How People Treat the Chronically Ill, and How It's Changed My Personality

The hardest part about chronic (invisible) illness is other people: 

- People do not believe you

- People assume they know what you're going through, but don't actually ask or try to understand

- People think you're exaggerating 

- People think you're a wimp (they've been through worse.) 

- People argue with you over what you're actually going through, because your illnesses doesn't make sense 

- People tell you you're not trying hard enough

- People argue with you about your chosen treatment plan

- People argue about your diagnoses

- People talk negatively about you to others, without understanding the truth to talk accurately

- People don't think your problems trump theirs, saying "Yeah but I'm going through this worse thing..." then spend more time complaining about it than listening to you 

- People ignore you and avoid you because they can't relate and you get in their way of being a normal person 

- People who you have explained yourself to forget your limitations or needs

- People simply do not care about your limitations or needs and completely disregard you

...Need I go on?

It's enough to make me want to shut myself away from society. Is it worth the fight to find my non-negative place in society? Trying to simply make a life for myself in society puts others at a disadvantage since I'm like a half-person to them, but am I wrong to try?

The worst part for me is in trying to explain myself to people who really do need to understand, people who I am responsible to. It takes energy to say everything that must be said, energy I have very little of, and is actually needed to be spent on keeping myself alive and healthy. Interruptions, not letting me finish, or dismissing/ arguing what I'm saying take up even more of my very limited energy, which can really strain me. When someone argues with what my needs or limits are, I get so angry that I want to fight. If I fight and argue back, I end up very dizzy, mentally and physically drained, and very stressed. This makes my condition worse and I need to recover. It usually accomplishes nothing. If I shut up and give up, I've found that I've been perceived as "wrong." A loser in the argument. Then I'm not treated according to my limits or needs.  I lose either way.

My point is that when a person has made up their mind about what to think, there's no changing it. There's no winning. In this case, the best thing to do is to remove yourself from this person. It's not always possible, which creates a ton of stress, making the condition worse. Stress amplifies sickness.  

So this is a plead to all of you who are not chronically ill: LISTEN. Listen to the chronically ill people in your life. Assume they're telling the truth. Respect the limits they claim they have. Don't interrupt them. Don't argue. You can't pretend to know what it's like. You can't assume you know their pain well enough to tell them they're exaggerating. You're not a doctor, what do you really know? What is it about their condition that you don't want to believe, and what harm does it do to believe them? 

I know many chronically ill people have an annoying victim mentality. I know many of us just want to whine and complain. I know many of us have weird socially awkward personalities. But did you ever stop to think that we could have ended up this way because we feel like we must constantly fight to be understood? Could it be because no one listens to us, and we can't fit in to a normal person's world? Could it be because we've given up on people, but when someone actually understands and treats us well that we latch on to that person because it's the most love anyone has given us? 

I'm not justifying the chronically ill being overly demanding, rude to "normal" people, or too clingy. But I am saying that how we treat each other goes a very long way in how people act.  

I'd like to give a few of concrete examples. 

1. I get sick from perfume, cigarette smoke, air fresheners, etc. If you argue wth me and tell me my sickness doesn't determine you wearing perfume, you have asked me to leave your life permanently. What if you're a coworker, boss, brother, daughter...? Is your refusal to accept my needs worth one of us losing the job, or never seeing family again?  (I'm saying this on behalf of other people with MCS - I'm fortunate to be in a situation where this issue isn't affecting me too often... but the smoking in parts of my family is an issue for me.)

2. I am unable to work on the first day of my period. I have the feeling I need to explain, because most women do not understand this unless they've been through it themselves. And we're at the problem already: It seems like I'm just a wimp, because other women work through their entire period. I should suck it up and deal with it, right? You're not listening. I CANNOT WORK on the first day of my period. I am not every other woman. I have literally been told things like, "My period is heavy too, just go to the bathroom more often" and "they make pain pills for that." To which I respond, "I get so dizzy and weak that I faint trying to get to the bathroom when I stand up to go," or "I used to take 12 ibuprofen a day for the pain and it wasn't enough." But here I am arguing, exerting the energy, getting stressed and angry, and ultimately hurting myself. Who knows how much recovery time it'll take. I'm already exhausted from dealing with the PMS and worrying about how to survive the first day of my period.

3. I must eat every 2 hours or I can't function and my body breaks down, because my blood sugar isn't stable. I've heard these responses: "Doesn't that make you fat?" "How do you get anything done?" "We'll see if we can maybe accommodate you." Is it worth arguing? No. If they listened the first time they wouldn't question it when I do walk away to eat every 2 hours. It's not optional. Either work with me or get out of my way - this isn't something I can change about myself. (On this note, I'm very grateful that my job is very good about letting me eat when I need to.)

4. Yes, I did get better in this way for a while, but the problem is flaring again. Just please, for the love of God and the goodness of His creation, don't argue with me. If I say the problem is back, it's back. Let me deal with it. You can either help me or let me do what I need to. I'm not going to treat you well if you just stand there telling me my treatments are wrong, I screwed up, or I'm over reacting. I'm in pain, let me address it.

I'm hoping my point is clear: Listen. Be respectful of other people. Don't assume you understand. It's okay if you don't understand, as long as you show respect. I'm not asking you to treat the chronically ill as angels or kings, I'm asking you to not provide obstacles to them working within their limits. 

Thank you.  

Yes, I wrote this post while very angry and suffering PMS. I didn't post it right away so that I could review it to make sure I didn't regret something said in anger. It still holds just as true, and I feel this all needs to be said. It's sad that it took anger to prompt me to write this. What's also sad is that I've grown more and more defensive the longer I've been ill. I used to be a sweet, non-assuming woman who was happy to focus on accommodating others. That part of me has been greatly suppressed by the need to protect myself at all times. I must protect myself from other people's negative energy, their synthetic fragrances, and their total lack of concern for my limits and needs. Yes, I've grown very defensive. I've grown distrustful of others. I myself have become negative about other people due to this defensiveness. I might really like you a whole lot and enjoy being around you, but still distrust you. I might complain, say something in anger, or get super depressed because of other people just being themselves. I know this about myself and I readily admit it. But it's such a challenge for me to be me, and I haven't learned how to be chronically ill AND contribute to my family. 3 years into this and I'm growing more and more jaded and distrusting, not better and better at being chronically ill in today's world.


I don't need you to understand how much it hurts or how debilitating it gets, I just need you to not argue when I say I need something and just let me do it. This isn't entitlement, it's a will to survive.

