Daniel
Forum Replies Created
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You are right! For some reason I was thinking about licorice while I was writing my reply!
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Hey ,
Slippery elm is not known to have serious side effects (if you aren’t allergic to it). Because it coats the digestive tract, it may slow down the absorption of other drugs or herbs. Marshmallow root, in some cases, can cause stomach upset. Taking it with water reduces the chance on that, but it still could happen. DGL has the potential to increase blood pressure, so this you might want to be aware of.
But with supplements (just like with food or medications) there are always persons who react differently. So listening to your body is just as important!
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Hey ,
It would also be interesting to know with what type of symptoms this person was dealing. Or is it just a regular check up? Anyway, lab markers can give us general directions, but they all need to be interpreted with the symptoms of the person who was tested.
With this information we can help you even beter!
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Hey ,
KBMO has a reliable food intolerance test that is often used in the functional medicine world. You can find a direct link in the discount & resource section here.
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Hey ,
It depends a little bit on what you would like to know. If you would like to find out what health your thyroid/body is right now, you could do all those tests before.
The blood test result in Oktober showed that your ferritin levels dropped compared to the ferritin levels from March. Right now, your iron levels might have fallen further, which can further interfere with thyroid hormone function.
If you would like to avoid this conclusion, I would use at least an iron supplement first for a while. Liquid iron formulas can be easier to absorb in the body. They are also better to dose.
The multivitamin with iron has 45 mg of iron in it. This is quite high. Although the form of iron (iron bisglycinate) is usually not constipating there is some discussion about how iron causes constipation. If the iron isn’t well absorbed (for example because of inflammation in the gut) iron is excreted in the stool. More iron in the stool will cause it to retain less water, thus making the stool drier and perhaps harder to move along.
The product from Thorne has no iron in it, but it is quite high in folate. Since you are already using a B complex for a while, I wouldn’t recommend that as well. It is even quite high without using an additional B complex.
I would perhaps choose a basic nutrients 2/day from Thorne:
• It is higher in methyl-folate than the often-used 400 mcg in other multivitamin formulations.
• It doesn’t contain iron. It is easier to combine with a liquid iron supplement.
• One dose is 2 pills per day. Since vitamin B12 is bound to a transport protein called Haptocorrin that is produced in saliva and the stomach, the limiting factor for absorption can be the amount of Haptocorrin you make during the digestion of a meal. Dividing the pills with 2 big meals you can absorb more of the B12 in the pill.Once you have used a vitamin pill for a while you can also rule out the option that nutrients weren’t in your diet. If a nutritional deficiency would present in a nutritional blood test, we can also conclude more easily that we are dealing with an absorption issue.
Once you do the thyroid test, you have to stop taking the vitamin pills a few days before the test though. The pills contain biotin, which can interfere with the results of the thyroid labs
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Hey Aashish Bhupathi,
I was writing my reply at the same time as Bernadette, so there might be some overlap.
Stomach aches can have many causes. You probably know (but other readers might not) Mesenteric lymphadenitis itself can cause pain in the abdomen centred to the lower abdomen. Typically a full recovery of mesenteric lymphadenitis can take 4 weeks or more. Mesenteric lymphadenitis is often caused by some type of infection and the most common infection causing this is a stomach flu.
As I probably don’t need to tell you: mesenteric lymphadenitis usually goes away by itself. Drinking water and rest are important.In functional medicine, we treat the body as one system. Here are some takeaways from the labs you gave us.
High CRP
Stomach aches can be caused by inflammation in the body. You can help the body address inflammation by giving it the tools it needs to resolve inflammation. Supporting the body with omega 3 (2 to 4 grams per day) can help produce resolvins, protectins and other specialized pro-resolving mediators, which can help to resolve inflammation.Curcumin can also help with lowering inflammation. Make sure you use a high bioavailable formulation such as Meriva phytosome complex (click here), 1,000-2,000 mg
Low vitamin D
You probably noticed the low vitamin D already so I won’t dive deep into this topic. Bringing up vitamin D is necessary for an optimal functioning immune system. It is estimated that vitamin D regulates between 0.5-5% of the gene expression in the human genome. A lot of those genes are involved in regulating inflammation.High Alkaline Phosphatase
High alkaline phosphatase is often related to bone or liver issues. Although your client is 15 and might have elevations because he is simply growing which causes more activation of osteoblasts. It is something you might want to recheck in time.High Total RBC, high Hemoglobin, low MCHC, low MCH and low iron
Although hemoglobin is high, it looks like the red blood cells contain less hemoglobin. The elevations of hemoglobin could be caused by an elevation of the total Red Blood cell Count. It could also be because your client was dehydrated at the moment of the blood draw. Your client has also a decrease in serum iron. Decreases can be caused by
• low absorption of iron, possibly because of gut issues
• a low intake of iron,
• but since your client has some form of infection and is inflamed, the body might choose to sequester iron away as well in an attempt to fight infection.It would be helpful to know if your client was suffering from anemic symptoms before he became ill. When was his last serum iron measurement?
