Healing the Gut Tribe.......April - Page 9

[Annikate]

Also, I recently read that Morton's Salt has gluten in it too.:

[vermontana]

I haven't had a chance to check this thread in a while...it goes fast. I've been wanting to thank you, Jane for the cheat sheet. It's helped clarify some things for me, and it's VERY helpful to have all those links, b/c I do NOT know how to navigate the internet!

Some ?s: can die off cause constipation? I was constipated for the first time EVER in my life two days ago. I usually have diarrhea/very loose, but Sat. I didn't have a single bm all day! Could this be a potentially good sign?
I have been doing the SCD for a week and a half now, but NOT w/ fanatical adherance. I didn't do any raw veggies until yesterday, when I had a green salad w/carrots, r.pepper and a small amt of broccoli. I think the raw greens, carrots and r peper were okay, but I don't think I can do broccoli at all yet (I also had some cooked last week, and it made me gassy). I've been doing cooked apples, and today did half a banana in a smoothie.

A TMI question: If I am seeing what looks like almond meal in my stool, should I cut out the almonds? I have been eating quite a few almonds (soaked/sprouted/slowly dried as per NT), and Maranatha almond butter. I think if I was being fanatical I wouldn't even be doing almonds yet, right?

Pookietooth (I think you brought this up a few pages back...sorry if I have the wrong person), about dark circles under the eye: I know that's an indicator of allergies, but I also know that dark circles, and esp blue/grey in the little indentations toward the bridge of your nose indicate kidney weakness/imbalance, as well.

It's been reassuring to read that a lot of allergens take a while to clear out of the system. I've been feeling like, "okay, why am I not seeing some changes?!". I know it's too soon, but it helps to be reminded. Right now I am hoping that I don't HAVE to go all the way to fanatical adherence w/the SCD (I know, I know, I'm a cheater). I am suspecting major gluten allergies, as well as intolerances to unfermented dairy, and I'm HOPING that after a while without those things and doing a mostly SCD diet, I'll be able to go back to raw fruits, more raw veggies, soaked legumes and more variety in what I can eat. I don't think I'll ever go back to grains at all (maybe some gluten free stuff someday, but I've committed to at least 6 months completely grain free, then I'll reassess).

Enough rambling from me. Thanks again, ladies for all your information and inspiration!!

[Pattyla]

Caedmyn- you can heal w/o enzymes. They just speed up the process. What about a low protease enzyme? those are supposed to be better tolerated.

Vermontana-constipation can be die off or a reaction to foods you can't tolerate yet.

[Panserbjorne]

Gluten really is in everything. We have celiac disease (both dd and I) and so we know first hand the damage it can do. PP is right, it can be used as an anti-caking agent in salt and spices. IT hides in many places-you are reducing your exposure by cooking from scratch. We can't even buy ground beef from sources we haven't contacted.

Another PP is also right. A dairy allergy is the most common reason for the blood deep in the intestines, but you don't have that. You have it further down which indicates cell weakness and can be any allergy.

The dark circles are a sign of allergy-but more specifically (from what I've read) a sign of mineral deficiencies due to lack of absorption. So they tend to go hand in hand. The blue across the bridge of the nose according to chinese medicine is a kindey thing.

[nicholas_mom]

He's on a constitutional remedy: Sulfur. It's doing less than nothing after almost 2 weeks. I'm just so flippin' irritated about all this right now!

To JANES.....Ds took Sulphur 30c to start.....the change first starts to be worse than gets better. Then ds took 200c once a month with 30c once a day for 30 days. This got his excema gone but then it showed up in his wrists and elbow crease.

Then we moved to Mezereum 200c once a month and 30c once a day. This worked the best. Then we only had excema on his wrist alittle bit and I thought it was going away when POOF it started going down his body with a vengence.

So, we saw a new homeopath and he gave him cell salts and a combo hoemepathic remedy with big names (I'll have to look it up for at a later time if you are interested). The new doc talked about carbo being stuck and fermenting in intestines and releasing toxins in his body. Hence, I have followed you to Healing the Gut!

Anyway, sulphur I think is the first remedy to try for excema but your doc should do better because you have an older child and they can get a better profile of the disease. When ds took sulphur, he was 4 months old. When he was 20 months old the homeo doc said she could better pinpoint the right remedy because his personality was coming into being. Hence, the disease changed to have to use Mezereum.

With the new doc, the remedies he gave also included PURE MSM Creme for his excema. Have you tried the creme?

[nicholas_mom]

The dark circles are a sign of allergy-but more specifically (from what I've read) a sign of mineral deficiencies due to lack of absorption. So they tend to go hand in hand. The blue across the bridge of the nose according to chinese medicine is a kindey thing.

