BRUMI1968

If I eat dairy, I get constipated quite quickly. And quitting dairy seems to unconstipate me quite quickly. It sounds like maybe he got some sneaked in there on accident. OR --- we can't be perfect every day. I've noticed some days I'm not right and there's really no obvious good explanation. I read once a good article on IBS - and it talked about the three necessities for pooping: bulk, water, lubricant. In other words, fiber and bulk, drinking lots of water and other non diuretic liquids, and getting enough fats.

It sounds like you've made the right choice on the dairy thing to me. Every time I try to get some butter on my toast, I'm back to the 20 minute toilet times.

Good luck.

Doesn't lemon grass get some folks? When I used to eat Thai food, I couldn't have anything with lemon-grass coconut milk. Though now I make rice pudding with coconut milk, and it does not seem to bother me. Not sure. Just an idea.

I second the thing on the platelets - especially if you have bleeding gums, or little red dots on your skin where things press against it, like shoes or seat belts or whatever. You could have ITP, an autoimmune disease that causes you to kill your own platelets. You probably don't -- it is not particularly common -- but if you haven't had a CBC run in a while, you might want to to check your platelet count.

I'm surprised how many of us have buzz cuts. I cut my hair on the #8 on the clippers. I'd like to go to a 4 or 5 sometime, maybe shorter - like Sinead O'Connor or something, but I'm chicken.

My partner prefers short hair. Every time I contemplate growing it out, he balks. that isn't the only reason I don't grow it out -- it's also bloody hard. Know this, if you cut it REALLY short, as in with layers and such or as in with clippers, it is insanely hard to grow it out. However, it is REALLY easy to take care of short hair. I just get my hair wet and then squish it around this way and that with some hair product. However, you know how when you sleep on long hair you CAN get up and go...not so with short hair. When you sleep on it it does all sorts of weird stuff and you wake up looking pretty silly. At least I usually do. That's super short, though, not shoulder length or something.

Another thing to think about is gray hair. If I were to grow my hair out, I'd probably feel compelled to dye it, and I don't want to start that again.

I think you take their opinion into consideration -- if you don't, and if you think they hate it, it will be harder to feel confident and sexy around them. Even if you do like it better...I just think that's the way it is. On the other hand, don't deny yourself. Is there a compromise?

Sherri

A couple weeks ago I decided to fast because no food was interesting me, and I was not feeling too well digestively, though nothing too intense. I thought I'd start over by erasing the blackboard, so to speak -- fast and then start over. I also was thinking that I have a lot of things right now I'm trying to get out (a lot of intense writing and memory work) and so putting more stuff IN was just hindering that effort.

So I went 24 hours - from waking up in the a.m. to about 8 at night, when I finally had some applesauce and a boiled potato.

I'm not sure how it went. I didn't feel better, and in fact, had more intestinal problems afterward...but who knows what that's from...long term it didn't seem to do me any good, but probably not much harm either.

For me, I think the best way to do a fast is to do it with a spiritual bent. And be able to have the freedom of time to really BE with that spiritual work while fasting.

Good luck.

Sherri

Interesting stuff from the web. the basic gyst is that estrogen dominance causes these fibroids (both breast and uterine). The last thing you want to do in response to them is increase your estrogen intake. If the fibroids are small, increasing progesterone can help; if they are big, the progesterone will also contribute to their growth.

I would say that you should ask yourself what estrogen-like foods you're eating as well - like SOY, which is highly estrogenic. I don't know if you eat soy or now. Estrogenic foods list here: Open Original Shared Link

The article also says vitamins B6(and all the b's), Vitamin E, and Magneseum will help. B-s and E's are supposed to help with heavy bleeding, cramps, and PMS.

Anyway, good luck to you. I assume they've tested your hormones? They are special tests, and quite expensive (at least for testosterone), so you would've known had they tested for them.

ARTICLE at Open Original Shared Link

Get Rid of Uterine Fibroid Tumors( Myomas )!

NO Surgery!

