The back and forth, up and down continues. I am currently doing pretty well. Last week, I had a set back with the rash. My leg/knee areas were itchy and I scratched and scratched. Before that, my neck flared up again. None was as bad as the worst, but were pretty bad. I hadn't had the rash on my neck in a while...not sure what that means.

I went back to eating veggies and some protein, and started to feel better. I still don't think its a direct correlation, but it definitely correlated. Every time I start to incorporate normal food into my diet, I start to flare up. Go on a strict veggie diet, and it gets better. It's just so hard to eat only green veggies, especially going out.

Over One Week

I've been pretty rash free for over one week. I'm actually thinking I am going to beat this....it's been so long. I have some residual rash like thing in my arm. I can tell that the skin is slightly inflamed, but just slightly. BUT, today I scratched behind my RIGHT knee. I felt a handful of bumps. I put some oil to stop the itch and so far its good. I feel that the heat/rash is there, right below the surface of the skin. I felt flashes on my neck too. Although I feel these things, it's so far so much better than before. Also, I haven't felt my face tingle when startled in a while. I noticed the cars coming and nothing. So, that to me is a sign that I'm getting better. Need to stick to the diet, respect the diet. But, it's so hard.

The good side effect about the diet is that I've lost weight. I'm not hungry like before. I've adjusted to not eating carbs, I don't really crave it. But its hard.

One Week

My rash has been good for over a week. All this week it's been good. It started to get better last week, but all this week there hasn't been a flareup. Even over the weekend, when I can't adhere to a strict diet. There still is a little itch, but it's so tiny. I did scratch today, but only a little. The weekend is near, so hopefully it will last through this weekend.

On another note though, I got a cold/flu. I went to a game, yelled a lot, lost my voice couldn't talk at all. Now I am coughing. I hate those violent coughs, it's giving me a headache.

No New News

I'm still fighting the itching. Right now, it's my arms and just this week my neck again. I had a follow up appointment with Dr. Li, the acupuncturist. She was happy with my progress, wanted me to continue more with the treatment before putting me on a detox diet. I don't know. I want to stay with the treatment but at $75 per session 1-2 times per week, it's hard to justify. I feel the diet connection is real. Every time I eat something bad, I have a reaction. This week two days ago I went to a vegan restaurant. While you'd think that's good food, the food was loaded with sugar. Apparently to make the food tasty they up the sweetness. Well, that night, and the next day I started to itch more and more. The good news is that, in the past when I scratched like I did, my arm and wrist would be very red, raw and flaming. Now, it's so so. Parts have already calmed down. But the worrisome part is that my neck itches. It hasn't itched in more than a month.

I'm going back to a veggie diet. Well, I caved and just tonight made a chocolate drink with a tablespoon of agave. I hope that doesn't cause me to react.

The diet isn't everything. I think that when I'm worked up and flustered, my body reacts. Yesterday, last night, I itched a lot. I spent the whole evening cleaning my place, so maybe the "stress" from that contributed to reaction.

Update

Its a bit frustrating because my skin condition still hasn't gone away. I had a treatment on Saturday. Was trying to count up the number. The doctor had said I would have 10 sessions, and then see. I feel like i'm approaching that number, but I'm not sure. I seem to keep having set backs.

The past week was bad. My neck got better, but I started to itch on my left arm and behind my knees. I've been told I got the flare up because I wasn't respecting my diet. There is something to that. I stuck to the no wheat, sugar meaning green veggies and meat only (remember the atkin days?). In 2 days I started to feel better. I was really strict this time, keeping the foods pure. Before I would allow myself to eat dishes that were predominantly veggies/meat, but were mixed with sauces etc. And, then I would sneak in a small bit of bread or something. This week I'm committed to all greens and meat.

Today I had a bbq to go to. And, I ate a burger patty, kalbi, sausage. It was kinda gross since i haven't eaten that much meat (especially red meat) in a long time. I was surprised there weren't any veggies.They had a fruit bowl, but of course, I can't even eat that.

