Plants & Good Ol' Pharmaceuticals, Part 1

First, before I I write more, I want to be perfectly clear that I think there is a time and place for pharmaceutical drugs, over-the-counter drugs, recreational drugs... ;) But seriously, I don't think we should never take drugs; there are times when their benefit far outweighs their risks. The obvious situation is in emergencies. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let me explain why I think we could utilize herbs and nutrition instead of drugs sometimes.

I have been absolutely astounded by things I've read lately about how herbs and spices (um, plants) can act as medicines. Garlic, peppermint, lemon, sage, clove, thyme--lots of ordinary kitchen spices kill bacteria and are anti-viral.

I know that many of our current medicines are based on medicinal herbs. What I didn't realize is how effective or powerful herbs can be. (Everytime I write "herb" I think of marajuana, but that's not what I mean! I swear!)

In our society we find the 'active' chemical in such herbs and then manufacture similar chemical compounds in a lab, mix it with binders to make a pill, and then congratulate ourselves when we have a new drug in a fixed, identifiable amount. My DH is quick to point out to me that the medical world can't get excited about herbs because they can't figure out how much a dosage is and how powerful that dose is. That makes sense, since every plant will probably have a different concentration of this and that and the other.

Nonetheless, I haven't seen many herbs that come with the same list that I hear on so many drug commercials. Sure, if you take enough garlic, or enough turmeric, or enough cinnamon, it will be bad for you. Garlic can be bad for your thyroid. Turmeric can thin your blood. But you have to take A LOT.

Now here is a list of side effects for a -statin cholesterol drug. They are frequently prescribed and I very much doubt that doctors across America are doing due diligence and reciting the list of side effects and complications like the nice TV does:

• muscle problems (which can rarely lead to a very serious condition called rhabdomyolysis)
• muscle pain/tenderness/weakness (especially with fever or unusual tiredness)
• change in the amount of urine
• liver problems--yellowing eyes/skin, dark urine, severe stomach/abdominal pain, persistent nausea/vomiting

And: "This is not a complete list of possible side effects." Oh, and death. HA!

I heard a story on NPR about a Doctor who took a -statin and unfortunately he was one of the minority who suffered irreversible muscle damage. They always say it's safe and that hardly anyone has any problems. Most people probably won't have horrible reactions to -statins, but certainly everyone's liver objects to some degree. :) 

I have a great deal of trouble with this because there are plenty of stories about drugs that were 'safe' until they weren't. I have read about drugs that were 'safe' during pregnancy and then, "Oops, your baby is missing limbs." My good friend and I have a similar philosophy about drugs and when offered an anti-nausea drug during her last pregnancy she said "No" riiiiight away because of stories like this. Did you know in the 1940s doctors thought it was okay, even encouraged, to give pregnant ladies X-rays? My dear Grandma (born in 1937) remembers having her feet X-rayed "for fun" at the shoe store. 

My point is that we're all human, even the uber-educated doctors, pharmacists, health-care anyone. Some dude in a lab tests a drug for a certain amount of time on mice, then maybe trials it on some people, and then it's deemed safe for public use. There's never going to be a 100% safety seal on drugs. It's always mostly-safe until someone proves otherwise.

You know all those lawyer commercials on TV? I most recently heard one for an anti-acne drug called Acutane. Apparently, some people who took it have had colon problems to the point of having their colon removed. THEY HAVE NO LARGE INTESTINE. I know that's not the majority, but the fact that drugs can mess with our bodies like this cannot be understated.

Here's a recent story as an anecdote. Apparently a diabetes drug also gives people bladder cancer. Oops. And another drug out there, the breast cancer drug Avastin, was recalled in November (see story here), but the company that makes it is begging it to be FDA approved again. So, to recap, the drug does help slow cancer growth, but it also kills people via stroke and heart attack (oops), and the company wants people to use it because it's a big profit-maker. :)

So, instead of wasting all their resources in America, Avastin peeps have gone to Europe and convinced those guys to market their drug-see that story here. This article says that Avastin is great for treating ovarian cancer, but the FDA has enough evidence here to say that it doesn't significantly increase life expectancy so...what's the point? Anyway, money and politics and stuff. Not so much all about our health.

Read here about Type 2 diabetes drugs that are not FDA approved because similar drugs have been linked to heart attacks. In other news, the actual drug helps with high blood sugars by letting people pee off excess sugar. Now...my DH is a Type 1 diabetic and I can tell you that when he has a high blood sugar he tries to EXERCISE. But don't worry, now there will be a pill for that so you can sit on the couch, eat more carbs, and remain content while your body shuts itself down.

And if that weren't enough, all the drugs we're making and taking are hurting the environment, which in turn hurts us. This article, As Pharmaceutical Drug Use Soars, Drugs Taint Water & Wildlife, gives an example of how. Don't get me started on how the overuse of anti-biotics is hurting our overall health. (But here, have some reading material: Chinese Ministry, WHO, Warn of Antibiotic Overuse and New Drug Resistant TB Identified.

And reason Number Four is that I think there is such a thing as an immoral Big Pharma: Pharmaceutical Companies Can Go Too Far.

What? Reason Number Four you say? 1. Side Effects, 2. Drug Resistance, 3. Environmental Impact (um, who wants drugs in our water?), and 4. Ethical Reasons.

There are plenty of things one can do with herbs or diet instead of taking crazy drugs. My dad has taken fish oil with great success, lowering his bad cholesterol to the normal level. Safer than a -statin.

In any case, this thought process is the one that led me to start looking into herbs as medicines. I have ranted enough today, so I will save Part 2 for tomorrow!

Putting The Damn Puzzle Together

Putting this particular puzzle together is really baffling. I will try to sum up what I have read and written about, but summing up information is much easier than putting it into practice.

To sum up my posts:

*Gluten = Bad.
*Some Foods Are Inflammatory, For Everyone or Just For You. Avoid Them.
*Heal Your Gut. Probiotics, Whole Foods, Avoid Processed Foods.  
*Certain Vitamins, Minerals, & Nutrients are Necessary For Thyroid Health

Dr. Weil's site has an article about regulating Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. His advice is below:

• "Decrease protein intake toward 10 percent of daily calories; replace animal protein as much as possible with plant protein.
• Eliminate cow's milk and all cow's milk products, substituting other calcium sources.
• Eat more fruits and vegetables regularly and make sure that they are organically grown.
• Eliminate polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortening, all partially hydrogenated oils, and all foods (such as deep-fried foods) that might contain trans-fatty acids. Use extra-virgin olive oil as your main fat.
• Increase your intake of omega-3 fatty acids.
• Take ginger (start with one capsule twice a day) and turmeric supplements (follow the dosage directions on the package).
• Protect yourself from harmful effects of stress, start by learning and practicing the 4-7-8 breathing exercise I recommend."

Chris Kresser's site has additional information.

• Removing Autoimmune Triggers

  • Gluten, iodine, stress and a leaky gut trigger an autoimmune response.

  • "Other potential triggers include estrogens, infectious agents, and environmental toxins. Estrogen fluctuations can trigger the gene expression of Hashimoto’s in the presence of inflammation and genetic susceptibility. In addition to turning on the genes associated with Hashimoto’s, estrogen surges have been shown to exacerbate the autoimmune attack on the thyroid."

• "Autoimmune thyroid disease has also been associated with a variety of infectious agents, including Rubella, Rubeolla, Epstein-Barr Virus, Retrovirus, Influenza B virus, Coxsakie virus and Yersinia."

• Enhancing Immune Function-"These strategies are all designed to enhance the function of regulatory T cells (also referred to as the Th3 system). Regulatory T cells are used to balance the activity between T-helper cells (Th1 & Th2) and T-suppressor cells (which “turn off” the immune attack)."

