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I was going through family pictures on my computer when I came across some John had taken of my rash when it was almost at it's worst back in September. Some of the cracks got deeper and worse at a point. Since then I have had some lab tests done. I still haven't got all of the answers but I have eliminated all of the foods that it came back that I was allergic to and worked on my intestinal flora which was extremely low and started taking enzymes since my pancreas is basically not even producing enzymes.

Eliminating the foods I was allergic to just wasn't cutting it. What really helped was when a friend of mine (Sharon Hoehner-THANK YOU!) who noticed some of the foods I was allergic to might point to an oxalate allergy. I don't think I would have ever stumbled upon that information alone with it being so rare and there not being very much information on it. Once I eliminated foods high in oxalates I started seeing much more improvement. I love kale, parsley, broccoli, and spinach in my fresh juices and instead of helping me they were harming me. It has been very difficult to be so limited on what foods I can eat and has been very hard to stick to the high raw diet when so many vegetables are off limits. It has been very frustrating at times, that I am so limited. Sometimes I felt like the only food I that wasn't going to bring me pain was apples.

I just want people to know that there are always answers to their problems if they are stubborn enough and take enough time to do their own research. I could be another statistic slathering gobs of steroids on my skin everyday while my insides continued to be inflamed and making room for disease to flourish. Instead I chose to find out what was really causing my problems.

When people tell me about their issues I just want to dig and and find the solution for them but it takes a lot of time to research and in the end people aren't always willing to make the changes-especially when it comes to diet. One of my favorite quotes: "It is easier to change a man's religion than to change his diet." -Margaret Mead  I wish it weren't so true. : /



Our bodies have symptoms for a reason. They are red flags telling us to pay attention. Not to go to the doctor where they will give us a magic pill that will take away the symptoms until big problems unleash themselves later in our lives.


So here's some before pictures:

With coconut oil on.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but at this point it had gone up both hands and arms. It was very swollen as well.

Not sure these get the amount of pain I was in across. :) Even my VERY non-dramatic husband was worried I was going to get an infection and told me daily they were going to amputate my arms. Yeah, he's not super sensitive either. LOL!

These are without coconut oil.

Skin couldn't stay on, but when it came off the tender skin underneath wasn't ready to be exposed.

It's funny that now that it's healed I am not worried about showing these, but at the time I was hiding from the stares under bandages and long sleeves.

My journey is not over. I still have flare ups and can't figure out what happened. It is not easy to obtain information about what foods are high in oxalates either. I basically have to look them up one by one. I have a chart that is not very detailed with foods. I am also not able to juice and eat as many greens as I would like. Cucumbers, bok choy, sprouts and lettuce are really the only safe greens I can count on. I am always accidentally eating something I shouldn't like right now I ate acorn squash and had forgotten it is high in oxalates. I am not accepting this diagnosis for life. I have found a lot of information pointing to the fact that my kidneys and gall bladder could be full of stones causing this reaction to oxalates or have some sort of kidney disease. Once I am done with nursing I have a whole host of detoxing planned.



My hands are finally back to normal after almost three years!! I couldn't be happier!! Thanks for reading and have a lovely day! :)

I was having trouble uploading pictures yesterday, but it's working now, so you can see my current hands.