Asthma and a drastic change...

I was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma right after I got married, 9 years ago. I started riding my bike every morning before work and I would have trouble with hyperventialating. I went to the doctor and got a diagnosis. Thinking back, I remember in 6th grade, I hyperventialated after winning a race against other 6th grade girls. Then, as a teenager, I remember I would have shortness of breath sometimes at night (for example, while praying before bed) but we hardly ever went to the dr for anything. While pregnant with Evan, I had a lot of trouble with shortness of breath. I went back to dr and got a new inhaler prescription. I used in only when neccessary for a couple of months and then got better.

Fast forward to now. For the past month, I have had episodes of wheezing/coughing that onsets in the evenings/nights. This is when I feel the urge to cough or start to wheeze without any warning. I have had to use my inhaler just about every day or every other day for the past month!

I really hate taking medicine (hence one of the reasons for the name, Natural Mama) and I like to look at the underlying cause of the problem. Well, I know I have an overgrowth of candida in my body. I have rashes from candida, I have horrible allergies (which have gotten more horrible in the past month) which cause me to sneeze ALL day and blow my nose ALL day! I dust every week and I don't think there is any mold in the house (there probably is some in the bathroom, but we are remodeling) and I don't have carpet, so I know it's something inward. Well, the symptoms are all there. I have wanted to do a candida cleanse for a while, but I'm always pregnant or either nursing it seems. The ultimate solution would be for me to (are you ready for this...because I'm not) GO OFF ALL SUGAR! Yeah, sadly you heard me right. Candida overgrowth is caused from antibiotics (which kill the GOOD bacteria in your stomach) and stress and thrives (read, feeds) off of sugar. It reproduces because of sugar.

I've got to start somewhere. Are you going to come along and listen to me while I blog about not having any sugar? I warn you, I might get cranky. A little prayer would be appreciated as well. I can't have fruits or honey or ANY sweets. Yeah, a LOT of prayer would be appreciated.

I've gotta get better. I don't want to use medication every day. I want to go through an entire day without blowing my nose or sneezing ten million times. I want to be able to breathe through my nose again. I would appreciate flawless skin.

Gulp. It's gonna be hard.