introduction
My heart goes out to everyone out there who is suffering from any chronic physical or mental illness. I can completely understand the frustration, hopelessness, shame, inferiority, and the rollercoaster of emotions. Looking out to the world outside your window, listening to the bustling streets, seeing so many seemingly normal, happy, healthy people walking around and wondering why this has to happen to you alone. I’ve been there. The fact is, though, that you are not alone. Chronic illnesses of all forms have been on the rise in recent years and is expected to rise sharply in the future (link).
As you are reading this, I congratulate you for having the motivation and courage to seek a cure for yourself, instead of blindly believing the words of many conventional doctors who claim that most diseases are incurable and can only be "managed" with drugs or surgery. You will be rewarded very soon for your first steps of bravery in this journey of self healing. I guarantee that you will, in the near future, attain a level of happiness and satisfaction few people in this world will ever experience. I have one favor to ask of you though: when you do regain control of your health, please consider all the others who have suffered just as much as you or even more and become a guiding light on the road of health and happiness - write a testimony of your experience. Post in forums. Spread the message. We need everyone of you out there to change the belief that chronic illnesses mean a life of worsening suffering that you have no control over.
As you are reading this, I congratulate you for having the motivation and courage to seek a cure for yourself, instead of blindly believing the words of many conventional doctors who claim that most diseases are incurable and can only be "managed" with drugs or surgery. You will be rewarded very soon for your first steps of bravery in this journey of self healing. I guarantee that you will, in the near future, attain a level of happiness and satisfaction few people in this world will ever experience. I have one favor to ask of you though: when you do regain control of your health, please consider all the others who have suffered just as much as you or even more and become a guiding light on the road of health and happiness - write a testimony of your experience. Post in forums. Spread the message. We need everyone of you out there to change the belief that chronic illnesses mean a life of worsening suffering that you have no control over.
summary
Last resort
I couldn't have written a better summary of my experience. Below is the summary written by Edwin Casimero, creator of eczemacure.info and many other raw paleo websites.
"So let me summarize Jeff’s ordeal how I understood it. Jeff is Chinese, currently living in and grew up in Hong Kong, today 22 years old. He started getting eczema at 1 year old, had small successes and major suffering moments… almost deathly moments where he was hospitalized and given the best western medical care of drugs and steroids to allow his eczema to be suppressed enough for Jeff to be discharged from the hospital. What was great is for many years, Jeff had understood the truth about what eczema was and how drugs and steroids play their role of merely symptom suppression, but your internal organs pay the price.
Jeff already knew for some time what eczema really was and the mechanisms of how it works, but frustratingly had not really fixed his problem… because he had not yet gone to the “deep end”… to the “last resort” people would rather avoid / not do / ignore… drinking your own pee (uropathy) and eating raw animal meat and raw animal fat (along with a raw paleo diet).
Then boom! At around a month of uropathy and raw paleo diet came really fast healing. As Jeff pointed out, some 90% to 95% of his symptoms and overall health turned around for the best. And to think he had to suffer for 21 years. Jeff counts himself lucky and thankful for it. We are now at the age of the internet, and with the internet, Jeff found what he needed and now willingly shares the lessons he learned by publishing his own website." - Edwin Casimero ("GoodSamaritan" on RPDforum), creator of eczemacure.info, curemanual.com
"So let me summarize Jeff’s ordeal how I understood it. Jeff is Chinese, currently living in and grew up in Hong Kong, today 22 years old. He started getting eczema at 1 year old, had small successes and major suffering moments… almost deathly moments where he was hospitalized and given the best western medical care of drugs and steroids to allow his eczema to be suppressed enough for Jeff to be discharged from the hospital. What was great is for many years, Jeff had understood the truth about what eczema was and how drugs and steroids play their role of merely symptom suppression, but your internal organs pay the price.
Jeff already knew for some time what eczema really was and the mechanisms of how it works, but frustratingly had not really fixed his problem… because he had not yet gone to the “deep end”… to the “last resort” people would rather avoid / not do / ignore… drinking your own pee (uropathy) and eating raw animal meat and raw animal fat (along with a raw paleo diet).
Then boom! At around a month of uropathy and raw paleo diet came really fast healing. As Jeff pointed out, some 90% to 95% of his symptoms and overall health turned around for the best. And to think he had to suffer for 21 years. Jeff counts himself lucky and thankful for it. We are now at the age of the internet, and with the internet, Jeff found what he needed and now willingly shares the lessons he learned by publishing his own website." - Edwin Casimero ("GoodSamaritan" on RPDforum), creator of eczemacure.info, curemanual.com
diets and treatments tried in the past
Summary of diets tried:
Diets by far have had the most profound effects on my body, even though alternative treatment methods may have some benefits, they're usually very expensive, time-consuming and not worth it. Also, the power and satisfaction in taking control of your own health is elating - knowing that you are not dependent on other people for your own well-being.
Nearly all symptoms gradually disappeared within a month on uropathy and raw paleo diet. Eyebrows and receding gums will probably take a while to recover. Still have minor rough patches on face, neck, insides of elbows, behind knees.
Important: I experimented with uropathy for one month while on a raw fruitarian diet, starting with couple drops under tongue several times a day. Although I didn't get sick anymore from colds, my rashes didn't improve very well. I would wrap my cracked fingertips in urine soaked cotton balls and they would heal (urea heals wounds rapidly), but after taking the plaster off, they would crack wide open again like knife cuts. That's when I knew uropathy wasn't enough (I was lacking the nutrition to heal from raw vegan), and I took a (big) leap of faith with the Raw Paleo Diet (RPD). It was a big leap of faith because I had been warned against sushi (raw meats) parasites by my naturopath for nearly my entire life. Before RPD, I hardly ever ate sushi or other raw meats. After a couple months on my dietary journey, I finally realized that although helpful, my naturopath lacked a lot of knowledge and there were mountains of better information on the Internet.
5. ~November 2011 to present. Finally stumbled on uropathy and raw paleo diet and experienced 90-95% cure in a month. Absolutely phenomenal. After a few days of transitioning, all cravings disappeared and I finally freed myself from being a slave of food.
Alternative natural treatments tried in the past:
Diets by far have had the most profound effects on my body, even though alternative treatment methods may have some benefits, they're usually very expensive, time-consuming and not worth it. Also, the power and satisfaction in taking control of your own health is elating - knowing that you are not dependent on other people for your own well-being.
- ~September 2010 to December 2010. Tried the "Candida diet", similar to cooked organic whole foods diet with meat but excluding all sugars including fruit. Rashes didn't improve and I had sweet cravings all the time. I first got into this because allergies, eczema and a lot of autoimmune diseases were said to be caused by "candida overgrowth" in many online communities. Gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, yeast-free, MSG-free, food additive/preservative-free.
