AIP Success Story: Multiple Sclerosis with Carley

I love reading success stories of autoimmune warriors on the AIP diet. Their very first steps, the challenges they overcame, all the way to the transformation they experienced. Such stories are encouraging, inspiring, and provide us with the motivation to continue on our own healing journey. It is my privilege to collect and share those stories on the blog. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! To submit your AIP success story, click here. To read more AIP success stories like this one, click here.

Carley, a former pescatarian living in Oklahoma with her partner of 10 years, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2016. She experienced incredible healing thanks to the Autoimmune Protocol. Her biggest struggles involved reintroducing meat into her diet as well as finding the time to do all the meal prep!

Diagnosis and Symptoms

• Autoimmune diagnosis: Multiple Sclerosis – diagnosed in late 2016
• Symptoms: When I am experiencing a flare I’ve had optic neuritis/visual disturbances, GI upset, fatigue, pain, and speech difficulties.
• How did your symptoms make you feel? How did they impact your life? My symptoms make working difficult but not impossible due to fatigue and GI issues. After my initial bout of optic neuritis, I could not read computer screens or drive at night. When I am having GI issues I am very uncomfortable in my own skin and reluctant to go out with family and friends. It can be very isolating to experience these symptoms and before AIP I felt helpless because of them.

AIP journey

• AIP start date: January 2017
• How did you find out about AIP? What did you think of it when you first learned about it? Did you doubt that it would help you feel better? My aunt is a physical therapist and a functional medicine practitioner in Washington. She introduced AIP to me at the time of my diagnosis in November 2016. At that time I was a pescatarian/vegetarian so she suggested I add in meat and familiarize myself with the AIP concepts and structures until after the holidays, at which time I would “go all-in”. I was a little overwhelmed at the concept of AIP but I was elated at the idea that there was something I could do to help myself, to heal myself. I think when you get a chronic disease diagnosis that feeling of helplessness is crushing and makes you feel like your life is completely out of your control. AIP gave me the ability to do something for myself, to actively participate in my health and healing. I had some control over my life again and while AIP may seem restrictive, that feeling of control was completely freeing. Initially, I was worried I wouldn’t know if it was helping. In my mind, I didn’t feel that bad. I had just lost my ability to see and felt that was not going to come back anyway. It wasn’t until after I had been doing AIP for a while that I realized how bad I was actually feeling before. I didn’t recognize that the gas, bloating, pain, joint aches, and fatigue were not normal although they were common. Looking back I can’t believe I thought those symptoms were just normal parts of life.
• At what point did you decide to commit to AIP? What made you take the plunge? What was the turning point for you? I decided to try AIP the moment my aunt suggested it. I was desperate for anything I could do for myself. I didn’t like the idea of relying on a pill or treatment that even the doctors said would eventually fail, I needed to do something for myself too.
• What were you thinking / feeling when you made the decision to change and start the AIP diet? My initial thoughts and feelings when I decided to start AIP were very mixed. On the one hand, I was very excited to do something that could help manage my multiple sclerosis which seemed impossible to do before I was introduced to AIP. On the other hand, I was still grieving the loss of the life I thought I would have before my MS diagnosis. I was angry I had to change so much about myself. I was scared. I felt like AIP was my one chance to fight for my health… but what if I failed? What would I do then? What if I wasn’t “good enough” to stick to AIP? What if it didn’t work for me? There was a lot of fear and excitement in the beginning.

First steps into AIP and challenges

• What were the first steps you took? I was a pescatarian/vegetarian at the time of my MS diagnosis in November 2016. At the suggestion of my aunt, I immediately started reintegrating meat into my diet. I started experimenting with AIP recipes, trying to find things I liked and that was practical for my day to day life. I practiced batch cooking and meal prep. I also got in to see a Functional Medicine doctor.
• What were the challenges you encountered when starting AIP and how did you overcome them? My biggest challenge was time. I was so used to stopping and grabbing food out or even just picking up a “healthy” microwave meal for dinner on busy nights. I had to readjust the way I looked at food and prioritize food prep time. I struggled emotionally with feeling deprived or like I was missing out but as my health improved and my healing progressed I felt like I was able to live my life with more freedom because I was not feeling bad and tired all the time.

The transformation

• What transformation have you experienced on AIP? Have your symptoms improved? The transformation has been incredible. I have regained my sight (20/20 vision) and am able to drive at night and read computer screens again. I have more energy and have a much more positive outlook on life than I ever have before. I only experience GI issues when I come in contact with foods I do not tolerate, I don’t get enough sleep, or am over-stressed. I have no pain associated with autoimmunity or multiple sclerosis. Things I didn’t expect to change changed as well. I used to have pretty intense menstrual cramping but that stopped completely after I adopted AIP. During a flare, I had difficulty speaking clearly and regularly stuttered or tripped over my words. I had trouble finding words when speaking as well. I now speak clearly and without difficulty. I also lost about 15 pounds when I switched over to AIP. I have always been fairly health conscious, exercising regularly, and tried to “eat right” but I never experienced the physical changes I did with AIP. I had more energy for exercise and was exercising more appropriately, so I achieved significant strength and fitness gains like I never had before. My initial MS symptoms have resolved 99.99%. I still have mild differences in the clarity of my vision in the right eye but I still have 20/20 vision in the right eye despite this. Other symptoms (the ones I didn’t realize I had until after AIP) have almost completely resolved. I am still managing some residual hormone imbalances associated with years of over-stress and lack of sleep with the help of my functional medicine doctor but things are definitely better than they have ever been. I recently had my first follow up MRI since my initial MRIs at the time of my diagnosis. Initially, I had lesions on my brain and one in my cervical spine. I had been told that typically people with MS who do not have conventional treatment experience a flare or demonstrate the progression on imagining within two years. My follow up MRIs were performed almost two and a half years later. There were NO new lesions, NO active lesions, and the lesion on my cervical spine was COMPLETELY GONE! Needless to say when I heard the results I cried … a lot.
• What can you do now that you were not able to do before? Luckily, I have never been unable to do anything aside from briefly not being able to drive at night or see/read screens (computers, phones, tv’s). I am now able to perform at a higher level with my exercise and training than ever before due to better nutrition, appropriate training, and getting adequate rest.
• What would have happened if you had continued to eat/live like before? I believe if I continued to live and eat the way I was before my MS would continue to progress more rapidly and more severely. I would have gotten on and off strong immunosuppressive and disease-modifying drugs for the rest of my life.

Bigger impact on family and work-life

The major impact on my work life has been recognizing and acknowledging when I am overworked and over-stressed. I have a better understanding that work is work and life is life. My work is not my life and when I allow it to be I suffer physically. I am still working on making boundaries for myself and my work. I have noticed that the more I respect myself and don’t sacrifice myself for my work the better I am at my job and for my patients.

My family life has improved tremendously. My parents and brothers live in Texas so they are not actively involved in my AIP lifestyle. I was blessed with an amazingly supportive family who, while they did not completely adopt AIP themselves, have been 100% supportive of me and try to accommodate me whenever I am back home with them.

My boyfriend (who has no autoimmune conditions himself) has been AIP with me. Both he and I have seen incredible progress and improvement as individuals and as a couple. He has been a tremendous help in executing our AIP lifestyle. Our relationship has improved in ways I never imagined. We communicate better, we have more patience with each other, we are just in a much better place than we ever have been in the last 10 years. I think this is because we have more vitality and are not bogged down by fatigue, brain fog, or discomfort. We have more energy to love and care for each other and are able to connect to each other better and more completely. I believe this human connection piece has been vital to my success on AIP.