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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [Recoverie] [ In reply to ]
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Recoverie and AndyPants -

Any updates?

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [trackie clm] [ In reply to ]
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On a few fronts, but not completely. I still have the lower GI issues (I had to resked a specialist appt, and that pushed me out 3 months!) but I am coping. I have an umbilical hernia, that one is for certain, it's still "runnable" but I really do not enjoy core workouts right now. That will be surgery - once I see GI doc. My coughing up "stuff" is better - I actually think it may be due to dust & dog hair in the house - during the winter we are inside more and I think it affects me more - now that I am out side more (as is doggy) I am having less of it.

Still a work in progress... just on hold until Comrades is over ;-)

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [Recoverie] [ In reply to ]
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Have you ever had a vitamin D test? Your symptoms mirror what athletes with vit. D deficiency usually complain of. Limb girdle aches and pains, gut issues, and a general feeling of weakness and "unwellness." Extra jeopardy since you're a vegan...
Last edited by: RZ: Jun 16, 13 3:12
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [DawnT] [ In reply to ]
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DawnT wrote:
My only advice is to read the book Clean by Alejandro Junger. I'm currently on Day 4 of the cleanse that he recommends in the book. Pretty easy to do and I really think it will help you.

x2.. I just did the elimination diet that prepares your for his cleanse. Calms my bloaty tummy right down, makes my digestion work again, and restores my energy. A few days of jello, chicken broth and oatmeal work for me. I suspect it allows some inflammation to settle down..
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [RZ] [ In reply to ]
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RZ wrote:
Have you ever had a vitamin D test? Your symptoms mirror what athletes with vit. D deficiency usually complain of. Limb girdle aches and pains, gut issues, and a general feeling of weakness and "unwellness." Extra jeopardy since you're a vegan...

I had blood work done for Vitamin D (among others). It came back "normal." However, as of today, I feel anything but. I feel quite crummy every day. Now, it doesn't matter what I eat or drink, I get this bloated distended belly all the time (even after a regular bm). I've tried to get as bland a diet as possible (low fiber, gluten, and raw). No change. I'm just so burnt out and so hungry. It's at the point now that I'm afraid to eat anything because of the bloating that always ensues.

My gastro doc suggested I have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Recommedned Xifaxin for possible SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). But, it's out of my price range. A two week supply, with my insurance, would have been $338. And it's a crapshoot. The doc said it may help, or it might not.

I'm out of answers at this point, and feel without hope. My exercises have been halted due to the bloating and constriction that I constantly feel as soon as I begin to exert myself (like just climbing stairs around my apartment complex).
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [Recoverie] [ In reply to ]
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I have a friend who went through hell and back t track down problems she was having. She ended up going gluten free, non-dairy and corn-free. What a nightmare of a diet but she feels much better.

She and I did a roadtrip and between her sensitivities and me being vegan we were a real treat to try and feed :-)

This must be an allergy of a common ingredient. Corn and soy are everywhere. Have you looked at those as culprits? I can understand this being so frustrating.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [JenSw] [ In reply to ]
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JenSw wrote:
I have a friend who went through hell and back t track down problems she was having. She ended up going gluten free, non-dairy and corn-free. What a nightmare of a diet but she feels much better.

She and I did a roadtrip and between her sensitivities and me being vegan we were a real treat to try and feed :-)

This must be an allergy of a common ingredient. Corn and soy are everywhere. Have you looked at those as culprits? I can understand this being so frustrating.

Thanks for your input. How long did your friend go gluten free before her symptoms improved?

I've been vegan since 1995. It never was a problem until a year and a half ago. It's become substantially worse since January of this year, even causing me to miss work and workouts every month (a week and a half each time).
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [Recoverie] [ In reply to ]
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Not sure how long it took. I know the process of identifying the right combination of issues took a long time. Months. She also developed these issues later in life, early 40s.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [Recoverie] [ In reply to ]
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Recoverie wrote:

Thanks for your input. How long did your friend go gluten free before her symptoms improved?

