My Latest Health Story

I didn't realize the powers of gut flora until I started suffering the severe consequences of a gut that wasn't functioning correctly.

Perhaps it started because I had gotten into a bit of a bad habit of skipping my greens and going for more fried and sweet foods. So my immunity perhaps wasn't up to par on top of being in a foreign tropical country where there are just more varieties of bacteria and viruses where my body has been born and raised in a cold mountainous climate.

I swam in a waterfall. I had my questions about it... several dead birds around the edges, but eventually with peer pressure, I did end up going inside. Not only that. I accidentally swallowed some.

I was in Brazil. And nothing against Brazil, because pollution is affecting the entire world. It's rare to have a waterway that hasn't been affected in some way by industry and our modern lifestyle.

I got a bad cold that lasted for 10 days after that. Just as I started to get better, I developed a UTI. It was so uncomfortable, that I ended up taking a leftover 3 days worth of antibiotics from my friend. I was so scared about not taking a full round and making some bug resistant inside of me, my friend was able to get more antibiotics - unfortunately a different kind - and again I was scared to take less than the recommended days because -- again I didn't want to get bug resistance inside of me. So it became 13 days on antibiotics.

I was fine for a few days after I ended them, but 2 days after that I started getting symptoms again. I thought I would treat it naturally, but after about a week (also no access to a juicer since I was in a small town and the voltage was different from the one I brought) I started getting pains in my sides. Terrified that the infection had spread to my kidneys I went to the doctor, yet doctor was unavailable, they had left early on a Friday.

2 days later the pain was so severe I went to the hospital where they said I may have kidney stones. But they wanted me to see a specialist, so I had to wait for the next day.

The next day I saw the specialist who ordered that I get two tests done - a pee test and an x-ray, but I wouldn't be able to get the tests till the next week.

The only thing he could do immediately was prescribe an antibiotic.

I really didn't want to take the antibiotic. But with weird pains and feeling more and more nervous about having an infection inside. After two days I caved and took the antibiotic. Which was a much stronger antibiotic. I needed to take for 7 days. When the results came back I had had a kidney stone, but it had been released already.

So my doctor said that I didn't need to have taken the antibiotics anyway.

5 days into my antibiotic use I started getting dizzy spells. I would get tingling on the top of my head, and I could hardly walk. It was very disorienting, and would last for hours. I was terrified. I didn't know if stopping my antibiotics would make this thing worse or better.

the dizzy spells continued everyday, and when I spoke to my doctor about it, he told me I should drink more. Which I did but it didn't stop them from happening. I decided to head back to Curitiba, I was in Curitibanos a smaller town in the south of Brazil, so that I could have better access to medical attention. It took me a bit to feel steady enough on my feet to trust myself on a 6 hour bus ride- in addition to the dizzy spells I would have frequent trips to the bathroom.

Back in Curitiba it felt like I was slowly getting better but after a week of being there, again, I thought I was on my road to recovery and I had an acai bowl... bad idea... the sugar and I also had two meals with gluten. I had been sugar and gluten free for some weeks. And I was on the toilet the whole night with severe dizzy/lightedness.

I would have gone to the hospital but I was home alone, and the hospital only admits people after several hours. So it seemed my best option was staying home and self caring.

But after this experience my health just wasn't quite in order. I started getting uncontrollable shaking, nervous all the time, anxiety, stopped sleeping, trouble eating, going to the bathroom alot, again dizzy/ lightheaded for hours almost all the time. I also had trouble concentrating, thinking, I was easily agitated, and lost my ability to socialize.

I got some blood tests, which showed some kind of infection- perhaps in the gut. I was prescribed more antibiotics but this time, I felt I needed to take a different path.

I tested negative for C-diff as well as parasites. I started going to holistic doctors which I am very thankful about. The first was an iridologist who said I had a stomach infection and my body was in such a state of panic that he prescribed teas to help calm my nervous system.

This was the first time I was able to sleep, I felt my ability to think was returning, as well as my ability to eat, but I was still experiencing many challenges with concentration/ dizziness and going to the bathroom.

Next I went to an acupuncturist, who again was able to help ground my energies, bring me more into my body, and again helped quite a bit. She also was able to read that I had infection in my gut through my tongue.

I still had symptoms of dizziness, so I decided to try biomagnetism.

This felt like it had the biggest effect on me. For the first time I felt that my stomach was actually attempting to digest food after the appointment. The lady had told me that what had happened was that my own immunity was impaired and viruses and bacteria formed associations that kind of hijacked my stomach.

I went three more weeks to these doctors and little by little felt that things were improving in my body, my strength was getting more, the dizziness was getting less.

And I managed to make it back to USA in the meantime, back to my parents house to take it easy and recover. I have started taking many rounds of probiotics and minerals to help restore my nutrient reserves and flora communities. I can feel the workings in my stomach of the new orders. Sometimes I get a bit impatient with the process or heavy hearted, uncertain of how long it may take for me to heal fully. But I am doing my best to remain optimistic, and now I am slowly getting back into small responsibilities -- writing again -- otherwise my brain was not quite functional as of yet.

I can honestly say that this has been the scariest most intense period of my life.

Yet in the meantime I have learned so much about nutrient deficiencies and the importance of gut flora. Which I will be sure to write many more blog posts about all of the amazing things I have learned from this process. Most of all, I'm thankful for the health that I have. I am thankful to be alive. Losing your health is not a fun process and I realize how privileged I am to have had access to the services I have, and how I really believe that we should all have absolute access to the kind of healthcare that serves us best.

Some of the other lessons from my research:

1- how antibiotics can lead to kidney stones

2- how antibiotics can lead to problems with weight, mental disorders, heart problems, diabetes, etc, malnutrition, more infections, crohns, gluten intolerances, food intolerances, allergies, skin problems, acidity, malabsorption problems, vitamin D deficiency, vitamin b12 deficiency, anemia, etc.

Antibiotics are not bad. They can be very very important and also save a lot of lives. However when used inefficiently or in excess they can absolutely cause a cascade of challenges.

More information to come.