I wanted to share more of my health history. I feel like many people are still unaware of just how sick I was almost my entire life!!!I was actually sick and unwell from the age of 8 years old. This was when my symptoms first showed up after I contracted chicken pox.
In 1989 when I contracted chicken pox I never fully recovered. I had extremely swollen glands, extreme tiredness, slept most of the day and could not get through a full week of school.Many doctors did tests and nothing showed up. I finally got some relief from my symptoms when I was given a tonsillectomy. After this I was relatively healthy for the next 4-5 years.
Then at 16 I suffered from chronic pain, pelvic pain, severe tiredness, GI problems that had me very u well again. I really struggled to get through a day of school. I went to many doctors and specialists and nobody knew what was causing my health problems.
The doctors I saw offered surgeries to help with the pain I was in. They also did many exploratory surgeries that failed to produce answers as to what was causing me to be so unwell. I had some surgeries to relieve the pain and none of them helped.
By the time I was in my 20’s I had been through so much pain. I barely finished school and eventually dropped out of university as I was either too unwell to study or in hospital.
Finally at apex 22 I had a new surgeon who went to explore the area I had pain in my body. He finally found something and removed what he had found during a surgery. He found a secondary piece of uterus attached to nerves and ligaments in my pelvis. What he found the pathologist called endostromatosis. He had never seen it before.
When I woke up from this surgery my pain had lessened dramatically. I remember so clearly thinking all my problems were over!!!In a sense they were as I managed to be pain free and work for the next 2 years. I was still very very tired most of that time though the pain I knew as mine had gone.
The pain did come back and I was prescribed anti-inflammatory medication to help manage this pain. I very quickly then ended up anaemic and unable to stay conscious. I became so unwell again and needed blood transfusions urgently at one point, as I had a duodenal ulcer that had perforated and I had bled out.
After 3 massive emergency surgeries and almost 25 hours of surgery the doctors had removed most of my stomach, my duodenum and more of my small intestines. I still managed to get back to work a couple months after this occurred. Though after about 10 months back at work my pelvic pain had become so bad again I was back in surgery for the pain.
This meant more surgery and when the doctors went back in via surgery they found that they had missed the ‘focal’ or ‘root’ of the disease in my pelvis. Since they had opened the disease in the last surgery in the area; cells from the area had spread and inflamed the surrounding tissue. The doctor believed this was what was now causing my pain.
During the surgery the doctor removed the “root” of the disease (endostromatosis) in the area. It did not help me pain wise. I was now in so much pain I needed a walking stick to move, on massive doses of painkillers, needed my parents as full time caregivers and spent most of my time back in a bed and I was only 26 years old.
This went on and my pain medication increased. I also had many more surgeries where I was injected with Botox, local anaesthetic or had nerve releases to help with the pain I was in.
Finally just before I turned 30 years old the doctors discovered my pain left my body when I was put into chemically induced menopause. This made me so happy, except for the fact that the chemicals that put me into menopause made me sick. I requested that they give me a hysterectomy and I stop the medication.
So just after I turned 30 years old I had a full hysterectomy. This helped even more with the pain. I sadly then had a terrible time with menopause. I next got very very unwell and so came off of all the opioids and other medications that I had been on for years.
Every time I lowered the medications I was vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, faint, hair loss, dizzy and extreme weight loss. I had a couple of ICU visits and by 2017 when I was approximately 35 nobody thought I was going to live.
At this time towards the end of 2017 I had a break with reality, I could barely recall a lot of my past and some days I could barely remember my own name. I spent 4 months in an acute psychiatric unit.
I came out of hospital and came off all medication, started working and was going to the gym in 2018. I still had a very limited cognitive functioning as if some sort of trauma was blocking my memories. I ate a paleo diet that year. This diet was mostly fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables. I would have a meat based dish each night.
Towards the end of 2018 I got Shingles through the trigeminal nerve in my right eye. After this virus occurred one day I could not get up, could not move my arms and legs or barely talk. My parents had to dress me, help me move and even eat.
I also had severe PTSD, depression and anxiety. Most days I felt suicidal. Due to not being able to move I had to go to a neurological hospital to relearn to do everything (ie walk, talk). I was diagnosed with a Neurological Functional Disorder which displays like a stroke by the neurologists.
After I left the neurological hospital and could do some basic functions again. I suffered terribly with my mental health. I spent most of the next 2 years in acute psychiatric hospitals. One stay was 10 months longs. During these 2 years I had decided to go vegan. I was eating a relatively healthy (hospital) vegan diet.
The longer I was on the vegan diet the more problems my blood work showed. Since going vegan my blood had stopped making many proteins. When they had nutritionists look at what I was eating I was told I was getting more than enough of all my body needed.
Once I left a psychiatric hospital that found a way to get me functioning at a basic level again I finally got to go home. Once home I started drinking alcohol to cope with my PTSD. I was drinking a bottle of wine and 1/2 bottle of vodka and within 2 months I was rushed to hospital as my liver was now not functioning properly.
After all of this my parents said I needed to move out on my own now. During the next few months I lived in hotels and psychiatric units. Then finally I rented my first apartment. This was the first time I was able to make my own food.
It was during COVID and I was getting very simple foods delivered that were vegan. I was eating a lot of fruit, salad and cooked vegetables. I was barely able look after myself as I was still very unwell.
I noticed very quickly after eating fruits and salads that I could do a few things without pain, tiredness, my tachycardia was less and PTSD was less as well. As opposed to when I made just a simple meal of steamed cauliflower or dry roasted pumpkin I noticed I could barely get off my bed. I remember so clearly thinking to myself ‘Skye what are you willing to do for your health?’ my answer was ‘ANYTHING!!!’. So right there and then I decided to eat raw foods.
Stay tuned as I will share more very very soon about all that changed after eating raw foods. For my on this please check out my YouTube video “I saved my life with raw foods” Make sure you subscribe to Roar so you get all the latest raw vegan health, blog and over 200 free recipes!!