The blue across the nose has me intrigued. My ds had this since he was born. My favorite chinese doctor ( Iwent to five different ones before finding her) never mentioned this to me. I HAVE KIDNEY CHI problems which I probably gave ds. I still see her about this. Ds went twice for excema but I found homeopathic remedies work better for him, even if they don't get rid of it totally.

[Panserbjorne]

dd had the line from birth too.

[artisticat]

This is all very interesting about the blue line on the bridge of the nose. I have always had it. I thought it was just a vein. Someone else was saying it had to do with the liver. So is it kidney or liver or both? hmmm off to do some more searching


Oh and JaneS I eat red meat all the time. Never stopped. Totally a major meat eater!! Mayb e I just ate too much for my body to handle at one sitting? I ate 2 hamburger patties. Would this mean I have low acid and should I do anything about it or just eat smaller portions? I tried green beans for lunch today with chicken so we will see how that goes and then I can pretty much narrow it down to the meat or not.

[4Marmalade]

Does this sound right??

I hope no one minds me just jumping into this thread. I've lurked a bit but this is my first time posting. I haven't read all the posts yet either but baby dd is sleeping so I need to write this out now while I have a moment.

Short story....I'm dealing with excema and/or psoriasis on my hands and now arms. It's been steadily getting worse for the past 5 months. I have done a ton of research and have quickly become overwhelmed. But I think I have the basics down and have some solid ideas on where to go next. I had an appointment with a naturopath this morning and he made some suggestions. I'm hoping I can tell you all what they are and you can tell me what you think.

His first thought is that the excema/psoriasis is a syptom of a leaky gut caused by antibiotic use. I had antibiotics 6 years ago after a biking accident, 3 years ago for Group B strep during labour and delivery of ds and again during delivery of dd last May. He also suggested maybe hormonal related (but not likely), food allery or possible mineral deficiency.

Anyway, this is what he suggested I do:

Take acidophilus (12 million) along with L-glutamine 2 times a day
Eliminate dairy and soy from diet
Do mineral testing using a hair sample

Does all of this sound OK? I 'm pretty sure about the acidophilus but have no thoughts on the L-glutamine. It's like amino acids right? The mineral testing sounds good and he believes the hair sample route is the most accurate because it shows a more long-term picture. I'm OK eliminating dairy and soy and had thought about doing that anyways.

[caedmyn]

I think right now I need to wait until DD's bloody poops stop before doing any enzymes at all--otherwise I'm not going to know if the enzymes or food is causing it.

Would they tell you there was an anti-caking ingredient in the spices? My spices are either Spice Hunter (some organic, some conventional un-irradiated) or bulk organic. My salt is Atlantic sea salt--it says it has no additives and it clumps together, so I'm pretty sure there aren't any anti-caking ingredients in that. Actually quite a few of my spices clump together, too, now that I think about it. I suppose there could be some really well hidden gluten or dairy in the organic canned tomatoes I use--the ingredients are tomato juice & tomatoes, sea salt, citric acid, and calcium chloride.

Does anyone use kefir? I got some grains and someone recommended I try making juice kefir to get the benefits of it w/o any dairy. Or should I just stick to making nut or coconut yogurt?

[JaneS]

Originally Posted by Pattyla

7 weeks. Where has the time gone. We are finally tolerating some raw foods. but I am going really, really slowly with them. No sense in messing up a good thing. Or not so good thing. The enormity of this is hitting me right now. I'm frustrated. After great progress with dd's sleep, nothing lately. I keep having to remind myself that
1. it was worse 2 months ago
2. she is cutting her molars and all bets are off untill they come in.

Oh and dd was sick on friday night. Our first opportunity to experience vomiting. It was loads of fun. I discovered that nothing from her supper eaten hours before was digested (blueberries, meat, watermellon, not sure what else). When it kept going on and on I called my Dr. I wasn't sure when it is a concern. He finally called back 3 hours later! In the meantime I found a remedies book and gave her homepathic ipecac. It seemed to work on the 2nd dose (either that or she was done). In any case no more vomit. She still seems off but it is hard to say if it is sickness or being completely messed up in the sleep department because the happened late friday night and we didn't get to bed untill after midnight.

Anyhow. Tell me about Kiefer. I know that it isn't fanatical adherance but I'm more concerned with getting better than I am with being a fanatic. Our big issue is yeast.

And what about coloidal silver? I need something other than the gse. I can get it down but I'll never get more than a drop or two at a time into dd.

Yuck. Isn't Mama-hood grand! Hope all is better today.

Kefir, if specially cultured to remove all lactose (24 hrs with grains, then ripening another 24 hrs without) Elaine said was okay for advanced SCD'ers. It contains yeast, which although thought to be beneficial, could cause reactions. But similar to the theory of S. boulardii, yeasts crowding out candida.

I really can't tell you if it would help you. It did me before I did SCD but it didn't give me anything like a week or two on the SCD didn't top.

