Where to Start?

I may have stayed young at heart
but my ageing body is falling apart.
It's been a month already that I've had pain in my thighs
that prevents me from sleeping throughout the night
I'm pretty fit and walk alot; I don't drive.

Am drinking daily Bitter Gourd tea and supplementing with Vitamin C.
It could be rheumatism or something worse
Stress is a major curse!
The aches have now reached my left thumb
What can possibly be done?
The forum on diet and health is great
but where to start so that I can recuperate?
Any ideas, wizards of SOTT?
Could you point me to the right thread, or not?
Quite a fan of raw vegetable juice
I do eat meat and my bowels are not loose
Then there's this problem with diabetes type 2
I'm loathe to take the doctor's pill, but what can you do?
My own method of diet and movement failed
Blood sugar has got me nailed
Emotional problems all along
Single-person tragedy
Perhaps some Qi-Gong?
Thanks in advance
I'll be your friend, forever.

Hi Bidoche,

To get started, you could start by the Ultramind quizz, which will give you clues about which kind of brain imbalances you may have:
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=11672.0
You can also do the FIBROMYALGIA AND CHRONIC FATIGUE Questionnaire:
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=13258.0

You'll find a lot of information about how to change your diet and detoxify your body in this thread:
Anti-Candida, Inflammation, Heavy Metals Detox and Diet
This one also gives links that you can explore.

Here are the recommended books on the subject:

The Ultra Mind Solution - Mark Hyman
Detoxification and Healing: The Key to Optimal Health" - Sidney MacDonald Baker
Detoxify or Die - Sherry Rogers
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Autoimmune Disorders - Stephen B. Edelson and Deborah Mitchell
Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - Rodger Murphree

If you do the ultramind quizz and wants some advice about what kind of supplements you should take, or if you have any question, you can ask our health expert, Psyche. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the info. I did check out the tests and got mixed results - nothing serious.

Daily supplements:

- vitamin c (2 grams)
- vitamin e (400 iu)
- vitamin d3 (300 iu)
- magnesium (800mg)
- selenium (100mcg)
- milk thistle (300mg)
- GTF Chromium (200mcg)

Perhaps I need to take a multi-vitamin?

What's your diet like? Have you cut gluten and dairy?

Lúthien said:

What's your diet like? Have you cut gluten and dairy?

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I only recently stopped eating whole wheat bread (which I substituted with walnut bread), however I still use butter. No more milk, but the occasional homogenized cream when drinking coffee. Vegetable juices five times a week; salads on other days. I get my omega 3's from smoked salmon (wild) and sardines. Some beef (usually raw, as in "steak tartare"), chicken, turkey and duck (smoked). All my vegetables come from an organic source (bio). There may be a problem in the amount of veggies that I consume [probably not enough]. In the past 5 years since I was diagnosed with diabetes, I have refused to take any medication; blood-sugar levels were higher than normal, but not chronic. I lost 50 lbs in weight once I decided to change my diet for a more nutritional one (and to take supplements, especially vitamin C). The main cause of my distress is emotional: no friends or anyone to talk to. When I played music in other countries two years ago, my blood sugar went back to normal.

Bidoche said:

Lúthien said:

What's your diet like? Have you cut gluten and dairy?

Click to expand...

I only recently stopped eating whole wheat bread (which I substituted with walnut bread), however I still use butter.

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It seems some people can cut all dairy but still have butter, it depends on the person. For those who can't, the alternative is ghee (have yet to try it myself).
For replacing wheat and gluten, buckwheat is great, especially buckwheat pancakes. :D
As for sugar, it's to be avoided, but if one must have something sweet, sugar can be substituted with xylitol.

Oh, and don't forget to check Laura's cooking / health videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNnFjmux6CI
http://www.youtube.com/user/cassiopaeaorg :)

Lúthien said:

As for sugar, it's to be avoided, but if one must have something sweet, sugar can be substituted with xylitol.

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Or stevia.

I am a stevia fan.

Gandalf said:

Lúthien said:

As for sugar, it's to be avoided, but if one must have something sweet, sugar can be substituted with xylitol.

Click to expand...

