Adrenal Status

My adrenals are more damaged than I realized. Starting the iodine, with the detox and not normal reactions I'm getting, I started thinking they needed more support. So I grabbed this stuff called Rhodiola Recharge by Rainbow Light. Good stuff... excellent herbal blend.

Yeah my body liked it for about 12 hours.

My body started a reaction involving the gut and pain in my back and dizziness and crashing on energy and hypoglycemia... it's a severe version of what I deal with on a regular basis. So today I looked up odd reactions to adrenal supps... found Dr. Lam's site referencing something called "paradoxical reactions". These are reactions that even he has no idea why the body rejects things that will help it.

It's such a great site... he thinks like I do. Very methodical and his articles are ridiculously wordy but so informative and make sense.

Anyway... based on what I go through on a damn daily basis... I have Stage 3C damage. That is me. And he preaches that people need to not "self-navigate" when at this stage and a professional specialist is needed.

*ahem* Guilty! Hahaha

Because of this and how bad I crashed (its been rough) I actually contacted Dr. Lam and he actually wrote back this BOOK of explanation and asked me questions..  I think I'll use him to fix me up. I was reading thru his articles and it's crazy how bad it is, especially when that article is "talking about you".

So I ordered his book called Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome. It's a HUGE book... 500+ pages. It goes over almost every single aspect of adrenal problems that you could possibly think of.

Come to find out, my adrenals may be why I continue to miscarry.

So... I have stopped the majority of my vitamins. I'm letting my body rest for a bit and attempt to return back to normalcy. I do still take my betaine hcl with each meal, hoping to get my vitamins from my paleo diet, take some b vitamins, vitamin d and only 100% RDA of iodine. I do take the occasional selenium... every now and then.

I have started to build what I need to support the adrenals... I do see what I was missing throughout this time. I do wish that a doctor would guide me since I appear to be pretty hard core into the damage. I don't want to cause more damage, but nobody else seems to really understand how the adrenals work and what exactly they do for you.

To put it in layman's terms, the adrenals are like the timing chain/belt in a car (your body). If things aren't just right, the car isn't going to run properly. The computer (your brain) can try all it wants to correct issues in the system, or you can give it awesome fuel and oil (diet and vitamins), but without the timing belt being on the proper pegs or at the proper location, it's just going to be an inefficient system that eventually leads to the car breaking down. Sometimes you just have to take it apart, and put it back together... so this is why I have stopped the vitamins and I am attempting to stop stress.

For those who are aware that stress causes disease... the adrenals are what control your stress response. I have found how PTSD severely damages the adrenals, due to the constant fight or flight response. Autoimmune issues cause damage. Trauma causes damage. Parasite infection causes damage. 

Pardon my french, but no fucking wonder my adrenals are in a shit state. I have had 3 of the 4 things I just listed above in the last 4 years!! 

Time to correct it... and only time will tell how well this works. I'm hoping Dr. Lam helps me out with this.

Detoxification and What Vitamins Are Needed To Do This

So I'm currently in the middle of a pretty heavy detoxification protocol, using the super antioxidant alpha lipoic acid and chlorella.

Yes yes... they have warnings that chlorella should not be used for those with autoimmune diseases, I get it.

But... the fact that I am completely cavewoman paleolithic in my diet (no grains, no dairy, very little sugar) as well as no nightshades and no FODMAPs... I have removed from my diet anything that may set off my system and compete with the chlorella.

In fact, I've been doing this for 2 months now... and guess who has two thumbs and HASN'T lost weight?

This girl.  - _ -

NOT acceptable. I don't work my ass off eating the way that I do to get nothing out of it except an immune system that isn't being set off like the fire alarm all the time.

So I did some research... found that alpha lipoic acid does go through cell walls and also through the blood brain barrier, helping you FULLY detoxify, as well as re-energizing your mitochondria, which are responsible for your metabolism.

So while the alpha lipoic acid is washing out my cells that appear to be completely full of crap, the chlorella runs through my blood stream and picks up what was tossed out of the cells, binds to it, and sends it to the exit down south.

I have been on this for a week. I am on the weakest dosage possible of both... and holy crap, my system started right back up running, but I have the hugest hangover from it. I am drinking a ton of water and eating as much fiber as I can to keep the system running smoothly.

Anyway... so the full reason of this post (because I don't have real time for an update at this time) is that I had noticed, just this week while doing this detox, that my lip numbness, faintness, and anxiety returned after lunch for some reason, within an hour.

I have determined that my b12 levels weren't doing so good... it was immediately remedied by my sublingual b12 tablets.... I'm talking within 5 minutes.

So I wanted to see what the full role that b12 had in the whole detoxification process, and if my already limited stores are being used up quicker and I need to up my dosage for the time.

Found a wonderful link for those who like to get into the full science of the whole process like me:

http://tuberose.com/Liver_Detoxification.html

Such an awesome link.

Check it out.

Will post more later on about specifics of what's been happening since July and what I've learned.

 

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