Silvana’s Autoimmune Story

MEET SILVANA

1/2 Italian 1/2 Guatemalan designer, yogi & curious vegan cook.

I’m 26 years old, I’m the youngest of 3 older brothers, living with my loving parents in Guatemala City surrounded by beautiful volcanoes, good friends and a loving boyfriend.

I graduated as a graphic designer and during my thesis time I Co-founded and became the Dream Director at Designery, a branding boutique created to bring the brands to life (just turned 4 years with the business). I have a 200 RYT in Vinyasa Yoga, curious vegan cook, adrenaline junkie and adventure seeker.

 DIAGNOSIS

When I was 6 years old, I had to go to a dermatologist because I was getting some itchy red dots on my skin, the doctor diagnosis was a molluscum that I got because of swimming in the school’s pool and did a treatment of burning them with dry ice (worst think you can do to psoriasis btw). Of course it got worst as the years went by and had to go through a lot of doctors to finally find out that it was psoriasis, a disease that it can be triggered by a very traumatic event ’cause it’s already in your DNA.

Doing a little bit of research through the years with my family, we discovered that there’s a pretty good chance that this disease started because my great grandfather and grandfather went to the war, and all their PTSD (Posttraumatic stress disorder) was processed to our genes.

Years have gone by and as I get older some months are worst than others, last year I was diagnosed with fatigue because of all the mental and body stress I was (in some way still) going through, hormone imbalance, health issues related to my uterus and thyroid and of course it flared up more than ever, but all I can do at the moment is send my past self love, my future self strength and shower my present self with all the compassionate love that I can.

 LIFE CHANGE

I think of psoriasis as my body’s way of communicating with me, it’s telling to listen, take good care of myself, and start again.

My health journey has being and I know it’s going to be my biggest life’s teacher, ’cause of it I’ve had to stop believing what traditional medicine was telling me and find my own ways to heal with holistic alternatives, but in that process of discovering how the skin and mental health is connected, I went from really bad body image issues, inflammation problems, food allergies, itchy scalp, fatigue, stress, even days that I didn’t want to get up from my bed.

 HEALING

If I can divide healing methods it has to be through mind, body and soul. A lot of these, ties into self love. It’s knowing that your body is amazing and it can do incredible things if you trust and have patience.

MIND
Yoga and meditation
Books and podcasts about wellness
Going to naturopaths, ayurvedic physicians, acupuncture, etc.

BODY
Vegan and healing diet:
No egg, dairy, gluten, alcohol or refined sugar
HIT training
Walks, bike rides or hikes in nature
Quality time with loved ones and my dog
Swimming in the sea
Epson Salt
And a few oils, vitamins and elixirs I have found effective:
Calendula
Ashwaghanda
Macadamia oil
CBD
Lavender
Jojoba oil
Turmeric
Celery juice
Probiotics
Magnesium
Green tea
Rhodiola
Vitamin E & D
Adaptogenic Mushrooms
Shea Butter
Aloe vera
Hemp seed
Blue Green Algae
Coconut Oil
Melipona Honey
Chamomile

SOUL
Give myself permission to rest and not feel guilty about it
Reconnecting with source
Constant spiritual practice
Working in healing my inner child
Find the emotional triggers and learn from them

 STRUGGLE

o know that the disease will never go away someday’s sounds harder to live by it, might as well learn to love it, but in that process I tend to isolate myself and go into places in my mind and health journey like: fatigue, depression, mood swings and fear.

Even if I’m doing the best I can with my diet, routine and lifestyle, at the end of the day, I go to bed thinking I might wake up tomorrow with itchy skin or bigger outbreaks. And if I wake up with it, I second-guess everything. Judge all the foods and beverages I have being drinking, the level of stress that I’m under. To a point I end up in front of a mirror trying to look confident and then, there is it another patch forming, and all I want to do is break the mirror and pretend is not there.

And to believe, but truly believe that I am loved, awesome and fascinating person. And psoriasis? It’s just a small part of who I really am.

INSPIRATION

What is prosperity for a woman? It is when she expands herself, her goodwill, her good manners, her smiles, her counseling, and her uplifting. Prosperity is all good things. Whenever a woman puts all good things together, prosperity and abundance are assured. But if she wastes her time in bitterness, poverty is assured.

For a female, health, wealth, and happiness lie in her manners. You can study in many colleges, go to school, do anything, but basically it comes to one thing. And what is that? Kindness! A woman must make kindness a priority.

Kindness is an essential part of every female. As your kindness expands, prosperity grows. You will have more friends, you will have more opportunities, and good luck will knock at your door. Why? Because when you are kind, compassionate, have good manners, and consciously concentrate your energy toward being kind, there is nothing that can stop you from becoming prosperous. You must meet people, you must receive people, you must talk to people, you must share your wisdom with people.

Find Silvana | @silvanalavegana