I haven’t been well.

For the past 2 weeks, I have been extremely unwell, physically. And for the 4-6 weeks before that, I was unwell, mentally. Now, I have a nice potpourri of physical and mental health issues.

I’m convinced stress and anxiety have caused my physical issues.

I’ve been doing a lot of whinging to myself. Saying things like, ‘why is this happening?’ and ‘I’m healthy, this shouldn’t be happening’, kind of shit.

Today, I was reminded about the mind-body connection and I had, what Oprah calls an a-ha moment.

I was reminded that I am in control of MY life. I can choose to be healthy and happy, if that’s what I want.

Believe me, it’s bloody hard to do when it feels like you’ve got tennis balls stuck in your throat and stomach.

I’m currently being treated for reflux oesophagitis but even the doctor said this was a guess.

Besides the blockage feelings in my throat and stomach, I have experienced burning in my stomach, jaw pain, low-energy, severe cough, excess mucous and this all escalates at night when I lay down, which makes sleeping very difficult.

So, I’m on a  prescription drug called Nexium (which I was so determined to avoid) for 30 days and on a diet that consists mainly of:

• oatmeal (porridge) with cinnamon & small drizzle of maple syrup (sorry but plain oatmeal is just gross)
• banana
• green soup (zucchini, herbs, garlic, spinach, celery, green beans…)
• avocado
• wholemeal bread (one slice a day with the avo)
• celery
• Almond milk banana green smoothie
• a couple almonds/seeds if really hungry
• ginger & lemon tea
• rooibos tea
• green juice (cucumber, celery, lime/lemon, kale, spinach, ginger)
• water (sometimes with chlorophyll)
• Pro-biotic supplement and/or drink
• Nexium
• Mylanta- if needed
• I’ll add more alkaline foods to this as I feel better

No food or drink after 630pm.

I’m on day two of this regime. Before that, I was eating other food like chicken, potatoes, eggs, rice, chocolate….just regular but mild stuff.  I was still suffering. I haven’t had a coffee since May 3 and I love my coffee.

I’ve replaced my morning coffee ritual with a morning walk ( I cannot do any high intensity exercise) with Tony Robbins. Tony and I walk for 30-60 minutes. He talks, I listen.

Three days ago, he brought up the acid-alkaline diet.

Now, I’ve heard of this before but never ever looked into it. Tony is very convincing so I googled away.

Next stop, pharmacy for pH strips to test my levels. I figured if I was having so much acid reflux, I must have a high acid reading.

You have to pee on a strip /stick of paper and watch the colours change.

My reading was 5.

Anything below a 7 is acidic.

So, I got straight on to an alkaline diet, which is most of the foods listed above. Of course, there is much more than that on the alkaline list, but I’m also trying to soothe the reflux. That’s why I’m limiting my food intake. I need to eat every 2-3 hours otherwise I get too hungry.

Today (after on 1.5 days on), I feel better and my levels are closer to 7.

But, I felt better all weekend too so I then ate a bucketful of hazelnut chocolates and within 8 hours,felt worse for another 30 hours. I won’t do that again.

So, once again, food is ruling my life and not in a good or delicious way.

I can’t stand the fact that I’m back here in this place of ill-health and uncertainty but I’m determined to build a bridge and get over it.

I’ve just booked an appointment for Bowen Therapy (I’ve never had it) and I’m sticking to this alkaline diet until I feel 110% better.

So, no booze, no coffee, no chocolate, no pizza, no dairy, very little wheat (the bread actually makes me feels good, believe it or not), very few acid foods.

Has stress every morphed into physical illness for you?

 What extremes have you gone to restore your health?