Wednesday, June 1, 2011

GAPS Re-Intro: Day 1

I was going to start over once again with GAPS Intro today. Unfortunately my day started crappy like so many days. I woke up with a headache and backache, tired, tachycardia (up to 137), fluid retention, and I had abdominal distention from the start before eating or drinking anything. Drinking coffee made it worse - this could be "PMS" or rather hormonal. It's too hard to tell these days but I hate it.

In my last email to Dr. Cowan I asked him to address the abdominal distention. His reply was that it's probably just "bad gut ecology but we can try a course of Nystatin". So this is about the 4th or 5th person who is indicating that I have fungal overgrowth. Maybe God is trying to tell me something!!!

I told Dr. C that Nystatin gives me the same symptoms as I get from probees and ferments - headache, backache, fatigue, anger, constipation, etc. I assumed those were die off but during our last phone consult he indicated that I probably just don't tolerate those strains of bacteria. That doesn't really make sense to me especially since I am getting the same symptoms from coconut oil, palm oil, GSE, oil of oregano, Nystatin, and other anti-fungals and anti-bacterials. I still think it's wicked die off what I didn't understand is why it just won't stop, then I started reading Dr. Myhill's free E-book on CFS. According to her research CFS is caused by mitochondrial failure. Mitochondria supply energy to all the cells in our body and if mitochondria fail all organs are affected and everything slows down. It can even lead to POTS which is something I have been dealing with as well. Reading her book was like reading about myself. I finally had an explanation for all the weird symptoms I seem to be having, including the fact that I am SO toxic despite a clean diet and clean lifestyle. Since all organs are affected in mitochondrial failure that means your skin is affected. In the book it states if micro-circulation to the skin is shut down, the body cannot detox. It also explains heat intolerance, something else I have been dealing with, because the skin is responsible for controlling the temperature of the body. When the blood supply to the skin is shut off, the body cannot loose heat through the skin and the core body temperature rises.

Dr. Myhill recommends a Stone Age Diet, 9 hours of sleep every night, plenty of rest and pacing oneself, and a supplement regimen for people with CFS/mitochondrial failure. Some of the supplements I already take, some I can't get here (she is in the UK), and some key supplements (d-ribose, l-carnatine, CoQ10, and niacin) I ordered and they should get here Friday. I am hopeful yet I am afraid to be hopeful.

Back to GAPS Intro - so I was going to start over today but I am wondering what the point is. I mean, I am still on Stage 2 minus egg whites/gee/butter. Of course as usual, the perfectionist in me wants to do it right, go through the stages, add one thing at a time, etc. I am not sure what to do and I am also torn about adding ferments back in - maybe one drop at a time - and now also adding Nystatin. Dr. C said to start with a pinch and work my way up. I was thinking about using the baby scoop from my Custom Probiotics. That's about 1/16 of a teaspoon or less which is a small dose.

I am trying to find joy, be happy, and enjoy life but it's not easy right now. I feel overwhelmed with all these symptoms and the fact that it seems impossible to find a good doctor - one that will truly listen, take his/her time, not just blow me off because I take Cytomel for hypothyroidism, or look at me like I am insane when I mention some of my symptoms. 

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