• Vitamin D has been shown to influence regulatory T cells.

• "The gut flora play a significant role in both cell-mediated (Th1) and humoral (Th2) immunity. Studies show that this protective role can be maintained and modulated by taking probiotics."

• "Acupuncture has recently been shown to regulate the Th1 and Th2 immune response. In this study of patients with depression, both Prozac and acupuncture were shown to reduce inflammation. But only acupuncture restored the balance between the Th1 and Th2 systems."

• Reducing Inflammation

• "Essential fatty acids (EFAs) play an important role in preventing and reducing inflammation."

Takeaway? Eat well, live well. :) And also, eliminate stress and toxins from your life as much as one can.

Your Friendly Uterii: A Commercial Interruption

I'm going to get down off of my soapbox for a post entirely about this new doctor I saw today. The last 'annual' I had was way back in February 2010 and then I had a c-section, became really sad, and have since dealt with a shitload of health problems.

Today I decided it was time for another 'annual' (or in my case, every-three-years-appointment) and went to the Gyno.

I chose to go to the University of Colorado hospital because a) I need to establish care with them if I ever have another baby, b) they have a great reputation for VBACs and c) they have a Center for Midwifery where people might respect my hippiness instead of ridiculing it.

The Physician's Assistant I saw today spent a long time getting my history and talking with me about what vitamins and minerals I'm taking. She even wrote down the name of my 'Thyroxal' supplement with a promise to Google it later and get the full list of what's in it.

Here are the awesome takeaways from my appointment:

• My uterus seems to be great!
• So do my ovaries. (Can you believe they grab them? Weird.)
• I am an awesome candidate for VBAC.
• The Center for Midwifery will 'almost certainly' take me on.
• They do pre-conception appointments so that I can talk to someone and make sure that I'm healthy enough to have a baby.

It was really encouraging. She even told me that it was a smart idea to go see an herbalist because..."Why not?"

And she also seemed supportive of my decision to (thus far) not go back to my endocrinologist because I know he wouldn't support me taking an herbal thyroid supplement instead of his prescription. I made sure she knew that if I can't figure this out naturally, then I will do what needs to be done for my body to be 'stable' and that I don't want to have a baby until that happens.

If that's not enough, she also asked if I was taking anything for my sometimes arthritis. I explained that it disappears totally when I have a normal TSH level. She got the idea about all the doctors I've seen and said that 'And every single one has a pill to offer for separate things, right?" And I was so happy I almost kissed her.

The End. :)

Puzzle Piece #4, Nutrients Necessary for Thyroid Health

I have a fantastical announcement to make from yesterday: I had normal poo! Let the celebrating begin...

...and end. My announcement from today is that I was up all night with the Big D and currently feel totally worn out. I have no idea what happened and because I'm still in my PJs (and it's 4:30 PM), I am just going to be content with the fact that it appears to have gotten better. Plus, I took some 'real drug' to stop it, so we'll see how that goes.

This post is going to be about foods, vitamins, and minerals that are supposed to help or hurt thyroid hormone production. This is interesting because, depending on what you're getting and not getting, you might be setting yourself up for thyroid problems or exacerbating the ones you already have.

One of my favorite sites, Women to Women, has a page about thyroid health. They have this AWESOME chart for things you should be eating (though there is some debate about Iodine, as you'll see). I love that is a food chart, instead of a recommendation for what multi-vitamin to buy (or worse, that they could sell you). It's just normal food. Imagine that.

Women to Women has this list of vitamins and minerals we should be getting:

• Iodine
• Selenium
• Zinc
• Iron
• Copper
• Antioxidants and B Vitamins

Other sites/studies back up at least some of these recommendations.

Goodies:

Selenium--In any awesome study entitled "Selenium supplementation in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis decreases thyroid peroxidase antibodies concentrations", it's illustrated that in people with Hashimoto's Disease, Selenium can help! The conclusion? "We conclude that selenium substitution may improve the inflammatory activity in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis, especially in those with high activity." Selenium helps your body to regulate the immune system; it helps keep your immune system in line and not over active.

The study states that "In areas with severe selenium deficiency there is a higher incidence of thyroiditis due to a decreased activity of selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase activity within thyroid cells. Selenium-dependent enzymes also have several modifying effects on the immune system. Therefore, even mild selenium deficiency may contribute to the development and maintenance of autoimmune thyroid diseases."

Some of the posters I have run into online find that taking Selenium has largely helped their Hashimoto's symptoms disappear. Also, I posted before on how taking Selenium supplements helps women who have had postpartum thyroiditis in the past avoid having it (and avoid having a permanent thyroid problem) after subsequent pregnancies. That's powerful stuff!

B Vitamins--Interestingly enough, apparently people with hypothyroidism might also be deficient in B Vitamins. Particularly, B12. Here's a study on that: Vitamin B12 deficiency common in primary hypothyroidism. 40% of they hypothyroid patients looked at were deficient.

Mary Shomon, the About.com Thyroid Guide, has some more information about this. She fleshes out the study and includes symptoms of a B12 deficiency, how a B12 deficiency can contribute to anemia, you get the idea...

Vitamin D--In the article Vitamin D Deficiency and Thyroid Disease , a doc talks about how important Vitamin D is for your thyroid. It says "several articles published over 20 years ago showed that patients with hypothyroidism have low levels of vitamin D. This may lead to some of the bone problems related to hypothyroidism."

More from Mary Shomon on Vitamin D: An M.D. she interviews has this to say: "This particular vitamin is so crucial to thyroid function that its status has now been elevated by researchers to co-hormone. We now know that the variability of thyroid to work or not work in your body is dependent upon the presence of Vitamin D, making it not just of benefit, but absolutely essential."

Fish Oil--Another popular nutrient right now, the study Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Inflammation and Autoimmune Diseases is probably just one among many about how great fish oil can be fore you.
"Animal experiments and clinical intervention studies indicate that omega-3 fatty acids have anti-inflammatory properties and, therefore, might be useful in the management of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases."

They go on to say that "...arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and lupus erythematosis are autoimmune diseases characterized by a high level of IL-1 and the proinflammatory leukotriene LTB₄ produced by omega-6 fatty acids. There have been a number of clinical trials assessing the benefits of dietary supplementation with fish oils in several inflammatory and autoimmune diseases in humans, including rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis and migraine headaches. Many of the placebo-controlled trials of fish oil in chronic inflammatory diseases reveal significant benefit, including decreased disease activity and a lowered use of anti-inflammatory drugs."

I think it's an important side-note that inflammatory processes are helped along (in part, of course) by Omega 6 fatty acids, those that we get a lot of through things like peanut butter, avocado, palm oil, soybean oil, corn oil, blah blah. So, be wary.

Baddies:


Potentially Kale and Cruciferous Veggies--Women to Women has info here too: "...there are hundreds, if not thousands of other compounds found in edible plants that inhibit the TPO enzyme. The isothiocyanates found in the Brassica family of vegetables — broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and so on — can reduce thyroid hormone in the same way. An enlarged thyroid is sometimes referred to as a goiter, and these compounds are sometimes categorized as goitrogens." The author does NOT recommend cutting out all these foods, just making sure that you have enough iodine to bind to TPO enzymes and that you maybe cook some of them to inactivate the isothiocyanates.

A dissenting opinion on this can be found here (which I included for good measure).


Dr. Weil has some good info on this. How I love what that man stands for. Here he answers whether eating broccoli is bad for someone with a thyroid problem. The good doctors says "It is true that cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower contain natural chemicals called goitrogens (goiter producers) that can interfere with thyroid hormone synthesis. Other foods...include corn, sweet potatoes, lima beans, turnips, peanuts, cassava (YUCA), canola oil and soybeans. Fortunately, the goitrogens in these foods are inactivated by cooking, even by light steaming, so there is no need to forego the valuable antioxidant and cancer- protective effects cruciferous vegetables afford." Emphasis mine!

