Where to start?

[ShwarmaQueen]

I'm feeling hopeful that this forum will lead me in the right direction. My health has never been that great (I was a formula fed, carbohydrate fat kid) and I feel it's going downhill fast. I'm 29. Two kids, still breastfeeding the baby. I don't want to do anything dramatic to jeaopardize his nutrition, but I need to make changes in the meanwhile to stabalize my health. 

I am aching from the moment I wake up to the moment I lay down. I feel 80. I even went to the doctor about 6 months ago and demanded she run all my panels, incl rheumatoid arthritis. Nothing came back amiss, she told me it was caused by not sleeping solid at night (due to night-nursing) and that (lack of) certain chemicals in the blood that are released during restful sleep which heal the body is causing my aching feeling. I buy part of what she's saying, I have no doubt that sleep is crucial but I also noticed that when I went off dairy when DS was a month or so old, I feel remarkably better. It didn't make a difference in him so I went back after a couple months. And then summer and vacation came,  things got busy and I'm still feeling awful.

Somedays it's hard to lift my head off the pillow. I'm not the mother or wife I want to be. My appearance is suffering. My skin is so drab, no brightness at all. I have chronic yeast infections, dandruff that comes and goes, and I'm always craving carbs. I have a feeling it's candida from what I've read here and on the web. 

And most recently I have started noticing I take twice as long to recover from illnesses as otheres. Stomach problems just wipe me out (no pun intended). Colds, that DH, DD, and DS get over in a few days d.r.a.g. out forever with me. My immune system is nonexistent. 

Today I started drinking turkey broth and I'll continue doing that everyday for my teeth, because, among many other benefits, my dental health is absolutely awful, with a new cavity almost every other month. :(

Our overall family diet isn't extraordinarily terrible. We don't eat out, I cook everthing we eat. But I feel we eat too many carbs and dairy, but don't really know how to change that and not make everyone suffer...I mean I can't feed everyone a vegetable based diet and take out cheese, yogert, and milk and make all of our bread from scratch like I should. Big sigh.

Where do I start? How do I make changes that won't impact my family's diet? Or should I apply the changes I make to them as well? I am just in a fog and need some direction from other's who've BTDT. I've got to make a big change. Like now. 

[tanyalynn]

When I changed our diet, it was for everyone.  I didn't have the energy or brainpower to do different things for different people.  If you saw that dairy was a problem for you, then I'd start there--and honestly, I'd assume that it's very possible it's a problem for your kids, though it may show up in different ways than it does for you and it may be different than when they were younger--my son's food reactions are changing over time.

Here are a few fairly straightforward things to start with (I almost said easy, but dietary change is actually pretty hard, though not too expensive and can do a whole lot)...

Vitamin D, do you supplement yourself or the kids?  With immune system stuff, it's really something to think about, almost everyone is low, even me and my kids--my skin's quite pale and I live in Texas. 

Probiotics--fermented veggies like kimchee an sauerkraut and pickles aren't hard to make (and taste a whole lot better than the phrase "fermented veggies" suggests), or you could get a probiotic supplement.  Again, with digestive and immune stuff (lots of immune stuff is affected by bacterial balance in the gut), plus the other things you mentioned, gut health seems a place to focus.  I found that cutting out the foods my daughter was intolerant of, just by itself, made a noticeable improvement in her gut. 

Do you see any specific time period(s) when your health started to take a downhill turn?  Times of your life, situations, anything that you can say before X things were different?  That type of thinking back can help refine what's most important for _you_ to feel better. 

When you wrote "vegetable-based diet," are you vegetarian?  If you aren't, I'll add that when I cut out gluten and dairy, I found that I felt better, more energetic and happier, eating more meat--not that gluten and dairy are equivalent to meat, just that I was better in touch with real food cravings.  It was a helpful part of getting better--I was never vegetarian, so it was more a shift of focus in my omni diet, and as I've felt better, I've had fewer meat cravings.  But if you're vegetarian, either skip this paragraph or consider more eggs if you like them. 

And I just saw your siggie, high palates and tongue ties, have you seen the midline thread in Allergies?  We spent some time trying to piece things together, those can be early signs of low folate.  A good multivit could help, I'd use one of the Thorne Basic Nutrients multivits, sold lots of places online and not expensive, because that brand has real folate instead of folic acid--that matters for some people.

re: the bloodwork that you had done, do you have copies of the results?  You may want to double-check stuff like iron, ferritin, B12, thyroid results--those all seem to have a wide reference range, but a much narrower range where people actually feel good.  My alternative-type HCPs flagged 3 of the 4 of those, for me, as problems even though all were within the reference ranges. 

