I am very excited to report that natural fragrance is back in-- I can tolerate it again without becoming a hivey mess all over my body. It's super exciting for me because the last two years I have been able to use little to no shampoo/conditioner products, and the last year it had gotten so bad that I was using 100% fragrance and anything fun free in order to avoid the scalp itching and hives. And no, the itching wasn't from dry scalp, and would you believe that Head and Shoulders has friggin' fragrance as one of the main ingredients?!?!? Yeah, I was upset about that one-- I couldn't even use shampoo that was supposed to make my head stop itching because for me it just made it itch more! So, I have upgraded from my Whole Foods 365 Fragrance Free Shampoo and Conditioner (which is actually really good stuff, FYI) pictured right, to the wonderful Aveda Color Conserve shampoo and conditioner collection. Aveda stuff is made with what they call "pure-fume" because the fragrances are derived from natural plant oils and extracts. Good stuff, and it makes my hair look awesome. I'm still going to play it easy and rotate in the fragrance free stuff, but at least now I'm not as much of a complete leper. Two thumbs up for acupuncture's effect on my autoimmune system in that respect! On the bad side, I believe that I discovered today that cheese is out. The soup I made last night (see pic in previous post) had a small amount of cheese in it and I was having some serious digestive distress today. It got really bad after I ate the soup again for lunch (with some extra cheese added because I was being brave, not realizing the morning's digestive problems might be related). By the time I got back to work the cheese was starting to leave an awful aftertaste in my mouth and a lot of mucus started to develop, too. It was gross. Not to mention that I ended up having to go to the bathroom numerous times afterwards. As a result, there was the momentary feeling that dinner wasn't going over well either, but it quickly subsided (though I still ended up in the bathroom again). So, cheese is out. I am keeping my fingers that it's not permanently out, but I will have to investigate further. It could have been the combination of cheese and tomatoes, or it could have been something else completely. There might be a food sensitivity to milk that I'm not aware of and perhaps is now only being discovered because I eliminated it from my diet long enough. This could have in turn caused the very gallstones I am trying to get rid of. People afflicted with Celiac disease almost always end up with their gallbladders out because their body is unable to process/digest glutens which in turn causes GB disease. It wouldn't surprise me if a milk sensitivity could do that too, as many people with Celiac have milk allergy as one of their secondary diseases. I guess I will have to get the testing done and keep experimenting on my own.
At least there was one small victory this week- being able to have nice smelling hair again. I'll take it.
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