My story and hope for a solution.

[Wellness Questions?]

I guess I will give you a complete history because maybe something will stand out to you that I havent noticed before.

I am the third of 4 kids. I have 3 brothers. All of us were breastfed. My brothers all nursed for a little over a year. I did not get this luxury. My mother got pregnant when I was 8 months old and I rejected the breast. I was put on cows milk and table food at this point. I was given purees and stuff from about 5 months old. I had access to a lot of pop and processed food. I started smoking at age 11 and was a full fledged smoker by age 15. I moved out when I was 17 and survived off of coffee, free donuts from the bakery I worked at and canned processed food. I also partied a lot. At 18 I was diagnosed with crohn's disease. I was told I would have this disease for life. The specialist told me to quit smoking, and I thought whats the point I am sick for life. I still partied for that same reason. At 19 I started college. If it wasnt for the pain relief I got from marijuana, I probably would have dropped out. I was put on medications like prednisone flagyl, and immuran they worked a little but I never went into remission. 

Fast forward to 23 years old. I never really experienced relief from my symptoms, even with meds. One day I just felt cold and achy. I ended up with sores in my mouth. I was admitted to hospital and spent a week there. They did a CT which showed extensive inflammation. So they pumped me full of steroids and antibiotics  and then sent me home. I was home for 2 days when I felt this pop in my abdomen. Then the pain started and I felt cold like I never felt in my life. So cold that I took the hottest bath I could without burning myself and it still wasnt hot enough. (I was home alone and I didnt know that I had a high fever. I could have killed myself.) I took a sleeping pill and laid down. I could not sleep. I was on the toilet and puking in the bathtub at the same time. My brother called an ambulance. My bowel had a huge absess and that pop was it perforating and spilling fecal matter into my abdomen. It was the worse pain of my entire life. I wanted to die. All I could do was scream and scream and scream. They gave me narcotics and it didnt even take the edge off. The absess had a bacteria not known to be in the colon, Strep A. I now realize that the antibiotics probably encouraged it to grow and the steroids thinned my tissues causing my bowel to fall apart. I was septic and I almost died. I woke up with a colostomy bag and it took me months to recover. I then had the colostomy reversed when I was healthy enough. That was about 5 years ago. I was put on immunosuppressant for a year after than. I started to change my ways. I quit smoking. I started eating healthy, taking omega 3s and probiotics. I came off the immunosuppresants and I stayed in remission until this past summer.

I tried the McDougall diet. Its a low fat vegan diet based on grains, legumes, and veggies. It worked for awhile. I felt really good and energetic. It lasted a couple months, then the holidays came and I started to vear off my diet. I got back on the diet but I am not getting any better. Its frustrating. I have inflammation in my descending colon. I have bloody stools about once a week. I have lost a lot of weight. I have terrible cystic acne. My nose is slighlty runny all the time. My toes turn purple and they hurt sometimes. I experience pain and nausea whenever I eat a meal. This all started when I started to flare in the summer. Recently I found my self craving sweets like home made muffins or cookies at least once a day. After what happened to me, I do not want to take meds, but there has been a couple of times where I was desparate enough to consider it.

So I am ready to change my diet again. I think I have a candida problem.

I dont eat much these days as it causes me pain. Up until a month ago I was cooking  whole wheat pasta, beans, tofu, stir frys, curries, rice, soups, stews, homemade whole wheat bread, nut butters, veggie sandwiches, chickpeas, grain muffins, and whole wheat pancakes. I have only been veg since summer and I used to eat chicken, beef, and venison and do bone broths in addition to the foods in my list.

Currently I take probiotic capsules (I think dairy bugs me so I dont eat yogurt.)
a rainbow light multi vitamin
flax oil and fish oil

So thats it.
and vitamin D.

I also nurse my 2 year old DD twice a day. I am ready to wean soon and will be done in a month or so.

[Pat Robinson]

I've been out most of today and am heading to bed. Will come back and reply tomorrow.


Glad you are here!


Pat

[Pat Robinson]

Oh my, how scary!! Absolutely frightening to experience!

