NIGHTSHADES and Inflammation

About nine years ago I had several tests run to figure out what was causing me to not feel myself . I was first diagnosed with Hypo thyroid . It seemed like they found the reason since I matched all of the symptoms , but after starting the protocol, I still wasn’t feeling myself. In Fact it seemed like things were worst for me . Not only was I tired, but now my hair was thinning , my finger tips were peeling, my skin was dry, I wasn’t sleeping well, I was an emotional roller coaster. I felt hot then cold. Happy then upset . It was so frustrating . I also had tons of fluctuating hormones going from the pregnancies and postpartum nursing .
I told my practitioner that something still wasn’t right . I’m doing everything she was asking me to do and I wasn’t feeling any better. So she ran a blood test The IgG Food Antibody Assessment.

The body can react to foods in many different ways. Adverse food reactions can lead to distressing symptoms and chronic health conditions. Often times it is unknown exactly which food(s) may be the cause and testing can help identify the problematic foods. Removal of the reactive foods often results in resolution of symptoms.

So after seeing my test it has to this day been some sort of a challenge because I have had “26 foods” to be exact to avoid. Not only nightshades, but dairy, yeast, garlic??? Onion??? Come on!! Seasonings sigh ..

So I Have tried to be pretty regular about staying away from the top sensitivities 2+ and 3+ like dairy, yeast, shell fish, but their were some foods that came back as low reaction like the nightshades, the garlic, the onion .

I’m not really sure why because after all these years of trying to figure out why I was having some awful symptoms , I finally pinpointed inflammation from the lower sensitivity foods.

The pain I was having was inflammation from nightshades. I didn’t realize this til recently . I have had 10 babies , preterm has caused me to have several cerclages and those always required spinals for placement and removal then if you choose pain-free birth you get another epidural. So total I have had 16 spinal/epidurals . That’s a lot of needles and I have had some pain from those that I feel may be from scar tissue . I’m not complaining about them , I chose them and my children were worth every stick and poke I received these last 18 years :), but I’m making a point all of those needles can cause back pain .

Also as a teenager I had a few severe car accidents which cause me to have herniated discs. So I have always blamed my back pain on these two facts until recently.

I slipped and fell from our concrete stairs and really hurt my back . I wasn’t sure if I was going to get through it this time . It was so excruciating. If you have had severe back pain you know what I mean when I say .. I couldn’t even breath it was so so bad. Turning forget it , I couldn’t walk I was dragging my feet . Sitting on the toilet was the worst! One shift to either side to get up was so painful ughhh!

I don’t even want to remind myself how bad it was . I laid in the bed for 2 weeks .. that wasn’t easy in its self . I have 10 children , I need to be available . Thankful my BEAR -(husband) works from home and my oldest children are angles . We got through it and we were back to normal.

At least I thought so.

A few days later when I was almost healed still hurting a little but able to walk and move . I made one turn to grab my diaper bag in the car and that was all it took . Uhhhhh!!! I was so Mad! It’s so frustrating feeling like you are helpless . So I was back in the bed and I was determined to do whatever it took to heal as soon as I was able to get out of the bed , I bought a back brace, a back roller a stability ball and supplements. So I was in waiting mode . It was taking forever to get better .

I just kept thinking, I cant wait to use that roller and that ball.  I had already been using supplements and doing decompression on my back along with some physical therapy exercises, but I needed something else to strengthen.

One of the nights I went to bed in excruciating pain with my 10 pillows / ice.

When I woke up everything was better, that was it. No more pain , I could bend and move and walk .

Nothing no pain

I said to my husband what happened ? It’s just gone like that ? I started thinking about what I did different . There wasn’t anything. Except I had started a new protocol a few days prior to remove nightshades. I had already had the blood test showing me I had a potato, pepper, tomato, but remember I saw that they were showing only a number one for reactive .

And one of the nurses at the doctors office I was going to told me to focus on removing the larger reactions like the 2/3s.

So I never removed them completely. I wanted to try to figure out if the nightshades were causing inflammation because I had been studying on it recently and I heard bout AIP diet, which was new to me and that seemed to be the normal protocol for hashimotos diagnosis now. I was not following AIP because I had my food list but I knew I had a nightshade allergy. 

I was just so tired of not feeling good . So I started removing nightshades and apparently that is why my pain quit . I know this because I tested it again after the back pain stopped.

I tried to eat a few potatoes and it wasn’t immediately , my flare ups usually show up in day 3 . It takes usually that long to start retaining the water to feel the pain . And when I say I feel pain from nightshades . I’m talking about collar bone , elbows, wrists and hands, hips and back , knees and ankles. Pretty much all the way down my body.

At this point I am certain my body needs a break from nightshades . It’s been about 5 weeks and that nagging lower back pain I have always had has not returned . Except when I had tried the potatoes. I did recently have some latkes for Hanukkah and yep sure enough those two tiny latkes cause me to have hip pain and feel bloated and not myself .

I now feel like I was having so much pain from my back injury when I fell because of the inflammation from nightshades I was consuming . I think having a weak spot like my back or an injury causes inflammation to settle in those spots which makes longer healing times and causes weight loss stalls.

l also lost 8 lbs .. woo hoo! When I removed the night shades.  It makes me wonder if food sensitivities could be making people  have weight-loss issues.  I’m on a mission now and I’m also looking into removing alkaloids in my diet. So check back because I may change things up a bit.  I’m always into moving forward in my health.  So if that means removing something or adding something then I will. 

It’s very depressing trying to figure out what’s causing your body to hurt , but when you get an answer. Do your best to stick with your findings you might see just how much you can heal your body naturally . I will be sharing some recipes for Nightshade free eating so make sure to check back for new inspiration weekly.