So I’ve moved recently. For the past 3 years I’ve been living in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. My family has recently moved though, back down ‘south’ to the province I was born and raised in, British Columbia (Vernon – the heart of the Okanagan to be be exact). With this move, I’ve had access to more specialists, and I did not let a moment go by before starting to dig deeper into my symptoms. Why you may ask?
One of the many amazing things about the AI protocol, is that if you are on it for a long enough period of time, you may find that your healing plateau’s. That you just stop getting ‘better’. And this leaves you puzzled…what have I done wrong? What has changed? Did I miss something? And rationally, it makes you dig a little deeper.
This happened to me. Around month 8 or 9 into the AI protocol, it was apparent that even though my health had changed radically (I was sleeping again, I was maintaining a good weight, my brain fog was gone (mostly), the Raynauds was greatly improved, sugar cravings were gone, the afternoon sugar slumps gone, and the list goes on…) there were still things that remained. The psoriasis was not only still there, it would still flare. The chronic morning cough I’ve had for years…still there. Food sensitivities, still there. So it became clear to me, that something was still holding me back. But what?
Then the testing began. I won’t go into the details of allll the appointments with allll of the doctors as there have been many. But to date, this is what we have found:
1) Lyme Disease. A controversial disease with a controversial diagnosis, controversial testing, and controversial co-infections. Especially if you live in Canada. And don’t even get me started with the controversial treatment. This one deserves it’s own post at a later date so for now, I will move on.
2) A lung infection. An xray revealed inflammation and a culture has detected a mycobacteria. The same genus of bacteria that causes TB and Leprosy but thank goodness I don’t have either of those (further testing ruled those out). But I do have one of the other 100+ options. So then it was another waiting game…the culture had to grow enough so a species could be identified, which can sometimes take up to 4 months or so. This diagnosis clearly fits in my symptoms list and I’m curious if this might have been my ‘trigger’ to set my AI diseases in progress, all those years ago? Or, even more intriguing, is this just one more piece of the puzzle? Fast forward to the culture results which turned out to be MAC, or mycobacterial avium complex. Usually not an issue for anyone with a strong immune system but clearly, that is not the case with me. The next step is to determine if we are going to treat with conventional medicines (aka antibiotics). The treatment is not fun nor easy apparently (a course 3-4 antibiotics for up to a year potentially. Clearly, this does not excite me especially after spending almost an entire year now at restoring my gut health. The thought of now destroying it makes me sad and worried. But…it’s too soon to say. I am waiting for a further test, a CT scan, to determine just how extensive this infection is. Then it will be determined: to treat or not to treat.
3) An abdominal murmur. An ultrasound hasn’t been able to give us any further information as to the source of this. So the testing and digging with this still continues and will also get covered in the same CT scan as mentioned above.
4) Anemia. Not a shocker I guess since it’s nutrient deficiency that got me where I am to begin with. So when I hear that I still have a ‘deficiency’ somewhere on a blood test, it doesn’t alarm me as I’m aware I havn’t healed yet. When I do, I suspect this may correct itself but in the meantime, it fits with my symptoms. So this is where those other lifestyle factors that go along with this protocol (ie: choosing the right type of exercise) come into play. And really… it further allows me to enjoy all the meat I’ve been eating!
There are more tests results pending and I’m sure more testing to come as well. But I’m a few steps closer in my hunt for a cause of my health decline, which finally, after all these years, feels very very good.
I also need to emphasize this – never stop being a health advocate for yourself. Even though I did persist over the last many years to ask questions and ask for specific testing which mostly got refused, I never gave up. I knew that there was a piece that we were all missing and thankfully, I have now found a health care team that has finally agreed with me. If it were not for this pushing and persistence though, I may have never received the diagnosis that I have thus far. And I truly believe that my health would have continued to have suffered for it. Trust yourself to be the one to know your body the best!
True North AIP 