Symptoms this morning: Headache, upper backache, anger, heart rate up to 120s, dizzy, weak, distended abdomen, puffy face, right eye lid slightly swollen, not fully cognitive, and stiff body.
The headache and backache seemed worse this morning when I first got up (around 5 AM) but seem to be going away now. I went back on the Berberine and GSE Supplement yesterday starting with half of a capsule. Hopefully the die off won't be too bad and I can start increasing the dose. Mom got the Pro-Symbioflor, Symbioflor-1, and Symbioflor-2 for me and mailed them Tuesday. I hope to get them early next week and will start with Pro-Symbioflor first. Maybe with all of this I will then be able to start adding other probiotics and ferments again. I do believe that re-balancing my gut flora is going to be key to healing.
My current theory is that whatever is going on in my gut is causing my RT3 to go too high when I go back to T4/T3 medication like Armour or Naturethroid. Taking Cytomel helps reverse this but causes tachycardia because it is too much of a strain due to the autonomic dysfunction (POTS) which could quite possibly be connected to the gut dysbiosis as well. If I fix my gut I will be able to go back on T4/T3 medication which will resolve the POTS issues. The reason the gut issues have not resolved on GAPS is because whatever is overgrowing in my gut has morphed and learned to live on whatever I am eating - even meat and fat. Therefore adding the supplement mentioned above will knock down the level of candida or whatever it is, the Symbioflor products will strengthen my immune system, and that combined with GAPS intro will eventually allow me to add other probees and ferments. I hope I am right about this because I am still a little bit hopeful that I will have a normal stomach, better digestion, and more energy by the time we go on vacation in November.
Not sure yet what I am eating today. It depends on what we are doing today and whether DH is going to see his dad or not, but I am thinking boiled salmon, fish broth with Great Lakes Gelatin, and lots of pork fat or tallow.
Update:
I had fish broth, gelatin, boiled salmon, and lard for lunch and dinner. Started getting a slightly stuffy nose mid-afternoon and now (8 PMish) I feel like I am getting a slight ear ache. This is a typical die off symptom for me. Headache and backache eventually went away. Abdominal distention is awful now that I have eaten two meals.
Showing posts with label GAPS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GAPS. Show all posts
Friday, July 1, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
What would have been GAPS Intro Day 28
I finally figured out why my tachy issues came back. The day I started back on GAPS Intro (4/25) I went to donate blood. Later that day is when my heart was racing like crazy. It took me two weeks to realize that I was dealing with low blood volume due to the donation. Long story short, I even went to the ER one day and now I seem to be anemic. Well, I was that day but have been eating beef liver like crazy since then. I was retested last Wednesday and hope to have the results tomorrow. My sodium was also below normal and potassium was low normal. I eventually asked Dr. Cowan for some SR potassium which he actually prescribed. I am still not back to where I was, but it's better now. What a setback.
Because of all this GAPS intro really has not been going well at all and I sort of fell off the wagon Thursday night. We went to the new Brazilian restaurant in town and I decided to have a glass of wine. I had a big buzz from that one glass, despite all the food I ate, and on the way home chewed a piece of gum. At home I had dairy kefir that I had made from regular, store bought heavy cream and I put some Splenda in it. Not the end of the world and it's not like I ate a whole cheesecake, but considering the state of my health, digestive and overall, that really wasn't a smart thing to do. I am still sort of dealing with the reaction from dairy.
Of course now I am toying with the idea of starting over AGAIN. It's the perfectionism driving me to "do it right". I am even considering going off most of my supplements, including the progesterone cream and testosterone cream I had added back in, and starting from scratch adding one thing at a time. That would really be the biggest change and going back to eating boiled meats which I am not looking forward to. The other consideration is to use fermented veggie brine only - no commercial probees. I stopped the Custom Probiotics and the Berberine supplement about 3 days ago and I feel better. Not only am I having daily BMs, but I don't wake up with pain and a stiff body every day. I really wish I could figure out why I am reacting so strongly to beneficial bacteria.
All of this has put me in sort of a depressive mood. I am getting to the point where it's hard to see the end of the tunnel or where I believe that there is someone out there who can figure this out. I put a lot of hope into doing GAPS intro again, but that hope is slowly fading as well. If I can't increase beneficial bacteria then I am not really doing GAPS. So where does that leave me?