The Coconut Milk Solution

Coconut milk is a constant problem, but I use it every single day for my protein shakes. I'm living in a place where I cannot buy fresh coconuts, so making my own coconut milk is out of the question. For a while I was buying SO's Unsweetened coconut milk. It was really easy to use, had no sugar or carrageenan, and was inexpensive enough. The problems outweighed the good, though. It is so watered down that there's hardly any nutrition left, there were just enough additives and stabilizers to question how healthy it really was, and I was throwing away the non-recyclable packaging. So I turned to buying canned coconut milk, which is much more expensive. It was organic full fat coconut milk, though, so I thought it was worth it. I loved how thick it made my protein shakes, and how it kept me full longer, but... there's a lot of inconsistencies with canned coconut milk.

I've bought two brands: Native Forest and Natural Value. (If you're looking at the prices, be aware that the prices fluxuate within $10 fairly often. I pay attention and buy when it's cheap, and it can end up being 50 cents per can cheaper than in stores when buying this way. That's several dollars in savings.) Both brands have their goods and bads. Native Forest uses guar gum to keep the milk thick and stable, and that's not necessarily a good thing because the gum can irritate the gut. Their packaging is lined with BPA-free paper so the aluminum might be less of an issue. Natural Value does not use guar gum and it's the most pure I've found, but each can is a different consistency and it tends to form and inedible thick gross layer on the top of the milk.

The problem with both brands is that I never know if the milk will be usable right out of the can or not. Both brands have presented a problem with occasionally having great ready-to-drink milk that pours well, and other times the milk is a solid clump. This is very annoying.

But I have a solution!

What you need is:
- A good blender
- A can or two of coconut milk
- Filtered water (I have an RO filter on my sink)
- Mason jars or a tall pitcher that seals

I have a Ninja blender that works really well for this task.

1. Pour half the can of coconut milk into the blender.
2. Fill the blender about half way with filtered water
3. Blend for a minute, past the milk looking like it's ready. You want to get all the clumps out.
4. Pour it in to mason jars
5. Enjoy!





This method reduces the cost of the coconut milk, works out all the clumps to make it smooth, and thinks out the milk enough to where it's easier to shake a protein shake. It doesn't taste any different, just has a thinner texture. It tastes and feels thicker than SO's coconut milk, so that just shows how watered down their milk actually is.

I typically get one can of coconut milk to fill two mason jars. I could easily think it out more than that and still have good quality milk, but I choose not to because I do want enough of the fat from the coconut milk in each protein shake.

New Lab Tests

What a week. Something suddenly went wrong in my body. Fibromyaliga flares (whatever the root cause, true fibro or not, I'm getting pain,) nerve pain in my feet in the morning, but worst of all: I've felt anemic! I went to the clinic to have a few labs drawn on Friday at closing time, so I have my results, but no doctor has contacted me yet. I do not appear to be iron anemic based on the labs and blood color, but there's something called Macrocytic anemia that could be concluded from my labs. Sanford's normal range (who I went through) is a little different from the other normal ranges I've seen for this CBC (complete blood count), so another company would say a few of my results are even further outside the normal range:



The nurse told me my red blood cells are too large, which is essentially macrocytic anemia. This can be caused by B12 and Folate deficiency. This makes sense in my case, but I don't have labs to show if I truly am low or not. However, I'm told that B6 toxicity is another sign that B12 is too low, and when B12 is low, folate is too low. Because I have not yet spoken to my doctor about my results (weekend), I'm not going to state anything as fact at this point.

My symptoms are:
-Dizzy all the time
-Hard time catching my breath
-Rapid heart rate after eating or getting up and moving around a little bit
-Poor circulation, whites in hands and feet
-Fibromyalgia pain in my feet, shins, elbows, upper neck
-Stabbing stomach pains after eating (but not always)
-Extreme fatigue during day, hard time falling asleep at night
-Poor mental clarity
-Weakness
-Eye pain (usually associated with low blood pressure for me, but I didn't get that measured.)
-Either a fever or low body temp
-Chest pressure (feels tight and gritty)

These were strong enough symptoms that I felt unable to drive, and called in sick to work the past two days. I feel bad about that, but I don't want to be fainting on the job or while driving either.

Since finding out I have vitamin b6 toxicity, I quit the B-Complex I was on and started taking a MTHFR friendly Multi Vitamin and Methyl B12 (predicting that I have MTHFR, which, weirdly, I do not.) However, from what I'm reading, food and supplements are not necessarily enough to get B12 levels up. I have felt like I've been growing weaker since quitting the B-Complex, but that also happened at the same time as winter starting, and winter tends to have a profound effect on me.

I'm also being encouraged to go on an elimination diet for salicylates. The idea of even bothering to do this is stressing me out, but it's bothering me because I agree it's a possibility that I have a salicylate sensitivity. Almonds, broccoli, and caffeine, which are all very high in salicylates, have been bothering me for close to a year. Broccoli and caffeine products (other than tea) are very high in sulfur, though, and I know I have a sulfur sensitivity. If I were to try going on a low salicylate diet I'd be down to eating very very few foods. I'm not sure I can eliminate that much food. I'm already avoiding all grains, starches, nightshades, dairy, sulfur rich foods, and sugar (including fruit.) Avoiding salicylates would cut this limited diet in half. The problem is, salicylate sensitivity symptoms are very similar to what I have been feeling like. That said, I don't like to internet diagnose myself!

At the very least, I want the dizziness to stop.

Product Review: North Coast Organics Deoderant

A sponsored ad on Facebook popped up on my newsfeed: North Coast Organics Deodorant. It looked interesting, but there was one problem: it was an ad for their scented deodorants. I was interested in a new organic deodorant company, but none of the scents. So I left a comment asking if they have fragrance-free deodorant, at the time feeling a little annoyed by all the ads for scented things in an overly scented world. Well, the company wrote back and said they would like to send me a free sample of their "Naked" deodorant, their fragrance-free one! I gladly accepted, and because I work in a health products store, they sent me many samples! I have yet to pass on the samples to my boss, but I have tried the Naked deodorant, which I will review here.





They were very conscientious about how they shipped me the scented deodorant samples, which I greatly appreciated. As someone with Multiple Chemical Sensitives, I can react to a safe product that has been contaminated with scents. They were wrapped in plastic, then in the shipping bag in the photo. They were kept separate from the Naked deodorant. I couldn't smell them when I opened the box all of this was shipped in, so the Naked deodorant was not contaminated with scents. Thanks so much, North Coast Organics! I only put the Naked deodorants near the scented ones for a quick picture, and it caused no problems to my Naked deodorants. My sensitives are moderate-mild, compared to many people with strong-severe MCS who wouldn't even be able to allow these scented products into their house without reacting for a week or more.

