have just gotten tired of the term "detox" and feel it is a catch-all "excuse".

The thing is, ANYtime the body has symptoms, it is the body's way of trying to clean out a thing, alleviate a thing or heal a thing. Even if it's a cold or flu that you caught from someone, the "germs" that got into your system are being (or trying to be) forced out by the body through the various symptoms experienced (sneezing, coughing up phlegm, runny nose, etc.) Sometimes it might be thought to be deficiency or perhaps just a problem with absorption of the nutrients one IS getting from food. But healing/cleansing crisis is very common when you eat a cleaner diet...even going from eating meat to eating vegetarian brings about changes and sometimes feelings of discomfort, lethargy, etc.

I (we here at RFT) don't know enough about your diet, history, past illnesses, medications you may have taken, lifestyle habits, environmental effects, etc to make a determination for you...not to mention that we are not doctors. So, if you have decided that what you're experiencing is clearly not detox (healing/cleansing crisis)...then the best thing for you to do is to see a doctor probably to put your own mind at ease. We can't diagnose you...all we can suggest is that it's detox of some sort...that sometimes people end up feeling like crap on a hot sidewalk before they feel better. I mean, you've read countless testimonials both here on this forum and perhaps other places of people feeling awesome after 30 days on raw...but there ARE some who don't get that right away for one reason or another. For some, their bodies may have undergone so much that it takes longer to get to the full healing and bursting energy, etc. that others experience right away. Same with weightloss...some shed pounds seemingly right away with no effort at all while others, they don't see weightloss for weeks or even months after going raw.

What I'd like you to ask yourself is this...what is it about cooking your food or eating meat that would cause you to NOT feel what you're feeling right now? How would cooking your food or eating potatoes or rice or steamed veggies make you well or feel better aside from it having a numbing effect...a bogging down of the system effect?

Eating raw brings things to the surface that were stuffed down before be it through cooked food or medications or supplements. Eating raw causes the body to go into cleansing mode and sometimes the effects are quite unpleasant...sometimes the effects last longer than we desire it to...sometimes the effects come, go, come back again, go and come back again before it finally goes forever.

Not being a doctor, I honestly don't know what else to tell you it could be...yeah, it could be detox...yeah, it could be deficiency...yeah, it could be some sort of food "allergy"...yeah, it could be "xyz"...but if you, Ryana, have it in you to believe anything other than disease and sickness and symptoms are the body's way of trying to fix a problem, then your best bet really is to see your doctor and get these things checked out. Find out if eating only raw foods can be causing these problems or if it's something else...but to ease your own mind (IF nothing I've written eased it at all) please get this checked out because NONE of us here are qualified to diagnose you.

Hope you feel better soon!

[rawpriestess]

I'm sorry that you are feeling so poorly, I agree with everything Rawkinlocs said, I have nothing more to add.

[MangoMan]

Ryana, so sorry to hear of your body's distress! It must be very difficult for you, and yet you continue to carry on, and to come here to ask questions! You have such tremendous courage!

I like what Rawkinlocs is saying .. it could be detox effect, it could be you're missing something in your diet (due to your body not being able to pull it from your foods, or do to a lack in your diet), it could be something else ... but seeing a doctor and getting some blood tests or whatever, if this is what you are called to do, then by all means, God Speed!

Please keep us updated!

[lissomllama]

Rawkinlocs said it all perfectly. I just want to add those toxins don't care that you need to be at work. If you stick with raw, detox will take as long as it needs to before you're clean and pure. Think about how old you are and then think about all the countless times you've eaten food containing toxins, pesticides, antibiotics. How many times have you taken various medications or been exposed (even though you may not notice it) to some bad stuff. All this stuff has been absorbed into your muscles, your organs, and especially, your body fat. When you're cooked it's easier to keep that fat there or even add to it and you may experience little colds and stuff but when you go raw, your body totally cleans itself out and while raw, you tend to lose more fat and therefore, more toxins. It may be a few yeears of being raw before you're totally done detoxing. You can either decide to ride it out till you're clean or just feed your body more poisons and possibly have to do it all over again another time. It will end, though. I hope you feel better soon. Make sure you're getting a variety of nutrients.

