I mentioned in my 8 month update post (here) that I really wasn't feeling too great in January. It seemed like everything I ate, and I mean EVERYTHING seemed to cause bloating, pain, etc. In addition to the digestive problems, my skin broke out like crazy - Like it has never done before on this diet. Luckily, I was in California visiting Kathryn and her family so they were the only ones who got to see the horror of my skin flare up. I am being dramatic, I know, but it really was distressing. The other strange thing that happened was that my chest broke out in the same rash I have been having since April 2009 when all of these food problems started. There were so, so many days in between 2009-2012 that I would have to change what I was going to wear to work in order to cover up my skin with a high necked shirt. One of the great things about the GAPS diet was that the skin 'rash' totally disappeared once I started the following the protocol. This January was the first time it has been back in 8 months.
To top it all off, the last week in January I woke up covered in tiny pin-prick bruises from the chest down. Known medically as petechiae, it is tiny hemorrhaging of blood vessels bleeding into your skin. I have had petechiae before - in fact, I usually have it almost constantly on my calves - or rather it showed up approximately 3-4 years ago or so (some sort of connection to this food issue? I've never thought about it, but maybe). It tends to show up when I exercise and I've never thought much about it other than being hopeful that it would be one of the things the GAPS diet curred. I asked a dermatologist about it in 2011 and he didn't know what they were and didn't seem to be concerned so I just figured it was one more oddity.
Well, like I said, I'd had them on my calves before, but I've never had hundreds of them all over my body. Google, WebMD, the Mayo Clinic, even Wikipedia said that unexplained petechia is not a good thing. Basically it could be a sign of a bunch of different auto-immune disorders, a bunch of crazy infectious diseases, and some other unmentionable things. Needless to say, I was a little freaked out and decided to do what the websites told me to do - seek medical attention.
The doctors I saw were freaked out too. Not outwardly of course, but anytime a doctor turns your blood work around in less than a day, you know they are freaked out. My blood work was all fine and dandy so they did a biopsy too and kept going over 'medications' I take (none, of course) to see if that could be a cause. I just got the biopsy results back earlier this week and it was fine too - the dermatologist said she didn't see signs of inflammation and that she wasn't concerned. I mentioned that maybe the bruises could have been caused by drinking cranberry tea - which I was drinking on and off for about two weeks. Cranberries contain salicylic acid - an active ingredient of aspirin. Aspirin can cause petechiae. Tumeric root - something I was adding to my smoothies in the morning is also a blood thinner. So maybe the combination of them both caused an all-over response? I wouldn't think that I was taking a high enough dose of either to have a reaction and the doctor agreed, but that seems to be the only likely explanation. The only other thought is that maybe its some sort of healing response? Who knows. The doctor just said to pay attention and see if they come back.
Oddly enough, yesterday I saw some on my back, along my spine after taking Pilate's class. I get my stitches out tomorrow so I'll have to let the dermatologist know. The good news is that despite exercising I haven't had any on my calves - so maybe its fixing itself? Or maybe I'm being naive.
No comments:
Post a Comment