It seems like if you eat a lot of this stuff raw then you'll be getting a lot of anti-thyroid isothiocyanates. (I can't pronounce that, I just copy and paste. Curiously, blogger tells me the one above is spelled correctly but the one I just copied is spelled wrong. :)

Soy--From Women to Women: "Some studies have shown that the isoflavones in soybeans inhibit the enzyme responsible for adding iodine to thyroid hormone, thyroid peroxidase (TPO). These and other studies also demonstrate, however, that soy’s effect on the thyroid involves the critical relationship between your iodine status and thyroid function. This means that if you have low iodine in your body, the soy isoflavone could bond to what iodine you do have, leaving you with an inadequate reserve for thyroid hormone production. Evidence suggests that if you have sufficient iodine in your body, eating soy will most likely not be a problem."

Everything I have read says not to eat lots of soy when you take thyroid medication. Apparently this is because soy can bind to that TPO enzyme (which is the enzyme that assists the chemical reaction that adds iodine to a protein called thyroglobulin, a step in generating thyroid hormone). 

Gluten-- See previous post, Thyroids & Gluten Don't Mix, on this one! But Women to Women has a final word on gluten: "A distinct connection between celiac disease, gluten intolerance, and autoimmune thyroid issues has been observed, and many of my patients find that when they remove gluten-containing foods, they feel much better and notice fewer problems with their thyroid."

Good & Bad:

Iodine--My understanding of iodine is that it's good for normal hypothyroidism (i.e. not autoimmune), but can sometimes be bad for people with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Iodine is necessary for your body to make thyroid hormone. Too much iodine (paired with a Selenium deficiency) can indeed trigger autoimmune thyroiditis. But after you get your Selenium levels back up, it seems like it might be a good idea to make sure you're getting enough iodine.

Looking at both sides of this issue, here I present to you my FAVORITE article on this topic. On Perfect Health a guest author has written up a series of articles on how iodine works with selenium. The reason I was so impressed? These folks chased down a bunch of studies in mice and compared the results and then went on to extrapolate how that might work in humans (again, citing a bunch of studies).

Their conclusion: "Excess iodine intake can cause an autoimmune thyroiditis that bears all the characteristics of Hashimoto’s. However, in animal studies this occurs only if selenium is deficient or in excess. Similarly, in animal studies very high iodine intake can exacerbate a pre-existing autoimmune thyroiditis, but only if selenium is deficient or in excess. With optimal selenium status, thyroid follicles are healthy, goiter is eliminated, and autoimmune markers like Th1/Th2 ratio and CD4+/CD8+ ratio are normalized over a wide range of iodine intake. It seems that optimizing selenium intake provides powerful protection against autoimmune thyroid disease, and provides tolerance of a wide range of iodine intakes."

This natural doc, Jeffrey Dach, also agrees that iodine isn't to be shunned. He says that although iodine alone has been shown to worsen Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, "selenium deficiency is the underlying prerequisite for iodine induced thyroid damage in Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Selenium supplementation is protective and prevents thyroid damage from iodine. Iodine opponents such as Dr K and Chris Kresser as well as the studies they quote tend to ignore the role of selenium."

Here's an opinion from someone who is clearly anti-iodine for people with autoimmune thyroiditis. I have liked Dr. Chris Kessler for other opinions, but the more research I did the more I have to admit that maybe he's not presenting the whole picture.

This blog has a list of good sources of iodine, in case you were curious whether or not you are getting enough. I haven't had iodized table salt in the house in awhile and we haven't eaten fast food in awhile. So, from what I can tell I'm not getting much iodine now. Who knows what my intake was before this whole mess..

The point--Eat well, live well. There are a lot of tiny nutrients that can make a big impact on your health.

Puzzle Piece #3, Food Allergies, Inflammation, & The Death of My Thyroid

Update On Me: 

I'm doing okay. Some days I feel really run down, some days I feel fine. I am trying to eat well, but I do so like sugary things. But I try to balance out my cookie addiction with flax meal and chia seeds. :) I have been taking pro-biotics every day, multiple times a day. I started taking fish oil, Vitamin D, and some other vites just to make (extra) sure I'm getting what I need.

I'm still a little pissed that things like carrots and celery turned up on my Inflammation Scale. ?! They are harder to avoid than I thought because, um, they're healthful vegetables.

Poo Update--My husband's professional opinion is that it is "solid, not formed" which is a VAST improvement over "What the hell is that in the toilet!?"

Emotionally I am getting closer to giving up on this Chinese medicine thing and just taking the fake thyroid hormone from the pharmacy. DH pointed out that were I to give up now, just as I've been armed with a list of offending foods, I might regret not giving it a 100% chance. So, I am going to make an appointment with the Chinese Herbalist Dude (or, as we endearingly know him, C.A.G.) and voice my frustrations to him.

I think I will take the Thyroxal for awhile longer and try to avoid any foods that are on my 'list'. The idea is still to get to a place where I feel well enough that I can start reducing the Thyroxal and see if my thyroid picks up the slack.

Today I had more muscle tightness and arthritis and that was annoying. :( I haven't gained any weight (well, maybe a pound) BUT I haven't lost any either, which is great!

Puzzle Piece #3

Food intolerance can lead to a leaky gut (see some other Puzzle Piece). Summary: When you eat something your body is intolerant to, it causes gut inflammation and can make your intestinal wall porous or permeable. (Gross, right?)

Then bits of the food you eat can leak into your body and blood stream, causing all sorts of problems because your body identifies it as a foreign body and tries to attack it. Then, whenever you eat that food again, your body tries to attack it (i.e. your body's natural inflammatory response).

Therefore, a leaky gut leads to inflammation. Double inflammation, since your gut was inflamed and then food leaked into your body....anyway.  Chronic inflammation leads to BAD things happening.

 Normal Inflammatory Response


Normally, inflammation is for temporary bacteria or viruses that your body needs to eliminate. With allergies and autoimmune processes, the inflammatory process gets a little out of control.

I have thyroiditis (or inflammation of the thyroid) and most likely an inflamed intestine. I have written already about how gluten looks like thyroid cells to your body, so once gluten is in your blood stream your body might mistakenly attack the thyroid. Further, if you have any other intolerances or food allergies, the problem is made more complex.

Recently a friend expressed incredulity that chronic inflammation could eventually lead to more complex problems (like mine or worse). Well, I have done did the research about inflammation (which could come from anything, stress, eating poorly, eating things you're allergic to, you get the idea) and I present it to you.

This is a link to part of a textbook, but what the preview they show illustrates just what I'm talking about: *"...recent evidence supports that inflammatory mediators per se, even if they are generated by chronic disease states, go on to have a potent biological impact on the exacerbation of chronic diseases and contribute to the development of new disease states." It then goes on to state that certain types of chronic inflammation leads to cancer.

Here is a published work called Chronic inflammation, the tumor microenvironment, and carcinogenesis.This is the first sentence of it: "Chronic inflammation often precedes or accompanies a
substantial number of cancers." The very next sentence is about how anti-inflammatory stuff helps prevent cancer. Hmm.

The study "Chronic Inflammation and Oxidative Stress as a Major Cause of Age- Related Diseases and Cancer" only looks at inflammation in terms of age, but I think it's still valuable information: "Chronic inflammation is a pathological condition characterized by continued active inflammation response and tissue destruction...there is a general concept that chronic inflammation can be a major cause of cancers and express aging processes [such as] diabetes, cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases. Inflammatory process induces oxidative stress and reduces cellular antioxidant capacity. Overproduced free radicals react with cell membrane fatty acids and proteins impairing their function permanently. In addition, free radicals can lead to mutation and DNA damage that can be a predisposing factor for cancer and age-related disorders." It doesn't look like the folks who published this one spoke English as a first language, so cut them a break...

