Bewildering Times

Posted on 18th September 2016

I haven't written for awhile but feel it's time to update and answer some of the questions that I've been asked.

The last month has been hard, very hard. From feeling more or less healed, taking on the diet change and getting together some sort of life again I've crashed. I've pondered on just how much I should give vent about this on my Blog but decided people want the truth not a load of platitudes and attempts to hide the raw, exasperating facts that form a long, protracted withdrawal. By now you'll know that we're all different anyway and my withdrawal is not yours. So here it is....

For about six weeks I've been attempting to keep up with a perfect Paleo diet with no cow's milk, no grains and no sugar. I kept rigidly to this for a month and got quite ill. I was constantly hungry, with a rumbling gut to parallel Vesuvius, nausea and sleeplessness. After the thirty days I threw in the towel and introduced some sourdough toast occasionally plus goats' milk yogurt. I also took out the coconut oil which I felt was doing more harm than good. So far my stomach has been a little more settled but my intense anxiety, the cornerstone of my waves, has reached an all time high. Total insomnia has returned and I'm crawling through the bad days confined to my home. I do get brief respite if I manage to sleep a few hours but then it all descends like a big black storm cloud enveloping my brain and whipping my heart rate into a frenzy. What's with this? Who knows? It's led me to seek more answers looking particularly at calming the overreaction of the CNS which is obviously occurring. I've taken on a few new techniques which I'll write about another time but in truth only acceptance, breathing and just pushing through is all I really can manage when like this.

It's made me confirm all my previous understanding because as soon as I make any sort of deviation from the straight and narrow I'm back in the wilderness. My CNS can't be subjected to change in anyway. Anything can upset the delicate balance.

So what have I learnt from all this? ....
* If you're suffering a bad withdrawal don't make a big change in diet, just eat healthily and avoid sugar, alcohol and caffeine;

* don't take any supplements however innocuous they may appear, magnesium and D3 are hugely problematic for me as are most herbs;

* don't overdo the exercise but do exercise daily with a gentle walk out doors;

* don't believe others have the answers for you because they don't and all these miracle therapies, often at huge cost, are just ways of rewiring the nervous system which we have the tools to do ourselves and again, more about this another time and for free😊;

*don't read all the negative stories on the Internet, in fact have a day of rest and keep right out of the cyber world as this can do wonders for your brain and

*finally do keep positive and divert with something you enjoy doing (a platitude but it does help).

As soon as I stopped taking my own advice I fell victim to an angry nervous system again. I don't think we can stop these waves occurring so far out but I do think we can do our best to make sure we follow a lifestyle that doesn't encourage them. The fact is I'm still very, very fragile and not healed yet. On the brighter side all former physical symptoms have gone and my waves consist only of high anxiety which causes insomnia and foggy head. Hopefully the next entry will see this downturn in the past.

Back To Blog »
© Copyright 2024 Beating BenzosWeb Design by Toolkit Websites