[rawfigure]

I am so sorry to hear you are having a tough time with the change in diet. I do not have alot to add because I agree with the others responses to you post.

I did notice that you wrote :
I never had a lot of energy but this is worst than the time i was in the hospital and I was vegan at the time and the only thing they had that was vegan for lunch adn dinner was pizza with veges and no cheese. after a week of this i became very weak just as i feel now.

So this problem existed before the raw diet. Also if you ate one cooked vegan item for a week that had little nutrient value, then of course you are going to be deficient and lacking in energy !

So if you did not have energy before Raw..then it will take awhile for your body to switch over to the new body. So I would say if you stick with it and let it run its course. One other thing to consider, since you say you have felt bad before, is to have some baseline blood test to rule out deficiencies, thyroid activity and such.

Then you can adjust diet from that.

On a side note. I have eaten fairly well my whole life, limited processed food. But still when I went Raw for the first few months I had times I felt I could not breath well, totally lacked energy, still had mt midday blood sugar crashes that I was looking to eliminate with the raw diet. I had to severely reduce my weight training those few months.

I even had a few panic type attacks which I never had before. I beleive this was all detox. I know you don't want to hear that, but it is my truth. It took months, then WOW now 9 months, my energy is threw the roof. So hey off to run 6 miles...!!!

So my advice, decide if you want this...if you do go for it and do not look back !

[robertandenith]

((((((hugs)))))) what Rawkinlocs said is enough, can't add anymore!

what is your normal 'day' on raw? just curious...

[Tombi]

Ryana,

So sorry you are going through these changes at this time. Rawkinlocs and Rawfigure gave some mighty fine advice and I hope that it will help you through this.

This board is such a strength whenever you go through these types of crisis. Trust me many of us have been there done that and still doing it! :rolleyes:

Feel better soon so you can continue your journey!

[Conscious Midwife]

I wonder to if the "detox" term is over use and if in fact folks are being exposed to new toxins via the consumption of all the fruits and veggies.
Don't get me wrong the fruits and veggies are great and our best source of nutrition but are WE CLEANING them properly considering all the manipulation, pesticides, treatments and etc...

Even my 18 yo daughter, no carbonation, no sugar, healthy, All American Athlete is guilty of grabbing an apple an rubbing it on her shirt, thinking it is clean enough.

So now I pre wash everything before it goes in the fridge and insist my kiddos re rinse again.

I once bought apples I had to soak for 20 minutes and veggie brush scrub just to get all the film off.

It was such a turn off that I seldom eat apples to this day. Though I love berries and bannanas.

Not to add the remnants of other dis-ease causing junk that's been dormant.

[Tombi]

lifeAgift,

Even if, for example, one were to contract viruses or other "bugs" from say wiping an apple on a sweaty shirt, would not the body still through the process of detox eliminate that the same way as say a cold or flu? That would mean there would be a series of symptoms. Would that not be the same for "new toxins"?

The reason I ask is because I was one of those folks that has gone thru a lot dextox symptoms. In the beginning I had the itches, joint pain, alot of mucous, the flu (chills and fever), and a bout of a condition that was very painful, messy as well as smelly. After a month I felt the best I had ever felt. Then by the end of Feburary I contracted flu and cold symptoms back to back for a full three months. At one point my son sneezed on my hand and being no where to wash it right away, I imediately caught another cold. In fact the symptoms (sore throat) started before we got home. I am now over that cold stuff. After that that little nasty painful, messy, smelly condition returned yet again full force. That has now cured. Three weeks ago I noticed these itchy sores in my head and the lympe node behind my left ear was swollen. Then my hair start to thin out. Mostly in the front by my temples. I pumped up on green juice and made a conditioner from shea butter, tea tree oil, neem extract and lavender. I am happy to report that the lympe node is no longer swollen and I have peach fuzz growing where I thought I would be bald.

