The Environmental Illness Resource Blog from konnor

Dairy in, dairy out

Matt — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:29:58 +0100

http://thehealthvoyage.com

Well, after the excitement of finding a local raw dairy supplier and enjoying the process of learning and creating ghee, dairy in all forms (from cow’s milk at least) will be put on hold once again.

I really crave the stuff, and seemingly no amount of purity, or the type, whether it’s milk, butter or yogurt can I eat regularly without some side effects. Like my trouble with eggs and a few other foods, for the most part my reaction manifests...

Ghee wizz

Matt — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 22:54:06 +0100

http://thehealthvoyage.com/

If anyone knows where the sleep fairy is be sure to send him/her my way. At least I have the Australian Open tennis to peacefully whittle away those early morning hours. Our man Andy looking strong so far.

Had a cool day today, mainly due to popping to the Norfolk/Suffolk border and having a browse round a local farmers market. I decided to pick up some raw dairy while I was there and also had a quick chat with a lady who recovered from Crohn’s...

Seeking out the big guns

Matt — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:55:12 +0100

http://thehealthvoyage.com/

Man-o-man my days have become about survival at the moment. A quick glance in the mirror in the morning prior to hopping in the shower reveals some nice racoon style dark circles under my eyes.

After reading his excellent book ‘The Fourfold Path to Healing’ I have decided to approach Dr Cowan. With his wide range of knowledge I’m hoping his expertise might be able to help me understand what’s going on with my rather annoying bo...

A year in review

Matt — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 18:35:47 +0100

http://thehealthvoyage.com/

Well, what a year, and one which I can probably say has ended slightly on the positive side. I wouldn’t say that I’ve picked up a huge amount of forward momentum, but more stopped the rot and stabilised. Also coming across GAPs towards the latter part of the year has filled me with a deep confidence that recovery is possible, despite how complicated it seems at the moment.

Despite knowing allot about my health and what I thought I needed t...

Bile, Bowels, Bovered?

Matt — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

My health journey has taken some interesting twists and turns of late, the new area of interest being the liver.

For the majority of my poor health I have had a gnawing ache under my rib cage on the right side. Twice my liver enzymes registered as normal and I dismissed it as a consequence of generally being fatigued and secondary to other health concerns.

I'm now starting to give the liver a little more thought, interested by the traditional chinese medicine view of 'li...

Soul Searching

Matt — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Some personal thoughts I felt compelled to share. Highlights the complexity of emotions and feelings when one has multiple body wide symptoms.

Broadly speaking physically and mentally it kind of feels like the culmination of almost a lifetime of not being 'free', instead being overly sensitive and stimulated by my surroundings that has culminated in a body that simply can't keep up, ahearing to ideologies and unhealthy traits outside of myself that have caused a disharmony that I'm bat...

The harsh reality

Matt — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Trying not to let me anger and frustration overflow too much, however I was given a stark reminder into the orthodox view of sub clinical chronic illnesses by my GP.

As I have been experiencing more digestive related symptoms of late, including abdominal/stomach ache, pop bellied feeling, occasional nausea, flatulence, gas, bloating, loose stools, stomach burning and constipation, I decided to approach my GP for a general rendezvous, and perhaps the option of doing a H Pylori breat...

Book Review: The Relaxation Response

Matt — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

I've always viewed meditation as something I would like to do, but thus far have struggled to get motivated to do it. It's odd, and difficult to rationalise, but for some reason it doesn't come easy wanting to learn to relax. Perhaps this is a hangup of western culture in general, an...

Stomach ulcer and Christmas hangover.

Matt — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Going through a particularly tough time at the moment which could be due to a number of things.

I unfortunately ended up binging on Christmas day, feasting on fruits, starches, stuffing, turkey glazed in who knows what, a bit of chocolate and lots of cashews. I was also constipated on the day itself, which wasn’t very pleasant and have had trouble with regular BM’s for a while now.

I’m once again struggling with sleep, often only getting a few hours when I&r...

Films on health and nutrition

Matt — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

I've stumbled across a few gems that I'd thought I would share.

Supersize me

Probably one of the more well known films about the fast food industry and it's impact on health.

The premise I think is somewhat flawed, as not many people get close to eating fast food for every single meal. The results are bound to be bad. However as poor nutrition often degrades health over a long period of time, watching this accelerated experiment unfold ...

