My own condition involves connective tissue dysfunction, including multiple soft-tissue injuries and fibrosis as a hyperactive (perhaps auto-immune) response to these injuries, all of which I'll detail in an upcoming post. And, it's seeming likely, mycoplasma infection. I'll know more about the latter in a few months, after I see an expensive specialist whose protocol will likely not be covered by insurance. Sound familiar? Despite all this, I remain optimistic, because this ship has finally started to turn around for me, and I'm feeling much better after managing to reverse constipation and insomnia.
Let's take stock. I'm feeling good — far better than I was at my worst, which was around 2012-2013. I have vivid memories of shuffling around the house painfully from the time I got out of bed in the morning until I dropped back into bed at the first available opportunity each day. I count myself fortunate that during those worst days my profession (writer and editor) allowed me to work from home. If I'd had a more physical job and not had the support of my spouse, I'd have been on disability. My heart goes out to the many who find themselves in that situation, with financial worry compounding daily pain and fatigue and the frustration of doctors who just have no answers.
It's a year next month that I'm back working in an office job, and feeling almost pain-free. I voluntarily take the stairs at the train station during my morning commute, to linger on the daily reminder of my progress. Not that I count myself cured by any means, and I'll get to that. But gone are:
- Morning stiffness
- Painful joints
- Aching muscles
- Insomnia
- Constipation
- Depression
- Anxiety
To what do I owe the turnaround?
Following The Perfect Health Diet (Jaminet) helped restore nutritional deficiencies. Eating clean, organic, grass-fed, pastured, and wild meats, eggs, and fish; sugar-free, grain-free (except some rice), dairy-free, legume-free, seed-oil free, additive-free has set the stage for healing. Between this and fixing circadian disruption (sleep, glorious sleep), I'm starting to feel my old energy return in fits and starts.
It's difficult to say what came first or helped most, as it all feels very interconnected, but here's what I believe is happening:
- Clean eating, daily bone broth, and an 8-hour eating window (intermittent fasting) are improving gut permeability and absorption. Vitamin B12 and D3 deficiencies have been corrected, per test results a week ago, and that stopped the symptoms of neuropathy, characterized by numbness and tingling in hands and feet.
- Supplements of Vitamin K and Iodine are supporting natural immunity.
- Daily Magnesium supplementation, double doses when necessary, were the first tool in the arsenal to take control of constipation and ensure a daily BM — important, because we have to rid our body of nerve damaging endotoxins given off by the bacteria that are colonizing our gut.
- Clearing up dental biofilms: After reading about how infections lurk in biofilms, I started using a dental irrigator (Waterpik) and cleaning my teeth and mouth with baking soda with a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in the water. I also increased professional teeth cleanings to every three months. The improvements in sleep were almost immediate!
- The addition of a morning dose of cod liver oil, servings of wild Alaskan salmon four times a week, a nightly probiotic, improved joint pain and started to help constipation so that double doses of magnesium were no longer need to ensure a BM, even if it was still a 2 or 3 on the Bristol chart.
- It was the twice daily Berberine supplements that took BMs to a new level, now almost too soft at a 5 or 6 on the Bristol chart. (I'm not complaining.)
- The turnaround in constipation and insomnia lifted happened simultaneously. I'm sleeping through the night most nights, and this is what's brought back my old energy, at least in the mornings. (I still tire early, after dinner. And there may be a blood sugar component there, which I'm exploring.)
What continues to plague me:
- Nodules growing (fast) in my hands and feet
- Foot cramps at night
- Brain fog
- Poor word recall (not good for someone who makes a living writing and editing!)
- Ringing in the ears
- Song lyrics stuck in my head, sometimes for days
- Weight gain, despite eating only twice a day on a restricted diet
- Soft tissue injuries (a second case of frozen shoulder, now the other side)
- Intermittent fatigue
- High fasting blood sugar
The first has been diagnosed as Dupuytren's contracture, but I'm not convinced that's not just another know-nothing diagnosis. Dr. Ricky Shoemaker, foremost specialist on mold illnesses, reports 60% of his patients with biotoxin illness have "claw hands" and feet. Patients who've been on his protocol describe the lumps in hands and feet shrinking after they eliminate mycotoxins from recirculating bile with binders and cleanse the liver. I never hear about anything shrinking fibromas in the Dupuytren's forums.
The neurologic effects might also be symptoms of mold illness — and in fact I failed the visual contrast sensitivity screening test that is a first-line diagnostic screen.
What's up next for me? I have an appointment with a doctor in the NYC area who is an MD who also practices eastern medicine and for mold patients, follows the Shoemaker protocol.
Mold illness is a deep and complex topic. If you've ever lived in a water damaged building (as I have) and would like to hear more about how mold organisms infect the body and wreak havoc on the endocrine system and disrupt metabolites, stay tuned for future posts.
What I'm reading now:
The neurologic effects might also be symptoms of mold illness — and in fact I failed the visual contrast sensitivity screening test that is a first-line diagnostic screen.
What's up next for me? I have an appointment with a doctor in the NYC area who is an MD who also practices eastern medicine and for mold patients, follows the Shoemaker protocol.
Mold illness is a deep and complex topic. If you've ever lived in a water damaged building (as I have) and would like to hear more about how mold organisms infect the body and wreak havoc on the endocrine system and disrupt metabolites, stay tuned for future posts.
What I'm reading now:
