hi fulenn,
as I mentioned in my previous long post, when I started this WOE I had very severe neuralgia in my face, very severe roscacea, I had pain chewing, talking, even smiling. All that is virtually healed. I still experience some sensivity in the nerves in my face from time to time, but I can smile, talk, chew, laugh, etc., without pain. Those things have become automatic pleasures again. I also had very servere body temperature fluctuations that were extremely weakening and debilitating. Those are gone, except for the occasional mild hot flash (I am in menopause.) I was becoming too weak to walk very far from home, and do simple errands. I had recovered from a period of about 5 months when I could not even walk the 1/4 mile to the co-op from my house, but that was a struggle. Now I can take a walk with the dog in the morning for a mile, sometimes more, then come back for a short rest, and walk to the co-op pulling market cart. I can mow the lawn with my push mower.We take a second shorter walk later on in the day. I've done this every day since I got the dog over two years ago. This has, over time, strengthened my legs and torso, and of course, improved my spirits, etc.
I had very severe vertigo that would incapacitate me for weeks at at time. That has resolved. When I do get vertigo, it is mild and usually resolves within a day if I rest.
I still have issues, but they are all softer. The level of inflammation and pain from it is easier to manage. At the time I started the diet I had lost that ability to "bounce back" with rest and time. Now I have that again.
It is like a miracle. It has not completely eradicated the problems, but it seems to have turned the clock back on how severe and constant the symptoms are to a time earlier in the illness right after I stopped teaching. So instead of getting worse, I STOPPED getting worse, and slowly started doing better. Not out of the cycle of symptoms but in a gentler, way more manageable place with them.
And, as I said, I lost a little weight, I look terrific--and people tell me that all the time. Sometimes people don't recognize me. Sometimes I don't recognize myself! LOL
Most importantly, very slowly I have seen some improvement in the cognitive slowdown and problems with mental tracking I experience due to the MS. I am a writer, and used to teach at university level and this year, the fifth year of the diet, I have been able to write more steadily, figure out mechanical things with manuscripts, and even handle getting a new computer. I got a cell phone for the first time. I use the speaker so as not to bother the nerves in my face.
Each year I am able to do more gardening. This year I have done the mowing of the lawn myself except for a couple of times. With a push mower.
This WOE helped me sort out that I had the fibromyalgia as well as the MS, and to address those symptoms with further tweaking of the diet. The pain is rarely incapacitating any more. I can move through it.
All this is accompanied by support from my wonderful dog, and living at a slow pace that works for me. I do not have a job to go to, and my son is grown. But each year I do a bit more. At a time in my life when I am getting older, instead of going downhill, I am improving.
Though I couldn't go all day without a rest or nap, or talk all day at a job, I can be engaged in activities for a good long while, talking, walking, figuring things out. But I do need a lot of quiet, and to go at my own pace. I move around with more ease, and can manage problems with balance and fatigue. I sleep better, with less pain.
When I started this WOE, there was almost an immediate drop in my anxiety level. It was as if eating to help inflammation also helped that kind of inflammation. And slowly, the longer I stay on it, I notice a widening of my perception as I move through the world. When one hurts all the time really bad, the focus becomes very narrow, as in having to concentrate very hard to move from point A to point B, etc. So it's as if blinders are on because one has to be so focused on the basics. Over time I've felt those "blinders" lift, and found that I was more relaxed, able to notice more things without becoming neurolgically overwhelmed--because some of the basics--like changing position, picking things up, moving, etc. were becoming more "automatic" again. If that makes any sense.
So I haven't experienced a complete remission of symptoms. They still come and go and some are always close at hand. But they have all become less severe, softer, often less frequent, and more manageable. And my ability to rally, to bounce back, to let more stimuli in, slowly improves. To me this is all fantastic, because it means I have reversed the direction of the disease, even if it is not completely eradicated. And done so many many years after it began. As a friend of mine said, coming back after having traveled for several months "You look GREAT! You have MS, but it doesn't have you!--You've got it over in the corner, there, and you're able to live your life. "
I'm not sure this is what you are looking for. I hope it helps in some way. If there's something else specific you'd like to know, just ask and I'll try to address it.
blessings,
moonwatcher
PS: something happened yesterday, too, which was one of what I call my "little victories." If you like sometime I'll write about that. But my fingers are getting tired, and I don't want your eyeballs to fall out from reading all of this!