My Journey Back to Health

This is my personal story that I want to record here and by no means is a prescription and recommendation for others, but only the telling of the journey I undertook, and am still taking, in restoring my health. My symptoms start in my early 30's with muscle fatigue in my upper thigh while I was out club dancing. Then muscle tightness up my back. I often pictured myself on one of those medieval stretching torture devices in hopes for some relief. I opted for yoga instead, which helped, but relapse, where my muscles snapped back hours or a day later, was hell. Fast-forward to early 40's, when I woke up one morning with this horrible pain in my mid-back, right side. Doctor thought it was a kidney stone because of the location, but it ended up being my gallbladder. They want to do surgery. Ok, here's where I need to state that I am one of those particular people that questions everything and everyone, especially someone who wants to cut me open! Also, I was a pretty healthy eater. I knew that my gallbladder had no signs of stones or inflammation and my own research showed that no inflammation should mean a healthy gallbladder. Found a great GI doctor who was glad to see I kept my gallbladder because he saw the issue was with my biliary duct and diagnosed me with Sphincter of Oddi disorder -- a muscle tightness thing. Not long after I was having problems with shortness of breath. My lungs proved to be clear, but my diaphragm muscle showed weakness -- again a muscle thing. Then I started waking up each morning with lock jaw. I could feel the muscles tightening all the way up into the left side of my head and ear; an ear that I had two cholesteatomas removed, one back when I turned 40 and the other a year after the gallbladder (or biliary duct) attack. These are just the issues related to muscles, my brain and emotional state were affected too. Brain fog and confusion, along with memory issues just increased over time and there was this underlying feeling of anxiety that was always there no matter what was going on in my life. I also suffered for attacks of rage and depression and slept A LOT. All of this just seem to be getting worse and the doctor could not figure out why. I tested negative for MS and Myasthenia Gravis‎. Blood work looked good. I kept rotating these restricted diets of vegan to paleo. I felt great on a vegan diet for 3 or 4 days and it gave my pancreas and gallbladder a break. BTW, I never have any problem with plant based fats with these organs like the ER doctors told me I would when I was first rushed with the attack. After some research I found that plants come with enzymes that break down their fats and don't need the pancreas and gallbladder. Only animal fats need those organs. This proved true for me in action. By the day 3 or 4, the fatigue would hit. I finally deducted that for some reason my body required high amounts of protein. This is usually the case in the presents of muscle injure, but what was injuring my muscles? One day, I stumbled across a video about by a woman a little younger than me describing similar symptoms without the lung and SOD diagnosis. She had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. She connected her symptoms to eating anything with free Glutamate in it. Our body produces the amino acid L-Glutamate and it come nature in some foods, like walnuts. It is a neurotransmitter that is responsible for exciting our nervous system into life. Without it, we would not be alive. GABA is its counterweight, used to calm the nervous system down. Free Glutamate (aka D-Glutamate) is a free from of the amino acid, not bound to anything and able to pass through the Brain-Blood Barrier. For some reason in her body it had an excitotoxicity reaction. Lightblub! So, I instantly went on a D-Glutamate free diet. Not easy since about EVERYTING that comes in a package has this processed form of Glutamate in it. But, it worked. My initial symptoms of creased first - the anxiety, lock jaw, muscle tightness, brain fog, fatigue and pulling in my head and around my ear. Brain started to become so clear and focused that I became an avid reader. Over time the lung and SOD issues got better, though I still have mild trouble with them sometimes, it's nothing like before. Fermented foods can have various levels of free Glutamate that occur naturally during the fermentation process. They can bring back mild symptoms, but not as badly as the factory made Glutamate (aka MSG, yeast extract, caramel color, guar gum, xanthan gum, any gum really, nature flavors). It's a long list. They put in food, not to flavor it, but to trick your brain into thinking it taste better. While some of us have such a strong reaction to D-Glutamate is still a puzzle for me. The symptoms are neurological in nature and I started finding a lot of new research connecting D-Glutamate to neurological diseases like Alzheimer's, ALS, Parkinson's, Autism and ADHD. For help I turned to herbs and am currently studying for my Herbology Certificate, which will not be allowed to be recognized in the US, but pharma doesn't work for me, so I at least need the knowledge that comes with the certificate for me. While following time test recipes, I am having better luck with herbs. And that is where I am today.