My Keto Journey
Hey! I'm sure if you're reading this you must be someone following or interested in following a Keto lifestyle. Welcome! I'd like to tell you a little about myself.
I began my Keto journey in May 2017. At the time, I was extremely overweight, suffering from chronic pain, on a high dose of medication for Lupus, depressed, and just in a very low place in my life. I had gotten to the point where I really didn't care to leave the house, I slept a LOT, and felt like I was always in a bad mood. I knew my family was suffering. I knew I was suffering.
People always say you can't help yourself until you're ready, and there had been many times I thought I was ready. In January 2017, I started looking into ways I could lose weight. I've always struggled with my weight, and I've tried a lot of things over the years. I had different ranges of success and failure. In the early 2000s, I used diet pills with ephedrine and managed to lose 45 pounds. I felt great, but I knew how dangerous the method was. Then I had two children back to back and gained quite a bit of weight. I was still very active, but didn't lose weight. I blamed the pregnancies and strain of having two toddlers for not being able to take it off. A few years later, I began struggling with pain and weird physical symptoms. I was eventually diagnosed with Lupus, and needed to retire from my job. I took a big hit emotionally and physically, and gained more weight.
Flash forward 9 years, to January 2017. I was in a miserable amount of pain, almost 300 pounds, and about to turn 40. I'd been in a vicious cycle of depression and pain and weight gain, and every time I made a change to dig myself out of the hole I was spiraling down, I just got knocked down again. I changed my eating habits, but I was in too much pain to exercise. I started exercising anyway, and I was in too much pain to keep it up. I was in so much pain I got more depressed. I was so depressed, I figured what did it matter anyway and gained more weight. I'm sure this is familiar to people who deal with these kinds of issues - I know I'm not the only one. But it felt very lonely.
I began researching how to lose weight. I looked into gastric surgery (not for me). I checked to see if those now-banned diet pills were available anywhere in the world (they aren't). I don't even remember how, but I stumbled onto some information about a Ketogenic Diet. I read it over. It reminded me a little of the South Beach diet I tried a long time ago. I had some success with that, but wasn't able to maintain that lifestyle. I kept it in the back of my mind. Over the next few months, I kept getting little reminders about Keto. I'd hear it on a TV program I was clicking by. I'd see a "keto-friendly" recipe online. You know, just little signs that kept it on my mind. During that time, I had gone to a new doctor to discuss my situation. I was in so much pain it was no longer bearable. The doctor did blood tests and told me I didn't have any more signs of my Lupus being active, and she wanted to discontinue my medication. She recommended I go to pain management.
I was taken back. If my Lupus was in remission, I didn't really have that excuse anymore for why I was in such a sad state of health. I didn't want to go to pain management, I'd been managing pain for so many years, nothing anyone could possibly teach me was going to help. So I slept on it. That's always my advice to my kids when they are trying to decide something. Sleep on it. Don't be hasty, let things marinate and decide with a clear, rested mind. I ultimately decided to go to pain management. If they didn't tell me anything new, then I would move on. But what if they did? What if, *gasp* I didn't know EVERYTHING I could know about managing the pain? I had decided I would go, and I'd call some time that week to make an appointment. Later that day, the pain management clinic called me to schedule my visit. Good thing, because I was lagging and it was exactly what I needed.
I went to the pain management seminar. It was a couple hours long, and they described the services offered. Most of the people there were dealing with new problems - lingering pain from injury, back aches, things like that. The doctor presenting the information offered physical therapy and services of the mental health department as a whole treatment plan. As soon as I heard psychiatry was part of it, I shut down. During my Lupus diagnosis process (it WAS a process, it took almost two years) I saw a doctor who told me that maybe I "just needed to see a psychiatrist" because he couldn't figure out what the problem was, so maybe it was in my head. I felt like they were going to tell me that again. I left the seminar, fully intending to never set foot in that place again. I cried. I felt utterly helpless.
The following Monday, I got a call from the doctor from the seminar. He wanted to know if I had given any thought to joining their program. Somehow, I decided to express my concern to him. I didn't want to be in a "program," I had many tools to deal with pain. I didn't want a psychiatrist, I had a support system I liked in my family. I didn't need physical therapy, this wasn't an injury I had suffered. He asked me to come in and see him so we could sort out how their department could help me. I reluctantly said ok.
I took my husband with me to the appointment for moral support. The doctor listened to my complaints, what kind of help I was looking for, what I didn't want, what I had tried. I described the vicious circle of pain and weight gain, and told him I felt like I was slowly being dragged down into a pit of despair I couldn't climb out of. I cried again. The doctor said he didn't think I needed a psychiatrist. He had an idea, and wanted me to read some information he had on a Ketogenic Diet. I said I had heard of it. He told me he had numerous patients with autoimmune disorders who were helped immensely by following the diet. He described all the benefits and how it worked physiologically. He said it won't "cure" me, but it will most likely help a great deal. He asked me to think about it, read the material, do research, and come see him in a week.
