Oh, Chumley...

Sometimes I wonder, what it would be like to live in a house without litter boxes on top of the furniture? Somehow, I don't think this is a concern of Chumley's...

Chumley, you know I love you and one day when those litter boxes are no longer there I will wish with all my might that they were. But just sometimes, like right before I'm about to put a bite of food into my mouth or even worse, as I'm chewing and swallowing that bite of food, I really don't appreciate you pinching off a loaf 3 feet from my face.

And in case you forgot Chumley, you have other litter boxes NOT in the living room where you can do that business. The boxes on top of the couch and ottoman were put there for pee pee only (since you take such pleasure in marking those pieces!) but apparently you can't quite grasp that concept.

I am amazed at your resilience and strong will which enable you to bounce back from your many ailments. The past couple years have been especially tough on your little body and to see you maintain your energy makes us all so happy. You definitely make it known what you want when you want it (even at 5:45 am, you early riser you!) and I think that's just flippin' fantastic.

This fall, we will hopefully be celebrating your 17th birthday and I'm pretty much convinced you will outlive all of us in this house.

Just don't forget, we love you.

I love everything about...

...this video:

The people, the dancing (obvious) and the accompanying music. It's just superb, right up there with Double Dream hands.

...this tea:

It has recently been re-packaged, you might be familiar with the old packaging that looked like this:

They also have an organic line which looks like this:

                              

And their Vanilla white tea is phenomenal:

I ordered 6 boxes each of the Original Caffeine Free and Vanilla White tea through Amazon.com because they offer free shipping on orders of $25 or more and their prices were better. And...I drink a lot of tea. You can also buy the Original teas at Target. It's unlike any tea I've ever had. Has a rich texture and you don't need to add anything else. No cream, sugar, lemon, just drink it straight after brewing. I definitely taste the cinnamon and clove but it's also sweetly spiced or spicy sweet (just like it indicates on the box) and I think that is why it has so much flavor. I made it iced and it tastes good but I much prefer it hot. Try it, you won't be disappointed! 

...this chocolate bar bar!

That's right, it's chocolate!!! Since the Candida diagnosis I've had to cut out a lot of stuff. I was never a big fan of dark chocolate before, it tasted disgusting to me, too bitter. Milk chocolate was always my preference, specifically milk chocolate covered sea salt caramels. (Ok 5 seconds to day dream about them and then I'll move on...) BUT! I have found an alternative that I can enjoy in small amounts. Reason being, it's dairy free and very low in sugar. Only 3 grams of sugar per serving in this bar. For comparison sake, the standard milk chocolate bar has 23 grams of sugar so that's off the list (not only because of the sugar but obviously "milk" chocolate contains dairy. 

Ok back to more things I love...

...the smell of this candle:

Another Target find, for $6. This wild currant candle smells so inviting you'll just want to stand over the flame and sniff. 

...the TV show Portlandia

Some of the characters the lead actors play are so so funny and the scenes can be a bit ridiculous but it adds to the quirkiness of the show.

So now I think it's time to light my candle, sip some tea and nibble on a chocolate square.

My ex-BFF's

Meet Pepto and Tums, my old travel buddies who never used to leave my side. Until now...

These two fellas were staples in my purse, lap top bag, knapsack, or whatever portable pouch they could squeeze into when I left the confines of home. I've not had a need for them in almost 3 months, 3 MONTHS PEOPLE!! This is a big step and one that I am taking a moment to acknowledge and celebrate.  "Ceeeeelebrate no diarrhea! COME ON!!" (Sorry, couldn't help that sing along.)

And if you're wondering why the portable Pepto bottle has the words "HOLY W..." written in red marker, let me explain. I was visiting my mom a few months ago when I had a typical digestive nightmare as I was leaving to catch my flight. I wasn't able to carry the bottle of pepto on the plane due to its size so my mom looked for a smaller airline approved bottle. She searched the bathroom for trial sized bottles which held hairspray, gel, lotions but she didn't want to put something "edible" into something that housed chemical infused liquids (even after they were washed, dried, re-washed, boiled, etc.) So when she stumbled upon her tiny bottle of Holy Water (because doesn't everyone keep a stash handy??) she said, "Here use this!" (Last I checked my mom was not a man of the cloth nor did she regularly perform exorcisms BUT she was ordained as a Catholic minister years ago and would visit hospital rooms and homes of those too sick for church to administer Communion and sprinkle their heads with the water.)