Dr. Lee Treats Uterine Fibroid Tumors ( Myomas ) Successfully

WITHOUT SURGERY

Dr. Lee further writes in his book "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause" :

"Otherwise known as myoma of the uterus, uterine fibroid tumors ( myomas ) are the most common growth of the female genital tract. They are round, firm, benign (i.e. noncancerous) lumps of the muscular wall of the uterus, composed of smooth muscle and connective tissue, and are rarely solitary. Usually as small as a hen's egg, they commonly grow gradually to the size of an orange or grapefruit. The largest uterine fibroid tumor ( myoma ) on record weighed over 100 pounds. They often cause or are coincidental with heavier periods, irregular bleeding, and/or painful periods.

Uterine fibroid tumors ( myomas ) are also one of the most common reasons that women in coffee exacerbates uterine fibroid tumor ( myoma )their thirties and forties have a hysterectomy. Some particularly skillful surgeons are capable of removing only the uterine fibroid tumor ( myoma ), leaving the uterus intact, but they are the exception.

Uterine fibroid tumors ( myomas ), like breast fibrocysts, are a product of estrogen dominance (too much estrogen). Estrogen stimulates their growth, and lack of estrogen causes them to atrophy. Estrogen dominance is a much greater problem than recognized by contemporary medicine. Many women in their mid thirties begin to have anovulatory (nonovulating) cycles. As they approach the decade before menopause, they are producing much less progesterone than expected, but still producing normal (or more) estrogen. They retain water and salt, their breast swell and become fibrocystic, they gain weight (especially around the hips and torso), they become depressed and lose sex drive, their bone suffer mineral loss, and they develop fibroids. All are signs of estrogen dominance.

When sufficient hormone is replaced, uterine fibroid tumors ( myomas ) no longer grow in size (they generally decrease in size) and can be kept from growing until menopause, after which they will atrophy. This is the effect of reversing estrogen dominance."

"Fibroids (benign tumors that grow in the uterus) are the most common reason that women visit a gynecologist in the ten or so years before menopause. Fibroids tend to grow during the years before menopause and then atrophy after menopause. This suggests that estrogen stimulates fibroid growth, but we also know that once they get larger, progesterone too can contribute to their growth. Many doctors prescribe Lupron injections to block all sex hormone production. This causes fibroids to shrink, but they regrow when the injections are stopped. The anti-progesterone drug RU-486 is also used to reduce the size of larger fibroids. Women with fibroids are often estrogen dominant and have low progesterone levels. In women with smaller fibroids (the size of a tangerine or smaller), when progesterone is restored to normal levels, the fibroids often stop growing and shrink a bit, which is likely due to progesterone's ability to help speed up the clearance of estrogens from tissue. If this treatment can be continued through menopause, hysterectomy can be avoided.

However, some fibroids, when they reach a certain "critical mass," are accompanied by degeneration or cell death in the interior part of the fibroid, and will have interaction with white blood cells that ends up with the creation of more estrogen within the fibroid itself. It also contains growth factors that are stimulated by progesterone. Under these circumstances, surgical removal of the fibroid (myomectomy) or the uterus (hysterectomy) may become necessary. When you think of treating smaller fibroids, your should be thinking in terms of keeping your estrogen milieu as low as possible; when treating large fibroids, all hormones should be kept as low as possible.

The last thing you want to do if you have fibroids is take estrogen, which will stimulate them to grow. If you're estrogen dominant, then it's important to use supplemental progesterone , usually in doses of 20 mg per day during the luteal phase of the cycle. Sometimes this approach works to slow or stop the fibroid growth, and sometimes it doesn't. It is worth a try. Reducing stress, increasing exercise, and reducing calories are also good strategies for slowing fibroid growth.

There are a number of techniques for removing fibroids without removing the uterus. If your doctor doesn't know about these, find another one who does! The difference in recovery time alone between laparoscopic removal of fibroids ( for example) and hysterectomy is three weeks versus three months.

Ultrasound tests can be obtained initially and after three months to check results. A good result would show that the fibroid size hadn't increased, or had decreased by 10 to 15 percent. With post menopausal hormone levels, fibroids usually atrophy (and not taking prescription estrogen)."

