Down the Rabbit Hole, Part II

In our last adventure, I wrote about how I a) had another miscarriage and b) was recommended to an Advanced Maternal-Fetal Medicine office.

After banishing my children from the waiting room, I took a seat in the completely rotund waiting room. I couldn't see anything from where I was sitting because of a huge pole going up to the ceiling. Nonetheless, I found great joy in passing the time by chatting with my fellow inmates and ridiculing the photos of Vogue. Facebookers have seen this one:

From Vogue. By Some Photographer, Not Me.

I was finally taken into the back by a lady Doc from Poland. She actually asked my opinion about a vaginal birth versus a Cesarean birth--she had a C-section because her baby was breech. We talked for a long time and then she excused herself to go talk to "the doctor." Gah! I feel like this Bait And Switch happens all the time in doctors offices.

When the real Doctor came, he turned out to be a pleasant Jewish dude.

http://www.jjudaica.com/dont-worry-be-jewish-smiley-face-kippa-yarmulke

The sum up: these doctors were kind of at a loss since I already have kids. It's almost like I don't really have a problem, excepting that apparently my body has newly declared a moratorium on carrying babies. They ruled out hormone imbalances as a cause because of, uh, regularity. Things worth checking included blood clotting disorders and the condition of my uterus (detected via ultrasound).

Jewish Doc was nice, if a little indirect. About everything. 

"Oh, well, I've had multiple ultrasounds recently." 

"This type of ultrasound is different than a normal ultrasound."

"So....how? Is it more invasive somehow?"

"Well, that's not for me to say. It's okay for you to say, but..."

"Okay, so what type of ultrasound is it?!"

"Well, we put a little bit of saline solution in to help us see if there is something preventing an embryo from implanting well, like a polyp or adhesion..."

"It doesn't sound too uncomfortable."

"I think they're all uncomfortable, so it's not for me to say..."

In the end, I was very nervous about the results of all these blood tests for no reason at all. They checked for anti-phospholipid antibodies, lupus anti-coagulant, beta-something, and apparently another test to check my fertility levels. All the clotting ones were NEGATIVO. Which is good...and also bad, because there's no answer to be found there. But mostly this is good news!

I had no knowledge they conducted any other tests, but when the nurse called me back she let me know that my eggs were plentiful and healthy:

"...so everything there was negative. We also drew an Anti-Mullerian test-"

"A what?! Malaria?"

"Oh, it doesn't have anything to do with Malaria. It's just a test to see the quality and quantity of your eggs. And yours is good!"

"Oh, great! What...I mean...what sort of units of measurements are we looking at here? What's bad and what's good?"

"Well, anything under a two is too low. We like to see it above that. You're at a 5.6, so that's just great."

"Oh! Fantastic!"

I still find this a weird factoid to know about myself. Do you know your egg health number?! Does the dude in your life know his sperm count?! In any case, now it is up to me to call these people back at my leisure and schedule an extra-uncomfortable, super-invasive ultrasound. I haven't done this yet because, if you couldn't tell, I'm not super excited about it.

Down the Rabbit Hole, Part I

It's drizzling at our new house while I write this post, which I suppose is fitting.

In toto, I have officially had three miscarriages in the past year. I only count one as being "real" because of how it impacted me emotionally. The first one was too early, the third didn't seem real (there wasn't a little baby developing), but the second one really felt like a Q Baby that didn't make it.

This last time around, we found out we were pregnant right as we were getting ready to sell our house, search for a new house, buy a new house, move into a new house, etc...needless to say, it was stressful. Even though it was joyous and exciting, it was also stressful. It's not surprising that I had another miscarriage.

After we got so darn excited last time around I was loathe to let myself get so happy this time. When I went in for the 8 week ultrasound, I wasn't surprised to hear that there basically wasn't a baby developing. Between the ultrasound and my miscarriage, about two weeks passed. I miscarried en force the very day we moved into our new house. Super bad timing!

If you're wondering how I'm doing, the answer is all right. I'm sad that we haven't been able to have more kids but I'm happy that we already have two kids. When I have to unpack a box that's filled with baby paraphernalia, I get overwhelmed by a sense of sadness. I indulge in it before just Moving On. It might seem trite, but I have a roof over my head, loving family, and food in my belly. "Quit yer bitchin'!" But I have relaxed some of my dietary constraints and started eating cheese again to console myself. Too much cheese is a definite no-no, but a little is just yummy. ;)

In any case, this is the point where doctors start to take you seriously. I visited with my Nurse Midwife Ann (who is a sweet, adorable woman who probably bakes cookies regularly).

http://woldfitness.com/2009/07/win-the-flat-stomach-battle/

It's very frustrating going to an OB office when you are in fact, miscarrying. There are pregnant women everywhere and everyone is sad for you. This was the basic gist of my convo with Ann: since it's happened three times, we can start looking at some possible issues that might be causing miscarriages: blood clotting disorders, chromosomal defects, hormones, etc. I feel compelled to add that, as we humans (*Shocker!*) don't know everything, it is a possibility that they won't find anything wrong and will officially be at a loss as to the cause of my miscarriages.

Even though the Maternal-Fetal Medicine folks usually see women after yet more sad stories, Ann was going to pull some strings and try to get me in to see them now. More on that appointment in my next blog post, though it is the office I wrote about here.

Lessons In Inappropriateness From Nicky

I visited an Advanced Reproductive Medicine office recently to figure out why I might be having miscarriages.

There was considerable debate in the Q. Household before the appointment about whether or not our kids would be welcome in the office. Never having visited such a place before, I wasn't sure whether or not this was truly a place where various reproductive issues were dealt with or whether it was primarily an infertility clinic. I have previously brought my children with me to almost every other type of doctor--endocrinologist, rheumatologist, dermatologist, family practice, urgent care, nurse midwives, etc.

We were planning on going somewhere else as a family after my appointment and, if DH could be present with the docs, the more the better. Logistically that meant our kids would be with us. (Other options included tricking the staff into watching them, leaving them in the car with the windows cracked, or dropping them off at various public places and hoping for the best.)

