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Hello Finally!
Hello everyone!
After extensive traveling this summer visiting my 4 kids and (almost) 2 grandkids, I’ve started back at school (Kindergarden where I teach). I’m VERY happy to FINALLY join the B Better Community.
I’m Belinda, Bernadette’s neighbor here in Dubai and that’s how I got to know the super fascinating and knowledgeable Bernadette!!
My ‘health journey’ started back in 2008 when I went for my annual mammogram and health checkup. Results came back and low and behold, I was diagnosed with stage 1 (thankfully!!) breast cancer.
7 years later it was finally time to get off the Tamoxofin medication and make peace with the chemical-havoc it left me with. My body went straight into menopause and I’ve been battling hormonal imbalance and everything that comes with menopause. I’ve also been suffering from GI problems.
Test results have shown that I’ve had H Pylori overgrowth that’s now under control, but other problems continue like low bile, low enzymes and hypochlorhydria.
I hope to find ways to improve my health in a more holistic way.
Belinda. -
16 Replies
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Hey ,
Welcome around here! My name is Daniel (and I help Bernadette on the platform!)
What a challenging journey to start with . I love how you want to keep your health in your own hands! There is a lot of content that could help here. My advice is to reserve some ‘me’ time in the week in which you can relax and explore the content.
Feel free to ask any questions on the forum. By posting your questions, you can turn your question into a learning opportunity for everyone!
The Gut Health Masterclass explains why some GI symptoms can arise and it also explains what to do with them.
And most importantly: have fun with the content!
Have you already made some progress with dealing with the H. Pylori overgrowth?
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Hello ! So glad to finally see you here in the community forum. I had no idea about your journey with breast cancer. Have you considered investing in a DUTCH hormone test to look at your estrogen metabolism pathways? You might be interested in listening to Dr. Carrie Jones’ live call in the Guest Expert recordings in your library dashboard as well.
Keep in mind that Tamoxifen can lead to osteopenia, so working on supporting digestion/nutrient absorption is key. Yoga and strength training are equally important for both de-stressing and bone health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3140137/
October’s course is all about mineral balance, and touches on calcium and bone health so you’ll want to dedicate time to watch this one as well.
Also, being on any medications for that length of time will affect the integrity of the gut lining, so starting with gut healing therapies will surely help. The Gut Health Masterclass has a dedicated section for “leaky gut” and gut healing therapies. It also touches on reasons for hypochlorhydria and solutions, so I really think you’ll gain clarity after watching it.
I look forward to being able to guide you on your health journey and get you feeling better!
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hi Daniel, thank you very much. I will
definitely make more ME time to read all the content and dive right into the GI course and I’m excited about the October ‘mineral’ talks! -
Hi Belinda! This is Raafae’s (ASD) mom. I think I took down the wrong number when I bumped into you at culinary boutique. Anyway I’ve just sent a request on IG & hope to reconnect soon. So lovely to re-bump into you on this community! Thanks Bernadette xx
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Aww – I love that ! There’s also a new feature here in the community that allows direct private messaging between members. It’s in the top left corner under “Notifications”. You can search for and chat there as well.
There’s also a new “Real-Time Chat” space (also on the left under “General Discussions”) where you can see who’s active and be able to chat in real-time if you’re both on here at the same time.
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Thanks! Love the sound of the new features too! We have something similar on another community I am part, which lends well to creating smaller groups with concerns on similar topics
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yes exactly – like smaller breakout rooms. Feel free to initiate one
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Hi Shereen! Wow so awesome that we are both members to f this group! Like you and Bernadette said we could chat in smaller groups about similar topics! I will reconnect with you on IG! Thanks for reaching out . Belinda.
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I’m not sure if you’ve had the time to watch the Gut Health Masterclass yet, and since you mentioned having issues with low bile, enzymes and hypochlorhydria, here are the videos I recommend watching from the Gut Health Masterclass course that can help:
• Summary of how digestion works
• Summary of how digestion dysfunctions
• Causes of Hypochlorhydria
• Stomach acid support
• Digestive enzyme support
• Liver & gallbladder supportI would also encourage you to run a full thyroid panel since you mentioned all 3 digestive secretions are sluggish. Stress can cause this, and so can underactive thyroid function. Here are the markers to consider testing:
->TSH, Total T4, Free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3, anti-TPO, anti-TG
Hope this helps give you better guidance.
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thank you for sharing. Given the low pancreatic elastase, let’s try to work out what is causing this.
First, it’s important to know that the pancreas is connected to the small intestine, and not only does it play a major role with blood sugar handling, but also in digestion by secreting digestive enzymes through the common bile duct. Here’s a short video I encourage you to watch to understand the anatomy & hormone signaling that takes place to release digestive enzymes and bile.
Here are some possible causes of low pancreatic elastase:
• Given the fact that you are saying that both enzymes and bile are low, and have confirmed that H Pylori is negative, I would be curious to know about your thyroid and cortisol status. Since every cell in the body has thyroid receptors that are affected by cortisol, if these are low (or high), almost everything in the body becomes sluggish, including digestion.->You can request your doctor to run a full thyroid panel: TSH, Total T4, Total T3, Free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3, anti-TPO and anti-TG (or pay out of pocket and order a test through a 3rd party lab – we can help with this)
->A DUTCH Adrenal test can help reveal cortisol status.
• Estrogen dominance. You mentioned a history of breast cancer. We need to have good detoxification ability to clear our spent hormones (specifically B vitamins & proteins), and higher estrogen relative to other hormones can increase Thyroid Binding Globulin and make the thyroid sluggish even though thyroid numbers are “normal”.->I would also request Thyroid Binding Globulin as part of the thyroid panel
Keeping a North to South approach in mind, other factors that would impact hormone signaling to the pancreas and gallbladder would be:
• stress & poor eating hygiene. Here’s a video• low stomach acid. Here’s a video of the possible causes.
• Nutrient deficiencies/insufficiencies. It seems from the labs you’ve shared that there might be a need for B vitamins given the suboptimally elevated MCV, and lower GGT (which relies on vitamin B6). We need vitamin B1 and B6 to make stomach acid. We also need zinc. Has this ever been measured?
->RBC zinc, RBC copper, ceruloplasmin are markers you can request
• Vegan/vegetarian diet. Do you consume animal proteins?
• Alcohol use. Do you drink?
• Giardia (and potentially other parasitic) infections. Have you ever done a comprehensive stool test like the GI map?
• Blood sugar issues->Your doctor can request fasting glucose, fasting insulin, HbA1C for starters.
I feel there may be a connection with estrogen dominance affecting thyroid function, and leading to digestive sluggishness. When have you last checked your sex hormones?
Does this connection make sense to you?
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Oh WOW….. thank you for all this information! I will have to read it a FEW times to comprehend everything ♀️! Watching the videos first off course!
I will try to answer all your questions. (BTW, Ive never tested for thyroid, sugar or even sex hormones! ) I’m compiling my list as I’m reading and I guess I’ve got some bloodwork to be done!) -
Okay….let me quickly answer your questions:
1. Has your VitB & Zinc ever been tested?
Yes a while back but I probably need to have it tested again. I can’t even remember what the results was because it was a few years back.2. Do you eat animal proteins?
Yes I do! Not a vegetarian or vegan at all. I follow a low carb whole-foods only approach and stay far away from anything processed! I would control my portions everyday to about 100g per day. Weekends I will have about 4 eggs. Im also a fan of intermittent fasting from time to time (7pm – 1:00 or 2:00).3. Alcohol use:
VERY limited …. Only on rare occasions. (I prefer to EAT my calories not drinking them !)4. Giardia (Parasitic) Infections?
I was tested by my South African friend Ilsé Onderweeg who also practice Functional Medicine ( you might know her) and we found that I had parasites. She had me drink some stuff to kill the parasites but to be honest I never followed up again. It’s very possible that I still have them !5. Comprehensive stool test?
Ive done a stool test recently for the gastroenterologist, and I forgot what it was for ♀️. I don’t think it was actually a COMPREHENSIVE GI-Map! I can definitely request that as well.Sex Hormones tested?
…. Not at all…. It’s probably all powder by now ! I could most certainly ask for that test as well.I can’t THANK YOU enough for giving me these guidelines. At least I would know what to test for. I’m not going to lie, I’ve been so overwhelmed and confused about what’s going on with me and although I’m not SUFFERING, I am eager to find the real problem of all this.
My other issue is high blood cholesterol, but with very low triglycerides. I’ve been fighting a lost battle for them to NOT put me on Lipitor Statins, but they reckon my high Cholesterol is hereditary.
Thanks again Bernadette. I’m going to study the videos now
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again – please make sure they check your blood sugar status and thyroid autoimmune antibodies. Both of these can skew lipid markers.
Happy to know you have a clearer sense of direction. Please keep us posted.
ps. The GI map is a functional test, and conventional doctors (unless they’ve had functional medicine training) won’t know about it. We can help you access these tests if you’d like to pursue any of them.
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