I can’t believe it has been a year since I got my stem cells already! Today is a very special day as it is a double birthday since I got my stem cells on my real birthday!

I spent the day celebrating at Disneyland since it seems to have become a marker of my recovery and how much more I can do each time I go. I am so pleased with my results post stem cells that I can’t imagine where I would be today without having done them a year ago. The only regret I have about stem cells is not having done them sooner.

One thing to keep in mind with stem cells, is that healing takes a long time. There are some parts of my healing that did not start shifting until 10-12 months, especially neuro issues like food allergies and light sensitivity.

My first 100 days were very up and down. Even though I did see improvements in the issues caused by inflammation fairly quickly during the 100 days, I was tired all the time and each night had to sleep 10+ hours as well as take lots of breaks during the day to rest. Weeks 5-8 were particularly rough and exhausting. I reminded myself everyday that it took years to get sick and it was going to take a long time to get better. I had been treating Lyme for about 2.5 years pre-stem cells and had gotten to about 60% better before I did cell therapy.

After the 100 days, things really started to level off a bit for me and were not so up and down. I still needed a lot of rest and sleep but I could do more. Once my brain fog, which was my absolute worst symptom went away around week 12-14 I felt like a whole new person after that!

I started feeling really good once I was at the 5-6 month mark. I started to notice I was more resilient but still needed rest. I could think clearly, remember things, I had lots of energy, I could start working out again, I basically was starting to feel like a normal person again.

Around 6-9 months is when my neuro healing started, but it took a while. Some neuro issues like neuropathy and finger twitching went away sooner, but it was not until about 10 months that I saw a shift in my deeper neuro issues such as food allergies and light / sound sensitivity.

Now, at a year, for the most part, everything is resolved except for Hashimotos, Celiac Disease, Hormones and weight gain. None of these issues cause any symptoms in my day to day life, unless I get glutened so that is good. Even though I know these issues still needs some work, I am not affected by them on a daily basis. I will get into the details later in this post of what is going on with these issues.

Now that I am at the year mark, I plan to run quite a few labs to see how much things have improved on paper as well as in how I feel. I plan to run general labs, Celiac Antibodies, Hashimotos and Thyroid, Inflammation Markers, Hormones, Food Allergies, Gut health, Methylation, etc. I will report in my next post on some of my results.

For now, I want to touch on what has continued to improve.

Food Allergies

My food sensitivities are finally starting to go away. I tried reintroducing foods around 8 months but was not having good luck. I tried a few foods again around 10 months and started noticing a dramatic improvement. I was starting to get discouraged that my food allergies were not going to go away but they are finally going away post Neuro healing! I am slowly reintroducing 1 food at a time to see how my body tolerates it now which is super exciting since I had been reacting to everything I ate.

Light Sensitivity

My light sensitivity seemed to start improving at 10 months post stem cells which is great. I am finding that I am not as sensitive to light anymore and even caught myself not wearing my sunglasses outside all the time! I hope this continues!

Muscle Recovery and Strength

As time goes on post stem cells, I am able to do more and more. I am working out almost every day and recently switched to doing Pilates again which I love. I do still notice my muscles recover quickly, but finding that it is taking a long time to get my strength back. I am not sure if this is just from the muscle wasting that happened from spending 5 years in bed or the weight gain post stem cells that is just more weight for my body to carry. Either way, I hope I start getting stronger soon.

Chemical Sensitivities

My chemical sensitivities have also continued to improve. The only smells that still really affect me are those terrible glade air freshness for car vents and cigarette smoke. If I happen to be walking behind someone on the street smoking it still can make me feel pretty spacey and nauseous, but we must remember things are super toxic for everyone!

Resilience

Overall I feel very resilient. If I eat something I shouldn’t have or get exposed to something I bounce back much more quickly then I did in the past. This also goes for chemical sensitivities and mold etc. It’s nice not being so sensitive in the world.

Super Powers

I sometimes joke and say my stem cells gave me super powers because sometimes I really feel like that! My brain has never worked so well in my life, keep in mind I am a licensed architect, which was no easy feat, yet I still feel better then I did in grad school and college. My intuition in itself feels like a super power. I feel so connected to it and how it guides me. My energy is through the roof, sometimes I surprise myself how much I can do, though I force my self to stop and slow down and practice self care. My tastebuds are changing and I like foods I never liked before. My muscles recover super fast post workouts. I have an immense joy for life now, that I have never felt in my life. It's more than just being recovered and more about being thankful for being alive, it's hard to describe but I feel it inside my body and cells. Every day there are more and more subtle positive things I notice that I have not felt ever in my life.

With that being said, there are just a few more things that need to improve for me to be 100%

Thyroid / Hashimoto’s

My Thyroid seems to have gotten slightly worse with SVF which is a bummer. Pre stem cells my antibodies always hovered around 130-150 (normal is below 34). Post stem cells something happened and they shot up to over 250 with no other changes. I am not sure what is going on but hoping that it will start to balance. Now that I am a year out, I am looking into doing more Thymus to see if that can help calm the immune reaction happening.

Celiac Disease / Gluten

I plan to run some labs to see if my Celiac Antibodies have shifted at all since stem cells. I have noticed my reaction to gluten has lessened slightly, but I still get taken down for 7 days with extreme fatigue and neuro/cognitive issues. I really wish there was something that would lessen my reaction to gluten as it all stems from cross contamination.

Weight Gain + Hormones

The weight gain has been a real party pooper. Though I remind myself I would rather be chubby and feel amazing, then be skinny and feel like death, I still don’t like the amount of weight I have gained. So far I have gained around 40lbs that comes in the form of 3-5 lbs per month. This is a lot, on my small frame that has never been over 120lbs. I was hoping that with time it would start to balance, but it has not, so I am starting to really try to intervene by checking my hormones, thyroid, inflammation and supporting my liver and lymphatics. My diet is squeaky clean and now that I feel good, I work out almost every day, yet I keep gaining weight. It’s crazy. I really think the weight gain is part water retention and also something hormonal that is going on because the weight gain seems to coincide with my cycle.

Conclusion

All in all, I am so happy to be celebrating a double birthday today. I don’t know where my life would be without having done stem cells a year ago. I definitely probably would not be able to be walking around Disneyland! That is for sure!