Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Jasmine rice, my friend

So far, so good.  First attempt last week, I had one tablespoon of jasmine rice with dinner.  It may have been coincidental but the intermittent stomach pains that I had been having went away.  They came back during my accidental sugaring of myself and my experimentation with potatoes (that were far too old) and a banana (which has a high ferment potential).  So no idea if somehow the rice helped those pains or if they were just on their way out anyway.

Last night I tried again and had 2 tablespoons of jasmine rice with dinner.  So far so good.  I made the Butter Chicken recipe from My Heart Beets.  It was really good, the husband even approved.  This morning I woke up quite stiff and sore but I did a very different yoga class than usual yesterday, then got a massage.  Both activities targeted the shoulders so I don't think it was the tomatoes, peppers or the jasmine rice.  But it's still something to keep an eye on.

I've been having a lot of cramping down the right side of my neck due to a new screw that was placed in my jaw.  My massage therapist said the whole right side of my neck was tight and there was puffiness along the spine. It doesn't seem like it should impact the muscles but the screw is so high up above my teeth that it pushes into my cheek and a little crater has to form and then heal, the ball head of the screw nestles in the crater.  I get spasms in my cheek for up to 2 weeks while this happens and I fight infection as the food gets trapped in there.  It's not fun and I do not recommend it.  Alas things are healing and I ate actual stir fried vegetables today, such a treat after trying not to chew for 2 weeks!  I've been eating mostly creamed vegetable soup and mashed squash alongside fish and scrambled eggs.

My freaking temp has gone back down below 98 so it looks like I'll be going on another T3 taper, increasing dose every 6 days and then decreasing dose every 3 days.  Waiting to hear back from Dr. Keller.

I've been using Melaleuca/Rosemary/Thyme for a couple of days to treat my SIBO.  The melaleuca is pretty harsh so only a couple of days and then I'm going to switch to the same formula as in Candibactin-AR (Thyme/Oregano/Sage/Melissa).  I may stay on it a full 7 days, we'll see.  Disclaimer - please don't try this on your own, if you are interested in trying anything like this, talk to your healthcare provider.  For all you know I could be burning holes in my gut and ruining my health and not killing anything (or worse yet, killing everything!).

Monday, March 30, 2015

Just Breathe

Stick with me here, I am going somewhere.

Exerpts from "Mind, Body, and Sport" by John Douillard
"Humans come into this world as nose breathers.  We are "obligate nose breathers," to be scientific, which means we do not possess the voluntary ability to breath through our mouths.  Mouth breathing is a learned response triggered by emergency stress."

He goes on to talk about how babies breathe through their nose until they get a cold and can no longer breathe through their nose, they panic, then what do they do??  They cry, "which forces air through the mouth and into the lungs".

"The survival response triggers certain emergency fight-or-flight receptors in the upper lobes of the lungs, which help the infant deal with extreme stress.  Also , the lower lobes of the lungs are an abundance of parasympathetic nervous system receptors.  When activated with nasal breathing, they calm the mind and rejuvenate the body."

"Thus it is from an early age we are conditioned so that under the first sign of stress, including exercise stress later in life, we shift into our emergency mode of breathing - through the mouth."

He goes on to state that most people breathe through the mouth and in doing so limit their breathing mainly to the chest.  "Chest breathing fills the middle and upper portions of the lungs but doesn't efficiently engage the blood-rich lower lobes...... For chest breathing to supply enough oxygen, both breathing and heart rate must be faster."  You may think, so what, I can't breathe well through my nose so I have to breathe through my mouth.  This is what he has to say: "This shallow breathing soon becomes a way of life, causing the following:

  • Activates upper-chest stress receptors (that can actually stimulate a fight or flight form of arousal)
  • Activation of stress receptors triggers the burning of sugar and storing of fat
  • Denies access to the lower calming, oxygen rich lower lobes
  • Compromises waste removal through lower lung breathing
  • The ribs and chest become inflexible
  • Compromise lymphatic drainage and circulation to the rib cage, breast, heart and lungs
  • The thoracic spine, where the ribs attach, become stiff and rigid, which affects spinal biomechanics
  • The diaphragm affects digestive function, contributing to indigestion, heartburn and hiatal hernias.
  • Neck and shoulders become tight due to excessive upper-chest shallow breathing
  • Sinuses become congested from discontinued use
  • The sense of smell and taste is affected
  • The cranial bones stay supple from nasal breathing and become stiff and rigid without it."
Wow and Yikes!  I can tell you from having sinus issues of my own years ago that I breathed mostly through my mouth for years.  I have a lot of the issues listed above.  I've worked hard the last year to get flexibility back into my neck, shoulders and ribs through my thoracic.  It's not easy.  My nasal passages still feel a bit restricted but I can breathe through my nose now without feelings like I am going to suffocate.  He recommends using Breathe Right strips in the beginning as they can "decrease nasal resistance by 30 percent".  That's a pretty big number.  

It's also fascinating that he states that most mammals that have the ability to cool themselves through sweating breathe through their mouths only in times of stress.  When's the last time you saw a horse or a cow breathing through it's mouth?  They're too busy using it to eat.

Diaphragmatic breathing on the other hand draws air down into the blood rich lower lobes. "There is a remarkable parallel in the calming and relaxing influence of deep, nasal, diaphragmatic breathing on a nursing infant, and on an athlete experiencing the runner's high during exercise."

Even if you are not an athlete, try to be conscious of how you breathe and what it is telling your body.  Take some time out every day to take breaths deep into your belly and push it all the way out, especially right before you eat.  We spend far too much time walking around holding our stomachs in and all this does is force the contents of your intestinal tract up which contributes to crappy motility and constipation.  

Really, there's no reason not to work on this.  Who doesn't have time to breathe?  It's free.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

ASI Update and more supplements (of course!)

Finally made time to talk with Dr. Keller about my ASI results.  It's quite evident that I need a bit of support which is not surprising to me.  I worked a high stress/long hours job for quite a while and didn't take care of myself, up too late, drank waaaaaay too much and ate like crap.  I exercised occasionally but probably in a way that creates more stress than relieves it.  So I'm adding the following to my supplements:
  • Arenomend - 2 a day with a meal, after a week or two, increase to 4
  • Adrenal PX - one in the morning and one at bedtime
Arenomend is an herbal support blend and I thought she said Adrenal PX is a pharmaceutical, it contains DHEA (mine is depressed), Pregnenalone (which is a hormone your body steals away to make more Cortisol), and Ashwaganda.

My Insulin both fasting and non-fasting was low.  My non-fasting insulin was no higher than my fasting insulin.  What??  I'm doing a low carb/high fat thing but nothing drastic and I certainly don't think I'm in ketosis. So we're going to give jasmine rice a try.  Wish me luck!!! My digestion has been great, I just want to keep it that way.

My Secretory IgA (sIgA) was borderline low.  Not good! "Secretory IgA (SIgA) serves as the first line of defense in protecting the intestinal epithelium from enteric toxins and pathogenic microorganisms.", from this article on Nature.com.  Definitely need more of that!  Ha!  Thankfully all it takes is another quick search and I found ways to increase it naturally here.  Unfortunately I am already doing most all of them.  I could incorporate more bone broth I guess but I already have soup every day.  I just upped my doseage of fish oil so that should help too.  It's always something!

In good news, it looks like the T3 taper may have helped kick my body in gear.  In a couple of days I will be done with the taper and if my temperature stays up then I don't have to add T3 back in.  Dr. Keller does want me to add:
  • Thyrocare - one in the morning and one at bedtime.
This will help support my body's conversion of T4 to T3.  Just when I had finally decreased the number of pills I am taking she adds 3 more :)

I asked her about digestive enzymes and betaine hcl because I will be out in a day and she recommended Klaire Labs Vitalzymes and Designs for Health Digestzymes.