I would be cautious with all herbal "killers" ... their exact mechanism is so hard to determine with the data we have. Whether they kill bacteria or yeast or probiotics or both. That is why I'm so much more comforable with enzymes and especially for the little ones... are you taking cellulases and proteases between meals several times a day?

I personally am not giving herbs to DS or taking them without a stool test but that's just me right now. Because using Ech/Oregon Grape Root upon the advice of our ND made DS worse (and was impetus for me to kick her to curb). Our current Great Smokies stool test is supposed to tell us exactly what strains are senstitive to which herbs. I wish I could access their database!

I'm also nervous about collodial silver but it's supposed to be very good for bacteria per Karen DeFelice. She used it like a px antibiotic... 10 days between meals. I'm not sure about it's effect on yeast.

[JaneS]

Originally Posted by caedmyn

This is driving me absolutely nuts. Maybe I better stop the enzymes, too, until the bloody poop goes away. How else am I supposed to heal though? I guess I can do the probiotics instead. I wonder if I can make almond yogurt instead of cashew yogurt--I don't really like cashews, plus I have tons of almonds right now. Where do I get a non-dairy starter?

I guess I will cancel my raw cow milk share and get a raw goat milk share instead--I just found one today so I guess the timing is good!

Can someone tell me if my interpretation of the way to start the SCD is right...first the intro diet for a couple of days, then you are supposed to add cooked fruits and veggies one by one? I will seriously starve if I have to do that, especially since I can't do dairy. Or if the only digestive issue I have is gas, can I do the intro and then all SCD legal foods (except maybe the difficult ones likes cabbage)? I really need at least nuts to make it work, and it would be nice if I could use lentils, too--I can puree them and make pancakes if that would make them any easier to digest. Could I go ahead and eat raw fruits and veggies or is that bad?

If someone can give me a quick summary of how that diet is supposed to work that would be great...I've looked at the website several times, and the pecanbread one several times, but I am just not getting it.

BTDT. Got the T-shirt.

SCD suggests all veggies and fruits be cooked at first until some healing has occurs. The reason being is that the cell walls are broken down by heat and thus the sugars inside them are easier to digest by a damaged tummy.

It is easier to go slowly introducting new foods if you have a really tough gut situation and/or a bf'ing babe b/c backtracking is a nightmare, trust me on that one.

Pecanbread has a chart of easier to digest foods under Food Preparation - Beyond the Intro Diet but that is just a suggestion.

Lentils are like beans, they must be soaked first, and then cooked in fresh water. And they are not really for beginners, they are pretty much along the lines of hard-to-digest of raw veggies.
http://www.scdiet.org/7archives/scd010.html

The only non dairy starter I know of is ProGurt from www.giprohealth.com
(which I'm not pleased about for use with dairy to eliminate lactose completely but that is another story...)

[JaneS]

Vermontana,

Yes, die off can indeed induce constipation.

I'm not sure re: almond meal in stool. Generally the idea behind SCD if you cannot digest it, it's harming your gut. But I know it's appropriate for normal stool to have some undigested fiber that is actually beneficial to intestines, so I think the key here would be whether it causes negative symptoms or not.

Nut flours and nut butters can be used right after the Intro Diet.

[JaneS]

Originally Posted by nicholas_mom

To JANES.....Ds took Sulphur 30c to start.....the change first starts to be worse than gets better. Then ds took 200c once a month with 30c once a day for 30 days. This got his excema gone but then it showed up in his wrists and elbow crease.

Then we moved to Mezereum 200c once a month and 30c once a day. This worked the best. Then we only had excema on his wrist alittle bit and I thought it was going away when POOF it started going down his body with a vengence.

So, we saw a new homeopath and he gave him cell salts and a combo hoemepathic remedy with big names (I'll have to look it up for at a later time if you are interested). The new doc talked about carbo being stuck and fermenting in intestines and releasing toxins in his body. Hence, I have followed you to Healing the Gut!

Anyway, sulphur I think is the first remedy to try for excema but your doc should do better because you have an older child and they can get a better profile of the disease. When ds took sulphur, he was 4 months old. When he was 20 months old the homeo doc said she could better pinpoint the right remedy because his personality was coming into being. Hence, the disease changed to have to use Mezereum.

With the new doc, the remedies he gave also included PURE MSM Creme for his excema. Have you tried the creme?

It's not for eczema specifically, it's a constitutional remedy. As long as he stays on cod liver and evening primrose oil and avoids cow dairy his skin is fine. His ankles still flare when his stools go all liquid, but that we can deal with.

I looked up Sulfur in the MM and some of it is not at all him... the forgetfulness for example, this kid has a brain like a steel trap.

I wasn't sure if today's dose didn't make him worse too (of course I missed a day too don't know what that did). Going down for naptime was a freaking nightmare. He was so fidgety and hitting me, we were both in tears.

