Focus:
On trusting the journey completely, surrendering and awareness of our finite understanding.
Repetition:
I see the beauty in suffering, I welcome difficult parts of this journey and know they are for the greater good.
My Latest Health Puzzle
This week I will share my latest health puzzle and how I discovered what was at the root of it. I want to show you my method and how I explore things so that you may apply some or all of my detective work.
The First Clue: Insect Bites and Histamines
A couple of months ago, I had a severe increase in histamines and experienced a lot of insect bites outside, whereas last year I had so few. Histamines and possible MCAS were a part of my pre-healing picture. I had allergies all of my life, especially manifesting in the attraction of every insect or spider within 100 miles! Ha! I was covered in bites as a child, was always fearful and emotionally reactive, heat intolerant, moody, and in the last few years before I began this journey, I would experience hives that would lead to projectile vomiting and the entire next day in bed.
The first two years of my healing journey, I had reprieve from the bites. If I did get a bite here and there, it barely itched at all. I only experienced the hives once, in year one.
Then this year, around mid-August, something shifted. I was full of bites this summer and felt stressed outside, in the heat. The very puzzling part was waking with “bites.” There were no bites on my husband, no bugs in our room, no fleas on the dog, and I dust and vacuum weekly. Our bedroom is all natural materials except for the mattress. The bites I would wake with would become pustules and remained VERY itchy even after the scab had gone. This was my experience for the middle and end of August, a little into September.
At this point, I am just thinking about why my histamines would be increased, because I know my gut is healed. So thus far, I know what I have done correctly and am just considering things. I am not Googling or obsessing, just curious and applying a ton of iodine to my bites because it helps soothe the itch.
The Second Wave: Cortisol Surges and Nausea
The next wave of symptoms was nighttime cortisol surges and nausea. This is another familiar set of symptoms, as I have experienced both off and on for most of my healing journey but have had months of reprieve.
I know that in the beginning of the journey, my stomach acid was very low and I could not digest my protein. I could feel the sour fermentation of the meat and my stomach felt heavy. I would often vomit in the middle of the night. This would cause cortisol surges, I would be very hot, sweaty, and my heart would pound.
After I solved the stomach acid issue, my gallbladder told me it was her turn to be healed! Year two involved cortisol surges, heart pounding, floating stools, and malabsorption of fats. Once that was healed, it was H. pylori and the introduction of a microbe to ask H. pylori politely to go back to its place between the villi. All was well! I was sleeping like a champ, I had endless energy and joy.
The Curious Insect Bethany Invasion of 2025
Enter the Curious Insect Bethany Invasion of 2025. My bites are healed at this point, as we are into September and there just aren’t a lot of little guys left. My cortisol surges are still happening and I am just not sleeping. I try to make sure I do not need a second meal and that my body is not experiencing sympathetic symptoms because of blood sugar issues. I had been hypoglycemic prior. This was definitely not what my body wanted and added a stress, making me sleep worse.
Testing Thyroid
I looked into my thyroid next. I had not been taking internal iodine for a while, so I started exploring there. I tested my TSH with an inexpensive at-home blood test. I chose this instead of a full panel because if my TSH was high, it would indicate hypothyroidism, and because of all the healing I have done thus far, I should not have to worry about Hashimoto’s, which would be the autoimmune version. I went back to internal and topical iodine, as they do function differently. Hypothyroidism is a liver issue, and I know my liver is either tip-top or almost tip-top at this stage of the journey.
If my TSH was low, then it could indicate hyperthyroidism and again, not needing to be concerned about Graves’, the autoimmune version. My TSH was low. My next step was to compare my symptoms with those of hyperthyroidism, which did not match up during the day, only the cortisol surges and nighttime floating, foamy stools. Additionally, I knew that hyperthyroidism is a hypothalamus issue, and we heal the hypothalamus with everything we do in this protocol. However, I had also started my first parasite cleanse at this time, which will ALSO cause nausea, nighttime waking, and floating, foamy stools. I remembered that TSH can be low when in medical ketosis and confirmed this.
Returning to Curiosity
At this time, I returned to being curious and just supporting my body. How I supported my body was longer meditations in the morning, more detox baths, more time outside, singing, and adding a more calming routine before bed. I added left-handed colouring, chanting, and a tea of lemon balm, nettle, and a pinch of ashwagandha. I had all these things already, so it was easy to try.
I then added garlic and a tincture of clove, wormwood, and green black walnut because of Candida. I do still have three amalgams and know that I still have an overgrowth. This helped with the nausea and lessened my cortisol surges. I had been treating metals again during this time too.
I had no sweating, no heart pounding, but would still wake hot a few times per night. I am still just being curious and supporting my body, watching and listening. I am chatting with knowledgeable people but have not sought out help from a practitioner because I wanted to solve it myself to share with you all! It added a layer of excitement. I was able to offer all my suffering as a gift and ask for help from my Heavenly Family. I maintained my waking time and routines.
The Puzzle Piece
Then it happened! The symptom showed up that nailed it! I began getting the nighttime “bites” again and even got three at once before bed while I was colouring. I could clearly see there was no bite. It made me wonder, and I asked Claude, could it be oxalates? YES!! It could ALL be oxalates, and I knew in my intuition that I had found my answer! My husband had even said, “I do not think these are bites, I think they are coming from inside you,” but we did not realise he was right!
How It All Fits Together
The reason the garlic and the tincture helped so much and the tea helped some is because oxalates, parasites, and metals are all besties. Histamines will naturally be high as they are a healing response, and we remember that they are besties with cortisol and blood sugar! The metals keep the Candida high, as it is protecting my body from the metals. The Candida interferes with my sleeping, my blood sugar, and my liver. The oxalates are moving out of my body, causing cortisol surges, night nausea, and floating, foamy stools, in addition to the Candida. The oxalates coming out of my skin cause the “bites” (I am still getting them) that form pustules and itch so terribly, but a normal topical treatment will not heal them.
It all came together quite nicely, and when you find the puzzle piece, you really do know it in your bones.
The Takeaway
So the end result was to be curious while supporting the body with what I know it needs, and to explore things slowly and one at a time. To see what worked and what did not. To assess what my body was doing and to have faith in what it was doing. I knew I had not “done anything wrong” or “gone backwards.” I knew I did not need to feel fear, and I allowed any disappointment to arrive and pass through. I prayed more than I researched and gifted my body instead of resenting it.
My body was and is being incredibly intelligent and removing toxins from my body. I have never stopped releasing oxalates via my urine and stool since I began dumping last year. Interestingly enough, that major dump began almost at the same time as this one. I increased what I knew to be the most help, which is the nervous system work, as my diet is still very ancestral.
I hope this was helpful for everyone and provided some tips that you can use in the future or even now! I am so proud of you all and know you are doing the beautiful work!!