Urgh! Agh! Blah!…that’s how I feel today.
October 16th, 2007Alright, so lately I’ve been doing really well. My nose has been clear (with the exception of the time I ate honey – I later realized that not all honey is the same and just because I tested ok to the one that I had taken in to my Doctor in the states doesn’t mean that the Prague honey is ok for me…it clearly wasn’t). I haven’t had a headache at all since we got back from the states (a very big triumph for me). I’ve been sleeping better. I’ve had more energy (with the exception of the first few days I started taking the new vitamins to balance neurotransmitters and hormones). I haven’t had as much gas. I haven’t had as many dizzy/black out times (though I have had a few they haven’t been nearly as bad as before or as often). So, yeah, I’ve been really remarkably well lately. But, today something happened… I guess it sort of started yesterday with a restless anxious feeling, but it really turned into something today. From the moment I got up I felt upset, angry, anxious, stressed and unable to relax…for no reason. Every little thing annoyed me, even things that happen pretty much every day and normally don’t really bother me all that much. I was so aggravated with my husband’s “noises” (he likes to tap things and drum and hum and basically make noise always) I had to go work from the other room for a while. After moving back into the kitchen to work and eat some lunch, I snapped at him multiple times, even yelled a little. After getting upset with him and my computer and work and the world at large (again really for no reason) I broke down crying and couldn’t stop for a long time. I felt so out of control – like I couldn’t even control the feeling of anxiety and anger that I was feeling. I felt so icky and ugly, but I also felt so angry and upset and just like I couldn’t calm down. After crying for quite some time (my husband was kind enough to hold me through this which really helped) I felt a bit better and calmer. But, even once I did calm down a bit I feel like I have had to fight this urge to get angry over little stupid things and constantly take deep breaths to try and calm myself down. It’s been a really weird feeling…my thoughts on what’s causing it…well, I guess it could be the supplements I’m taking that are suppose to help balance my hormones and such but those are suppose to make me feel more calm and tired not anxious and uptight…could my body be having a reverse reaction to them (like how Benardyl makes most people sleepy but makes me wired?). Or could it just be that I’m on day 28 of my cycle and should start my period any day now…this will be my first period off of the birth control pill – does the pill minimize symptoms of PMS? Could that be what this is? Probably…oh, the joys of being a women (yes, this last sentence should be taken sarcastically). Health to you and yours – Beth
The results from my NeuroScience tests
October 10th, 2007Ok, so I got my hormone/neurotransmitter test back this week and wanted to share the results.
- Norepinephrine is low
- Dopamine is low
- Serotonin is low
- Glycine is low
- PEA is deficient
- Agmatine is elevated
- Testosterone is low
- Dihydrotestosterone is low
- DHEA is low
- Cortisol is normal in the morning, deficient in the afternoon and evening, and normal at night
- Norephinephrine is low
- Dopamine is low
So, they recommended a 3 phase program to help balance everything out where it’s supposed to be. During the first phase they recommend two supplements for me to take, then phase two consists of those two supplements plus one additional one and phase three I drop back down to just two of the three supplements. Here’s what they say about each phase:
“Phase 1 is designed to support inhibitory neurotransmitter levels such as GABA, serotonin, and taurine. During this phase, improvements in anxiousness, mood, or sleep can be expected. Side effects are generally mild and may include nausea, vomiting, or GI upset and typically subside with continued use; they may also be managed with dosage adjustment or buffering supplementation with food. Phase 1 is designed to last approximately two weeks, but extending Phase 1 may be necessary if patient is still experiencing noticeable over stimulation or restlessness.”
“Phase 2 generally continues until neurotransmitter levels have been optimized and health is improved, and usually takes a minimum of 3 months. During phase dosage may be manipulated to achieve results. This is followed by a transition into Phase 3.”
“Phase 3 is important for maintaining adequate neurotransmitter levels. Without continued supplemental support transmitter levels will revert to baseline values. As a result, improved health may not be maintained.”
Ok, so I started phase 1 on Tuesday and I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes. So far I’m feeling pretty good but more tired and fatigued even than usually – but my doctor said that is common in phase 1 and to just stick with it so hopefully that will get better once everything starts to balance out. I will keep you all posted.
Health to you and yours -
Beth
Sick with a Cold and Feeling Blue
October 3rd, 2007Ok, so here’s the update…I’m sick! L It’s been a full week of congestion, sore throat, slight fever, and just that icky achy feeling. So, because of being sick I haven’t really been able to tell if going off my birth control has made any difference in how I feel. It was interesting though the first two days after stopping taking birth control I felt really ridiculously anxious and emotional and I couldn’t relax. It was the weirdest feeling. But after about three days that stopped and that’s when I got sick – I was wondering if maybe the fact that my body was detoxifying from the birth control could have weakened my immune system and made me more susceptible to being sick…just a random thought I’d had. I did have some friends in town this week and so I was out showing them the town more and that always makes me feel more run down which can also make me more susceptible to getting sick. But, it was worth it. I had such a great time having them here and it was really nice. I didn’t feel very well most of the time they were here but I was able to hold it together until they left and then I really crashed – yesterday and today I’ve felt especially sick. But, I’m hopeful that if I can just rest and drink lots of water and eat some good homemade chicken broth I should start to feel better by this weekend. I sure hope so at least – my parents are coming this weekend and I want to be able to hang out with them. Oh, and my mom is suppose to be bringing the results from the hormone tests I had done when we were in the states so I’m really looking forward to looking over those and figuring that out. I’ll definitely be sure to share them with you all once I get them J Hope everyone is doing well.