Off to enjoy the sunshine, in other words feed the chickens, gather eggs and pick up dog poop before my son comes home and runs around the yard.




Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Less than 10 pills a meal??

What has the world come too?  It's been months and months since I swallowed so few pills. I'm taking my Multi, Magnesium, Fermented Cod Liver Oil, Resvertrol, Vit C, Zinc, Vit D drops, Digestive enzymes (currently Spectrazyme and Metagest) and one capsule of essential oils.  That was with breakfast, when I take most my supplements.  It's so weird not to have a huge pile of antimicrobials.

So I went through all my essential oils book but in the end found my doTERRA "Modern Essentials" book the most helpful to find out which essential oils would be best for treating my SIBO.  Now I'm not saying you should run out and follow with I am doing because I am definitely not a doctor of any kind!  And I'm not trying to get you to join doTERRA.  I just found their book the most useful and I like their oils better than Young Living because they pour better and the bottles are prettier.  Silly I know but I think the quality of the 2 are quite comparable (and doTERRA is less expensive).  Please not, if you go to a health food store to buy essential oils they are all going to say on the bottle "do not ingest" or "for external use only", a good sign of their quality, lacking.  I don't know about you, but if I can't put it in my body, I'm not putting it on my body where it goes through the skin into the blood stream bypassing any cleansing by the liver.  Anyway, I kind of digressed a bit there....

The "Modern Essentials" book list each oil and tells which other oils complement it.  Not as important if you are diffusing but definitely important if you are putting drops in a capsule and swallowing them.  I've heard that you should rotate your oils at least every 10 days to prevent bacterial resistance so I made a list of combinations I may try.  I feel like I should run them by my ARNP first but she's such a pain to see (you sit in the waiting room for what feels like eons!).  I am currently taking Cinnamon/Clove/Frankincense.  Sometimes I throw in a Melaleuca blend to bust up biofilms but I found Melaleuca to be a little harsh so I only use it occasionally.  I may try the Candibactin-AR blend as well - Thyme, Oregano, Sage, Melissa.  Many people seem to have good luck with it.


Some Essential Oil research:
http://www.curezone.org/blogs/fm.asp?i=1735341
http://aem.asm.org/content/78/11/4057.full#
http://jmm.sgmjournals.org/content/56/4/519.full

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Where to go now??

I'm about to wrap up my latest protocol and I'm not sure where I want to go from here. The last protocol was messed up a bit by the lack of Parabotonic Select and my accidental addition of a tiny amount of sugar to my diet.  I am highly sensitive to cane sugar so have been having an itchy stomach for weeks.  Thought my gut had become permeable possibly from using Melaleuca internally but then discovered the sugar in my vanilla extract.  And of course I haven't replaced it, I've kept right on using it.  I'm going to dump it in the sink right now to stop the insanity :)

I'm currently listening to a call from Dr. Rachel Fresco who is the creator of Biocidin.  I'm currently doing FDN program and they are big on Bio-Botanical Research products..  She's been consulting with Dr. Siebecker a bit and will be attending the SIBO Syposium. I like that they offer a product to take in between meals to mop up and remove the dead bacteria to help reduce die off symptoms.  It's called GI Detox and contains clay and charcoal.  Haven't tried either of these products because I worry about constipation but I've heard from others they can be beneficial.  Reed Davis had some interesting input about the use of prokinetics since he firmly believes in discovering the root cause and not just treating symptoms. It really seems that you should keep things moving while you work to discover the root cause and in many cases it's not that easy to figure out or fix. Will be interesting to learn as the course goes along how to discover the root cause of issues.

I've got a couple of days left on the current protocol.  I'll let you know once I decide what I'm trying next.  I have my appt with Dr. Keller next week as well to go over the results of my ASI and I have 2 kits to send off to the lab for the FDN course, although they hang on to the results until after I've finished the 5th lesson, which could take me a while! 