And depending what you do and how you feel, considering other food intolerances like gluten (much as it's a pain to eliminate) might help.  Gluten is really tricky, it causes problems in a lot of people in many different ways.

[sbgrace]

I'm wondering about your vitamin D levels based on your description? Have you ever had them checked and/or do you supplement? It can make you hurt, give you low energy, affect your immune system, and more.

Probiotics (food or very high quality supplements) can boost the immune system (though vitamin D levels will be key in that). For yeast issues and immune boosting Florastor is very good.

Edited to add: Tanya gave excellent advice and much more comprehensive than mine. As an immediate thing I'd start supplementing high dose vitamin D3. Healthy adults can do 10,000 IU per day but I don't know how nursing plays into dose levels. I do know if you're low (excellent chance you are unless you are supplementing at high levels) the nursing child is not getting adequate amounts either.

[BellinghamCrunchie]

I think that it sounds like there might be more than just diet or being a mom going on with you. Extreme fatigue at times, aching from the moment you wake up until you lay down, weak immune system etc these are symptoms that could be something like fibromyalgia. I think you need blood work and have everything checked, including WBC for possible infectious processes, iron, D, and red blood cells.

[ShwarmaQueen]

Thanks so much! Great feedback and direction from both of you.

Tarylnn, you're right, dietary changes are hard, but I do find that sometimes they are expensive too. We are not vegetarian, though eat meat seldomly and usually have seafood and beans as our main source of protein. 

Here is my basic plan of action (or just what I can manage for now).

1. Continue daily broth

2. Supplement Vitamin D- for everyone (I have the Carson D drops for the babe)

3. Supplement Probiotics (Florastor is on my list, also looking into Kefir)

4. Wean off dairy & gluten

5. Exercise daily

In regards to the TT thread, I saw it a few months ago and it made me totally say a big "DUH"! I strongly believe I problems absorbing b vitamins because in addition to the TT, my DD is pigeon chested (another midline defect?). DS was "planned" pregnancy and I was taking prenatals long before he was conceived, but the tt happened anyway. So, I now wonder whether it's an absorbtion issue to due digestion problems or an actual inherited disorder. Yah, that thread sent me into overload!

What can you sub for dairy? My hubby drinks a latte every day basically- he's not going to give that up easily. I've seen a lot of bad news about soy, especially for men, what's a good substitute? What about in recipes? What do you use? And I usually just get the probiotics in dairy, but if I take it out, then I'll have to buy the probiotics? Which probiiotic gives you the biggest bang for your buck? I'll check around here for recipes/methods on the veggies, I'm up for anything!

And re gluten, how, just how? It seems like everything the kids eat has gluten in it. I mean they'll eat potatoes and rice, but DD has a PB&J almost daily. Do you do gluten free bread in this case, via a breadmaker? A morning bowl of cereal is a constant in our house, again, what would I do about that (gluten and milk)? 

It's interesting that you mention the times I feel good, and there are periods where I've felt great. After DD weaned I did the South Beach Diet for over two months and I can remember waking, more like springing, up in the morning- I had so much energy- although i did have some dairy, mainly cheese now and then, I didn't have bread. It seems so obvious but it's like I just can't take the plunge!

I know this is going to be a big hassle, but I also know the reward will be great, so I'm up for it. I just have to get going on the game plan. 

Oh and I'm going to call on Monday to get copies of my labs. I don't remember what my thyroid was, but I know it is a very common problem. 

Thanks so much ladies!!

[ShwarmaQueen]

Originally Posted by BellinghamCrunchie 

I think that it sounds like there might be more than just diet or being a mom going on with you. Extreme fatigue at times, aching from the moment you wake up until you lay down, weak immune system etc these are symptoms that could be something like fibromyalgia. I think you need blood work and have everything checked, including WBC for possible infectious processes, iron, D, and red blood cells.

Thank you for this. What kind of doc looks for things like fibromyalgia and the like? 

[lookatreestar]

i would love a good probiotic rec too... are the pearls really worth the extra? honestly my dh has the worst gut issues so id totally spend the money if they are worth it. thanks 

[PAgreenmama]

fibromyalgia is kind of a junk diagnosis given when a certain number of points on the body are painful under pressure and no other cause can be determined.  the problem with being diagnosed with fibromyalgia is that it's not understood by any doctors so they don't know what to do for it other than give pain meds.  i think you are on the right track by changing your diet.  the only thing that i think you are missing is the omega 3s.  it sounds like you have a lot of inflammation and the EPA should really help that.  IMO, nordic naturals is the best that you can easily get and it doesn't taste bad .  

exercise is also important so getting yourself out for a walk each day would be beneficial.  

i read a book recently that i think would be helpful to you.  it's called gut and psychology syndrome by natasha campbell-mcbride.  it discusses the role of the gut in many "diseases"  such as autism, depression, ADHD... but it applies to anyone with gut dysbiosis (almost everyone).  

good luck with everything!

