33 days now
At 31.8 days i stepped into the worst detox symptoms i have ever experienced in all of the fasting i have done throughout my entire life... nausia (but not vomiting at least as yet), extreme extreme weakness, and extreme dizziness upon standing. Also of lesser significance gassy and unsettled belly along with burping. I feel as if i am going down the rabbit hole not knowing what i will encounter, but that if i make it through and come out on the other side i will emerge with unspeakable benefits, feeling better than i have ever felt.
An example of how this works: About an hour ago, i got up to pee. I had to sit on the edge of my bed for 3 minutes before i felt ready to stand. Then i stood carefully, walked very slowly to the bathroom in the very next room (like 1/3 normal speed), dizzy along the way and leaned against a wall to rest. Reached the toilet and couldn't even consider peeing standing up, so i sat down. After peeing, rested about 3 minutes before i felt ready to stand up. Having run low on water, i knew this might be my best opportunity to get more not knowing if i would feel even worse tomorrow morning so i walked down stairs to the kitchen... about 1/4 speed on the stairs. Extra weak, relying heavily on the railing, returned upstairs in the same way and felt exceedingly ready to lay down for the next 23 hours.
What is strange to me is that this strong detox is accompanied by a tongue that has nearly returned to pink and urine that has begun to smell nearly "sweet" and not at all toxic as had been the case until recent days.
At 25.5 days i developed substantial pain in my left shoulder, seemingly some kind of healing crisis of a revisiting nature. The pain was very strong for about 4 days and felt like tendonitis or arthritis, then began to lesson to the point where it is still mildly sore today, but like 1/30th of what it was at the peak.
At 30.5 days a muscle in my chest immediately next to my heart became very tender, much the way it felt when i first injured my heart about 4 or 5 months ago. It remains tender today, but about 1/4 of what it was at 30.5.
No BM throughout the entire 33 days and i expect there to be activity within 2 hours of the first sips of juice.
Physical hunger remains at absolute zero as has been the case for the past 30 days. My desire to eat had been moderately strong, but the latest wave of strong detox knocked that down a few notches. With the nausia as it is i would never want to break the fast now as it wouldn't feel good physically and yet there is still a certain emotional interest in juices and i think about them even now :).
Starting at day 21 i awoke with about a tablespoon of blood mixed with my saliva each morning for about 5 days at which point the blood began to diminish little by little and this morning it was about 1/16 of a tablespoon.
Checking Blood Pressure each morning as if my life depended on it, watching carefully for any abrupt changes which would provide a strong warning signal to break the fast as taught by Chrisb1... but so far it has remained stable.
I would appreciate it remaining steady at least until i get through this crisis so i can break the fast feeling good and hope that my nutritional reserves will carry me through. i believe these reserves are quite strong even having only given myself 8 weeks of refeeding since the previous 30 day fast because the foods were of an exceedingly nutritious largely organic nature and supplemented with Intramax.
Ideally in this fast i will reach all three of these amazing goals, each of which would be quite extraordinary to me all on its own: 1) the elimination of all toxemia, 2) a completely healed heart and 3) the return of genuine hunger... as i continue to take this fast an hour at a time.
Hey Mighty,
The last week of my 40-Day WF was AWFUL. I had nausea, watery saliva that accompanies vomitting (but did not vomit) and the extreme weakness that you describe-- even though my tongue was super pink and my body odours all smelling sweet like roses.
Hey hey there WaterDesign :),
This is super helpful to know so thank you. I hope someone can explain why the strongest detox seems to be accompanied by a pink tongue as this baffles me.
Hang in there. Your body is doing some major re-hauling.
Thank you, i will certainly do my best.
My regret was not fasting to completion and breaking the WF while in "awful" mode, more out of a frustrated, "Hah-its Day-40 and I'm DONE" mentality.
What you accomplished was so awesome! As it stands right now, i have no intention of breaking while feeling awful as i do now and hopefully nothing arises to change this.
Listen to your intuition and do what you think is right, but i just wanted to remind you to not be so quick to break your WF, esp when you're feeling as awful as you are right now.
A good reminder :). I fully intend to await feeling great to break it and beyond this i would really like to reach all 3 of my aformentioned goals.
Question for you, if i may:
On your "exceedingly nutritious" 8-week refeed, did you supplement with any oils (omega-3, flax etc)? Or eat any fish, meat? Just curious...
I had about 70% vegetables and fruits about 70% of which was organic. Fish oil, coq10, Intramax, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, no meat or fish but i did have some organic cage free eggs and organic cottage cheese with organic flax seed oil (budwig protocol).
How are you feeling now and where are you in your feeding? :).
Hey Sun!
