Where she stops nobody knows.
I have told the story of my MS mishap, now nearly 30 years later part two.
The past two years have been bit for the whole world. Just as New Zealand finally reopens its borders I found myself knocked out with a terrible flu.
I couldn't move, sitting up in bed was uncomfortable. I lay there for two days, barely eating anything, just water and fruit. Thankfully I had access to some powerful Rongoa (plant medicine) that supported my respiratory health and helped the fever to burn
In just three days it was as if nothing had happened.
The following week I experienced incredible vertigo and even vomited a couple of times.
Again, within a few days I was right as rain.
The dizziness returned but wasn’t quite like regular vertigo. I realized it was my eyes. Difficulty focusing and my balance was all over the place.
Being single, living alone and running a business is all a bit challenging when your health is not the best. But the show must go on!
I realised that what had happened to me in 2022 was reminiscent of 1995. This, as you can imagine, gave me pause and a little panic.
What if it was MS? What if this was the real deal?
I immediately cast my mind back to what we did back then. Diet, supplements, exercise and other great tools that I now have at my fingertips. Tools I didn’t have in 1995, the internet for example.
DR GOOGLE
I am not a fan of doctor google but used correctly gave me enough insight to help me make some positive changes.
For the record I did go to the doctor and have him check me over, but I am still waiting for the call from the neurologist to make an appointment.
In the meantime I wasn’t about to sit around and wait for the phone to ring. When it comes to my health I have become proactive. It's the one thing that I do not want to lose. So any action has to be good right?
What I learned from DR google was that perhaps it was a vitamin deficiency, the same symptoms were attributed to Ataxia which it seems can be brought on by a B12 deficiency among other things.
It appeared that what we did back in 1995 was probably the best ting to do again.
What I did was
Diet changes
Supplementation to support diet
Exercise.
I am already all over the exercise. I immediately looked at what was in my kitchen and threw out anything that I felt wasn’t helping. In sort anything in a packet. That included breakfast cereals, convenience snacks, crackers and anything in a plastic bag.
Then replace it with a better option. Breakfast became homemade granola which I will share the recipe for in a separate post. I was cooking all my dinners from scratch making sure I cooked enough to feed myself or at least lunch the next day.
Meal prep has become a thing in my life. My routine is generally on a Sunday or Wednesday to prepare enough food for at least one meal a day for the following 5 days.
You see. What I was doing was planning my meals and shopping in a way that catered for my nutritional needs. Not just what I felt like. If I did that I would have takeaway's every night.
Supplements
Some would say that all you do is create expensive urine when you take supplements, I agree to a point. What I needed was a boost so in this case supplements were completely necessary to bring levels up to a suitable level.
I won't take a multivitamin supplement because not all vitamins are created equally, and one can prevent the uptake of another. For example did you know vitamin c can prevent the uptake of B12 when taken together. It’s best to take them 2 hours apart. So the likes of some energy drinks that have these two in their formula actually don’t do anything for you.
What I did was learn what I might need and buy them individually, yes it is a little more expensive this way but for the sake of my wellbeing it is absolutely worth it.
I also learned that the average amount of a vitamin we carry to maintain our health doesn't necessarily mean anything. I had to really pump up all my vitamins to truly understand what my normal looked like.
Diet
It’s best to get your daily intake from food but if you are like me you would need to eat all day every day and have a wheelbarrow load of food in front of you each time you sit down to eat to get everything you need. Thus the supplements.
Our body processed whole foods better than a supplement. If we are able to maintain a balanced diet of proteins, carbohydrates, fats and plants we will be just fine.
For me I need to eat 5- 6 times a day and reasonably good meals too. Kind of like a hobbit. My food diary looks a little bit like this
Breakfast: coffee, either two eggs. Toast or granola with a banana
Second: Breakfast: Beef and salad sandwich water
Elevensies: nuts and seed (trail) mix
Dinner: carb, animal protein, salad
Afternoon tea: Sandwich with protein
Tea: animal Protein carb or grain with veggies
Supper: cup of tea whole grain toast with nut butter
So far eating like this with the supplement has appropriately curbed the symptoms, my intention is that I will not need the extra vitamins. But I get all my nutrients from the food that I eat.
So the best way to make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need for a sustaining healthy life is to balance your diet. It may seem like a chore at the moment but putting the right habits in place will not only save time but money too.
