Gut healing while pregnant

[Mary K]

Not sure if I'm posting this in the correct place or not.... but I need some help.  I have a nursing toddler who has lots of food sensitivities, which has led us to working long-distance with an holistic nutritionist.  I've long suspected that my gut was in terrible shape, which has contributed to many of my son's issues.

We've had some testing done on both of us, and we both have seriously compromised guts and various sensitivities.

I now know that I have candida, various bacterial overgrowths, some possible parasites, and more. 

And to top it off, I'm 10 weeks pregnant.  The nutritionist was only able to offer a few suggestions for me for digestive support, but nothing that was safe to start now to help "fix" my issues.

I can post more details of my test results if needed, but I am in search for resources that I can use while pregnant/nursing.  OR, if anyone can recommend any practitioners who are particularly skilled at working with pregnant women and who will work long-distance with clients, I'd love that info as well.

We've already made great strides with diet and lifestyle changes in the last 5 or so years-- a more traditional/WAPF style diet, etc..... but that alone hasn't been enough.  And of course our diet isn't 100% perfect.

I'll stop there for now, but I appreciate any and all direction.

[Pat Robinson]

Could you share more detail about what your diet has been the past 6 months and any complaints or issues you've observed which suggested you need gut healing? I'm not impressed by "test". Per my observations, they are used to suggest buying (expensive) supplements or (expensive ongoing) consultations.

I'd start here.

Pat

[Steve Norton]

Emu oil may help. I posted info on it in the "Whole Food Probiotics 101". In short a study showed that Emu oil:
• produced greater elongation of intestinal crypts (indicating enhanced recovery and repair) and reduced the severity of damage in intestines affected with ulcerative colitis;
• significantly decreased acute intestinal inflammatory activity in non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-induced gastrointestinal disease;
• decreased acute inflammation and improved repair of the chemotherapy-damaged intestine.

[Mary K]

Thanks.  I just read the other post you mentioned.  I will research this.

[Mary K]

Pat, we have a mostly traditional/WAPF diet, although still working on adding in more probiotic foods.  We don't do a lot of grains, but I'm on the verge of soaking some non-gluten grains to try.  We use all organic foods, and as much local meat and produce as possible.  We're members of a local food buying club, which helps greatly with sourcing.  I've been dairy free and mostly gluten, egg, soy free for most of the past two years in an effort to reduce my son's reactions.  I now know that I'm (currently) sensitive to those foods.  We've pretty much eliminated going out to eat completely.

It all really came to light when my son had clear issues with reactions to foods I was eating (via breastmilk) from birth.  My journey over the last two years to help him led me to examine my own gut health.  My main hypothesis was that if my gut was in any form of "good" health, things would not be getting to my son via my milk as much as causing him issues.  I also realized that I've been chronically constipated pretty much my whole life and never realized it was abnormal.  Tons of antibiotics as a kid, SAD for most of my life, formula fed as an infant, all routine vaccinations as a kid, you name it.

Pat, although you are unimpressed by testing, I'll try to upload my test results tomorrow rather than re-list everything.  For me, its been helpful to really find out what's going on rather than try to go it alone and guess as to what is going on.  I've been doing that, and I don't feel equipped to heal without help-- whether it be from you guys or a professional.

As for where to start, I've had your list of recommendations for each day on the side of my refrigerator for months.  I can't say that I get all of the things I'm supposed to every day, but I try.  I've read that post about "where to start" many, many times! 

It seems like efforts to heal will be limited by my bacterial/parasitic/etc issues for now, especially since I'm pregnant.  But I'm hopeful to be able to do as much good as I can, and then eventually do some more intense healing whenever the day comes that I'm not pregnant or nursing.