Health to you and yours –
Beth
Update on Hormones and Birth Control and a bonus book review
September 24th, 2007Well, I am now birth control free. Well, not really but I did stop taking the pill a few days ago and today is the second day that I would have been taking active (yellow) pills and am not. I really believe that this will be a key to helping my body repair itself. The pill pumps your body full of synthetic estrogen – this is bad news for those of us with multiple chemical sensitivities since hormone imbalances (especially estrogen dominance) seem to be one key component in causing chemical sensitivities. So, I am now pill free. What am I doing instead, you ask? Well, for now until my cycles regulate some my husband and I will be using condoms. But, I hope that in the near future I can start using the Fertility Awareness Method. Some of you might be saying “well you better be ready to get pregnant if you’re going to use natural birth control” and yes, to some degree you’re right and we are…or at least we’re getting close to being ready to have kids (ideally we are thinking about having kids sometime in the next year or two). But, as I have been reading about this method I’m beginning to believe that it may (when used correctly) actually be very accurate. I have been reading the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health
Health to you and yours –
Beth
Back at Last with much to tell…
September 18th, 2007Almost a month ago now my husband and I flew back to the states so that I could have some blood work done and see a doctor there. It was an incredible trip – very helpful and informative and I’ve been wanting to fill you all in about it but to be honest I have been a little nervous to do so…some of the things I have decided to do in the last month will go against what some of you have recommended though others will be in line with what you recommended…and overall I have decided to take a different approach to chemical sensitivities then what I have myself advised in the past…So, here’s what we found out from the blood tests and other tests done and here’s the new regime I’m on…
Well, maybe first I should start by telling you about the doctor that I went to see. About six years ago my mom got really sick – she couldn’t keep anything down (literally not even water), she lost tons of weight, she was in the hospital on an IV for a while, they ran all sorts of tests on her and everything but no one could figure out what was wrong with her. All of her tests came back “regular”/”within range”, some of them were a little border line but not out of range so eventually the doctors told her they couldn’t figure out what’s wrong with her and sent her home. Then my mom went to see Dr. Mike – he is a chiropractor, kinesiologist, nutritionist, homeopathic type doctor who is also a Christian and believes in treating the body as a whole and connected entity. He does a lot with muscle testing (which is, as far as I know, the only form of testing that even claims to be able to test for sensitivities). There are some who don’t agree that muscle testing can work, but personally I saw it work for my mom and though I am sure there are doctors out there who fake muscle testing results to get you to buy this or that produce I do believe that when used correctly and by someone trustworthy and intuitive it can work and be very accurate. He is the only one who was finally able to help my mom and for me that was proof enough that there was something to all this that worked. I had been to see him in the past, before I moved to Seattle, when I lived in AZ, and I always felt better when I went to him but I never felt like he really got to the heart of all my “issues”. When my mom suggested that my husband and I fly back to the states to see him I was, to be honest, skeptical – hadn’t I already tried going to him? Hadn’t I had blood tests done in the past that showed no conclusive results? Would this trip really be any different? But, I was feeling so lost trying to figure everything out on my own and felt like it couldn’t hurt to try again so we went.
The very first day we got into the states I went and got blood tests and had them rushed so that we could get the results quickly. A few hours later after recovering from the blood tests (my blood pressure always drops a lot and I get really faint when I get blood drawn) I had an appointment with Dr. Mike. He already had the results from my blood tests and low and behold there was indeed something to be learned from them. It turns out I was right I do have light hypothyroidism. I don’t have the results right in front of me so I can’t give you actual numbers but oddly enough it was encouraging to me to have the results for my T3 and T4 be out of range even by medical standards. So, that first day he tested me on a bunch of nutrients for my thyroid and put me on some natural stuff for that (the normal route for thyroid problems is medication but I am going to try and deal with it naturally first and then if there is no change by the time we go back to the states in November maybe we will start considering medication). The blood work also showed some gut inflammation which can be a sign of yeast overgrowth and/or infection so he tested me for a yeast overgrowth and sure enough I had one. So, he put me on something to kill the yeast and told me that it usually takes about 30 days for the yeast to clear up and then after that he would have me take some stuff to repair my gut – miracle of miracles though my body responded really quickly and by the time he tested me again on the yeast right before I left it was gone and so he put me on some stuff to repair my gut right then – including probiotics. The other big thing that the blood test showed was that my pH balance was off (no surprise there, right?) – I was running too acidic. He said that this can often be caused by the stomach being to alkaline (not acidic enough) and put me on something to increase my stomachs acidity so that the rest of my body doesn’t need to be so acidic. The other big thing we found out was that my adrenals were not working properly either so he did some work on them and put me on some things to help them function better. He also put me on some other vitamins – something for my stuffy nose (to help dry it up naturally), something for my asthma, a basic multivitamin, a protein powder (I don’t get enough protein in my diet usually), some magnesium, a B vitamin, a calcium, and an iron supplement as well.
