God sure has a funny way of slowing us down sometimes…  Being flat on my back from Christmas to today really has put some things into perspective.

I have mentioned before that last year was really crazy, but let me tell you.. It was REALLY CRAZY!  In November, I had already put in place and started changing how I personally was doing things here on the homestead.  Reorganizing, removing unneccessary things from my schedule, learning to say “NO” when necessary and honestly judging everything that came across my desk by a stress meter.  If it was going to cause me stress then I was not going to partake!

I, in all honesty have not been feeling real well for a while.  Stress can be a real bugger and cause a whole lot of problems.   I have learned this in the past and when we arrived in Idaho I already knew all of this stuff and how to be good to myself, avoid extra stress and the intention was to live the “Simple Life”, however, the rate of speed that things were happening here it was hard to continue living the simple life without making changes.

So, I spent November and December getting myself reorganized and things back on track.  It has felt really good in removing many unnecessary things from my schedule and focusing on what was most important to me!

We had an amazing holiday and although I spent most of, ok, all of my holiday and into my New Year on my back, the rest was the best gift ever!  It was very relaxing and although I could not get out snowshoeing in the 15 inches of snow we received I knew the smart thing was to rest and rest it was…

Now I feel it is important to share the current happenings with you because I have to bet there are many others experiencing this.  Had it not been for the divine intervention of my dear friend Diane over at PeacefulAcresFarm.com, I would have never known what was causing my struggles this year.

Since we are on a whole foods diet, processed foods make us very sick and MSG has been the culprit several times over the last year in giving me a major reaction that is so severe that the hospital has been a thought several times and then things mellowed out some, but this time was really different.

I hadn't eaten anything that had MSG, yet my symptoms were the same and this time it was scary.  We were able to get things to subside with a lot of antihistamines and lavender ad peppermint essential oils but it took three days for me to feel myself again and that was when my abdomen began to swell and the discomfort set in.

Although, my abdomen was swollen and it was evident that this reaction caused my organs to be stressed and taxed, in the back of my mind I couldn't shake the feeling that this was not an allergic reaction, but something more.

I had experienced anthralactic shock when the Mountain Boy was only a day or two old and I know this episode was really close.  My friend Diane enlightened me about something called Histamine Intolerance.  I had never heard of it before, but when I looked at the symptoms that she shared with me it was rather awing.  I spent the year eating a very wholesome diet, but was still not feeling well.  It appears that with all the extra stress in my life that it may have brought on a Histamine Intolerance.  Now what is also really crazy is that looking back on my life during some of my other real stressful moments, I was also dealing with similar symptom.  SO…  This may not be something new for me, it may just be something that surfaces during great levels of stress.

I had chosen to do several detoxes, lymph, gallblader and liver massages and an essential oil protocal to help with the discomfort which was the smartest thing I could have done. Our local hospital was a thought, but it has a bad reputation so I felt natural health was the way to go.  Because things were not improving we were blessed to get an appointment miraculously with a very busy doctor over an hour and a half away.

Thankfully, this past Wednesday, spending the day between the doctors and hospital we were able to confirm that the pain I was still experiencing in my abdomen was my system slowly getting back on track and and we confirmed that none of my organs were damaged, that there were no cysts or tumors and besides this situation I was in excellent health which was nice to confirm.

So it is confirmed that I am in good health and that my system is slowly getting itself back on track.  Now my biggest project ahead is finding out what I can eat to eliminate this from happening again and to also stay true to my new schedule to which includes some very important components such as down time, the daily exercise I love and back to living the”Simple Life”!  LESS STRESS!!

Now, I am already on a whole foods diet, eating everything from scratch and very healthily so where does that leave and now what will I eat.  Well, after a full week of reasearch and The Anti-Cookbook by Yasmina Ykelenstam added to my arsenal I am ready to go.  Her website TheLowHistamineChef.com is also an AMAZING resource.  There are foods high in histamine, low in histamine, and there are also foods that are anti-histamines and also anti-inflammatory.  So through a combination of the low histamine, the anti-histamine annd the anti-inflammatory foods I will create a diet for myself.  I LOVE vegetables and fruit and this is a big part of this and our greenhouse this spring will be such a blessing.  It is really not an awful adjustment for me – I just need to remove certain fruits and vegetables, lower my meat intake for a little and utilize my sprouted grains, beans and nuts more often.  I had already removed sugar and the starches.  For a while I was doing the gluten free, but found I was even struggling with that so now I use high protein gluten free flours andthings seem to be ok such as almond and coconut flours.

It is just making some adjustments and simply being good to myself with 8 hours of sleep every night, fresh air and exercise everyday and time for me!

I started living November and December with intention and it is my goal to live my life faithfully intentional from now on!

You have a lot of time to think, revamp and analyze things when you are on your back for the most part of 19 days….  Be good to yourself and remember that you have a say in your schedule and how you want to live.  Don't let society dictate your life!

I will be sharing this process with you on how I am sticking to my schedule as well as my journey with a histamine intolerance and new low histamine diet.

Stay tuned….

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