Other studies I found (just on good ol' Google Scholar) mentioned links between inflammation and all types of cancer, poly-cystic ovarian syndrome, insulin resistance in Type II diabetics, chronic heart failure, etc. It even looks like having recurrent infections can lead to chronic inflammation.

For a personal anecdote, I offer up my DH and Dear Dad. Recently my Daddy-O and my husband have started eating better, largely because I pitched a hissy fit about much I love them and don't want them to die anytime soon. I digress. Since both these men have stopped eating a great many things that aren't great for them (fast food, soda, lots of red meat, greasy, fried things, you get the idea) they have noticed a) they feel better and b) whenever they DO eat those things again, there is an increase in sinus mucous production (um, snot, I guess), breathing issues, and generally how GOOD they feel. Sounds like bad food increases inflammation to me. The doc Forks Over Knives talks specifically about how animal products are inflammatory...and lead to cancer.

It's also important that you understand this sub-puzzle-piece--if I just took whatever drugs the good doctors offer to alleviate my diarrhea, my arthritis, and maybe even replace my thyroid hormone, then I would just be covering up symptoms. If I keep eating things or doing things to my body that cause inflammation, the inflammation will only get worse and I will need ever more drugs. Make sense? The idea is to STOP the inflammation, hopefully by eating and living well.

There was a dude in the aforementioned documentary who chose to eat poorly and spend his money on all the diabetes (Type 2), blood pressure, and cholesterol drugs he needed. His family was tight for money and couldn't afford both veggies/fruits AND their personal pharmacy. But if you think about this, it doesn't make much sense. If he keeps eating fast food, his diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol will get worse. He'll need more drugs. And eventually he'll end up in the hospital, maybe from a heart attack, with a giant hospital bill. Then the system will pay for his poor health. So....I'm saying I think that eating well is worth a little bit extra up front, because it might save you money at the end anyway.

If eating milk is supposedly causing inflammation in my gut and an autoimmune attack on my thyroid, then I'll give not drinking milk a try. I like this option better than the standard "We no idea why your body would do that at all! Here's a drug", thank you very much.

I was assuming that not eating wheat or gluten would be the big deal for me, but the IgG blood test showed that milk in all sorts of forms (whey, casein, cheese, even goat's milk) was an even bigger problem for me. I know that IgG tests are controversial, but for my purposes right now (seeing as I'm a Guinea Pig) I am still avoiding the foods that showed up as highly inflammatory. If it still doesn't make sense why I want to curb inflammation, go back and start at the beginning. ;)

Some other bloggers have written on this issue:

My Disability Blog

A Life of Sugar & Spice

*Note: I put in elipses when I edit words out of quotes, but I try not to change the meaning of the quote. I include links so you can double check me. Here, I took out the word "however". Often times I think the medical community tends to be long-winded and ultimately confusing in their word choice so I try to cut out the words that I think add to the confusion. Just FYI. 

Puzzle Piece #2, Thyroids & Intestinal Health

 "All disease begins in the gut." -Hippocrates

It's been so long since I last posted and there have been so many holidays in-between, that I'm not sure what I've posted last. Nonetheless, I will post as if I have never ever posted on this topic before, one because I honestly can't remember and two because some people might only read this little post.

So, the formal thesis (Ha! As if I really have such a thing...) of this post is that your health (and thyroid function) and the state of your intestinal tract are intertwined. I like to think all of our body's functions are intertwined, but most M.D.s don't seem to think so. I digress.

I recently started taking lots of pro-biotics, a pro-biotic yeast, and just eating really, really well because of this idea. It makes sense that after years of perhaps unnecessary antibiotics, a poor diet (I like sugar...and certain fast food), and then major abdominal surgery (with lots MORE antibiotics, yay!) my gut wouldn't be in the best shape.

The Chris Kessler dude has a good post on this that was worth reading. He says that "Poor gut health can suppress thyroid function and trigger Hashimoto’s disease, and low thyroid function can lead to an inflamed and leaky gut..." Something that was surprising to me is that a large part of our gut's function is as part of our immune system, not just to process food. "This portion of the immune system is collectively referred to as GALT, or gut-associated lymphoid tissue. The GALT comprises several types of lymphoid tissues that store immune cells, such as T & B lymphocytes, that carry out attacks and produce antibodies against antigens, molecules recognized by the immune system as potential threats."

He goes on to explain that gut bacteria plays a role in helping us convert thyroid hormone from T4 to T3. !

The Women to Women site also has info on this same topic. They write that bacteria in our gut "help us to digest food, aid nutrient absorption, produce certain key vitamins, prevent disease, and much, much more." And when we don't have healthy gut bacteria (when it's been depleted or when the bad bugs outweigh the good ones, for example) it can cause "gas, bloating, cramps, headaches, joint problems and more." This can happen "after a particularly stressful period in life, an illness, as a consequence of prescription meds, or even by way of a junk-food or drinking habit."

The rest of this page is about how to improve gut health (eat well, take some pro-biotics). I guess it's important because poor gut health can affect your whole body and lead to (or at least complicate) all sorts of problems. I think even autoimmune ones, which most docs will tell you are just confounding.

This link is an excerpt from a Scientific American interview with a guy who studies these types of things. "The more we looked into it, the more we realized that microbes were so intimately involved in animal metabolic processes that they might have contributions to disease development in ways that hadn't really been thought of before. We're really just starting to expand this now, thinking about how gut microbes influence all sorts of things. They have influences on liver diseases and gut pathology like Crohn's disease and irritable bowel syndrome; there's even evidence that autistic children have very, very different gut microflora [than other children]. Almost every sort of disease has a gut–bug connection somewhere. It's quite remarkable."

What?! Crohn's Disease? Irritable Bowel Syndrome? See, what you put in your face and the condition of your guts is totally important.

Here's the abstract from a study done in 2003: "The human gut is the natural habitat for a large and dynamic bacterial community...the relevance and effect of resident bacteria on a host's physiology and pathology has been well documented. Major functions of the gut microflora include metabolic activities that result in salvage of energy and absorbable nutrients, important trophic effects on intestinal epithelia and on immune structure and function, and protection of the colonised host against invasion by alien microbes. Gut flora might also be an essential factor in certain pathological disorders, including multisystem organ failure, colon cancer, and inflammatory bowel diseases. Nevertheless, bacteria are also useful in promotion of human health. Probiotics and prebiotics are known to have a role in prevention or treatment of some diseases." I added the emphasis.

Another interesting article called "Learning How Gut Bacteria Influence Health: Scientists Crack Sparse Genome of Microbe Linked to Autoimmunity" talks about how certain bacteria can protect your gut from bad bugs but also might start autoimmune processes in our body. Crazy, intricate stuff.

Something else I picked up from this excursion onto the Internet is that when we are born, our guts are sterile and no bacteria has been introduced yet. Do you know where we get our beneficial bacterial colonization? From the first taste of breast milk--that oily, thick stuff called Colostrum. One more reason to breast feed.

Also, now that I've written all this I think I may have touched on gut health before. TOO BAD, here's more information, perhaps some of the very same information. The lovely thing about being my own blogging editor is that I don't mind repeating myself. :)

Encouragement From Around & About

I have come across a lot of Thyroid/Autoimmune/Pregnancy/IBS discussion boards as a big part of my Internet 'research' (on these types of non-academic issues especially). The reason I am posting exclusively about this is because I think that people's experiences, successes, and failures are just as useful to me as the information posted on the Mayo Clinic web site.

That is truthfully how I feel. Why wouldn't someone who has a chronic condition, tried various treatments, seen various doctors, etc. etc. be a sort of expert in their own right? In any case, as an illustration I will use DD's last pediatrician appointment.

