Sorry for the late reply! My evenings have been busy!

Jessica
Hm, I probably wouldn't call it ups and downs, since my health has been steadily bettering and my major problems listed in my signature, stood away at all times.
But I think the path to recovery isn't always smooth and I certainly kept running into problems that must have manifested years before.
Most of my problems are actually related to my digestion I believe. Some is also hormonal. I have always been sensitive to digestive issues and my hormonal situation is understandable, considering that I was on the pill for over 7 years, and then on replacement thyroid hormone, as well as hormones to suppress prolactin production, during pregnancy, and then I gave birth via C-Section. I can understand my hormones were having a hard time after this 

But to answer your question - I feel like right now, I am the best I have been in a long time. Certainly much better than 2009 when my problems began showing more aggressively.

What you described about being super skinny, made me think of something: when my hair was more neutral colored, and darker, I was also skinnier. When you are skinnier, with less body fat AND you eat less fat in general, the estrogen balance is different. More of a certain, bad estrogen is produced and Androgens can be raised. This can result in darker hair. But maybe also more neutral colored hair?
Before I went through puberty, my hair was the color it is now, a bit less reddish, but also a bit lighter than later in my twenties.
This might all be connected to hormonal changes.
After pregnancy, I started taking DIM to balance my hormones. I had a build up of bad estrogens (estrogen dominance). It also helped to get rid of hormonal break outs, and of course the PMS.
My changes could also be hormone related. Or maybe a few things.

I don't think I have symptoms of excess copper, but do you have a good link? The ones I found were a bit vague when it came to symptoms. No changed skin color here though.

I think iridology might hold some truth, like many things. I want to read more about it, so I can compare claims to studies and experiences. Of course standard medicin enthusiasts will immediately label it as quackery.

Celeste
That sounds interesting! I would love to see pictures. I can usually take pictures off of regular photographs with my camera using the macro modus. I am looking for eye pictures from my child hood. I found a few already.
My eyes were bright blue for a long time when I was a baby. Though I am not sure that should have been my color. But maybe the brownish, yellowish parts really aren't natural?

DaBoss
I am working on collecting pictures and I want to blog about it in the future. I found a macro photograph of my eyes from 2008 that still shows more of the brown and yellow around my eye. I should also have some pictures from 2011/ 12 when I started to make changes. Good thing I have always been so picture happy. I have documented myself in pictures. I also have pictures of freckles from years ago. 

I did not notice any moles disappearing. But a few grey hairs. I never had more than three at a time, but all except one regained color. This has happened before changing my diet too though. I think it might have to do with nutrients.

My freckles actually seem to come out more this year! But they look good and healthy. I remember on the birth control pill, parts of my freckles started enlarging and growing into one big blob of freckle. Now they are small and spread out evenly. It was probably just the pill though.

Are all moles necessarily bad? Or just the raised ones? Isn't it just an uneven distribution of melanin?
Freckles for example, can happen when parents with two different skin tones come together. Many "mixed" people have freckles. Pale redheads and also Blondes often have a tendency for freckles, because with a very light skin tone, the likely hood of being paired with an average, beige, European skin tone, is just very likely.

I think freckles are normal, as long as you don't overexpose your skin to sun. That can cause sun spots. I read that especially when people are on a unhealthy diet it will cause lots of photo-aging.
It would be so interesting to compare this also.

goodsamaritan
That probably looks quite unusual on you! I think iridology has a theory on blue halos, though I am not sure it is all true. Maybe the blue-ish changes in eyes can be attributed to raw nutrients. Raw Vegans also claim that their eyes get more blueish.

Long time no update. I want to try to keep it short.

Facial Yeast:
The anti fungal cream really, really cleared it all up. It took a very long time though, for it not to grow back within a day.
The first three months of treating it, I would have some mild flaky skin regrowth inbetween applications.
Now I can go 2 days without anti fungal cream at least. I might even be able to go without it for longer, but I don't know for sure. I have honestly been too scared to stop using it. Instead I have reduced the applications.
Some parts were really difficult to treat. Like my eyelids and lips.

