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Healing the Gut Tribe.......April

25K views 521 replies 44 participants last post by  nicolena 
#1 ·
First--check out this link to JaneS's superawesome incredible fabulous HEALING THE GUT CHEAT SHEET!

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...3&postcount=51

Hi guys! Happy extra daylight!

I need some help developing fanatical adherance! We were making progress, but I was still giving the girls sippies with 24 hr yogurt and banana. Now I have all the stuff for the diet (except dccc--gah--my hfs can't get it yet! anybody know a boston or providence source?). Tomorrow it begins for all three of us with no cheating. (I thought I could skip the gelatin and juice. Now I'm looking forward to juice!) I already lost two pounds from the first version, tho, and it really makes me crazy being on the diet....

Who else is doing this with 15 month olds? And themselves at the same time? Perhaps a roll call of sorts is in order? I'm 33, didn't think I had anything too bad going on, but now I think there's majot healing to be done. I;ve added glutamine for myself (can I give 1/4 to the girls?); I take clo; nutrient 950 pure encapsulation multis; a calc/mag/zinc supplement; and Bs (all sugar/starch/yeast free). I need a good C to replace my emergin'c. I'm breastfeeding twins 15.5 m.o. girls, one whose diarrhea is worse than the other's (she's had more trouble gaining weight). They've been better since we switched to NT, but eventhe carrots are showing up in their bms (of course they were mashed rather than pureed--everything thinks I'm such a fanatic, but i need help with the adherance, people!) So tomorrow I'm having my sister come by to help me manage our moods. Wish us luck. We're going to NY Thurdsday and staying with a sympathetic friend...who thinks I'm being a bit fanatical ("all babies' poops are weird").

Question: It says the only specific thing to introduce at a certain time is the yogurt. I feel like a bad reader because I can not for the life of me figure out WHEN to intro it. Please enlighten me!

[Here's more info than you want to know about us:
i guess i should add to my intro. i've had minor yeast issues, not enough to ever go to a doctor. but i was on antideprressants and antianxiety meds for years, then i added too much red wine, eventually had a seizure, got off all meds (and stopped wanting the wine!), and three months later got pregnant with in vitro after 5 years of various other fertility treatments. sigh. then i tried to lose weight while nursing--never going more than the "allowable" .5 to 1 lb a week, but using splenda and eating dead food. when i started the girls on solids (it's solids or formula, said the extinct pedi), i realized that i was giving them everything organic except my milk. so first i got pretty close to organic myself. then i read about NT, and i've been steadily getting healthier the past few months thru NT.

the girls came out tiny, and i had them vaxxed the first year before i knew better
. they had formula and bm the first 9,5 weeks, but once i got them all on the boob, they stopped gaining. and they were colciky. i was eating horrible packaged stuff because ihad no time to cook. they never slept without lying on me--still barely do. i gave them zantac for about a month for the colic--maybe less time; it did nothing. i gave them tylenol for imaginary teething. i had three fillings done while breastfeeding--gah! we started solids at 6 months and they gained weight, but i don't think they've ever had a solid poop until just recently. i was told this was normal because i was breastfeeding. i am currently desperately in search of a book with pictures of normal poop. is there a doctor of scatology here?
Thanks guys!
 
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#252 ·
Hi mamas,
I'm on day 11 of a gluten and dairy elim diet, trying to heal my gut (and hoping that is the right diagnosis
: ) When I went to my local grocery store to buy glucosamine, they had various forms that were forumulated with other things too, such as glucosamine HCl, glucosamine MSM, glucosamine complex, etc. A scientific article cited on the enzyme page that your cheat sheet references said that the treatment should be with N-acetyl glucosamine, but I can't locate a product that lists that specifically. Do any of these variations matter? I'm currently taking the "glucosamine complex", and I think the formulation is with HCl (don't have the bottle in front of me). All of the products say that they are for "joint health", and it seemed to me that any of them that work on connective tissue would be good.
Anyone else doing glucosamine? Any recs for what the product name/brand is?

PS Thanks for all the info that you've all provided on die-off. I think I was mistaking my die-off symptoms for the elim diet "making things worse" at first
Hope I can offer some help to all of you soon, but I still know so much less than all of you.
 
#254 ·
Caedmyn~do you have a really good LC you can see? Oversupply is a possibility due to the high lactose load in the milk...It is a latch problem though and can resolved quickly with the right help. I still would be suprised if that was the only problem. You should be seen though if your letdown is that strong and you're hearing the clicking.
 
#255 ·
die-off? update

well, when ds pooped last night it wasn't gassy/explosive anymore, and had a smooth consistency. all his poops yesterday were yellow, more like bf poo is supposed to be i think. i'm trying to remember but i think his were this yellow for the first couple months after he was born. they've been a slightly greenish yellow for months even though they improved some after i eliminated dairy.

so i'm thinking this was die-off. i guess it would make sense that his gut would heal much faster than mine. my issues have been going on for 7 years vs. his 7 months. i've been having nausea and/or diarhea for the past few days, though this morning i'm feeling better. i've been wondering if what i am eating was going to be enough (i really don't feel like doing the whole scd diet), i guess if i'm experiencing die-off then it must be. yay! for that anyway.