So now we had to find another contraption for the blessed water which felt more like a twisted game of Where's Waldo. After a while I asked, "Can't we just drink it?" That would be a no. Or, "How about watering the plants? Let's make them holy." Again, not acceptable. I was out of ideas so I think she ended up using tupperware or a plastic zip baggie. When I got to the airport and pulled out my bag of liquids at security of course there's no denying or disguising what that shocking pink liquid really is and as it was sliding down the belt you could clearly see the words HOLY WATER on the bottle. It made me laugh because those who saw it, the gentleman behind me and a couple of TSA agents, probably thought my anti-diarrhea juice held that much importance in my life. Which, it actually did.

But, not anymore!!

(I can't part with the bottle so once I dump the pink stuff I'll make sure to refill it with something as equally deserving as the holy water and shit stopper.)

Healthier than day drinking...

I made this little video from all the photos I've collected on facebook. Tomorrow is the official first day of summer and quite frankly I'd be happy with Spring! I can count on one hand how many times we've woken up to blue skies since Spring started. Getting used to the lack of sun is still an adjustment and I'm not sure I'll ever really not be affected by it, but I think after my 3rd Spring I'm coming to the point where resisting the impossible and hoping for it to change is obviously stupid and futile. I'm trying to accept that this is just part of what comes with the NW territory and I either have to suck it up, move or find healthier ways to cope... hence the video (made during a bout with insomnia this weekend.) We are supposed to have several dry, clear days in a row and yes, that is fantastic but, it's nearing the end of June and we haven't had consistent sun in MONTHS so we darn well deserve it! I'm not going to do flip flops or cartwheels when the sun finally decides to pop out. I think that was just adding to the highs and lows because when it goes away the anxiety for whence it might or might not return was just too much. So if the sun comes out great, it's supposed to, it's called summer. Almost. 

Happy day before summer to all of you!!!

Was that what I think it was???

So this is going to be a personal post. For anyone grossed out or offended by period talk, just stop reading now.

It was the summer of '85. My mom and I were visiting family in North Carolina: my Aunt Janie, Uncle Howdy and my mom's mother (we called her "Meem") who was in a nursing home near my aunt and uncle's house. It was a difficult trip for my mom as Meem's health was declining and it was nearing the end of summer vacation, and in my 13 year old world, visiting a nursing home for hours in a day was not the ideal way to spend it. A few days into the trip I went for a swim in their pool and my mom came out back to tell me it was time to come inside and get ready for another visit to the home. I ignored her and kept swimming. A few minutes went by and out she came again, this time with more force in her voice announcing that we have to leave NOW. Again, I just swam along, not paying much attention. I was definitely entering the "bitchy stage" of my adolescence. The 3rd and final time my mom came outside, she was not happy. She shouted as my head popped in and out of the water and her final shriek was, "LAURA ANNE get out of that pool RIGHT NOW! We are NOT HERE TO HAVE FUN!!" I will never forget that line because up until Aunt Janie's death a couple years ago we still got quite a chuckle out of it. 

So begrudgingly I got out of the pool, put on some clothes and off to the home we went. My aunt had a fancy candy dish in the foyer and I had grabbed a handful of cinnamon disks to take along with me as a treat.

Remember these???

I had eaten quite a few of them, my tongue was bright red and started to get those little nubbies on it from eating too much sugar but that didn't do much to stop the binge. As the day went on I started to get a bit of a stomach ache so my mom took the rest of the candy away and said "No more." 