I took those aside, then I opened the bag of scented samples. WOW - they're very strong, but there were many scents packed in a small bag. They are scented with certified organic essential oils. If you're someone who wants to wear scented deodorant, this is the way to go - they're not artificial, so they're probably going to be the least irritating to your skin and everyone else around you. My guess is that I'd probably be okay with the lavender scent personally, but because I associate all smells with "reaction," I don't even want to wear something scented even if it doesn't bother me. That said, the smell was overpowering for me and gave me a pounding headache very quickly. It didn't cause me to react in any other way (no heartburn, gut ache, hives/ welts, vision loss, blood nose, etc.), but I can't speak for how they might affect others with MCS.

Just to clarify, yes, many people with MCS cannot tolerate essential oils, even though they're a natural product. It's not just synthetics that we react to. There are several reasons why essential oils are risky, but I won't get into that in this post. If you tolerate essential oils, then I definitely recommend this brand of scented deodorants! They have many scents based on "Mood," which is a fun concept. I couldn't be around them long enough to study them, so I took a quick photo and re-wrapped them:

Now, onto the review of the Naked deodorant, the fragrance-free version!

This is a really refreshing deodorant concept. You may or may not have seen some of the do-it-yourself recipes for deodorant online. This is basically one of those recipes, made and packaged for you. The ingredients are (click the link to see a photo): Organic Coconut oil, Organic carnauba wax, Organic arrowroot, and baking soda.

It's also certified:

Leaping Bunny (No Animal Testing) Certified:Yes

Vegan Action Certified:Yes

PETA Certified:Yes

USDA Organic Certified:Yes

So, why pay $10 for a stick of DIY deodorant? Because making it yourself with these quality ingredients isn't a lot cheaper, it's much messier, and it's not as portable. When I've made my own deodorant it's a mess: I didn't want to deal with adding in wax, so I had an oily concoction of coconut oil, baking soda, and starch. I often used too much baking soda, and rubbing it under my arms with my bare fingers gave me mild rashes from the scrubbing effect. It works! Don't get me wrong - I keep making my own because it does work. But I like this stick A LOT better! In fact, I like it so well that I'm unlikely to go back to making my own.

(Yes - I realize the problem of buying products in plastics, because the plastics can't biodegrade and pollute the earth. It's the ONLY drawback to buying manufactured deodorant. But I'm also supporting the economy by buying a product instead of making it myself, and that counts for a lot. As much as I would prefer to be 100% plastic-free, which I know is possible to do, I don't have the energy to make everything myself, and I really do believe in supporting brands by buying their products.)

I've used this deodorant for 3 days now. It doesn't give me the rash that my home made version did. :) It also works very well! Coconut oil is a fantastic deodorant because it's naturally anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and very moisturizing. It's mineral rich, and magnesium itself is an effective deodorant (I know people who use just magnesium spray for deodorant.) The baking soda is also a natural odor-absorbent.

So it's an effective deodorant, but is it an anti-antiperspirant? Kind of. It does not clog the pores like most brand-name synthetic deodorants on the shelf do, but the starch and baking soda do absorb moisture to a certain point. I have not yet worked out with this deodorant. If I was working out, I couldn't care less if I have pit stains as long as the smell doesn't gag me. I worked up a good sweat at my job yesterday (that was one intensely very busy hour!) and was sweaty, but didn't notice any moisture in my pits.

If you truly care about your deodorant also being an antiperspirant, this might be a good compromise deodorant for you. You should be aware that anti-antiperspirants are risky. They work by clogging pores, usually with aluminum, to prevent sweat from coming out. There are several problems with this. Most importantly, your body is supposed to sweat. Sweating is how you regulate temperature and release toxins from your body. If you can't sweat, you're building up toxins under your skin. Also, your skin absorbs most of what you put on it. If you're applying an antiperspirant, you're most likely going to absorb a lot of aluminum through your pits over time. Too much aluminum is linked to Alzheimer and breast cancer. If you want to read more about the problems with antiperspirants, I encourage you to read these articles: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-antiperspants-do-more-than-block-sweat/ and http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/underarm-care/tips/is-antiperspirant-toxic.htm


The last part of my review is about the texture. This is a solid stick. You probably expect a solid stick to glide over your skin smoothly, but this stick has a bit of grit to it. It slides over the skin, but it's not perfectly smooth. Since I keep my pits shaved this isn't an issue. I don't mind needing to use a little extra force to slide it across my skin, but I'm still surprised that it's not silky smooth like other solid natural deodorants I've tried. I don't know if this would cause discomfort for people with pit hair. My guess is it wouldn't be much different from another solid stick, just a bit rougher. The deodorant isn't at all oily, despite being oil based. All the homemade coconut oil deodorants I've made are very oily, therefore temporarily greasy. I have to wait about 5 minutes for the grease to soak in before I put clothes on. There is no such issue with this stick!



The super short version of this review:
I highly recommend it! I'll definitely purchase this after I finish my sample! It's by far my favorite natural deodorant I've tried!


To North Coast Organics:Thank you so much for your kindness in sending me these free samples! You went out of your way to introduce me, a random Facebook commenter, to your product. You won a convert in me, and I'm more than happy to share my thoughts with my readers and friends! Please keep up the great work!


To all of you:Check out their website. They also make organic candles, massage oils, bath crystals, and more!

Exhaustion

When I get this totally exhausted, depression and hopelessness over take me. This is when I lose my desire to keep fighting. I'm too tired. Just let me give up. Right now I'm working with a cup of green tea AND my doctor's powder that gives me a huge energy boost. I'm still barely holding on, when normally caffeine has too much of an effect on me.

Have you ever watched the second season of American Horror Story: Asylum? The portrayal of the angel of death was very profound, and it feels so true to me. Basically, the angel of death came when a character was dying or begging for death and kissed the character, taking their soul into the afterlife. This angel of death had a few instances where she sat and chatted with a character for a while. "Are you ready?" "Are you sure?" She might ask. She would let the character debate with her. A couple of characters saw the angel of death multiple times before allowing death to happen, pushing her away, realizing he or she still had work to do on earth.

