The leg problem I thought was circulation-related had been getting worse and worse since last September. I ended up seeing Brownstein for more testing when an ultrasound of my veins and arteries didn't show anything major (spider veins and what I do think are the beginnings of some varicrose veins), and none of that explained the level of severity of the symptoms. By this time I'd been having several long episodes every day of major cramping and even the usual elevation and heat wasn't helping much. I could barely get through a grocery store, if I could even go out.
Just got my results on tue, and turns out I'm really low on potassium, magnesium, sodium, Vit-D, and I think one other thing... despite a ridiculously
healthy Diet and supplementing with food-based stuff in addition to a mag supplement because I knew I was probably low. Calcium levels according to the blood tests, anyway, were fine.
I still haven't done a fast, I was going to do a juice fast the first week of March, but with my electrolyte balance being this off, I'm not sure it's the right time. I've been doing bowel cleansing, otherwise, and actually just got back on the
Iodine after a hiatus of 3-4 months since my appendix blowout last November. I have to admit I'm still on the fence because while it's likely a coincidence, this cascade of health issues started after beginning iodine. You know how it is - you get the flu the same night you eat a caeser salad and after the salad comes back up, it's hard to trust anchovy and egg dressing again...Dr. B convinced me to get back on it, and since it seems like my thyroid is still whacked and he's had such a long list of success stories with ioidine, I should.
I also saw a homeopath about a month ago with one of those bio-energetic testing machines, and I gotta say I think the machine was right on target in terms of diagnosis, but I'm not sure the remedies he gave me are doing anything. It's definitely poor absorption in my gut as the reason I'm so deficient, and I started taking, on Brownstein's recommendation, "C-potassium bicarb poweder." Also transdermal magnesium with that really burning/itchy topical magnesium oil, but while uncomfortable, I'm already noticing a difference. Still heavy feeling legs that ache and swell a bit, but less cramping. It seems like I need really easily absorbed things and stuff through the skin rather than my gut.
So this potassium bicarb powder was pretty expensive, 30 bucks from a compounding pharmacy for a 2 x 2
inch jar. Does anyone know whether the stuff I've found on Amazon, etc. called potassium bicarbonate is the same thing? It's like 10 bucks for a whole pound. I would imagine there are different grades.
I definitely still have a blood pooling issue, or venous insufficiency or something, and the vein guy recommended possibly one more test to definitely rule out a deep vein problem, but if the potassium & mag. improve things enough, I will probably just try the compression stockings he suggested, which seem so counter-intuitive, but the knee high ones do seem to help for a couple hours, until I can't stand them anymore and have to rip them off. I'm pretty sure I need the ones that go all the way up. Maybe good for the veins, but not the lymph?
I'm still doing cayenne, hawthorn, gingko, and trying to invert as much as possible. Right now most exercise sets off cramping, but I'm hoping it will improve soon. I really am not ready for compression stockings at 42, especially in the summer!
What a crazy 6 months. I've really gone to my dark place on more than one occasion since it got so disabling. Really gave me a new perspective on what many people deal with who are much worse off, and permanently worse off. I saw this TV show a couple months ago where they interviewed a few people who had died and come back. One guy said going back into his body felt like being pushed through a sieve and shoved into a mayonnaise jar, after the expansiveness of where he'd just been. :) I sometimes have that confused, "WTF" feeling in my body, like part of me knows this is a prison of sorts. I guess my real job is to figure out the reason I chose it, or landed in it, and make the most of it.
Well, sorry for the rant. If anyone's got any other suggestions, I'm all ears.