The essence of detoxification is to rid the body of poisonous substances.  From chelation to dietary detox, there are many ways to detoxify your body and in Ayurvedic tradition, spring time is one of the best times to do this.  My choice of autoimmune detox was to minimize any strenuous exercise and rely only on the essential supplements / medications for a month.  Items crossed out below were removed during detox:

Exercise

• Swimming exercises 2-3X per week
• Wii Fit+ Yoga & strength exercises

Supplements

• acacia fiber with water kefir
• Vitamin D3 (1 pill per day) – removed for a few days & added back into detox
• Iron Supplement (1 pill per day) – removed for a few days & added back into detox
• doTERRA Vitality Pack (12 pills per day)

Medicine

• Omeprazole (1 pill per day)
• Prednisone (1/2 pill per day)
• Asacol HD (4 pills per day) – maintenance-mode of 2 pills per day

One Month Autoimmune Detox History

As of 3/17 I stopped exercising & at 3/20 I’ve removed all supplements from my diet.  3/20-3/22 visited Sarasota (2 hours North of where I live) & had the longest sustainable day since I began the diet on 3/21 from 8:30am to 11:30pm.  Back in Naples on 3/23 & crashed – 13 hours of sleep on 3/23 & 12 hours on 3/24.  This confirms I am still anemic & am back on my iron supplement.  Started feeling better and then had something that did not agree with me at Whole Foods on 3/30 (may have been tomato paste hidden) and flared up for the next 2-3 days.  Normally this would only take 1 day, but detoxing makes me more susceptible to flare-ups and I got a cold (1st time since I started the diet) that everyone around me was getting (lethargic, scratch throat) from 4/1 – 4/14.  Worst days were 4/5 & 4/6 as coughing prevented me from sleeping.  On 4/5 at 2am and 4/6 10pm felt a chocking feeling and violent cough to remedy which made me sore all over from shoulders to bottom of ribs.  Using an elevated pillow, Mucinex (Fast-Max severe congestion & cough), a sore throat spray, lots of chicken soup, and menthol cough drop while going to sleep improved my condition and allowed me to sleep.  Cold started to go away on 4/8 but is still lingering around and did not leave the house for a week.  The detox reduced weight slightly but the cold took my weight from 130 to 127lbs – my lowest since starting the diet.  Average weight in so far in 2013 is 131 lbs. and fluctuates from 127 to 134lbs.  Most days I average 8 hours of interrupted sleep (get up 2-3 times per night) and add 1 1/2 – 4 hours of sleep in the daytime.

Benefits and Side Effects of My Autoimmune Detox

Benefits

• Helps identify which supplements are working and which are not.
• Allows the body to heal on it’s own terms.
• Lack of rigorous exercise made my body less sore in some areas, but exercise back in the pool will help other areas.  Finding a balance of exercise intensity is key and may need to work with a rehab facility with a pool to find out.
• Less pills to take!  Much less side effects from the medicine.

Side Effects

• Longer lasting and more susceptible to flare-ups
  
• More susceptible to colds / flu
• Weight loss since I’m underweight
• Less physical strength and endurance along with soreness in areas which may prevent from longer periods of sleep throughout the night
• Need to sleep more (but this might be the best thing for me)

Conclusion

While detoxing has it’s risks, you get to know the truth on what your body really needs and not what you think it needs.  Now that the detox is almost over, I can introduce one supplement at a time to see if it’s helping along with slowly starting my swimming regimen again.   In the next few months, I will start blood tests again to see how I’ve progressed without these supplements.