What is a peptide anyway?

It's called the Dragon's Tail. 🐉

Three hundred and thirty three stairs built into the side of a bluff, and my family was absolutely up for the challenge.

My husband had to make a race out of it, and being him, he gave himself a bit of a headstart (cheater). So in an attempt to catch up, I took the first 80 or so steps as fast as I could, bounding up 2 or 3 at a time.

That was a mistake.

I was full of regret.

Admittedly, I don't frequent IG very often, but if you follow me there, you'll find me in my stories every now and again. A few weeks ago, I mentioned how I've been dealing with a new health issue.

Mast cell activation syndrome (known as MCAS). 😭

Since we moved to our current home in 2020, my summer seasonal allergies have been more like all-year allergies, and each year they've progressively gotten worse.

In October, I noticed a shift. I'm full of theories as to why, but I won't get in to that here.

I started having flares, or episodes, where I have full-body, deep internal itching, my lungs are lit on fire, and I spend several hours coughing and wheezing.

This is added upon the constant burning eyes, scratchy throat (you'll notice that a lot in my videos inside Healthy Habits Done Right ☹️), running nose, congestion and sneezing. Oh the sneezing (and peeing my pants as a result 😩). All while popping allergy meds like candy.

Between the holidays and my dad passing, I was traveling a lot at the end and beginning of the year, and I noticed a pattern:

When I'm out of town, all my symptoms subside. But the minute I return home, the congestion starts to build, the nose starts to run, and the sneezing begins (as well as the pants-peeing 🆘).

And heaven help me if I swallow something funny or laugh a little too rambunctiously - full on flare mode.

It became a desparate situation, and I started to feel anxiety about being in my own house. (Did you know that anxiety is a symptom of dysbiosis, immune dysregulation & therefore MCAS? I've never dealt with anxiety like I have while living here and there's a definite correlation with my symptoms and feeling anxiety. 😢)

Well, as you know (hopefully you know!), GLP-1 medications are actually peptides. You can think of peptides as smaller chains of proteins (to understand this fully, visit module 2 lesson 1 in GLP-1 Done Right. ) They're amino acids stuck together in a very specific order, and the body has over 300,000 known peptides that it makes and utilizes 😳. They do a LOT.

There are other peptides available on the market that can help with all sorts of things. Beyond GLP-1 use, I had dipped into a branch of peptides, called bioregulators, many years ago and have seen incredible effects from these tiny warriors.

I friggin love peptides. They can be life changing. Huge advocate. 🙌🏻 So that was the first thing I thought I needed to try to get my body back to homeostatis.

Goal 1: calm the flare

Goal 2: gut repair

Goal 3: immune system modulation

Goal 4: heal my lungs

Goal 5: stay in my house and not have to move

So, my friend, I'm neck deep in peptide therapy. I'm throwing everything I've got (including my bank account) at this MCAS situation, and I'm coming up on 4 weeks in.

I'm not ready to give you all the deets on what I'm taking (6 peptides total) or make any recommendations just yet, but here's what I'll say:

After returning from our spring break trip 4 days ago, though my nose is dripping as normal, I've only sneezed twice, the congestion hasn't returned yet, my throat isn't super scratchy, and I haven't had a full blown flare in 3 solid weeks (I have had 3 mini flares since then - including after stupidly bounding up the Dragon's Tail as fast as I could 🙄)

And this weekend I was able to dominate my 12 year old in pickle ball 👊🏻🤣. Ok fine - I did barely lose to my 22 year old, and I got completely wrecked by my husband... with a pinched nerve in my back to prove my willingness to jump, dive, and lash about 🙃 - all without a flare in sight 🤩.

I'm pretty excited about my progress - especially in such a short amount of time. And eventually, I'll probably be adding all my notes to The Done Right Wellness Vault. My point here is that peptides can be absolutely incredible for helping us to heal a variety of issues and GLP-1 is one of my faves.

But my journey isn't over yet, so stay tuned.

I would loooove to know if you've tried any other peptides besides GLP-1, and what your experience has been. Send me an email if you have, and give me aaaalll the deets!

Hugs & Smoothie Smiles,

Coach Camille

PN, SSR

PS: Those are my 2 nieces, my sister, and the one-legged man who showed us all up by going up and down those stairs at least 3 times (he even passed me somewhere around step 200 on his 3rd time up). 😱