When we got to the office, we allowed Boy Q to go up with me. The waiting room was glass, plastic, and round. No toys, no other children, not even a Highlights magazine. To boot, the room was small with high ceilings. This = fantastic acoustics.

http://eucalyptusway.blogspot.com/2011/06/in-flash.html

As an office that probably has a great many couples coming through who desperately desire children, I see the logic in this. It's adding insult to injury if the waiting room is full of objects that remind them that they don't have children.

Imagine my great horror when I stepped in with a living, breathing child! The women who were already in the waiting room looked not at me, but at my son.

DH parked the car and then came up with our little bit of a daughter. A friendly fellow patient smiled at my kids longingly. I spoke to DH through a crack in the door, "There are no toys! Get them out of here!" He took them to play in the elevator.

Later, after chatting with some of the couples in the waiting room, one of the women said to me, "Was that your husband? You have a boy and a girl?" I nodded. "Your family is beautiful, just beautiful." 

The gift of that day, despite our struggles with having a third Q Kid, was seeing my family through a stranger's eyes.

Anecdotal Evidence, Or How This Cold Is Kicking My A**

Our family has been under an abnormal amount of stress lately--getting our stuff moved out, semi-cleaning our old house, getting moved in (kind of) to my in-laws house again, finding a new home...

The week before we moved, my daughter got a nasty cold. She was up all night coughing. Of course we noticed but there was so much hustle and bustle she probably didn't get as much coddling as she needed.

In any case, the insidious little virus worked its way into me this past week. I haven't really slept because I'm coughing so f***ing much that I literally. Cannot. Sleep. My Dear Husband has good-naturedly put up with my incessant nighttime coughing by not sleeping in the same room with me. :)

Today the Mighty Husband has fallen. He woke up, ambled toward me (in my quarantined sick-bed) in a zombie-like stupor, and said, "I coughed all night long. I get what you meant when you said you were so excited you could finally sleep."

Now it's 11 am and he's still sleeping.

What does this have to do with diet, you ask? For the last three weeks--since I packed up our dishes and basically stopped buying groceries--we've been eating crappy fast food, microwaved food, leftover food, roadkill, etc.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the reason this cold has hung on so long is because our bodies don't have the right nutritional tools to fight it off. Viva Vegetables! Maybe if I start cooking homemade meals again we'll conquer the beast...

http://www.pawannabe.com/2012/01/interview-redux-sick-again.html

Here Piggie....

I'm going to be honest. For someone that likes to eat fairly healthily...I really like lunch meat and salami. My dad's family is 100% German and they've always had a "healthy" obsession with cheese, Summer Sausage, and crackers.

Recently, the Interweb told me that this wasn't healthy at all, which isn't surprising but is still sad.

After I sobbed all over my plate of gluten-free crackers and salami, I decided to do some reading.

http://www.thefutureofhealthnow.com/new-study-links-processed-meat-and-cancer-risk/

Huff Post says: "The study, published in the journal BMC Medicine and conducted by researchers from the University of Zurich, shows an association between processed meat and higher risks of dying from heart disease and cancer...even after taking into account other factors, processed meat consumption was still shown to raise risk of dying from heart disease and cancer. Meanwhile, researchers did not find an association between poultry consumption and increased risk of premature death."

Eating processed meat also increases your risk of cancer and Type 2 diabetes: "...another study from Harvard researchers showed that regularly eating processed meat could actually affect your body's ability to use and produce insulin -- thereby raising risk of Type 2 diabetes."

As far as other variables factor in, The Star (Oh, Can-a-da!) mentions that "...eating a lot of processed meat and red meat were clear markers for a generally unhealthy lifestyle that included the consumption of fewer fruits and vegetables, more cigarettes and alcohol and less exercise."

Another cool point discovered: "Eating fruits and vegetables appeared to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease for people who ate a lot of processed meat, however. 'Fruit and vegetables might counteract, for example, some of the effects of some carcinogens as they are antioxidants or may act in other parts of the mechanism of carcinogens,' Rohrmann explained."

Here's what I'm wondering. Often times we get uncured Applegate Farms or Hormel Natural lunch meat, which doesn't have any chemical preservatives that I've found in other brands. I wonder if people who eat "less processed" (but still processed a little?) meat are still at such a high risk.

The Star answers this question too: "Deli meats are 400 times higher in sodium, which is used as a preservative and for taste, than in non-cured meats...In the short term, a high sodium diet raises blood pressure. In the long term is contributes to heart and blood vessel stiffness and kidney damage and increases our risk of heart disease and stroke...High sodium diets are linked to stomach cancer."

Further, "Labels on processed deli meat products may be misleading. A product may be labelled “natural” or “nitrate free” when it contains “cultured celery extract,” a form of sodium nitrate...processed varieties may contain additives, dyes and chemicals and may be composed of meat scraps, rather than higher quality cuts."

This pisses me off. I can guarantee that the lunch meat I have been buying is plastered with lovely, empty promises about being nitrate-free.

Grr.

"Not when DEATH is on the line!"

My friend and I have been talking about teeth lately. Trips to the dentist could go better. 

They Lady Dentist we go to is always quick to remind me we should be using fluoride toothpaste,  but I've heard that there's more than enough fluoride in our water already.

http://www.whale.to/d/fluoride.html

Fluoride Debate: Against!

Some background from an opinion piece:

"Fluoridation is a 1940's concept begun with the mistaken belief that one milligram fluoride ingested daily from one liter of water reduced children's tooth decay while teeth formed. Now children consume up to six times that amount of fluoride from water, food, beverages, and dental products negating the need for water fluoridation and putting Americans at unnecessary risk of fluoride's adverse effects and overdoses. Further, swallowing fluoride doesn't stop cavities. Fluoride hardens outer tooth enamel topically, not systemically, according to the CDC."

From a study by the Center for Endemic Disease Control in China:

"The ratio of osteoprotegerin ligand (OPGL) to osteoprotegerin (OPG) determines the delicate balance between bone resorption and synthesis...The results indicated that OPG and OPGL may play important roles in skeletal fluorosis, and that fluoride may enhance osteoclast formation and induce osteoclastic bone destruction."