- ~December 2010 to January 2011. Tried the high-fat raw vegan diet, similar to what Dr. Robert Young (author of The pH Miracle) - rashes improved by 20% but was constantly tired. Sweet cravings continued, and I couldn't control my bulimia (binge and overeating followed by self-induced vomiting). This disorder would happen once or twice a week. I was so ashamed of it. I would binge some store bought vegetarian food, pizza, curry etc. and go to the toilet and vomit it out. At first, I felt like it was "smart" thing to do - having the pleasure of eating good tasting food but not allowing the "unhealthy" food to be absorbed by my body. Then I discovered chewing and spitting (link), and I thought I cured my bulimia. Turns out it is another eating disorder. I was utterly disgusted at the spat out food in the toilet but I couldn't control myself. I would seem to get into a trance-like state while I chew and spat, then felt absolutely horrible and guilty after. I learned that food gets rapidly absorbed by the area under the tongue and around the mouth even if you're not swallowing anything. Your body will also secrete excess stomach acid to prepare digesting the food that you have spat out. Excess stomach acid will cause stomach problems such as ulcers (Source).
- ~February 2011 to May 2011. Tried "The Gerson Therapy" (natural cancer therapy) - rashes improved by ~10% but not as well as I'd hoped (thought cancer would be an easier thing to cure than eczema! I was dead wrong...) The chew-spit disorder continued, this time including any meat leftovers from dinner at home. I started to get massive meat cravings. I have kept the coffee enema in my daily routine as it has proven to be the best liver detox method I've tried.
- ~May 2011 to November 2011. Nearly raw fruitarian diet with 80 10 10 (or 811rv, raw vegan diet promoted by Dr. Doug Graham), worked for couple months with significant improvement, then health went downhill pretty rapidly with a full body rash and a host of other symptoms after around 6 months. Meat cravings were more intense than ever and chew spitting continued. I wanted to stop my disorder desperately and would picture the cruel factory farming techniques of animals, the toxic antibiotics/hormones injected to factory meat, to try and morally stop my behavior - didn't work a single time. It was mentally exhausting. It just sounded like the perfect diet in the world - no cruelty, peace and love to all animals. I felt so righteous. Some symptoms I had when my health went downhill in the last 2 months of eating 80/10/10 included:
- Fingernail fungal infections (never had them in my life) that spread to 2-3 fingernails on each hand.
- Insomnia
- Extreme fatigue during the day even after 12-15 hours of sleep (I thought it was detox)
- Severe depression and suicidal thoughts to escape pain of full body rashes
- Extremely cold hands and feet. Toenails and feet turned purple very easily.
- Wake up in the middle of the night with chills and feeling ice cold, even reaching for a blanket to cover myself was indescribably difficult
- Deeply cracked fingertips that wouldn't heal
- Resurgence of severe weeping eczema rashes on whole body
- Extreme meat cravings, resulting in binge eating, self-induced vomiting, then chew-spitting disorder when I "discovered" it.
- Anxiety, panic attacks
- Diarrhea or very loose, liquid stools (bowel movements)
- Eyebrows started falling out and thinning
- Rapidly receding gums, leading to tooth sensitivities
- Occasional ear ringing, ear pain
- Deep and extremely painful cracks on my knee/leg area made sleeping very difficult - I had to contort my body into weird and uncomfortable positions to avoid touching/rubbing my open knee/leg wounds that would immediately jolt me wide awake and send me into a crying spell with pain
- Rashes on elbows, neck and knees were severely weeping (as shown in photos) and I couldn't stretch my limbs properly without tearing open the wounds. I would wake up every night from 2-4am with severe itching, and limp to the kitchen to warm 4 cups of coffee to do 2 coffee enemas, clenching my teeth and on the verge of tears. I had slight temptations to grab a knife from the kitchen drawer and just stab myself to escape the pain and hopelessness.
Nearly all symptoms gradually disappeared within a month on uropathy and raw paleo diet. Eyebrows and receding gums will probably take a while to recover. Still have minor rough patches on face, neck, insides of elbows, behind knees.
Important: I experimented with uropathy for one month while on a raw fruitarian diet, starting with couple drops under tongue several times a day. Although I didn't get sick anymore from colds, my rashes didn't improve very well. I would wrap my cracked fingertips in urine soaked cotton balls and they would heal (urea heals wounds rapidly), but after taking the plaster off, they would crack wide open again like knife cuts. That's when I knew uropathy wasn't enough (I was lacking the nutrition to heal from raw vegan), and I took a (big) leap of faith with the Raw Paleo Diet (RPD). It was a big leap of faith because I had been warned against sushi (raw meats) parasites by my naturopath for nearly my entire life. Before RPD, I hardly ever ate sushi or other raw meats. After a couple months on my dietary journey, I finally realized that although helpful, my naturopath lacked a lot of knowledge and there were mountains of better information on the Internet.
5. ~November 2011 to present. Finally stumbled on uropathy and raw paleo diet and experienced 90-95% cure in a month. Absolutely phenomenal. After a few days of transitioning, all cravings disappeared and I finally freed myself from being a slave of food.
Alternative natural treatments tried in the past:
- Basic traditional yoga: I've been doing yoga since a very young child because my grandma is a yoga instructor. I used to hate the meditative and quiet postures as a child because I could not stop fidgeting (or scratching my itchy rashes). I now know that this is due to imbalances in my body caused by an unnatural diet - I was on an organic cooked whole foods diet (gluten-free, organic meats and fish, cooked vegetables, minimal fruit). Recently, I have had the urge to meditate for 5 to 10 minutes on my bed and felt very refreshed, calm, and peaceful after. I will probably continue doing so. After my hospitalization incident, my grandma insisted that two hours of yoga every day was what I needed to cure my eczema and allergies. She said this based on her past experiences of curing clients of nose allergies and chronic pain illnesses with yoga but it didn't work too well for me - still needed moderately strong steroid ointment applied all over my back while I did 2 hours of yoga for half a year. I soon gave up because I never liked doing it.
- Magnet/chiropractic therapy: A family friend, who is a famous newspaper columnist in Hong Kong, recommended this clinic to us after hearing about my severe hospitalization incident. I went for a few sessions but didn't see any improvement. The chiropractic adjustments were aggressive and painful as well and I didn't want to risk any injury to my joints.
