I remember it was like yesterday, I was 15 years old, looked at a spot on my neck and tried to wipe it off. What was it? I was a typical teenager, worried about my looks and what would people think of me. In the course of just two weeks, that little spot covered most of my neck and over the course of a few months, it spread onto my entire face, most of my hands and arms, hair and eyelashes. I was devastated. I was embarrassed. People asked if I was in a fire. I covered it up with special make-up to hide what I REALLY looked like.
My Grandmother who is very holistic took me to a Naturopath and Iridologist, who is her dear friend. She gave me an Iridology Reading and said I had markings on my thyroid and liver. That meant they were not functioning to their optimum ability and needed nutritional support. She also suggested a colon cleanse, sauna detox treatment and major dietary changes. At the age of 15 years old, my healing journey began.
I took 30 herbal supplements a day, juiced every morning radishes, carrots, apples and parsley plus I cut out all fried food, red meat, dairy and refined flours and sugar. I was very strict for 6 months. I felt amazing! I was suffering from migraines, hair loss, occasional yeast infections and menstrual cramps that all cleared up thanks to the dietary changes. The Vitiligo stopped spreading and I was feeling great.
BUT…I slowly went back to The Standard American Diet and at the age of 20, the Vitiligo started spreading again, my hair started to fall out and I felt miserable due to hormonal imbalance. This time, I went to a doctor in Mexico for Homeopathy and stem cell therapy for 6 months. Again I felt great but at the age of 22, Vitiligo started spreading and Candida took over my body and I had chronic yeast infections. I had taken so many antibiotics for the yeast infections with no results. A culture test came back positive for candida and my doctor told me I needed probiotics. This meant no sense to me at the time, but now I understand what he meant.
I finally got the Vitiligo to stop spreading. It was not dietary changes, it was a 10 day meditation retreat called Vipassana. I was able to let go a lot of pain from my past and learned to get the tools to deal with stress. I was a very nervous person and Vipassana taught me how to let emotions come in and how to let them go out of my body and mind. I developed an inner peace that I had never experienced before and since then, I have not had any more Vitiligo spots. I got rid of the yeast infections by doing a raw food cleanse.
I did not discover I had Hashimotos until a year ago, but I know I had thyroid deficiency as a teenager because my hair was falling out since then. It has been during times of stress and burnout that my thyroid gets the brunt of it so I exercise and keep a strict diet to keep my body and mind in balance.
I am at peace with Vitiligo, Hashimotos and Candida and I know what my body needs and how to nourish it. I know better now. I am a Wife and Mother and falling back into my old habits will cause me my sanity and health and I am not willing to risk that. I discovered that eating gluten made my skin burn and itch and dairy causes awful itchy welts. Whether it was leaky gut, Celiac or food allergies that led to Vitiligo, I will never know.
What I do know it that when one door closed, I opened a new door and it brought positive things to my life. I am passionate about health and wellness with a fire that burns in my heart. I talk to everyone in my path about what changes they can make to transform their health. Seriously, you won’t shut me up!
My greatest motivation to stay healthy is my family. I promised my daughter I would live till I am 90 years old. I have lots of things I want to accomplish like have a Wellness Center, Volunteer for the Helping Hands Foundation, run a 5K, start coaching programs for healing candida and so much more! This coming Monday two friends and myself are hosting a Whole30 Community Cleanse. This will bring transformation to our community! I have Landmark to thank for coaching me on this project! My life is just getting started!
So if you have Vitiligo, Hashimotos or Candida, my advice is to keep moving forward! Discover what your body needs and follow it! Get support if you need coaching. That is what I did and I could not have done it without their support. Thank you Carly, Ofelia, Leidi, Natalia, Nicole, Dr. Zapata, Dr. Rahm, Dr. Lily and my Landmark coaches Trina and Rosana. May God Bless you tenfold for your wisdom, love, kindness and support. I am paying it forward.
My daughter says she loves pinto ponies and she loves me! She says I am like a pinto pony and she wishes she had spots like Mom. My daughter melts my heart. My husband and children see me with eyes of love. Don’t we all wish we saw ourselves that way???
If you have Vitiligo, Hashimotos or Candida, please share how you have seen the positive out of your situation.
Health, Happiness and Healing to you all.
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My vitiligo started at the age of 12 on the back of my leg. Later in teenage years it was on my face, eyebrow, eyelashes and in my hair. No one addressed it. And I too was embarrassed when people asked me if I was burned or if it was birthmarks. I’m 48 now and my eyebrow and hair is still the same. The white patches have faded but I now have dark patches replacing them. I developed candida in my early 20s along with thyroid symptoms but those weren’t addressed until just this year. I have hashimotos. I’m very hopeful to get this all under control. I became lactose intolerant several years ago and I’m now going gluten free along with addressing my deficiencies and waiting on the tests to confirm candida. I appreciate you telling your story.
Thank you Diane and best of luck with everything.
Hi, I was just diagnosed with vitiligo and Candida. Also h pylori. I am trying to heal my body and stop. The spread. Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Hi Paola,
I really like the Body Ecology Diet for balancing the gut flora. It is an anti-candida diet. When I did this I noticed that I got a bit of color back on my neck. I did the Body Ecology Diet for 3 months. I made homemade coconut kefir, coconut kefir pudding and cultured vegetables. I avoided all added sugars, gluten, corn, did food combining. The book was very helpful in understanding how to implement the diet.
Also, for me, I found meditation helpful in stopping the progression of Vitiligo. I did Vipassana Meditation, it was a 10 day retreat.
Best of luck and feel free to email me if you have questions about the Body Ecology Diet. Here is a recipe on the blog: https://nurturemygut.com/how-to-make-coconut-kefir.html/
Here is an article I wrote on explaining the Body Ecology Diet: https://nurturemygut.com/what-is-the-body-ecology-diet.html/
Warmly,
Ester
Such a brave post! Love your story.
Thank you Tracy!!