Candida/food sensitivities/carb intolerance/adrenal fatigue

[Jessica Lee]

Hi Pat,
Thanks so much for starting this site.  A friend pointed me here and I've gleaned lots of great insight.

I'll introduce myself as I'm new here.  For the last 14 years (at which time I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism) I have struggled with getting candida under control and ridding myself of allergies.

I've tried to reduce and heal symptoms with various diets, from naturepathic diets, Bee's diet, followed by an alkalinizing diet, as I think the former set me hugely unbalanced.  All the while seeing a classical homeopath and naturepaths off and on, and taking various supplements.  This past year I've done some detoxing with the ND, and followed a more alkaline diet.  Lately I've been following Nourishing Traditions a lot with homemade sauerkraut, beet kavass, water kefir, cashew and sunflower seed yoghurt, started from 1/2 a tsp. of milk based finish villi culture (I cannot tolerate milk),  kombucha.  Honestly, I think the water kefir gives me yeast infections.  If I could afford it, I'd have a bio-k a day and do really well.  However, it seems that whatever probiotics I take, they don't seem to plant into my gut and continue to grow.  I worry a little about kombucha having too much yeast.

I have a great deal of trouble eating carbs, therefore, I mostly avoid grains. Even soaking them over night causes me stomach pain.  I eat carbs maybe a few times a week.  I mostly eat soaked seeds, veggies, a small bit of berries - to avoid stomach pain, some beans a few times a week and grass fed beef, salmon, organic chicken, turkey, and lamb.  I try and rotate as much as possible and try and make bone broth once a week which lasts a few days.

I avoid wheat, dairy, corn, rice, sugar, eggs, gluten grains as these are known sensitivities.

Lately, I've been trying an axis of fermented foods, gentle liver herbs 3x a day, spirulina, and adrenal support with ashwagandha and rhodiola.  I also added in MSM recently, as when the yeast gets too high, my left eye lids swell and turn red, and then go to eczema.  MSM helps reduce the swelling. I think I read somewhere on the curezone.com, under adrenal fatigue, that curing this, will heal the gut.

Plus, I take all the usual recommended supplements, like B complex, C, D, CLO, and cal/mag.

Overall, I don't know if I've ever been really well.  I had loads of ear infections as a child.  Tubes put in.  Adenoids removed (I read that thread here) at 5.  By the time I was 6, I had a long bout of mono.  By my teens, I had braces, and I had very bad hay fever and received allergy shots for awhile.  By the time I was 27, I was diagnosed with hashimoto's thyroditis.  I had some dental fillings removed in my late 20's.

Phew. That's a long post.  Despite all that, I've had to great childbirths, but my kids (7 and 4) mirror my digestive issues, in a less intense way, and do well on a load of probiotics.

I've been trying to put this together for a long time as to what the problem could be.  Its complicated.
Is this just mercury related?  I've done plenty of detoxing, but perhaps with not all the pathways you suggest. Do you have a suggestion or protocol?  I've read on Mercola  a mercury detox process.

I appreciate your insight!!
Jessica

[Pat Robinson]

Just seeing this now and heading to bed. I'll read and reply in the AM.

Pat

[Pat Robinson]

(I'm going to send this along, as I've been trying to get it typed all day)

I do not agree with Mercola's detox process. MSM, chlorella and cilantro are not safe if you have/had mercury fillings in your mouth, nor if ttc, pregnant or nursing as it mobilizes mercury but doesn't escort it out of the body.

Andy Cutler indicates that because chlorella has only one thiol, it does not bind as tightly to mercury as substances in the two thiol group, and thus it moves mercury around, but does not necessarily shuttle it safely out of the body. Cutler says that chlorella bounces mercury around more which presumably could cause more damage, but he also said that it causes it to be removed from storage more quickly.

http://books.google.com/books?id=ZG9glNfif5YC&dq=chlorella+merc...

http://books.google.com/books?id=ZG9glNfif5YC&dq=chlorella+merc...

http://curezone.com/forums/am.asp?i=1382163
http://www.prohealth.com/fibromyalgia/blog/boardDetail.cfm?id=1022415

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?p=15381216&...

BTDT with the chlorella (and cilantro), bad mercury detox issues. :-/


Did you have the mercury removed before or after your pregnancies? About how many fillings did you have total ever? How long ago? What was your diet like then? How long have you been doing ferments?

Candida binds with mercury to sequester it out of circulation. Detox programs generally only mobilize, not excrete mercury. Nutrients are necessary to remove the mercury, and there is variable 'bandwidth' for us to excrete mercury. It is like a funnel. You can pour a bunch of toxins in, but the outlet is only so wide, the rest overflows through skin or affects lungs which are detox pathways also.

Kombucha has a beneficial yeast (Saccharomyces Boulardii) which displaces and replaces candida albicans in the gut. The issue with this is, as candida is displaced it "dies-off" and releases toxins and mercury.

From your limited diet, it sounds like you probably need more nutrients. Magnesium is huge and VERY difficult to get adequate amounts alongside detoxing which increases nutrient needs. Zinc and stomach acid are important for digestion and nutrient bio-availability. I'd start with chewing food 20 times per bite, including nettles and green juice or smoothies. The enzymes of raw foods are important; however, once someone has a really imbalanced gut, cooked produce has the proteins are already broken down and is more easily digested.

Zinc and magnesium are hard to get enough from food, unless you really focus on it. Pumpkin seeds are high in zinc. Bone broths and Nettle leaf infusions are also high in magnesium.

Pat

[Jessica Lee]

Hi Pat,
Thank you for your thoughtful reply.
You asked:
Did you have the mercury removed before or after your pregnancies? about 4 years before my first pregnancy.

About how many fillings did you have total ever? I'm not sure. About 4 fillings

How long ago? In my twenties. I haven't had a filling in 13 years.
What was your diet like then? In my 20s? It was pretty standard. High in wheat and cheese. I was a vegetarian. My nutrition has been a focus for 13 years since I started seeing an ND - at the time of the hypothyroid diagnosis.

How long have you been doing ferments? 2 months - which isn't really long enough in the grand scheme of things, now is it? lol.

I do take a lot of magnesium. I love it! I'd been using mag. citrate for years, but have now just tried mag. glycinate, and have noticed my nails being much smoother.

Ok. The mercury is really making sense to me. How the heck do I get it out? And presumably, if I guess where you're going, its in my kids too. How do I get it out of them? My 7 year old will swollow magnesium pills. My four year old drinks "Calm."

I have no longer any issues with stomach acid. Beet kvass does not turn my pee pink. It also eat these fermented beets, no pink. A year ago I used to take betaine. I took only *one* of these the other night with dinner as a test. At it burned! Which I thought was great, meaning my stomach is functioning better.
I do take zinc, but not too much, as I've read it can push the immune system too much and be too hard on autoimmune diseases - the hypothyroidism.

I also brew nettles from time to time, I can do more of this. I can also replace the blade in my Omega juicer so that it can juice leaves again.

Please let me know some of your other thoughts on this matter, as I *hugely* appreciate your insight and wealth of knowledge. I've been working on this for so long now!

Much peace,
Jessica