Apparently fluorosis is this:

http://blog.listentoyourgut.com/why-you-should-avoid-fluoride/

This study purports that the fluoride in toothpaste can't even be digested or absorbed by our bodies:

"Currently, diet and fluoride toothpastes are the main sources of fluoride to children at the age-risk for fluorosis development. However, when estimating the risk of fluorosis from toothpaste inadvertently ingested, it has not been considered the systemic fluoride bioavailability."

This one seems strange to me because if ingested fluoride isn't bio-available, why the heck is it in our water at all? 

Fluoride Debate: For! Kind Of.

Cancer.gov admits there has been ample speculation about the link between fluoride and cancer:

"A possible relationship between fluoridated water and cancer risk has been debated for years. The debate resurfaced in 1990 when a study by the National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, showed an increased number of osteosarcomas (bone tumors) in male rats given water high in fluoride for 2 years...However, other studies in humans and in animals have not shown an association between fluoridated water and cancer."

Honestly, so far, this article from Science Daily is the only one that is reassuring to me:

"Fluoride is known to help prevent dental cavities, but long-term ingestion of excessive amounts could cause bone problems. The average person ingests a very safe amount, 2 to 3 milligrams, daily through fluoridated drinking water, toothpaste and food. It would take ingesting about 20 milligrams a day over 10 or more years before posing a significant risk to bone health."

Good ol' Dr. Weil (whom I like quite a bit) isn't worried a bit:

"High amounts of fluoride over several years can cause brittle bones, but this is extremely rare. Fluoride is toxic in very large quantities and can cause gastrointestinal symptoms and sometimes even death. But you'd have to ingest about 20,000 times more fluoride than what's in an 8-ounce glass of fluoridated water to see such an effect. On the other hand, I believe the evidence is overwhelming that fluoride builds and maintains strong, cavity-free teeth. The addition of this mineral to most public water supplies is credited with preventing tooth decay between 40 and 60 percent in both children and adults who live in fluoridated communities."

Fluoride Debate: Hurts Your Thyroid?

On About.com, Dr. David Derry mentions that "...what is important is fluoride is in the same chemical family as iodine and can replace iodine in the body if the iodine is deficient." Lest we forget, your thyroid needs iodine to make thyroid hormones, so if fluoride is taking iodine's place, your thyroid won't have the tools it needs.

More on this from dearthyroid.org:

"According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, fluoride in the range of 2-5 mg per day is enough to slow down thyroid function.1 In fact, fluoride was used to treat hyperthyroidism before more powerful medications were developed."

Clearly, no one agrees. It's clear that too much fluoride is bad for you, some is good for your teeth, and none is bad for your teeth. The real question is if the amount in our water supply is too much or just enough.

What I really find weird is that any government entity is putting anything in our water without our consent. What else is going in there?!

Inspiration From Unlikely Places

I recently read a book called Overcome: Burned, Blinded, and Blessed by Carmen Blandin; she is a woman who was beaten and chemically burned by her husband of nine years. Carmen writes around the event to give background (she's a nurse) and afterwards to show where she is today (she might get a face transplant).

I expected to feel immeasurable sadness (even depression!) reading her story, but instead I felt compassion, anger, and pride--never pity.

Carmen is a wonderfully clear and straight-forward narrator; perhaps the reason I didn't feel so much sadness for her is that she doesn't often let herself feel sadness at her situation. Sure, there are moments when she's overwhelmed by circumstances, but her first thoughts throughout her ordeal were of her daughters well-being.

Her story is an absorbing one. Not only because of the horror of what happened, but also because Carmen is a nurse with a unique perspective on what has happened to her. My husband works in a hospital and has always claimed health care workers have to have a unique sense of humor. Carmen certainly does--she makes fun of her missing ear by waving her 'ear flap' around. Further evidence of a resilient sense of humor comes from a conversation between Carmen and her sister:

"Well," I said to Kess, frustrated, "at least I don't have to dress up for Halloween." 
"What do you mean?" Kess asked.
"I can go as an accident victim." 

Carmen's visions while she was in a drug-induced coma were the most memorable to me. Interspersed with hallucinations and dreams about Dr. Phil, she received one clear message: Life is a choice. I think we often forget how much our attitudes and actions can affect the path our lives take.

The takeaway for me: be thankful and content. Carmen, now blind, briefly regained sight in one eye with an artificial cornea. When she lost that precious bit of sight again, she realized how important it is to be thankful for what we do have in the here and now.

Sweet Nectar of the Gods

You know I'm talking about coffee.

http://www.spotcoffee.com/

 Since a certain cousin moved into our house, I've been drinking a lot of coffee because it's there, it's hot, and it's delicious. I put in a little (sometimes a lot) of soy vanilla creamer. I know, I know, soy can inhibit thyroid function, but my grocery store doesn't have any more delicious options.

Yesterday I had two ginormous cups of coffee. I felt SO GREAT all morning and then crashed all afternoon, complete with headache and muscle pain.

What was happening?

My friend Google tells me that coffee, in particular caffeine, can inhibit absorption of thyroid hormone.

I'm going to go weep into my cup of morning tea now...

"Why Is My Poop Blue?!"

http://www.stonyfield.com/blog/food-dyes-linked-to-hyperactivity-in-children/

My Facebook feed has been blowing up with updates from 100 Days of Real Food and with Food Babe's updates on their campaign to get Kraft to stop using food dyes in their U.S. products. It's all over the news too--MSN, Huffington Post, and a slew of local news stations are reporting.

I lazily try to avoid food dye, but not very seriously. Luckily since we avoid lots of processed foods already, not many of them have dye. But we do treat our children to M&Ms, Jolly Ranchers, and the weekly free suckers from church. But because of Food Babe, I started doing some reading.

From Dr. Oz's site: "These synthetic ingredients have been proven to have their own slew of problems. Some claim that these dyes are toxic – possibly toxic enough to cause cancer. While some dyes have been banned from use in the United States, seven dyes remain on the FDA’s approved list for use in the United States. These food dyes include Blue No. 1, Blue No. 2, Green No. 3, Red No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5 and Yellow No. 6."

