By Rory Linehan
Let’s face it, starting a healing protocol can be daunting. It’s a huge investment of time, finances and emotion without knowing what to expect. Will you be one of the lucky people who experience remission quickly? Will you see steady but gradual improvements? Will you notice any difference at all?
These are questions which all of us who have embarked on any healing protocol have asked ourselves. I started the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol over two and a half years ago after receiving a healthy dose of inspiration from this life-changing video by Dr Terry Wahls. I thought to myself, if a middle-aged woman can achieve such mind-boggling results from diet and lifestyle alone, I (as a 24 year-old male at the time) could expect all that and more. I was fit, robust and extremely healthy before falling ill, and I fully expected to reclaim my health quickly. While I’ve achieved some unbelievable results, my healing reality has been slightly more nuanced…
In this post I’ll outline the results you can expect from the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol, by exploring two unique and compelling stories, the first from a leader in the AIP community and the other from an inspiring and uplifting individual with chronic illness.
Name: Angie Alt (http://autoimmune-paleo.com/)
Age: 36
Autoimmune/Chronic Disease/Previous ailment(s): Celiac disease, Endometriosis and Lichen Sclerosis
How long have you been following the AIP? I followed the elimination phase of AIP for one year. I now have some reintros under my belt and eat more of a “modified” Paleo diet. In all I’ve been at this for 3.5 years.
Could you describe your condition at its worst? Unfortunately, my lowest point with autoimmune disease also coincided with a three-year period where my family and I were living in West Africa. Although I had been diagnosed with lichen sclerosis and endometriosis, I still did not know I had Celiac, but the damage was being done. I became incredibly malnourished during that period and started experiencing a huge array of very distressing symptoms, made all the more frightening by the fact that we did not know what was causing them and we were living in one of the least developed countries on the planet. There was virtually no medical care and I ended up undergoing three medical evacuations as a result of the complications of Celiac, eventually landing in a Belgium hospital on IVs for nearly a week. I was numb all over my body, including down the center of my face, I had heart irregularities, extreme bone pain, I stuttered and had trouble finding words, my fine motor skills were diminished, I lost a lot of weight and I was having a lot of emotional/mental health trouble. That was just the start. However, doctors couldn’t seem to figure it out (my misdiagnoses included cerebral malaria, admittedly tropical diseases were good guesses!) and that left me feeling like I was losing my mind. Fear. Overwhelmingly I would describe my lowest point with that one word.
Has the AIP improved your condition? If so, what improvements have you seen? Yes! AIP made a huge difference in my emotional/mental health within 72 hours. Six weeks later the improvements could be seen in my lab results, as my gluten antibody numbers dropped by half. After that point nutrient values began to creep up, while inflammation markers decreased. By six months it was like being in a different body and today . . . every aspect of my life is changed due to AIP. All of it for the better.
What is your condition like today? Do you have any ongoing symptoms? Although I am nowhere near my lowest point (which was 94 lbs.), I remain underweight, a common symptom of Celiac. I also have some pain and complications that have remained with my endometriosis, but it is far, far more manageable following AIP and a surgery last year with a specialist.
Do you still follow the AIP? I’ve had some successful food reintroductions, so now I follow more of a “modified” Paleo template. I also tend to keep certain foods at a minimum, for example, I don’t eat nuts often.
What is optimal health for you? Have you achieved your optimal health? Hmmm. I think optimal health is being physically comfortable and capable combined with overall happiness. I am not in pain anymore, I can do all the things I want to again, and I am many times more content and happy than I was four years ago. My diseases are no longer obstacles for me, in fact, I’d say that I have actually gained a lot from my experience with them. By those measures, yes, I think I have achieved optimal health. I try to focus on enjoying my wins at this point, not fretting about perfection.
Name: Matthew Chambers-Sinclair (Matthew’s wife Petra blogs at http://petra8paleo.com/)
How long have you been following the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol? Over 22 months (though for the past 21 months I have been following a low-FODMAP variant of the AIP, and for the past 7 months I have been on a very restricted version of the AIP, Agalée Jacobs gut healing elimination diet).
Could you describe your condition at its worst? At its worst, I was bedridden for 18-20 hours every day due to pain and side-effects from medication, and I could not manage my basic needs. I also had psoriasis on about 40% of my body.
Has the Autoimmune Protocol improved your condition? If so, what improvements have you seen? There have been definite improvements in my overall health. I am able to manage my psoriasis and arthritis symptoms without pharmaceutical drugs which brought on serious side effects. Additionally, my brain fog has improved so that my memory and executive function abilities are more reliable than they’ve been in over six years.
What is your condition like today? Do you have any ongoing symptoms? I still experience joint pain, though this is much reduced and more predictable than before the dietary changes. My brain function has improved so that I can reliably care for my needs, for my family and participate more fully in many aspects of life. Additionally, the psoriasis lesions are reduced to about 5% of my body.
Do you still follow the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol? I am still on the Agalée Jacobs’ elimination diet and attempting reintroductions, though this has been hit and miss (e.g., broccoli: hit; coffee: miss).
What is optimal health for you? Have you achieved your optimal health? I find it personally beneficial to view ‘optimal health’ in 2 ways:
- a static, goal-oriented ideal that I can compare with my overall state of health using long-term trends, which I update when I experience stable improvements; and
- a day-to-day view of optimal health that allows me to modify my physical activities, diet, and overall engagement with life in order to work with my current state of health, and this helps to prevent me from over- or (more commonly) under-doing activities, keeping the healing journey as stable and linear as possible. I have succeeded in raising the bar for the long-term view of optimal health a number of iterations, and I find many successes to celebrate when it comes to the day-to-day view, and it is this that provides me with the best motivation to continue this healing journey.
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