As a child, I remember being sick - All. The. Time. I also remember being quite happy and loved. But overshadowing that happiness were chronic ear infections, long repeat visits to the emergency room for un-diagnosed asthma, being restricted from foods that gave me rashes or other symptoms, paralyzing fear of dogs due to being told they could trigger my asthma (once it was diagnosed), high powered air filters, closed windows to keep pollen out, having to drive instead of fly to Florida to visit my grandparents so we could take my Nebulizer machine in case I had a severe asthma flare up, and dark circles under my eyes with doctors telling my mom I had ADD and that I needed medication.
Enter: my mother. She was a complete saint who wanted to take care of her baby girl the best she could. She put me on food elimination diets, tracked my symptoms and made substitute recipes to replace the favorite foods I reacted to. She helped all of us in the home to eat well for the time period - with lots of vegetables and whole grains. She treated my asthma with all the traditional holistic medicine (she was very ahead of her time) and researched to create a clean home environment to reduce the frequency of my asthma attacks. She taught me how to read with Hooked on Phonics when I had a reading delay. She put me on a "candida" diet to help with yeast overgrowth problems that I seemed to have. At 12 years old I had been healthy and strong with no asthma for about 2 years. So she asked if I wanted to go to Wendy's and I squealed with joy - I was over the moon.
Fast forward to age 19. I'm off to college. I moved into a pretty old dorm, I started drinking alcohol at the end of that year, and I most definitely was eating a SAD (Standard American Diet) at this point - full of pizza, cheesy bread, pasta, and sugary cereals for breakfast. Oh yeah, and don't forget the instant mac & cheese cups with hotdogs mixed in that I totally thought was a meal...
While all these lifestyle changes were not the best for my overall health...the worst factor was the likely exposure to water damaged buildings. My freshman dorm was certainly moldy, and although the remainder of my college life was spent in new-build apartments (praise God for that provision), I had frequented a boyfriends apartment that had black mold growing up the shower wall/ceiling.
I also went to bars and clubs that certainly were water damaged - if only from all the spilled drinks every night. The buildings where I attended classes were very old as well, and may have contributed to the progressive decline I experienced. As college went on, I became more anxious and stressed, had recurring ear infections & sinus infections, and can admit now that I had aggressive mood swings that were not in my prior nature (although I have close family relatives prone to similar mood swings). I brushed off these symptoms for a long while until one day a light bulb went off in my head and I recalled my food allergies from childhood. I got MRT testing completed (more on that later), and I completed an elimination diet. I felt significantly better by end of summer, but declined again upon returning to college for graduate school.
This decline involved joint pain, mainly in my knees, increased fatigue (maybe not quite yet chronic fatigue), and the beginnings of fibromyalgia. And the ever continuing sinus pressure + recurrent colds. After graduating with my masters and starting work, I continued to pursue treatments for food allergies. I completed LDA (Low Dose Allergen) therapy with inconsistent, but progressive success. It wasn't until 4 years later when my LDA physician closed his practice suddenly (after a very stressful transition year in 2016) that I felt abandoned - by the world, by God...I didn't know why I wasn't able to get the allergy shots that I had put all my faith in any longer. I quickly understood that God wanted me to put my faith in Him, and definitely not in something that was not only temporal. He also showed me this provision has been like putting a band-aid on an amputated limb. This was the start of an amazing relationship with my Lord and Savior... and a tumultuous health journey.
To be continued.