Just like with BPA, it seems the U.S. is reluctant to ban things that are difficult to eradicate. A paper explaining the FDA's decision is here. It basically says that some kids do react to synthetic colors, but that it's just because that particular kid and that particular food don't mix.

Stonyfield's site (the yogurt people!) says that after Europe saw many studies pointing to food dyes adversely affecting children, they banned them. So "many American-based companies make two different versions of their products so they can be sold in Europe as well as the United States: one with chemical food dyes sold in the U.S. and one without sold in the U.K. For example, McDonalds makes its strawberry shakes in the U.S. with Red 40; in the U.K. they use actual strawberries! Mars’ Starburst and Skittles candies sold in the U.K. are colored by natural coloring. Nestle has discontinued all food colorings in its candy line, changing the recipe for 79 products sold in Europe. But none of those companies are making the same dye-free options available in the U.S. The FDA is unconvinced that there are any problems with food dyes. Last March, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected a petition filed by consumer advocates calling on the agency to label foods containing food dyes, as was done in Europe. The FDA panel found no proof that food dyes cause hyperactivity in children."

http://foodbabe.com/

The original post from Food Babe about their petition to Kraft lists some of the harmful effects of the Yellow 5 & 6 food dye:

• Are man-made in a lab with chemicals derived from petroleum (a crude oil product, which also happens to be used in gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt, and tar).
• Require a warning label in other countries outside the US.
• Have been banned in countries like Norway and Austria (and are being phased out in the UK).
• Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 specifically are contaminated with known carcinogens (a.k.a. an agent directly involved in causing cancer).
• Cause an increase in hyperactivity in children.
• Have a negative impact on children’s ability to learn.
• Have been linked to long-term health problems such as asthma, skin rashes, and migraines.
• Add absolutely no nutritional value to the foods we are eating and are used solely for aesthetic purposes.

 Being a curious person, I decided to look for some hardcore studies myself.

A study that came out in January points to the dye Brilliant Blue can enter the blood stream, which I guess was previously though impossible: "The finding is troubling because several studies show that these dyes might inhibit cell respiration, Hojerová says. “If the process of creating energy and respiration does not take place properly, there are many failures,” she notes. Both dyes, for instance, have been linked to ADHD, allergies, and asthma...when Brilliant Blue was used as a dye in feeding tubes, the FDA issued a public health advisory because of side effects like blue-tinged skin, urine, and feces, as well as hypotension and death...They recommend that the dyes be banned in hard candies and certain cosmetic products to reduce consumer risk."

Another article points to the potential of food dyes to cause things like ADHD: "New research suggests some food dyes trigger the release of histamines, which are part of the body's immune system. An experiment reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggest differences in genes that control histamines might explain why some children are affected and others are not."


From the study Effects of maternally exposed coloring food additives on receptor expressions related to learning and memory in rats: "Exposure to artificial food colors and additives (AFCAs) has been implicated in the induction and severity of some childhood behavioral and learning disabilities...Our results indicate that exposure to AFCAs during the fetal period may lead to alterations in expressions of NMDARs and nAChRs in adulthood."


From the study Effect of food azo dye tartrazine on learning and memory functions in mice and rats, and the possible mechanisms involved: "The present study was conducted to evaluate the toxic effect of tartrazine on the learning and memory functions in mice and rats. The results indicated that tartrazine extract significantly enhanced active behavioral response to the open field, increased the escape latency in Morris water maze test and decreased the retention latency in step-through tests. The decline in the activities of catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) as well as a rise in the level of malonaldehyde (MDA) were observed in the brain of tartrazine-treated rats, and these changes were associated with the brain from oxidative damage."

From the study Prolonged use of the food dye tartrazine (FD&C yellow no 5) and its effects on the gastric mucosa of Wistar rats: "Tartrazine is one of the most widely used artificial foods, drugs and cosmetic dyes. It is a nitrous derivative and is known to cause allergic reactions such as asthma and urticaria, as well as having been the focus of studies on mutagenesis and carcinogenesis due to its transformation into aromatic amine sulfanilic acid after being metabolized by the gastrointestinal microflora."
 
Dietary sensitivities and ADHD symptoms: thirty-five years of research : "Artificial food colors (AFCs) have not been established as the main cause of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but accumulated evidence suggests that a subgroup shows significant symptom improvement when consuming an AFC-free diet and reacts with ADHD-type symptoms on challenge with AFCs."

In Risk Assessment for the Combinational Effects of Food Color Additives: Neural Progenitor Cells and Hippocampal Neurogenesis, the study states: "In the current study, the potencies of single and combination use of R40, Y4, Y5, R2, and B1 were examined on neural progenitor cell (NPC) toxicity, a biomarker for developmental stage, and neurogenesis, indicative of adult central nervous system (CNS) functions. R40 and R2 reduced NPC proliferation and viability in mouse multipotent NPC, in the developing CNS model. Data indicated that combinations of tar colors may adversely affect both developmental and adult hippocampal neurogenesis; thus, further extensive studies are required to assess the safety of these additive combinations." (I'm thinking that the word 'tar' is a word that didn't translate.)

A lot of these studies and articles report that the FDA just simply says they 'need more research' in order to make a decision to ban food dyes. I understand that in some situations it's best to wait. This sort of thing boggles my mind though.

http://www.inhabitots.com/diy-organic-rainbow-cake-without-toxic-chemical-food-colors/

 There are plenty of alternative food dyes out there (they're all over our 'organic' fruit ropes and snacks) that would work fine. So why wait? Turmeric, beets, berries, paprika, pumpkin, carrot, etc. offer great alternatives.

Hippocrates, That Dude Knew Some Sh**

http://www.citelighter.com/philosophy/philosophy/knowledgecards/hippocrates

One of my favorite quotes about food ("Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.") comes from Hippocrates*. I wondered if he'd said anything else worthwile--turns out YES but also...dude said some things that now sound crazy:

The Good: 

"Walking is man's best medicine."