- TCM Cupping and Bruise-healing treatment: Very good way of reducing itches after cupping on rashes. I still use it nowadays when I get a minor itch on my neck or face. Some people online warn that people with rashes should not be using TCM cupping as it may lead to infections but I have never had experienced anything bad with this. In case you are afraid of infections, if you use uropathy externally on skin after cupping, it will sterilize the area. If you are not ready to use uropathy, use coconut oil or some other 100% natural disinfectant, never use man-made pharmaceutical antiseptic or antibiotic creams.
- Ancient traditional Chinese "rotational" chiropractic: Very special kind of chiropractic, recommended by the same columnist friend. Adjusts all the bones in your body for each session. Not painful at all, and I could feel the blood surging to my head after spinal adjustments. Did help with constipation for a day or two after treatment sessions, but after a night's sleep, I could feel that my spine has reverted back to the old misaligned position - wasted another $600 HKD! The theory is that curvature of the spine pinches nerves in the vertebrae and disrupts the signals sent to the brain, causing everything from digestive problems to depression. Aajonus Vonderplanitz (raw animals foods guru) says that chiropractic adjustments can help when already on an all-raw diet, and he has seen curved spines straighten itself after 3-4 years on an all-raw diet.
- La-Jin (stretching), and Pai-Da (hitting, slapping) method: Recommended by my grandma's friend. After reading the incredible testimonials in the book of how simple stretching exercises and hitting treatments cured many chronic illnesses (one in particular was a woman who cured her full body psoriasis at 40 yrs old), I was motivated to try the methods. Rashes improved 10-15% but I was still on a organic cooked whole foods diet so naturally didn't experience a cure. Shortly after trying this method, I took my baby steps into the world of diets, the first one of which was the "Candida diet".
my story
Early years: primary school (1990-2000)
My case of eczema isn't the worst I've heard of but many doctors have told my parents that it was the worst they've seen. To let you understand the severity of my eczema, food and environmental allergies, there was a time during my baby years when my mom put me on an elimination diet and it seemed that white rice was the only thing I could eat without triggering full body rashes. Moving into a newly renovated apartment soon after my 1st birthday certainly worsened my eczema, but at the time, the toxicity of household chemicals was hardly known.
That’s how my battle with eczema began. Obviously, my parents were devastated by the state of my skin with full body rashes and took me to countless conventional doctors, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners, naturopaths, homeopathic doctors, basically anyone that was recommended by family and friends. Finally, there was one naturopathic doctor that managed to control my condition with an all organic cooked whole foods diet (gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, yeast-free, additive-free, junk food-free) with lots of supplements. Even though I know now that I wasn’t completely cured in his care, his dietary recommendations and supplements did give me a very happy childhood and many silly memories. Many others with chronic illnesses aren't so lucky. After 5-6 years under his health regiments, my eczema reduced by 90% - only my fingers and knees had moderate eczema. My family and I considered it to be a miracle.
My case of eczema isn't the worst I've heard of but many doctors have told my parents that it was the worst they've seen. To let you understand the severity of my eczema, food and environmental allergies, there was a time during my baby years when my mom put me on an elimination diet and it seemed that white rice was the only thing I could eat without triggering full body rashes. Moving into a newly renovated apartment soon after my 1st birthday certainly worsened my eczema, but at the time, the toxicity of household chemicals was hardly known.
That’s how my battle with eczema began. Obviously, my parents were devastated by the state of my skin with full body rashes and took me to countless conventional doctors, Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners, naturopaths, homeopathic doctors, basically anyone that was recommended by family and friends. Finally, there was one naturopathic doctor that managed to control my condition with an all organic cooked whole foods diet (gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, yeast-free, additive-free, junk food-free) with lots of supplements. Even though I know now that I wasn’t completely cured in his care, his dietary recommendations and supplements did give me a very happy childhood and many silly memories. Many others with chronic illnesses aren't so lucky. After 5-6 years under his health regiments, my eczema reduced by 90% - only my fingers and knees had moderate eczema. My family and I considered it to be a miracle.
Other symptoms I somewhat remember (as you can see, eczema/allergies were only 1 symptom of many I had - an unhealthy body has many symptoms):
- Knee snapping / cracking accompanied with extreme pain that caused me to black out 80% of the time. I scared my football (soccer) buddies a couple times a year with this. This happened randomly when shooting the ball, and mostly on my right knee as I'm right-handed so shoot with my right foot. Although I do remember this happening to my left knee a couple of times as well. Now I know that this was definitely caused by malnutrition with my 100% cooked organic whole foods diet.
- I also blacked out randomly couple times every school year. I would be sitting in a classroom and *plop* my head and body would fall to the floor. Some of my mates have fond memories of me fainting in class. I always woke up with a ghostly white face, ice cold body and a face soaked with cold sweat.
High school - when eczema returned (2007-2008)
Fast forward to my 3rd last high school years. I became overconfident with my body and started experimenting with unhealthy food, eventually going out many times a week with friends to eat. I loved eating all sorts of biscuits, breads, junk food, Starbucks drinks. Basically, I was on a Standard American Diet (SAD).
I only avoided eating shellfish, chocolate, peanuts, walnuts.
My sleeping schedule was a big mess and sometimes I would go 1 or 2 nights without really sleeping. I also started to drink alcohol occasionally during parties and on weekend night outs with friends in bars. Within 2 years, the eczema returned with a vengeance. It started with patches on my shoulder, then gradually spread to 99% of my body, including my face, neck, scalp, until I couldn’t hide it anymore with long-sleeve pants and clothes. I had bad dandruff and very itchy painful weeping eczema wounds on my scalp.
Daily morning showers were extremely painful when the water stung the open weeping eczema wounds on my body and scalp. It felt like a thousands needles being driven into my scalp and body. Most of the time, however, I would thank the pain for waking me up and preventing me from falling asleep in the shower. I was in constant fatigue and could fall asleep anywhere anytime during the day because I couldn't sleep for more than 1 or 2 hours during the night. I did fall asleep standing in the shower many times and then wake up in panic when I realized I was late for school.
It was very embarrassing at school when guys and especially girls were around and I would notice them looking at the red, inflamed, swollen, angry rashes on my face and neck. Life was miserable, and would continue to become even worse for the next 5 years.
