Re: Leaky gut/candida/anxiety/adrenals; LOST, need help...

 Regarding kefir and sauerkraut: Unfortunately, I don't do well with dairy, it seems; even Kefir I remember making me feel quite blocked up in my nose and bloated. Admittedly, it was from pasteurized milk, but most dairy in quantity, excepting butter, hasn't ever made me feel great.

You can make kefir with many things other than dairy. Water kefir, coconut milk kefir, rice milk kefir, soy milk kefir, etc.

We have some 'kraut here at home; I've always enjoyed the taste, but haven't always felt right after eating it. (As in, it's sometimes felt as though it's worsened some of my "yeasty" feeling symptoms).

One thing with fermented foods is to remember that the fermentation is of sugars. So fermented foods, including kefir and sauerkraut, need to be fermented long enough to eliminate the majority if not all of the sugars before ingesting them.

If one may have trouble tolerating fermented foods, what are your thoughts on supplementing with high potency acidophilus/bifidum probiotics instead?

The reason I prefer fermented foods is that the majority of probiotic supplements are VERY limited. There are literally thousands of beneficial strains of bacteria in in the intestines and other parts of the body.  Only providing 1 strain such as Acidophilus or two strains Acidophilus and Bifidus is therefore going to be a lot less effective than sources that provide dozens of beneficial strains and food (prebiotics) to feed all the flora.

I will check up on the Rice Bran and Yucca. What do you feel about Aloe Vera Juice? I started taking it yesterday as I read that it can aid in digestion and promote an environment inhospitable to Candida...

Aloe vera contains polysaccharides, which are also long chain sugar molecules like cellulose. Just shorter in length. And it is the bitter anthraquinones that help with the digestion by stimulation of the vagus nerve through the bitter receptors on the tongue. Now the downside. First of all the law allows the addition of up to 95% water to aloe juices and the product can still be called 100% aloe juice. So you need to make sure that the aloe juice specifically states no water added. Aloe gels are definitely not pure. Aloe gels are made by adding algin, from seaweeds, to the diluted juice to make it gel. Secondly the anthraquinones are stimulant laxatives and are not good to take for more than a couple of weeks at a time. Otherwise they can weaken the intestinal muscles leading to a laxative dependence. One of the reasons allow juice is frequently diluted with such large volumes of water is to reduce the bitterness of the anthraquinones. So a lack of bitterness can also indicate that the aloe was diluted and you are paying mainly for water. If the company only uses the inner leaf then they can reduce the bitter anthraquinones without diluting the aloe. The only company I know of though that does this is Aloe Life.

My primary concern before embarking on adaptogenic herbs, et al, is related to what Dr. Lam says, which is that, dependent upon the state of an individual's adrenals, things which you've mentioned that may help one person may be too stimulatory for another. What is your take on that?

Not all adaptogens are stimulatory. Ashwagandha and Chinese licorice root  (G. uralensis), not American licorice root (G. glabra), are calming.

I have tried adaptogenic herbs in the past (most extensively a couple of years ago at a very stressful time), and I recall feeling strange from them - I think they were Ashwagandha and Rhodiola...though admittedly, I was stressing myself the hell out, and being stupid by drinking entire kettles full of tea and Yerba Mate, and probably taking a lot more than the suggested dosages of the herbs...bit of a mindset from the drug-abusing years, I suppose. I guess I could, once I know what's happening, revisit the adaptogens with greater moderation.

The yerba mate' is high in caffeine, which will crash the adrenals. This probably had more to do with it than anything.

I am trying to avoid stress as best I can, and change my emotional response to it.

As you build up your adrenal glands you will find that stress levels will naturally decline as the adrenals produce the body's anti-stress hormones. When people crash their adrenals they will stress over minor things much easier and tend to "fly off the handle" much easier.

I'm totally caffeine/alcohol/stimulant/alcohol/simple sugar free right now. Most of the other things you listed, I haven't tried, except for ginseng, which made me feel funny.

There are true ginsengs (Panax), which are stimulatory and pseudoginsengs (suma, ashwagandha, Siberian ginseng), which are generally non-stimulatory.

I do have some B-5 on hand, I could try that. Actually, I took one 500 mg capsule this morning. I see you seem more fond of food sources (it appears to me, at least) for vitamins, than actual supplements. Regarding nutritional yeast for B Vitamins, I love how it tastes on salads, but may be allergic to it. Possibly.

Natural vitamins are more potent than their synthetic counterparts. And I am against high levels of individual B vitamins since they can displace other B vitamins. Food sources do not present this problem since the B vitamins in food are found as a B complex.

Do you have thoughts on plant sterols/sterolins, such as the product Moducare (and the couple or so others with similar formulas)?

Most adaptogens are rich in these, which is what gives them a lot of the beneficial properties. The adaptogen jiaogulan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum) has the highest content of sterols I have found, 7 times higher than Panax ginseng. And you can find this herb in Chinatown really cheap. Nettle leaf, licorice root and yucca root are also sterol rich and not that expensive.

Although, I think I read on the main site of this product, where stress and adrenal fatigue were being discussed, that sterols/sterolins can lower cortisol levels, which may not be such a good thing if they're already low in the case of adrenal fatigue...

Actually they regulate cortisol levels. The idea behind adaptogens and other sterol sources as well as nutrition for the adrenals is to help the adrenals to function properly. When they are functioning properly the adrenals will regulate its cortisol release properly rather than over react and release excess amounts of cortisol and epinephrine during times of stress. This also helps to prevent depletion of the adrenals.