"Everything in excess is opposed to nature."

Speaks to our Prone-to-Gluttony American Society...

"Whenever a doctor cannot do good, he must be kept from doing harm."

Unnecessary c-sections anyone?

“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a mater of opportunity."

I hate this one because I know it's true and I find it hard to live out!

The Not So Good: 

"A physician without a knowledge of Astrology has no right to call himself a physician."

“Eunuchs do not take the gout, nor become bald.”

Um, okay. Though if the one about eunuchs is true, color me curious.

Philosophical Differences:

"There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the later ignorance."

My problem? Science is often mistaken for 'fact', when in reality it's our best guess at any given time. It changes with every new amazing discovery. 

*"Hippocrates of Cos (c. 460 BC – c. 370 BC) was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles (Classical Athens), and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is referred to as the father of Western medicine in recognition of his lasting contributions to the field as the founder of the Hippocratic School."

Your Human Guinea Pig, The Trendsetter

I've been seeing headlines about just how many people have been avoiding wheat:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/gluten-free-diet_n_2818954.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

Those of you who know me know that I still don't eat wheat and milk. Originally suggested by a chiropractor and an acupuncturist to 'down-regulate' my overactive immune system, it seems to work for me. I'll continue to stick to my diet lifestyle regardless of what's trendy, but I have to admit I am curious about the trend.

Huff Post reports that there has been an increase in the number of people diagnosed with Celiac Disease, but "another reason is simply the supposed health benefits of forgoing gluten. Make no mistake, gluten-free is a diet trend that has gained popularity in pop culture and the media. The majority of people going gluten-free are not doing so out of medical necessity."

Some lovely people even made a video about it called One Grain More:

CNBC reports that "...restaurants have released a bevy of new gluten-free items and menus, while grocers have lined their shelves with new options from food manufacturers that eliminate the ingredient. Some even advertise products as "gluten free" that naturally lack the ingredient."

I'm all for that! Cater to me! But will it last? "...in some ways...gluten awareness is just another diet trend, like the low-carb craze, which was inspired by the Atkins and South Beach diet craze of the early 2000s...every product has a lifecycle regardless of whether it's part of a diet trend...the market will certainly shrink as attention moves to the next thing." (I chopped the heck out of this quote, but didn't change the meaning. Go to CNBC to see who said it.)

Looking around on the web, I found an article from USA Today in 2008 that talked about the growing gluten free trend: "...many gluten shunners may have no real trouble with gluten...they feel better because they consume fewer fast and processed foods, which tend to contain gluten." That sounds good to me!

I have to think that the new Paleo Diet trends have something to do with the popularity of avoiding wheat as well. I hate to say it, but I think this commercial explosion of wheat avoidance is just a fad. But I'm going to enjoy the glut of Nicky-Friendly Products while they're here...

The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guides

http://www.glutenfreelyfrugal.com/2012/11/26/save-51-on-essential-gluten-free-baking-guides/

These two cookbooks are written by the gal who is in charge of Real Sustenance and by another gal who runs the site The Daily Dietribe.

I hope I don't have to tell you how much I love the site Real Sustenance. Ever since I've discovered it, I haven't felt like I was depriving myself. If I wanted gluten-free baked goods (waffles, cookies, cakes, breads, even candies...) there would be a recipe there I could try. 

My mom got me these cookbooks for Christmas. Eeeee! The only complaint I have is that they are organized by type of flour you're using--quinoa, teff, almond, sorghum, etc. There is a recipe list in the back but you still have to scan for what you want because the list is organized by flour. So there's not a section devoted to 'breakfast' or 'dessert'. But this tiny detail doesn't even matter because of the awesomeness inside.

So far I've only tried the Orange Poppyseed Scones (delish). But I am hoping to try out the Magic Bars (almond flour) and the English Muffins (quinoa flour) next. There's also a cake recipe--that's something I haven't had in a long, long time.

If you are sticking to an egg-free, wheat-free, or dairy-free diet, TRY THESE! Or just try the Real Sustenance site. Because...yum.

Eating Green; Cookbook Review of More-With-Less

http://www.worldcommunitycookbook.org/more/about.html

My friend Ashley recommended this cookbook, More-With-Less by Doris Janzen Longacre, to me last year. I didn't know what to expect, but upon flipping through the introductory chapters, I realized they were writing about how wheat is processed today and how horrible it actually is for us consumers.

An excerpt from the intro section Overeating Sugar and Processed Foods: "Since Roman times, bakers have been aware that flour stored for a few months becomes whiter and has improved baking qualities. But storage time increases manufacturing costs. Around the beginning of the twentieth century, millers discovered they could get these same effects instantly by blowing nitrogen trichloride (Agene) or chlorine gas into the flour as it descended the chute into bags. Agene was used for forty-one years, but discontinued after a 1945 study showed that dogs fed the treated flour developed hysteria. Chemical bleaching and maturing of flour continues in many places." 

This was surprising to me.

It's one of those cookbooks that isn't just a bunch of recipes, it's also a philosophy. First off, it's a Mennonite Community Cookbook. Secondly, they don't like all these processed, packaged foods.  Thirdly, it's about keeping meals simple and nutritional. I can get behind that. The main idea is to ensure that there's enough food for everyone in the world; we can help by being less wasteful.

It never would have occurred to me that a religion would have an opinion about such a thing, but it does make sense. The web site for the book flat-out says: "...it addressed the concern that North American [sic] were doing the opposite — consuming more and more food made up of wasteful calories and unnecessary packaging." These people were green before it was cool. :)

From the More-With-Less site:

• "Written to challenge North Americans to consume less so others could eat enough, the book has sold an astonishing 830,000 copies since its release in 1976."
• "A global food crisis in the early 1970s with food reserves at a “precarious low” created the impetus for More-with-Less. In the first chapter of her cookbook, Longacre writes that the “average North American uses five times as much grain per person yearly as does one of the two billion persons living in poor countries.”
• "Longacre wrote to MCC friends around the world asking for economical low-meat recipes that would help North Americans reduce consumption by eating less animal protein and fewer highly processed foods." 

