Lupus Made Me Tired all the Time But Now "I've Got My Life Back"

Plagued with fatigue, poor health issues and weight loss struggles for well over two decades due to Lupus, 51-year-old Bev Battye's life changed when she discovered a naturopathic weight loss program on line...

The diet roller coaster

Ever since I was 18 years old I've been on a diet. I'd lose weight then gain weight. Then lose weight again. It was such a diet roller coaster. But funnily enough, I wasn't even fat then. I just went on diets because that was the thing that everybody did! We were nine stone, we were eight stone, but we were on diets because we were 'too fat'. I actually lost weight too much and got down to a child size 16. I was in great health back then though - I used to play hockey and netball, I was a size 10 and I had a pretty healthy diet. Looking back it was so easy to lose weight!

Sudden weight gain after illness and feeling unwell with Lupus

But then I went to Penang for a holiday in 1985 and a virus left me with Lupus. My life changed forever. I came back feeling really sick. I was fatigued and always incredibly tired, I had rotten headaches and migraines, I was feverish, swollen with fluid retention, bloated and had heart palpitations. Within 12 months I suffered from sudden weight gain and my weight ballooned to 16 stone. I had numerous visits to the doctors with nil results and blood tests for thyroid came back normal. I had ECGs, blood tests for everything... and each doctor basically treated me like I was crazy and there was nothing wrong. It was like they thought feeling unwell was all in my head. Eventually when they got sick of me, they said, "Oh it must be early menopause." I was 26 years old.

Blood tests came back normal

The years went on and still nobody knew what was wrong and they just couldn’t find out why I had gained weight so suddenly and was so unwell. My symptoms of fatigue and weight gain to name a few, continued to grow and I just did my best to try to cope with them. I was extremely sensitive to cold, so I had to wear thermal underwear under my clothing at night because my bones would ache from the cold. I started wearing magnetic bracelets to help with my stiff, sore wrists. I used cream to treat my psoriasis and dry flaky skin.

Sick and tired all the time

Then I was in a serious motor vehicle accident which left me permanently disabled with a right hemiplegia (paralysis). I was in hospital for many months and during that time they fed me a milk-based food through a tube. I came out of hospital another four stone bigger. I had gained more weight! By this time, my self-esteem was at an all-time low. I’d gone from having good jobs to being virtually unemployable because of my disability. I felt worthless and looked like the Michelin Man to top it off. Because of my paralysis, for the first three months I was in hospital I could barely move, which meant that I had trouble with lymph oedema. I'd also always get whatever illness anybody else had. If they had a cold, I'd get it and it would turn into a throat infection and a month long saga. My immune system was completely shot, but at that point, I still didn't know why. I tried to lose weight, but no matter how little I ate, it just wouldn’t budge.

I found I have Lupus at last

It was 19 years and seven months before they diagnosed me with Lupus and that was completely by accident. My doctor was on holidays so I went to see another doctor in the practice. He took one look at the red rash on my face and said to me, "Have you got lupus?" I could only reply, "What's that?" He said to me, "I think you'd better go down so we can do some tests."

Sure enough, I was finally diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus, a chronic autoimmune connective tissue disease that can affect any part of the body and which finally explained all my mysterious symptoms and rapid weight gain. It also explained why weight loss was so difficult. I was put on the anti-malarial drug plaquenil, which I took for about 16 months. It seemed to help at first - my lupus flares weren’t as severe but I was still having them.

My Lupus treatment (plaquenil) caused eczema

Then suddenly I developed eczema, which I'd never had before. It spread quickly, from the tops of my arms to the tips of my fingers. Then it started on my legs, on my thighs, on my stomach...The rest of my lupus symptoms I'd learnt to live with over the 20 years, but this eczema turned out to be pretty revolting. I could never wear a short sleeved top as people would look at me as if I had leprosy!

I realised that the eczema had only started when I was taking the plaquenil, so I discussed it with my rheumatologist and stopped taking the drug. My lupus didn't seem to be getting any worse after I stopped the drug but I was still struggling to lose weight. I was resigned to battling on as before.

Finding a naturopath online

Around this time I finally got a computer and with the wonderful invention of the internet I started trying to get some answers.

It was while I was searching for natural weight loss programs on the Internet that I came across Mass Attack and chatted with Naturopath Narelle Stegehuis. She explained how her program worked and why MassAttack was different to other weight loss programs. I had to fill in an extensive on-line questionnaire about my symptoms and problems and then they tailored a diet especially for me to treat my Lupus naturally. I thought, "wow, this sound different and seems like a good idea". Often you'll go to the doctor and they'll tell you what is good for everybody else, but they don't deal with you as an individual. With Mass Attack, you send them your medical stuff and they go through it and they do something to suit you, not the person next door. They came back with a plan, which listed the foods I should eat the most, foods I could eat moderately and foods I should eat least for my Lupus and menopause, as well as a range of nutrients for me to take to balance my hormones and improve my Lupus.

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Natural treatments for Lupus were working

Within just a couple of weeks I was feeling better and had started to lose weight – I still had my Lupus symptoms, but not nearly as bad. By the time four months had passed, my inflammation and weight was going down like a slow leak in a balloon, which was making a huge difference. While the weight loss of 10 kilos was great, even more dramatic was the huge improvement to my inflammation and overall health. As for my lupus, I've just been for my yearly checkup there and to my amazement, my lupus is virtually inactive. I've had no more hospital stays, which has been wonderful, and my eczema has all but cleared up now except for a couple of dry patches on my elbows.

I’m feeling like myself again and managed to lose weight naturally

Health-wise my friends have noticed the difference. My mother who I speak to a lot on the phone, has noticed a difference even in the sound of my voice! She says I sound happier and more well and she can ring up now and I'll say "I'm feeling really good!" whereas before she'd ring up and I'd have to go and have a sleep because I was so tired and fatigued. I went through a stage where I could only stay awake for two hours. So she's noticed a big difference. My husband has noticed as well, we went through a stage last year where he was the one that was sick and I was the one that was pretty well, that's the first time that's ever happened! I'm much more able to live a fuller life now and my self esteem has increased dramatically. Now I'll put makeup on and worry about the clothes I wear, girl things, whereas for a while there I was just too sick and tired to care. It feels like I've been given a new lease on life.

By Bev Battye, Yengarie QLD

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