Regarding the liver, and your suggestion of herbal bitters: I've tried bitters once or twice in the past. The first time was a commercially available, alcohol-free formula. I actually found it delicious, but it was outlandishly priced: over thirty dollars for a bottle which lasted perhaps 10 or 12 doses. Maybe the local health food stores just have a weak selection...

Do you have recommendations on a particular formula - and if alcohol free ones in cases such as mine are worth the extra cost? Or should I just attempt making my own at home in larger quantity?

Bitters should not cost anywhere near that much. And they often tell you to take way more than you need. You only need to taste the bitters for them to work. The bottles normally recommend a teaspoon with meals. I recommend a half a dropper full. This is sufficient to stimulate the vagus nerve and cuts down on the amount of flora killing berberine (goldenseal, Oregon grape root) and stimulant laxatives (cascara sagrada, senna, rhubarb root, cape aloe) often used in these formulas.

As a cheaper alternative that will also avoid the alcohol you can buy powdered herbs with a bitter taste such as gentian or andrographis and place a pinch on the tongue, suck on it for a few seconds then swallow. This will achieve the same effect at a fraction of the cost.

As for gluten, I wasn't diagnosed with full blown Celiac, but my antibodies were high, and since the psoriasis on my elbows went away after stopping breads, clearly there was something likely hereditary going on there. I still wonder if I'm dealing with/healing damage from eating gluten most of my life, a few or more years after cutting it out...

Psoriasis is not hereditary. It is an imbalance of cAMP and cGMP. The gluten intolerance though could aggravate the psoriasis though by increased inflammatory responses.

Speaking of cellulose, I was reading about cleansing the bowel. I don't know if now's the time to do a full blown bowel cleanse, but I had at least considered adding supplementary fiber. I was just about to use this half container of Renew Life brand "Organic Bowel Cleanse" I found in my closet, but hesitated. Then I saw a message somewhere on CureZone where someone reprimanded another poster for suggested the usual psyllium/bran/flax style cleanser for leaky gut (which I may also be dealing with), because it contains fiber which can irritate the leaky gut.

I don't like psyllium either. It is very harsh on the intestines and can cause a lot of bloating. One thing to keep in mind is that there are "hard" fibers such as wheat bran and "soft" fibers like rice bran. Soft fibers are not highly irritating to the intestines and actually benefit leaky gut.

Then I read on the Environmental Illness Resource website that soluble fiber supplements like the typical psyllium blends can actually increase gut permeability, not what I'd want I think, though they're frequently and unwittingly suggested by even a lot of Naturopaths.

It is harsh and one of the reasonings I have heard about that is that the psyllium is so sharp that it can damage the intestinal wall.

This site suggested pure cellulose fiber powder as a Colon Cleanser/detoxifier, which will also *decrease* gut permeability...

Pure cellulose is generally derived from ground up corn cobs and is still pretty hard. I still prefer soft fibers, and again the rice bran and oat bran also provide a lot of nutrition unlike pure cellulose.

Regarding zinc, I have suspected for a while that it may need increasing.

You do not want to exceed 100mg daily though as this can lead to immune suppression. 

About the skin-rash thing, just wondering why you think it might be "geographic dermatitis"? I can see your point about the adrenal improvement helping with it.

Because looking at the photos I noticed the welts forming in lines. A simple allergic reaction would have random welts. In geographic dermatitis the skin welts where it is contacted. So if you scratch the skin the welts form along the scratch as in your photos.

Yesterday, every single food I ate made my skin itch to varying degrees:

-Veggie soup (carrots, broccoli, celery, coconut oil, Sea Salt , onion, water and one egg) gave me an unusual, slightly hard, raised, itchy bump on my right arm, with a whitish center, that took hours to vanish. Perhaps it was the eggs - that was the first time I had them in four or five days. Maybe I need a rest from them, I've had four eggs/morning every day for at least a couple of years now.

-Plain pecan halves and macadamia nuts: moderate itching on arms and body, not too much, first felt good, then bloated and a bit queasy.

-Steamed broccoli with olive oil and sea salt: extreme itching on both forearms

-Organic Gala apples, plain: general itching all over, not as bad as with the broccoli. Felt most energized out of everything I'd eaten that day (probably the sugar in the fruit).

None of these foods were eaten close to eachother.

Try adding some watercress to your diet. It will help build your adrenals and is a strong natural antihistamine.

I woke up at 2:30 this morning, had to go to the toilet (sorry if this is too much information). It was quite a lot, probably from having eaten fiber for the first time in nearly a week.

That is a good thing. This helps to get rid of toxins and you need the fiber for other reasons such as strengthening the intestinal wall and bile formation.

Right before I went, my neck was really red and very itchy, and all along the front right side of my chest and stomach it was a medium red color, and itchy. This happened once before, I got itchy when I had to have a bowel movement, though not to this extent. Makes me wonder again if, as another respondent to my original post suggested, that some of the issue is an excess of old waste matter. What do you think?

Yes, when the body has to deal with excess toxins in the system the energy used in dealing with these toxins is at the expense of other systems in the body that could use that energy. This is one of the reasons we also feel fatigued when we are too toxic.

Oh - speaking of "geographic", I have had, for all or most of my life, "geographic tongue". Don't know if you consider that of significance. It can also get painful "tongue lesions" if I eat certain foods, but the results are not reproducible.

Again this is allergy related. Anything that stresses the adrenals can flare up allergies. That is why allergies can be intermittent.