My DH told the pediatrician that our DD had had a runny nose for some time and that it seemed to correlate with teething. The pediatrician said that a runny nose as a symptom of teething is not supported in any medical literature that she's come across, but that she has heard from hundreds of parents that runny noses and teething go hand in hand. So because of so much practical evidence, she is able to see that a runny nose might very well be because of teething.


So the following is from a Baby Center discussion board in which a woman posts about treating her own thyroid. Obviously, I found this quite interesting. She did go see an endocrinologist and seems to have a regular doctor, she just isn't all about taking their word as law.

"Hello!

I came on this chat page to answer...and her question about Selenium and Thyroid antibodies.

I'm 25 and was diagnosed with Hashimoto's about 2 years ago. My TSH was a 7.0 (normal range is 0.3-3.0) but it is best to be between a 1.0-2.0 for pregnancy. My Thyroid Antibodies were at 607.2 (normal is .03-3.0) I started taking 200mcg of Selenium with 400IU of Vit E in the mornings. 3months later my TSH was down to 2.3 and my antibodies were down to 290.4. My last blood work was this week and My TSH is at a 1.9 and my antibodies are the same, so I'm starting a Gluten free diet and taking B vitamins to see if this helps the antibodies to go down more. Selenium saved my life, before going on it I was having such horrible panic attacks that I could not leave me home. So Selenium did drop my TSH back to normal and my antibodies in half! I really hope this helps you!" 

[Here someone basically says "What the hell?! You have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and have to be on medication for the rest of your life. Aren't you on Synthroid?"

"Yes, your thyroid peroxidase antibodies should not be over a 3.0, so I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's when they were at a 607.2 and my TSH was a 7.0 It's only considered Hashimoto's if your antibodies are high AND you have a high TSH. I never started taking Synthroid/Thyroid Replacement even though my doctor wanted me to. After 4 weeks on Selenium and Vit E my TSH dropped to 5.3 and my Endo said not to get my hopes up, that I may still have to go on synthroid, then the next month my TSH dropped to 4.6 and by the 3rd month my TSH was down to a 2.3 and my antibodies were down half of what they were. It's been almost 2 years and all I've ever taken is Selenium and last week my TSH was 1.9, so now I technically do not have Hashimoto's, Because my TSH is normal without medication. At the same time 2 years ago I was diagnosed with IC a cronic bladder problem and fibrocystic breast disease. After being on selenium for a year, they both disappeared! My docotors have even done case studies on me and are giving their patients selenium now. I just want other people to know that there is something out there that may help them. Also Many studies have been done on pregnant women taking selenium and they have found it to help with other complications that can happen during pregnancy."

"Hello,

Here are the links to the Selenium and Vit E that I take

http://www.swansonvitamins.com/SWU086/ItemDetail?n=4294967189

http://www.swansonvitamins.com/SW131/ItemDetail?n=4294967189

DO NOT take selenium with any Vitamin C...Supplements, orange juice..ect...It will counteract the Selenium. Vitamin E helps the uptake of Selenium that's why I take them together.

I've been told that Selenium is safe during pregnancy.

alot of studies have been done in Italy on the subject

here's a link to one

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-171953127.html

Here are some intersting facts about Hashi's

Vitamin D deficiency can cause Hashimoto's

Just had my blood work done and found out that I have a very bad Vitamin D deficiency. Most people do and don't even know it.

Also if you have ever used antibiotics, they can cause your antibodies to go radical, so my doctor also told me to go on Probiotics, they play a huge part on calming Thyroid Antibodies as does Vitamin D.

Also I've started using a non fluoride toothpaste. When Hyperthyroid first showed up in the USA the only thing they used to slow down they thyroid was Fluoride! If you use it everyday in your toothpase, it very well could be making you hypothyroid.

Another thing...Gluten allergies can also cause High Thyroid antibodies!

Something has to be causing us to get Hashimoto's! I just feel it is best to be tested for the CAUSE of the disease, then try to fix it natural first.

If I would have listened to my first doctor and endo, I would be on drugs for the rest of my life.

I now daily take:

200mcg of Selenium with 400IU of Vit E

B-50 Complex Vitamins with folic acid

Omega 3's

all in the morning

then 5,000 IU of Vit D before dinner!

I Feel 100% better than I did 2 years ago!

Oh and by the way! The FDA hates natural cures because they can not make money off them! Haha!"
 
[Here someone says that Synthroid is a supplement like any other and that it seems the same philosophically to take Synthroid or Selenium.]

"Sorry to say, but Synthroid is medication! Your Thyroid naturally produces T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 and a bone protector. Synthroid is Pure T4 That's all! Hence the reason many women who are on Synthroid for life end up with Osteoporosis. Also your thyroid uses T4 and converts it to T3 (what the bodies uses) So if there is a problem with the thyroid converting the T3 you will still be Hypo.

Also 90% of people with Hypothyroid do test positive for thyroid Antibodies! Your thyroid does not normally stop working on its own, something causes it to.

As far as taking supplements goes, most people with autoimmune disease have issues with their intestines absorbing the proper nutrients. It is very hard to get 200mcg of Selenium a day just by eating food. You would also need to go outside buck naked EVERY day for 30mins a day to get the proper amount of Vitamin D from the sun. It is a Fact that most people with Hashimoto's are Deficient in Vitamin D, Iron, B12 and Selenium and being so can cause hypothyroid. Also Omega 3's are anti inflammatory and calm thyroid antibodies. I'm living proof!

Then again I could have just gone on Sythroid for the rest of my life, let my thyroid DIE and constanly be going in for tests and readjusting my medication dose..yes medication because you do need a perscription for it! Most doctors are drug pushers, because they get kickbacks from the pharmaceutical companies.

At the end of the day

Synthroid was created by MAN

Vitamins and Minerals are Created by GOD

I trust him more than man.

I do understand that some peoples thyroids are dead and they HAVE to go on thyroid hormone replacement. I'm just letting people know that there are other things out there."

Obviously, I hope I have as much success doing natural stuff. I did find another woman online who tried all the 'natural' things and didn't feel any better at all. She was essentially very discouraging because her attitude now is that you WILL need some medication, so just take it already and give up trying for something better. :/ It bears noting that she believes her health problems are largely due to growing up in a house filled with black mold that wasn't discovered until she moved out. Eeek.

It's very nice reading and connecting with people online who are striving for the same things--to locate the source of 'inflammation', stop the inflammation, and ideally recover from the autoimmune processes that have been started.

Puzzle Piece #1, Thyroids & Gluten Don't Mix

So I recently joined a page on Facebook that is for people who have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. It is really interesting to me how many people have been reading up on this stuff in more 'alternative' books and web sites. As a result, lots and lots of the people with Hashi's have been going gluten-free.

If I've already answered this question before, I'm sorry! But I'd like to post about why people think it's important to stop eating gluten and wheat when you have an autoimmune thyroid condition. From what I can gather, my body, for example, doesn't like gluten. Gluten molecules (I'm probably using the wrong word here...) look really similar to thyroid cells, so when your body creates antibodies against gluten or wheat....those antibodies go on ahead and attack the thyroid too. It's a case of mistaken identity.

I like Chris Kesser's post about this issue quite a lot: "Several studies show a strong link between AITD (both Hashimoto’s and Graves’) and gluten intolerance. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. The link is so well-established that researchers suggest all people with AITD be screened for gluten intolerance...

What explains the connection? It’s a case of mistaken identity. The molecular structure of gliadin, the protein portion of gluten, closely resembles that of the thyroid gland. When gliadin breaches the protective barrier of the gut, and enters the bloodstream, the immune system tags it for destruction. These antibodies to gliadin also cause the body to attack thyroid tissue. This means if you have AITD and you eat foods containing gluten, your immune system will attack your thyroid.