After the yeast had cleared my skin was left in a aged looking state. Somewhat deflated, thin, crinkly etc. It is a known fact that yeast breaks down collagen. So maybe that is what happened. When I would raise my eyebrow, or pinch the skin around my eyes, it would look like 70 year old skin.

I added a few supplements (Hair, Skin & Nails and Vitamin C) and made sure to eat my starchy carbs (sweet potato, banana) with lots of fat to help my skin heal. And heal it did....like wow! I have before and after pictures somewhere, but I have been too lazy to upload them.
My skin gained so much firmness and plumpness...I don't even get that little dent in my cheek anymore when smiling. My eyes also bettered by A LOT. Not sure they are fully back to normal, but I started treating the yeast around my eyes much, much later. At least I don't get any crinkles anymore.
I'm really not sure how young looking my skin is supposed to be at my age, all I can say it is better than with the yeast.

My skin has been very clear. I don't seem to be getting hormone related break outs anymore. Not around my period either.

I will keep reducing the anti fungal cream, but use it until I have found a permanent solution to the yeast problem. I still want to treat it internally, but all attempts have messed up my digestion.

Digestion:
I haven't been able to afford the probiotics but my digestion has been better and I only get mild bloating sometimes. Still, I think another round of probiotics and enzymes would really perfect things!
My weight has been pretty stable and higher than it used to be.

Hashimotos:
Still great! I reduced my Raw Thyroid Supplements to only taking it every 2 days.

Hormones and PMS:
I have experimented lots! In Spring I actually tried to quit taking the supplements for hormonal balance, but my PMS came back. Not as bad as before but definitely not good.
I wanted to see if I can do with less supplements and changed things around a few more times. I now seem well adjusted with milk thistle (for the liver) and 1 tablet of DIM a day. My periods have been great.

Overall Feeling:
Really good! Definitely much better than in a very long time. I sleep well, feel rested even if I don't get 8 hours...in fact 8 hours is often too much, I prefer 7.
I seem to have a lot of strength and energy (I was able to compare when carrying Christmas trees), I still don't use a stroller and carry my 12 kg, 85 cm tall son when I take him to the city (he is too scared to walk much in crowds).

Now on to the things that aren't great:

- I still have unexplained pain near my belly button (two fingers to the left and right of it), which I can feel when I poke that area. It is very painful when poked and it is almost always there. Only once in the morning I wasn't able to find the pain, but other mornings I did feel pain....
I think I will have to see a doctor about this to get an idea of what I'm dealing with. I would like to avoid a colonoscopy or something like that though.

- I have been experiencing hair loss again since late July/ early August. I actually only had a three month break since I first started losing hair again in Oct. 2012.
All my tests came back great though....my hormones are fine too...there seems to be no reason for my hair loss.
I am shedding less hair though...more like an increased amount, but not losing clumps. It has been staying at the same reduced medium thickness that way. Just not thick like it used to be.
What is very odd, is that my hair has been getting healthier and shinier again over the past few years. My texture had changed with illness and now it seems to be changing back slowly. I keep finding hairs on my head that started growing in a coarse, uneven texture and further up they are silky and smooth.
My hair color has also been more vivid. In a lot of light the red shimmer can be seen much more and it looks pretty saturated. I remember my hair color paler and cooler in the past.
My hair is growing with the speed of light also...it always grew fast, but now....I cut it in Summer due to the hair loss and was able to regrow it all in three months. I am getting a monthly growth of about 2cm now.

Isn't this confusing? Some things are so good but I still shed hair....

In a way I am thinking all the experimenting and tweaking with supplements might have triggered hair loss. DIM and such are known to cause temporary sheds when starting because each time your hormones adjust.

I have been sure to keep all my supplements stable. I also have not made any change to diet, especially not carbs/ sugars (from fruits). It feels like my blood sugar levels are very stable atm.
I haven't measured though.

Sometimes I also wonder if I am lacking something on my current diet, that I had enough of when eating SAD foods. I have been looking more into making sure I get nutrients from liver and organs too.

Last but not least...it is VERY likely that the hair loss is caused by breastfeeding, and here is why:
My son stopped breastfeeding about 4 times this year when he was sick. With a stuffy nose he does not want to breastfeed and he took a break only to resume full breastfeeding again once his nose was all improved.
Women shed hair after weaning from breastfeeding because of the drop in hormone levels. My body must have thought we are stopping, but was then taken on a roller coaster ride...I am certainly prone to hair loss from prolactin...so maybe the drop and rise in prolactin triggered the shed...and then of course a shed can last 3-6 months...that would explain my problem...if that is the culprit.