I haven't seen or experienced this angel of death, but the concept is very familiar to me. When I get this exhausted, I feel like I'm at the end of my rope. I feel like the angel of death could appear at any moment asking if I'm ready. If she were real, I possibly would have said a couple of times. I've been that low - no energy to give me any desire to carry on. What's scary is that when I get this low, death is the only thing I can think about. It's so inviting. I'm not suicidal - I have no desire to end my own life. I just don't have the energy to fight for any more, and my natural instinct, which I don't have the energy to fight, says "give up." I can't give up on my own - I don't have the energy to end my life. This is where I feel like I've met this angel of death, in that deep void of energy. In my case, I don't think I'm the one telling her what to do. I think she's the one telling me I'm not ready. When I eventually come around, I agree - I'm not ready. I do desire to live, just not like this. I want my health back so I can really live, not just exist.

And so this is where I find my motivation to fight. I don't want to experience that low ever again. I don't want to waste my life not living. I want, so badly, to have my health. I'm exhausted. I don't have much to give, but what I have I give to trying to reclaim my health. It's been mostly successful - kind of? To borrow from my doctor's analogy about my energy levels: I feel like I'm trying to recover from bankruptcy, and the best I can do is work a part-time minimum wage job. It means I'm finding the strength to get better, but the progress is very slow. What I need is a full time career to get out of bankruptcy, but I'm not capable of getting one.

I'm describing chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ ME). I know many of my readers know what this feels like too, and I appreciate that others can relate so we can give each other support, but I'm hoping that those of you without CFS are reading this. I hope you can have empathy and see that CFS isn't an exaggeration or an excuse to be lazy. Trust me, I'd much rather feel lazy than fatigued. They are not the same thing.


......

I know why I'm in this slump: I've overwhelmed myself physically and mentally.

1. I'm applying for disability, and it's a massive burden. Just today I received deadlines in the mail and I really can't handle the pressure - I just want to run away from all this.

2. My weekend was not restful, between traveling, working, and spending too much energy on a long walk visiting my old college (which I wasn't expecting to do.)

3. I have been researching my DNA results, studying the interpretation reports, and joined in some forums. I also decided to join a Facebook group for B6 Toxicity, which I have. What I've learned is overwhelming. It's too much to handle. I felt myself "shut down" yesterday. When I read what these other people are doing to manage and recover, I totally shut down because my energy got depleted just thinking about doing what they're doing. I really need to take a step back - I knew that DNA results just lead to rabbit trail after rabbit trail. I'm too tired to research that much, and I don't care to study genes enough to even be able to research that much. That's not my job - I'll leave that to the experts. But the homozygous mutations that I do have that are well studied? Yes, they are overwhelming.

Yes, I have B6 toxicity, but I'm going to eat my thanksgiving turkey anyway. I do realize that turkey is high in B6, but I don't care. I just can't do all these limitations. Maybe I'll change my mind when I come around, but whatever.


I've leaned a lot. I have answers. I have better instructions. I have new supplements that are better tailored to my situation. This is great, but it's overwhelming. It feels like such a burden.


....

I'm baring my soul in posts like this. It's not the "me" I like to present on social media. We all want to put our best face forward on Facebook, and this isn't something I'd talk about except to people I'm close to. I'm choosing to write these types of posts for a few reasons: I'm too tired to explain my crisis to everyone who really does need to know, I'm hoping to find support, and I'm hoping to support others. By admitting my problems, I'm hoping I can be held accountable and be given support in getting better.

But right now, I'm hardly able to move, but my brain is happily employing the caffeine. Sigh. Did you know that frequent sighing is a symptom of adrenal fatigue? Sigh... yeah, I do it a lot.

DNA Results Part 1

I got my results back from 23andme.com. The important result is that I'm 3% Neanderthal. :)


I'm kidding, but this is a fun fact about myself!

I'm writing this now to say that I'm not sure how to write about my results at this point in time. They are partly what I expected, but mostly a surprise: I do NOT have any MTHFR mutation. I do have 7 other mutations that geneticgenie.org was able to find, and they don't interpret all DNA.

I've been reading the research that's available to learn about my mutations, but there's one massive problem: the research that's available is limited and very new. Genes are extremely complicated, and even the leading researchers are debating about the findings and how to interpret them. MTHFR is the most understood gene, but that's not the one concerning me.

There is enough quality research on a couple of my mutations, but I am not going to report them... yet. Again, it's a very complicated issue - more so than I realized before getting my results.

I'm bursting at the seams with questions about my results, but I'm not ready to share them yet. :)

Lab Tests and Gene Mutations

I've been stalling on this post because I've been debating on how to write it, but I think it's time to tackle it. I learned a lot last month when I visited my naturopathic doctor, some of which I'm going to share with you here.

First, I think it needs to be explained that health is complicated. Very complicated. I get very frustrated when people ask me why it's been 2 years and I still don't have everything with my health figured out. This question ignores how much progress I've made. It ignores that I do understand a lot about my health. It doesn't allow for the slow, long process of healing years and years of damage to my body. In my situation, I have done a lot of healing in some ways, and in other ways I haven't done enough healing. Because of the healing that I have done, it's a lot easier to see where I still have work to do. There's layers upon layers of symptoms, all of which can have various root causes. Considering the complexity of health, especially my hyper sensitive body, I'm very impressed with how much my doctor has done for me. I'm not taking any drugs, not going through any harsh treatments like chemo, I'm not bed ridden with multiple idiopathic diagnoses, and I'm not hopeless. Supplements, diet, therapies, and exercise are repairing my body. It's incredible! It's truly amazing how the body wants to heal with the support of these natural solutions.

It started with getting several labs: Vitamin B6, Calcium, and Parathyroid. (The calcium lab was the same price as a comprehensive metabolic lab, which includes calcium, so I bought that instead - I'll say something about the results of that later on.)

Quick tangent: I went through RequestATest.com and WalkInLab.com, not a hospital, and had the blood drawn at Labcorp. My labs were significantly cheaper. For instance, my B6 cost me $67 as opposed to $200 at my local hospital. The only problem is that some states do not have a Labcorp or Quest Diagnostics - North Dakota is one of the the states that does not. I was thankful to be able to get these labs cheaply in New Hampshire.
What I found out is that my parathyroid, 4 glands on the thyroid that control calcium in the body, was on the low end of the "normal range" at 16, and should be fine. If the parathyroid is too low, it's apparently potentially deadly. Hypoparathyriod is rare. If too high, which is much more common, it causes a wide range of painful symptoms, but usually means there's a tumor on one of the glands that needs to be surgically removed. I was preparing for the result of being too high and needing to go to Florida for a surgeon - it's never bad to be mentally prepared, right? I wasn't expecting the possibility of it being too low, but thankfully it's probably okay. Calcium is critical to the entire body, so the gland that controls it is just as critical. My calcium is good, at 9.4. While I enjoyed learning about what the parathyroid does, I'm thankful that it's probably not causing my issues.