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I've tried Stevia and it's a very sweet substance, however I've remained with honey as my sweetener of choice. Getting it directly from a local beekeeper being much better and healthier than the commercial stuff found in supermarkets. Honey is a food and contains many vitamins and minerals that the body can use.

As for my problem, it's more Muscle Cramps than Rheumatism. As one gets older [I'm already half way over the hill], humidity and cold weather take their toll. I've found that drinking apple cider vinegar (2 tbsp) with honey (1 tsp) diluted with sufficient water and taken just before bedtime does help with the problem. Also, regular baths with a mixture of Dead Sea and Epsom salts do relieve pain. They both add large quantities of magnesium, potassium and chlorine that are absorbed through the skin.

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions!

Edit: quotes

Bidoche said:

I've tried Stevia and it's a very sweet substance, however I've remained with honey as my sweetener of choice. Getting it directly from a local beekeeper being much better and healthier than the commercial stuff found in supermarkets. Honey is a food and contains many vitamins and minerals that the body can use.

Click to expand...

Actually, it is still too much sugar and is therefore inflammatory. You should cut it out and look into xylitol.

Bidoche said:

As for my problem, it's more Muscle Cramps than Rheumatism. As one gets older [I'm already half way over the hill], humidity and cold weather take their toll. I've found that drinking apple cider vinegar (2 tbsp) with honey (1 tsp) diluted with sufficient water and taken just before bedtime does help with the problem. Also, regular baths with a mixture of Dead Sea and Epsom salts do relieve pain. They both add large quantities of magnesium, potassium and chlorine that are absorbed through the skin.

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions!

Edit: quotes

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Sounds like you have a build-up of toxicity that is causing inflammation. Read "Detoxification and Healing" and try the Ultra-simple diet for a few weeks then do the elimination diet to find out what is inflaming you. (I'm betting that you will find it is the honey and possibly the coffee.)

Also consider detoxing mercury.

Laura said:

Actually, it is still too much sugar and is therefore inflammatory. You should cut it out and look into xylitol.

Sounds like you have a build-up of toxicity that is causing inflammation. Read "Detoxification and Healing" and try the Ultra-simple diet for a few weeks then do the elimination diet to find out what is inflaming you. (I'm betting that you will find it is the honey and possibly the coffee.)

Also consider detoxing mercury.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Laura. It's funny, but yesterday I picked up some Flax Oil [part of the ultra-simple diet, which I will be trying!]. Are coconut milk and coconut oil negative components too? I use the milk in my morning cereal and the oil, sometimes in salads .. or just straight from the bottle ;D

It seems coconut oil is OK and even helps fighting candida:

http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=13001.0
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=4415.msg29805#msg29805

coconut oil is good for diabetics since it not only does not contribute to the disease but in fact helps control blood sugar. A number of other references refer to the use of coconut oil in combating chronic fatigue, candida, and parasites as well as for skin and hair care"

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Seems coconut milk is alright too - but maybe Psyche can chime in for confirmation.
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=13241.msg99381#msg99381

I made a cake yesterday with coconut oil to replace butter, and it was quite yummy :D

Bidoche said:

Thanks, Laura. It's funny, but yesterday I picked up some Flax Oil [part of the ultra-simple diet, which I will be trying!]. Are coconut milk and coconut oil negative components too? I use the milk in my morning cereal and the oil, sometimes in salads .. or just straight from the bottle ;D

Click to expand...

Coconut oil and milk are okay in some cases but not in others. That's why everyone needs a really good theoretical background such as what you will get in "Detoxification and Healing" by Sydney MacDonald Baker. Every single person is unique and individual and there is no one-size-fits-all solution though there ARE some general truths and lists of likely substances that may be implicated. For example: autism and mercury poisoning have identical symptoms and it is very likely that MUCH autism is really mercury poisoning, but certainly not all. Autism is likely the result of a genetic predisposition that gets triggered by an environmental insult. And in each individual case, it can be one factor that predominates over another.

So, each person needs to know the rules of how the body works, how food works, how toxins work, etc, and then begin to observe their own body's reactions carefully. Only the individual can really know their whole history. That's why Baker's book is so darn good. He really explains all of this in simple, even entertaining, language. You will have a lot of food for thought after reading it, no pun intended. And you will be at the beginning of the path to solving your unique issues.

