Thank you for your replies everyone. I wanted to be efficient with information to avoid dumping my issues on the everyone when the world is burning. But I guess I should have at least mentioned that I did seek advice from my doctor multiple times over the years, and I got medical tests done too, including recently. I do apologise for the length of my post, I really don't know what information is useful and I don't want to give an impression of randomly experimenting with weird ideas.
I had yet another set of blood / stool / urine tests done in late April. The blood work required so many samples that I was told to have a huge breakfast right after leaving the clinic and not drive home on my own. And yet the results were perfectly normal - as they always have been. So much for finding the root cause.
So when I posted the above question it was because I was grasping at straws and I've ran out of ideas.
Also, just to let you guys know, I did go ahead with the enema becuase I didn't think I had much to lose. Enemas always make me feel quite bad as they give me a strange yucky sensation in my tummy and make the brain fog and fatigue very bad for a couple of hours. For this reason, I decided to do it right before going to sleep. Unlike other enemas (probiotic, vitamin c, coffee), there was not a chance I was going to be able to hold it for anything more than 6 minutes. My tummy was very uncomfortable and to spare you the details, the evacuation was probably the most traumatising toilet situation I've experienced. I really needed to lie down afterwards. But it looks like it was worth it. I did the enema on Friday and despite the toilet drama I actually slept very well and I started to feel better the next day. Not super but noticeably better. I have continued to feel quire OK today too.
I'll have another round tonight but with a lower dose becuase I wasn't exactly modest with the amount of iodine I added to the water on Friday.
What symptoms have you been experiencing?
Hey Meg, it's going to sound trivial but fatigue and brain fogs. Something I've battled for 15 years now.
Iodine did help, so did intermittent fasting + L-glutamine, weekly AHT, RO filtered water, a clean diet and a whole bunch of supplements so it's been better since 2015. But around two months ago all my symptoms came back just as bad as they were before and I have no idea why. Even bone and joint pain came back and I hadn't had it in years.
That's despite the fact that nothing changed about my diet or lifestyle. My diet is very clean and limited in scope, mostly organic / outdoor reared meat, including organs, vegetables plus some fruit. No gluten or dairy, hardly any grains. The keto and carnivore approaches didn't work for me unfortunately. My digestion isn't great either but it has been up and down since I was little.
My job requires a lot of focus, analysis and drawing accurate conclusions while working very closely with demanding clients and stakeholders, so trying to follow conversations and keep my eyes open is a real nightmare. Changing my job is long overdue but at least in the current one I've developed a level of expertise where I can at times operate on autopilot and get away with it. I promised myself I'll start looking for a new job, ideally working for myself, when I've felt well for 6 months. There hasn't been good 6 months yet. I haven't gotten past the 3 month mark yet. And each time my symptoms deteriorate I handle it worse and worse emotionally. To be honest, over the past two weeks I swapped keeping up with the forum and SOTT for Netflix - and I never watched Netflix before. I don't even have television at home.
During the good days I really manage to do a lot and I've developed a reputation of being the go-to person with difficult tasks, people and situations at work and in my private life. I read loads and I totally enjoy it, especially that books recommended here are very useful in my profession. But when the bad days come I feel like my brain is filled with glue and all I want to do is sleep.
I also have skin issues, I've been prone to skin allergies since I was little. The worst of my issues is melasma, i.e. hyperpigmentation. Over the years it faded to the point that it was barely noticeable, and I don't wear makeup other than mascara. I was told by multiple doctors and dermatologists that it wasn't curable so I was really glad they were wrong. But over the last two months it got really bad again. It usually gets worse when I start to feel worse in general. Needless to say looking like I'm changing race doesn't exactly help my overall mood.
I've been reading about SIBO a lot recently and given how bad enemas make me feel I started to wonder if I have some critters that may require more drastic encouragement to "relocate". Parasite protocols didn't helped much in the past and I couldn't find any other solution I hadn't unsuccessfully tried so I thought of trying out iodine enemas.
Well, I am not so sure if that is a good idea. It will be good if you can explain in more details what is going on with your health. Maybe some of the forum members have experience with similar problems. In any case, it is good if you could go and ask for help from your doctor.
I hope you will get better.
Thank you Konstantin. Like I said above, I did seek professional advice and got tons of tests done too.
I realise others have similar or even worse problems, so I feel like this super long post is a bit spammy. But I thought I'd clarify that I'm not just experimenting with my weird ideas before trying out more reasonable approaches.
Hi Ant22!
I searched on pubmed (medical international database) for iodine enema, and there is nothing. I experienced for vit C enema, it makes my colon gurgle and i don't know if it's a good sign or not, there isn't info on that either. Even if I don't seem to get improvement, at least I think it prevents from degradation (I'm in an environnement full of EMF and wifi).
Did you try blue iodine? It seems more easy to swallow and doesn't give me stomach burn (contrary to Lugol).
if you don't want to see a doctor, have you the possibility to see a holistic one, or someone that practices traditional chinese medicine? I saw radio-sott with Dr Jeremy Ayres, he is in England, and he gives consultations by skype. Maybe you can contact him?
Here is his website:
About Dr Jeremy
And the show:
Objective:Health #10 - Unlocking the Doors to Natural Healing with Guest Dr. Jeremy Ayres -- Sott.net
Hope you'll get better. Let us know.
Thank you nature, I'll listen to the show you linked when I get the chance.
Unlike you, I have no issues with Lugol. I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm not taking your advice on board but I'm a bit reluctant to spend money on another supplement, especially that Lugol doesn't upset my stomach, even when taken without food. I'm glad that the blue iodine works for you though, it would be bad if you weren't able to take it at all given what a magical little substance it is!
Have you tried vitamin C? If you can get some plain ascorbic acid, you can take one level teaspoon every hour or so to bowel tolerance. When it's too much, you'll have a laxative effect. The idea is to stop when the stomach starts gurgling so you don't get diarrhea. Next day, you repeat the process. Never stop vitamin C abruptly or you'll get an artificial deficiency.
Some sort of liver detox should also help, i.e. milk thistle, glutathione and/or alpha lipoic acid.
Thank you Gaby, yes, I have tried all of these. My recent blood work included a specific liver panel and it didn't show anything abnormal. All results were within the acceptable ranges. I've been taking Milk Thistle, glutathione, NAC and many other supplements daily since 2013. I added iodine + co-factors, ALA and other supplements in 2015. I have the MTHFR mutation (among other things I got tested for) which I manage with supplements too. I have also tried and continue to take vitamin C as Ascorbic Acid, L-Ascorbic Acid, liposomal and enemas with sodium ascorbate. All of those for months at a time to experiment. I am aware of the need to watch out for the bowel tolerance level and I make sure I don't take too much.
In another thread you suggested activated charcoal and clays, which I have been taking since I read your reply too.
Of course I can't rule out a coincidence or something else achieving the recent improvement but I will continue to experiment with the iodine enemas. I'll add vitamin c and probiotic ones ot the mix too on different days just to balance out the impact of iodine.