I've been vegan since 1995. It never was a problem until a year and a half ago. It's become substantially worse since January of this year, even causing me to miss work and workouts every month (a week and a half each time).

Everyone's different.
In 2009 a friend suggested that my "IBS" symptoms might mean I was gluten intolerant.
Having nothing to lose, I decided to cut out all gluten and see what happened.
(For anyone considering this I emphasize the importance of reading labels and understanding what contains gluten - like wheat, flour, soy sauce, etc. If you don't read EVERY label, you could very well miss something with gluten in it, find your symptoms don't improve, and give up - just because you didn't read a label.)

Anyway, long story short, within just 1 week, I could feel a *significant* improvement in my digestive system.
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [Recoverie] [ In reply to ]
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I just read thru this thread for the first time. One thing that stood out was that you said you felt amazing for a while after receiving 2 IV bags after a race. I wonder if there isn't a clue in there.

I went thru a period of increasing muscle cramps (mostly while swimming). Tried drinking sports drinks, taking electrolyte pills, salting my food, but nothing really worked. Then I tried a tablespoon of apple cidar vinegar before swimming and that did the trick. Results were immediate. No idea why this worked and the salt and sports drink didn't.

As for the bingeing, I think its impossible to eat perfectly all the time. All those people that look like they're doing it aren't. The key is allowing yourself some flexibility and recognizing that having some junk food isn't making a statement about you. You're still in control because you make the decision to allow yourself to eat xyz. When you know that you can eat whatever you want the desire for it really does disappear. It's a total leap of faith though and I know how hard that is. I think the starting point is to stop trying to follow the perfect junk free diet. The concept of perfection and strict rules has to go. It's just not realistic.

One thing that worked wonders for my sweet tooth was Lindt 70 percent chocolate. It's a treat, but not so tasty that you eat a ton of it. I find it totally satisfies my need for a treat and my sweet tooth has pretty much disappeared. Also, it's kind of considered healthy so I don't even think of it as junk food. I eat it every day.

I really like the idea of talking to your parents and being open with them. I think the key with this is that you say what you need to say, not how they react to it.

I really hope you can find a solution to this!
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [trackie clm] [ In reply to ]
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Finally saw the GI specialist. He's pretty sure I have Giardasis (beaver fever) from my trip to NZ in 2011(!!!). So tests, then antibiotics. He also had a lot of suggestions to follow up after that's done - daily fibre loading to get motility improved; diet modification via exclusion as per FODMAP (reading up on this - sounds very complicated); and continued monitoring. But on the positive side, he recommended AGAINST surgery for my hernia :-) I am really REALLY happy about that.

One baby step at a time...

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [AndyPants] [ In reply to ]
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heh heh....you said beaver fever....heh heh

On a serious note, glad you found a potential solution!

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [AndyPants] [ In reply to ]
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There's a lot of info on FODMAP exclusion in the paleo world. (It seems like a fair number of folks come to paleo as an answer to mysterious GI ailments.) I've seen good info on the Whole 9 forum (http://whole9life.com/) and other miscellaneous paleo resources. I've also seen it described as an auto-immune protocol, so that might help your search.


I'm not a full-fledged member of paleo-nation, but we did a "Whole 30 challenge" back in January. I found it to be a very helpful way of eating to eliminate the bad stuff and focus on the good stuff. Once you get used to it, it's actually not that difficult to follow (if you tend to cook for yourself, it's a little harder to eat out without cross-examining your waitstaff... ) I've fallen away from it with the heavier training, but I still find myself paying much more attention to what's in my food and trying to stick to real food and eliminate the random ingredients that seem to be in every packaged food.


I hope you (and Recoverie) get it sorted out soon.


M

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The beatings will continue until morale improves
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [mdraegerpnw] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks you two, yeah I've been really reducing the carb intake in general to try and help the situation already, without going full gluten or dairy exclusion as those didn't work for me. Even just trying to eat less carbs has resulted in some less bad food eating. I think it's always good to be critical of what you put in your body once in a while - kind of like an audit :-) It's easy to slip into bad habits.