This time, not even the naturopathic doctor’s all organic cooked whole foods or vegan diet with lots of supplements worked. A typical lunch was white rice, cooked chicken, cooked organic vegetables; a typical dinner was cooked organic tofu, white potatoes, white rice, cooked vegetables. This diet tasted absolutely disgusting to me after being used to the delicious junk food from restaurants. The eczema didn’t get worse but didn’t improve and stayed at a moderately severe state. I was so self-conscious about it I didn’t tell anyone at school or even at home about the rashes all over my body. I would shut myself in my room, open the cupboard with a half-body size mirror, scratch vigorously at my itchy rashes and just cry for hours alone. I felt like I was turning into a zombie, frankenstein or monster, looking at the huge patches of swollen, dry, scaling, red, and inflamed rashes. I often wondered if I would ever lead a normal life again. I would lie to friends and make excuses about not being able to go out with them to eat dinner on Fridays, then feel so guilty and sob myself to sleep every night, angry at why my rashes turned me into a bad person and a liar. Nearly every day at school, there would be times when the itchy rashes would become so unbearable that I had to dash to the toilet and apply steroid cream. I didn't want anyone to know that I always carried creams and ointments in my pocket, I just felt like a total loser. There was a time when someone sitting close to me in class asked me what the smell was, I knew it was the Chinese herbal cream (ordered online) that I put on for my rashes but I just went into an intense panic attack because I didn't know how to tell them. I was so embarrassed I never mentioned eczema or rashes to anyone. I could only sleep for 2-3 hours every night, and was mostly in a half-sleeping state as my hands seemed to be on autopilot scratching mode, frantically trying to reach to every itchy spot on my body. Sometimes, I wished I was born with 10 arms. Life at the time was completely hopeless in my eyes, and part of me just wanted to end the physical and mental pain, even if that meant leaving the world as I know it to be (suicide). I had daily suicidal thoughts but couldn't tell anyone, not even my closest friends or family. I guess this is how severe chronic illnesses like eczema can completely screw up your logical mind.
Fast forward to my 3rd last high school years. I became overconfident with my body and started experimenting with unhealthy food, eventually going out many times a week with friends to eat. I loved eating all sorts of biscuits, breads, junk food, Starbucks drinks. Basically, I was on a Standard American Diet (SAD).
I only avoided eating shellfish, chocolate, peanuts, walnuts.
My sleeping schedule was a big mess and sometimes I would go 1 or 2 nights without really sleeping. I also started to drink alcohol occasionally during parties and on weekend night outs with friends in bars. Within 2 years, the eczema returned with a vengeance. It started with patches on my shoulder, then gradually spread to 99% of my body, including my face, neck, scalp, until I couldn’t hide it anymore with long-sleeve pants and clothes. I had bad dandruff and very itchy painful weeping eczema wounds on my scalp.
Daily morning showers were extremely painful when the water stung the open weeping eczema wounds on my body and scalp. It felt like a thousands needles being driven into my scalp and body. Most of the time, however, I would thank the pain for waking me up and preventing me from falling asleep in the shower. I was in constant fatigue and could fall asleep anywhere anytime during the day because I couldn't sleep for more than 1 or 2 hours during the night. I did fall asleep standing in the shower many times and then wake up in panic when I realized I was late for school.
It was very embarrassing at school when guys and especially girls were around and I would notice them looking at the red, inflamed, swollen, angry rashes on my face and neck. Life was miserable, and would continue to become even worse for the next 5 years.
This time, not even the naturopathic doctor’s all organic cooked whole foods or vegan diet with lots of supplements worked. A typical lunch was white rice, cooked chicken, cooked organic vegetables; a typical dinner was cooked organic tofu, white potatoes, white rice, cooked vegetables. This diet tasted absolutely disgusting to me after being used to the delicious junk food from restaurants. The eczema didn’t get worse but didn’t improve and stayed at a moderately severe state. I was so self-conscious about it I didn’t tell anyone at school or even at home about the rashes all over my body. I would shut myself in my room, open the cupboard with a half-body size mirror, scratch vigorously at my itchy rashes and just cry for hours alone. I felt like I was turning into a zombie, frankenstein or monster, looking at the huge patches of swollen, dry, scaling, red, and inflamed rashes. I often wondered if I would ever lead a normal life again. I would lie to friends and make excuses about not being able to go out with them to eat dinner on Fridays, then feel so guilty and sob myself to sleep every night, angry at why my rashes turned me into a bad person and a liar. Nearly every day at school, there would be times when the itchy rashes would become so unbearable that I had to dash to the toilet and apply steroid cream. I didn't want anyone to know that I always carried creams and ointments in my pocket, I just felt like a total loser. There was a time when someone sitting close to me in class asked me what the smell was, I knew it was the Chinese herbal cream (ordered online) that I put on for my rashes but I just went into an intense panic attack because I didn't know how to tell them. I was so embarrassed I never mentioned eczema or rashes to anyone. I could only sleep for 2-3 hours every night, and was mostly in a half-sleeping state as my hands seemed to be on autopilot scratching mode, frantically trying to reach to every itchy spot on my body. Sometimes, I wished I was born with 10 arms. Life at the time was completely hopeless in my eyes, and part of me just wanted to end the physical and mental pain, even if that meant leaving the world as I know it to be (suicide). I had daily suicidal thoughts but couldn't tell anyone, not even my closest friends or family. I guess this is how severe chronic illnesses like eczema can completely screw up your logical mind.
The trip (May 2008)
Little did I know that the worse was yet to come. As a tradition in our high school, there would be a graduation trip with classmates after graduation. I thought long and hard about this. I knew that I would never dare to wear T-shirts, shorts and even expose the top-half of my body naked when my body was covered with disgusting red scaling dry patches of rashes. I knew that steroids was the only quick short-term solution that would allow me to be symptom-free for a week, but I also knew that they were very poisonous and would have toxic side-effects. Nonetheless, I felt that this trip was going to be one of the most important experiences in my life and so I gambled with my body and took the oral steroids. I had never taken oral steroids before, so I didn’t think it would do too much damage. (Boy, was I wrong!)
In one or two days, as expected, all my rashes disappeared and I was so happy and totally excited for the trip. Everything went well during the trip, and I genuinely had a lot of fun without having to worry about the appearance of my skin, although I was in such a bad mood even my friends commented that they’ve never seen me so grumpy. Looking back, the pressure of making the decision to poison myself with steroids, fear of rashes reappearing during the trip, and the feelings of guilt, shame, embarrassment of my ugly skin all contributed to my poor mental well-being at the time. My liver was probably stressing out big time trying to deal with the highly toxic steroids, contributing to my increased anger and agitation. Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine) and TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) both believe that weak or stressed livers cause increased levels of irritation or anger.
Little did I know that the worse was yet to come. As a tradition in our high school, there would be a graduation trip with classmates after graduation. I thought long and hard about this. I knew that I would never dare to wear T-shirts, shorts and even expose the top-half of my body naked when my body was covered with disgusting red scaling dry patches of rashes. I knew that steroids was the only quick short-term solution that would allow me to be symptom-free for a week, but I also knew that they were very poisonous and would have toxic side-effects. Nonetheless, I felt that this trip was going to be one of the most important experiences in my life and so I gambled with my body and took the oral steroids. I had never taken oral steroids before, so I didn’t think it would do too much damage. (Boy, was I wrong!)