Even worse, the immune response to gluten can last up to 6 months each time you eat it. This explains why it is critical to eliminate gluten completely from your diet if you have AITD. There’s no “80/20″ rule when it comes to gluten. Being “mostly” gluten-free isn’t going to cut it. If you’re gluten intolerant, you have to be 100% gluten-free to prevent immune destruction of your thyroid."

I have left in the citations and links to sources because it's all backed up by one study or another.

About.com has a whole page dedicated to this phenomenon written by a woman named Mary Shomon, a self-made expert and author. Anyway, this page is really interesting. The high points:

• A significant number of people with autoimmune thyroid disease also have Celiac Disease.
• Research published in Digestive Diseases and Sciences indicates that after three to six months on a gluten-free diet, organ-specific antibodies will disappear. 
• Some researchers believe that undiagnosed celiac disease (i.e., you shouldn't be eating wheat and gluten but you still are) can trigger other autoimmune diseases.

(To be fair, another study published more recently from the Scandinavian Journal of Gastoenterology indicates that even going gluten-free cannot stop an autoimmune thyroid attack. As always, there is conflicting information out there that I feel I need to represent!)

Interestingly enough, I haven't gluten in a long time. And remember how my Physician's Assistant had my thyroid antibodies checked awhile back? They were 'normal'. So....? Food for though.

This dude's web site (Jeffrey Dach) has a story about someone with a gluten sensitivity. The part I thought was most interesting is how eating something that you are sensitive to could trigger an attack on any part of your body. He says, "Autioimmune thyroid disease is especially common among people with gluten sensitivity, with elevated anti-thyroid antibodies (Hashimotos) which decrease after initiating a gluten free diet.(24) One can make a case for gluten sensitivity testing for all patients with autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimotos)." 

Of course the word to describe this reaction--inflammation. "The immune response involves production of various antibodies and immune cells which damages the small intestine, reducing its absorptive ability.  This is called malabsorption, and results in the inability to absorb key vitamins and minerals such as Iron, Calcium, folate and B12.  These abnormalities will show up on the blood count as iron deficiency anemia, and B12/folate deficiency anemia." 

Funnily enough I have had borderline anemia at least since my son was born.

I don't really understand fully what is going on with my body, but between the stuff out there suggesting gluten is bad for my thyroid (i.e. that it is possibly encouraging my own body to kill off an organ I need...) and the IgG markers I have saying that gluten and wheat are inflammatory to me, I think I'm better off staying away from it, don't you?

Leaky Gut Syndrome, Not Just For Alcoholics

I have been coming across a lot of information on something called 'Leaky Gut' syndrome. No matter what I'm looking for (candida, parasites, food intolerance, Celiac Disease, Crohn's Disease....) I always come across this Leaky Gut business.

What is it? I thought it was almost exclusively something that happened to alcoholics, or people with chronic abuse of some sort. I guess it's fair to say I really had no idea what it is.

Wonderful Wikipedia says that it "is a name used to describe intestinal or bowel hyperpermeability. Tight junctions (TJs) represent the major barrier within the pathway between intestinal epithelial cells that line the digestion tract. Disruption of TJs leads to intestinal hyperpermeability (the so-called "leaky gut") which has been proposed by some researchers to involve a relationship with acute and chronic diseases such as systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes, allergies asthma,and autism."

Hopefully you can see why this would be interesting to me. If stuff you eat can leak into your body because your intestine is permeable, it might screw with your inflammatory response and lead to serious problems.

The other interesting thing to me is that Leaky Gut can cause foods that you aren't techincally allergic or intolerant to, to cause a reaction in your body. I have been scratching my head over why nuts or strawberries would affect me one time so markedly and another time not at all. Leaky Gut is a theory that explains that. 

One of my favorite sites, Women to Women, explains that "The leaking of these [food] particles alerts your body that something is wrong, and your immune system tries to come to the rescue by igniting inflammation. As inflammation increases, the layer of beneficial bacterial colonies lining the intestines decreases, which only makes the problem worse." Here is a diagram from this web site:

Further, the site says "Your gut plays a crucial role in immune function because it contains special areas called gut-associated lymphatic tissue (GALT) that protect you from allergy-causing food antigens and disease-carrying microbes. With leaky gut, these and other harmful substances can gain access to your blood stream and travel far and wide throughout the body."

How does a leaky gut start? Perhaps from things that you are really intolerant or allergic to, in my case I'd say wheat and milk for starters. This site also lists "certain medications, treatments...antibiotics ...radiation, chemotherapy, steroid drugs (corticosteroids), aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, other NSAID’s...Leaky gut may also show up along with parasites, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and irritable bowel syndrome that is traced to food intolerance."

Of the things mentioned here, I have had parasites, crazy amounts of antibiotics (for the c-section and then for the parasites, aside from the 'normal' for ear infections, etc.), and food intolerances.

Dr. Weil (whom I also love), says that food leaking into your body "triggers an autoimmune reaction, which can lead to gastrointestinal problems such as abdominal bloating, excessive gas and cramps, fatigue, food sensitivities, joint pain, skin rashes, and autoimmunity. The cause of this syndrome may be chronic inflammation, food sensitivity..." I added emphasis to show what symptoms I have had. Could it be that I have had chronic inflammation, because of food intolerances and parasites and stress and it finally got to be too much? Of course there could always be something additional going on too.

Another dude's (Chris Kessler) web site has a great illustration:

This sites says that one of the gut's primary functions is to prevent bad stuff (waste) from getting into our body. Our gut takes the good stuff and leaves the rest. And more: "Another important function of the gut is to host 70% of the immune tissue in the body...Problems occur when either of these protective functions of the gut are compromised. When the intestinal barrier becomes permeable (i.e. “leaky gut syndrome”), large protein molecules escape into the bloodstream. Since these proteins don’t belong outside of the gut, the body mounts an immune response and attacks them. Studies show that these attacks play a role in the development of autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto’s."


It is worth noting that every doctor I have ever seen says I have INFLAMMATION, what they fail to put together is that I have generalized inflammation, which signals some sort of underlying problem to me.

The thyroid doctor sees just the thyroid inflammation, the arthritis doc sees just joint inflammation, the gastro sees just intestinal inflammation.

My point is that it's a problem I like to look at as a whole, not in its parts. The Western solution would be to take a drug for each of these separate problems. Seems silly if cutting out certain foods and rebuilding my intestinal health would eliminate my symptoms.

But of course this idea is not totally accepted in Western medicine, at least not from what I can gather. 


The solutions? From these sites collectively, here are their suggestions for helping heal the gut:

• Avoid foods that cause inflammation
• Avoid foods you are intolerant to
• Avoid processed, fried foods
• Take a fish oil supplement/Eat more fish (Omega 3s!)
• Try supplementing with glutamine 
• "Glutamine has been found particularly helpful for maintaining the structure and function of the intestine. For example, glutamine has been shown to improve damage done to the gut mucosa from radiation and chemotherapy." -Women To Women
• Take probiotics
• Avoiding NSAIDS

The good news? I'm already doing all those things! So....I guess I'll keep doing them since it doesn't appear to hurt anything.

And my update? After a WEEK of taking lots and lots of probiotics, I'm starting to have normal poo! I guess that's the important part of this whole post. If what has been wrong with me this whole time is just not having any good bacteria....wow. I guess having a balanced intestine really does make a big difference in health.

Another Woman....Our Juicer

I meant to post this a million years ago, but better late than never! We bought a juicer a few months ago, just like the dude in Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead, because we were inspired. I have found that if you add sweet to anything vegetable, it tastes just fine.

If we juice lots of kale and spinach, put in a few limes, some pineapple, or apples, and you can't taste the sour vegetable taste at all. I don't mean all of those fruits, just a few! I was adding carrots and celery to our juicing, but then realized that the carrots aggravate my tum-tum some.