The only down-side for me is that it's not very allergy-friendly. On the plus side though, if a dish is just vegetables, lentils, and a meat, then there's nothing I can't eat anyway. There are things I can substitute too--almond milk for regular milk, gluten-free flours for flour, flax-meal for eggs, etc.

On Amazon.com, it sells for $7 used. Not too bad for a whole philosophy...

Below Stairs--The Original Downton Abbey

I recently read the book Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abbey" by Margaret Powell. I didn't think I would find anything at all relatable in it, but it turns out there's much the author (a cook) has to say about food and nutrition! This Guinea Pig recognizes the importance of healthy food in your belly...

www.goodreads.com

True, she wrote about how they didn't wash hunted animals before eating for fear of losing the flavor and I seem to remember something about food getting infested with maggots. Nonetheless, Margaret the maid and cook was also appalled at the rise of processed food! Even though she goes to great lengths to explain just how much time and effort went into making food in those great manors, she believes 100% it tastes better and is better for us that the newfangled foods.

About processed foods: "Nowadays they are at their wits' end to put things on the market to put back the flavour into food, the flavour that's come out with freezing. But it can't be done. No one can delude me into thinking that it can be, but of course if you've not had it the old way you don't know the difference."

About the taste: "Even nowadays when you see an economic recipe and they say you can't tell the difference from the original, well probably you can't if you've never eaten the original, but if you have there's a vast difference. It's like using margarine instead of butter, the top of the milk instead of the cream, having cheaper cuts of meat instead of the best, and having frozen salmon instead of fresh salmon. None of it tastes the same."

An excerpt that makes me so thankful for potato chips: "Nowadays everybody buys potato crisps in bags or tins, but in those days they had to be done by hand. First of all you peeled the potatoes, then you got a clean tea cloth and laid it out full length on the table and sliced the potatoes by hand so thinly that when you held them up you could see right through them. They were like little rashers of wind. You laid each one separately on the cloth. Then you covered them up with another cloth until they dried. They you melted fat--lard, not dripping because that was too coloured...You melted a portion of that in a frying-pan, a very deep one, and when it was boiling and blue smoke came off, you dropped these crisps in, one by one, because if you dropped two in at a time they stuck together..."

Margaret spent time grating Parmesan cheese by hand, making all sauces and condiments from scratch (horseradish sauce, hollandaise, tartar, mayonnaise), and mincing beef through a sieve!

I also thought the following two quotes were profound.

This one because it reminds me to really care for people by showing and doing: "In fact, all my life in domestic service I've found that employers were always greatly concerned with your moral welfare. They couldn't have cared less about your physical welfare; so long as you were able to do the work, it didn't matter in the least to them whether you had back-ache, stomach-ache, or what ache, but anything to do with your morals they considered was their concern."

And this one to remind me that sometimes kids need to do things they don't want to and it's in their best interest (it's not always about mushy, gooey, feeling good feelings!): "But the great thing about school in those days was that we had to learn. I don't think you can beat learning; how to read and write, and how to do arithmetic. Those are the three things that anyone who has got to work for a living needs. We were forced to learn and I think children need to be forced. I don't believe in this business of 'if they don't want to do it, it won't do them any good'. It will do them good."

Two More Things We Should Be Eating...

A little while ago, when I was still regularly struggling with the Big D, my doc ran a bunch of blood work. The most notable deficiencies were vitamin D and Iron. I was thinking about this again recently because a friend's mom has been struggling with food intolerances and the like.

I thought it was worth saying that I noticed a ton of improvement on that front when I started taking vitamin D and a little bit of iron. My husband pointed out that vitamin D was supposed to be good for intestinal health! Lo and behold...

http://gardenofeaden.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-is-vitamin-d.html

It's not new news. In this 2007 article from Celiac.com, researchers found that "...vitamin D may have a key role in maintaining the intestinal mucosal barrier and the integrity of tight junctions". I don't know what tight junctions are, but I don't care. This article also stipulates that vitamin D deficiency could play a role in the development of Celiac Disease and that healthy levels of vitamin D could help prevent cancer.

Besides being necessary for the absorption of calcium, this Slate article mentions the link between healthy levels of vitamin D and the prevention of autoimmune diseases: "The potential role of vitamin D in forestalling other diseases, particularly autoimmune conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis, has generated widespread interest as well...Another study, published in the Lancet in 2001, concluded that children who were given vitamin D supplementation were less likely to develop Type 1 diabetes." Since I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis and my husband has Type 1 diabetes, this is important to me!

A fellow blogger with Crohn's Disease wrote about it here, saying, "...it can assist with lowering intestinal inflammation and possibly prevent cancer."

Anyway, vitamin D does all good things!

Sources of Vitamin D:

• The Sun
• Fatty Fish
• Cod Liver Oil

Now about iron...

This article about iron says that "Chronic malabsorption can contribute to iron depletion and deficiency by limiting dietary iron absorption or by contributing to intestinal blood loss. Most iron is absorbed in the small intestines. Gastrointestinal disorders that result in inflammation of the small intestine may result in diarrhea, poor absorption of dietary iron, and iron depletion".

Basically they're saying if you have intestinal problems and are having diarrhea--you are probably having trouble absorbing iron and other nutrients. Too much iron is also a problem; it's a fine line: "Symptoms of iron overload include fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, irritability, heart disease, and joint problems."

Sources of Iron:

• Meat
• Beans
• Spinach & Collard Greens

Eat up.

A Guilty Confession & An Enlightening Appointment

Today was a bad day and a good day.

It's a bad day because of the aforementioned Guilty Confession. Ever since I tasted those Snickers at Halloween (yes, to cope with a miscarriage, but still...) I have been heading down a slippery slope. ;) The holidays presented a lot of wonderful opportunities to eat cheese and eat cheese I did. I haven't had cheese (or any milk products at all, to my knowledge) for about a year, year and a half. There is this awesome Camembert made in Fort Collins called Mouco Camembert that is a great weakness of mine. If you do eat cheese, you should try it. I also really love sharp white cheddar.

