Sunday, May 27, 2012

My Life, Fibro and Making a Change

My life is about to change....I hope!  Quite frankly, I've had enough of feeling sick and tired and am determined to try something drastic to change this.

Okay, to make a long story short, I am going to go on a 5 day juice fast in an effort to detox my body and "reboot" it for a healthier lifestyle.


So, the plan is, Tuesday will be Day One of my juice fast-replacing all meals with healthy veggie/fruit juices.

Why am I doing this?

Let me give you a glimpse of what my life with fibromyalgia looks like.

SLEEPING:  I sleep with 1 pillow under my head, 1 between my knees and two wedged against my side.  I can lay in one position for approximately 10 minutes before a sledgehammer arrives and begins hammering away at my hips, ankles, shoulders and elbows.  Thus, constant tossing and turning resulting in very limited deep sleep.

Poor quality of sleep means added fatigue during the day.  Most days, I simply MUST take a nap.

Chronic pain throughout the body-imagine what it feels like to have the flu and multiply it by ten. Now imagine feeling this way everyday for the last 16 years.

Numbness in shoulder blades, elbows

A million needles stabbing the feet with every step

Chronic, can barely walk across the room, fatigue

congestion

depression

irratibility

hot flashes

swelling of knees and ankles

general feeling of yuckiness

one hour a day of feeling good enough to be productive

a few hours of activity-whether it be working in the garden, deep cleaning or even shopping-leaves me exhausted and if I'm not careful, stiff and unable to move the next day

So, you see why I need a change?

It isn't just the fibromyalgia.  Despite the fibro and being overweight, I am generally healthy. However, I am at high risk for heart disease, type II diabetes and cancer. At 35, I want to take steps now to avoid these conditions and remain OFF prescription meds.  Meds may be necessary for some things, but I believe in prevention and healing the disease, not just applying a band aid to the symptoms.  Our bodies are a miraculous creation of God and has the ability to heal itself if we just provide it with the right tools. I believe nutrition and lifestyle are these tools.  I am not the only one. In fact, I may be kinda late at jumping on the nutrition band wagon.

So why juicing you may ask? How will depriving myself of food for 5 days help? First of all, I am not depriving myself of nutrients.  I am not going to starve myself, though it may feel like it for the first few days.  The nutrients will simply be entering my body in their purest form (through fresh fruit and veggies) and absorbed the quickest way possible (by being in liquid form).

I must admit I am a little nervous of making it through the first three days.  I've heard that is when your body is ridding itself of all its harmful toxins and leaves you feeling downright lousy.  I AM GOING TO NEED YOUR SUPPORT!!!

I intend to chronicle my five day journey here on this blog.  Some days I may not feel like typing more than a few lines.  We'll see.

Will you stand behind me during the next week?  I'd really appreciate any tips, advice and encouragement you can offer!

See you on Tuesday, for Day One of my detoxification!

6 comments:

  1. Good luck with the juice cleanse! You can do it! Fibromyalgia is such a scary and confusing condition (disease? See I don't even know.)--it seems like a diagnosis like, "You are in serious pain and feeling awful...and we have no idea why." I had a friend do an apple juice and oil cleanse for her kidney stones and it helped her immensely. Be strong during your cleanse! It will be just a few days, but the benefits could last so much longer!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Best of luck with this-- I have a group of friends who did this together. Loved the effect it had for themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I remember hurting so bad that my husband could not touch my arm without me being in pain with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Mercury detox is what finally worked for me. I wish you the best on your juice detox, and it can get better.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the encouragement ladies!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good luck to you! Detoxes are hard but very much worth it! Every few months or so I do a no sugar detox. And I do mean NO SUGAR of any kind, not even natural sugars except fruit. The first few days are miserable as my body is ridding itself of it's dependence on the substance, but after you get over the hump; it's amazing the difference you feel and how wonderful you feel. I wish you the best of luck, especially during those first few days!

    ReplyDelete
  6. You can do it! I will be honest - I haven't even considered doing one myself, but I have a good friend who did one a few months back and she had great results. Can't wait to hear you results!

    ReplyDelete