My name is Jane Golson and I am 39 years old. With my husband, I am having the time of my life raising our five beautiful children ranging from high school to kindergarten!
I wish to share my story in hopes that it would help other women understand that women’s health issues are so affected by their diet. And most importantly, to tell women they are not helpless to suffer the symptoms that the commercials make us believe cannot be helped!
My story begins 10 years ago with what I thought were two unrelated health issues: The first was seasonal allergies, which led to sinus infections and subsequent rounds of antibiotics. The second was chronic symptoms that mimicked an UTI with the addition of extra feminine discharge. Additionally, I had toe-curling menstrual pains and headaches that would put me to bed once a month.
For over 10 years I had been having lots of pelvic inflammation, discharge, a bloated abdomen, kidney pain, tiredness, and waking three to four times at night to empty my bladder because of the inflammation. As I was in the years of having babies, I didn’t give my body much attention. I thought these symptoms were “baby body”. I didn’t think a lot about what to eat. I ate lots of sugar cereal and cow’s milk. I could easily eat a pan of brownies on my own. I ate whatever was fast and easy. I could go for days at a time without eating anything green. My weight hovered in the 150 lb. range. I would get “flare ups” in my abdomen and would go to the InstaCare convinced I had, yet another, UTI. The doctor would always say that my urine was clear, but because the symptoms matched UTI symptoms so exactly I would be prescribed a round of antibiotics which would take care of the problem for about a month or two and then the symptoms would return.
I finally decided to get some lab work done by my OB/GYN. When he came back with the lab results a dim light bulb came on in my head. He said, “Jane, I don’t know why, but you have almost no good bacteria in your system!” I told him about the heavy rounds of antibiotics I had taken for sinus infections and he gave me a very unsettling diagnosis. He told me that there is no cure for bacterial vaginosis/pelvic inflammatory disease and that intercourse was reintroducing the bacteria up into the abdominal area. So my only cure was abstinence and to take a constant round of vaginal antibiotic creams. Well, that diagnosis didn’t sit well with my husband and I so we began researching. We began to understand that good bacteria thrive on fiber and less sugar. That’s when I discovered Dr. McDougall and the plant based eating concept.
I started eating a no-refined sugar, plant-based diet the week before Halloween on purpose! I decided that if I could go without eating any candy on Halloween I would have really mastered something in myself. Within one week the kidney pain and frequent urination were cured! The excessive discharge was gone. The abdominal pain and inflammation healed! I could sleep all night for the first time in years. I started yoga and running a couple of miles. I could not believe the new energy.
I discovered that eating a couple cloves of raw garlic act as an antibacterial for the yeast. Additionally, a feminine pro-biotic for vaginal health has helped me reestablish my good bacteria as well. I had been taking regular gut probiotic with no results, but the vaginal probiotic really helps me. I have been eating a totally plant-based, vegan diet for seven months and have not had any more pelvic trouble! Wow! What power the information that Dr. McDougall is teaching can have for women’s health. Just think, no more messy creams. No more painful PMS symptoms. No more headaches. Just eating fiber and low refined sugar and no dairy or meat. I wish I could shout from the rooftops to all women that diet makes all the difference for their women’s health issues!!
I listened to Dr. McDougall’s recent webinar on small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and read several in depth articles by Jane Birch about healthy microbiome and fiber if that topic is of interest for others to research. I also found it very interesting that Dr. McDougall mentioned his sweet wife, Mary, experienced almost no symptoms of menopause. I find that very hopeful for the future!
Additionally, to end where I began, I don’t have any allergies after eating a plant-based, vegan diet! So, had I known this information earlier I wouldn’t have had the sinus infections and subsequent antibiotics in the first place! This information is all such a God-send! How can I thank Dr. McDougall sufficiently for supplying me with these powerful truths! Why isn’t this information being plastered across every news headline?
Jane Golson
