Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5) and weight loss

Spectracell Labs posted a very informative blog post regarding vitamins and weight management here that flipped on the light bulb for me today.

I was so thrilled I almost cried.

So let me start from the beginning with a bit of background.

I have expressed in prior posts how I had been overweight, went thru the hcg diet a few times, got down to my ideal weight, and then I gained weight like no other in the next year, unable to control my weight gain with my strict immense willpower when it comes to food. I gained some 90lbs and would have kept going if I hadn't found my Celiac at the end of 2011. Went gluten free and weight gain stopped... but no weight loss ever happened on its own.

Found out last September that I had a severe vitamin B5 deficiency after being tested by Spectracell Labs. Come to find out, this is normal for celiacs, as I think I mentioned in my post back then.

So... I started supplementing B5 after finishing yet another round of hcg dieting that was absolutely fruitless. (No weight loss at all)

Got pregnant in November... and I actually lost a size while pregnant. No crazy food issues either. No major morning sickness that prevented me from eating or anything.

Lost the baby in January... and ran out of my huge bottles of pantothenic acid then. Thinking I didn't need it anymore, I didn't bother to replace them.

I gained 10lbs in the following two months... realized I felt like crap again so I started up the b5 again at half the dose, and realized I'll probably have to supplement for the rest of my life... I just don't absorb it properly.

Ok so now that you have the short and sweet story... the reason for this whole post.

Spectracell mentioned in their blog that B5 is the precursor to the enzyme lipase, which is the FAT BURNING ENZYME.

Holy mother of god... I found the reason why I gained so much weight uncontrollably and now I know how to reverse it.

I've been all about the enzymes lately... I knew I was lacking in lipase but I couldn't figure out why nor how to fix it, other than to supplement with digestive enzymes.

If I look back at my history it all makes sense.

Fasted with the hcg diet a number of times in 2009, likely depleting cellularly stored pantothenic acid. Since I don't absorb it properly, I wasn't able to replenish it. With each hcg round, my ability to lose weight decreased and the weight loss would slow. I notoriously lost less weight than others doing the same diet and even with them cheating on it and me being very strict.

So I gained after I was done with those. A lot. No lipase available to burn fat as energy.

Fast forward to October last year... didn't lose at all... my stores were empty, as referenced by my nutrition report.

November thru January supplementing 1g a day and lost a pant size (didn't lose scale weight, but didn't gain either).

Bottle ends and I gain weight back.

I get a new bottle and flip from taking 500mg to 1g a day... mostly 500mg a day. I fluctuate in size... I don't know my smaller days are related to the 1g or not.

SO... I took 2g today of pantothenic acid. My normal 500 this morning and 1500mg this evening.

I so can't wait to see if this is going to work for me.

I will check in with this later.

As of this morning, I am 225.2 lbs.

In the meantime, check out this wonderfully written article about pantothenic acid:

http://www.coryholly.com/articles/article.cfm?id=172

HSG Diaries

So after my miscarriage in early January,  I basically said, "Fuck it" to trying to conceive naturally and called a Reproductive Endocrinologist.

I was in the next day, if you can believe that. How's that for a sign?

So she set up for a bunch of bloodwork and a hysterosalpingogram, aka HSG, concerned with the number of miscarriages I have had.

Bloodwork done... she found a pelvic infection which been treated the past few days by antibiotics...

And today was the HSG.  *cue scary music*

I had read many different stories about the HSG procedure but didn't really connect to it, thinking that I'll have my own experience. I thought my tubes would be good... pain would be normal and manageable...

Let me preface this with this information before I scare the hell out of someone: I have Celiac disease and my pelvic area HATES any invasive stuff. So I'm more likely to have pain due to that. I also got slightly glutened yesterday. That adds in (very slightly) as well.

So I sit here, in pain, 10 hours post HSG, therefore my view might be skewed.

Went in... excited to find out what's going on.

I was well prepared by my RE... she told me it might hurt.

She asked me to cough... and here we go.

The catheter entering my cervix did create a bit of an automatic "jerk" reaction and then calmed. Sure, slight irritation but nothing huge.

Then the dye.

Oh. My. God.

Shoot me now.

Having that dye shoved in there... the worst cramping I have ever felt. Now, if you read my miscarriage experience, I went thru some extreme pain on January 6, causing vomiting.

This was not quite the same, but it sure as hell was close. If my miscarriage was a 10 on the scale, this was a solid 8.5, maybe 9. The "catch your breath and you better not breathe" kind of pain.

And then it disappeared. The pain disappeared so fast, within 30 seconds of a push on the syringe.

And just as I was relaxing from the shock, another shot of dye came again, and yet another shock of pain.

So painful.

So my uterus is properly shaped, and my right fallopian tube flows wonderfully.

My left tube... not so much. I know my left ovary has issues with bloodflow and I tend to ovulate from my right. So the fact that my left tube is open (NOW... christ she forced it open), but flows at like 10% the rate of my right tube.

Turns out the pain is likely from trying to force my tube open. While I appreciate the gesture,  I am a bit sore down there now.

I left, more than spotting, but not in pain within a minute of the procedure being done.

And then my ibuprofen wore off.

Coughing hurts. Haha Going number 2 hurts. (Remember I got glutened)

I'll get over it. I'm just whining. I don't feel well, and haven't for the last day... catching a cold. Likely from the antibiotics I'm on. (Remember, your health is in your gut... antibiotics kill your gut, therefore kill your immune system... I'll post on that later)