Before the Journey

     Some interesting (exciting?) stuff is going on at the Bonomi house. For years and years (through high school, college, and beyond), I've had regular stomachaches, headaches, anxiety issues, depression issues, trouble sleeping, etc. It's been a roller coaster at times!
     In high school, after many missed days of school, I realized I was lactose-intolerant. VERY lactose-intolerant. If I drank any milk, I would be curled up in a ball from the cramping pain. It took awhile to figure out, but it was a life-changer once I realized it. To this day, if I go to Starbucks and they put regular milk instead of soy in my drink, I am hurting. A lot! So I've known about my milk issues for awhile.

     When I was a senior in college, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (it was a fairly popular diagnosis at the time), and later re-diagnosed with depression. I was on depression meds for 5ish years until Jeff convinced me to go off of them. Poor guy has had to deal with a lot! In grad school, I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Basically, this was the doctor's way of saying, "We know something you eat causes an extremely painful upset stomach, but we don't know what it is." Great, thanks!

     Clearly, over the years, I've had plenty of issues with food and other stuff in my life. Other than the obvious mood swings and aches & pains, one of the hardest to deal with has been the weight issues. I've always had to "watch my weight" and seem to self-sabotage at times. I started puberty early, and had someone tell me in 8th grade, "You'd be really pretty if you lost 20 pounds." Ouch! In high school, I was working out quite a bit and would eat fairly healthy, for a teenager. I remember my mom telling me one time, "Wow, the muscles on your back make you feel like a boy", and soon after when I was trying on my dress for Senior Prom, she told me, "You better not eat anything this week if you want to fit into the dress." The dress fit me perfectly, but to hear those words from my mom really hurt (which is why they're still with me). It was also confusing - how was I suppose to look? In college, I had my ups and downs, and after college, the weight seems to stick to me.
     In addition to these specific issues, I've also had extreme exhaustion over the last few years. At first, I chalked it up to motherhood, but even with a few good nights of sleep, I still feel like crap. That's IF I can even sleep. 1-2 nights a week I've been dealing with insomnia. Not fun!

     Fast forward to 10 months ago, I started having trouble taking regular deep breaths. Since I've always had allergies, I thought I was being extra sensitive to something seasonal. Well, that wasn't the case, so finally a month ago, I decided it was time to take a step in the right direction. A friend had told me about a naturopath she had seen. Part of the process was extensive blood tests to test for food intolerances, vitamin deficiencies, hormones, and a few other things that were over my head. I was tired of feeling "messed up" all of the time, and I decided to go for it and just found out the results!