Months later, I randomly experienced a vicious spontaneous attack that affected my throat, tongue, and face to a point beyond recognition. The hospital provided me with topical and oral medications that stopped the symptoms from further progressing, but the damage had already been done. My skin was so tight that it hurt to talk, eat, or smile. It appeared black, dry, scaley, and unsightly to those who I came in in contact with. I was devastated!

The following week I saw a dermatologist who ran several different allergy tests that all came back with no explanation. The best she could explain it was that the anaphylactic attack that I had experienced a few months earlier was so severe that it was it was lying dormant in my spinal cord and could easily be over excited by even the simplest thing that may have never bothered me before in the past. I could not eat anything other than plain rice, mashed potatoes, and Jell-O, the pH in certain waters felt like acid burning my tongue, I could not be in direct sunlight, I had to avoid extreme hot or cold in both ambient temperatures and foods, and I had to carry around an epi-pen 24/7 because what might not bother me today could be the same thing to cause anaphylaxis tomorrow. I lost my relationship I was in at the time due to his issues with my vanity; I felt as though my whole life was falling apart.

Feeling as though all was lost, I decided to travel by myself for the first time and went to spend some extended time out in the countryside of Jamaica where I practiced yoga, journaled, and meditated daily. I was motivated to change my diet to vegan (Pescatarian now) eliminated gluten, white sugar, ionized salt, and MSG from my diet; I changed my whole skin care regimen to only using my handmade natural skin care products. I got to work with some new herbs and oils I did not even think of trying before.

In four-weeks’ there was a night a day difference. To some, I didn’t even look like the same person; you couldn’t tell that anything had ever happened to me. I always knew my products made my skin feel good and look nice, but every now and then I would get lazy in making them and would us a store-bought product of choice. After seeing my skin at its absolute worst, where nothing else but my products could revive it back, and back to even better than before, there was no doubt in my mind that I had a special gift and it was beyond time that I share my gift with others.