There are so many variables with hives, AI, and thyroid issues. That’s why I say, if you can afford it, see a functional medical doctor or doctor of Chinese medicine. That paradigm is more built for ongoing treatment of complex issues like these. Meanwhile...
While I was still in the extremely miserable stage, Debra sent me a blend of Chinese herbs. I’d already used another blend from someone I had a telehealth appointment with. He was good, clearly, but Debra thought his blend wasn't dealing with the heat enough. His blend gave me a little relief with my eyes but it was still really bad. Debra’s blend was extensive. It started working. Somewhat predictably, the hives started leaving my eyes, and moved to my neck and then my chest. When hives are really bad, they move around like that. I don’t know how to begin to thank her! She didn’t just send me herbs, she listened, she advised, she comforted. She held me up in that time when I was all in one moment ready to fall off the abyss and/or was a puddle of tears on the floor. Christina, though also super busy and very much guards her alone time and time taking care of herself, was also keeping me going with her own words of wisdom and explanations as to what my gut was doing and how I really was healing and doing a good job. It was important for me to hear that - you’re doing a good job, you’re doing well. It sounded like a foreign language to me because I was so miserable, but I trust Christina and have trusted her with my life more than once. Yes, she’s available for telehealth as well!
So finally, after many weeks, I had turned a corner. Everything contributed but I think the herbs Debra gave me kicked in the liver healing to a new level. I had a team of people helping me! I was too close to it to even think straight and make good decisions. I am now making my own blends with plants like Nettles, Red Clover, Dandelion, Ashwaganda, Yellow Dock, Burdock and everyday I take a Reishi tincture I made awhile ago (a double extraction). When it was really bad, I was relying on a cbd tincture I made to help me stay calm and keep my nervous system from constantly jumping at the danger - think flight or fight. I don’t need that much anymore. I was also using GABA under my tongue in those moments of stress and anxiety. Not using that much anymore either.
This brings me to the Zyrtec. I hated to start taking it. But I was truly desperate and didn’t want to throw myself off of a building. I made an appointment with an allergist. Not for me, I knew it would be useless. But I did it - and I’m going to out you here honey - for Nate. Nate is a tough dude with a helping, fixing heart. He fixes. You know what I’m talking about ladies, because most of your men are probably also fixers. He couldn’t fix this. He thought he wasn’t helping. He was literally yelling at me to, “just go see a real doctor!”. A real doctor. That’s when someone like me knows, this person doesn’t understand how the western paradigm works. He was wrong by the way; he was hugely helpful!!! The ice packs made with corn syrup were life saving. All the little ways that he helped with the dogs or did my dishes, and simply put up with all the crazy, were all life saving. That’s the level of irritation I experienced every moment of the day. The allergist's office set an appointment for two weeks away and said I could take two Zyrtec a day. I did it. It took a teeny bit of the edge off. It also made me feel dry as a desert and like I was getting a sinus infection. I did it anyway. I went to the allergist, figuring I’d at least get some blood work out of the deal and maybe a better understanding of what was happening in my body. I got nothing but a horrible case of medical bullying. Even I was shocked by it. He told me to take 10 Zyrtec a day! And Allegra too! And a high dose Pepcid! I’d already told him about my gut struggles so I was appalled that he would give me an antacid. He explained nothing. He had no interest in my AI illness. No interest in blood work. And gave me a ten minute lecture on the evils of the vaccine. It was a great reminder for me about why that’s a waste of time with a situation like this. And it forced the conversation with Nate, so we both learned something.
A few days later I went off the Zyrtec. It wasn’t working anymore, my body wanted more, and I wasn’t going down that road, to bring myself some other physical issue to deal with. That day I mentioned it to Christina and she reminded me of something, in her blunt and no nonsense way. She knew I knew it too. You can’t do both. You can’t suppress while also trying to heal and release. You can’t do both allopathic and natural, in this way, at the same time. In about a day, my symptoms eased even more around my eyes. The war going on inside of me - suppress, release, suppress, release - was over. With enough water and electrolytes, the dryness and sinus issues subsided. My sinuses were still releasing after being pent up for 2-3 weeks. Think about that everytime you take those pills for allergies. What are they suppressing in your body??
