Steffani’s Journey with Chronic Pain
Steffani has lived most of her life in chronic pain. Since the age of only ten years old, Steffani has experienced pain in her body as well as chronic fatigue. Steffani grew up on a hog and hay farm and said she ate the standard diet, which included a lot of bread. Even as a child, she began to develop rashes and headaches.
Misdiagnosis and Medication
Steffani played sports but was forced to limit how much she played because of the pain. She spent years going to physical therapy, but nothing seemed to help. At the age of twenty, while playing hockey in college, she sustained a repetitive strain injury that only worsened her pain. By the time Steffani was only twenty-six years old, she was in daily debilitating pain.
Steffani was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, prescribed many medications, and sent to a psychologist. She said she couldn’t work during this time because she couldn’t get out of bed for many days. Worse, she gained weight because of the many medications and inactivity, which worsened her pain and inflammation. Her life felt very out of control.
Steffani said at the time, she trusted her doctors. The pain was controlling so much of her life she didn’t have the mental capacity to question what she was being told. A medical professional told Steffani her pain had nothing to do with her diet. One doctor even had her try a glucose injection, resulting in the worst pain Steffani had ever experienced. She said within a week or so of receiving that injection, her mind started to degrade, and she struggled to form sentences.
Discovering the Carnivore Diet
Later, Steffani would find out she has a wheat allergy–among other allergies. She says eliminating wheat from her diet did help; she no longer got rashes or had headaches. However, she was still in a lot of pain and had begun to accept that this would be her life.
One day, her husband told her about a podcast he had heard. On the podcast, the host, Joe Rogan, interviewed Dr. Shawn Baker, a carnivore diet advocate. Steffani also went on to listen to the same host interview Mikayla Peterson. Steffani felt Mikayla’s story of pain was very familiar to her own and decided to give the carnivore diet a try.
The Benefits of the Carnivore Diet
Steffani and her husband have been doing the carnivore diet together. Steffani says the first two weeks of the carnivore diet were hard as her body went through sugar withdrawals. However, she says her pain was 90% gone by one month in, and by four months in, her pain was 99% gone.
Steffani’s New Life on the Carnivore Diet
Steffani is no longer on fibromyalgia medications, and her body is more receptive to chiropractic treatment. She says not only has she gained her mobility back, but she also lost weight and has better brain function and memory. Steffani says, “it feels contagious to feel better.” Steffani even joined the workforce again and landed her dream job. Steffani says she is amazed that before the carnivore diet, she could only handle five minutes of activity a day; now, she works over sixty hours a week doing what she loves.
Today Steffani says she and her husband are on a strict carnivore diet during the week and a ketogenic diet on the weekends; however, they have still eliminated a lot of vegetables. Steffani says by experimentation, she has learned sugar equals depression for her, and many vegetables cause inflammation and headaches.
Steffani says, “I feel well and in control of my wellness.” She spoke of friends and family who are often shocked by how mobile she is. She says before, she didn’t feel like she owned her life. Now that she is a carnivore follower, she has been able to “get my future back.”
