Hi all,

Another little midweek update as I've just made it through week 3 on The Autoimmune Paleo Protocol (AIP) and what a week it was.  In short, I was a mess.

Having been off gluten, grains, dairy and refined sugars already, I didn't expect to feel much in the way of detox systems (if any at all) from simply further removing nuts and seeds, eggs and nightshade veggies.  Well was I wrong!

At first I though I was having reactions to the remaining foods I was eating (which sent me in to a panic, I might add).  I also thought I was getting the flu or had picked up a bug.  I thought a lot of things, but it never occurred to me that I would be going through detox symptoms.

At first my thyroid swelled up, I felt run down with headaches and every joint in my body ached.  And then extreme fatigue hit me like a truck, and I was pretty much bed ridden for the whole weekend.  My gut was in full blown bloat mode, rumbling 24/7, (and yes, getting a little personal here, but hey, it's my job to share right?), with lots and lots of flatulence - and not the good kind!  Thank God it was the weekend!

Oh yeah, and sleep.  Remember how last week I mentioned how my sleep had improved?  Well that well and truly flew out the window.  I've be living on about 4 hours a night this past week.

Apparently this is the "die-off" process - when you kill off a large number of pathogenic invaders (bacteria, yeast, parasites) all at once.  Holy mother of God!  These symptoms lasted the whole week for me, and in the end, I took a couple of days off work just to give in to it all and rest my body.  Best thing I ever did!

My silver lining take-away from week 3 = from here, the only way is up!