In one or two days, as expected, all my rashes disappeared and I was so happy and totally excited for the trip. Everything went well during the trip, and I genuinely had a lot of fun without having to worry about the appearance of my skin, although I was in such a bad mood even my friends commented that they’ve never seen me so grumpy. Looking back, the pressure of making the decision to poison myself with steroids, fear of rashes reappearing during the trip, and the feelings of guilt, shame, embarrassment of my ugly skin all contributed to my poor mental well-being at the time. My liver was probably stressing out big time trying to deal with the highly toxic steroids, contributing to my increased anger and agitation. Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine) and TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) both believe that weak or stressed livers cause increased levels of irritation or anger.
warning: the following paragraphs contain graphic language. Reader discretion is advised.
Hospitalization - hitting rock bottom (May 2008 - Dec 2008)
After the trip, I stopped the oral steroids and the eczema rashes started reappearing rapidly, and there was nothing the naturopathic doctor could do to stop it. Needless to say, my parents and I were very desperate and when we saw a newspaper ad of a homeopathic and Traditional Chinese Medicine health clinic specializing in curing skin diseases, we immediately tried it. Over the course of a month of treatment in this clinic, I would suffer the worst pain I have known to even exist in this world.
After the trip, I stopped the oral steroids and the eczema rashes started reappearing rapidly, and there was nothing the naturopathic doctor could do to stop it. Needless to say, my parents and I were very desperate and when we saw a newspaper ad of a homeopathic and Traditional Chinese Medicine health clinic specializing in curing skin diseases, we immediately tried it. Over the course of a month of treatment in this clinic, I would suffer the worst pain I have known to even exist in this world.
Volcanic fissures
The homeopath and TCM doctor kept telling me not to worry about the worsening state of my weeping rashes as it is all due to the detoxing of the body, until it got to the degree that every single square inch of my body (except the soles of my feet which was filled with itchy eczema vesicles or tiny blisters) was oozing wet, bleeding, weeping, broken, scaling skin. On the top of my hands, deep cracks that looked like the fissures on the side of a volcano began to form and the red flesh deep under my skin was visible. The oozing and scaling on my scalp was so severe that each time I scratched, wet pieces of dead skin mixed with blood and yellow fluid stuck to a bunch of hair would stick to my fingers. I couldn’t move or stretch fully any part of my body without excruciating pain because my skin would tear apart. Most painful was my inner elbows and behind my knees. Standing was not possible (if I straightened my legs the skin behind my knees would tear apart) and I would be kneeling or crouching for most of the day. Clothes could not be worn and I had to cover my body with blankets, but even the slightest weight of blankets on my entirely broken skin was agonizing. Actually, even a light breeze on my skin would hurt, not a lot, but enough to frustrate. I guess most people have experienced a wound where the top layer of skin was scraped away, and even a gentle breeze would create a stinging pain. My whole body felt like it had the top layer of skin scraped away.
It was summer at the time, outside temperatures reaching nearly 30 degrees Celsius, but the inside of my body felt ice cold and I would shudder and shake. My teeth would even rattle. However, the outer skin of my body was hot and sweaty, and the sweat felt like acid on my weeping skin. This was the most uncomfortable feeling I have ever experienced in my life. Taking the blankets off would make me sneeze and shiver even more, but keeping them on made the sweat burn my skin. After my weeping skin stayed in contact with the blanket for too long, the liquid would dry up and my skin would get stuck to the blanket. I then had to clench my teeth and wrench my skin off from the blanket. I couldn’t sleep lying down as the weight of my own head on the pillow caused too much pain on my cracked, oozing scalp. I tried my best to sleep kneeling with my back to the wall, a pillow put on top of my thighs so I could rest my chin on it. My face started weeping as well and the corners of my mouth were slit open. I could hardly open my mouth wide enough to drink or eat. The amount of dead skin that came off my body every day was disgusting. It seemed like I could build "sand castles" from them in my room. I dreaded the time when the dead skin buildup had to be vacuumed away every day. I would have to limp or crawl my way out into the living room, minimizing any body movement in an attempt to reduce the pain from tearing the broken skin.
Bowel movements during this time was terrible. After limping to the toilet, and sitting for a while on the toilet seat, the weepy skin on my thighs and buttocks would stick to the surface of the toilet seat. Just the weight of my body pushing down on the disintegrating skin on my thighs on the toilet seat was agonizing, but luckily, severe dizzy and light-headed spells would hit me every time I had a bowel movement. The occasional vomiting sensations would distract my mind from the physical pain of my skin. There were a couple of times when I blacked out during bowel movements and nearly hit my head on the hard marble floor. I simply couldn't and wouldn't believe in what was happening to my body. In a way I was thankful for the dizzy spells because that gave me temporary moments of escape from hell, blurring the line between reality and fantasy.
As you can imagine, my mental state at the time was at rock bottom and I had no way of coping properly. The curtains in my room were always rolled down and I minimized the light in my room, in an attempt to stop myself from seeing the horrid rashes on my body. I watched movies online on my computer to try to desperately escape from the hellish reality - that didn't work too well. This situation only got worse for another 2 weeks.
Looking out the balcony in my living room, there were many times when I was so close to losing it and I would have visions of myself walking uncontrollably to the balcony and getting ready to jump off. But then I would imagine the look of disgust and horror on the medical workers' faces when they came to fetch my dead bloody, weeping body. I was scared my brain would be wired to automatically do the deed one day without me having any conscious thought or control due to the unbearable physical pain. I also had visions of myself smashing through my room window and jumping off my building to commit suicide. I completely shut off my friends or even family at this time as I just could not even believe or face what I was seeing happening on my body. I didn’t know what was worse: what I was feeling and seeing, or hell.
Eventually, my parents had to call a Western doctor, a family friend of ours, to come to see what he could do. When he arrived, he requested to check the inside of my mouth for lesions (internal lesions would indicate severe life-threatening staph infection). I murmured to him with my mouth slightly open, telling him that the cracked, weeping wounds on the sides of my mouth made opening my mouth impossible. He immediately suggested hospitalization due to the severity of my full body rashes and I was rushed into hospital in an ambulance. I remember when the ambulance staff came with a wheelchair, I was kneeling on the floor and tried to stand up but screamed in pain as I felt the skin on my thighs, buttocks and knees tear open. Then everything turned into a blur and bits and pieces.