But I have not time for guessing....I will still get a few things checked. And I am planning on doing another MRI. I have been postponing it.

Probiotics can often be dead way before you even take them. Most probiotics are temperature sensitive and after shipping, stocking the shelves, etc. the majority of what bacteria were there originally would have died. For good probiotics, it's best to make them yourself.

A good fermented food will improve digestion, and give you the bacteria you wanted from the probiotic. I personally make pickles regularly and they're absolutely amazing. I've never liked pickles until I started making my own. They're also very cheap, much cheaper than the store bought pickles which aren't even real (fermented) pickles. They're made with vinegar. And much less expensive than the typical probiotic sold at the health food store.

In the display your culinary creations section there's a thread on fermented plant foods, animal foods, and high meat. I personally use the recipe from Mark's Daily Apple for pickles except I only use sea salt, distilled water, fresh dill, and cucumbers. I've never had a bad ferment using that recipe, they're always delicious and crunchy (addicting).

I've also experimented a little with fermenting honey. My most recent experiment was 1.5 cups of raw honey, to .5 cups distilled water mixed up very well and left outside. It did a lot of bubbling, but the bubbling has ceased.

Any way! Fermented foods! Better than probiotics, and better for gut health.

Mine are not the refrigerated kind, but they must have lost their power somehow. I started taking 4 a day and my problems are improving again....hm.
I tried some fermented foods like kimchi and sauerkraut before, but they did not help all that much. Maybe because they weren't home made? Or just not the right type of bacteria?

My husband made kombucha tea, which turned out too vinegary. I wonder if it could be useful still though?

I will try the recipes thank you!

____________

Little update on my parasite cleanse.
I don't feel horrible but in the evening I will often feel a little weak or sick often with a headache or stomach pains. I can definitely confirm that I have parasites now. At first I had little white worms in my stools, just a few but they look exactly like hookworms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookworm , or maybe pinworms...but from the symptoms I think hookworms might fit better?
Since yesterday I have also been seeing little white eggs and my stools started changing in consistency and odor. I also found something that looks like flukes and all sorts of little pieces and things that I can't describe...it just looks very different.

My doctor had tested me for parasites over a month ago, and it came back negative...I think the tests might not be very accurate. I talked to my mother about this and both her and my sister had parasites before...the white worm kind.

I am keeping an eye on my sons diapers too. I read that breastfeed children will be going through the parasite cleanse too.

Thank you I will check out cure zone!

Right now I am trying to figure something out. It seems as if my probiotics are not working as well anymore. My bloating came back some, and my digestive issues as well as the acne. The acne looks different however, more all over and almost like a rash or some other skin condition. My skin is also very flaky and dry....so I think I might be dealing with more than just some pimples. My skin has been dryer since pregnancy but this is really annoying now. I don't use any products or moisturizer so it is definity not that.

I need to improve my digestion first and foremost since I know it will fix a lot of problems.
I tested a lot of foods, and the weird part is I digest bread and such the best, no bloating or pains (or acne). And eggs give me the most problems. Too much meat also . I tested raw as well as cooked foods and it is all the same at the moment.
I read that you can have problems digesting animal proteins with low stomach acid? And I know there are supplements for that too.

Does anyone have experience with this problem?

 -vBI started probiotics about 1 1/2 months ago and they bettered my indigestion problems and acne. However, the past two weeeks my problems have been worsening again. Makes me wonder if a different dose would better things again?

I also started a parasite cleanse yesterday and have been having stomach pains, nausea and constipation since. Is this normal during a cleanse?

I was hoping I could keep using the probiotics while doing the parasites cleanse vut I read that the parastroy can actually cancel out the probiotics...can this be avoided?

TIA!

I find this very interesting, and if it really is not bad for you why not?

