eliminating the elimination diet.

four long, hungry weeks ago i set out on a mission to eliminate all of my favourite foods from my daily repertoire in order to determine which (if any) of them make my body cranky. this mission is called the elimination (or anti-inflammatory) diet, and i'm happy to say, i survived.

last week i started re-introducing food. so far i've added dairy, eggs, sugar and corn without any issue.

for the 3 weeks that i was on the strict part of the diet, i was pretty lethargic (which was probably a nice change for the people around me who find me annoyingly hyper). as soon as i re-introduced dairy last week, my energy levels were back, and i've been feeling great since. i still have to re-introduce a few big ones (soy, nightshades, gluten).

in terms of my hair, lots of spots are growing in, but i'm still losing a lot of hair. the patches on the top of my head have lovely new sprouts, but the areas around them are now falling out. i've been channeling my inner hippie and wearing scarves on my head everyday. i've included a couple pics that i took in my glamourous work bathroom. the scarves have been amazing for covering the spots on the top of my head. and it's a nice break from wearing hats everyday. all of my silk scarves came from my mom (thanks, mom!) or ebay.

in other news, later today i've got an appointment for a wig consultation. i've really struggled with this decision. part of me feels like i'm giving up by getting a wig / partial, the other part of me is tired of wearing hats / scarves and worrying about spots showing on a daily basis. that being said, i'm pretty excited for my appointment and finding out more about what my options are. i just might come home with a platinum blonde wig that goes to my waist. but probably not. blog post to follow...

an open letter to my hair.

dear hairs on my head,

please stop falling out. i really like you and think you look really nice (when you're attached to my head, not when you're clogging my bathtub drain).

with warmest regards,
the head you are (or were) growing from

good news / bad news.

good news! a lot of my bald spots are regrowing (and most of them are growing in brown, not white!).

bad news! the parts without hair are increasing, and it's falling out in freaky deaky chunks, which is pretty freaky deaky. 

good news! i'm almost at the re-introduction portion of the elimination / anti-inflammatory diet. which is great, because i really miss cheese, gin and red meat. and i'm hungry. all. the. time. 

the diet itself will be over in a few weeks, which works out perfectly with a trip i just booked to hawaii, which works out perfectly with my latest treatment decision. as soon as this diet's over, i'm going to spend more time focusing on taking care of myself, eating well and being as awesome as i can be everyday... and spend less time focusing on my alopecia. applying cream to my bald spots twice a day might be helping my hair regrow, but on an emotional level, i don't think it's doing me any favours. i get to see progress (which is great) but it also forces me to see more hair loss, and that aspect of it is disturbing for me. i'm definitely not at the point where i need a wig, but it's continually getting tougher to keep all of the spots covered on the top of my head. on the suggestion of a friend i've bought a bunch of silk scarves to wear as headbands. constantly fussing with my hair to keep my combover where it should be, is (not surprisingly) also not great for my ego.

anyway, it could be worse. at least i'm surrounded by great family and friends who don't give a shart how much hair i do or don't have. 

gluten for punishment or: how i learned to stop worrying & love the elimination diet.

in my humble opinion, i'm kickin' arse on the elimination / anti-inflammatory / anti-everything i love eating diet. i think my mood has been pretty good (my friends and co-workers might say otherwise), my energy levels are a smidge lower than usual, but i feel pretty great. not great enough to do this for the rest of my life though. AND a bunch of my spots are growing in. and they're even growing in with pigment! i've also noticed that my bald spots are a lot less red. i'm still drinking the 300 year old witch doctor tea that i mentioned here, but one of my wonderful co-workers (who i like to refer to as my work-naturopath, cause he's pretty well researched on this stuff) put it in capsules for me. no more horrid taste twice a day, and no more nausea. amazing. so i'm feeling super duper positive. i bought a couple new hats to get me through the days where my bald spots aren't cooperating and i can't keep them hidden. i showed them who's boss.

in my last post, i wrote a bit about the diet, but here's a more thorough breakdown:

no:

• gluten
• eggs
• dairy
• soy
• sugar
• nightshades (what a dumb word for tomatos, peppers, potatos and eggplant)
• mushrooms
• corn (i. love. popcorn.)
• vinegar (this means no olives. which i also love.)
• strawberries, bananas, citrus fruit
• caffeine

yes:

• chicken and fish
• a shit ton of vegetables
• quinoa and brown rice
• olive oil
• raw almonds, brazil nuts, sunflower seeds...
• blueberries, apples, mangos
• almond milk
• tons of water

follow this for 3 weeks (gives your body a break from some hard to process foods). after 3 weeks, re-introduce 1 food item for 3 consecutive days. if you have no reaction - hooray! keep eating! if your body does react - return to the strict diet for 2 days and then add another type of food. i'd read a lot online about the relationship between gluten and alopecia (apparently there is one, and it's not good). i'm hoping to stay off gluten going forward. i wish i could say the same about sugar, but i love it too much. i'll definitely cut back.

and i'm still applying this cream:
--

homemade vitamin d anti-inflammatory cream:
 combine:
- d-mulsion (genestra) 30ml
http://www.rockwellnutrition.com/D-Mulsion-1000-Liquid-Emulsified-Vitamin-D-by-Genestra.html
- cosmaderm (aor) 30g
http://www.aor.ca/html/products.php?id=47
- aloe vera cream (ferlow botanicals) 60ml
http://www.ferlowbotanicals.com/50.177.0.0.1.0.phtml?hashID=38mu54pdtnhkbn297nfs6310p2

mix products and store in an airtight container. apply 2x / day.
--

the diet takes about 5 weeks in total. i think i'll make it.