No way I would forget about you, Marci. Your post is printed out and in the hands of Dr. Ken O'Neal (someone I am going to be proudly introducing to this forum and CureZone in general very soon) at this very moment. I should have his answers within hours.
A brief preview: Dr. Ken as I call him became an MD about 30 years ago and worked in Emergency care as well as his own general practice. Some years into his practice he began switching more and more to alternative and integrative medicine because he wanted to heal people and what he saw that mainstream drugs and therapies generally only managed symptoms and led to further problems instead of actually addressing and curing the cause of the problem. Needless to say, the mainstream powers that be were less than thrilled and so, 14 years ago he received a naturopathic degree and parted company with the medical establishment. Now, Dr. Ken offers the best of both worlds - he has all the training and experience of an MD and is able to apply that knowledge to recognizing medical conditions (he excels in interpreting blood workups) and then determine the best choices for nutritional support and natural healing therapies - without mainstream drugs or therapies - to help people solve their problems safely, effectively and permanently whenever possible.
I have known him for two years now, participated in natural health seminars with him, and have only the highest regards for him.
And here is another surprise - his wife will soon also be joining us as an advisor on natural living. She has hands on experience with organic gardening, producing their own organic goats milk as well as with natural products that replace all ones that have created an overload of chemical toxins in our homes and gardens.
My plan is to introduce both of them to my forums (here and at Yahoo) and then to help them get set up with their own CZ forums as well as helping with my website.
All the best,
Tony
I am really excited about those two joining our community of healing and helping - and I agree, they should both add a lot to CureZone. After their introduction in my forum, be on the lookout for an Ask Dr. Ken forum and a Natural Living (or somesuch) forum.
Tony
Yes, I do agree with you. What could be better than someone with the medical and scientific training and the hands on experience who has rejected the bad parts of that discipline in favor of natural alternatives that really heal, which he has also studied and had years of hands on experience with?
It was just that kind of doctor that was the subject of Jon Barron's highly regarded book "The Miracle Doctors" - those who realized that they weren't really healing illness and often causing more harm in the long run and turned to natural and other alternatives that worked, often at a very high cost of personal sacrifice.
Tony
Way back in the days of yore when I was taking Gung Fu lessons, the teacher taught a method of breathing where you breath in slowly and fill first the upper lungs fully and then let that air down into the lower lungs to breath in even more and fill your lungs further. Then, when you exhale you exhale first from the upper lungs and then empty out the lower lungs. You develop a kind of rythym and he asserted that doing so not only lead to relaxation, but also to full oxygenation of the entire lungs. Not sure if that is helpful or not, but it surely did seem to make a difference to a young and impressionable guy once upon a time.
Tony
Hi MammacatPatch,
Obviously you have a complicated health history. Thanks for putting it in somewhat of a chronological & historical order. I will only address what I believe are priorities in this email. You seem to be pretty well informed in many basics so I'll get to the substance & ask for certain feedback info.
I think your #1 issue is to heal your GI(gastrointestinal) tract. Your statement, "My gut is not up to par..." shows insight but also must be a vast under-statement. You mention digestive enzymes & probiotics. GOOD! GOOD! What kind, brand, dose & protocol. Ditto for the probiotics.
I recommend you get & read Jordan Rubin's book "Patient Heal Thyself" (2003) with special attention to how he finally healed his gut from Crohn's Disease or Regional Ilieitis especially with advanced probiotics called HSOs(homeostatic soil organisms). No doubt you have both gut & systemic candidiasis and also dysbiosis.
The small intestine has (many authorities claim) over 50% of the body's immune system. Good microbes don't just "kill" the bad organisms thus reducing the endotoxins secreted & absorbed but do many good things such "making" bioavailable peptides, vitamins, minerals, short-chain fatty acids and powerful enzymes. etc. Bernard Jensen I believe said "Death Begins in the Colon" but it really involves the entire digestive tract.
Let's begin with a rather more detailed accounting of this issue & go from there. Everything you eat or drink is involved in this including water, GMO foods(Hard to avoid but possible), medicines (legal, illegal, prescribed, over the counter) etc.
Please get the Rubin book & read the first few chapters. Also, any prior labs, scans or other test procedures results, if available, would be helpful.
Thank you,
Dr. Ken
First of all, thank you SO MUCH Dr. Ken for taking the time to review my conditions and offer suggestions! It is such a blessing for me.
I already own Jordan's book PATIENT HEAL THYSELF and I also own Dr. Bernard's book DEATH BEGINS IN THE COLON. Excellent books both of them.
As to digestive enzymes, I have tried many brands, some better than others. Same with probiotics. Some I have tried are Natren, Dr. Becker's, Dr. Ohira's. I have tried 'loading' with Dr. O's, taking 6-8 a day for the first few days as they recommended. I do like them best and plan to continue taking them. I have also begun to add fermented foods and raw foods more to my diet for natural enzymes.
The only meds I've taken consistently in my life are antibiotics [for occassional infections and for acne]. This alone lead me to believe I have yeast/fungus overgrowth. So I have tried to follow an anti fungal diet and take natural anti fungals as well for about three years now. I currently take 25mg of atenolol although my bp is not that high, when I exert myself, my heart races so the atenolol slows it down.