I still think that the strep and scarlet fever incident last year caused some kind of lasting problem - but how and why? That is what I want to discuss with Dr. Cowan tomorrow. I am tired of him ignoring the fact that I have not gotten better since then. There HAS to be some significance to it.
Today marks 915 days (or roughly 30 months or roughly 2.5 years) with a distended, uncomfortable abdomen as well as a host of other symptoms that have not improved. I feel overwhelmed, disappointed, scared, and don't know where to go from here. Spending one more day feeling the way I feel seems unbearable. Needless to say my ED issues are rampant right now. It's the only way I feel I can cope. I pray, I ask God for guidance, I ask Him for comfort but I feel nothing and I hear nothing. It's very discouraging...
Back to starting over....I will probably go back on proper GAPS Intro but will have to wait a while. Rachel, our former neighbor from Austin who is like a grandmother to us, is not doing so well. I am hoping to go see her next week and I won't even attempt to make broth there or take broth with me. I will just eat GAPS legal food and won't worry about the rest. This time I also plan on going to The Saltlick, my fav BBQ restaurant, while I am there. Last time I went to Austin I chose not to go and then regretted it. Soooooo.....it looks like I will be re-starting GAPS Intro June 1 which is perfect because Bob goes to LA for 7 days on June 2nd. Now if I could just wean off coffee by then that would be great. I have read for the third time now that coffee can mimic the gluten protein and if you are gluten intolerant you could react to coffee. UGH! I tried reducing a few days ago and the depression got even worse. I need to find something to replace the coffee with. Unfortunately green and black teas make me feel nauseated on an empty stomach (and stain my teeth horribly) and I don't eat anything in the morning. Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and go off cold turkey the same time I go back on intro. Sound like suicide? I think it does!!!
Because of all this GAPS intro really has not been going well at all and I sort of fell off the wagon Thursday night. We went to the new Brazilian restaurant in town and I decided to have a glass of wine. I had a big buzz from that one glass, despite all the food I ate, and on the way home chewed a piece of gum. At home I had dairy kefir that I had made from regular, store bought heavy cream and I put some Splenda in it. Not the end of the world and it's not like I ate a whole cheesecake, but considering the state of my health, digestive and overall, that really wasn't a smart thing to do. I am still sort of dealing with the reaction from dairy.
Of course now I am toying with the idea of starting over AGAIN. It's the perfectionism driving me to "do it right". I am even considering going off most of my supplements, including the progesterone cream and testosterone cream I had added back in, and starting from scratch adding one thing at a time. That would really be the biggest change and going back to eating boiled meats which I am not looking forward to. The other consideration is to use fermented veggie brine only - no commercial probees. I stopped the Custom Probiotics and the Berberine supplement about 3 days ago and I feel better. Not only am I having daily BMs, but I don't wake up with pain and a stiff body every day. I really wish I could figure out why I am reacting so strongly to beneficial bacteria.
All of this has put me in sort of a depressive mood. I am getting to the point where it's hard to see the end of the tunnel or where I believe that there is someone out there who can figure this out. I put a lot of hope into doing GAPS intro again, but that hope is slowly fading as well. If I can't increase beneficial bacteria then I am not really doing GAPS. So where does that leave me?
I still think that the strep and scarlet fever incident last year caused some kind of lasting problem - but how and why? That is what I want to discuss with Dr. Cowan tomorrow. I am tired of him ignoring the fact that I have not gotten better since then. There HAS to be some significance to it.
Today marks 915 days (or roughly 30 months or roughly 2.5 years) with a distended, uncomfortable abdomen as well as a host of other symptoms that have not improved. I feel overwhelmed, disappointed, scared, and don't know where to go from here. Spending one more day feeling the way I feel seems unbearable. Needless to say my ED issues are rampant right now. It's the only way I feel I can cope. I pray, I ask God for guidance, I ask Him for comfort but I feel nothing and I hear nothing. It's very discouraging...
