My DP was reading my notes (given to me, I wasn't able to take the classes, because I was working in the kitchen) from the women's herbal symposium I worked at, specifically the notes from the class on gut health. She was talking about maldigestion and malabsorbption, and the system symptoms of them, and he felt it sounded possibly like the problems he's been having for years.
fatigue, irritability, anxiety, depression, poor adaptability to stress, muscle cramps, aching bones, easy bruising, pale/waxen complexion, what is possibly mild eczema, dandruff, photosensitivity, sores and cracking at the corners of the mouth, receding gums, (maybe dental carries, he hasn't seen a dentist in 10 years. he didn't have the money growing up, only now does he), poor taste, poor sense of smell, persistent diarrhea, indigestion, brittle/dry hair, split ends, gas, bloating, abdominal pain/cramping,
That's 24/44 of the systemic symptoms of maldigestion/malabsorbption given by this ND who specializes in digestive disorders. Almost all of these symptoms have been present for years.
He also has been losing hair at a scary rate (early balding is the norm in his family, however it seems to both of us that the rate of his hair loss is abnormal for balding, and indicative of something wrong. His dad started balding in his early 20s, but still had some hair in his mid thirties at least. If the rate of his hair loss over the past year continues, he'd go from a barely thinned head of hair a year or two ago to completely bald in a year or two.
He also feels like he is wasting away. (another symptom) He doesn't look like he is wasting, because he is a big guy, but he could be.
He's also had other digestive track problems. He was very badly lactose intolerant for years (from when he lost a lot of weight in a very very short period of time until about a year ago) (eating yogurt seemed to help with that). hmmmmm... makes me think that if he is having malabsorption problems, it could be related to losing a lot of weight too fast, and flooding his body with toxins stored in fat.
We've been planning on him going to a doctor about all of these things anyways, but I'm wondering if you ladies have any expeirience with malabsorption/maldigestion, or other ideas. We're on a very tight budget and he doesn't have health insurance, so I'm worried that paying a bunch of money to take him for a doctors visit may not be helpful, if the doctor then wants to do a bunch of tests we can't afford to determine anything. (which seems likely as a blood test or really anything else is out of reach. we could spend maybe 200-400 dollars chasing it down, and that's really it right now, unless it were imminantly dire and then of course we'd throw everything we don't need to get by to find out what was wrong.)
I know there are some very wise ladies here with a great deal of knowledge. Does anyone have any advice? (even if just the type of doctor to visit. I'd like to try an ND but I suspect that we can't afford it. I'm going to email the ND who taught the class since her website doesn't have pricing info. but ND's run about 200-250 for a first visit and up to 150 or more for second visits.)
Thank you for any help/advice you have. sorry if it's rambly.
ETA: she did also talk in the notes about various plant medicines for the gut, and we'll be trying some of them, because they are simple, affordable, and easy. (uping foods like garlic, honey, onions, rye, oats, fermented foods, other recomendations I'm not sure of because it depends on the problem though some of the aromatic bitters he eats a lot of anyways (cayenne, cloves, black pepper, ginger, cinnamon,)
fatigue, irritability, anxiety, depression, poor adaptability to stress, muscle cramps, aching bones, easy bruising, pale/waxen complexion, what is possibly mild eczema, dandruff, photosensitivity, sores and cracking at the corners of the mouth, receding gums, (maybe dental carries, he hasn't seen a dentist in 10 years. he didn't have the money growing up, only now does he), poor taste, poor sense of smell, persistent diarrhea, indigestion, brittle/dry hair, split ends, gas, bloating, abdominal pain/cramping,
That's 24/44 of the systemic symptoms of maldigestion/malabsorbption given by this ND who specializes in digestive disorders. Almost all of these symptoms have been present for years.
He also has been losing hair at a scary rate (early balding is the norm in his family, however it seems to both of us that the rate of his hair loss is abnormal for balding, and indicative of something wrong. His dad started balding in his early 20s, but still had some hair in his mid thirties at least. If the rate of his hair loss over the past year continues, he'd go from a barely thinned head of hair a year or two ago to completely bald in a year or two.
He also feels like he is wasting away. (another symptom) He doesn't look like he is wasting, because he is a big guy, but he could be.
He's also had other digestive track problems. He was very badly lactose intolerant for years (from when he lost a lot of weight in a very very short period of time until about a year ago) (eating yogurt seemed to help with that). hmmmmm... makes me think that if he is having malabsorption problems, it could be related to losing a lot of weight too fast, and flooding his body with toxins stored in fat.
We've been planning on him going to a doctor about all of these things anyways, but I'm wondering if you ladies have any expeirience with malabsorption/maldigestion, or other ideas. We're on a very tight budget and he doesn't have health insurance, so I'm worried that paying a bunch of money to take him for a doctors visit may not be helpful, if the doctor then wants to do a bunch of tests we can't afford to determine anything. (which seems likely as a blood test or really anything else is out of reach. we could spend maybe 200-400 dollars chasing it down, and that's really it right now, unless it were imminantly dire and then of course we'd throw everything we don't need to get by to find out what was wrong.)
I know there are some very wise ladies here with a great deal of knowledge. Does anyone have any advice? (even if just the type of doctor to visit. I'd like to try an ND but I suspect that we can't afford it. I'm going to email the ND who taught the class since her website doesn't have pricing info. but ND's run about 200-250 for a first visit and up to 150 or more for second visits.)
Thank you for any help/advice you have. sorry if it's rambly.
ETA: she did also talk in the notes about various plant medicines for the gut, and we'll be trying some of them, because they are simple, affordable, and easy. (uping foods like garlic, honey, onions, rye, oats, fermented foods, other recomendations I'm not sure of because it depends on the problem though some of the aromatic bitters he eats a lot of anyways (cayenne, cloves, black pepper, ginger, cinnamon,)