Here are some of the things we have thrown in there:

• Kale
• Spinach
• Parsley (not a lot of juice)
• Tomatoes
• Radishes
• Cucumber
• Celery
• Carrots
• Limes
• Lemons
• Pineapple
• Apples
• Oranges
• Ginger Root
• Any Kind of Lettuce
• Blueberries

I just love it. For my DH, he has noticed a few more pointed improvements in his health since we started juicing stuff up. He feels less fatigued and more clear-headed, which is saying something. I personally think that upping our fruit/veggie intake in this concentrated way is probably anti-inflammatory, which everyone could use.

A small update on me--things are marginally better! My DH, who used to help quadraplegics poop on a regular basis, can certifiably say that it's getting better with the probiotics and avoidance of inflammatory foods. And he IS an expert.

The Plan of Attack

This is basically part two of my last post, but I'm dividing it up for easy digestion. Ha! A punny tummy joke.

In our last conversation (besides advising why I should get a tube shoved up my bum), my dad pointed out that I have been too impatient and then wanted to know exactly what action I was taking to improve my health.

This is confusing ("Slow down! Do something! What are you doing?") and it's his fault anyway that I am so impatient so this is clearly all his fault. But he's right, I am very impatient. I'm confused and I'd like to move on from this valley in my life. Given that I need to 'give things time' and that I need to stick with one health regimen, here's what I have decided to do. Hopefully I will stick with it for a good few months and see some positive changes.

1. Stick with the Cool Acupuncture Guy. He is the only one who is never flummoxed by what's happening with my body because it's all explained by how 'cold' my body is. I am still taking the Herbal Concoction he made to stop the Big D. I am also still taking the Thyroxal medicine from his office so help support my thyroid.

2. Take crap loads of probiotics. Because I have 'sparse normal flora' I am taking some probiotics that the CAG gave me as well as some probiotics I had in the fridge. I have some non-dairy yogurt. I am also taking something called Florastor (I think I've mentioned it before) that is basically this amazing yeast called Saccharomyces Boulardii. I took it when I was on Flagyl for a parasite and I think that's why the parasite hasn't come back.

Because several people I've spoken to have never heard of a good yeast, I did a fair amount of research into this little yeasty and it is an amazing, amazing bug. It promotes enzyme production by your intestines, inhibits the inflammatory response in your gut, discourages parasites, can help mediate diarrhea, discourages intestinal tumor growth, can help alleviate the symptoms of virtually all the gasto disease (Crohn's, Ulcerative Colitis, etc.), and there is very little risk of overgrowth. A-mazing. There is study upon study out there about this stuff.

A good one: Saccharomyces Boulardii Effects on Gastrointestinal Diseases.

I digress. Not having any good bacteria is a reason in and of itself for having diarrhea. :( So, must remedy this one before I move on to some other diagnosis.

3. Eat low-carb, low-sugar.

I have noticed that when I eat lots of carbs, like rice pasta and potatoes, my symptoms are worsened. I postulate this might be because this stuff feeds the bad bugs in my gut--the yeast, c-diff....In any case, eating less sugar is hard (remember the day I tried that?) but probably worth it. :(

4. Avoid foods that I had an IgG reaction to.

I don't know if you can see this, but the picture is a part of my test results from the IgG blood test I had done. Supposedly it tests whether your blood reacts with inflammation to certain foods. The RED boxes are the ones that I react to strongly. Wheat and other grains aren't on this page, but milk is. Casein, Whey, Milk products were all way higher than wheat (which was still very high), so no milk and wheat for me. Still.

The End. :)

Mystery Diagnosis

I still have the Big D, everyone, but the good news is that I seem to have plateaued on the weight loss front.

So, I made a spreadsheet a few days ago to compare the main ailments that are being considered by myself, by my new doctor, by my family...here are the forerunners:

1. Recurrent Parasitic Infection by Blastocystis Hominis
2. Overgrowth of Yeast 
3. Celiac Disease
4. Crohn's Disease

Here's where I'm at on our theories.

1. Three samples of poo have shown no itty bitty parasites. So I'm going to leave that one alone right now and assume there are no parasites in my gut. Thank the Lord.

2. Overgrowth of yeast--technically still a possibility. The yeast they did find in a stool sample was not overgrown, it was sparse. Still don't know what type it was though. We all have yeast in our gut, but it's supposed to remain balanced with the good stuff in your gut. Everything is all about balance. The universe must have an equal amount of good to counteract the forces of evil!

3. If I really just had Celiac Disease, I'm thinking that not eating wheat would have helped by now.

I have read that wheat/gluten intolerance is associated with thyroid disease and I haven't (intentionally) had wheat in a long, long time. Remember how my thyroid antibodies were down to 'normal' levels and no longer too high? I'm wondering if it was cutting out wheat.

In any case, it might have helped my overall situation because of an intolerance, but the stories I've read about people with true Celiac Disease indicates that cutting out wheat makes a drastic improvement right away. ? Thoughts?

4. Crohn's Disease is also still a possibility and can only be 100% ruled out by a colonoscopy. I have had the blood test done and it was negative. I have some reservations jumping on this one for myself because while I do have some hallmark sypmtoms (diarrhea, weight loss), I do not have others (loss of appetite, internal bleeding, pain inside your gut, ulcers, the D isn't uncontrollably urgent, possible fever...). So from what I know about Crohn's versus IBS, it sounds more like I have IBS.

So what am I doing now? Well, from my recent poo tests I have two new pieces of information. 1. I do not have a parasite (though I have heard it takes up to ten to spot those buggers! I'm not doing that right now...) and 2. I have no normal flora in my gut. This is the information I am using going forward...see next blog post.

Now, as my dad has explained to me, a colonoscopy is a 100% for sure way to rule out some of these things. Friends and family have had them done and survived! But I'm going to use my amazing powers of prediction to guess that a colonoscopy would show that there's inflammation (No, shit, Sherlock) but no bleeding, no damage to my small villi, no ulcers....and guys, I am not ready to do that yet.

I am not ready to drink that gallon of crap and then crap my pants out SOME MORE just to hear some more doctors say they have no idea what's going on. I know, I know, "How will I ever know what's going on if they don't look!?"

Doctors can't tell everything just by looking. It's like exploratory surgery 'just to see' what they can see. Not a fan. I used to have a mindset that gave doctors free reign to do whatever they said was necessary to fix the problem. So sue me if after a year and a half of no diagnosis I'm not as trusting. Last time I let people poke around by my guts (um, a c-section), my guts didn't respond very well. And also I have a neighbor who has had a bowel perforation and I am not even going to go into that...read more about horrible risks here.

A colonoscopy is obviously something I will do...at a certain point. I will talk to my doctor, see what she thinks, and go from there.

You Want to Put What, Where?!

Today I went back to my doctor to talk to her about...things. She's wonderful, did I mention that?

Here's the Rundown:

*She is willing to call the lab that did my stool test to see several things--which sort of yeast was 'sparsely' growing. She is going to double check and see if they found Blasto but aren't reporting it because they think it's non-pathogenic. She is also going to ask how they tested the stuff (microscopic or fixative) and why they included the information that there was 'sparse' normal flora.

*She is willing to let me try two more stool tests from the same lab (LabCorps) that found it the first time. I think this makes a difference because different labs are...different.

*She looked at my IgG tests and told me to stay the heck away from milk and wheat to see if it helped. When I asked if she thought the IgG test was valid, she mentioned that she posed the same question to a friend who is an allergist. He said that the IgG marker is fine (and to him, dissmissive) because it's like having a trigger on a gun with no gunpowder. She agreed that for me, whose primary problem is just general inflammation, it seemed logical to really, really, really stay away from milk and wheat.