I would eliminate the most common foods which cause issues: all dairy, all soy, all wheat, all corn. Those are the big four, especially gmo-corn nowadays is horrible for gut microbials.

It sounds like you found the Cliff Notes for gut healing? Do you have any mercury (silver fillings) in your teeth?

This is one of the most comprehensive threads: Healing Leaky Gut with Food??

And Nutrient Dense Foods

Absolutely, I'd focus on stomach acid, limiting inflammatory foods, specific nutrients and dairy-free probiotics.

Bone broths are huge for healing!

Yes, cabbage and salt = fermented, unless it has been pasteurized? Bubbies sauerkraut is naturally fermented and has live cultures present. The cabbage juice, even just a tablespoon with meals will help immensely.

I'm glad to send you some water kefir grains, if you'd like.

The fish oil, needs to have the right A:D ratio, and not synthetic Vit A.

Kombucha releases mercury, if you have mercury issues, I'd hold off on that.

Magnesium is critical also. We use Natural Calm. Epsom salt baths help with detox. Zinc is another consideration, but it hard on an empty stomach. Liver and pumpkin seeds are high in zinc. http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=115

B6, B12, especially having been vegan. B12 is amazing. You want sublingual methyl-B12, or liver. :-)

I just researched cystic acne recently. Here are a few alternatives I found online:

zinc supplementation (pumpkin seeds are high in zinc)
cod liver oil (fermented with high vit A and vit D is best)
drink a lot of water
avoid milk/dairy products
avoid aspartame artificial sweetener
Epsom salt baths
coconut oil topically for infections
raw egg yolk topically (I'd buy pastured eggs)
saw palmetto
diluted tea tree oil topically

I would also suggest trying kefir topically (and orally). I've heard several accounts of it helping skin issues.


I would focus on healthy fats, fatty fish, coconut oil, olive oil and butter. Add it to everything. I don't worry about butter as a dairy, generally, unless IgE, as there is little to no casein protein in butter.

Nutrient dense vegetables are important. We juice each morning. Making a smoothie with frozen tropical fruit and organic spinach is quick and easy. Toss in some mineral water for the extra benefits.

Pastured eggs are fabulous, duck eggs are more fabulous because of the extra fat!

This is a great resource for nutrient dense foods: http://www.whfoods.com/nutrientstoc.php


Let me know if you have more questions. I'm glad you are healing, you've been through a LOT!


Pat

[Pat Robinson]

I wouldn't worry about mercury with one filling then. But, I'd go easy on the kombucha, because it displaces and replaces candida. Whenever microbials are killed off, they release their toxins, as they are dying, into the body. You don't need a big load of more toxins to detox. Plus the process is fairly hard on the gut. So, I'd focus on improving digestion with stomach acid (sauerkraut juice), adding nutrients with whole foods, avoiding the most common culprit proteins which are hard to digest, and including whole food probiotics. Bone broths, smoothies, CLO, magnesium all are beneficial for you and dd.


Pat

[Pat Robinson]

Kefir starter is used with milk products.

Green tea is beneficial, limiting caffeine, of course.


Pat

[Kathy Brown]

Wow -- what a story!! That you've got a plan and are changing your ways after what you've gone through is fantastic!! I would do water kefir, not dairy kefir, since you sound like you have a problem with dairy and know it.

If you want tea, you could also do herbals. I drink rooibas tea (African red tea) and it's technically not tea at all. Black tea is too acidic for me.

You sound like you're on the road to healing. Let us know how you're making out!

[Pat Robinson]

You have been through so much!

Rotate probiotics. Add more strains and varieties of sources. Have you made sauerkraut? Fermented veggies, different kefirs and kombucha (can't recall mercury history).

Also, bone broths, Omega 3 fatty acids fCLO, B-vitamins, vit D? Juice greens for the folate. Zinc for healing. Magnesium for detox. Epsom salt baths for detox and magnesium. Molybdenum for detox. Methyl-B12.

There are many things you can do to continue to make headway forward. Everything is exactly as it needs to be and you are healing. {{{hugs}}}


Pat

[Pat Robinson]

You are working hard!


Pat

[Pat Robinson]

Delighted to hear your update! :-)

Pat