I wasn't happy to learn that I can't drink coffee, eat eggs, nuts, wheat and dairy. Those are all things I loved most of all! But once I got cleared of reactionary confusion via the ultra-simple diet, and began testing things one at a time, I really learned what my body can work with and what hurts me. It really is amazing to discover that a small bit of egg can set off an inflammation cycle that goes on for days, with intense joint pain, brain fog, and so on. But there it was. And believe me, as much as I love eggs, they scare the bejeebies out of me now because I tested them several times just to convince myself that it was really the eggs.

Then, I thought I could get away with maple syrup and honey because they are "natural" and have lots of minerals and other good properties.

Wrong.

Inflammation was the result though it was slower to get going than the auto-immune reaction to eggs, wheat, nuts and dairy. Sugar - high glycemic foods - attack along a different pathway than those things that trigger an auto-immune response. They debilitate cellular communication by messing with the insulin dynamic, and that then leads to inflammation.

Read Baker's book. You won't be sorry.

Some people can't tolerate coconut oil, others can. How to find out? We have gone through tons of health material, and we think that the recommended health books cover the basics pretty nicely and extensively. Then through an elimination diet, i.e. the Ultra Simple diet, you can find out what you tolerate or not. But you need more background, so starting up with Detoxification and Healing will be a good start. :) It is clear that you are inflamed and I'm sure you're about to feel much better with some dietary changes.

Psyche said:

It is clear that you are inflamed and I'm sure you're about to feel much better with some dietary changes.

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Well I just read all the info on the Ultra Simple Diet. When I got to page 12, a quote about liver dysfunction hit me like a brick:

“If the liver is not "watering the yin" or not able to disperse nutrients properly, ligaments and tendons become tight.

There is very limited flexibility. Knees, shoulders, hips and other joints do not articulate well. Aching joints upon waking in the morning and arthritis also fall into this category.

Waking between 1 and 3 a.m., sometimes sweaty and agitated, and unable to return to sleep for sometime, is a form of insomnia typical of liver dysfunction.”

Then I realized what I had done wrong: taking Milk Thistle (a supplement for liver function). I had read somewhere that tests were being made using this substance, aka Silymarin, that helped diabetics and was willing to try it out. What a mistake! You're right, Psyche, I should have considered dietary changes before rushing off into unchartered territory!

"The efficacy of Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn. (silymarin) in the treatment of type II diabetes: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial.
Phytother Res. 2006 Dec;20(12):1036-9. Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Medicinal Plants, ACECR Tehran, Iran.
Oxidative stresses are increasingly implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications which may either cause direct pancreatic beta-cell damage or lead to metabolic abnormalities that can induce or aggravate diabetes. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of the herbal medicine, milk thistle seed extract (silymarin), which is known to have antioxidant properties on the glycemic profile in diabetic patients. A 4-month randomized double-blind clinical trial was conducted in 51 type II diabetic patients in two well-matched groups. The first group (n = 25) received a silymarin (200 mg) tablet 3 times a day plus conventional therapy. The second group (n = 26) received the same therapy but a placebo tablet instead of silymarin. The patients were visited monthly and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA(1)c), fasting blood glucose (FBS), insulin, total cholesterol, LDL and HDL, triglyceride, SGOT and SGPT levels were determined at the beginning and the end of the study. The results showed a significant decrease in HbA(1)c, FBS, total cholesterol, LDL, triglyceride SGOT and SGPT levels in silymarin treated patients compared with placebo as well as with values at the beginning of the study in each group. In conclusion, silymarin treatment in type II diabetic patients for 4 months has a beneficial effect on improving the glycemic profile."

As I have experienced the liver dysfunction symptoms as mentioned above almost every night since I started taking the Silymarin supplement, this has to be the trigger for my discomfort. So yes, SOTT forum members, you have helped me enormously and I am eternally grateful. Let there be sleep.

A main component is what we eat and how it might be contributing to our health problems. Then you'll learn about toxicity. Step by step. Supplements are good, although as you will find out, sometimes our bodies can't use them appropriately. Other times they cause detox reactions that are also hard on our bodies. So starting with the diet will help you to strengthen your body. Happy discovering :)