Updates for April to May 2013
I have experimented some and learned lots.
Although my major problems are better or even gone, I still have some work to do. Some of these things can not be bettered by diet alone, or at least not fast enough.
I want to be in excellent shape next pregnancy. I don't want to be a high risk pregnancy again. I want to be guided by a natural midwife, instead of an OB Gyn, so I can attempt a natural birth after C-Section.
I am also planning on nursing through pregnancy and after tandem nursing both children. So I need to be the strongest possible. Pregnancy is very tiring especially in the first trimester.
I need to fix my hormonal problems, to assure problem free conception and not adding to hormonal imbalances next pregnancy. I feel the strong surge of hormones from pregnancy has really messed with my hormones, and since my body was always prone to hormone related problems (but mostly spared) it is having a hard time bouncing back. Not to mention I used to take birth control pills for 7 years until 2009.
When I took the herbal supplements they had improved my PMS drastically, reduced the hair loss I was going through then, and also bettered my skin (acne).
I stopped after 2 1/2 months. I had just experienced my first completely normal, pain free period since it returned at 12 months postpartum. But, my problems returned. My skin was the first thing to go bad again, and my following period wasn't as great either. It was on time and not longer than normal, but heavier and I experienced bad PMS again.
I don't think I was taking the supplements long enough, and I was taking a bit less than the recommended dose too. That is why I will go back on the supplements. It is only logical right now...I can't be going through excruiating pain during ovulation and around my period, that could equal up to two weeks of problems and at least 4 days of being completely miserable.