We got back to my family's house early in the evening and I remember feeling exhausted, bloated and pissed off at the world. My mom and Aunt Janie were in the kitchen making dinner which I said I didn't want, so I sulked in the living room and watched Remington Steele. Even though my tummy ached, I continued to sneak more candy, carefully opening each one so my mom didn't hear the wrappers crinkle. Next thing I knew, I woke up covered in a blanket, still sitting upright. It was still light outside, maybe 8:00pm but everyone else had gone to bed. As I got up to go to bed my lower back was incredibly sore. Maybe I thought it was from sleeping in the sitting position, or even from too much swimming, but the pain was very different from anything I had felt before. And I remember this, even now some 26 years later. 

And the other thing I will never, ever, EVER forget is when I grabbed the blanket off the couch there was a nice big bright red spot on the cushion where I sat. My aunt and uncle had a light blue couch with pale green and white floral designs and believe me when I say that spot stuck out like the Target logo. Immediately I freaked, not quite sure what to do (Google would have been nice) so I went into the kitchen, grabbed a towel and tried to dab it up. It was still very visible and I was almost in tears so I went into my mom's room, woke her up and asked for help. Now, I was not a naive 13 year old. I knew a LOT of things I probably shouldn't know at 13, all thanks to my 21 year old sister and her friends/boyfriends. So when I told my mom what happened, it was not out of ignorance, it was only because it made logical sense, based on the events of the day.

We walked over to the stained couch and I said something like, "Don't get mad, but I ate too much cinnamon candy, even after you said not to, and it's starting to come out of me." 

My mom looked at the couch, then back at me with an expression I did not recognize and hugged me tight. With pride? in her voice she said, "Honey...you're becoming a woman!!" 

I looked at her like she had seriously lost her mind and thought maybe she thinks I'm growing up because I told the truth about eating more candy but whatever her reasoning, I was convinced the red stuff was from the dye of the cinnamon disks, which continued to pour out of my ass (or so I thought.) I tried explaining this to my mom a second time because it was happening again, with more force. 

We grabbed some clean underwear from my room and my mom escorted me into the bathroom. Before leaving she told me to identify the source of the stain and that she'd be outside waiting for me. After a few seconds it was VERY clear which orifice was leaking so I cleaned up as best I could and folded some toilet paper in my panties. My stomach cramps were growing worse by the minute and I started to feel achy all over. I washed my face and brushed my teeth and opened the door only to find my mom and aunt both standing there, with ridiculous grins on their faces. And my aunt was holding a box of gigantic maxi pads with attached belts that wrapped around your waist. This scared me.

I was pissed that my mom woke up Aunt Janie to tell her "my big news" but I was even more embarrassed to tell her about the couch stain, which she casually dismissed with a hand wave. She handed me the pads and said I could use these for the night and tomorrow we'd go shopping for my own supplies. Back into the bathroom I went trying to stick what felt like a twin mattress to my teeny tiny underwear. It was the most uncomfortable feeling and the pad kept shuffling to the sides when I walked not to mention it sounded like a diaper. I was afraid it was going to seep out when I slept so my aunt gave me a soft blue babydoll nightgown (which I still have to this day!) because I didn't want to stain my pajama bottoms. I also put a dark towel on top of the sheet so as not to ruin anymore stuff in their house. Before I went to bed I asked my mom if I could call my sister and she said of course so I did. When I told her what happened she seemed surprised and thrilled and then told me that when we go to the store tomorrow to get slim tampons because pads are a sloppy mess and feel like a diaper. No shit.

The next morning at the drug store my mom fought me tooth and nail when I grabbed a box of tampons but thankfully my aunt intervened and said, "Just let her try them." When we got home I had absolutely NO CLUE how to use them, and ended up with it just sort of sitting in the middle of my lady parts, sort of like a log, not really hidden from sight if you know what I mean. It was even more uncomfortable than the pad, especially when I sat down so I ended up using some smaller Always pads that fit much better than my aunt's surfboard length wonders but were still cold and icky feeling.