To be brief, eating cheese was a bad decision and I'm still suffering the consequences. I will remind myself of that next time I'm tempted. Tasty Cheese VS. Sour Tummy. Based on this brief, unintentional experiment I'm thinking that milk is harder on me than even wheat.

Today was a good day because I saw an OB who specializes in endocrine issues and pregnancy. She is internationally renowned but very humble. In the course of our detailed appointment, she drew me this:

Here's a summary of my super-encouraging appointment: 

• She was encouraging--she reminded me repeatedly that miscarriages happen in 1 out of 3 pregnancies and also that 1 in 20 women has Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. 
• I asked if she had heard of patient's with Hashimoto's who had had successful pregnancies. Answer--THOUSANDS. She recognized that I was an 'auto-immune girl' as she put it, but she didn't think it would hurt my chances at conceiving.
• She suspects, based on my history, that my initial thyroid problems were simply post-partum thyroiditis, a maybe-temporary thyroid condition where you go hyper and hypo and then finally normalize after having a baby.
• Because I was over-treated, I basically wasn't guided through post-partum thyroiditis in the best way. I.E., good treatment might have resulted in me not relying on taking a pill forever and ever.
• She checked my TPO antibodies and pointed out that they were in normal range still, which further confirmed in her mind that I might not need thyroid medication long term. !!!! 
• TPO anti-bodies can actually attack a baby in the first trimester and kill it, but it doesn't seem like that's the case since my anti-bodies are so low.
• She advised that I take thyroid medication through another pregnancy and then wean off of it to see if my thyroid takes back over. 

More importantly, she said she has high hopes that we will be able to have another baby. Only time will tell....

Praise God for the Hope and Encouragement of today.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Things have been busy lately, as I'm sure they have for all of us. Instead of writing distinct posts, I'm going to bullet-list it tonight.

kids-ent.com

•  The Horror Story of My Ear

Yesterday I stuck a Q-Tip in my ear and experienced excruciating pain, but noticed no damage. I could still hear, there was no blood, and there was no pain. That evening, however, I noticed dried blood on my earlobe and followed the trail back into my ear. Suffice to say I was freaked out. I woke my husband from a dead sleep because THERE WAS BLOOD COMING FROM MY EAR. He was not amused. Following is an abridged transcript from the doctor's office:

Receptionist: "Hi! Are you Nichole?"
Me: "Yep, I have an appointment at two."
Receptionist: "Okay...I'm sorry I laughed at you on the phone."
Me: "It's okay, I'm laughing right now."

Doctor (looking in my ear): "Well....there's definitely blood. Oh! A lot of blood. I think you ruptured your ear drum."

After this, she sticks a strange ear-machine into my ear that hums, vibrates, and tells her important things about the pressure in my ear. Apparently the machine tells her my ear drum is not ruptured.

Me: "Well...where is the bleeding coming from?"
Doctor: "I don't know. Let's treat you like you have a lot of ear wax and rinse your ears out." 

Thus followed a strange experience in which a virtual stranger shot pressurized streams of water into my ear, sucked it back out (simultaneously! A miracle of technology.), and laughed while I attempted to maintain my equilibrium. Once cleared of blood, it was clear I had just scratched myself. !!!!!

• Apparently Tinnitus (Ringing in the Ears) Can Be Linked to Hypothyroidism

This is important to me because I have had ringing in my ears for awhile. Not debilitating ringing, just a kind of high pitched sound I only notice when it's very quiet. This article from the New York Times was posted by a Facebook friend; it just talks about tinnitus generally. Another article is just plain called "Your Thyroid Can Make Your Ears Ring!" and says: "Tinnitus is actually a common effect of thyroid dysfunction. A lot of people with this condition get a ringing in their ears." This was news to me.

• Men's Health Recently Wrote A Worm Article!

Remember when I had worms? Turns out I should have kept them. The blastocyst parasite was bad, but lots of people are thinking worms are GOOD! Something about having a colony of worms in your gut (no joke) can help people with autoimmune conditions. Read it here. Some remain unconvinced, but "the chief benefit, the proponents of helminthic therapy claim, is an optimized immune system—one that parasitic worms help train, exercise, and prevent from going haywire by way of a variety of dampening mechanisms and secreted compounds that researchers are just beginning to identify."

Ears, ringing, and worms, oh, my!

Comments on How Cruel Movies Are To Expectant Women

Last time I was pregnant with my son, the final installment of the Twilight series came out. In which, you recall, a vampire baby clawed it's way out of Bella's previously unblemished, alabaster tummy. I tried not to draw comparisons but since I was nine months pregnant it was a totally futile effort.

I borrowed the book from a co-worker. Upon returning it, I asked why she didn't warn me. She didn't want to ruin it for me.

I was not amused. 

These last couple months when I was pregnant and also when I wasn't so pregnant, I was watching The Walking Dead and Ridley Scott's Alien movies. Poor choice, Nicky, poor choice.

In a recent episode of The Walking Dead a pregnant lady pondered whether her baby, if stillborn, would become a zombie inside of her and eat her from the inside out.

!!!!!!!

I can't stop thinking about this. Surely her baby will be born alive, but if, if her baby dies there be a ZOMBIE BABY. And it would be surrounded my yummy, alive, pulsating flesh. And it would eat it's way out. Joyfully (Sadly? Kinda wanted to see that...) this didn't happen.


In the Aliens sequel Prometheus, a lady had an alien implanted into her uterus and then decided to have a do-it-yourself C-Section. Having had a c-section, I can say that it wasn't accurate at all (there are layers of muscle and fat to get through, people!), but nonetheless the image stays with me. Seconds before her uterus explodes apart via alien, a robot surgeon pulls an alien squid from her belly. "Ma-ma!"

http://geekleagueofamerica.com/2012/07/05/idiot-theater-employee-spoils-prometheus-for-moviegoer/

After her impromptu surgery, Noomi Rapace initially wanders around as if in pain, but then she just suits up and runs around the creepy alien planet. I am not a doctor (Speak up if you are!) but I am fairly sure her staples would come out.