Will update. I'm excited that the week may go well, if I really stick to the diet. But I just crave and crave desert.

I'm now taking Candicid Forte and Mucosagen as supplements.

Five Treatments and Counting

I've been to about 5 acupuncture treatments. I was going 2-3 time a week. I wanted to go on Sat, but the office wasn't open and I couldn't squeeze in an appointment this week. So, my next appointment is Sat. I've been sticking to the diet...protein and green vegetables. No sugars, meaning no fruit and starchy foods.

My neck area has been doing very well since I started this. For some reason, my arm has been rashing up. I keep scratching it so that doesn't help. My wrist is better because I stopped scratching, but I just can't help it with my arm.It's about a 4 right now. I started a scale system so I can track my condition. I'm also continuing to keep a food log to see if there is a correlation. I miss the acupuncture since its been a week since I went. I was getting used to it, though having a difficult time with the $75 per session, having to constantly remind myself that it's my health, I should spend. When did we come to believe that our health should be free?

I'm taking Candida Forte. Its a supplement, that seems like the herbs that a TCM would give. Dr. Li does supplements...makes me wonder if it's because it's more palatable to be taking a supplement rather than some herb concoction without labeled ingredients.

She prescribed me another but I didn't want to spend $40 on it. Am I being foolish again? Its just that I've bought so many supplements and drugs that I don't want to. I still have the fortified drink ingredients that Dr. Swilling prescribed. I've stopped with the drink because Dr. Li said no milk for now. So, I now have his ingredients...not sure what to do with it.

Treatment and Consultation

First, I have to mention how difficult it is to find time for another treatment. I don't mind the treatments, but it's hard to take off work 2-3 times a week for 2 hours. The treatment isn't that long, but the place isn't too close to me.

I learned more about how all this works...about the energy. Acupuncture is about energy. And while, I can grasp the concept of energy flow through the body, it is harder to believe and understand how the energy flows out of you.

She had been doing this same assessment on me each time I came, but I didn't really understand what was going on. Today she explained more. I lie on my back. I hold my left hand up and she presses down and tells me to resist. Same on the right side. Then she puts a vile in my hand, tells me to resist as she tries to press my hand down. By this, she is assessing the resistance. Strong resistance shows I'm good on the issue and weaker resistance means I need to work on the issue. How to determine what the "issue" is...it's by the vile she has placed in my hand. So, for example, she put the vitamin C vial, and I was weak in the resistance. This means I need vitamin C treatment.

I asked her what the difference between the vials were. And she said even she doesn't know. The vials were labeled, so she knows what each represents. The small vials get placed in an empty baby food jar. I hold onto that jar during the session, while the needles are in me. When I'm done I rinse my hand with water to deactivate? the energy. There is some interaction between the energy and the vials, vials channel energy to focus on the specific energy of the vial...? Can't really explain it.

The sessions I've been to have "opened" me. Now I can be treated for specific allergies. She's going to treat me for eggs, milk, fruit, all the basic food items. Similar to my allergist, she is assessing me for various food and environment allergens. Although I was negative with the scratch tests, the energy tests for allergies is different. My energy level for eggs, might be weak, but not weak enough that it would show up on a scratch test. The cumulative weaknesses are what manifests as problems, for me skin issues.

I have a relatively healthy diet. And, since all this has happened I've really made a point to eat well. But, she went through my food log and says to cut out dairy, wheat and sugar, even fruit sugar. I had so much fruit on my log (it's summer!) but she recommends only apples and papaya. I didn't go through all the fruit, but those are the two she wrote down.

She also wanted me to take something for candida...it was some candidas supplements. She talked about gut health, gas...stuff i've read about and seems to affect many women my age.

It's interesting the crossover of her medical plans. She prescribes more supplements than herbs. I asked about whether she prescribes herbs and she said that she likes supplements better.

And my pillow is all wrong. She wants me to get the tempur pedic memory foam pillow. It's expensive!