My biggest issue, aside from regaining my health is to lose the 100+ pounds of excess weight that my body REFUSES to drop. I believe carrying this weight around every day is contributing to my joint/muscle pain and aches, wearing down my joints and back [have had lower back problems - bulging disc and bone spurs according to all the docs over 30 years, including chiropractors], and just limiting my quality of life overall since I can't DO much and I am always tired. For some reason I've yet to discover my body will NOT let go of the fat.....yeast overload? Toxin overload? Perhaps the fat is protecting my organs? I just don't know. I have fought excess weight my whole life, often in damaging ways, so perhaps my body is saying ENOUGH!
I have had blood tests done over the years from reg. docs and naturopaths for estradiol, progesterone, vit. D, insulin as well as the usual, cholesterol and such. Have also done hair analysis, live blood analysis, stool & digestion analysis, thyroid panels, etc. I've used to progesterone creams for about six years since menopause because I believed I was balancing the estrogen dominance issues. Blood work done in 2008 show progesterone level was 1.3 ng/ml and the 'normal range' is 0.0-1.4 for post menopausal women. The estrodial level was 13 pg/ml and the normal range is stated as <46 pg/ml for post menopausal women. Perhaps blood work doesn't tell me anything anyway. A thyroid panel showed rT3 at 22.3 ng/dl, which they said was HIGH. No clue what it means, if anything. TSH, T4, T3, rT3/T3, FT3, FT4 were all normal, whatever THEY are! Or just normal at the time the blood was drawn?The live blood analysis showed NO yeast or fungal or parasitic overgrowth! This was a shocker so I think the live blood analysis is flawed OR my belief that I have that is wrong. It DID show undigested proteins as well as poor assimilation of carbs. That was also what the stool & digestive analysis showed as well. Back to the gut issues!Insulin has always been normal, except I had 'gestational diabetes' with both my children. Cholesterol levels hover around 200, but I'm not concerned about cholsterol levels to be honest I think it's a marketing ploy.
Hormone panel showed high DHEA and low cortisol levels thru the day, except for the morning. As I recall, it was a 24 hour spit thing. Their analysis was that high DHEA is consistant with my symptoms of hair loss, increased facial hair and acne. The 'normal level' of morning cortisol, followed my low levels throughout the rest of the day, they said, could be from adrenal imbalance and low adrenal reserve, which exacerbate symptoms of low thyroid levels.
Well, I guess that helps more? Again, I can't thank you enough, Dr. Ken. I currently live in the country and can't find a naturopath within 200 miles! This is a true blessing and potential lifesaver for me.
Marci
P.S. I'm posting public so perhaps someone else will be helped too!
Marci - Dr. Ken is on the road and will eventually end up back at his own remote location, where one of his first priorities will be to get set up with high-speed internet so he can better be able to help online. I will forward your message to him and get back to you on his response as soon as I can. Do you happen to live in Dr. Ken said that the best way to obtain a blood workup is through Life Extension Foundation. When you join them, you will have access to a great many doctors and clinics that work with them and can order a blood workup draw for your gender and age, which you then send by mail to LEF and have the workup completed. I also suggest that while we are awaiting a response from Dr. Ken that you take a look at the post I will be making today further down the page here to the member who has had a horrific time with sebaceous acne for years. It will contain advice that applies to a great many "incurable" and undiagnosed conditions - which in a nutshell is to thoroughly cleanse and detox, get back to basics, eliminate all gluten and store/cow dairy products, and supplement wisely to heal the gut so that it can properly digest and assimilate the good nutrition that is being supplied. I will say that for that weight problem, and other health issues too, you should get some GTF chromium, Primal Defense, and incorporate a once a week fast day where you alternate between having nothing but dark organic grapes (seeds and all) for a whole day one week, then nothing but watermelon for a whole day the following week, and then nothing but water the next. Trace minerals, which you can purchase separately or obtain as part of a superior overall supplement such as IntraMax, are also important. Besides many, many health benefits of making sure that you have adequate major and trace minerals, a person often eats more than they should because their body recognizes that they are not getting all the essential nutrients for optimum health and this manifests as a craving for more food, and thus people sometimes will eat and eat and eat and still not feel satisfied. Eat only when you are hungry, take your time, chew each bite thoroughly (up to 50 chews per bite!), eat healthy foods and eat modest portions. The weekly fast will help shrink your stomach and the minerals and advice on eating will help you feel full on lesser amounts of food. All the best, Tony Note: The Primal Defense link I provided goes to iHerb, which has great prices and a wide product selection. If you have never ordered from them before, you can use my referral code XOT949 to get $5 off your first order and give me a small credit on my own future orders from iHerb. Right now, Luella and I are ordering plenty from them, including the Primal Defense. $210 worth for just the past month or so. And yeah we are raking it in on that referral code. A whopping $5.84. so far!
I understand your frustration, Marci. I think a key consideration is that regardless of what you have taken in the past or are taking now, what Dr. Ken and myself are saying is to stop virtually ALL of it and proceed according to the game plan he will lay out of first cleansing, then rebuilding the gut, following the dietary suggestions including fasting (and he may want you to begin with a diet of ONLY goats milk and key supplements), boosting the immune system and then seeing where you are and making specific suggestions for what problems may remain.
You have certainly tried many things (perhaps even too many things) - but that does not mean you have tried the right sequence or combination that will work for you. Sometimes those are key elements of solving a perplexing health puzzle, and sometimes less can be more. Just remember, it is NOT the will of the Big Guy in the Sky for you to live a shortened and unhealthy life.
Hang in there girl!
All the best,
Tony