As far as my skin and indigestion goes:
I tested a few things to make sure it really IS hormones causing me troubles. For one, I ate a Wai diet for two weeks to see how I would feel on it and how my skin would respond. I even stopped using moisturizer and wearing mineral foundation or powder (to cover pimples and reduce shine).
It did not do anything for my acne. At first I thought I was clearing up, but it turned out to be just normal fluctuation. I have some good days and then hormones cause me to break out, my skin will then heal just to break out again. With time it is really causing damage to my skin...the red marks won't fade easily, even when I am not broken out I have visible red marks for a long time. I don't have a lot of room for experiments or time to wait, because I might end up needing a face transplant .
The Wai diet diet improve the texture of my skin a bit though. Similar to the bettering I had experienced going cooked Paleo. Before Paleo, even when having clear skin, I would often get small bumps, that weren't pimples, just bumps all over...my skins texture just did not seem as even (children always have an even texture).
Well, it got more even on Paleo, which i think also has to do with the avoidance of dairy much, and even more even and fine pored on the Wai diet. So basically I have amazing skin...with Acne! Makes no sense, but thats the truth. If I did not have pimples, I would have beautiful skin....so weird.
One problem with the Wai diet was energy. I was constantly eating fruits and would get hungry every half hour. I find that very inconvenient. I would also be a bit jittery, rather than energized. I had trouble sleeping....like I would be too jittery to calm down enough to sleep well. I lost weight fast, despite eating 3000 cals, which is not good for me.
When I hit 46kg, I stopped, added a few veggies to my diet, and I gained weight back fast *shrug*....
BUT, I still eat raw meats and fish, raw egg yolks, and only use (sesame) oil to moisturize. I only cover single pimples if they really stand out, but I mostly only get small red bumps under my skin that won't come to the surface.
My skin is not oily anymore! Since I was 17 I have been fighting oily skin and now it is just gone...my skin is still dry though. Has been since pregnancy.
My bloating improved a bit on the Wai diet, but Ithink it is also because food would just pass right through. My stools were too soft and sometimes I had diarrhea.
Any food gets me bloated. I tried a fruit day, orange juice day, meat and fish day. I am not bloated in the morning, but every hour my bloating gets a bit worse. I think even if I just drak water all day....
I do feel it is hormonal too. It started after pregnancy, but just minor bloating and worsened much when my period returned.
After getting off the Wai diet, I started eating SAD foods every day. Just about one or two small things a day, to see how my body would react. I had never tested it.
I did not break out from anything. My skin was even great (but I do believe it will still break out during ovulation and period as always. I ate sugar, wheat, drank coffee, had dairy products, the whole program. I do not react to any foods (anymore), no breakouts, no hypoglycemia, I did not even feel shitty. I was also much less bloated....yesterday I ate the most grain products, Pizza for lunch, rice for dinner and I was barely bloated at all -_-....that really sucks.
Today was my last day. I don't want to eat that way permanently of course, but I needed to see a few things for myself. I am 100% sure now my acne is hormonal. So I can stop guessing and eliminating even healthy foods.
As far as the bloating goes...- I think my body is not used to a lot of plants and fruits. I was raised on grains only. It seems I have a problem with fiber from fruits, since peeling fruits makes a difference when it comes to digestive pains.
And I also DO have a fructose malabsorption....
It is not normal, not being able to even digest a small amount of fruits and veggies properly. My body is certainly weird there. I have said it before that I can not go low carb. I have experienced to many problems on it, and I am not sold on the benefits of very low carb. I have read too much saying that it is not ideal. At least for many people. There are a TON of people that ran into low carb problems all over the web. People that ate a Paleo diet, that had a good plan and stuck with it for a long time...I am not sure everyone can adapt to LC. Too much carbs and sugar are certainly not ideal either, and I don't see how it would be natural to binge on fruits with sugar all day.
Probiotics:
On a positive note, the probiotics have taken away my digestive pains I felt mild discomfort and cramps when digesting prior to probiotics, but the pain is gone...unless I eat high fructose corn syrup...which I am not planning to, but I tested it to confirm I am still fructose intolerant (I wish I wasn't)
Parasite Cleanse:
Possibly up next. Just waiting for ovulation to pass because I want to see how much I will break out this time using probiotics (so far only minor zits, but that might just be the quiet before the storm)
Baby stuff:
I have baby fever ;( or rather, it has been getting stronger. I really should wait at least a year though. I want to give my body time to heal, figure out the hormonal problems, be well established on a good diet , weigh enough since I will lose weight in the 1st trimester, and most importantly make sure my son will get enough breastmilk.
Most women dry up in pregnancy and I want him to get the toddler designed bm during the third year. The composition changes during the last time then.
I would like him to nurse through pregnancy too and I want him to be old enough to understand that my milk supply will only be low for about 15- 20 weeks and that he can still nurse, just less and then resume when the baby is here, old enough so he can get enough nutrition from solids, old enough to not need other milk (I plan to freeze my milk too). He does love his milky, he was "sick" (runny nose only) recently and did not nurse much due to a stuffy nose, his latch is also not great and so my supply dropped drastically (!!). When his nose was better and he wanted to resume nursing, there was barely any milk and he was freaking out. He woke seven times at night, crying for milk, he was cranky during the day, lost weight, he was upset at me, thinking I did not "want" to give him milk, he was sitting on my lap, crying and begging while saying "Mama" and even used the words "Happa Happa" (our word for nursing - German) for the first time to convince me...I was so sad. I cut out ALL solids for a while, started taking lots of Fenugreek herbs again and made sure he sat down while nursing and not running off before he was done). My supply is back up and he gained weight on mostly breastmilk. What is odd is that the less soilds he eats, and the more breastmilk he gets, the heavier he will be. He was very chunky up until a year old (95th percentile). Lately he has been between the 50th and 75th percentile (75th now that he gained weight). One more reason to make sure he has lots of breastmilk available. My idea is for him to nurse, and if he wants solids after that he can have as much as he wants, as long as he does not skip nursing session. Plenty of both should assure that he keeps that healthy, robust look that some toddler lack. Toddlers are often skinny and picky eaters, and I believe it is because they are meant to drink a good amount of milk for longer than we think. At least they would have in nature, before humans decided to wean children onto solids early.
If I was young, I would not worry as much about conceiving again, but I want more than two children...at least that would be my dream, and my body will be most fertile between 27-37 (late bloomer). So I got six more years of easy conception and pregnancies.
Of course I could be a total exception and be fertile long past my mid thirties, but do I KNOW that for sure? So I won't bet on it, although I am positive my baby making future is rather bright.