The vitamin b6 lab, however, was very revealing! Vitamin B6 is a water soluble vitamin, meaning the body should flush out any extra that it doesn't need. This is why I never see warnings about getting too much, but there's all sorts of information explaining why it's dangerous to have too little. The normal range for B6 of someone of my age and weight is 2-32.8. My number was 136.1. I received a letter with my results warning me to seek care immediately for the high level, which made me laugh. Finally, a lab test that shows something useful!!! (An MD told me that I was the "golden image of health" after I had several hundred dollars worth of labs done, that's after insurance, back in 2013, even though I was hardly capable of functioning. She said this because my blood work looked great - so to have a lab that actually reveals something is wrong is a miracle to me! I'm sure a lot of you have been though this too.)


So what does this mean? Was I taking too much B6? I was on a fair amount between a B Complex and a two small sleeping pills that had a little B6 in them, but I wasn't on enough to cause my number to get this high. I didn't take any pills with B6 in it for over 24 hours before the lab anyway. Again, B6 is water soluble - my body should flush out the excess. Something else is going on.

So my doctor brought up MTHFR. I'd heard a little about it. I knew it is a gene mutation that is one possible cause of MCS, but that's all I knew. I had no idea that gene mutations cause metabolic problems in some people, making it so these people cannot eat certain food and can't supplement with certain vitamins. It can also mean these people need to take certain supplements to stay well. There are lots of gene mutations and each mutation has several variants, meaning that there are all sorts of complicated issues with each gene mutation.

The problem with addressing gene mutations is that they were only very recently discovered. The science began with the Human Genome Project about 12 years ago. Because the science is so new, there's so much more research to be done. There's enough information on a couple of the known mutations to help people with them manage their health. For instance, we know that women with a variation of MTHFR can have infertility issues because of it. We know that we can improve fertility by having them supplement with methylfolate, whereas folic acid (what pregnant women are advised to take) can cause major health problems in these women.

What I understand MTHFR to mean is that particular gene cannot process certain B vitamins correctly. Its job is to convert one form of a B vitamin into another form, and when it can't do that, the body can't use the vitamin anymore, and the body can't get enough of the form of the vitamin it needs. This can cause the body to have many minor and major metabolic problems, such as blocking the ability to create enough glutathione (the body's natural antioxidant.) Not enough glutathione means an inability to detox - are you connecting the dots to MCS yet? Back to the gene: This inability to process the B vitamins causes the vitamin to get stored in the body since it isn't being used. This could easily explain my very high B6 level. The problem, is that high B6 in the body can cause a lot of pain. Over time it causes nerve damage, which is very painful. This could explain the electric dull aching pain in my feet (which, for the record, hasn't bothered me in about a week - could it be because I'm addressing the B6 issue?)

What I'm doing to get my B6 levels down is avoidance of B6 and a lot of sweating. I'm trying to exercise more, but I'm either using my sauna or taking a hot bath daily. I'm sweating daily, as much as I can. My doctor also put me on a multivitamin and a B12 vitamin that are MTHFR friendly, meaning I'm taking a form of the vitamins that have been methylated (processed) so the gene doesn't have to process them.

Whew, this is complicated!! I clearly don't understand it all either. I don't need to.

But wait... do we know for absolute certain that I have MTHFR? No, not yet. I'm also having my DNA tested - most of it, not just the MTHFR. The problem is, it might take up to 12 weeks to get my results. I am not having it tested through a hospital or lab, which would be much more expensive and wouldn't test all of my DNA. I'm testing through 23andMe.com. They sent me a little box with a kit in the mail. I spit into the kit, sealed it, and sent it back to them. Very easy!



Yes, 23andme.com is an ancestry company... sort of? It's what they feature, but it's not at the core of their mission. There's a lot of controversy about the company, but none of it affects their ability to give me what I need to know. The FDA shut down their "health results" feature 2 years ago, but just last week, the FDA gave them permission to give health results again through a new feature. To be clear: I DID NOT choose them to get health results. I'm very curious to see what they'll say about my health, but I'm not going to rely on those results. I chose them because they test most of my DNA for only $99, then sends me the raw data. The FDA won't let them interpret it, so I need to get it interpreted. I plan to use GeneticGenie.Org. This is incredibly cheap! I'm also excited to go through 23andMe because they're collecting DNA for research. They're trying to revolutionize how to accumulate enough DNA to learn about it on a mass scale. This will hopefully make huge advancements in our medical knowledge and ability to make medications. I'm really excited to participate in this project! No, I'm not worried about privacy issues - I'm happy to be used for research to advance health care.

If you want to learn more about gene mutations, I encourage you to do some research. There's a lot of misinformation on the internet about it, as with anything, so I recommend starting with Dr. Ben Lynch's website for information, as he's a leading researcher: MTHFR.net

Once I get the results, have them interpreted, and change my life accordingly (which I've already begun doing, just in case,) I'll write a follow up.





...Okay, I want to get back to lab results I mentioned earlier. I bought the Comprehensive Metabolic Panel. Click on the link to see everything it tests for. I had one thing that was low and another that was high, simply showing my kidneys have some trouble (which I already knew), but it's nothing we're going to worry about. Everything else was good. What I want to point is that my protein level is great:

I eat mostly animal protein in my diet and have 2 protein shakes a day. Meat is my primary food, everything else I eat in small quantities. (I've made this clear in past posts, but I'll say it again: I strictly eat grass-fed, pasture raised, clean meat from good farming practices.) I've been eating this way for 2 years. If my meat diet wasn't working for me, this result wouldn't be so good. I AM NOT advocating this diet for you. My doctor is having me eat this way because he got to know what my body needs, and he's working closely with me to make sure it's working for me. You might have very different dietary needs than me. We're all unique. I can't go vegan without getting very sick, whereas some people I know feel their absolute best on a vegan diet. The reason I'm pointing this out is because I've received a lot of criticism about my diet, mostly from people I know personally who have watched me eat this way.

Was this post too long for you? Sorry. I didn't even say half of what I could have said. :) I'm done now! Thanks for reading! 

How I Respond to MCS: Before, During, and After.

