A story from the patient archive
Let me tell you a story – are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin 😊
Once upon a time there was a girl whose whole life seemed to be filled with pain.
She had had a headache for 7 years, and then just as that was getting fixed, she had a bad fall off the windows climbing frame in the school gym, landing on the high jump mat – on both her knees.
She laughed in embarrassment and shrugged it off, but a few days later when she woke up, she couldn’t move her legs.
That was scary! Fortunately it turned out to be “only” a slipped disc – unusual aged fourteen.
Her osteopath treated her and helped her to get better, but her lower back rumbled on, grumbling in the background as bad backs do. More pain….
When she was 15 she met her first boyfriend, and they went out for over 2 years, a long time at that age 😊 He was vegetarian, and she was very much in love, so she asked her mother if she too could become a vegetarian.
Her mother, an overworked teacher, replied – that’s fine with me, so long as I don’t have to do any extra cooking.
This was a wonderful opportunity for our heroine to experiment and find out about eating healthily, which she enjoyed, and she loved the cooking!
Sadly she didn’t love her body, and when she was 16 she became anorexic for a while, to the degree that her periods stopped.
Then, to her disgust, she gained all the weight she had lost and gained some more as well.
She went to university to study music, but didn’t enjoy the course. It was there that she decided to retrain in something completely different. Then she was deeply hurt that most of the staff and her fellow students stopped talking to her.
Off she went to evening classes to learn the new subjects she needed for her new training, which she loved – she loved learning new things!
That winter she was in a car accident with lots of broken bones – her left leg was effectively no longer connected to her body and it took her months before she could walk without any crutches or walking sticks. That was a ton of pain. But she kept on smiling…
She eventually made a good recovery, and was able to cycle, and eventually even took up squash. That was fun!
And then – on the squash court, a tiny movement, a tiny sensation in her back – and 3 days later, her back gave out – another slipped disc which took months to resolve. More pain….
A couple of years later, yet another slipped disc after a cycling accident, more pain….
It was after that that she was diagnosed with severe osteo-arthritis in her lower back, her hips and her neck. A truckload of pain, and fear of moving.
Her life became very small – she never played squash again, and was frightened to cycle in case that caused her more pain.
A reflexologist suggested that she cut out tomatoes, saying that they can make arthritis worse. Our fragile heroine tried this, and yes it helped. By now she was eating meat again, so she decided to try cutting out meat to see if that helped. Yes it did, up to a point. That was good 😊
And over the years, she tried many different kinds of food testing systems. She experimented with her diet, and some tweaks helped, but not for long, and her weight yo-yo’d. This did not please her – and she was still in pain.
Eventually in desperation she began to see a personal trainer, recommended to her by a friend. This really helped her to get stronger. The trainer had never worked with anyone as fragile as our friend, but together – gently, slowly, she began to get stronger. That felt great, and she felt fantastic 😊
Even so, she was still in pain, and tended to turn to alcohol to help – she knew it wasn’t ideal, but hey, it did work!
Then she was diagnosed with breast cancer – and went through a year of different kinds of treatment. New kinds of pain in parts of her body that normally didn’t hurt. That was a new kind of tough.
Tho she did learn to love her body – scars and all.
And she finally commented to her mother – I do get a bit tired of being in pain all the time…
Next she tried the Blood Group Diet – and found that when she stuck to it, she felt great. Sadly this meant no alcohol, so that was a bit too tough, and eventually she drifted away from it.
Over the years she tried various ways of eating, and more food tests, somehow they never felt quite right – they never made the difference she had been hoping for. A detox from a herbalist felt too abrupt, quite a shock to her body.
And then she began to read about a gradual elimination of different food groups – and then gradually bringing them back in to see how your body and your symptoms react. This made huge sense – and when she tried it she was amazed at how easy it felt, even cutting out alcohol!
She lost weight and also her levels of pain dropped dramatically.
Now she no longer needs to take painkillers every day as she had done for decades, and she feels fabulous 😊
As you have possibly guessed – this patient is me.
And this is my WHY behind Eat Yourself Happier, my kindly detox elimination journey.
I want to help people manage their pain with minimal pain killers by finding which foods are their friends, which foods serve them.
And, crucially, which foods do not.
If they can drop some pounds and inches on the way, that’s an added bonus!