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Paleo Book Sale on Amazon

There are several books on sale on Amazon for $2 or less.  Paleo cookbooks like from Zenbelly, Slim Palate and Against All Grain to name a few.  I also grabbed Chris Kresser Paleo Code.  You can go here http://buckbooks.net/dailydeals/#sale or straight to Amazon.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Testing Starch

So at the request of my ND I have been flirting with starch.  I ate a banana last Sunday with my breakfast which was a poor choice given that bananas have a high ferment potential.  I didn't notice any bloating or gas but dealt with C on Monday.  Wednesday I had a small amount of potato with dinner and ended up really bloated (although I also put a bit of garlic powder on the roast).  I ate a tiny amount of potato a couple of days later and did okay and I've eaten the roast separately and did okay so it seems like it was just too much potato. And I don't even like potatoes!  

Adding in that bit of carbs just throws me out of whack and drives my appetite (and cravings) through the roof.  I can't even tell you how many calories I have consumed in the past week but I know it's been astronomical especially the last 3-4 days. I'm lucky that the scale has been kind.  I really do think it's because I keep the carbs down and the fat high. For me it seems to be the key to keeping my belly happy.

Once I got through those blips my digestion has gone back to spot on.  I have been eating celeriac and parsnip noodles with no issues.  Both have starch and fiber so I'll stick with those.  I made Beef Stroganoff with Celeriac Noodles twice.  It's sooooo good.  So then I tried Easy Turkey Taco Celeriac Pasta, delish!  I used either ground beef or bison because it's what I had on hand.  Obviously I am not following AIP so well :)  I seem to be reacting only to eggs and citrus so I'm keeping them out (or limited).  I made Parsnip Noodles with Tuna and Fried Egg next.  It was great for a quick meal.  The chickens are laying like crazy so we always have eggs and I order canned salmon in bulk so as long as I have something to spiralize we're good to go.

The only problem is that my Paderno Spiralizer is starting to cry uncle.  The celeriac in particular is hard for it to handle.  The warranty is only a year and I'm sure we are past that so I'm SOL.  I preordered the Inspiralizer because if anyone knows about what would make a good one, it's this girl.  And it has a 2 year warranty.

FODMAP Note - for all recipes I substitute garlic infused oil for garlic and green onion for regular onions, leave the mushrooms out of the Stroganoff.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

New Protocol - Month One (Part two)

Some of this is based on research and some is just a whim.  (Which means, do your own research and don't follow along on my crazy ideas!).  I'm more prone to trying things because I usually don't experience symptoms of unwellness with any of the supplements I take, most people are far more sensitive, so always start slow with any new supplement.  

As you may remember I saw those interviews with Dr. Ruscio and decided to try some of the products he was using with his patients.  I just ended with Oil of Oregano and GI  Microb-x.  Next up is supposed to be Orthoflora Yeast Support and Parabotonic Select.  I can't get ahold of Parabotonic Select without asking one of my NDs to order it for me and I don't want to. So I'm doing some essential oils that I've looked into a bit (again, not saying you should!).

So, here goes.  Again, I've deleted those things not related to SIBO or digestion.

AM
Bitters (1/2 tsp)
20 drops Iberogast

Breakfast

Cinnamon (1)/Thyme (2)
Allimed (1)
OrthoFlora (2)
Digestyzmes

Before Lunch
Bitters (1/2 tsp)
20 drops Iberogast

Lunch
Digestyzmes
Cinnamon (1)/Thyme (2)
Allimed

Before Dinner 
Bitters (1/2 tsp)
20 drops Iberogast

Dinner

Cinnamon (1)/Thyme (2)
Allimed (1)
OrthoFlora (2)
Digestyzmes

Bedtime
LDN
Magnesium Citrate (as needed)

Erythromycin 50mg (as needed)

After this I will do a lactulose breath test and see where I am at.  I am feeling really good these days and hope my numbers reflect it.