I have learned that I need to use my sauna and neti pot after ever shift at work. If I do not, I have agitated sleep full of angry and annoying dreams and I wake up feeling exhausted. I have a headache and some pain while at work, but the real reaction tends to be delayed (like many reactions for me) and hits me hours later. Yesterday I did go for a hike through the trees along the river, a little ways outside of town and away from any car exhaust. I was hoping the fresh crisp air would help as much as the sauna, but it didn't. It just left me feeling very exhausted. I'm still very fatigued this morning.

I attended my university's Jazz Band, Vocal Jazz, and Steel Drum Band concert a few days ago because I was craving to do something "normal" with my husband and this sounded like fun. When my husband and I were students, he was in both Jazz Band and Steel Drum band, so it was nice to go to reminisce. It was located at the main concert call downtown, where the local symphony performs. I knew that many ladies wear heavy perfume at those concerts, as they're dressy affairs, and I know that cloth seating tends to absorb perfume. This was not a dressy event, mostly college students in the audience, so I thought there was a chance I could get away with going. Unfortunately, I had heart palpitations the entire time. I could feel something inside my ear twitching every so often too. I wore my ionizer necklace during the concert. It helped some, and I know this because I had to shut it off for the last 15 because the battery was running low, causing it to hum loudly. I developed a headache and some eye pain after I shut it off. Because we got home late, I did not use my sauna. I just took an extra glutathione and NAC, which helped a little. I had agitated sleep that night too. Was it worth going? I'm undecided. It was honestly so nice to feel "normal" and get out of the house with my husband that I think this feeling overshadowed the MCS reactions.

MCS is so frustrating. It hinders my ability to be me - I can't go places I want, I can't do things I want, and I can't spend time with people I can't trust to be safe. My reactions are not as severe as many people with MCS. I survived the concert hall with lots of discomfort, whereas others would be sent to the ER by it. It doesn't mean I'm not hurting, and I don't want to go to places or do things that cause pain.



This is what I've learned to do before, during, and after exposures in order to recover the fastest:

1. Take glutathione and NAC throughout the day every day. I take 1 of each with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I take my Naturopathic doctor's brand, but there are other brands on the market. I can't speak to the quality of these brands, sorry.

2. Take extra glutathione and NAC right before going somewhere risky, like church.

3. Wearing a mask (I use Vog Mask) helps some, but some things that cause reactions still bother my eyes, ears, and skin. They stick to my clothes, hair, and skin. It's best to just avoid. There's no armor that works. But if I need to go somewhere risky, such as on an airplane, wearing a mask does help some. (See my review of my Vog Mask here.)

4. Eat protein and fat every 2 hours. I get hypoglycemic, and I've noticed that keeping my blood sugar as stable as possible helps me avoid feeling faint and overly dizzy during a reaction. I used to get the feeling of very low blood sugar, blood pressure, and faintness fairly often, definitely made a lot worse by reactions, but I haven't experienced this much in the last year.

5. I wash my clothes very often. If I go to a risky place, like church or work, I put the clothes I wore in that place in the laundry as soon as possible. Toxins tend to stick to clothes and I don't want to keep wearing what I was reacting to. (I don't know that I have to say this, but make sure you're using natural plant-based detergent that doesn't cause more clothing toxicity. I really like Biokleen's Free & Clear line, both the powder and liquid.)

6. Getting directly in the shower helps, but I recover much faster and tend to suffer less bad reactions when I use my far infrared sauna often. The more often I use it, the more I can tolerate toxin exposure. I've learned to get in the sauna after each shift at work. I sit in it and sweat for 30-40 minutes, pushing out toxins in my skin and increasing my circulation so my body can clean it self out better, then get right into the shower. I bought a $200 portable sauna on Amazon about 2 years ago. It's made in China, and some people with MCS are likely to react to it. A real, full-sized, wooden sauna is always better (they work better too,) but I have no idea which one on the market is best, safe, most effective, etc - the one I linked to is just an example. But I have no problems with it at this point (when I first bought it I probably reacting constantly and didn't understand that MCS was the problem, so I don't remember how it made me feel when it was new - it was when I first started seeing my doctor who's done so much good for me.)

7. Sometimes I opt to take a hot bath instead. I can add salt, clay, ginger, and other good stuff to detox when I take a hot bath (see previous post for more details on my favorite detox baths.) I make sure the water is as hot as I can stand it so that I sweat a lot. I then take a full shower after my bath.

8. Neti Pot. Seriously: Neti Pot. (The ceramic kind - NOT plastic!) I know many of you that I've talked to are afraid of them. Normally I would accept this and help you find a different solution, but in this case, I'm going to keep pushing it. Use a Neit Pot! They do not hurt, you can breath while using it, and it's a very low cost solution for something that helps so incredibly much! I always use reverse osmosis filtered water that's been slightly warmed on the stove. Do not use tap water - you do not want to pour all sorts of contaminates through your nose, such as live bacteria or organisms that didn't get cleaned out at the water processing plant. Pushing the water through my nasal passages simply helps clean out a lot of crap that I've breathed in. Furthermore, the salt that I add to the water stays in the nasal passages for about 30 minutes afterwords. It soaks up mucus and clumps it up so that I can spit or blow it out. Mucus is what traps toxins, so getting rid of the mucus is very important to detoxing. Yes, the water only flows through the nasal passages, but the salt absorbs mucus from all of the sinuses, even my ears. My Neti Pot is a staple for me!

9. Rest. If I don't give my body rest so that it can recover, repair, and recuperate, my body doesn't let me push forward. I can't simply go back to work the next day. Reactions take a lot of energy, energy that I'm short on anyway (chronic fatigue!) I MUST let my body rest for as long as it takes if I plan to keep moving forward in life. Sometimes I only need half a day. Sometimes I need a few days of doing nothing. I have to listen to my body and do as it says.

10. I have to keep my home as safe as possible at all times. I never bring anything into my living space that's risky for me. I don't invite people over. I use my own cloth shopping bags and wash them regularly so that I'm not bringing home the store's bags that are infused with the smell of the store. I vacuum, sweep, mop, and clean regularly. I run an air purifier regularly. I dust regularly. This is not to say my house looks organized: it's not. I don't spend energy picking up after myself, it's poorly decorated, and sometimes looks like I just don't care. I just focus on keeping the home environment safe enough. I only have so much energy to spend.

11. I do have many houseplants. Mold and fungus has been an occasional problem with them, but I stay proactive with my plants. I keep a close watch for the mold and fungus and clean it out the moment I spot any. Otherwise, they're great. Certain houseplants clean the air. Check out this article for more details.

