Truth: No. Not to this point.
I am not sure whether the lack of full pain abatement is a result of the failure of the ALCAT test itself or whether it is a result of my failure to fully eliminate all the trace remnants of foods to which I have a sensitivity. (For example, I mentioned last week my experience in Thailand--that left me in greater pain than ever.)
Following that experience, I contacted the naturopath whom I had consulted about two weeks earlier. I told her that the supplements she had urged me to take had not helped.
Her recommendation: "Get 8 stalks of celery and juice them. Starting at 4 p.m. one day and finishing at 4 p.m. the next day, drink only the juiced celery." --This was supposed to serve as a "cleanse."
Well, I began my cleanse/fast at 7 p.m. one day and concluded it at 8:30 p.m. the next day.
My pain definitely subsided during that 24-hour period, but it didn't go away entirely. And then I ate at a restaurant. I had eaten the same food at that restaurant before and had never had a problem, but last Thursday, for some reason, I had a bad reaction. Just as I put the key into the ignition and the car upon leaving the restaurant, I could feel my right index finger and thumb begin to swell. By the next day, I was in worse pain than ever.
For the next five days, I ate nothing but brown rice or millet plus chopped celery cooked in filtered water, sea salt, and coconut oil. Toward the end, I also sometimes added organic applesauce that had no sweeteners of any variety added to it.
After five days, I was hoping I would pain-free. I thought I could then experiment, adding one new ingredient per meal, to see which ingredient would trigger a sensitivity reaction.
Sadly, after five days, I was just about as wracked with pain as ever. And then, without explanation, even when I was eating food for which I should have been completely free of all reactions, my thumb or my feet would become excruciatingly inflamed.
Yesterday, for the first time, I found myself completely unable to use the thumb and forefinger of my right hand to open a simple plastic-on-plastic, screw-off cap from a bottle of lotion. I mean, we're not talking a lot of pressure, here! But I simply could not bear the pain. So I squeezed the top between the inside of my little finger and the palm of my hand and unscrewed the cover.
I am very frustrated.
At the same time, I am highly motivated to find something other than the standard drugs to relieve my pain!
This morning, I saw an ad for a "new" drug for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.
"Sounds great," I thought to myself as I clicked through. And here is what I saw:
Looks great, doesn't it?
Yes, it does. Until you read the fine print, below:
Oh, yeah! That's what I want! (Not!)
The warnings continue:
What is the most important information I should know about CIMZIA?Doesn't that make you want to take CIMZIA?
CIMZIA is a medicine that affects your immune system. CIMZIA can lower the ability of the immune system to fight infections. Serious infections have happened in patients taking CIMZIA, including tuberculosis (TB) infections caused by viruses, fungi, or bacteria that have spread throughout the body. Some patients have died from these infections.
There is more, but I will leave that up to you to read on the CIMZIA page itself.
Enjoy your health while you have it!