From that day forward and every single month that followed I had horrific cycles, several times ending up in the ER starting in high school through my late 20s. A new gyno put me on the Depo-provera shot which alleviated some of the symptoms but after a bout with pre cervical cancer in 2000, I stopped using it. I was taking prescription motrin often up to a week before my period started to help reduce inflammation and get "in front of" the pain. Some months that helped but more often than not I would end up throwing up the pills before they even had a chance to kick in. In 2008 I had surgery to remove endometriosis that had actually grown outside of my uterus, attaching to my bladder and colon. It seemed to help for the first few months but soon was back to square one with severe pain, diarrhea and vomiting, the first day of my period.

Which brings me to the present. I had what I can only describe as a very mild pang of a cramp the morning it started. In fact, I didn't even think it really was a period at all. It lasted only 3 days and aside from minor lower back aches, that was all I got. I took zero medication, prescription or over the counter and even ended up running 5 miles on day 2!  In 26+ years of menstruating, that has NEVER happened.

I continue to reap so many rewards of my new diet and lifestyle, that I don't even miss what I thought I'd be missing! (If that makes sense.)

A witness to beauty.

I love filling jars and vases with freshly cut flowers.

I also love waking up the next morning to find barely any water left in each jar or vase I filled.

It's a sign that life, in many forms, is thriving.

something to think about...

I'm working on a piece for a woman's health publication and in the midst of writing my notes I came across something interesting.


While writing the word "antibiotic" I stopped and looked at it...that word, for a moment. And of course back in grade school science class we were taught the word biotic refers to life forms or all things pertaining to life.


Just to make sure that hadn't changed, I checked wikipedia:

"Biotic means relating to, produced by, or caused by living organisms. Biotic is a living component of a community; for example organisms, such as plants and animals. Biotic may also refer to: Life, the condition of living organisms."

ANTI-biotic. 

ANTI-life.

Yep, that's about as simple as it gets. 

Allow me to introduce:

The shit machines.

Now, I mean that in the most endearing way, really I do. I LOVE my animals and everything about them but OH HOLY HELL I don't think it's possible for them to crap anymore than they do. 

While I was listening attentively to a conference call (where others just LOOOOOVE to hear themselves squawk) I decided to have some fun with my calculator and figure out how many poops I've cleaned up between the two of these blessed beasts.

And here's the result:

So let's say on average Wrigley poops two times a day. This is pretty conservative because at times he can poop 3 times on one walk but I'm going to keep it simple with just a 2 poop average per day.

So that's 730 poops a year, and he's been around 5 years and 3 months bringing his grand poop total to: 3830 poops that I (or the husband) have schlepped around in baggies or tossed out with scoopers. 

And then...Chumley.

This cat can easily pinch off  3-5 logs a day but some of his turds are little nuggets so I won't count those and stick with an average of 3 times a day for this bomb dropper.

That's 1095 poops a year, he's been around 16 years, 7 months bringing his poop count to 18,780.

Add the two together and we have a whopping total of...

(ok I feel like there needs to be a drum roll here so just imagine one in your mind for the moment)

DRUM ROL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS...DRUM ROL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS...DRUM ROL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS...DRUM ROL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS...DRUM ROL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS...DRUM ROL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS...DRUM ROL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS...DRUM ROL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS... DRUM ROLL SOUNDS...

a whopping total of....

22,610 POOPS!!!

AND COUNTING!

Ok so now can you understand why I call them the shit machines!?!? Feeling really sorry for landfills at the moment. 

Wrigley makes a new friend

this is...

The BEST deodorant of all times.

And, it sells for $12 at Nordstrom yet is $18 everywhere else. It lasts forever, has a subtle light Cashmere Mist scent and makes you feel good. That's really all I have to say.

(I'm just distracting myself from the tornadoes that continue to obliterate our country. Parents searching for children, people buried and injured, animals too. It's just...too much.)

Aha moment of the day...

Toxic people need to stay the hell out of my energy field. No more patience, tolerance or enabling the behavior. Kindly spread your dysfunction elsewhere. I'm done.

Someone's feeling better!

Ouch!

Know why? Because I got sunscreen in my eyeball.