I was immediately given painkillers that night at the hospital, and I fell into a deep drowsy sleep. I was awakened briefly by the glaring fluorescent lights and found myself lying bare naked on a hospital bed with nurses slabbing steroid-emollient cream all over my body. Tiny thoughts of desperation zipped around in my head as I knew the strong steroids were poisoning my body, but I had to let it go. I had to, I forced myself to let it go... Short-term comfort was what I needed at the time. I could barely stand it anymore.
Over the course of several days in the hospital, I was prescribed strong oral antibiotics and 50-50 steroid-emollient cream was slathered on my body. Thankfully, in around 2 days, all my weeping rashes had dried up into thick layers of flaky dry skin. I think I resembled one of those disintegrating mummies in the movie "Mummy" that left a trail of flaking bone powder wherever they would go. I was leaving a trail of white dead skin whenever I scratched or peeled at my skin. Everyone in the family was relieved at the quick recovery and my parents and grandma started talking about "a miracle". I didn't want to hurt their feelings by explaining that it wasn't a miracle but I knew what was going on. The quick recovery was a result of very strong antibiotics and steroids, which meant that my body would suffer from a big blow of toxic side-effects and internal damage. Deep down, I was trembling. I knew this was the last resort and it seemed like there were no more options, but a big part of my mind was very relieved that this hellish experience had at least come to an end for now. I didn't even want to think of how the future looked and I hated the thought of it.
After staying in hospital for a week, with 70% of rashes controlled, I was discharged. There were two weeks left before the start of university.
The following 4 years before I discovered RPD and uropathy were very miserable. Eczema rashes kept flaring up and I was forced to take courses of strong antibiotics and apply moderate strength steroid cream (Elomet), steroidal scalp solutions, immunosuppressant creams like Protopic . The mental struggle was nearly as unbearable as the physical symptoms of my illness as I knew I was poisoning myself. I tried many alternative natural treatments before getting into exploring diets (as shown above in the summary section). It took me 4 years to realize that I wasn't on an optimal diet. I've always thought that my organic cooked whole foods diet was the healthiest and there was just something genetically wrong with my body.
It was summer at the time, outside temperatures reaching nearly 30 degrees Celsius, but the inside of my body felt ice cold and I would shudder and shake. My teeth would even rattle. However, the outer skin of my body was hot and sweaty, and the sweat felt like acid on my weeping skin. This was the most uncomfortable feeling I have ever experienced in my life. Taking the blankets off would make me sneeze and shiver even more, but keeping them on made the sweat burn my skin. After my weeping skin stayed in contact with the blanket for too long, the liquid would dry up and my skin would get stuck to the blanket. I then had to clench my teeth and wrench my skin off from the blanket. I couldn’t sleep lying down as the weight of my own head on the pillow caused too much pain on my cracked, oozing scalp. I tried my best to sleep kneeling with my back to the wall, a pillow put on top of my thighs so I could rest my chin on it. My face started weeping as well and the corners of my mouth were slit open. I could hardly open my mouth wide enough to drink or eat. The amount of dead skin that came off my body every day was disgusting. It seemed like I could build "sand castles" from them in my room. I dreaded the time when the dead skin buildup had to be vacuumed away every day. I would have to limp or crawl my way out into the living room, minimizing any body movement in an attempt to reduce the pain from tearing the broken skin.
Bowel movements during this time was terrible. After limping to the toilet, and sitting for a while on the toilet seat, the weepy skin on my thighs and buttocks would stick to the surface of the toilet seat. Just the weight of my body pushing down on the disintegrating skin on my thighs on the toilet seat was agonizing, but luckily, severe dizzy and light-headed spells would hit me every time I had a bowel movement. The occasional vomiting sensations would distract my mind from the physical pain of my skin. There were a couple of times when I blacked out during bowel movements and nearly hit my head on the hard marble floor. I simply couldn't and wouldn't believe in what was happening to my body. In a way I was thankful for the dizzy spells because that gave me temporary moments of escape from hell, blurring the line between reality and fantasy.
As you can imagine, my mental state at the time was at rock bottom and I had no way of coping properly. The curtains in my room were always rolled down and I minimized the light in my room, in an attempt to stop myself from seeing the horrid rashes on my body. I watched movies online on my computer to try to desperately escape from the hellish reality - that didn't work too well. This situation only got worse for another 2 weeks.
Looking out the balcony in my living room, there were many times when I was so close to losing it and I would have visions of myself walking uncontrollably to the balcony and getting ready to jump off. But then I would imagine the look of disgust and horror on the medical workers' faces when they came to fetch my dead bloody, weeping body. I was scared my brain would be wired to automatically do the deed one day without me having any conscious thought or control due to the unbearable physical pain. I also had visions of myself smashing through my room window and jumping off my building to commit suicide. I completely shut off my friends or even family at this time as I just could not even believe or face what I was seeing happening on my body. I didn’t know what was worse: what I was feeling and seeing, or hell.
Eventually, my parents had to call a Western doctor, a family friend of ours, to come to see what he could do. When he arrived, he requested to check the inside of my mouth for lesions (internal lesions would indicate severe life-threatening staph infection). I murmured to him with my mouth slightly open, telling him that the cracked, weeping wounds on the sides of my mouth made opening my mouth impossible. He immediately suggested hospitalization due to the severity of my full body rashes and I was rushed into hospital in an ambulance. I remember when the ambulance staff came with a wheelchair, I was kneeling on the floor and tried to stand up but screamed in pain as I felt the skin on my thighs, buttocks and knees tear open. Then everything turned into a blur and bits and pieces.
I was immediately given painkillers that night at the hospital, and I fell into a deep drowsy sleep. I was awakened briefly by the glaring fluorescent lights and found myself lying bare naked on a hospital bed with nurses slabbing steroid-emollient cream all over my body. Tiny thoughts of desperation zipped around in my head as I knew the strong steroids were poisoning my body, but I had to let it go. I had to, I forced myself to let it go... Short-term comfort was what I needed at the time. I could barely stand it anymore.
Over the course of several days in the hospital, I was prescribed strong oral antibiotics and 50-50 steroid-emollient cream was slathered on my body. Thankfully, in around 2 days, all my weeping rashes had dried up into thick layers of flaky dry skin. I think I resembled one of those disintegrating mummies in the movie "Mummy" that left a trail of flaking bone powder wherever they would go. I was leaving a trail of white dead skin whenever I scratched or peeled at my skin. Everyone in the family was relieved at the quick recovery and my parents and grandma started talking about "a miracle". I didn't want to hurt their feelings by explaining that it wasn't a miracle but I knew what was going on. The quick recovery was a result of very strong antibiotics and steroids, which meant that my body would suffer from a big blow of toxic side-effects and internal damage. Deep down, I was trembling. I knew this was the last resort and it seemed like there were no more options, but a big part of my mind was very relieved that this hellish experience had at least come to an end for now. I didn't even want to think of how the future looked and I hated the thought of it.
