My last post was a while ago; a long while. I honestly am not sure where summer has gone. It’s been great and also hard. I’ve had setbacks and I am now rising again.
My last post was about making the very difficult decision to go back to my Rheumatologist and to accept that I needed to get back on a biologic for a while. My body has needed to feel better for a while. The AIP diet plan was not for me. Way too much meat was included in this plan and my body did not appreciate that at all. I gained weight, I felt sluggish and my pain was at an all time high.
I met with my doc and we decided that Humira was the route I’d take again. It’s worked before and with consistent use, it should work again. I gave in. I was looking forward to relief. Then, I had to wait. And wait….
Throughout this summer, I’ve been waiting on my medication. I was living on Ibuprofen, angering my gut and liver, but soothing my joints. I’ve been frustrated with my body. I’ve been frustrated with my major setback and I’ve been frustrated by the wait for this medication that I finally decided to take. To be honest, I felt a lot of anger that I “gave in” to the idea and then it literally took 2 and a half months to get to me.
The wait was due to insurance wanting me to use a specific pharmacy, my doc sending the order to the wrong one… that one never telling anyone that they weren’t approved to fill it… when it finally got to the right one, they didn’t have my phone number… etc etc. I was super annoyed (REMINDER to always follow up on your stuff, consistently. Be your own advocate!). Also, the pain in my body combined with things I was learning in YTT made me take a step back from Buti Yoga as well. I haven’t been moving. I haven’t been meditating. I haven’t been me.
Don’t get me wrong, my summer has been filled with lakes and rivers and swimming and sunshine and my YTT studies. It’s been a very blessed summer and we’ve had a ton of fun. Throughout all of the fun and sun, however, I carried a weight with me.
My eating was super shitty, my body was sore, my mind (thought calm) has been just waiting and dealing….
Right after my last post. I had an attitude of F-IT all. I ate all the things for a while again. Slowly, but surely as I’ve waited for the medication, I’ve improved my eating habits again. I’ve been working on phasing meat out and (again) dropped all gluten and dairy. It’s been a weird few months inside of Katie. Good, but kind of dark. I received the medication finally on the 8th. I took it that very day. I’ve got good news and I have a plan. Things are looking up. I will always rise again.
The plan: Humira for about a year. In that time, refine my eating. Eat super duper clean; like, I’ve never eaten before. I will get back on my movement medicine game and work back into meditating and visualization daily. After a year or so, working closely with a doc, I plan to wean off the meds.
I feel like after doing a major dietary reset, mind/spirituality resest and getting my pain levels back to tolerable or even with the medication, I should be clear to wean from the meds and really get a feel for my purest body (does that even make sense?).
At that time, if the pain returns in full force, it seems like I need to just bite the bullet and take meds. I need to feel good. I need to live life. I do not want to deny the medication that is there and end up in a wheel chair at 45. That seems like a dumb idea. I need to be thankful for the existence of the medications and continue to treat my body as well as I can in all other ways. So, getting more serious than I’ve ever been about healing, trying again and being ready to adjust. This doesn’t mean I’m planning on being defeated. It means I’ve learned that being stubborn and denying help that is there is not a reasonable plan,
Also, I AM thankful that these meds exist. Guys, I’ve taken once dose. It was a week and a half ago. 2 days later, I felt ZERO need for Ibuprofen. I was literally taking one 800mg dose of the stuff DAILY. After 2 days with Humira in my system, I didn’t feel the need for Ibuprofen for about 5 days! This was huge for me. Not only did I feel well enough to stop those, I felt well enough to get back into Buti Yoga! I’ve done 3 rounds of it in the past week, and my body is rebuilding. I’m gaining some strength back. I’m already losing some flab that I’d gained and toning myself back up.
My next dose is in 2 days. After I give myself the injection, we go camping for 4 days. I’m excited to have this next dose (I never thought I’d say this) and to get out into nature for a final Summer hurrah!
I want to share my story of how I go about giving myself the injections as well. I’ll document this on Saturday and share soon. I’m sending love to each of you and I thank you for coming along on this crazy journey of my life with me.