Surely, whatever happens in a real pregnancy has got to be better than what pop culture is putting into our brains. :)

In Praise of My Daughter

In light of having miscarriages, I have been overwhelmed with thankfulness for my two kiddos. A few weeks ago I was playing with my daughter and I suddenly got very emotional. I told her how thankful I was that she was her and I started crying, but more out of thankfulness than sadness. She's just a miracle! At first, she thought my crying grimace was laughter and asked, "Mom, it's funny?" and I told her it was kind of funny. Then she noticed the tears and she said, "Mom, don't be sad! It's okay, don't be sad." I just hugged her hard.

That girl is a miracle child and let me tell you why. 

When I had my last ultrasound and they told me it looked like the gestational sac was at least 50% abrupted. It reminded my of my pregnancy with my DD. At 11 weeks I started bleeding pretty heavily. My DH and I called my mother-in-law to watch the toddler boy and we left in a hurry. Everyone was pretty somber and we assumed I would miscarry. At the midwive's office, however, we found that our little baby's heartbeat was still thumping away! Even though part of her placenta had abrupted and there was about a cup of blood hanging out in there with her, she was fine! It was a 'wait and see' sort of thing.

As time went on, the hemorrhage was absorbed. Fast forward through all that other horribleness to when she was born. She had/has an ear tag and sacral dimples. Initially because of the dimples they thought she had some degree of spina bifida. Cue the Mother Freakout. Over time, they have faded a little, she walks fine, and everyone calmed down a little bit. I looked into the ear tag and discovered that ear tags can also indicate a congenital defect-specifically kidney, urinary tract problems, and even hearing loss.

Then there's the fact that I was probably having some sort of thyroid problems during her pregnancy, I just didn't know about it. This article is flat-out entitled: Thyroid Disease Raises Risk For Birth Defects. "Twenty-one babies (18 percent) had birth defects, including problems in the cardiac, renal and central nervous systems and other disorders such as sunken chest, extra fingers, cleft lip and palate, and ear deformities. Two fetuses died before being delivered."

Another page, Thyroid Disease and Pregnancy, says that "... recent studies have suggested that mild brain developmental abnormalities may be present in children born to women who had mild untreated hypothyroidism during pregnancy."

So, my daughter might have had a degree of spina bifida (like a tethered spine), might have had kidney problems, and she might have had impaired brain development.

She doesn't.

I think God probably has a lot to do with that.

"For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb."

-Psalm 139:13 

Sometimes It Rains

I have debated and debated about writing a post about this. So the compromise I made with myself is that I would write it, because sometimes that's cathartic, and sometime when it's farther away from the present I can post it. Now it's only a month away, but it turns out that's enough time for me. I started this blog to process my health concerns and chronicle the things I try to do to help myself out. This is important to me, definitely is affected by my health and affects my health. So I'm writing about it. :)

I have posted before about how excited I am to try to have another kiddo, to try to have a VBAC and in that way conquer my c-section.

The hubs and I recently decided it would be okay to grow our family. I had all my labs done, talked to my doctor, and felt as sure as I could that my body was healthy! We got pregnant right away and promptly had a miscarriage. I think it's because I was unknowingly taking an abortifacient (you know, ones that can cause abortions) herb in my multi-vitamin, but it doesn't really matter.

We tried again right away and got pregnant again! Only at my eight week ultrasound, they said there was no heartbeat and to expect a miscarriage. It was incredibly awkward and horrible because a) there was a student ultrasound tech there who clearly didn't get it at first and b) they knew that something was wrong before I did. "We just need to take more pictures." "Um....let me go get the doctor so they can talk to you." Sigh. In the span of three months, I've been pregnant twice and disappointed twice.

I read the ultrasound report and it turns out that the egg sac was 'enlarged'. I guess that can be an indicator of genetic defects. It was clear that there was a hemorrhage around the egg sac, so it was pretty clear that Baby had already....become unstuck.

The thing about miscarriages is that, for me at least, it doesn't take that much time to mentally move on. What really bites is that the whole thing is long, drawn-out process. I haven't ever really considered it before, but Readers, a miscarriage takes TIME. Weeks, days, horribly long minutes.

So, one day you're thinking about what's for dinner and the next morning you're reminded that you are, in fact, having a miscarriage. And it last and lasts and, lest we forget, it really, really hurts. In my opinion, it was worse than my early stages of labor. My theory is that with labor there's a baby coming! So it hurts less. With miscarriage there's nothing coming! Yay! So it hurts more.

The other thing that made this particular miscarriage less than enjoyable was the absence (due to work obligations) of my husband. Gah.

I know how lucky I am to have the kids I have. The disappointment I felt is nothing compared to the sadness and disappointment I now imagine women who have been trying for years must feel. My kids were a bright reminder of the joy I already have.

Largely, the last two weeks, I haven't been eating as I normally would. I have succumbed to a raging desire for Snickers (technically wheat free) and Pillsbury frosting (which is mostly made of corn, processed corn, and more processed corn, all with different names). I just needed to confess. I have been trying to eat salads in the futile hope it balances out the nasty processed food I am indulging in.:D

I am concerned that the reason I haven't had another successful pregnancy so far is because of my thyroid or because of the weird autoimmune processes that are probably going on behind the scenes. But I will probably never know that. The University Hospital Center for Midwifery in Denver staff has been extremely supportive and wonderful. They aren't worried about the miscarriages right now because there's no reason to assume something besides regular ol' miscarrying is going on. One of my nurse midwives is actually pregnant right now, but she felt it might be helpful to tell me that she has had three miscarriages and three children. That's so amazing and encouraging! I can't tell you how I love to hear miscarriage stories because a) lots of women who have miscarriages go on to have children and b) women who have miscarriages survive and move on and are content.

I don't know why these things happen, but I do believe that God uses horrible things like this to refine us and help us become more compassionate, Christ-like believers. There is purpose in pain.

"See, I have refined you, though not as silver; 

 I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
    How can I let myself be defamed?
    I will not yield my glory to another."

Isaiah 48: 10-11