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [Recoverie] [ In reply to ]
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Been there done that. You probably have what I had for many years. I started doing some research on GMO's in our food system. The use of Genetically Modified organisms, mostly crops like corn, soy, sugar, cotton, canola, squash and some citrus requires large doses of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. Basically these crops are able to handle massive doses of Round Up. Well now that so many crops in the US are GMO the amount of round up we are eating is causing chronic internal inflammation and something called leaky gut syndrome. It took me 4 months to rid my house of all GMO and preservatives, but now all my food allergies are gone, no more pain and I lost the weight I had been carrying for so long due to inflammation. My husband's RA is now under control and my adult son's skin cleared up. My mother visted for 10 days and said she never felt better and has not taken her digestive medicine since June! Do research on leaky gut syndrome, How to eliminate GMO's and how to live a clean healthy life. Basically you need to buy organic as much as possible. Meat is highly concentrated in GMO's due to their feed so limit meat and dairy. It changed my life and I Marched against Monsanto in May because I think that corporation along with other chemical companies are slowly making us sick. Large chemical companies now control most of our food production. They have infiltrated all branches of our government mostly the FDA so the information we citizens are getting is Not correct. Sounds like a conspiracy I know, but do our own research online and see if this works for you. Hope this helps.

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No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up
Laura
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [Recoverie] [ In reply to ]
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I only read the first page and certainly there are some good thoughts there but the first thing that I thought of was autoimmune disorder. Might be worth looking into if you have not been tested for that.
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [sailcat] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks to all of you who have chimed in with tips and encouragement.

Received my lab results from another naturopath this week. Among other things, he noted I have the presence of a "few entamoeba histolytica/dispar & entamoeba coli" parasites. Even though there were few present, he said there shouldn't be any. He ordered other tests for me right then that I fulfilled that afternoon. Will see him in two weeks for the results.

In the meantime, I'm waiting to hear from the City and County I live in about a fecal coliform bacteria that was in a lake I swam in back in August 2012. They closed the lake at that time for three weeks, then reopened it once it was deemed safe. At this point, I don't know if there's a connection between the lake and my current symptoms (my gut issues have been just as bad during my off season from lake swimming Oct thru April).

I'm also taking a less invasive approach to dealing with these critters by using barberry, grapefruit seed extract and oregano oil. If I don't see an improvement in two weeks, my naturopath will suggest taking a pharmaceutical approach to get rid of the bugs. From what I've read, E. Histolytica & Coli can negatively affect the lining of the intestines. It can also get worse where the bugs get into the bloodstream and affect other organs, like the liver and brain.

So, I've got that going for me, which is nice.
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [tridana] [ In reply to ]
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tridana wrote:
Recoverie and AndyPants -

Of course the disclaimer: I am not an MD.
What struck me about both your stories is the bloat...AP - you mentioned you are being tested for a parasite...that is what I was wondering too...especially with Recoverie's description of malnourished kids. Here's the other piece of that...maybe you ARE malnourished. I have a friend who is going through some VERY similar symptoms and as she is working through it, a stool sample has revealed that she likely is malnourished. It is not about diet (good vs. bad) it is about what your body can actually digest.

I would pull on that string - and see what comes up. I know it is unpleasant, but I would suggest a stool sample.

For me my brain goes to: possible parasite (more or less likely with where you live/travel); or under/malnourishment based on what your body can/can't digest.

Good luck -keep us posted!

Hi Dana,

You were right. My latest lab results from my naturopath showed the presence of the parasites entamoeba histolytica & coli. He also pointed out areas where I am getting malnourished (low iron levels for starters). I'm already thinking that the presence of the parasites are the cause of the malnourishment. Like you said, it's not about the diet, but is my body actually digesting what I'm ingesting. From what I've read about these bugs, they can lay dormant for a while before producing symptoms. They live in their host (me) by eating bacteria and food in the host. Maybe some of my food is actually nourishing the bugs and not me.
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [ironclm] [ In reply to ]
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ironclm wrote:
Recoverie and AndyPants -

Any updates?

