Icequeen
07-17-2010, 02:51 AM
Hi all, another newbie to the crowd. I've been raw for about 2 weeks now. My mother died exactly 4 months ago to the day that I started. During my time I spent with her on her death bed, the one thing she said to me, that will stick with me forever is: Do what you have to do to get healthy. I don’t care how much it costs… I’m leaving you enough money to take care of YOU. Get healthy… DO IT. You see, my mother and I shared many of the same diseases and symptoms, yet here she was, at 64 years of age, laying in her bed at home waiting to die of Pancreatic Cancer. She had just been diagnosed on the 22nd of December 2009. Prior to that, she had no symptoms. When they found it, it was too late for any treatments, so they sent her home to die. She did that on March 7th, 2010… just 2.5 months after she was diagnosed.
It took me a couple of months to regroup after my mother died. Being her hospice nurse was the most excruciating task I have ever had to do in my life. I thank God that I had my Aunt with me, to help share the burden (I am an only child). It certainly didn’t make it any easier.. we sobbed together many a day as we watched my mother slip farther and farther away. Her last three days were the most brutal on the planet. She was no longer responsive, yet I still had to medicate her, and the liquid meds would make her choke, and I felt like I was torturing her… it was HORRIBLE. I vowed right then that I would NEVER put my family through that.. EVER. So I set out on my quest to find out how to cure what ailed me.
I had already been diagnosed with fibromyalgia (so did mom) I had C-Reactive protein levels through the roof (My last test they were 27) (so did my mom) I was in pain every single day (so was mom) I suffered from hypothyroid and I was terrified I was going to die (just like mom). I knew from lots of research that my adrenals were in trouble, but had never had them tested. I was obese (my highest weight was 286) when mom was sick, I was between 265-275. Anyway you look at it, on a 5’8” frame, that’s seriously obese (so was mom… she was 300 at 5’10”)
Shortly after mom died, I went and got my adrenals tested. The results weren’t good. I was classified as having adrenal exhaustion (the level before death basically) I worked with my acupuncturist (I had been in a car accident in October of 09, and he was helping me with my lower back pain) and he set me up on a Chinese herb blend to take, in addition to a small arsenal of supplements, to slowly, naturally, heal my adrenals. He told me it could take anywhere from 1-2 years and gave a long list of do and don’t dos. I went home and tried his regime. The problem is… I suck at taking lots of pills (and there were LOTS!) and the herbs made me sick as a dog…. Everything from loose stool to nausea to pancreatitis (and don’t think I didn’t think I was dying of pancreatic cancer while that was going on). He told me he could switch up my herb blend, but honestly… I didn’t want any part of it. It just didn’t fit with my life… so I sought out other treatments. Somewhere along the line I also injured my shoulder. My shoulder pain was debilitating. I had a constant burn that kept me from sleeping, concentrating, living. It was unbearable and never ending. I had gone to a shoulder specialist who gave me a cortisone shot and said it may or may not last long term, that he could see from the xrays that there were problems in the joint. He told me, if the shot didn’t last, I’d have to come back for an MRI to see how much surgery would need to be done. The shot gave me pain relief for a week. Being self employed and having a 10k deductible on my health insurance, I really had no desire to pay 3k for an MRI anytime soon (let alone the cost of surgery) so I started looking deeper for alternatives to heal my body.
A local friend of mine had recently started a raw food diet. She had chronic pain her entire life from juvenile onset arthritis to degenerative disc disease to permanent nerve damage and hearing loss in one of her ears since childhood. After 4 months, she was pain free, she had hearing back in her ear, she had feeling in the leg that had permanent nerve damage… she was CURED. When she went to the doctor for her annual scans, everything was GONE… like not even visible in the scans anymore! Her arthritis disappeared, her discs were normally spaced, she was CURED. She went from being suicidal from the constant pain to being on top of the world!
I had read a lot about the raw food diet previously but thought… “no way… there is no way I can live on that diet up in Alaska. It’s just too hard to get fresh veggies and fruits here… I’ll die!” But seeing a local do it, and not only survive, but LIVE for the first time in her life sold me.
I ate a pretty healthy diet for the most part. Mostly organic, whole foods, no preservatives, rarely processed, etc. Obviously, from my weight, I ate too much of it!
My first week was unbearable. I swear, the cows of America were in deep danger of me attacking them with a spork, merely to have a steak. Thankfully, those cravings subsided after a couple of days. On July 10th, it would have been my mothers 65th birthday. My daughter wanted to celebrate gramma's birthday like we always did, so we cooked halibut (mom's favorite) and got a cake. I ate some halibut and had a slice of cake. About a half hour later, I felt SO SICK. I haven't had a bite of cooked food since.
I'm constantly trying to find new recipes. Still trying to build my staple diet, so I don't feel like I'm forever in the kitchen soaking, dehydrating, searching for recipes, etc. I was very fortunate that I was a kitchen gadget whore before my raw journey, so I already had a dehydrator, food processor, vitamix, spice grinders to grind my flax, strainers to make milk, etc. so I didn't have a lot of start up cost, which made things easier for me.
