I Healed From an Autoimmune Disease That Nearly Took My Vision. Here’s What I Learned
It’s been over a year since I healed from a severe autoimmune disease called Uveitis that nearly took my vision. It was uncontrollable inflammation in both eyes affecting the uvea and macula. The treatments caused other problems with my eyes, glaucoma, and cataracts. I had 6 eye surgeries, including cataracts removed from both eyes before I was 30.
How I healed
After 10 years and doing a ton of research, trial, and error, I finally healed with diet and lifestyle changes. The dietary changes included cutting sugar and processed foods, reducing carbs, cycling daily carbs.
I reduce my total carbs significantly. This came from the overwhelming anecdotal evidence from others who healed from autoimmune diseases using keto and carnivore diets. I found that grains were particularly problematic since I dropped 15–20 lbs immediately after cutting them.
I also followed doctors and hospitals which only used diet to heal autoimmune conditions. Once such practice is a hospital in Hungary called paleomedicina. They use science based studies to support healing auto immune conditions with animal based fat and protein. Their studies brought them to the conclusion that a diet in animal-fat was the best approach for chronic diseases.
an animal meat-fat based diet that we call Paleolithic Ketogenic Diet is the most effective tool for the treatment of the diseases of civilization.- Paleomedicina.com
I also eat no carbs in the morning and only eat carbs at the end of the day. This supports a health cortisol rhythm, which is crucial to heal from inflammatory conditions.
Here are the lessons I learned through this experience
1. Diet and lifestyle do impact health
The first question I asked my doctor during my first flare-up was “could what I’m eating have caused this”. He of course said there’s no way as if I was a silly child for suggesting such an outlandish idea. But what I learned from studying others who had healed their autoimmune condition was that diet was the main thing that corrected the issue.
This should be obvious. Our cells are constantly recycling and replacing themselves. Our bodies are entirely different every few years. Our cells are made by what we feed ourselves. It only makes sense that if we feed ourselves fake processed food, it’s going to have cataclysmic effects on our health.
One thing doctors all agree on about autoimmune disease is that there has to be environmental factors. It’s not enough to be genetically susceptible. There’s always a trigger. Sometimes it’s mold, and infection, heavy metal. In my case, I was eating way too many carbs, processed foods, and not supporting my body’s natural cortisol rhythm, which is why I was dependent on daily steroids to keep my vision.
Stress is always indicated in autoimmune diseases. Many people report their disease starting after some type of psychological and/or physiological stress. This could be giving birth, losing a loved one, job loss, or divorce. Stress can happen physically if we’re not eating correctly. Regardless stress can have many causes, including diet.
This study from Harvard concluded that stress may be the primary factor in causing autoimmune disease.
I never felt like an overly stressed person but I felt I needed to take daily action in controlling whatever stress I had, so I started a daily gratitude and mindfulness practice. Since changing my diet and taking ownership of my mental wellness I’m the most balanced and stress-free I’ve ever been.
2. Never take sight for granted
Everything we see is a gift. For 10 years I mostly used one eye to see. One eye was always better than the other. Which eye was better was always changing. Some years my right eye was more problematic, other times, my left was worse. After healing both eyes are more balanced and I see better than I have in a decade.
There’s not a single day that goes by where I take anything I see for granted. I appreciate seeing the sunrise, sunset, the wind blowing in the trees, the clouds, and seeing the faces of my family. I don’t take any sight for granted anymore. Sometimes I’ll look at the sky for no other reason than because I can. It’s a gift and it should be appreciated as such.
I learned to appreciate the small things through my gratitude practice. This also means I appreciate the small things that I see.
3. Having expectations will set you up for disappointment and despair
Most of us expect that we will be healthy our entire lives. We expect to always be able to see. We don’t expect to face a chronic health condition in our mid-20s. I spent many of those 10 years in fear and anger.
Until I realized that regardless of what happens to my vision or anything else, it doesn’t mean I can’t have a high quality of life. It doesn’t mean life can’t still be fulling. It just means it’s may be different. This experience taught me to not have such expectations, but instead, to trust the process of life. Life is going to throw curve balls and hit you with things you never could’ve imagined.
You can never be ready for it. Instead of questioning why and living in fear, anger, and despair, learn to roll with it. What does this look like? Take the big questions that give us anxiety; will I get sick? Will I lose my job? Will my marriage fail? The answer is, maybe and maybe not. Maybe don’t overthink it and just focus on living your life, whatever that looks like.
Honestly, it’s as simple as that. Any number of terrible things can and will happen. The expectation should be that no matter what happens as long as am grateful for all I have, life will be good.
4. Medical doctors don’t know everything
This one will shock most people who have never had a chronic health condition. Western medicine is amazing at healing acute problems such as broken bones, cuts, and other trauma. But western medicine fails at addressing chronic health. Medical doctors are brilliant in their fields but are only taught to combat illness with drugs or surgery.
When it comes to lifelong health and whole-body wellness, it’s best to work with a functional doctor trained in ways medical doctors aren’t. I’m not saying to stop seeing your medical doctor. I’m saying to balance your healthcare by adding a functional doctor to give a different perspective.
A medical doctor will tell you it’s good to eat whole grains. A functional doctor or naturopath will say eating grains is good for some people and bad for others. Functional medicine carries nuances that western medicine doesn’t. Functional medicine recognizes everyone is unique and prescribes treatment entirely depending on the individual.
When I first started having problems, I was seeing 4–5 medical doctors every week. They all said diet played no part in what was happening. But now I know that’s not the case. Medical doctors don’t believe in healing with diet because there are no clinical trials to support it.
The reason there are no clinical trials is that nobody would fund them because big pharma is a business. Businesses need to make money and they can’t make money on recommending diets. Money is made from selling drugs and surgeries. That’s not a knock on western medicine. I’ve greatly benefited from the drugs and surgeries I had to undergo. But I do hope we combine western medicine with eastern and start looking at the body as a single unit made up of billions of processes. The best approach for wellness, have a good medical doctor, and a good functional doctor.
Final thoughts
I’m not going to ever say I’m thankful for having an autoimmune disease. But I did learn a lot of valuable lessons through the process. I now have a very different view of what balanced health and balanced diet means. I just hope I can help educate and inspire others to heal. Not everyone will heal, but everyone can appreciate the life they have despite its challenges.
Sources
https://www.paleomedicina.com/paleolithic-ketogenic-diet/
Autoimmune disease and stress: Is there a link? — Harvard Health Blog — Harvard Health Publishing
