Here is my story of discovering I was allergic to plastic and almost dying in the process.
When I was in Middle School, I started playing volleyball. By 9th grade, my hands started to ache, and the joints felt stiff and inflamed. By 10th grade, I was taking ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation. I was told it was an anti-inflammatory, and with my goal to play D1 volleyball someday, I took it every day to help me continue despite the pain. (Don’t do this. I later discovered you shouldn’t take ibuprofen for more than a couple weeks. It could have made me seriously ill). The entire time, I was struggling with stiffness and immense pain in my arms. I tried to rest my hands when I wasn’t playing volleyball and did everything I could to help, yet in 11th grade, I struggled to even hold a pencil. My hands were so inflamed and stiff that holding a pencil was rather painful, but more than the pain, not even possible. I literally could not fully make a fist because my hands were so swollen.
My 11th grade year of high school, I had to quit volleyball. This came unexpectedly at a scouting tryout where I played two full days in front of various college coaches to show them my skills. The pain was immense and my hands were stiffening, yet I was determined to see it through. However, on the second day, during one of the sets, I got very dizzy. I barely knew which direction I was facing, almost fell over, the ball barely went up in the air, and my wrists didn’t want to move. I left the court crying. I could barely bend my wrist backward or forward. Thirty minutes later my wrist completely locked up. Three hours later I was crying to my sister and dad in fear and shame, wondering if I would ever be able to move my wrist again, unsure what was wrong. I literally couldn’t move it more than a centimeter. It was completely locked up because it was just that swollen.
It was only when my wrists and hands were swelling that I realized something was wrong with my health. I didn’t know what, but I figured it must be a food allergy. I tried every diet I could find and spent countless hours watching YouTubers explain healthy diets. I cooked my own food throughout high school and did my best to eat as healthy as I could. It didn’t seem to help much. I was determined to find out what was wrong so that I could return to volleyball.
College
Fast forward to college and I started to feel worse. I couldn’t explain what was wrong at the time, but I told people it felt like my whole body had been opened up and sugar poured into my blood. I was struggling to think, hear, listen, speak, and see. I was struggling with low energy spouts and dizzy vision that was blurred. There were some days my vision was so blurred I struggled to see, and other days my vision was perfect. I was having pain in my knee, in my back, in my elbows and wrists. I suspected the dorm to have black mold so I moved dorms to one with a kitchen. Same thing, yet I could cook a bit more. I felt slightly better, yet still miserable.
After a gap semester, I returned to school and lived off campus. I was determined to find what was wrong, with an outcry of help to the friends around me. I didn’t want to waste money on doctors, and was praying to find the right doctor who could help me find out what was wrong. My junior year I passed out a few times and spent some days too dizzy to leave my bed. It was then I realized I was having blood sugar issues.
Fast forward one year later, and I was only eating meat and vegetables in order to help my blood sugar. I started to feel better and felt a ton of inflammation leave my body, however my stomach felt like a rock. I ate no carbs, no fruit, not even legumes.
January 2023, I left for a semester abroad to Israel. It was there that for the first time, my health started to improve. By the end of the trip, I was able to eat everything except the gluten. I was eating fruit, and sugar, and my body had rapidly transformed. Stomach pain was gone, and I knew my body was stronger than I had felt in years. However, I was still struggling, and had insomnia. For about an entire month, I slept about 2-4 hours a night. My head was in pain, and my brain felt inflamed. It was hard to think and I felt intense pressure and pain. My stomach was feeling better, my vision improved, but something was still wrong.
I then traveled to Greece. After but 2 days, it felt as if I were back to before I spent my three months in Israel. In but 3 weeks in Greece, I gained 15 lbs. I had tunnel vision within 3 days, and felt awful. I was devastated. The life that felt so free in Israel had been taken from me.
Back to the States
Now comes to hard part.
When I returned to the States, I started to have anaphylaxis every time I ate. And I mean every time. I was confused and terrified. What was going on? I endured through a crazy 5 months of navigating my body rejecting all food–even water at times. I had seen various doctors through the years who didn’t find anything wrong with my body except bumps in my colon. Allergists said I wasn’t allergic to anything. Nothing appeared wrong! I found a natural doctor who saw the issues in my body. He believed I had Crohn’s Disease, but never received back an official answer from an autoimmune specialist verifying the endoscopy pictures. (If you know someone who can verify my pictures for some autoimmune disease, please reach out! I would love to get that verified still).
The day before Thanksgiving 2023, my dad came across an article discussing the possible linkage between autoimmune diseases and plastic. It was the next morning I realized that while I was in Israel, my meat and cheese went into paper from behind the deli counter, and my veggies went into a cotton bag I carried with me. I then envisioned me walking with grocery bags in Greece, my food in plastic bags. It was at this moment my entire life changed, and I realized plastic was the missing answer to what was going on.
Plastic. I was allergic to plastic! I soon realized most of what I owned was made of plastic, and that I would have to replace nearly everything. I quickly bought all new clothes (as it was Black Friday, thank God!!) and whatever everyday things I would need. Here is but a brief look at some of the things I had to replace: clothes, bed sheets, toothbrush, water bottle, hairbrush, floss, toothpaste, food containers, knives (as those coated in paint contain plastic), cutting boards, kitchen cooking utensils, phone case, shoes, pens, and even had to think of little details such as covering my car seat (which is plastic) and putting a towel on the ground every time I showered (which only helped about 60%). I literally didn’t want to touch plastic, I didn’t want to be near it.
You might be surprised to hear that I did not even own a single pair of pants that were plastic-free. When I went to the mall to buy my pants, my lungs instantly tightened, and I was hard on breathing. What I had priorly been told was random and most likely anxiety, I was instantly able to see was actually a direct correlation with every time larger amounts of plastic were in my environment or air.
Through the five months leading up to the discovery, I was starving. I literally had an entire month where I would eat egg yolks, a few bites of chicken, and a couple of bites of green beans or some other veggie. I was barely able to eat. I would basically eat until my body started to shake head to toe, and my throat would tighten too much. I lost two lbs a week on average, some weeks it was about 5 lbs. I was desperately hungry and cried often due to the hunger. Yet, the Lord carried me through this season and I made it to Thanksgiving. After knowing I was allergic to plastic, I instantly was able to consume much more food, yet still was on a careful diet with my doctor due as my body had almost completely shut down–and we still believed I had Crohn’s Disease. If we hadn’t discovered I was allergic to plastic, I believe I would be dead by now. Nonetheless, I made it through.
Healing
Throughout this journey, the Lord was speaking to my Dad and I, promising us that He would heal me. He spoke to us that He wanted me to find out what was wrong so that I could one day help other people. When I discovered the allergy was plastic, I realized why it was important for me to know what was wrong with my body. This is revolutionary! In February of 2024, during a long time in prayer, I experienced healing in my heart as I forgave my mom. At this moment, I was healed of the allergy. I was completely healed of the allergy to plastic! Jesus healed me!
I now am focusing everything on sharing my story, raising awareness about how plastic can impact one’s health, and pioneering the way to live plastic-free.
Stay Connected!
I hope my story has moved you in some way. It still moves me every time I share or remember. I desire to share my story with the entire world and encourage you to never give up and keep persevering. I am a walking testimony, and you can be too!
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Love,
Grace