One other thing to request is a CBC (complete blood count). You should be sure you have plenty of platelets. (Platelets are the doodads that clot your blood.) This is especially true if you have bleeding gums, bruises you don't remember getting, or little tiny red dots on the tops of your feet or where your seatbelt might hit your chest, that type of thing.

I had ITP, which is Idiopathic (we don't know why it's happening) Thrombocytopenia (not enough platelets) Purpura (bruising, or literally, purple). One way I found out I had it was from vaginal spotting.

On another note, I just went to the doc for spotting because I never have it, and I had just had a fever. It turned out I had a bleeding cervical polyp, which they removed.

Anyway, make sure your blood is alright before you have them do anything else -- giving blood is a lot easier than some of the other options.

-Sherri

Okay, so I was having some "spotting", which I never have, so I went into the doc. Had a bleeding cervical polyp. They removed it and sent it to the lab, and it's fine. They also found another one in there, a baby one so they couldn't grab it.

Question -- my understanding is that polyps can be caused by a change in hormones. Could me quitting gluten a year ago have helped lead to the polyps? I understand they're common and nothing to worry about...I just wondered.

Also, it's been two days since they pulled it out and I still have the spotting. Anyone have guesses as to how long that might go on?

There are some pretty strong theories out there as to the health hazards of Teflon. No one can debate that the Teflon plants themselves put insane pollutants into nearby bodies of water...AND there is some evidence that eating off them exposes you to the same nasty chemicals. Of course, that is the hotly debated part.

I never use Teflon for these reasons. Plus Dow chemical, makers of Teflon, are involved in making all sorts of nasty crap used in war and other purposes I don't support.

I realize none of that has anything to do with gluten....but I don't like to mess around with things that MIGHT be hazardous to my health. In that area, I play the game guilty until proven innocent. I've only got this life, so I don't take chances.

no other symtoms...well, MILD sore throat and exgtreme but exgtremely intermittent ear ache.

Feeling really terribler. What do you all do?

Last September, I got a bad cold. It was not so much in my nose as it was a sore throat and a severe DRY cough, which eventually strained two ribs. I had this for probably two months, to varying degrees. Finally one day, and believe me this was very noticable with strained ribs, the coughing nearly subsided. Man was I excited. Only the next day, I was worse. Suddenly my nose was ridiculously full of goo, and the coughing was back, along with sore throat. So I went on antibiotics at the urging of my regular doc who thought that since I had gotten better then worse, it could be a bacteria taking advantage of a spot that was just devastated by virus. Within three days, the cough stopped. The nose didn't. That went on for some time. Anyway, point is, I'm talking like 4 months more with a cold than without.

So, I finally got "better". Then the new school quarter started and I saw that everyone in my class of 14 was ill. So I started taking this stuff called Honey Garden's elderberry stuff. This really seemed to keep me away from the cold type sickness. I did that for a month or so. But then, as I remembered too late, honey gives me tummy aches. So had to quit eating it.

Now I have a sore throat again, and am damned sure I have a fever (no thermometer that works).

This is so ultimately frustrating. I feel like I can't get well. I feel like my immune system should be better than this. I'm a year gluten-free.

Anyone have any ideas?

Some people respond VERY WELL to B12 shots (though if you do get them, make sure they contain folate - they hurt slightly more, but if you don't get the folate, you're just perpetuating an imbalance). If your celiac has been activated for a decent period of time, you're likely deficient in the B vitamins especially, but probably all vitamins/minerals.

Another thing is dairy products. MOST folks with Celiac seem to have an intolerance for it, at least at first. This is, in part, because the lactase that you need to digest lactose comes from the villi in your small intestine. If those are flattened and miserable, you can't digest dairy. Lots of folks end up adding it back.

But I'd definitely do the vitamin B thing and see if that works. It did not for me (I actually had okay levels), but for some folks it is like night and day. For me, I just finally lost the fatigue...it took a few months. I did quit most grains, and that seemed to help. And if you're eating replacement foods like gluten free bread and cookies and the like, that might be too much carb for a protein-type metabolism. Just some other thoughts.