I started feeling better. A very, very little bit at a time. I was actually afraid to admit it - afraid to jinx it and have it get worse again. Debra talked me into letting that crap go too. Hives cycle. Until they’re gone, they cycle. But after two weeks off the Zyrtec and being on Chinese herbs, I started to steadily get better. Ok so about the vaccine. I am not an anti vaxxer. I do not like new vaccines. In fact, I don’t do new vaccines. I collect information and I look for a way out of them. I did that with the chickenpox vaccine. The nurse said, it’s new so who knows how it will affect you - let’s check your titer in case you had it but didn’t really get sick. We did and my titer was through the roof. That’s how much I don’t like new vaccines. But I had covid and it stuck with me for six months. Covid was politicized so horribly and unethically when it should’ve been treated as a health issue and as a result, solid answers were hard to come by. The CDC messed it all up too. I wasn’t going to turn down the vaccine because a conspiracy theorist said they were full of microchips. And even the best people in the medical profession didn’t really know what else to do. Neither did I. I knew I didn't want to get covid again. Getting the answer to, which is better, vaccine immunity or previous infection immunity, was proving impossible at the time. So in March of 2021 I got the J & J. It sucked for a week and then I was glad I did it. We decided not to do anymore though until an update came out. In October of last year, we both got our bivalents, Moderna. The first mRNA vaccine to enter my body. I had the same reaction, less than a week that time, and then just glad I’d done it. I do not think the vaccine gave me hives!! But what I think now, is that given my AI condition, mRNA is not the thing that should go into my body. I think it’s very possible that the vaccine, once I reeked havoc on my gut and got hives, caused my body to have a reaction and start an inflammatory process that just got out of control. There simply was no slowing it down, no stopping the histamine process. In a way, it did what we want our bodies to do - fight foreign invaders. Moving on, now I know. In the process, much healing has happened.
The third section of Izabella’s book is the gut protocol. If you’ve ever talked to me about gut health, you know I think health and illness begins here. You also knows that it’s complex. Most people do not fully understand what is happening in these all important organs and how much they affect the other abdominal organs like the liver, kidneys, and gall bladder. Over the decades I’ve learned a lot from Christina - she really has a unique gift and I wish she’d write a book! But the third section, now that the liver and adrenals are happier, is about making the gut happier. There’s a huge range here of ways to do that. Diet, as always is a big part. Finding out what’s irritating to your gut and getting to know your gut better are also important. And remember, just because you cut out all dairy from your diet today, doesn’t mean you can’t go back to it, back to healthy dairy, in a few months. You can always try it once you get sorted out, and see how you react. I was lactose intolerant many years ago! I cleaned up my act and was able to have dairy again, though it was always high quality and in smaller doses.
Did you know that fetal origin of the thyroid gland is the same as the digestive tract, stomach, and tongue? The cells of the thyroid gland can just be considered cells of the digestive system. There’s even a birth defect that can put a functioning thyroid gland on the tongue. I did not know that but it certainly explains why so many of us improve our antibody levels after changing our diets.
Did you know that 40% of people with Hashimoto’s and chronic hives have Blastis Hominis? That’s a protozoa that lives in the gut. That’s a lot of people! I’ve traveled, I’ve had food poisoning, and I’ve learned that we can have gut parasites like we can have yeast and bacteria in our guts. They are there and we can manage them. Again, I am not into the forceful purging and that goes, in most cases, for parasites too. I am in the process of making my gut far less hospitable to them. I’ve been down this road before and this time I hope to stick to it!
Fourth are the advanced protocols like going after the EBV and looking at gut protozoa. I am currently working my way through the gut protocol. At the end of that, when I am well, I’ll be ready for a little more blood work and Izabella's other protocols. Maybe Cordyceps and Olive Leaf (which is an anti-viral I love) to go after any old and buried viruses. Maybe a blend I make for Blastis Hominis. I really don’t know yet what will be next. Everything I’m doing and have been doing is intended to move out old viruses and bacteria, keep my gut strong to do so, support my liver and kidneys, and stay freaking calm.
Right now, it’s May 5th. Going on four months! I’ve made great progress in just the last two weeks! I would say, I am free of hives right now. They moved from my eyes, to my neck and chest, and then very mildly worked their way down my body. I even had a little on my toe a few days ago. It was hard work to get here. I won’t lie and tell you it was joyous. But it was worth it! I learned so much about my body. I healed wounds that needed healing. That process is never what we call easy.
I learned to love myself more and I decided I deserve to be healthy (yes, positive self talk was very helpful). I convinced myself I was getting better even when I had made only the smallest improvement. I did a healing Mayan spiritual healing for myself and while I’m sure I looked ok on the outside, I was screaming on the inside. Screaming from deep within my body. I could feel the rage of my own organs, the heat, the liver anger, and the kidney fear. I just sat there, observing that screaming that seemed to come from the present moment as well as from the past. At some point, as I was getting better, finally, I realized that I needed that looooong time of feeling awful. My brain needed to catch up to my body in that time - to absorb what I was learning and accept what behaviors I absolutely must change. Not getting better faster, forced me to recognize those behaviors and then begin to truly change those behaviors. Yes, I had to be forced! My body was telling me something physical, emotional, and spiritual. Accept, change, heal, move forward. At some point, I told my hives - ok, I get it now, I’ve learned this lesson that you’ve been trying to teach me for 30 years, you can go now.
There’s plenty left to learn and always room for improvement. For now, I’m living in those glorious days of post illness, figuring out how to move forward, going deeper than ever in carefully seeing how my body reacts to foods, activities, stressors, and my own monkey mind. And of course, looking forward to summer in Montana!