I guess what I am saying (by giving you all of this) is Rawkinlocs is 100% correct...no one here can diagnosis, however we can support provided that the person going through what may be detox is understanding that detox varies in levels and degrees and that one will come out on the other side. Detox is a process and sometimes it is extremely unpleasant. But no matter how unpleasant it may be there is the other side.

As for germs and bugs in the foods that we eat. My attitude is nothing is perfect, there are no gaurantees that we will ever live germ free. However I have confidence in healthy living and I know that by eating a raw lifestyle my body will combat germs and bugs that do not belong there. That is the main reason I maintain a COMPLETELY RAW lifestyle.

I for one can not say detox is overrated. There is no way I can do that based on my experience with it and the fact that I keep in mind that I may more than likely have more battles with it. Detox is a reality. I also know that it will take about 3 years before the body is at a state of complete optimum health. However, there is this little song that goes on in the back of my mind..."Ya gotta go through it to get to it, you can't stop with what ya got!" :D

[ryana]

Thank you for all your advice. I am currently seeing both a raw vegan doc and a "mainstream doc" who by the way insisted because i'm vegan i'm deficent in b12 not true I now have the blood tests to prove it. The natropathic doc said he thinks my body isn't digesting the nutrents from my food. and that I have a blood sugar prob i go back tomarrow to get more details on his advice. I believe i'm pretty good with reading my body and although this may be detox I get a feeling it isn't. I did however remebered just 3 yrs ago i od'd on asprin and nyquill and realized although I've been vegan for 5 yrs and hardly ever took any meds that was a lot of poision to pump through me at once. also for a coupple of yrs i ate fast food almost every day. I'm feeling pretty good today. I realize i cannot work out for the time being which alone depresses me. I get depressed easily and resting this much at home alone is really putting me in a depression. I wont eat cooked food right now. I've come way to far to give in. however I work for my fatehr and he knows how awful i've been feeling and he knows what "diet" I'm on and he just stands there and shakes he's head as I struggle to caught up at work. It's so frustrating. Mabye it is detox but i just never expected to detox this bad but then again I did spend a good portion of my life in very deep drepression that i just over came about 2 yrs ago. and depression makes you lethargic so mabye it's more of an emotional detox turned physical. I just don't want to get any worst. I fear missing too much work. I fear being home too much and getting very depressed again. I fear gaining weight. I fear being wrong about raw foods.

yesterday I consumed I guessing here

5 bananas
7 table spoons of almond butter
1 large salad mixed greens bellpeppers sunflower seeds etc.

i thought i ate more but i can't remeber anything else

thanks again everyone

[rawpriestess]

That film on apples MAY be natural and may be there for a purpose.

We grow most of our own foods, and when we pick our apples, many different kinds, they have kind of a waxy feel, (not all are the same) and when we leave them for a while on our counter, they get more waxy as they get older.

I asked the local apple orchard guys about this, if they had noticed this, and they said, yes, that the apples produce their own little waxy film to keep pests down as they ripen and eventually are covered with a kind of greasy film.

So this is natural and is part of the apple's little life cycle.

we use no pestisides or fertilizers, we use crystals under own plants, and we talk to them, and hug our trees, and caress our bushes, and plants, and they produce beautifully, we are blessed.

[rawpriestess]

also, we use no veggie scrub or brush, or cleaner, we don't even rinse our veggies from the garden, unless they have tons of dirt on them.

we eat straight from the bush or tree and we are healthy as can be.

Now, when we buy from the stores, we just "feel" the energy of the produce before we eat it, and 99% of the time, we don't rinse it either. as we also "feel" the energy of the produce before we buy it.

I know we don't have TV, and there are probably countless commericals out there telling us to wash and rinse our produce with some spray stuff, as I saw this spray stuff in the store, so I'm sure there is someone out there saying that we NEED this stuff. but not me, I personally think the outgassing of the plastic spray bottle to be worse for me and the environment, than anything I could get from fresh produce.

but HEY, that's just me, I'm pretty darn natural about everything.