After staying in hospital for a week, with 70% of rashes controlled, I was discharged. There were two weeks left before the start of university.
The following 4 years before I discovered RPD and uropathy were very miserable. Eczema rashes kept flaring up and I was forced to take courses of strong antibiotics and apply moderate strength steroid cream (Elomet), steroidal scalp solutions, immunosuppressant creams like Protopic . The mental struggle was nearly as unbearable as the physical symptoms of my illness as I knew I was poisoning myself. I tried many alternative natural treatments before getting into exploring diets (as shown above in the summary section). It took me 4 years to realize that I wasn't on an optimal diet. I've always thought that my organic cooked whole foods diet was the healthiest and there was just something genetically wrong with my body.
University (September 2008 - present)
I wish my university looked like the one in the picture! Unfortunately over here in Hong Kong, green is rarely seen.
I was hit with pretty severe depression in the first 3 years of university right after the summer of hospitalization due to a couple reasons. First, recurring eczema rashes left me with no choice but to use steroids and several courses of strong antibiotics to control them. The worst part was knowing how damaging these drugs were but having no choice to avoid it, or risk an escalating eczema skin infection that would land me in the hospital again. I was absolutely terrified whenever the rashes started to spread again on my back, face, neck, arms (my whole body...) or clumps of pimples started forming on my scalp.
When I would go to the Western dermatologist for appointments to check on my resurging rashes (same person that saw me hospitalized), even though he tried his best to look confident and calming, I could see from his face that he was pretty much clueless on how to deal with my situation. He would pause for a while, and prescribe the exact same kind of antibiotic, same steroid and antibiotic cream that I used during my stay in the hospital. This was bad news. I figured there was probably no stronger medicines available. My mind was bombarded with questions and scenarios: "If this antibiotic stops working on my Staph Aureus infections, what's going to happen?" "Will the infection kill me slowly with another severe full body weeping rash?" "I don't think I can endure another hospitalization incident" "I would rather kill myself early before the infection reached the stage of full body weeping rashes again. I mean, I will die either way. Why suffer through hell again?" These questions would continue to haunt me for another 4 years.
Second, my inability to have a social life due to my extremely weak immune system and strict organic cooked whole foods diet. I had to avoid all crowded, public places and wear a mask to school most of the time to either hide my rashes or "protect" against dust and germs. Public transportation was unthinkable I've realized now that what I did was totally pointless. With the mask, I would still catch the flu so easily, and would be constantly sick. (I now know that fear of bacteria is pointless, with the right diet and lifestyle, your immune system will build up naturally.)
I envied all the classmates I saw on a daily basis who could walk around so casually and care-free, without a single worry about what they were putting into their mouths, having the freedom to eat, do whatever they wanted and go wherever they wanted to go. I longed to be "normal" again. I felt like an alien on campus whenever classmates would invite me to eat lunch with them or go somewhere. I had no idea how to explain my situation to a stranger and gradually, just decided to shut myself off from getting to know people. I was getting tired of turning people down, making excuses on how I was busy or had to go somewhere. My mood was always on edge, and I had constant panic attacks whenever something reminded me of the horrible experiences in the hospital ('something' being nearly everything around me - from the moment I wake up feeling the itch and seeing my inflamed rashes...). At one point, I finally realized I was suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) when I came across an article online. (More on PTSD and panic attacks in the next section)
During these years, I think if you actually calculated how many times I smiled compared to my childhood to highschool years, it would look something like an "exponential decay" curve (this is possibly the only thing I remember from math classes in school...my teacher would probably be delighted to know that I can finally apply theories to real-life situations!) The horizontal X-axis would be "time period from ~2008 - 2011", vertical Y-axis would probably be "# of smiles per day". I did notice myself having fun when in group project discussions, but I would always have this voice in the back of my head telling me "not to have too much fun and risk having to turn people down again for hangouts". Holding myself back soon became a habit of mine and it made me feel terrible.
(to be continued)
I wish my university looked like the one in the picture! Unfortunately over here in Hong Kong, green is rarely seen.
I was hit with pretty severe depression in the first 3 years of university right after the summer of hospitalization due to a couple reasons. First, recurring eczema rashes left me with no choice but to use steroids and several courses of strong antibiotics to control them. The worst part was knowing how damaging these drugs were but having no choice to avoid it, or risk an escalating eczema skin infection that would land me in the hospital again. I was absolutely terrified whenever the rashes started to spread again on my back, face, neck, arms (my whole body...) or clumps of pimples started forming on my scalp.
When I would go to the Western dermatologist for appointments to check on my resurging rashes (same person that saw me hospitalized), even though he tried his best to look confident and calming, I could see from his face that he was pretty much clueless on how to deal with my situation. He would pause for a while, and prescribe the exact same kind of antibiotic, same steroid and antibiotic cream that I used during my stay in the hospital. This was bad news. I figured there was probably no stronger medicines available. My mind was bombarded with questions and scenarios: "If this antibiotic stops working on my Staph Aureus infections, what's going to happen?" "Will the infection kill me slowly with another severe full body weeping rash?" "I don't think I can endure another hospitalization incident" "I would rather kill myself early before the infection reached the stage of full body weeping rashes again. I mean, I will die either way. Why suffer through hell again?" These questions would continue to haunt me for another 4 years.
Second, my inability to have a social life due to my extremely weak immune system and strict organic cooked whole foods diet. I had to avoid all crowded, public places and wear a mask to school most of the time to either hide my rashes or "protect" against dust and germs. Public transportation was unthinkable I've realized now that what I did was totally pointless. With the mask, I would still catch the flu so easily, and would be constantly sick. (I now know that fear of bacteria is pointless, with the right diet and lifestyle, your immune system will build up naturally.)