... My sense of the pink tongue issue is this--the tongue is a reflection of the alimentary canal: the shole 'shebang' from mouth to anus...But even so, this is not the entire body; not by far. However!!! for many/most people, the alimentary canal is the *main* CONTRIBUTING problem, when it comes to health! This somewhat clarifies the white and furry tongue, right?
Yet, when that system is mainly dealt with, (which again, for most people, is a 'food' issue), then, there IS more to work on. There can be many, many levels of work, down to the smallist part of a cell. lots of levels. Each more subtle.
(I don't think my stomach/colon etc. is compacted with suff, and so forth, ( as is so for many) -- Maybe this explains why my tongue has never really been LESS than pink.
... I believe the focus on it, vis a vis the water fast is that it so DIRECTLY refers to the digestive system; the thinking then was, when the tongue cleared, with the right diet post-fast, ALL things could be healed. Health really DOES have so much to do with digestion...
Hi Chiron :). Very interesting information and this would explain a lot :). Thank you!
Mighty,
Thank you so much for posting all this. I just want to say, what courage you have, going through all these symptoms, and congratulations. and Waterdesign, thank you for an amazing and supportive post, too. What an achievement for both of you , and i hope to be in touch with you both as I learn to do likewise...
Hi Powerray :),
Thank you for your words of encouragement. Going to sleep last night i was wondering if i was going to wake up twice as weak and sick but so far it has remained at this strong but tolerable level.
Thank you for your narrative, Mighty. My comment on the amount of time it takes to get up and go to the bathroom, is, "only 3 minutes to stand up?? God! I could take an hour, at only 3 days of fasting, just to DECIDE to stand up and get out of bed!!! :)
haha :). Well gathering the courage to sit up is another story and yes that might take an hour, but once i am finally sitting up, i have already put the plan in motion :).
... thinking of food CAN start to introduce an "agenda" that my body isn't ready for.
I agree with this and have spent much of my fast avoiding these thoughts. Sometimes when they have already arrived it helps for me to engage them.
I guess I want to learn to trust in the return of natural hunger. I think this trust is challenging to learn. I think it takes experience.
Yes it can seem like an impossible goal. In my first 30 day fast i gave up on it and was extremely surprised when it arose in the form of something running low in my nutrient stores. Even today i don't feel it is something i can count on, possibly being another 20-30-40 days away.
It is the most wonderful service you (both) are doing, sharing these experiences of long-term fasting with the group. I feel myself being healed a little just reading about them, and I look forward to experiencing the same healing myself as I learn to fast.
I really appreciate hearing about this, especially that you are being healed a little just reading about our experiences. I too look forward to seeing you experience the same healing and believe that you will.
Hi there , Mighty Sun !
IT IS HAPPENING, bravo !
Hi there Vidda and thank you again :).
I was so ready for update on your 3 goals! 2 out of 3 acomplished already
Of my existing goals i have accomplished 0 of 3... Which 2 are you referring to? ;). 30 days is one of them i imagine?
Great , fascinating stuff...I can just imagine what your latest detox is like (I get it about day 12 in lesser degree, indeed)... Now I am getting concerned , knowing that you will have the same simptoms days and days after re feeding starts. I hope you dont overdo it,
This time around something seems different and i feel prepared to ease out as slowly as necessary for as long as necessary. I feel so close to my goals that i would like to see if i can reach them. Also if i can break the fast feeling good i know that i will feel amazing in the re-feeding period and this would be greatly intensified if true hunger were to be reached.
Best wishes for perfect health
Vidda
Thank you once again :).
Mighty, I too am concerned. You have been fasting a lot in the past year... Don't be stubborn. I would hate to see you harm yourself.
Hi there Rainy :).
Thank you for your concern, i really do appreciate it. I have always read that we need to fast through our healing crises and that one of the worst mistakes we can make is to break the fast mid crisis. Strong detox symptoms have never been a valid reason to break a fast, but rather a valid reason to keep going. Respectfully i don't believe i am being stubborn in following expert advise on this point.
As to fasting a lot this year which is certainly true, i believe that each fast begins with new nutritional stores and with each fast i have begun, i believe i have done so having very deliberately built these stores up with excellent nutrition.
There is no one on this board qualified to give you advice at this point, least of all me.
Actually i would rather have the fasting advice of Chrisb1 than any MD i can think of, so i feel i am in very capable hands in this area. I am checking my blood pressure every morning and if there is a sharp drop at any point i will take this as the clear warning sign that it is time. So far this has been very stable.
You must be able to hear God's voice better after fasting this long. Please, please, seek Him with an answer whether or not you should break this. God is the only one that can give you sound advice at this point. I pray you will hear Him clearly on the matter.
This is great advice and i will do my best to keep an exceedingly open heart to God and to His guidance.
