SO.....We were married and eating worse than ever (we love eating together) and working lots of hours! We moved away for the summer to California for summer work. I nannied 2 very young children and had a hard time adjusting to that new lifestyle. We were making really good money and I was alone with 2 little kids all day everyday. I ate out almost every meal and enjoyed all kinds of good snacks during my "stay at home" time. My stomach problems became worse and worse. When we got back home and started back to college life I decided it was time to visit a doctor.
      And visit I did! Almost daily. I had blood work, stool samples, urine samples, ultrasounds, a hide a scan, fluid tests. My pain in my stomach became too hard to handle. I couldn't work because of the pain and spent all my days on my couch! The tests all came back negative. Eventually the doc decided it would be a good idea to remove my gallbladder and hope that helped! For the preop check up we had to do blood work and a preg test. That's the day I found out I was pregnant with my first child a BOY
     The doctor scared me pretty bad by telling me that my pregnancy would be 3 times harder than usual bc of my bad gallbladder. I ended up getting a job with great insurance.....hallelujah. It was a hard pregnancy and I worked thru the whole 9 months. I didn't have any complications just sick the whole time. 3 weeks post-partum I delivered what we call my "gall baby" surgery went fine.
     I didn't get a whole lot of relief from surgery. In fact it much limited the foods I could eat.
-no apples
-no lettuce
-no bacon
-no sausage
-no hamburger
This is not a long list (for food allergy sufferers and diet people alike) but for me it kind of made me mad. I felt it was an unnecessary surgery when the pain had not diminished!
18 months later I was prego with my 2nd child a girl! This pregnancy was equally as hard. I feel bad saying so because I know how much some people go through and I know some people would die to get pregnant. But I should say for me.......it was rough. Sick sick sick. But a normal "healthy" pregnancy that resulted in a "normal" healthy baby! Blessed!
I gained a lot more weight with this pregnancy so I started RUNNING. After several brutal months of hating it I began to L.O.V.E running! I signed up with my BFF to run a half marathon. We trained hard and loved the wonderful feeling of accomplishment that followed the race.
     It took a few weeks of soreness to bring myself to start back up on the road again and winter had hit by then. I ran the treadmill for a few days before I started having dizzy episodes. Something I had not experienced til now. I remember my first one was while we were eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant with delicious food and great company. My in-laws were in town and with us and we met some friends at this restaurant. I took a few sips of water and got so dizzy I almost passed out. I quietly told my husband that something was wrong with me. He walked me to the car and we sat while everyone else finished their meals.
     My Mother in law was convinced I was having something of blood sugar troubles. I drank Gatorade to bring it back up and for the next several months believed I just had some wimpy blood sugar issue and although it scared me I didn't seek medical help. I was still exhausted from the last round of doc visits! I would just make sure I ate often and always had a sugary treat on me JIC!
   Little did I know I was making it so much worse. I still ate my fair share of candy and just made sure to never let my blood sugar drop- always eat more sugar.
   I did start seeing a doctor when the problem continually got worse.  He suggested that everything looked normal and maybe it was just bc of my low blood pressure and I should stand up slower and rest more. I had completely stopped running by now. I didn't gain a lot of weight back but was never feeling well either. I had to eat constantly to keep from getting the "weird feeling" or "dizzy"
    My husband and I went to Kauai. The most beautiful place I had ever visited. The flight was scary and I was so nervous that I would just pass out from feeling so weird after an adrenaline rush.  Being nervous or anxious was my new "norm" After the docs had passed me off as "normal" again I knew I had to find someone to help me. It was hard living my life as a mom and wife and feel so nervous and shaky and dizzy all the time. I spent a lot of alone time at home with my little guys when I wanted to be out living our lives! I saw an iridologist.........which was fascinating. She could tell me all my issues just by looking into my eyes :) She gave me a few suggestions which helped a little bit. On our limited income it was hard to seek out new answers all the time! I felt like she wasn't the answer I needed. I saw a woman who did a "bio scan" on my hand and gave me drops which would heal my energy crises in my body and help balance me back out. Those drops were powerful! I felt awful while taking them and felt this may not be my answer either. One thing she did suggest to me was the I suffered from several food allergies. Something nobody had ever considered about me!!