I haven't noticed any detox symptoms yet, but I've been told they should be coming soon. I haven't noticed any enormous changes yet, but I do notice that my energy level is increasing and I really look forward to getting the results that I read from so many people. I truly believe I'm raw for life now :)
I look forward to getting to know all of you!
It took me a couple of months to regroup after my mother died. Being her hospice nurse was the most excruciating task I have ever had to do in my life. I thank God that I had my Aunt with me, to help share the burden (I am an only child). It certainly didn’t make it any easier.. we sobbed together many a day as we watched my mother slip farther and farther away. Her last three days were the most brutal on the planet. She was no longer responsive, yet I still had to medicate her, and the liquid meds would make her choke, and I felt like I was torturing her… it was HORRIBLE. I vowed right then that I would NEVER put my family through that.. EVER. So I set out on my quest to find out how to cure what ailed me.
I had already been diagnosed with fibromyalgia (so did mom) I had C-Reactive protein levels through the roof (My last test they were 27) (so did my mom) I was in pain every single day (so was mom) I suffered from hypothyroid and I was terrified I was going to die (just like mom). I knew from lots of research that my adrenals were in trouble, but had never had them tested. I was obese (my highest weight was 286) when mom was sick, I was between 265-275. Anyway you look at it, on a 5’8” frame, that’s seriously obese (so was mom… she was 300 at 5’10”)
Shortly after mom died, I went and got my adrenals tested. The results weren’t good. I was classified as having adrenal exhaustion (the level before death basically) I worked with my acupuncturist (I had been in a car accident in October of 09, and he was helping me with my lower back pain) and he set me up on a Chinese herb blend to take, in addition to a small arsenal of supplements, to slowly, naturally, heal my adrenals. He told me it could take anywhere from 1-2 years and gave a long list of do and don’t dos. I went home and tried his regime. The problem is… I suck at taking lots of pills (and there were LOTS!) and the herbs made me sick as a dog…. Everything from loose stool to nausea to pancreatitis (and don’t think I didn’t think I was dying of pancreatic cancer while that was going on). He told me he could switch up my herb blend, but honestly… I didn’t want any part of it. It just didn’t fit with my life… so I sought out other treatments. Somewhere along the line I also injured my shoulder. My shoulder pain was debilitating. I had a constant burn that kept me from sleeping, concentrating, living. It was unbearable and never ending. I had gone to a shoulder specialist who gave me a cortisone shot and said it may or may not last long term, that he could see from the xrays that there were problems in the joint. He told me, if the shot didn’t last, I’d have to come back for an MRI to see how much surgery would need to be done. The shot gave me pain relief for a week. Being self employed and having a 10k deductible on my health insurance, I really had no desire to pay 3k for an MRI anytime soon (let alone the cost of surgery) so I started looking deeper for alternatives to heal my body.
A local friend of mine had recently started a raw food diet. She had chronic pain her entire life from juvenile onset arthritis to degenerative disc disease to permanent nerve damage and hearing loss in one of her ears since childhood. After 4 months, she was pain free, she had hearing back in her ear, she had feeling in the leg that had permanent nerve damage… she was CURED. When she went to the doctor for her annual scans, everything was GONE… like not even visible in the scans anymore! Her arthritis disappeared, her discs were normally spaced, she was CURED. She went from being suicidal from the constant pain to being on top of the world!
I had read a lot about the raw food diet previously but thought… “no way… there is no way I can live on that diet up in Alaska. It’s just too hard to get fresh veggies and fruits here… I’ll die!” But seeing a local do it, and not only survive, but LIVE for the first time in her life sold me.
I ate a pretty healthy diet for the most part. Mostly organic, whole foods, no preservatives, rarely processed, etc. Obviously, from my weight, I ate too much of it!
My first week was unbearable. I swear, the cows of America were in deep danger of me attacking them with a spork, merely to have a steak. Thankfully, those cravings subsided after a couple of days. On July 10th, it would have been my mothers 65th birthday. My daughter wanted to celebrate gramma's birthday like we always did, so we cooked halibut (mom's favorite) and got a cake. I ate some halibut and had a slice of cake. About a half hour later, I felt SO SICK. I haven't had a bite of cooked food since.
I'm constantly trying to find new recipes. Still trying to build my staple diet, so I don't feel like I'm forever in the kitchen soaking, dehydrating, searching for recipes, etc. I was very fortunate that I was a kitchen gadget whore before my raw journey, so I already had a dehydrator, food processor, vitamix, spice grinders to grind my flax, strainers to make milk, etc. so I didn't have a lot of start up cost, which made things easier for me.
I haven't noticed any detox symptoms yet, but I've been told they should be coming soon. I haven't noticed any enormous changes yet, but I do notice that my energy level is increasing and I really look forward to getting the results that I read from so many people. I truly believe I'm raw for life now :)
I look forward to getting to know all of you!