But guess what? I'M NOT COMPLAINING!!

because...

I GOT SUNSCREEN IN MY EYEBALL!!

(which, for those who may be slow, translates to: it's sunny enough to actually wear sunscreen.)

Test photo from phone

feeling gratitude

(from my facebook post but it feels good to share on here too)

In the past month, I can count on only ONE hand how many times I've had stomach issues. This has not happened in close to 3 years. Every day, there was pain and every time I took medication to "help" the pain, I was only worsening my condition. Up until a month ago, I pretty much gave up trying and was ready to accept the fact this is just how it has to be. I am grateful to my friend Kendra, who did not allow me to give up and I'm also grateful for my new doctor here in West Seattle who is on the ball with treatment as well as lifestyle/diet modifications. For once it is sooooo nice to be able to eat a meal in a restaurant and actually finish it without bolting to the bathroom or worse yet, throwing up before you make it in there. I never knew I could actually feel this good again and every day I wake up I think "Again? I feel good? I am so lucky!!"  So, no matter when our world ends, for all of humanity or for each of us individually, I just wanted to share my gratitude to my friends and family who have been supportive throughout this process. Feeling very blessed and it feels good to express it on here. Thanks for letting me.

plan of attack

What I'm taking to combat the yeasties:

AM
-Drink a tall glass of filtered water (it's supposed to be warm but that makes me gag so it's refrigerated.)
-Drink one cup of detox tea
-Slowly sip a protein shake with added fiber (I have vanilla or chocolate flavors and can add blueberries, strawberries or blackberries to the mix.)

while sipping the shake I also take:
-2  Ultra flora plus DF probiotics, each capsule contains 15 billion live organisms (lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacterium lactis)
-1 or 2 digestive enzymes (Gastri-Gest is the the kind my doctor gave me. It's vegetarian and BPA and Phthalate free, whatever that means and you take this after you've eaten about half of your meal/shake and then slowly finish the rest)
-2  Caprylic Plus Acid tablets which is what is supposed to kill the yeast. (and this is what gives off some weird side effects)

LUNCH
same as above except no Caprylic Acid tablets.

PM
Same as AM routine but can eat a restricted meal of certain veggies, fish, chicken or meat (once a week) and brown rice or quinoa.

Just for comparisons sake my previous doctor had recommended some over the counter probiotics which contained 1.5 billion live organisms and I was taking that only once daily with a meal. (When I remembered.) On average in order for the probiotics to be effective the dosage is typically between 1 to 10 billion units a day. I am now taking 90 billion units a day because I have ZERO healthy bacteria in my system.

Before this protocol can be started it is very important to cut out ALL dairy, sugar, wheat, alcohol, caffeine, all those things I mentioned in an earlier post and maintain a very limited diet for at least 2 weeks before you start to treat the candida. And then once you start taking the pills and capsules you need to maintain that diet throughout the duration of treatment. As little as one glass of wine can set you back to square one in the early stages of treatment. And when I asked why the hell isn't surgery an option to remove it all from the gut for immediate relief!?! The answer is simple. After surgery you need to take antibiotics to prevent or treat possible infections. And antibiotics will bring the candida right back into your system, just as fast as it was removed.

Also here is a very in depth look at the function of our colons and how they are often overlooked as just the "sewer pipe" of our digestive system.

Journey to the Center of your Colon

The article is a bit lengthy but I urge you to read through it all, you'd be surprised to see just how many conditions are tied to an imbalance in our colons and also learn that the average person can have up to 20 pounds of rotted sludge imbedded in the lining of their colons. Don't read this while eating (unless you're trying to lose your appetite.)

Ok, that's all I have for now.

Stay well and feel good!!!

dinner time rants

If you're going to spray the microwave door with WD-40, then don't come crying to me when your dinner tastes like...WD-40!!!

When dinner is ready I will say, "Dinner is ready." with a smile in my voice once and only once. I won't continue to repeat this 3 or 4 or 15 more times because if someone chooses to ignore the sweet call that their dinner (made with love and tenderness) is in fact hot and ready to be eaten then it's not my problem when it goes cold...and limp (think steamed sugar snapped peas.)