New year, new focus

Matt — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

As another year draws to a close I’m strangely looking forward to the year ahead.

Last year for me was mainly spent acquiring knowledge and bumbling a little bit as I got to grips with my health problems. I laid allot of foundations, but at times had a hard time executing them, whether it’s a dietary and supplement plan, regular meditation or sticking to Spanish revision. That said I’ve learned allot about myself, about the deception of food and pharmace...

Intolerant, allergic, sensitive or addicted?

Matt — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

There are quite a few terms to describe how one reacts to food. It's such a common symptom of environmental illness yet the causes and manifestation of symptoms vary greatly from person to person.

I've had many fun experiences with food over the years I have been ill. Sugar and refined carb addiction was the first to strike and an upbringing of processed flavours from sauces, marinades and dressings. I rarely was able to eat any sort of food, whether it was salad, vegetab...

Choosing a practitioner

Matt — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

With my ASI test results imminant, I've narrowed down who I'm likely to approach as a practitioner to 2 options.

Chronicfatigue.org is a non profit CFS center based purely on the approach that treating the adrenals will help with CFS. They have a couple of books I would love to get hold of as and the shipping looks reasonable.

Had a brief email exchange with the N.D there, and I was impressed with there knowledge of interpreting and treating the different stages to the ASI. He a...

My Cocoa emergency

Matt — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Continuing the theme of a fairly rocky few weeks, last night culminated in an extremely distressing situation.

Cocoa is an interesting food. Some people sware by its antioxidant and magnesium rich properties whereas others report shot adrenals, stimulation and a general worsening of energy levels and symptoms.

Broadly speaking its a significant step in the right direction when compared to your average western chocolate bar, which is mainly made up sugar...

My old diet. Read at risk!

Matt — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Thought I'd post this, to provide some shock value.

Pretty much my complete diet from when I was a child to 2 years ago (roughly age 5-22) consisted of the foods below. I've gone in and colour coded items, red for very bad, orange for bad and green for good.

Instant noodles, coco pops, corn flakes, rice crispies, sugar puffs, cheerios, golden grahams, weetabix, shreddies, wheetos, special K, milk, cheese, eggs, dolmio, white pasta, pastries, chicken p...

Oh dear...

Matt — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Unfortunately continuing the negative trend of blog entries.

So about half an hour ago, I ate the equiverlant of a whopping 200 grams of sugar. Short of putting a bullet in my brain, this is quite possibly the worst thing for someone with my health troubles to do. It was fuelled by an insatiable craving, and what were christmas presents for friends soon became presents for the evils populating my gut.

Naturally I'm fuming about it. I've not fallen off the wagon this much for ove...

More intolerances

Matt — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:00:00 +0100

It looks like I have more food allergies going on, to accompany a slowly declining state of health. I'm certain chronically high insuling levels are really causing me some problems, along with the intolerances.

So, I'm stood at a crossroads with about 5 routes to choose from!

- I've done all that I can to control hypogylcemia over the past year yet still feel insulin is high and blood sugar continues to drop regardless what i eat.

- I've been taking all the ...

Fullness and sleep

Matt — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:00:00 +0100

I've started to notice a shift in some of my symptoms which may be good or may be bad. The first is I'm waking up less in the night and able to sleep in longer. Waking up in less in the night must be a good thing, and naturally sleeping in longer I guess could work both ways. I'm still yet to get tired before 12 which is the main aim and will need to think about ways to achieve this.

The other symtpom which actually changed a few months ago is the food, stomach, potential b...

Television blues

Matt — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:00:00 +0100

The good news this week was I managed to shake off a virus which had troubled me for almost a week. It's possible it was swine flu, however whilst I felt like garbage, I could still function relatively well. I managed to get into work but they were a few of the worst days I've ever experienced. I'd had about 3 hours sleep between 2 nights.

It's the first time I've experienced flu since becoming noticeably sick just over a year ago, and it took some determination not to reach for ...

Virus takes hold

Matt — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Well it was to be expected really. There is so much going round at the moment that all it probably takes is walking into air that has been freshly coughed into.

So I picked up a virus. Couldve been swine flu or something more generic, I can't tell. In anycase the past week has been horrible.

I'm about 60% better after feeling my worst around tuesday/wednesday time. I've kept on my supplements, increasing the vitamin C by 2g to 8g daily, and I've felt this has helpe...