Saturday, December 12, 2009

Rollercoaster

Whew!  What a week!  It started out great, and then, just as I thought I had mastered this thing, all hell broke loose.

With my goal to stay vegan and just add more protein to my diet, I went out and bought a vegan harmonized protein powder, which had various ingredients.  It really helped with the protracted withdrawal, my symptoms cleared up and my energy soared.  I took Dr. Martin Seligmann's Authentic Happiness Inventory Questionnaire, and scored really high.  I took the same test several years ago when I was depressed, and I've raised my score by about 50 percentile points since then.  It is really an amazing improvement, which I attribute partially to the Empowerplus, and partially to my mental discipline of always trying to think a better feeling thought, thanks to the Abraham-Hicks teachings.  I was feeling great.

The next day the protein powder caused an allergic reaction.  Not a big one, but enough to realize that I had to stop taking it.  It had been giving me minor allergic symptoms all along, but I thought I would get used to it.  That's not how allergies work, of course.

The day after that I was feeling poorly all day, and I made a baked potato with some sauteed mushrooms for dinner.  I had a huge allergic reaction, not life-threatening, my throat did swell somewhat but it didn't actually stop my breathing.  And of course there was the diarrhea and overheating that goes with anaphylaxis too.  I nearly died from an anaphylatic episode in my early 20s, so I knew what was going on.  I have eaten mushrooms all my life without incident, but this time they did me in.  I think probably it was the earlier reactions to the protein powder that primed the pump for such a bad reaction this time.

For the next two days practically everything I ate re-triggered the allergic symptoms.  I thought I was allergic to the Empowerplus, and stopped taking that, and then I thought it was the Total Amino Solutions, and I stopped that too.  My blood pressure dropped really low, another result of anaphylaxis, and I've been eating salt like crazy to try to restore electrolytes.

Two days after I stopped the Empowerplus my protracted withdrawal symptoms cleared up.  I have been suspecting that it is the Empowerplus that acts as a detox that releases the stored medications from the body's tissues, and this pretty much confirms that theory.  On the third day without Empowerplus I had a big anxiety attack.  I have not had any anxiety since July.  I had been hoping that I would be able to stay off the Empowerplus for a while, but after that anxiety attack I went right back to it.

Another result of the allergic reaction and the diarrhea is that my IBS is back every morning.  That's been gone for months also, so I am not happy to see it return.  I had thought that it was the FermPlus probiotic that cured my IBS, but clearly the Empowerplus was a factor there as well.  I have always suspected that my IBS had a psychological component, I guess this proves that too.

Today I am eating without incident, although my face has been hot all day.  Something is still not right.  I have a feeling my thyroid is misbehaving.  If I am still no better by Monday I will get it checked.  I'll just have to see how this plays out.