*If there is nothing to see in my samples and there is no improvement with a stricter diet (as in, no sneaking Halloween candy and real butter, *cough*) then she suggested I get a biopsy done. :( I'm really hoping they find the darn parasite instead. A biopsy will help confirm/rule out things like Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's Disease, Celiac's, etc. All inflammatory, autoimmune problems.

*I am still taking Thyroxal and a reduced amount of herbal tea from the Cool Acupuncture Guy. No real noticeable improvement though....

Keep praying!

 ¹ Blessed are those who have regard for the weak;
   the LORD delivers them in times of trouble.
² The LORD protects and preserves them—
   they are counted among the blessed in the land—
   he does not give them over to the desire of their foes.
³ The LORD sustains them on their sickbed
   and restores them from their bed of illness.
-Psalm 41

Guess I need to start thinking about my priorities...

Some Stuff About Healing

God can heal. Just saying.

Psalm 6    

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith.^[b] A psalm of David.

 ¹"LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
   or discipline me in your wrath.
² Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint;
   heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony.
³ My soul is in deep anguish.
   How long, LORD, how long?
 ⁴ Turn, LORD, and deliver me;
   save me because of your unfailing love.
⁵ Among the dead no one proclaims your name.
   Who praises you from the grave?
 ⁶ I am worn out from my groaning.
   All night long I flood my bed with weeping
   and drench my couch with tears.
⁷ My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
   they fail because of all my foes.
 ⁸ Away from me, all you who do evil,
   for the LORD has heard my weeping.
⁹ The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
   the LORD accepts my prayer.
¹⁰ All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;
   they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame."

2 Kings 20:5
“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD."

Psalm 107
 ¹⁷ "Some became fools through their rebellious ways
   and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
¹⁸ They loathed all food
   and drew near the gates of death.
¹⁹ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
   and he saved them from their distress.
²⁰ He sent out his word and healed them;
   he rescued them from the grave.
²¹ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
   and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
²² Let them sacrifice thank offerings
   and tell of his works with songs of joy."

Jeremiah 17:14
"Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise."

Matthew 4:23
"[ Jesus Heals the Sick ] Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them."
Matthew 9:22
"Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment."

The Results Are In!

So, here's my thesis for this whole post a) this new D.O. I am seeing is a wonderful, wonderful human being and b) there are still too many variables and questions about what could be wrong with me.

Today was the day that I thought I could get the results of my poo test, so I was all ready to call after I made the kids breakfast. BUT guess who called me at about 8:20, as I was changing my daughter's diaper? My new doctor. She's kind of awesome.

She told me that this particular stool sample was negative for Blastocystis and that there was hardly any good bacteria in the sample at all. All that started to grow was some sort of yeast, but apparently the lab didn't feel it was important to list which kind. Here is the information that I have that just makes these results confusing:

*Blastocystis Hominis can be hard to detect in stool samples because, like any parasite, it has a life cycle and will die more one day than the next. Just because it doesn't come out in your poo, doesn't mean it's not there. My friend said that even with worms, the actual worm can be in the stool and the test will come back negative. That seems silly, but if they just take the stool and culture it for worm eggs and none show up....then they must feel confident just writing 'negative'. Sillies.

*I have been taking the "good" yeast called saccharomyces boulardii because it is supposed to support good bacteria and is also traditionally used to treat diarrhea and a lot of other guy symptoms. Apparently this yeast also encourages your gut to make good enzymes. So I wonder if that's the yeast they found. It didn't sound like I had an overgrowth of yeast (which would presumably be bad no matter what type of yeast since that's out of balance...), but add that to the list of questions I have to ask the D.O.

*I have read on certain web sites that Blasto survives eating starch, simple sugars, and even the good bacteria in your gut. Now this is interesting to me because the testers said I had no good bacteria. This is alarming because a) I need good flora and b) I have been taking probiotics for about a year. Shouldn't there be some left?

Super Doc told me that she is thinking three things. 1. Treat with an anti-parasite (not an anti-protozoal drug) drug for three days just to see if it helps, 2. Treat with massive amounts of probiotics and an anti-fungal drug, or 3. Try the nuclear approach to kill the theoretical Blasto. I guess I need some more information to make an informed decision.

Super Doc also told me that all of my blood work came back normal. So despite my massive weight loss, I have normal iron levels, normal vitamin levels, even my Thyroid looks good. And I don't have elevated white blood cell count. So, truly, that is something to be thankful for.


To Do List: 
*Get a few more stool samples done. Joy!
*Find out what sort of yeast 'started to grow'.
*Find out if it was TOO MUCH.
*Stay away from simple sugars and lots of starchy foods--good for yeast, bacteria, or even Celiac's! Triply effective.

Today was also an Early Christmas for me (read-sarcasm) because I got back the results from the blood test that the Cool Acupuncture Guy did! Apparently my blood has really high inflammatory reactions to:

• Casein
• Cottage Cheese
• Cow's Milk
• Goat's Milk
• Whey
• Yogurt
• Clam
• Mozarella Cheese
• Barley
• Spelt 
• Wheat (Gluten)
• Whole Wheat
• Oats
• Rye

More stuff to avoid. But mostly, I was avoiding it all anyway. So that's good. :)

Adventures in PubMed & Some More Puzzle Pieces

 Lately I have been reading a lot about Blastocysis Hominis. If my test isn't positive again for that little f***er, then I am honestly going to be disappointed.

Here is what I have learned about this protozoa from PubMed: 

"Guinea pigs and mice (poor, poor creatures) have both been subjected to Blastocystis infections to see what would happen. Basically, some didn't get sick, while others lost weight, were lethargic, and had lots of intestinal inflammation."

"Blastocystis hominis was frequently demonstrated in the stool samples of IBS patients." From "Irritable bowel syndrome: in search of an etiology: role of Blastocystis hominis."
 

IBS is Associated with Blastocystis.

There is an "Incidence of Blastocystis hominis in patients with diarrhoea."


For every study I read that said that Blasto was 'bad' for you, another study suggested that it didn't do any harm at all. I think my takeaway is that it can do harm, especially if you're immuno-compromised (like, after having a c-section and moving etc. etc.).

I also learned this, from a simple Discussion Board:

"Dietary treatments for Blastocystis hominis: 

Some say Blastocystis hominis feeds off carbohydrates, particularly grains, so cutting out carbs and consuming a high protein diet is useful.

Saccharomyces boulardii, a probiotic yeast, can be useful. This is because Blastocystis hominis is immunosuppressive: Blasto lowers the levels of secretory IgA antibodies (sIgA) in your gut mucous membranes. Saccharomyces boulardii probiotic is known to raise sIgA."

The reason this is so interesting to me is because while I was taking Flagyl when I tried to kill Blasto the first time around, the Infectious Disease doc suggested I take something called Florastor, a probiotic that is actually a yeast. (Who KNEW there were GOOD yeasts? I still don't understand that.) Anyway, for those of you who are keeping up, after the Flagyl treatment, I didn't have the Big D.


Interesting, because either the Flagyl killed some Blasto....or the Florastor helped keep them in check.

A study talked about here says that "Metronidazole [Flagyl] or S. boulardii has potential beneficial effects in B. hominis infection (symptoms, presence of parasites). These findings challenge the actual guidelines."

This blogger says that probiotics will only make Blasto stronger because it eats good an bad bacteria! But that this yeasty thing (S. Boulardii) might help with symptoms. Hmmm.


This whole site is pretty interesting: http://blastocystis.wordpress.com/2011/02/. We who are infected lead pretty one-track lives! I don't want a stupid protozoa to keep me from feeling well enough to go out and DO THINGS. That said, I hope it is a stupid protozoa and perhaps I will be blessed with relief from many inflammatory processes, like arthritis. :D