Hi. Everyone responds differently to different foods. I was eating gluten for years, and never felt "sick" right afterward. I always had intestinal problems, bloating, gas, extreme bloaty pain, etc. I also had canker sores, itchy skin, bleeding gums, and whatnot. When I quit gluten, all of that went away for the most part.

That said, eating dairy makes me extremely constipated to this day. Even a bit of butter. I mean a BIT. And this doesn't show up for a few days, then it's numbingly bad.

I think lots of things take a spell to accumulate - for example, I can't eat honey w/o getting stomach aches. I can for about two weeks, then suddenly not. By then I don't make the association, and can't figure out what's going on. (this just happened to me AGAIN, so I quit honey AGAIN and my tummy is better again.)

So it is hard to say. I got the blood test for Celiac and tested positive. Most of my symptoms went away when I quit gluten, except for those that were being caused by dairy, so I had to stop that too. I actually hadn't had that for some time anyway, but every time I try to add a bit of butter back to my diet, I get the C big time.

Good luck in figuring it all out. I would say that IBS is a legitimate CONDITION, but it does not address cause at all, which is what makes it a ridiculous diagnosis if a cause is never determined. Yes, my bowel was VERY IRRITATED...I could've told the doc that. What I needed to know what why. In my case? Gluten and dairy.

Take care.

I did not get that; however, I have been plagued with C my whole life, which cleared up with Paleo -- so maybe I would've gotten it had my problem been D. I will say this:

the other day I walked the 2-1/2 miles to school and when i got there (barely in time) had to sit on the pot for 20 minutes with scary D. (Never mind the misery of public pooping.) I thought about it. I was definitely not glutened. I think it was walnuts. I had had a huge blob of walnuts and prunes the day before (okay, prunes are a bit notorious too)...

nuts can be hard to digest. So if you've been eating lots of those....?

Hope you feel better. If not, maybe you can ease into Paleo...

I was just thinking, too, of this book I read years ago called "Food and Healing" by Anne Marie Colbin. I really liked it, and it got me started eating well. (Now I disagree with her recommendations to eat lots of beans and grains, but that is another story.) She talks about very rigid diets -- might they contribute to very rigid people. I think we should probably view food on various levels:

1) calories (heat/energy)

2) nutrients (vitamins/minerals)

3) psychic (as in, how does this make me FEEL, think of feel good foods)

4) metaphorically

So it is probably number 4 that sounds nuts...but I honestly think there is something to it. If we hyper control our diets, what else are we going to hyper control? ourselves? others? etc. We need flexibility, especially since we HAVE to avoid gluten and probably dairy for most of us.

I have waffled between hyper control (ZERO of this or that) and no control (TOO MUCH of virtually everything). Both sides of the pendulum have their problems. I'm struggling to find the balance right now. Obviously I eat ZERO gluten, because that is my number one issue. From there, I need to seek balance.

I guess I think of this because there is a young woman in one of my classes (college) who is extremely rigid in her views - she is always right, no other opinion exists, in fact, opinions don't exist - just her truth. I watch her eating in class - it is literally a floret and stem of broccoli. Eaten there, all of it, raw. Not even with the stem peeled. Or a carrot. Raw. Eaten as is. Even with dirt still on it. I respect this in a lot of ways -- but seeing her made me think of the book. I've never seen her smile. She is shockingly thin. It also made me think of how many eggs I've been eating lately - at the same time I'm looking for a new beginning. I started wondering about it.

I don't know. just some thoughts.

If you do go substantially raw, remember the importance of calories. I was eating for pure nutrients a few months ago, and could not keep enough calories for energy. So heat/energy/calories are important...even if they are nutritionally deficient.

Besides, people died a whole lot younger in those days. They didn't have a very long life span at all! I don't think I want to go back to that kind of basics.

Actually, when determining the average life span of an entire people, accuracy is completely lost. For example, two parents could live to be in their 70's, but had two children that died at birth - the average life span comes out to be 37 years. The other things that calculations cannot factor in is the dangerous lifestyle of hunting, freezing, starving, etc. The diet itself was probably not the thing killing the folks, but rather being mauled by buffalo or elk or starving or freezing or warring or accidents.