12. I practice a lot of escapism. Instead of giving in to the feelings of anger, agitation, pain, discomfort, anxiety, depression, and other unpleasantness I experience during reactions and periods of poor health, I try to do something that allows me to mentally escape. I do something really risky: I bring my phone into the bath with me so I can read or watch videos while bathing. I watch Netflix while I use the sauna. The reason for this is that if I don't have a distraction, my thoughts get really anxious and dark, and I feel a lot worse and more fatigued. Negative thoughts take a lot of energy, and often times I don't have enough power over the negative mental feeling. So I distract myself with something until the reaction calms down. I spend a lot of time playing video games, reading easy books and graphic novels, and watching my favorite series. These things occupy my mind, which is a huge blessing.

Note about 12: Lots of people have argued that I should be practicing mindfulness, guided meditation, or prayer instead of using distractions. I'm sorry. These things simply do not work for me. At all. I don't have the energy to control my thoughts - these things take a lot more work and stamina than I have to give. If these things work for you, yes, you're probably going to recover faster employing them. They allow for a deeper rest and a better calm. They train us to have better control over our mental and spiritual states. These things are important! But I'm sorry, they're not enough to combat my anxiety and reaction agitation. I tried praying the rosary while in the sauna during a really nasty reaction once. I was shaking with anxiety and desperate to calm down. The rosary should be very calming, reflective, and meditative - it simply called attention to all my problems that I wanted to share with God. It caused me to think about how hard life is, how much suffering we go through, and how I just wanted to be dead to end the suffering. Prayer is a very powerful thing. I strongly believe in God and I strongly believe in the importance of prayer. But I've learned that my prayer isn't effective during my deep anxiety times - it makes me feel worse. I pray when I'm feeling strong so that I can actually calm my mind enough to listen to God. It's a big reason why I'm struggling so much with church - church causes me to react, and I can't focus or be worshipful when I'm reacting.

13: I take care of my health to the best of my ability. I'm taking a ton of supplements , eating a very strict diet, exercising the best I can, practicing avoidance to the best of my ability, avoiding as much stress as possible, etc. I'm doing what I can to heal my chronic illnesses, weak organs, etc. My issues are my own. You need to learn your body and address your body's needs. The stronger our body's health, the better it can tolerate environmental toxins... or at least recover from reactions.

14. I try to spend plenty of time in nature, in the trees or by the sea, away from car exhaust, cigarette smoke, toxic people, city pollution... you get the idea. Nature is the ultimate air purifier. It's the ultimate stress reliever. It also helps me adjust to the changing seasons better. The more time I spend outside, the less traumatic seasonal changes are for me (despite that winter is horrible anyway.)

(Isn't it just calming thinking about being in nature?)

15. Therapies help. I can't say enough about how much chiropractic, acupuncture, and massage helps me. All of these help the body work optimally, all of which will relieve body tension, stress, and toxin build up.

16. I do use a Himalayan Salt Lamp. This is one of my favorite items to sell at the store I work at. It is not enough on its own to help with a reaction, but it does serve an important role for me. The salt releases negative ions into the air to counter the positive ions. Positive ions are harsh on our bodies: electricity/ lightning, environmental toxins, etc. The negative ions clear the air so our bodies don't have to fight the environment as much. They are very calming. My favorite time to use it is right before bed. I read to the light of it. I feel less agitated around it, which is really important in the process of falling asleep.

The ionizer necklace I use works very similarly: it puts out negative ions near my body to help me breathe a little better. It does help some.

(Note: There's a lot of New Age spirituality tied to them, and this has turned some of my customers off from buying one. I've never used it to call spirits, work magic, fortune telling, etc - I don't believe in this stuff, and the lamp has never drawn me in to any type of witch craft. Keep in mind that you can tie spirituality into any object, such as gemstones and minerals. I don't believe in the spiritual properties of gemstones, but they're really pretty and I wear them. Salt is a natural product of the earth, it was around long before humans even existed.)



I encourage you to share with me what helps you! Leave comments on this blog so others can read them too.

Windows and MCS

It's been a full month since my last post. I'm not sorry. I do have a lot to say, but I've needed to take a step back and internalize it first. I've also been in a whirlwind in the last month, so I've not had the energy when I've had the opportunity to write.

I just spent a whole entire month in New Hampshire... again. I was only supposed to go for 9 days while new windows were installed in our house. I didn't want to be home with any fumes, mold, dust, etc. that would make me sick. Well, our contractor was hurt and needed a couple of weeks to recover. I stayed a whole month waiting for the windows to get installed, but as it turned out, I needed most of the time out there for medical reasons. That will be my next post. It's not easy being away from my husband that long, but in the end I'm grateful for the extra time with my doctor.

In this post, let me tell you about these windows: Marvin Infinity. When you have MCS, any home project is a major headache. There's the fear of hidden and obvious toxins that will keep you sick, the fear of off-gassing, the fear of the quality of natural safe materials vs synthetic highly rated materials, etc. I'm writing this post to help anyone with MCS in need of new windows.

We had Brian Fettig install them. They are casement windows made from fiberglass, supposedly the most MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitives) friendly windows on the market. Supposedly, they have no fumes except for the stain, but they're stained in the shop, not in your home. The advantage for an MCS person is that they do not rot like wood does, they're not made from plastic/ vinyl that constantly out gasses, and they last much longer than other types because they don't warp or deteriorate.

They are not cheap, but we had several companies with different types of windows give us quotes. The wood and vinyl options were only a few thousand dollars cheaper - there wasn't a huge difference in price. I came home the day after they were finished being installed, when my intention was to come home around a week after they were installed. I feared the fumes! And I was right to. The windows did in fact smell. I could smell it in the whole house for a few days, but it was faint. It was less bad than low VOC paint. I can no longer smell the windows at all. That said, I don't know what part of the window was off-gassing. It may have been the factory smell that was stuck to them, or possibly the stain was still smelly.

Our contractor also used fiberglass insulation instead of the spray foam kind, keeping in mind my chemical sensitives. This is my parent's house, not mine, but I'm very grateful for every effort to use less toxic materials since I'm living here now! He also reused our wood frames. The fiberglass stain matches the original wood frames so well that it's hard to tell they're different materials. It's good that he did this not only because it was cheaper, but also because it means less new materials - so fewer potential new toxins.

