Water Fasting for Health

by Deeshana

Hello All!

I wrote a post sometime back but never got around to finishing it - so here it goes.

I became motivated to try water fasting through a friend of mine who said it could help me improve the problems I have had over the years with allergies and stomach acidity.

I started my first water fast earlier this year and lasted 8 days. I had to break it because the symptoms became very uncomfortable and severe.

On the 2nd day, the stomach symptoms got really bad and I puked out pure acid with some phlegm. I have to tell you guys that it was a really corrosively type of acid. Nasty!

But, I went on in spite of this episode. By the fourth day, the symptoms began to subside. Also I want to mention that during this time I experienced a lot of bladder activity at night.

Sometimes I would have to get up to urinate as many as four times. That day I got on the scale and weighed-in at 62kgs -- a loss of 4kgs.

I could feel there was still some hard fecal matter adhered to my bowels. Prior to the fast I had been suffering from constipation.

So, in an attempt to relive the constipation, I did a salt water flush (I now realize that this probably was not a very good idea).

Anyway, I did have a substantial bowel movement. I repeated the flush the following day, but there were no further movements. In fact, my body absorbed most of the salt water flush and I ended up gaining 2kgs! Disaster! : 0

Although I continued fasting, I did - in between - drink some coconut juice in an effort to reduce the detox effects. I also drank a little bit of orange juice.

In the following days I also drank some water with lime. Then I experienced another uncomfortable reaction. It is hard to describe, but I felt what was like a force pulling all over my body.

I felt hot and flushed, as well as dizzy. I sat down with a bottle of water and started sipping.
After about 1/2 an hour most of the symptoms vanished. The following day (day 6), after coming home from work, the discomfort continued and I started having really bad hot flashes.

Heat was emanating from all over my body. I felt like a car radiator! I started to feel weaker. I sat down to meditate to get my mind off the symptoms. The symptom took more than an hour to go away. It literally felt like an eternity. That was probably the longest hour of my life!

Still, I decided to go head with the water fast. Yet I was concerned because I live alone and there was only one person who knew what I was doing. Not to mention the fact that I had to continue going to work throughout this process.

By day 7, to my dismay, the weakness continued. I had more episodes of acid reflux and an overall acidic stomach. This day I drank only water. I ended up puking acid even before I managed to get home from work.

After puking I washed my teeth several times. But the acid that I had expelled was so strong that I literally felt it eating into my teeth. Several bowel movement later that day helped a lot and I started to feel much better.

On Day 8 the stomach discomfort and acidity continued. By the end of the day I hoped and prayed to vomit but it simply did not happen.
I then decided to break the fast with juice.

I drank juice for two days. During these two days there was lot of burning in my stomach accompanied by frequent burping. Then I decided to resume water fasting yet again because I felt a burst of energy.

I continued fasting for 2 days and the symptoms were very strange. I could feel pain in my stomach and joints. My head and shoulders ached.

I focused strictly on moving through the fasting process and tried to set aside as many daily activities as I could. But even so it was very hard to concentrate.

By the end of another four days of water fasting, my mind finally began to quiet down and my eyes became much brighter and less dry. I was really amazed by this because I had been having recurring problems with dry eyes.

Once off the water fast I continued juice fasting for another two days, followed by the introduction of some raw foods to supplement. After about 10 days I introduced cooked foods, rice and curry.

But then I started to feel very mentally blocked once again. It became very hard for me to read and concentrate pretty much on anything. To me, this meant that the detox process was still not completed.

I took loads of lemon and various types of juices. But it did not help. So about 2 weeks later, I decided to do another water fast, which is the one that I am going through right now.

At present I am onto my 4th day and I feel very motivated. I continue to work. Not the ideal situation, but I am dealing with it.

Anyway today I went for a short work-out and I really felt good. I am concerned what the coming days may bring, but I am trying to remain positive as well as watchful. The stomach burning and burping lingers.

I am going to see if I can continue for 10 days - maybe 15. I know that my ongoing stomach issues can rob me of motivation as I move forward.

I believe these types of gastric problems are part of my fasting healing crisis. This thought helps to keep me going when things get rough.

Will keep you updated on the outcome. Definitely I can say that this fasting process has been an amazing experience, and it has helped to educate me about food and eating in general.

If anyone has had a similar fasting experience, I would love to hear about it.

Good luck to everyone attempting this discipline of fasting. By the way, I checked my weight today and it was 58kg. I had tried to lose weight for the past several years but never did have much luck. Needless to day, this weight loss is very encouraging!

Best to All!

Deeshana