As to raw food - I have done it probably 70%-80% for a month or so in the summer. I found that I felt great (though I did have some bloating, probably due to candida which the fruit both dried and fresh was feeding -- so candida free would be an important step). What I found was that once Fall/Winter rolled around, I was dissatisfied. i added back some rice and some potato.

Also, doing a vegetarian raw foods diet usually causes immense weight loss. I have seen good looking football playing shaped guys become gaunt and awful looking. They felt great, they just were melting away. I found that I had to add meat to my diet to keep on the weight. It turned out that having the protein after 15 years of veggie-ism was great for me, and I feel better for it.

I believe one should eat seasonally, and it would be hard to do raw food seasonally, unless you live i Hawaii or something. So it is my intent to do spring raw food about 40%, summer raw food about 70%, fall raw food about 30-40%, and then winter be damned..just nuts and dried fruits on the raw side. Winter is for bacon, I say.

that's just my experience. You might want to look into the Paleolithic diet. It does not insinuate raw food consuption, though it suggests it in most cases.

Good luck.

Also, real maple syrup is gluten-free...and processed sugar free.

What about valium. Can you get your doc to switch you to it? Is it gluten free?

I second the raw dog food - my dog has been on it for years. In fact, we ran out once and had to feed him kibble...the farts nearly killed us and it was the first time we realized he hadn't had stinky farts since he went on raw. It is a pain in the arse, but he is a very healthy puppy.

Some raw dog foods have grain, however...so watch for that. Raw Advantage, for example, has oats in in (or most of their varieties anyhow). I use lamb from a local farm (they grind meat and innards into dog food), and Prairie brand (they put in a lot of supplements like kelp, eggshells, etc., and that is important).

Good luck.

I had terrible itching without a rash down my sides, above my hip bones, on my spine, and on the back of my head. BUT, I also had a horrible rough patch of skin on both ankles that itched me into submission whenever they hit the ground (i.e., sitting "Indian style"). ALL of the itching went away when I quit gluten, along with my canker sores.

Now I'm itchy again, just down my sides and on the back of my head. I feel tiny invisible bumps there. These are the places the hot shower water hits me the most, and since I keep my hands on my sides, kindof hugging myself in the shower (that sounds weird), it holds the hot water on my side, right along my rib cage. So I wonder if it's chlorine in hot water.

Could that be yours too? I'm going to the doc soon about it...I was so excited when the itching had stopped. It was profound. I still have not gotten the rough spots back.

Good luck to you.

I'll let you know if I hear anything.

Sherri

My Emmett likes to eat the rich soil at the bottom of cedar trees. He has always done it. I have started feeding him a little kelp to see if it is a mineral deficiency. Sometimes there are minerals in the dirt. He also has breath that smells like pennies. It always has. Maybe he has a copper deficiency or something (not bleeding in the mouth as far as we can tell..)

So maybe minerals. But maybe just yummy sod. Who knows. Take care.

Sherri

Even one teaspoon of cow's butter constipates the heck right out of me. Goats butter not so much -- can eat in moderation.

bacon in a ziplock.

No possibility of pancreas reaction to too much fat? Just grasping.

What about your dishwasher soap? I know some hand dishwashing soap has gluten (and whey) -- I go out of my way to get gluten-free dish soap.

What else has CHANGED? Also, what do you mean you were CC'd by ground beef?

-Sherri

I used to get a very severe pain in my left abdomen. It did not lessen with going gluten-free initially. So I kept trying things, and now it seems to have gone away. I went on grain free diet, quit potatoes, quit legumes. Was already dairy free.

Some possibilities????:

yeast problems in your intestines

inability to digest any grains

inability to digest lectins.

I know it seems odd that the pain would always be in one spot. I always thought so. I've not have lap surg or any kind of looking in there whatsoever, so I can't vouch that I don't have some sort of bigger problem. HOWEVER, it has finally gotten better.

I have also gotten a very bad pain in my lower abdomen just from having a bacterial vaginal infection. I assume you've ruled that out, though.

I don't know. Good luck to you, though, for sure. Fructose intolerance, is another poss.

Sherri