[JaneS]

Originally Posted by artisticat

Oh and JaneS I eat red meat all the time. Never stopped. Totally a major meat eater!! Mayb e I just ate too much for my body to handle at one sitting? I ate 2 hamburger patties. Would this mean I have low acid and should I do anything about it or just eat smaller portions? I tried green beans for lunch today with chicken so we will see how that goes and then I can pretty much narrow it down to the meat or not.

Yes definately... low stomach acid is hugely correlated with poor protein digestion as well as yeast/bacterial overgrowth issues. Maybe you could try Betaine HCI?

[JaneS]

Originally Posted by Mama to one

I hope no one minds me just jumping into this thread. I've lurked a bit but this is my first time posting. I haven't read all the posts yet either but baby dd is sleeping so I need to write this out now while I have a moment.

Short story....I'm dealing with excema and/or psoriasis on my hands and now arms. It's been steadily getting worse for the past 5 months. I have done a ton of research and have quickly become overwhelmed. But I think I have the basics down and have some solid ideas on where to go next. I had an appointment with a naturopath this morning and he made some suggestions. I'm hoping I can tell you all what they are and you can tell me what you think.

His first thought is that the excema/psoriasis is a syptom of a leaky gut caused by antibiotic use. I had antibiotics 6 years ago after a biking accident, 3 years ago for Group B strep during labour and delivery of ds and again during delivery of dd last May. He also suggested maybe hormonal related (but not likely), food allery or possible mineral deficiency.

Anyway, this is what he suggested I do:

Take acidophilus (12 million) along with L-glutamine 2 times a day
Eliminate dairy and soy from diet
Do mineral testing using a hair sample

Does all of this sound OK? I 'm pretty sure about the acidophilus but have no thoughts on the L-glutamine. It's like amino acids right? The mineral testing sounds good and he believes the hair sample route is the most accurate because it shows a more long-term picture. I'm OK eliminating dairy and soy and had thought about doing that anyways.

12 million is absolutely nothing for acidophilus supplementation to repair antibiotic use. Maybe 12 billion would start to help... what product was recommended? That is why I recommend homemade 24 hr yogurt b/c it has 15 billion per teaspoon (and it helped me when capsules didn't).

I would concentrate on your fats both supplementing and the fats in your diet, see The Eczema Tribe thread for my discussion on that.

There is evidence that l-glutamine helps repair the gut lining. I forget which link on the Cheat Sheet talks about it, maybe Dr. Galland's article on leaky gut.

I think enzymes are essential for leaky gut. Although do you have any digestive symptoms? I'm not sure all eczema patients have leaky gut?

[Annikate]

I'm introducing one new food a week to dd's diet. (my 12 month old who's on SCD and allergic to gluten and intolerant to lots of other things.)

Here's what we've got:
bananas
pears
avocados
egg yolk
butternut squash
carrots

What should I give her next? I want to be sure she's getting a variety and even though she's still mostly b'fed, I want to be sure she's getting proper nutrition through foods too yk?

I've asked all you mamas this question before but needed to get your input again!

[mamajessica]

Originally Posted by JaneS

I wasn't sure if today's dose didn't make him worse too (of course I missed a day too don't know what that did). Going down for naptime was a freaking nightmare. He was so fidgety and hitting me, we were both in tears.

Time for the ND to listen to you and make a change.

[4Marmalade]

Originally Posted by JaneS

12 million is absolutely nothing for acidophilus supplementation to repair antibiotic use. Maybe 12 billion would start to help... what product was recommended? That is why I recommend homemade 24 hr yogurt b/c it has 15 billion per teaspoon (and it helped me when capsules didn't).

Whoops. I meant 12 billion. He also mentioned that I could go much higher but that was what he thinks I should start with. He also mentioned because I am vegetarian I may be able to absorb the acidophilus better than some people. Not sure how accurate or true that is. Eating homemade yogurt (which incidently, I made for the first time this weekend) wouldn't work because I am also supposed to eliminate dairy.

Thanks for the input.

[Panserbjorne]

Jane-just wanted to check in and see how ds is doing...sorry it's so rough right now! You are increasing his dosage, so if you see things getting worse it may simply mean that you're seeing results. I always have about three to five days of hell that tell me my remedy is working-and I'm a grown up!

IF you choose to research the acid/alkaline foods let me know. There is so much info that isn't "out there." Small things that might make all the difference to you. Things like how different foods change qualities depending on where they are in the body (milk is alkaline in the stomach, but acidic to the tissues) Many minerals are alkaline forming to the tissues: calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, sodium. Phosphorous, sulfur and chlorine are acidifying (interesting given his remedy.) Protein levels and amino acids also affect the alkalinity/acidity, but there are many other factors...like acids and sugars. Many foods are acid forming even if they are classified as alkaline. Like you need another headache! Sorry if this just throws another wrench in the works.