Journey for Health but Finding Myself 

My Story

It was a Saturday afternoon, my family and I had just finished with a long day of outlet shopping, so of course  we had worked up an appetite. We decided to stop at the nearby mall and get something from the food court. We got home and enjoyed our meal over a couple laughs and stories about the deals of the day and then it was time for bed. 

The next day I woke up and did the usual, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and had some breakfast with my family. The day went off without a hitch, dinner time came around and it was time to eat the coveted leftovers from the previous day and I was excited. My mother had already indulged a little earlier so I was late to the party. 

I began to eat the food and immediately I knew something wasn’t right. There was a weird feeling that began to irritate my throat. By this time my mother was not as spry as she would usually be and was sprawled on the couch in misery. I reluctantly ate a few more bites of the food before deciding to just scrap the meal. The irritation in my throat was intensifying but I thought with a good night’s rest all would be well in the morning. 

By morning all was not well and my mother’s symptoms had gotten worse. Our throats felt dry and scratchy like sandpaper and we developed a severe headache that made our heads extremely tender to the point we could not even lay on a pillow without being in pain. We tried to eat food but our appetites were completely shot and the smell of most food made me nauseous. 

This was not normal for a family who rarely got sick. I could count on my hands the amount of times I’ve been sick in my life and this was the worst sickness by far. Immediately we called a medical professional in the family to find any means of relief. We also decided to get a COVID test just to be safe. A day later we went to go get tested, came home and waited for the results. After hours of waiting the results came and we had contracted COVID. Our family member told us the best remedy was to keep ourselves hydrated and get some Robitussin. If you’ve ever watched Everybody Hates Chris you know that Robitussin is the cure for everything. It took a couple of days but we finally felt better and everything was back to normal. 

A month later we were having our weekly Friday wind down, where we listened to the new released music of the week. I had been deemed the DJ and was intently curating the playlist as we were listening to the music. The next thing I knew I began to feel my chest tighten a little and I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. Thinking it would go away I ignored it and kept curating. 

It didn't go away and it had been three days and still no changes. I ended up going to urgent care. The doctor asked me if I had COVID recently, I said I had it about a month ago. They told me that they had seen young patients developing heart issues after COVID but not to worry because a month was too long ago for there to be any connection between what was going on with me and COVID. 

That did not sit right with me but I trusted them because I honestly didn't know any better. This was 2022 and there was not a lot of information out there about the long term effects of COVID. They continued on with the usual series of questioning “any shortness of breath?, dizziness?” and I said no. They took an EKG and everything was normal but I did not feel normal. 

From there I was referred to a heart specialist who had me take a heart stress test and wear a heart monitor for 30 days. The stress test came back normal but nothing was normal about what I was feeling. After 30 days, the heart monitor reported five instances of a higher than normal heart rate. My doctor diagnosed it as sinus tachycardia. 

I’m going to be honest, I was scared. The heart palpitations stopped me from exercising because I was scared something might happen to me. Would I pass out or worse have a heart attack? This went on for months and every time I’d have a check in with my doctor everything would come up normal.

How could it be normal when everyday I woke up to my heart pounding, physical activity drained me, I became a couch potato because I was afraid to stress my heart, everytime I stood up I felt a mixture of lightheadedness and imbalance, and some days my chest felt full and there was nothing I could do about it. How could this be normal?

After a year of many tears, why me’s, and apathy towards physical activity things did begin to get better. I had fewer palpitation episodes throughout the day but I still was experiencing intense heart pounding when I woke up in the morning. At my yearly check-in, my doctor asked if I was exercising to which I replied no because I was scared to. They explained that exercise was helpful for heart regulation but suggested to start off slow and build my way up to more strenuous exercise.

I decided to take up pilates. I was nervous at first but I was able to do the exercises with minimal modifications. I found that 10-15 minute workouts worked best to re-introduce myself to exercise. I would do 30 minute workouts 1-2x a week but I had to pace myself to not over tax my body. While things were seeming to get better heart wise, other changes in my body began to happen. 

Everytime I would eat spaghetti squash I would develop a pins and needles sensation in my head. Again thinking that it was just a one off I just stopped eating spaghetti squash as often and kept moving forward. Then I began to notice while eating other foods I would get the same sensation some more intense than others. I thought like most people it was just a change in life and it would go away but it  didn't. 

After three months of discomfort while eating I decided it was time to go to my primary care doctor. Before going to my doctor I had begun to catalog all the foods that were giving me a problem and rating the intensity of the reaction to the food. Some foods gave me such a bad feeling in my head I stopped eating them all together. Thus, beginning my elimination diet. 

By the time I went to my doctor in May, I had stopped eating apples, steel cut oats, spaghetti squash, bread, pasta, almonds, blueberries, red bell peppers, carrots, cauliflower rice, and tomatoes. I found that pretty much all carbohydrates were getting to me and bad. Fruits were no better but I was still holding on to blackberries and strawberries at the time. Weirdly with the almonds I could eat them with pretzels and that would help to mitigate the symptoms for a time.

I told my doctor my symptoms and they suggested it may be a vitamin deficiency. The same day I got my blood work done and then I waited for the results. The results came back and I had a severe vitamin D deficiency. I was honestly happy to hear that because I thought “Oh great the answer to my problems is Vitamin D. All I need to do is take a supplement and everything should be fine in no time.”

I was prescribed a 3 month dose of Vitamin D3 (50,000 IU) once a week and then directed to take the over the counter Vitamin D3 (2,000 IU) daily, after my prescription ran out. To my surprise I continued to lose more and more foods. Almost every food gave my head a tingling sensation, even water. 

Throughout this time I was researching my symptoms but nobody seemed to be experiencing the things I was going through. Then randomly one day on youtube I saw a youtube short of a girl talking about how she could only eat thirteen foods. It intrigued me and I ended up binge watching her shorts and found out she had been diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (or MCAS). 

However, as she talked about her symptoms, we had some similarities but in general it was nothing like what I had been experiencing. This began another intense researching journey on MCAS and its connection to COVID and vitamin D deficiency which I will discuss in future blog posts. 

I have read many books on food intolerances, health & wellness, healing, and more to figure out what is going on within my body. I, like many of you, want answers. This is why I created this website to build a community for people to know they are not alone, where we can share ideas and experiences, and help each other to heal and achieve perfect health. I want to encourage you to not give up on yourself and trust the process. You have the power to transform and change any circumstance in your life. Just take it one day at a time. 

Come back every Thursday for new blog updates on my journey.