We ar receiving a lot of feedback from people who are working with the diet and their disease, which is giving me more insight into the healing process. Since each person has a different experience, it is very helpful to share these hard won insights.
Now I know from personal experience and the experiences of others that stress, illness, fatigue and even menstrual cycles can cause a spike in symptoms. The disease is not worse at these times, rather the reaction to these 'stresses', over rides the progress temporarily. After the situation has cleared up, the progress and recovery return.
I received some good feedback from a man who had been discouraged about his progress. One day, since the heat bothers him, he wore an ice vest and had chipped ice with some flavoring. To his amazement, he was able to do things for a protracted period of time that he had not been able to do for years.
It would appear that his body was recovering due to the diet all along, but the heat symptoms masked the progress he had made. Then all of a sudden, to him, all this progress became evident. Needless to say he was thrilled.
I thought it might be helpful to share this insight. This also points once again to the need of good research to be done on the diet and its working.