The reason we had to have new windows installed was because our old Marvin wooden windows were rotting. Yes, literally rotting. There was black spongy rot all over the bottom of the casements, and one of the windows was sliding down in the casement because the bottom had rotted so much. We had to keep plastic shrink wrap up over the windows so that the rot wasn't getting into our air. This rot was actually my greatest concern with the windows, and I did not want to be home when the windows were removed and the rot was kicked up into the air. Our contractor told us that he also found rot inside the walls on the sheet rock. Is there mold? Very possibly. We knew there was mold in the bathroom ceiling, which was replaced and fixed last year. It's very possible I'm living in a moldy house, which could definitely explain a lot of my health problems! We'll tackle this and the siding issue next year.

How am I feeling at home with the new windows and no longer breathing in the rot from the old windows? Hard to say at this point. I actually slept very well and felt better than normal for the first 5-6 days after coming home, but I've slowly been getting worse and worse again. It's probably not our house. It's probably my job, which got much smellier while I was away. I can say that I'm not reacting while at home, except to my bed (that's a huge issue unto itself.)

What I can tell you is that the windows look great! I love the screens (much easier to see through,) the handles that operate very smoothly, how easy it is to clean the inside and outside of them, the tint that makes it hard for people to see in during the day time, and that they are insulating well! We have actually been struggling to cool the house down at night, even when it's cool outside, without opening the windows (which we can do now!) Before, our house cooled down on its own, even when the windows were shut. The real test will be winter, but that's not far away!

I may have to update this post with photos later. It's very hard to take photos of windows when it's bright and sunny outside!

Recipe: Stuffed Cabbage Leafs

This is a break from the norm and is a recipe post. I'm in New Hampshire visiting my parents and wonderful doctor, so what better time to write a food post?



Cabbage stuffed chicken fried cauliflower rice with sunflower seed butter sauce! Yep, its a mouthful. I don't know a better name. Thai cabbage dolmas? Israeli dolmas with sunbutter sauce? How about just a picture of it:

Why this recipe? Because there aren't enough recipes online that are comparable with my strict limited blood type O high protein diet. I want to change that. 😇 Also, because I made this one up as I went, so I figured it was worth sharing since it turned out well. This recipe is also great because it has a lot of flexibility for food allergies and dietary needs. I'll include options along the way.


I made this in my parent's small kitchen with very few tools. At home I would have used a food processor and whisk, but here I used a cheese grater and a fork. And a pan that was too small. So there is no need to fear owning the right kitchen tools.


What you need:


- A carrot
- Fresh ginger
- Cauliflower rice or actual rice
- Peas
- Meat or tofu or eggplant cubes (I used finely diced chicken because I need meat.)
- A head of cabbage
- Nut butter (I used sunflower seed butter, but almond or cashew butter would probably work very well too. Tahini?)
- Coconut aminos or soy sauce or fish sauce
- Whole fat nut milk or yogurt (I used coconut milk. I wonder if a whipped avocado would work instead. A boxed nut milk might work, but I can see it being too thin.)
- Apple cider vinegar
- Coconut or Avocado or sunflower seed oil
- Seasoning (I only had cumin and parsley to work with, I would say a good curry, masala, shwarma, or other middle eastern blend would work great.)


Note: There's no reason why you can't add more diced vegetables or even throw in some almond slices. This is not a scientific formula. If you love okra, by all means, include some. You could use sausage as your meat option. I think scrambled egg would also work well. I formed an outline for a recipe that can be altered easily.  I realize this type of recipe is already common, but it usually requires ingredients that are not allergy or diet friendly. The important thing to note is that it tastes good for as simple as I made it - this isn't bland or boring for the lack of ingredient variety. Also, keep in mind that you shouldn't combine starchy foods with proteins. That's a recipe for digestive disaster (like the good 'ol American hamburger.)


First, how to make the sunflower seed butter sauce:


Put two spoonfuls of sunflower seed butter into a bowl. Add the same amount of coconut milk (or try a whipped avocado.) Pour in coconut aminos to your liking, I probably used 2 tablespoons worth, maybe 3. I didn't measure. Add a table spoon of apple cider vinegar. Mix very well. It should have a thick syrupy consistency. If too thick, add more milk first, then add more oil. Taste test it.

How to make the cabbage dolma:


0. Go to the farmers market and buy the big $7 organic cabbage. Or just grab whatever cabbage you have around. I'll have enough cabbage for 10 of these - I couldn't find a smaller one at the market! The size of the leaves were my mom's inspiration for making a wrap. I took the idea and ran with it.


1. Gently peel off the cabbage leaves, one at a time. I pulled off 4 and it turned out to be the perfect number, but again, my cabbage was huge. They will not want to come off easily, and you will likely rip them. That's ok, as long as only the edges rip. I cut the base of each leaf and peeled from the base first, then loosened up the outside of the leaf. There's probably some trick to peeling off cabbage leaves, but I don't know it.


2. Place the leaves in a large enough pot and boil or steam them. As you can see, mine barely fit.  I let them steam for the entire cooking time, which was about 30 minutes. The idea is to get them soft, no longer crunchy.

3. Start frying the cauliflower rice or actual rice in a pan with plenty of oil (I used 3 table spoons coconut oil.) I don't eat grains, so I can't give advice on making fried rice. I do know that cauliflower rice is moist, so it needs time to dry out enough to fry. I had it on a medium high heat until dry and slightly brown.


(To make cauliflower rice you simply throw cauliflower in a food processor or blender and grind it up into small grains. I didn't have access to one this time, so Mom grated it on the cheese grater and it actually worked really well, just took more effort.)

4. Grate the carrot and ginger with the cheese grater and mix them. Use as much of each as you want. I can't tolerate a lot of carrot because it acts like sugar in my body, so one carrot was plenty for me. I recommend a lot of ginger here. I used 3/4ths an average palm-sized root and liked it.

5. Add the carrots and ginger to the cauliflower rice, turn the heat down to medium low.


6. Add desired seasoning.


7. Chop or shred your meat / tofu/ eggplant, then add it to the pan. Optionally, you can cook this separately to brown it, but I threw it in raw. I need my vegetables cooked down far to digest them, and they got cooked down enough by the time the chicken cooked fully.


8.  Add in the sunflower butter sauce after the chicken. Stir well, keep mixing the mixture.

(Poor lighting, sorry!) 
9. Carefully pull the cabbage leaves out of the pot with a spoon, not tongs. Tongs will rip it. I placed them on a paper towel to absorb the water, then put it on a plate. Spoon the fried cauliflower mix into the middle of the leaf, leaving plenty of space for folding. Optionally, squeeze lime juice on at this point. I thought it was a good addition.

10. Roll the leaf. You'll figure it out. It will stick and stay sealed if you left enough room along the edges of the cabbage leaf. Optionally, you could drizzle more sauce on top.


11. Serve and enjoy!