Dr. Keller recommended a probiotic enema, so I tried it last night with less than a full capsule of PrescriptAssist and water in a little 7.5ml Fleet enema.  So far, so good.  Haven't noticed anything different, although I did feel quite euphoric while laying in bed, which was really weird.  It didn't change my bowels, give me gas or make me bloat so that's good sign I hope.

Next up, white rice.  Maybe.  My ND wants me to try it.  I really don't want to.  Maybe I'll start with white potatoes since my husband just pulled a ton out of the garden.

Friday, March 6, 2015

J..J..J...Jittery!

I've been on this T3 taper, increasing my dose of T3 every 3 days.  You go up and then come back down to see when you feel the best and your temperature regulates.  It's been hard getting my temp, this time of year I always drink hot liquids making oral temps out and I always wear a hat making temporal temps difficult too.  Plus I forget :)

Cut to Tuesday of this week when I went up to 60mcg.  Holy moly!  I became jittery and almost manic.  It was like I had chugged a 2 liter of Coke.  I don't drink much caffiene, the occasional Jasmine tea, because I don't tolerate it well.  So I skipped my nighttime dose and the next day woke up and quickly became jittery again.  I skipped the morning dose and luckily was able to skype with Dr. Keller.  She said, "wow!  I can see it and feel it".  It didn't help that I was also easily distracted and the chickens were raising a ruckus outside the open door.  She had me take T4, and restart up my T3 that night, try to stay on it the next day, using T4 to level me out and then taper back down the day after.  Thank goodness my body adjusted, I just couldn't imagine being that hyped up.  Whew!

She says that I should only need to take T3 for a short period of time while we work on my conversion because I am making enough TSH and T4, just not converting it to the usuable Free T3. 

Thursday, March 5, 2015

To Be or Not to Be???

So I've been thinking for a long time about becoming a yoga teacher and a health coach.  I knew there were a lot of online options but how do you chose?  Liz and Diane talked about it on their Balanced Bites podcast episode 177 and I thought hmmm, there's a good place to start.  So I started looking into programs.  MUIH - too pricey, but man a getting a Masters Degree in Yoga would be fun.  IIN - Amazing guest lecturers and has a great reputation, but is focused solely on food (and business) and I feel like I would then have to go through another program.  FDN - am I qualified?  It looks like it mostly covers lab tests and treatment.  Does it go over enough of the food and lifestyle stuff?  NTA - local but doesn't start until fall and will the weekend workshops be in my area cuz I won't travel. It does look more comprehensive than all of them.  

The bottom line is, it seems like we need more people with personal experience with SIBO out there supporting others who are newly diagnosed and struggling.  Providers either are not that helpful with diet and lifestyle or have schedules so booked that you can rarely see them.  I had to cancel an appt in Feb with my local ND and the next time he had available was the end of April.

My favorite yoga studio offers teacher training in the fall.  I would love to teach restorative yoga.  Most people go to yoga to get a workout while what they really need is to learn to nurture and listen to their bodies.  None of the 3 studios that I go to offer a slow flow type of class.  I think that a lot of people would be interested if it was available, mix things up a bit.  I know on days when I am feeling low energy it's hard to go through a strong flow class and when I've gone to a slow flow class, it's felt wonderful (although the 90-105 minutes it took to get there in traffic, not so lovely).

Interesting Articles

I love the idea that the SIBO bacteria may latch on to the resistant starch and ride it into the large intestine.  I may start playing with it, starting with 1/8 of a tsp or less and SLOWLY moving up from there.  Seems everyone uses the Bob's Redmill Unmodified Potato Starch.  Wonder if I can find something organic (and unmodified) as potatoes are usually one of the dirtiest of the dirty dozen.  
http://eatingoffthefoodgrid.blogspot.com/2013/10/resistant-starch-and-sibo.html

Even if you don't have MTHFR or think you have MTHFR this article has a lot of good information about how nutrients feed SIBO and how the SIBO blocks nutrients from being utilized by the body.  I sent in my 23andme kit yesterday.  Wonder how long it takes to process??
http://beyondmthfr.com/2014/09/09/mthfr-and-sibo/