A Scar is Born- Part III

I would call this the finale, but finale means the ending. This is not the ending, but just the beginning of my journey with Lichen Planopilaris.

Prior to my appointment with the Functional Medicine doctor, I'd gotten into wellness teas. When I had my blood work done at the dermatologist, one of the issues that came up was with my liver. As I stated in my last post, I was taking Extra Strength Tylenol every 4-6 hours for weeks. I found out later that one of the reasons that I couldn't take the medication for the fungus was because of my lab results. I knew that the Tylenol would have bad long term effects on my body, so I started visiting Fresh From Earth Herb & Tea Bar. It is a black owned tea bar located in Historic Downtown College Park and off Butner Road in Atlanta. (Check them out at https://freshfromearth.us/) They have a tea called Flame Off that helps with inflammation. I started drinking it, instead of using Tylenol and it helped tremendously.

The Visit

On March 6, 2020 I visited the Functional Medicine doctor. (I'm going to go into major details about my appointment on another post.) The visit was an eye opener and a game changer. I was on a gut restoration plan which included probiotics, GI Resolve and Digestive Enzymes. I also had a diet that included no gluten, no dairy, no added sugars, and no food (j/k). After my blood work came back a few weeks later, she was able to give me supplements based on what my body needed. I'm not going to lie, my first Whole Foods experience was overwhelming and I got like 10 things for $500 (I'm over exaggerating, but forreal at the same time). I was so used to eating a certain way, and bay bayyy eating healthy is expensive. However, I was determine to heal.

COVID-19

March 13, 2020 was the last day of school. The Coronavirus started to spread through-out Fulton County and one of the first cases was a teacher at the middle school across the street from my school. The whole thing was frightening, however it was right on time. Prior to COVID-19, I was able to hide my bald spots but all of a sudden the hair loss increased and the scabs had gotten worse. Even though I started treatment, I was far in too deep. It was getting worse before it got better. To make things worse, that following Sunday I slipped and fell in the tub. My curtain rod fell and hit me on the head, causing everything to worsen. For about the week, my head "leaked" and I had to wash my pillow cases everyday. There were times I cried off and on all day because I felt like nothing was happening. I couldn't sleep at night and literally my head had to hang off the bed for comfort. I went through it! Luckily, I didn't have to see anyone. When I video chatted on TEAMS for work, people could only see me from the front. No one knew what I was going through.

New Beginnings

Today, I still deal with Lichen Planopilaris. On a positive note after I went through the gut restoration diet, the inflammation went down a lot. I barely take Tylenol or any other pain reliever. All of my scabs are finally gone, but as you can see, I'm bald in the back. I thank God for COVID because I am able to seclude myself without explaining anything to anybody. I discovered how cute hair wraps look after tying my hair up with one of my scarves. I still don't eat gluten or dairy and I eat less meat (I'm not ready to give it up yet). It also gave me time to reflect and gave me inspiration for this blog. Unfortunately, I still experience some pain and tiny sores throughout my scalp. Sometimes,I have an uncontrollable itch that I can't scratch, but it comes with the territory.

In this blog, you'll go through the journey with me finding solutions to this disease. Welcome to living a healthy lifestyle! Regardless if you're dealing with Lichen Planus, IBS, Lupus or any other autoimmune disease, I believe my blog can help you. I'm all about holistic health and truly taking care of our bodies. I think that if you take care of the inside, it is easier to work on the outside. At the end of this, I hope that myself and anybody else that benefits from this can truly be un-scarred..naturally.

Let me know what you think and share your journey! Positivity is always welcomed! :)

Thankfully & Humbly,

Gia

"Sometimes you’ve got to let everything go – purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything… whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you’re free, your true creativity, your true self comes out."

– Tina Turner