I say, I have always heard that too. I did not mean to accuse you of being stubborn. I am so sorry that it sounded that way. I am concerned and I somehow was trying to say you do need to be stubborn to do God's will in the matter and not man's. I was not trying to talk you out of your fast. I was only trying to tell you to seek God's will in the matter as He only knows what is best. He knows more than the expert advice from the things we have read.
Fair enough Rainy and very good points :).
It sounds like to me, He is telling you to continue just by reading your post as you are not at peace with the idea of breaking it. He would give you peace about it...
Yes i believe this is true.
It also sounds like you are feeling better.;) That's good.
Haha, still quite lousy but as long as i'm on my back i can get by most of the time ;).
let's remember that most everyone fasting in the 'olde days', with supervision, didn't have the strength even to post online--let alone the ability. So I'm not too worried about you. :-) (no lack of love meant)
no offense taken ;).
*
rest.
rest.
AND
rest.
*
that was the basic idea.
Yes i have openly embraced that idea for the most part by laying down 23 hours per day.
You may feel weakened, but you sound 'normal', in terms of the water fast--
Yes i have always known that these kind of symptoms were common deep into a fast and wondered if they would ever happen with me... now i have my answer :).
and you show/expend a lot of strength in the way you are tracking the fast, moment by moment. It's good though, eh? This kind of documenting is a form of building up the 'muscle of the mind'--and is very transferable to meditation. :-)
Yes it's a morning discipline to take certain measurements, make assessments and record them... while laying in bed :D. The symptoms are quite a bit more tolerable when laying down.
it's ALL good. Just be very gentle with the re-entry.
will do... i'll be even more cautious in testing the waters this time around.
take care, and give thanks--that's one of the biggest blessings on the Water fast (or off it--but it's easier to SEE, on it) Giving thanks for the *opportunity* and the time and even tyhe concept, brings an immediate blessing. That brings more heartfelt chance/urge to give thanks, etc. ans so it goes.
Great point. I do this, but good reminder to keep it up.
I think many people miss the non-physical effects, by getting over-fixated on the physical...
In most every case, all things must pass, and all do.
what remains, is blessing.:-)
Beautifully spoken, thank you :).
Mighty, I know I sound school-marmish at times--I really don't mean to; and I'm always working through these recognitions and realizations myself; I get excited, and out it comes. I just hope you can *hear* that.
You bet Chiron, i wasn't thinking that at all... just agreeing with you ;).
Hello again Vidda :),
While i greatly appreciate your optimism i believe my heart still has a ways to go and i'm not sure how far off "the elimination of all toxemia" is at this point. A clean tongue with no detox symptoms would make me believe that this may have been attained, especially if accompanied by genuine hunger... but deep in detox i really think we would be jumping the gun.
With the heart it is just a chest muscle, not the heart itself that became tender, a tenderness which has largely diminished. An encouraging step perhaps, but in no way an indication that my heart is healed. I continue to feel soreness in the heart itself.
Another encouraging point on my heart is that throughout the fast my wake up heart rate has pretty consistently been 66-68. After 31 days of 66-68s, yesterday morning it was 63 and this morning it was 60. It's too early to tell and it could be that i have just been sleeping more peacefully the past couple of days as i have had a lot of 60-63s throughout the fast later in the day, but if this wake up heart rate continues to drop into the low 50s i will be fantastically optimistic that my heart is returning to normalcy.
As always thank you for your kind words of encouragement and support which are so deeply appreciated.
Hey, Mighty Sun !
Its not just the optimism part here, honestly.I do shorter fasts for objective reasons and by all means, in my scale you scored big time with this current fast
This time around you are in the middle of healing of some pretty important muscle in/near your heart...Lets say,not 100 % yet.. You know that at least this is a sign that its turn to get fixed.Huge, HUGE... And,of course, this is just a part of whole mighty powerfull turn to your perfect health.
I believe i finally see where you're coming from Vidda, thanks!
I just really hope the detox symptoms give you a break...
Will be nice, but at the same time i accept them as a part of the process as long as they are here, believing that an amazing work is taking place within me.
And waiting to read Chis's and Chiron's comments. I am sure they will be impressed ,too. They both had similar experiences , which I dont have and it s important to me to see your case from their perspective.
Yes i look forward to this too :).
So great you are doing some cool posting today. Are you feeling better ?
V
Absolutely not, i feel lousy ;). But i am thankful that for the moment i feel strong enough to read and write while laying down.
Happy watery Sunday, Mighty !
Just wonder how much water you drink daily..Is this detox affecting your intake in some way?
Thank you Vidda :),
It seems i have remained equally thirsty and continue to drink about 1-1.5 liters per day. The difference is that my nausiated stomach seems to be more sensitive to the water coming in and sometimes it increases the level of nausia. But it's still under control ;).
Not stubborn,ok. Got it,LOL
; )