R
 
#256 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by MyLittleWonders
Just jumping in from lurking for a quick question ... we are 99% sure we are starting the maker's diet again (did it last summer and then I got pregnant and wanted only cereal
), and I'm looking for menu ideas (mostly lunch and dinner, but breakfast too) that don't include any gluten (we are eliminating grains/cereals/flours/starches to the best of our ability). We are still eating dairy (raw or fermented). But I need more ideas than grilled chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, etc. Is there a good website that has some good ideas? Thanks Mamas!

ETA: I read on one page about the MindLinx by Pharmax (can't remember who/where). Anyone actually use them or just thinking about getting them? If someone has them or has used them, how many servings are in a jar? The website says the jars are 60 grams, but I don't know how many 1/4 teaspoon servings that would equal. Thanks!
I'm quoting myself here hoping someone might have a quick answer for me.
Then I can go back to just lurking.
 
#258 ·
I have a bottle of sodium ascorbate that says 1/4 tsp. is 1.2 grams...so there'd be roughly 60 doses in your bottle.

Maker's Diet ideas: breakfast: smoothies w/yogurt or kefir, omelets, almond flour pancakes (these are really good, and can also be used for lunch or dinner)

lunch: salmon or tuna salad eaten on celery sticks, almond butter w/ or w/o honey eaten on celery sticks

dinner: homemade soup (there's lots of different ones that can be done w/o pasta, just use kidney beans or lentils), spaghetti served on spaghetti squash, things made with lentils, crustless quiche, sausage hash w/homemade sausage, potatoes, cheese, and salsa (when you get to the 2nd stage), stir frys w/o rice, pot pies w/o crust, meat loaf, I have a chicken or beef & potato roti recipe you can make w/o bread, PM me if you're interested...basically just look at the recipes you currently make and see which ones you can make w/o bread or pasta

snacks: deviled eggs, lentils pancakes w/honey or avacado (PM me if you want the recipe), crispy nuts

Most of the SCD recipes are Maker's Diet friendly--some you might have to wait until the 2nd stage, though, if you only want to use almonds at first. Try this website www.pecanbread.com
Click on the recipes link...also on the first page that comes up when you go the website, at the bottom of the page are links to some other websites that have SCD recipes. The Midas Gold pancakes recipe is great--I added some cinnamon and then didn't even need to top them with anything.

HTH!
 
#260 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by nicolena
maybe it's "just" a rotavirus. what do you think? my girls had them pretty quickly like that. in less heathy kids it can last for weeks, i think.
on saturday he did spend some time playing with a 6.5 mo baby. the other kid isn't sick though.
 
#261 ·
Re: yeast

On one of the old threads I read that you can do a simple yeast test by filling a clear glass 1/2 full of water and spitting in it as soon as you wake up in the morning (before eating, drinking, or brushing teeth). If the saliva starts sinking down to the bottom in strands, it means you have a yeast problem.

I've been wondering about this since I read it. Any truth to it? Has anyone tried?
 
#262 ·
i've never tried it.

i have some questions about healing my almost 8 mo olds gut. I know he has yeast issues - when we got thrush (barely visible in him, no symptoms in me beyond mildly itchy nipples) his reflux and food intolerances spiraled out of control.

After a 3 mo nursing strike, ftt, no gain, and allergic reactions to anything i ate, we weaned to neocate. he was getting bad bad allergic reactions every time he nursed.

we are finally kicking the yeast - last time he got thrush it was after we had weaned, and he had a course of diflucan and then started a super strong probiotic called vsl3 (it helps heal colitis, which he has).

It made a huge difference - he would actually willingly take a bottle! He and dd had a tummy bug 2 wks ago and he couldn't keep the probiotic down for a wk. now he is back on it, but has a yeast diaper rash and a bit of eating refusal again, so i suspect the yeast is back.

who does scd goat milk for their kids? how young is too young? vsl seems to work for him, but is $75 a month. he is pretty sensitive to dairy, so i am a bit nervous about him tolerating goat milk yogurt.

my system seems to be healing itself - i never noticed any gut issues at all, but clearly had leaky gut from yeast since adrian was so affected by it.
 
#263 ·
Probably a silly question. Today I feel sooooo sick. I am nauceous, have a headache, dizzy, moody, irritable, gassy, it feels like I've ate a LOT of food but I haven't. I just feel so full. Anyways, today Brody (my baby that I am nursing) has been spitting up a lot and he was sitting on my lap and his tummy was making strange noises and I could feel his tummy vibrating. He was making whimpering sounds and then had an explosive poop filled with mucous. We aren't doing solids, so I should hold off on them for a while longer right? I have spent the last few hours crying because I am just so frustrated. I hate feeling like crap, and I hate knowing that my poor baby feels like crap. I am waiting for the SCD book to come into the library so I can borrow it. The lady said it will be back in the next month.

