Side Effects

Side effects have their pros and cons.

The first “side effect” I experienced was before I ever began Chemotherapy. I was staying at my sister’s house, and she introduced me to alkalized water. Having cancer, at that time, you can imagine my system was pretty acidic and unbalanced. I watched a Louise Hay video and drank alkalized water. Then some more. I started getting a headache, so thinking water would help it go away, I sipped some more. Two hours later my system had had enough and I made a visit to the bathroom to get rid of dinner.

I learned that when one is really sick, unbalanced, acidic, whatever, that first steps are the hardest. The most extreme “side effects” came from my own unbalanced body as I tried to take steps in the right direction to get well.  Detoxifying can be painful, and needs to be done slowly to limit extreme reactions. I never went back to an acidic diet, so I can say that was the last vomit experience I had through this process.

Diarrhea is another fun “side effect” of detoxifying. It’s a great way to get toxins and gunk out of our bodies. We just don’t want to lose too much too quickly. I was actually excited when I had diarrhea after a chemo treatment, because that told me that my body was working hard to rid itself of poisons. I worked hard to keep hydrated. 

Another side effect worthy of note is feelings of restlessness. After a chemo treatment I felt like going for a walk or a jog just to get the stuff out of my system. I would drink at least a gallon of water on the day I had treatment to help my body purge the toxins out. 

My favorite side effect? Confusion about what to eat. I don’t know if that is really a side effect from anything other than my choices in diet change. When one cuts out all of the things I have, the options left need help to be diverse. I’ve had to educate myself a lot on how to prepare meals that my children will eat and that meet my self-imposed diet restrictions. It is so worth it though. My daughters now ask for snacks of carrots and cucumbers, apples are a treat, and salmon is praised as sooooo good. They even know how they prefer their Brussels sprouts prepared.

So I guess that’s my most favorite side effect. Daughters who eat healthy food, choose healthy food, and can save their candy from school to eat a little at a time.

Yep, side effects have pros and cons. I prefer to see them all as pros. After all, it is these side effects that let us see the fruits of our medications and our choices.

Happy effects today!!