Hair loss:
Well, my hair is recovering from the hair loss, regrowing fast like always...I only really trimmed 1 inch, and did my monthly trims, so it is still the same length as before. It is thinner, but since my ends are not too transparent, I decided to not cut it much and instead wait for it to thicken up again. It usually only takes a half year. Also...with hair loss my hair only goes from rather thick to medium thick, so I guess I can't complain. Although I would like to have my natural overall volume of almost 4 inches again some day...maybe after children , and then I might grow it long again too. Hip-Tailbone length feels a bit short.
Interestingly, I did not shed as much as usual, since the herbs and some other supplements like D3 drastically decreased the shedding rate during the hair loss, so it was not all that devastating to wait out the three months for the shedding to stop...I now lose 3 hairs in the morning as opposed to one hair ball.
That was long....wow.

We already ordered parastroy. I hope it is good vut the reviews sounded promising.

I had to interrupt the Wai Diet because I lost so much weight quickly. I went from 49.5 to 45.5. But only after one day of eating normal I was back to 47.5?? So weird.

My bloating had gotten better and also my skin. I don't think it would fully take carr of my acne though. It seems to be mostly hormonal. Since stopping the herbal supplements it came back some and I also had PMS and a heavier than normal period this month. My skin seemed less inflamed on Wai though and my breakouts were much smaller and healed faster.

I don't want to fully quit. But I will be adding some veggies so the food does not fly through. If I figure out how to maintain my weight I might give it another try.

Bump

Sadly they don't seem to ship here. I just looked up a bunch of paraites and can't stop being nauseated right now. Some of them infest such weird parts of the body...how can you even get rid of them when not in your intestines?

Wow! That is a lot of eggs! I don't think I will be craving that many. I am building up to test how many I want to eat. Had three so far today.
We buy organic free range eggs, they are fed some grains and pick their own food. Best we can get here.

GS how did you deworm yourself? Are there any ways to donit for a weakling like me?

My protein intake is pretty low right now too. Hopefully not too low.

1 day of mea
1 day of meat + fat + water most probably won't crash you.
You may then find out if that calms down your tummy.

Okay. Aside from that, how can I make a fruit heavy diet more healthy? What is the least amount of meat that should be consumed?

Wai Diet guru does not recommend raw cod at all.  He thinks it has too much parasites.

Try to find raw meat / raw fish that you are sure of, and try doing just raw meat for a few days like 2 to 3, no fruits, no veggies.  See if that calms your guts.

Hm, I understand the thought behind it, but I will probably crash hard from sudden carb withdrawal.  Hypoglycemia might be payjng me a visit. What about having juiced fruit with the meat?

And no more cod...eww..

Just throwing this out there. The types of carbs in fruits, (most) veggies, and certain nuts are simple sugars. Which actually makes then easier to absor b. Since they're already single sugars, they get absorbed immediately. Complex carbs are links of sugar that need to be separated/broken down before they're absorbed.

The scd is actually mainly simple sugars, and that helps a lot of people. Something else to consider is that all complex carbs have to be broken down into simple sugars to be absorbed. Otherwise they go to the colin and feed bacteria.

I remember reading that veggies are generally harder to digest than fruits?

It is the reverse.  A great compatible with you probiotic should stop all diarrhoea, stop all stomach pain, give you a solid quiet gut, can help you digest almost anything, stop you from farting, give you nice solid comfortable poops... good probiotics will help you gain weight.

In my country we have papayas, watermelons, melons, guava, durian, hydrating green oranges.  And raw root crops like singkamas and yacon.

Sounds wonderfull. I will see what I can find online. I have been wanting to take them.
Oh and I am sure I can find at least some of these fruits here. I have even seen the green oranges before.

Suiren, how are your stools now?   Does fruit not cause any digestive upset or acne?

jessica
They are less firm and the color is lighter. My problem tends to be constipation. Less since I gave up a SAD diet but still a little too hard sometimes. The day before yesterday I had diarrhea after eating raw cod fish, but I did not eat any meat yesterday and today I did not have any pain in my intestines. I am still bloated, but not as painful as after certain veggies (rutabaga, ouch!).
I have only been on a clean raw diet for two days, and the four days prior to that I was transitioning while still eating a few problematic foods.
I am steadily clearing up and this morning my jaw dropped when I saw how clear my face was. The past weeks my digestive issues seem to have progressed and my skin had gotten worse again. It was almost clear after the detox with the supplements, but adding more veggies into my diet might have caused it to get worse slowly...who knows.
I also seem to be much more sensitive to all sorts of toxins nowadays.