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by PAgreenmama 

fibromyalgia is kind of a junk diagnosis given when a certain number of points on the body are painful under pressure and no other cause can be determined.  the problem with being diagnosed with fibromyalgia is that it's not understood by any doctors so they don't know what to do for it other than give pain meds.

yup, this.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by ShwarmaQueen 

Thanks so much! Great feedback and direction from both of you.

Tarylnn, you're right, dietary changes are hard, but I do find that sometimes they are expensive too. We are not vegetarian, though eat meat seldomly and usually have seafood and beans as our main source of protein. 

Here is my basic plan of action (or just what I can manage for now).

1. Continue daily broth

2. Supplement Vitamin D- for everyone (I have the Carson D drops for the babe)

3. Supplement Probiotics (Florastor is on my list, also looking into Kefir)

4. Wean off dairy & gluten

5. Exercise daily

In regards to the TT thread, I saw it a few months ago and it made me totally say a big "DUH"! I strongly believe I problems absorbing b vitamins because in addition to the TT, my DD is pigeon chested (another midline defect?). DS was "planned" pregnancy and I was taking prenatals long before he was conceived, but the tt happened anyway. So, I now wonder whether it's an absorbtion issue to due digestion problems or an actual inherited disorder. Yah, that thread sent me into overload!

Think back on your family history, what types of things do you see?  Although for the short-term, I'm not sure it really matters what's going on--your body needs more folate (probably).  Work on your gut health and supplement.  I forgot to mention it earlier, consider cell salts.  There's a long thread, but the super-condensed version is that they're not expensive ($9 for a bottle of 500 tablets), they are part homeopathic and part nutritional, and they help with absorption and utilization of nutrients.  I've been able to reduce some of our vit/min supps by taking just bioplasma (the 12-in-1 cell salt).  It _does_ seem to take quite a while to correct nutritional deficiencies. 

What can you sub for dairy? My hubby drinks a latte every day basically- he's not going to give that up easily. I've seen a lot of bad news about soy, especially for men, what's a good substitute? What about in recipes? What do you use? And I usually just get the probiotics in dairy, but if I take it out, then I'll have to buy the probiotics? Which probiiotic gives you the biggest bang for your buck? I'll check around here for recipes/methods on the veggies, I'm up for anything!

I ferment kimchee, I find it really yummy and actually my kids do too.  There's a long Fermenting Veggies thread in Traditional Foods, I don't have the bookmark on this computer but Search for it, it really is a long thread.  For recipes, if I need fatty milk I'll use coconut milk, if I just need a liquid I'll either use rice milk or actually water often works.  Soy and dairy are very cross-reactive, so yeah, I'd avoid soy. 

And re gluten, how, just how? It seems like everything the kids eat has gluten in it. I mean they'll eat potatoes and rice, but DD has a PB&J almost daily. Do you do gluten free bread in this case, via a breadmaker? A morning bowl of cereal is a constant in our house, again, what would I do about that (gluten and milk)? 

Breakfasts: we eat lots of eggs.  You'll get lots of ideas in the Allergies forum for all sorts of meals.  We also do bean burritos for breakfasts, the kids love those.  We eat corn tortillas, add some refried black beans, lime juice, maybe salsa or some onions, it's yummy.  There is (expensive) GF bread out there.  I made my own for a while, there are good recipes out there, but mine go through it so fast that I eventually just stopped and bread is a rare treat now. 

It's interesting that you mention the times I feel good, and there are periods where I've felt great. After DD weaned I did the South Beach Diet for over two months and I can remember waking, more like springing, up in the morning- I had so much energy- although i did have some dairy, mainly cheese now and then, I didn't have bread. It seems so obvious but it's like I just can't take the plunge!

I know this is going to be a big hassle, but I also know the reward will be great, so I'm up for it. I just have to get going on the game plan. 

Oh and I'm going to call on Monday to get copies of my labs. I don't remember what my thyroid was, but I know it is a very common problem. 

Thanks so much ladies!!

The kefir you find in a store will probably be dairy-based--you may tolerate it fine, some people tolerate fermented/cultured dairy but not others.  We're dairy free (butter just failed our trial, boo).  I mentioned kimchee above, there are lots of other fermented veggies to try, sauerkraut or pickles, or ginger carrots (see the thread in Traditional Foods).  I second sbgrace's recs on vit D supplementation. 

[Llyra]

Have you ever been tested for Lyme? The aching made me think of it.