I began my Keto journey in May 2017. At the time, I was extremely overweight, suffering from chronic pain, on a high dose of medication for Lupus, depressed, and just in a very low place in my life. I had gotten to the point where I really didn't care to leave the house, I slept a LOT, and felt like I was always in a bad mood. I knew my family was suffering. I knew I was suffering.
People always say you can't help yourself until you're ready, and there had been many times I thought I was ready. In January 2017, I started looking into ways I could lose weight. I've always struggled with my weight, and I've tried a lot of things over the years. I had different ranges of success and failure. In the early 2000s, I used diet pills with ephedrine and managed to lose 45 pounds. I felt great, but I knew how dangerous the method was. Then I had two children back to back and gained quite a bit of weight. I was still very active, but didn't lose weight. I blamed the pregnancies and strain of having two toddlers for not being able to take it off. A few years later, I began struggling with pain and weird physical symptoms. I was eventually diagnosed with Lupus, and needed to retire from my job. I took a big hit emotionally and physically, and gained more weight.
Flash forward 9 years, to January 2017. I was in a miserable amount of pain, almost 300 pounds, and about to turn 40. I'd been in a vicious cycle of depression and pain and weight gain, and every time I made a change to dig myself out of the hole I was spiraling down, I just got knocked down again. I changed my eating habits, but I was in too much pain to exercise. I started exercising anyway, and I was in too much pain to keep it up. I was in so much pain I got more depressed. I was so depressed, I figured what did it matter anyway and gained more weight. I'm sure this is familiar to people who deal with these kinds of issues - I know I'm not the only one. But it felt very lonely.
I began researching how to lose weight. I looked into gastric surgery (not for me). I checked to see if those now-banned diet pills were available anywhere in the world (they aren't). I don't even remember how, but I stumbled onto some information about a Ketogenic Diet. I read it over. It reminded me a little of the South Beach diet I tried a long time ago. I had some success with that, but wasn't able to maintain that lifestyle. I kept it in the back of my mind. Over the next few months, I kept getting little reminders about Keto. I'd hear it on a TV program I was clicking by. I'd see a "keto-friendly" recipe online. You know, just little signs that kept it on my mind. During that time, I had gone to a new doctor to discuss my situation. I was in so much pain it was no longer bearable. The doctor did blood tests and told me I didn't have any more signs of my Lupus being active, and she wanted to discontinue my medication. She recommended I go to pain management.
I was taken back. If my Lupus was in remission, I didn't really have that excuse anymore for why I was in such a sad state of health. I didn't want to go to pain management, I'd been managing pain for so many years, nothing anyone could possibly teach me was going to help. So I slept on it. That's always my advice to my kids when they are trying to decide something. Sleep on it. Don't be hasty, let things marinate and decide with a clear, rested mind. I ultimately decided to go to pain management. If they didn't tell me anything new, then I would move on. But what if they did? What if, *gasp* I didn't know EVERYTHING I could know about managing the pain? I had decided I would go, and I'd call some time that week to make an appointment. Later that day, the pain management clinic called me to schedule my visit. Good thing, because I was lagging and it was exactly what I needed.
I went to the pain management seminar. It was a couple hours long, and they described the services offered. Most of the people there were dealing with new problems - lingering pain from injury, back aches, things like that. The doctor presenting the information offered physical therapy and services of the mental health department as a whole treatment plan. As soon as I heard psychiatry was part of it, I shut down. During my Lupus diagnosis process (it WAS a process, it took almost two years) I saw a doctor who told me that maybe I "just needed to see a psychiatrist" because he couldn't figure out what the problem was, so maybe it was in my head. I felt like they were going to tell me that again. I left the seminar, fully intending to never set foot in that place again. I cried. I felt utterly helpless.
The following Monday, I got a call from the doctor from the seminar. He wanted to know if I had given any thought to joining their program. Somehow, I decided to express my concern to him. I didn't want to be in a "program," I had many tools to deal with pain. I didn't want a psychiatrist, I had a support system I liked in my family. I didn't need physical therapy, this wasn't an injury I had suffered. He asked me to come in and see him so we could sort out how their department could help me. I reluctantly said ok.
I took my husband with me to the appointment for moral support. The doctor listened to my complaints, what kind of help I was looking for, what I didn't want, what I had tried. I described the vicious circle of pain and weight gain, and told him I felt like I was slowly being dragged down into a pit of despair I couldn't climb out of. I cried again. The doctor said he didn't think I needed a psychiatrist. He had an idea, and wanted me to read some information he had on a Ketogenic Diet. I said I had heard of it. He told me he had numerous patients with autoimmune disorders who were helped immensely by following the diet. He described all the benefits and how it worked physiologically. He said it won't "cure" me, but it will most likely help a great deal. He asked me to think about it, read the material, do research, and come see him in a week.
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