One of the biggest or at least most life changing things that was accomplished through this trip though was testing me on a number of different foods (he did this through muscle testing not traditional allergy tests). According to this doctor muscle testing can detect sensitivities, so each time I went to see him (every day I was in the states) I took anywhere from 1 to 5 bags of groceries with me. He tested me on a number of different foods and the results were somewhat surprising. I have decided to believe these results (even though they don’t exactly match up with foods containing salicylate and those not containing salicylate and that sort of thing). I feel as if I have tried eliminating salicylate, I’ve tried eliminating amines, I’ve tried eliminating sulfites and such all on my own and I haven’t had much luck. So, I want to try eliminating just the things I tested negatively to with him and not avoiding the things that I didn’t test negatively to. So, for the last, well, month about I have been eating much more variety (though there are still a lot of things that I need to avoid) and so far at least I am feeling much better. I think that my body had become majorly malnourished and the combination of taking some vitamins/nutrients to help fix some of the deeper problems (pH balance, gut flora, thyroid) and getting more nutrients from more varied foods has been helpful for me. I don’t know if it’s the way to go for everyone and I’m sure there are some of you who would disagree with my choice to go this way but for me, for now, it has been working. So, for those of you who are interested here are the things that I reacted to in the muscle testing and am now avoiding: wheat, allspice, apples, apple cider vinegar, avocados, cheddar cheese, all yellow cheeses, cinnamon, cloves, corn, curry, ginger, pepper (white and black), roasted cashews, tarragon, tea (all kinds), thyme, wine (both red and white), all dried fruits, the laundry detergent I was using, a number of different soaps and shampoos, pesticides, latex, Dye-free Benadryl, Sudafed, and my birth control pills. I am still on the birth control pills because I wanted to finish off the month that I had already started but I should start my period today or tomorrow and the plan is to not start another pack after that. So, in the next few days I should be off my birth control as well, which I think will make a big difference for me in regards to my health. Here are the things that I tested that I didn’t react to and am now eating: acorn squash, vodka, fresh artichoke, asparagus, baking powder, baking soda, balsamic vinegar, banana, basil, bay leaf, beans, bell pepper (red, yellow and green), blueberries, broccoli, butter, cabbage, carrots, raw cashews, celery, shallot, chicken, Starbucks coffee (decaf and regular), cucumber, cumin, coriander, Edom cheese, eggplant, eggs, fish (organic), flax seed, garlic, gin, goat cheese, grapefruit, green beans, herbs de province, honey, hot paprika, jalapenos, leek, lemon, lettuce, lime, raw macadamia nuts, mango, pure maple syrup, meat (organic), whole milk (organic), molasses, mozzarella, mushroom, nutmeg, oats, olive oil, orange, oregano, parmesan, peanuts, pear, peas, pecan, pine nuts, pineapple, poppy seeds, potato, pure cocoa, red wine vinegar, rice, rice vinegar, rosemary, safflower oil, salt, sesame seeds, soy sauce, spinach, strawberries, sunflower oil, sunflower seeds, sweet potato, tomato, tonic water, turmeric, vanilla, walnut, watermelon, white vinegar, white wine vinegar, yam, yellow onion, zucchini, pure castile soap, Avalon Organics Nourishing Shampoo, Planet dish soap and Planet laundry detergent. Things not on either of these lists are things that he hasn’t tested yet and so I avoid them because I am unsure about them. But, wow, talk about a lot more things I can eat. It has been so enjoyable to make meals and cook now with so many more options and it really has made it so much easier to go out to eat with people or go over to someone’s house which has made me really happy.
One of the other things I did while I was in the states was I sent in a urine test and four saliva tests to NeuroScience Inc., a company that tests neurotransmitters and hormones and (from what I understand) then sends back a list of health suggestions based on the results of your tests (for example they might recommend certain nutrients you should take or certain activities or foods you should avoid or include, etc). I still have not gotten the results of those tests back but I am expecting them sometime in the next week and am very curious to see what they say and how they relate to everything else.
Anyway, for me the trip was really encouraging and helpful and I really have been feeling remarkably better the last few weeks since starting this new treatment. I am hopeful that I will continue to feel better and better especially after I stop the birth control this next week and add to my new regime any suggestions that the NuroScience lab recommends. I hope that you are all doing well. I feel bad that I have been so out of the loop lately – I seriously haven’t checked the forum in almost a month – I am looking forward to catching up on all of your progress as soon as I get all caught up at work and have time to devote to the forum. I miss hearing about all of your lives and miss your input in my life as well.
Health to you and yours -
Beth