Angela
 
#265 ·
Carrie, My ds had bad food allergies and I didn't produce enough milk due to my own gut damage. I made him formula from about one month (when he couldn't tolerate even the neocate/alimentum. I used raw goat milk as a base. He was comfortable for hte first time in a long time. I'm not a doc, but I can say from experience that you can in fact use raw goat milk from very early on.

Re yeast: The test appears to work. I had horrible yeast issues and that's exactly what it looked like in the glass!
 
#266 ·
I'm gonna try that yeast test! Sort of grosses me out though.


Angela, in thinking more about your ds, it sounds just like what dd went through. Try to eliminate dairy and wheat. It'll take several weeks to see a difference but don't get impatient. I really just have a feeling it'll help him. And yes to the sex issue. I know the feeling! It didn't happen after dd1 but did after dd2. Seems it got progressively better. I just figured it was from having 2 babies. And ... we haven't really had time to *check* and see if it's gotten better or not lately. (Sleep takes precedence over EVERYTHING!


I don't remember who posted the link about introducing solids to babes but if you haven't seen it lmk and I'll post it again. It's awesome.
 
#269 ·
I got some oil of oregano today to treat yeast issues...but then after I got home I noticed that the bottle says not to use if pregnant or nursing...does anyone know if this is actually okay or not? And what can I use if it's not? I don't want to use GSE after reading that link someone posted about it actually being the chemicals used to process the GSE that are effective in treatments.
 
#270 ·
Carrie

Wow that VSL3 is expensive! Did dr. px? What are the bacterial strains, I couldn't find on the site. Its interesting that it's recommended for babies. I always thought bifidus was supposed to be the predominent bacteria until solid food is started.

See recipes and FAQs for goat's milk formula at the Children's page of the Weston Price foundation here:
http://www.westonaprice.org/children/index.html
 
#271 ·
Interesting things I've been reading about the nasty bug DS has: proteus mirabilis.

Cause of diarrhea. Produces ammonia and can put body ph out of whack. Penetrates deep into gut lining and causes inflammation. Emits hemolysins (cell-damaging protein toxins produced by pathogenic bacteria).

Makes sense!

I'm a little freaked out about getting rid of it. My Ped/Homeopath was NOT that helpful. We are supposed to do 1/5th-1/6th of adult dosage of uva ursi and plant tannins. And I'm not sure I want to use UU b/c of the liver issue. Then she says well you can use berberine if you want to.


And I outlined all these questions via email about minerals and other tests re: his growth and amino acids and she didn't even end up addressing them in our phone appt. today. But she did say she would redo his homeopathic remedy. I guess that's her experience and she doesn't have much else for us.

I'm irritated. I guess I should just do the freakin tests myself and figure it all out myself!!!


Oh, except DH said no going off by myself b/c he thinks I'm just wasting $$ and I don't really know as much as a professional! If we had a "middle finger" smilie, I'd be using it.
:

Aren't I a party today?!
 
#274 ·
Oh, Jane! I'm so sorry! I wish you were closer to CT. My practitioners have been SO helpful and have figured all of this stuff out. They are very used to these tests...Do you have out of network benefits? Maybe you could call them? I know that the herbalist/nutritionist has done email consults before...wishing I could help you more.
 
#275 ·
Annikate:
We just got through a 2 hour crying spell. He was screaming, and actually had tears coming down his poor little face. How the heck do I get rid of wheat though??? Seems like wheat is in EVERYTHING! I just don't know what the heck I would eat. It seems as though my husband doesn't really understand either. He got home from work and Brody was *ok*. He started crying, I was comforting him, still crying though. He was SCREAMING with the tears and I could tell DH was getting irritated but I was the one rocking him still. So he tells me just go to put him in his crib and leave him! UMMM NO! Then I was crying because I was the one who made him miserable because I ate two corndogs for lunch that I KNEW had dairy in them but I wanted to see if he reacted. He had a really yucky mucousy diaper earlier in the afternoon so I know he was reacting but didn't think he'd get this bad. *sigh* I'm just so frustrated and upset. I hate this.
 
#276 ·
Jane,

Your ped should work with the clinician at the lab to outline a plan for you. Does she not realize that they have people available for that purpose? Was she just humoring you with the test?

Our homeopath is also an MD and homeopathy is his biggest tool and he's good at it. But it is frustrating when you want more than that. IKWYM.
There have got to be some other resources there for you. Call Metametrix and ask which docs in your area use the lab, then interview the docs. Post on the yahoo native nutrition list. It's pretty active.

Amanda
 
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