I envied all the classmates I saw on a daily basis who could walk around so casually and care-free, without a single worry about what they were putting into their mouths, having the freedom to eat, do whatever they wanted and go wherever they wanted to go. I longed to be "normal" again. I felt like an alien on campus whenever classmates would invite me to eat lunch with them or go somewhere. I had no idea how to explain my situation to a stranger and gradually, just decided to shut myself off from getting to know people. I was getting tired of turning people down, making excuses on how I was busy or had to go somewhere. My mood was always on edge, and I had constant panic attacks whenever something reminded me of the horrible experiences in the hospital ('something' being nearly everything around me - from the moment I wake up feeling the itch and seeing my inflamed rashes...). At one point, I finally realized I was suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) when I came across an article online. (More on PTSD and panic attacks in the next section)
During these years, I think if you actually calculated how many times I smiled compared to my childhood to highschool years, it would look something like an "exponential decay" curve (this is possibly the only thing I remember from math classes in school...my teacher would probably be delighted to know that I can finally apply theories to real-life situations!) The horizontal X-axis would be "time period from ~2008 - 2011", vertical Y-axis would probably be "# of smiles per day". I did notice myself having fun when in group project discussions, but I would always have this voice in the back of my head telling me "not to have too much fun and risk having to turn people down again for hangouts". Holding myself back soon became a habit of mine and it made me feel terrible.
(to be continued)
thanks for reading if you have continued up to this point...i apologize for pulling you along through the darkest hours of my life. this story, like many others, has a very happy ending that i will soon finish writing about. stay tuned...
My thoughts when I wrote the above (Jan 2012)
I'm writing out this experience 4 years later, and I am amazed at the level of detail I can recall. In a way, writing this out has been therapeutic because my brain seemed to have consciously shut down the recall of this traumatic event in the past few years. I would always tell myself that I had forgotten about the incident and how fortunate I am to not have constant flashbacks. I did have nerve-wracking flashbacks and nightmares occasionally during the several months after the hospitalization incident that fortunately didn't continue to plague me (or maybe I was unconsciously suppressing the traumatic memories).
(to be continued...)
Writing out this experience is very painful mentally and I am holding back my tears, but I hope that anyone out there who has suffered as much or even more than me will be comforted in knowing that they are not alone. As I’ve always said to myself through this journey of self healing, my ultimate goal is to reduce the suffering of others so that my suffering will not be meaningless. Every treatment or diet I tried that has failed, is not really a failure, but a stepping stone to success in health and happiness. I hope I can show others the shortcut to ultimate health, even though it may seem counter-intuitive at first. I'm fortunate that I found the raw paleo diet and lifestyle so soon, after a couple years, compared to others such as Lex Rooker (full interview in 1st blog post here) who suffered poor health for 20-25 years experimenting with every possible type of vegan diet (fruits, sprouting beans, wheatgrass, grasses of all kinds etc.).
I'm writing out this experience 4 years later, and I am amazed at the level of detail I can recall. In a way, writing this out has been therapeutic because my brain seemed to have consciously shut down the recall of this traumatic event in the past few years. I would always tell myself that I had forgotten about the incident and how fortunate I am to not have constant flashbacks. I did have nerve-wracking flashbacks and nightmares occasionally during the several months after the hospitalization incident that fortunately didn't continue to plague me (or maybe I was unconsciously suppressing the traumatic memories).
(to be continued...)
Writing out this experience is very painful mentally and I am holding back my tears, but I hope that anyone out there who has suffered as much or even more than me will be comforted in knowing that they are not alone. As I’ve always said to myself through this journey of self healing, my ultimate goal is to reduce the suffering of others so that my suffering will not be meaningless. Every treatment or diet I tried that has failed, is not really a failure, but a stepping stone to success in health and happiness. I hope I can show others the shortcut to ultimate health, even though it may seem counter-intuitive at first. I'm fortunate that I found the raw paleo diet and lifestyle so soon, after a couple years, compared to others such as Lex Rooker (full interview in 1st blog post here) who suffered poor health for 20-25 years experimenting with every possible type of vegan diet (fruits, sprouting beans, wheatgrass, grasses of all kinds etc.).
word of thanks
(July 4, 2012) Every day I wake up, my brain is jammed with never-ending thoughts of gratefulness.
(June 20, 2012) It will be impossible to thank everyone that has made my miraculous recovery possible. Love from people close to me (family, friends, relatives); love from good-natured and well-intentioned Western medical doctors, Naturopathic doctors, TCM doctors, chiropractors, many natural healers I've met in the past; love from people I met once in my life that has shown me what is human warmth, love from people on the Internet and all around the world, love from strangers having thoughts of compassion towards those in suffering that they don't see or hear about...
I especially need to thank my family for their open-mindedness in allowing me to experiment with my body. I understand that many families (myself included before I opened my eyes to Raw Paleo) have been taught by Western Medicine that raw animal foods = food poisoning = death / suicide. In a way, I think my family saw the desperation I was in with full body eczema rashes in the last 2 months of my disastrous high fruit low-fat raw vegan diet experiment.
My email message to Edwin Casimero, the person who started my RPD journey and had one of the biggest roles in my miraculous recovery:
Hello Edwin, I just wanted to say again, and I don't think I'll ever say this enough: thank you for creating so much happiness in my life by introducing me to Raw Paleo, and reducing my pain as well. You have saved my life. I honestly think I would probably have committed suicide with my full body rashes on a raw vegan diet. I could not walk, could not move without pain, could not sleep without pain, could not think without pain, could not imagine my future without pain and great sadness.
You are one of the most influential people in my life. No doubt. You are such an inspiration. I hope to meet you in the near future. Big big big big thanks from Hong Kong. Please continue what you are doing on the internet and personal life, spreading the message of true health and healing people.
(June 20, 2012) It will be impossible to thank everyone that has made my miraculous recovery possible. Love from people close to me (family, friends, relatives); love from good-natured and well-intentioned Western medical doctors, Naturopathic doctors, TCM doctors, chiropractors, many natural healers I've met in the past; love from people I met once in my life that has shown me what is human warmth, love from people on the Internet and all around the world, love from strangers having thoughts of compassion towards those in suffering that they don't see or hear about...
I especially need to thank my family for their open-mindedness in allowing me to experiment with my body. I understand that many families (myself included before I opened my eyes to Raw Paleo) have been taught by Western Medicine that raw animal foods = food poisoning = death / suicide. In a way, I think my family saw the desperation I was in with full body eczema rashes in the last 2 months of my disastrous high fruit low-fat raw vegan diet experiment.
My email message to Edwin Casimero, the person who started my RPD journey and had one of the biggest roles in my miraculous recovery:
Hello Edwin, I just wanted to say again, and I don't think I'll ever say this enough: thank you for creating so much happiness in my life by introducing me to Raw Paleo, and reducing my pain as well. You have saved my life. I honestly think I would probably have committed suicide with my full body rashes on a raw vegan diet. I could not walk, could not move without pain, could not sleep without pain, could not think without pain, could not imagine my future without pain and great sadness.
You are one of the most influential people in my life. No doubt. You are such an inspiration. I hope to meet you in the near future. Big big big big thanks from Hong Kong. Please continue what you are doing on the internet and personal life, spreading the message of true health and healing people.