Just posted some updates.
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [AndyPants] [ In reply to ]
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AndyPants wrote:
Thanks you two, yeah I've been really reducing the carb intake in general to try and help the situation already, without going full gluten or dairy exclusion as those didn't work for me. Even just trying to eat less carbs has resulted in some less bad food eating. I think it's always good to be critical of what you put in your body once in a while - kind of like an audit :-) It's easy to slip into bad habits.

AP

How's your health coming along, AP? I just posted updates to my situation.
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [Recoverie] [ In reply to ]
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Glad to hear you are finding some answers and hopefully on a good path to recovery!!

Keep us posted!

________________________________________________
Don't Just Live, Thrive!
Thrive Kinematics Physical Therapy - http://www.facebook.com/...8178667572974?ref=hl
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [Recoverie] [ In reply to ]
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uck, what's the treatment?

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [tigerchik] [ In reply to ]
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tigerchik wrote:
uck, what's the treatment?


My naturopath recommended two treatments to deal with these critters - herbs or drugs. I'm taking the herbs right now (barberry, grapefruit seed extract and oregano oil). If I don't see an improvement when I see him in two weeks, he'll suggest the drug 'metronidazole' (also known as flagyl).

From how he described it, I concluded the allopathic scenario is like the EMP device in the Matrix that's used to annihilate 'sentinel' parasites. However, according to this 'revolutionary' obliteration, the EMP would leave the inner workings of the 'host' (me) vulnerable to a greater onslaught of parasitic 'sentinels.'

On the other hand, the naturopathic route is like Liam Neeson in Taken. The herbs may not look like much when they're first introduced into the 'host.' But when in enemy territory with these 'human trafficking' protozoan, Oregano Oil has a "very particular set of skills that make it a nightmare" for parasites like coli. However, these amoebas have 'relatives' that might seek revenge for all Oregano did to their 'family.'

A third option would be to combine the two treatments where Liam Neeson goes into the host with EMP guns blazing.
Last edited by: Recoverie: Jun 6, 14 1:47
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [Recoverie] [ In reply to ]
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Recoverie wrote:
tigerchik wrote:
uck, what's the treatment?


My naturopath recommended two treatments to deal with these critters - herbs or drugs. I'm taking the herbs right now (barberry, grapefruit seed extract and oregano oil). If I don't see an improvement when I see him in two weeks, he'll suggest the drug 'metronidazole' (also known as flagyl).

From how he described it, I concluded the allopathic scenario is like the EMP device in the Matrix that's used to annihilate 'sentinel' parasites. However, according to this 'revolutionary' obliteration, the EMP would leave the inner workings of the 'host' (me) vulnerable to a greater onslaught of parasitic 'sentinels.'

On the other hand, the naturopathic route is like Liam Neeson in Taken. The herbs may not look like much when they're first introduced into the 'host.' But when in enemy territory with these 'human trafficking' protozoan, Oregano Oil has a "very particular set of skills that make it a nightmare" for parasites like coli. However, these amoebas have 'relatives' that might seek revenge for all Oregano did to their 'family.'

A third option would be to combine the two treatments where Liam Neeson goes into the host with EMP guns blazing.

Hi Recoverie
I’m having the exact same symptoms as you did.
Would you mind if your issues were resolved?

Thanks
Mike
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Re: Gut issues, weight gain, strength & endurance declining [heliix] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for chiming in, Mike. I wouldn't mind if my issues were resolved! :) What do you have in mind? How long have you had symptoms?

I'm currently taking L-Tyrosine, B Complex, Iron and Zinc Picolinate. Latest labs showed low iron and thyroid. Also incorporating blue light therapy, classical music and reducing time on social media.

Since I posted in 2014, some family issues came up involving physical and sexual abuses done to me when I was very young. Been working with multiple counselors since 2018. There has been a mental aspect to some of my physical symptoms.
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