Excess manganese
Manganese is slightly elevated, which could be due to environmental exposure (manganese exposure can be high because of smoking, contaminated drinking water, contaminated teas, living in a mining area or near a steel production factory). It could also be caused by low iron status.Homocysteine
Although homocysteine is below the upper range, I usually aim for homocysteine between 6-8 nmol/ml. Elevations above the ideal zone are an indication that the methylation cycle is struggling to a certain degree. Methylation is necessary for many things, like DNA repair, good nerve health, histamine production, and detoxification.B vitamins play a big role in the methylation cycle. In particular vitamin B6, folate, B12 and B2. I personally aim with my clients for a vitamin B12 above 600. If I don’t know if my client have SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) I will support them usually with the methylated (or bioactive) B vitamins forms. For example:
• I won’t choose cyanocobalamin but methylcobalamin
• I won’t choose folic acid, but methylfolate (also called L-methylfolate and L-5-methyltetrahydrofolate or 5-MHTF)
• I won’t choose pyridoxine HCL, but pyridoxal-5-phosphateThorne’s has a B vitamin complex called Basic B (click here) with all the B vitamins in the bioavailable form in it.
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Hey ,
With my clients a personally advise them to test MMA in urine because MMA in urine is more concentrated which makes it easier to detect slight elevations. Another reason I prefer MMA testing in urine is that MMA in urine doesn’t degrade as fast as MMA in blood.
It is also less invasive than blood drawn.
Good luck with testing!
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Hey ,
I hope this article will help you in your choice with your pots & pans. Let me know if you have any questions!
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Hey ,
pH and the amount of stomach acid are closely related, but not the same. When the pH is below 7 this means that a solution has a certain acid concentration. The amount of stomach acid refers to the amount of liquid produced by the stomach.
So the pH can change during eating a meal. If you add water, for example, the pH goes up and the concentration of acid goes down, while the amount of acid stays the same.
With low stomach acid(hypochlorhydria), we mean an elevated pH caused by a lack of stomach juices and yes, it influences the LES as well as the pyloric sphincter.
The opening and closing of the pyloric sphincter is depending on stomach acid production, but it depends on other factors as well like:
• The volume of the food in the stomach.
• Some foods trigger certain hormones like gastrin & cholecystokinin that influence the opening and closing of the pyloric sphincter.Gastritis can be caused by bile reflux, but keep in mind it isn’t the only reason. It can also be caused by: other bacterial and viral infections, spicey foods, extreme stress, chronic bile reflux, autoimmune disease, injuries, operations, etc. On top of that it could be a combination of those.
While SIBO can cause gastritis I always like to keep an open mind and use a multifactorial approach.
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Hey
There is scientific interest in free fatty acids such as linolenic acid (and not linoleic acid!) as an alternative therapy for the treatment of H. Pylori infections. The liposomal form has been shown to penetrate the cell wall of H. pylori and is therefore also interesting for the development of medicines since the liposomal form could transport medicines. However, I think we are still a long way from saying that linoleic acid cures gastritis. With that said, H. Pylori can be a cause of gastritis, but it’s not the only cause.
Food sources of linolenic acid are walnuts, chia seeds, hemp seeds and avocado. As you can see, these foods are rich in fats and might not be ideal. Fats can slow transit time and cause the stomach to produce more stomach acid.
Were you trying to replace salmon as a source of linolenic acid? Or would you like to replace salmon as an omega-3 source?
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With kids, I usually aim to get probiotics from foods. Here are some other options you could consider (and might not have given it a try yet). Some have a recipe you can find in the B Better library under the Discount & Resource section
• Beet kvas
• Kombucha
• (Red) Sauerkraut
• Pickles
• Tepache (fermented ‘tea’ from pineapple peels)I don’t know how old your kids are, but if they are old enough to make the recipe together, it can increase compliance. More important, it can be a lot of fun as well!
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Those type of details are really easy to miss!
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Hey ,
Does your toothpaste contain any form of mint? Toothpaste containing mint can cause discomfort with acid reflux & gastritis.
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Hey ,
I can only add to Bernadette’s excellent tips that I feel you. I once broke my foot and it needed to be operated and it scared the living daylight out of me.
I was conscious during the operation, but the ones who performed the operation were really making me feel like they were doing this type of operation every day all day.
They were evening joking with me!
I know how scary such a thing can be, but you have got this!
I wish for you your doctors will give you the same feeling that I had. Once you had the operation, let us know how you have experienced it. And perhaps you can tell us more about the type of fracture you had. Maybe we can also advise you in your rehabilitation process.
For now, good luck!
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sometimes prenatal vitamins can contribute to nausea because with some women the iron in the prenatal vitamins can irritate the stomach.
Dr Brightens prenatal is a very good choice, but it does contain iron.
Leaving the vitamin away a few days and observing the changes gives you the fastest clue.
If she has been swallowing her vitamins on an empty stomach she could try to take her vitamins with some food as well!
