Ten Days Without Food (Part 2 of 3): The Ghost of Fractures Past

One winter in 2012,  Nicole slipped on ice, slid down porch steps and fell on a cement driveway. Her right leg fractured and shattered in three places. She ended up in surgery on Christmas Eve.

During my wife’s recent 10-day fast (part of a experiment to cure type-1 diabetes and kidney failure) that same leg became so swollen she couldn’t wear her shoes. On the sixth night of the fast the inflammation was so intense she was in tears. It was like the leg had broken all over again.

Was her body — now free of the burden of digestion — catching up on unfinished healing? Was her immune system attacking the bolts, screws and braces the surgeon had inserted to secure the bones together? Was he body simply detoxing the regional anesthesia used during the surgery?

We’ll probably never know. The pain did decrease with ice and other treatments. Still, today, a month after ending the fast, the leg is slightly swollen (though no pain) and she hasn’t been walking as much as she’s used to.

Thinking outside the T1D Matrix,
– John C. A. Manley

P.S. Detox symptoms like this sound scary but may just be part of the process of healing as Paul Bragg’s explains in his book The Miracle of Fasting available from amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk.