I'm Baaack!

Seriously...December 2011?  Geesh, where has the time gone? I have really missed my blogging and am recommitting myself. Let's catch up...2012 brought on tough business and financial changes for our family.  My husband sold a company and switched jobs.  I started running a little side business called Apericots in our basement which has been fun but BUSY!  After 12 years of focusing only on raising my kids I have loved something to call my own. There is something about receiving that paycheck with my name on it that has been so rewarding! Don't get me wrong...being a mother has its paydays...they are just spaced a little further apart and come very sporadically...but oh so worth it!  Adding a work schedule into my busy life of gymnastics, piano, soccer, dance, preschool, field trips, carpooling, homework, church calling, playgroups,etc has had its challenges. It has been a challenge to stay balanced. Unbalanced life in the past has usually led me into a flare up of my RA in one way or another.  I was pleasantly surprised that I kept it together for so long.  Exercising became a priority.  I always feel better when I exercise.  I was actually back to working out hard...I found a cross fit class that kicked my butt 2 days a week and I was putting on muscle.  Yoga has become a staple on my stressed out days...LOVE IT!  Overall I had a busy, wonderful 2012 and was actually cutting down on my Methotrexate and had also switched to the oral pill vs the injection.  The injections still make me so nauseous the day after my shot but the pill form not so much.  Then I got pneumonia in October and totally went downhill.  I had two courses of heavy antibiotics which left me with yeast infections to cope with for months...yuck! Note: Never take antibiotics without a pro-biotic of some sorts!

 My ribs hurt for months after from all of the coughing and I just could never get going again.  Then I started having problems with my shoulders and wrists and wallah I was back on my MTX injection again going up in dosage...not down.  BUMMER!  My Dr. thinks that I don't absorb the pill form of MTX as well which led to the flare up and so I'm really on a mission to increase my absorption in my gut.  I've been studying topics like Leaky Gut Syndrome, Gluten Free Diets, and Juicing.  I've always had stomach issues since I was a baby.  Some doctors have called it gastritis, leaky gut, irritable bowel, etc. I'm still unsure what is up with my gut but am CONVINCED it is linked so closely with my autoimmune problems.  My husband read the book Wheat Belly and has encouraged me to go gluten free to see if it helps heal my insides. 

I started eating gluten free as of January 1, 2013 with only minimal slipups :/  It hasn't been too bad but I have not noticed anything drastically yet.  What I have learned about my diet is how carb heavy my diet was.  I realized that I always turned to crackers, granola bars, chips, pretzels, toast, etc for my snacks vs veggies, fruits, proteins or nuts.  That has been eyeopening! The thing that has helped me the most is juicing.  Every morning the first thing I give my body is a nice kale, cucumber, spinach, apple, beet, carrot, ginger, and celery juice from my Jack LaLanne juicer...Delicious right?  Believe me, your body gets used to it and you will see results quickly.  I'm a believer. I watched a documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix and it was crazy!  These two guys were really overweight and had urticaria, an autoimmune disease.  Surprisingly they were on my exact meds and were off all of them with no flare ups by the end. So this is where I am at currently: juicing, gluten free, trying to exercise and get back to my cross fit class soon...still researching...still medicating...still sore but hopeful.  My RA has truly been a journey.  Every little discovery about my self, every high point/low point, every person I meet with this disease, every book I read, every yoga class, etc is leading up to something right? I believe so!