I do appreciate the effort that is made to come on the first dinner call however, stopping along the way to check a knick on the baseboard and then looking for spackle or putty or whatever the flip you need to fix it THAT VERY SECOND kind of throws the whole "well, I got up right after you said it was ready" argument out the window, don't ya think????

I'm a real treat to be around these day. 

Can't you tell???

3 weeks: dairy, gluten, caffeine, alcohol and (refined) sugar free

afternoon update:
My eyes have not stopped tearing all day. It looks like I'm crying non stop. Wondering if immunity is lowered, causing reactions to environmental allergens that may not have had an effect before. As I'm typing this tears are falling on the keyboard. Also learned that the fatigue symptoms (falling asleep while sitting up) are the body's way of shutting down to avoid feeling the extent of the toxicity as the yeast dies off. So while that's a good thing, it's not necessarily the best side effect to have unless you can spend the day sleeping! I wonder if this is what narcolepsy feels like. Drinking my energy booster drink as well as lots and lots of water to flush all these toxins out!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And I was doing really well but today I'm having some weird stuff going on. I'm taking probiotics and digestive enzymes 3 x's a day as well as Caprylic acid twice daily. Apparently reactions to the diet and the treatment is normal as the disgusting yeast cells die off but right now it's none too pleasant. Stomach blew up like a balloon (which is not the unusual part) but I'm EXHAUSTED. While sitting in my office chair I fell asleep holding the phone as I was about to make a call. And my eyes and nose are watering non stop. Not mucus-y stuff just lots of drippage. And I'm freezing- hands, arms, legs, feet, everything is cold to the touch. Originally I was supposed to be done with the cleanse at the end of this month but my doctor has advised that I stick with it another 5 weeks especially while taking the acid pills. That was a punch to the gut but in the long run if that's what has to happen to kill these yeasty sons of bitches I will do it. But I am CRAVING sugar so bad right now. I may or may not have poured a stevia packet onto a teaspoon and slammed that sucker down.

On positive note I am able to have organic decaf coffee beans that are swiss water processed only and thankfully there are a few coffee shops close by who carry those beans. I'm on my second cup today and now that I think of it, maybe that's partly why I'm having some weird reaction right now. I haven't had coffee, even decaf in weeks so maybe my stomach is reacting to the acid or something. Who the flip knows. I was really doing great with all this because I was feeling so much better and I understand that it's going to get worse before all is said and done and it can take YEARS for all this crap to get out of the system so realistically I know there will be days like this but it just sucks when you have to be so regimented about every single thing you put in your mouth and then as a result you still end up feeling like a train wreck.

Just needed to vent about this. I think I'll go sniff a Snicker's bar now.

Coconut Oil

I'm in love with coconut oil. I started using it a few days ago and am hooked. It is great for cooking because it contains acids that kill bacteria and viruses by breaking down their cell walls which is imperative for healing candida. You can also scoop and eat a spoonful of it a few times a day to put healthy fats back into your body. And?? It's the best skin moisturizer especially for dry hands, cracked heals and elbows. It even says you can use it as conditioner which smells sooo good, not too coconuty, just a light nutty aroma. I just put some on my lips and am sitting here licking it off because it tastes good too! Kind of like butter but with just a hint of coconut.

You can get it at any health food store or natural products grocer. Prices range from about $7 for a small jar up to $25 for larger. I found the jar above on sale for $9 marked down from $16 at Super Supplements. A little goes a long way so it's definitely a great investment.

Here are some more health benefits.

update for those suffering from redundant colon/digestive issues

So it appears I have some more answers regarding my digestive wars.

In addition to the lovely colon issues, I've also developed candida, aka a yeast takeover.

