True Stories: Sharla
"My name is Sharla and I am the author of this web site. I would like to share my story with you.
Now in my 40s I wear smaller size clothes than I did as a teenager. I am calmer, more content and physically healthier than I have ever been. My journey to this point was not an easy one.
As a child I was constantly ill and was seen as a fragile child. I was unable to take part in the rough and tumble play of my contemporaries. Games were a nightmare - I simply had no sense of balance or co-ordination.
I applaud my parents for having recognised that I was ill and for trying to get me help but sadly none was forthcoming. The 'diagnosis' most often given was 'growing pains'!
I struggled through my teens with more varied diagnoses which included rheumatic fever, sinusitis, and accident proneness. The most common advice at this point was to lose weight but even when I did the problems remained. I was frequently absent from school for weeks at a time.
However, with the energy of youth, I managed to get myself through school and university and into work but I was having serious problems: Mood swings, loss of memory, fatigue, an overwhelming need to be on my own, rashes, sinusitis, tinnitus, chronic PMT, weight that would bounce up and down like a yoyo, muscle and joint pains, anxiety...
I came to accept these as 'normal' to me. No doctor ever thought there was anything wrong with me other than stress or over working. At no point did any member of the medical profession suggest that I could be allergic or intolerant of the food I was eating. I also never suspected that my daily diet could be the cause of my problems - after all I was very very careful about what I ate... back then I believed in what the experts said was a 'healthy' diet.
In my mid thirties my health took a serious turn for the worst. I was so exhausted that getting up was on some days impossible and, once up, even the smallest task, such as feeding the cats, would reduce me to tears. I ached everywhere, had absolutely no energy, felt disassociated from the world and yearned for death. By this time I had no faith in doctors so did not seek medical help.
Very slowly, I began to regain some strength but I was scared. Just what was wrong with me? As no help was forthcoming, I decided to begin my own quest for health.
It was long and, at times, very frustrating journey but I eventually found the cause of my problems - food and, in particular the chemicals, found within it.
I am especially sensitive to salicylates in food. I also have difficulty with amines (this has reduced over time) and MSG. I can tolerate some milk and only small amounts of wheat in the form of organic unbleached white flour. I react to most additives and to any man made chemical that contains a form of salicylate (ingested, inhaled or via the skin).
It sounds like a frightening list but I am now healthier than I ever
have been and
when I do get 'ill' as a result of reaction then I have the blessed
comfort of knowing what is wrong with me and that soon it will pass.
Sadly, I am not unusual and this breaks my heart as I know there are many many thousands of people suffering when they do not have to."