Back to starting over....I will probably go back on proper GAPS Intro but will have to wait a while. Rachel, our former neighbor from Austin who is like a grandmother to us, is not doing so well. I am hoping to go see her next week and I won't even attempt to make broth there or take broth with me. I will just eat GAPS legal food and won't worry about the rest. This time I also plan on going to The Saltlick, my fav BBQ restaurant, while I am there. Last time I went to Austin I chose not to go and then regretted it. Soooooo.....it looks like I will be re-starting GAPS Intro June 1 which is perfect because Bob goes to LA for 7 days on June 2nd. Now if I could just wean off coffee by then that would be great. I have read for the third time now that coffee can mimic the gluten protein and if you are gluten intolerant you could react to coffee. UGH! I tried reducing a few days ago and the depression got even worse. I need to find something to replace the coffee with. Unfortunately green and black teas make me feel nauseated on an empty stomach (and stain my teeth horribly) and I don't eat anything in the morning. Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and go off cold turkey the same time I go back on intro. Sound like suicide? I think it does!!!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Going Back on GAPS Intro
I have been vacillating between starting intro tomorrow, with a group of people, or starting on 4/24 when Bob goes to Orlando for 2 weeks. After eating some almond flour shortbread yesterday I decided to start tomorrow. It seems when I am not on some sort of plan, I have a tendency to slip more. I know almonds are GAPS legal, but every time I try to eat nuts they just set me back.
The reason I wanted to wait to start intro on 4/24 is that I won't be able to have grilled meats for a while since the first and second stage only allow boiled meats (boring). However, it won't kill me to eat boiled meats for a little while although Bob will be eating grilled meats. I will start intro with meats/fats only plus broth of course and fermented veggie juice - IF I can tolerate it. If that goes well I will start reducing protein and adding cooked veggies. Of course I am afraid to leave the ZC world, but I just have no desire to continue eating nothing but meat and fat and certainly not the rest of my life.
Here's the frustrating part and I pray this will change during intro, I feel like I am in perpetual die off. I mean, you are supposed to get die off when you add probees and or ferments but then it's supposed to let up and you increase probees and ferments. With me it seems that I can still only tolerate tiny amounts of probees and even those cause a pretty bad headache and backache. How am I going to move forward if the die off doesn't go away? It's mind boggling and utterly frustrating and I am so tired of it. After 5 to 6 days of a headache and back pain I need a break. So yesterday I did not take any probees at all and while I don't feel quite as achy this morning, the headache is still there. WTH???
On a more positive note, I found two recipes that Bob really likes. One was Bacon Wrapped Salmon Cakes and the other one was Salisbury Steak. I was really surprised that he liked the salmon cakes since he is not crazy about fish, but he even went back for seconds. I made some of them with jalapenos instead of asparagus which was good as well. I also omitted the nuts and parmesan cheese, and used two eggs instead of one egg white so that I could eat them.
I need to experiment and come up with some of my own recipes.
The reason I wanted to wait to start intro on 4/24 is that I won't be able to have grilled meats for a while since the first and second stage only allow boiled meats (boring). However, it won't kill me to eat boiled meats for a little while although Bob will be eating grilled meats. I will start intro with meats/fats only plus broth of course and fermented veggie juice - IF I can tolerate it. If that goes well I will start reducing protein and adding cooked veggies. Of course I am afraid to leave the ZC world, but I just have no desire to continue eating nothing but meat and fat and certainly not the rest of my life.
Here's the frustrating part and I pray this will change during intro, I feel like I am in perpetual die off. I mean, you are supposed to get die off when you add probees and or ferments but then it's supposed to let up and you increase probees and ferments. With me it seems that I can still only tolerate tiny amounts of probees and even those cause a pretty bad headache and backache. How am I going to move forward if the die off doesn't go away? It's mind boggling and utterly frustrating and I am so tired of it. After 5 to 6 days of a headache and back pain I need a break. So yesterday I did not take any probees at all and while I don't feel quite as achy this morning, the headache is still there. WTH???
On a more positive note, I found two recipes that Bob really likes. One was Bacon Wrapped Salmon Cakes and the other one was Salisbury Steak. I was really surprised that he liked the salmon cakes since he is not crazy about fish, but he even went back for seconds. I made some of them with jalapenos instead of asparagus which was good as well. I also omitted the nuts and parmesan cheese, and used two eggs instead of one egg white so that I could eat them.
I need to experiment and come up with some of my own recipes.
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