I won't go into all the specifics right now because I'm still in the process of figuring out the best approach for treatment. I will say, a medical doctor did not diagnose this. It was through the help of a nutritionist friend of mine as well as a naturopath that finally shed light on what has been wreaking havoc on my insides and making my digestive life hell. The one GOOD thing is that I do not have any symptoms outside of the gut (in regards to yeast overgrowth). I have only had one yeast infection *down there* and that was years ago in college. I also don't have skin disorders or athlete's foot (as far as I know?) but I did have a yuck toe a while back so who knows if that's related. But, in addition to the gut, I have a host of other symptoms that are not pretty and I was going out of my mind trying to manage them. It finally became unbearable.

And are you ready for the best part? I have probably been susceptible to this most of my adult life based on my history with antibiotics in the past, (was on them ALL THE TIME in college for strep throat until I finally got my tonsils out) and that is a huge contributing factor to candida growth. However, my body was able to fight it off naturally. It wasn't until moving here that this shit (or yeast) hit the fan and spiraled out of control. And here's one reason why...

"Vitamin D is another nutrient that is essential to healing. The majority of people today are deficient in Vitamin D. The best way to get Vitmain D is through exposure to the sun. Our skin uses the rays from the sun to manufacture Vitamin D. 

Most of us work during the day so we are not able to get adequate sun exposure. A fair-skinned Caucasian needs 30 minutes of exposure on half of their body per day in the summer. In the winter, the time needed is increased. The darker your skin tone, the more exposure you need.

The artificial form of Vitamin D added to milk and other foods does not have the same beneficial effects as natural Vitamin D. If you cannot get adequate sun exposure, then you need to supplement with a natural Vitamin D product. I recommend a Vitamin D Spray"

This information above is from this site and while I pop vitamin d pills like candy, it's still not enough. Plus I am cold, like not just "oh I'm a little chilly", I mean my hands and feet and face are ice cold to the touch. In order to help fight the candida attacking the body your body temperature needs to be regulated. I think the reason it has been so bad these past couple months is that we are still coming off a cold, wet winter (moldy environments are really bad for candida) and that is just what it needs to take over. Now people may look at me crazy (this has happened) because I have literally raced home when I see a glimmer of the sun appear and strip down half naked and stand in the rays in my bedroom with the door open. I've been doing this even in the winter months when it's cold, even before I knew about the candida. It's as if my body was telling me GET IN THAT SUN NOW. So hopefully, once it warms up and we have more consistent sunshine (fingers crossed?) that my symptoms will be somewhat alleviated for a while.

I'm also pretty sure this is why I'm still struggling with the adjustments of moving here.  It's been very challenging at times, affecting me physically and mentally and after feeling "off" for so long, I felt defeated and was ready to accept this is just how it's got to be. I am sooooo grateful for those who wouldn't let me give in to this and kept pushing me even though I was being a stubborn beast. And I won't be going back to my medical doctor anytime soon. 

Just wanted to pass this along to others who may be trying to figure out what is going on with their own stomach issues. Candida can also lead to a variety of other medical conditions (ADD/ADHD, depression, eye problems, eczema, psoriasis, fibromyalgia, diabetes, and cancer and typically the doctors are treating only those, before discovering the root cause. As I'm still figuring this out, I'll be avoiding all dairy, sugar, gluten and alcohol because it's been 8 days since I've had any and the results are already very positive. Oh and vinegar is another one to avoid. Learned that the hard way after having a little basalmic vinegar on a very bland salad. And one more thing, in an earlier post I mentioned how I would have horrible nausea after drinking the Almond Milk by Silk, and that was because it was reacting to the existing stuff in my gut. Before throwing it out, I waited a few more days and tried it again and was able to tolerate it. The nausea has greatly subsided but as the candida die off there are a host of other side effects. And that's what brings me to the now, trying to manage the best course of action to treat this with the least amount of side effects. 

With the support of dear friends, family as well as folks with the knowledge behind this, I'm hopeful to get this under control and start feeling healthy again. And once that happens I know I'll come to embrace everything about living here (fingers crossed again!) I love EVERYTHING else about being here! I really do. 

And if anyone has any questions please feel free to let me know. I only hope by posting this, that others may be able to benefit if they are struggling from something unknown too.

Don't give up!