[Daniel]

Hey  ,

I can’t comment on the first part of the question. We can see evidence for a slow thyroid on the DUTCH test, but it is less direct then measuring thyroid hormones (fT3 for example).

The benefits of a full thyroid panel is that we can get different insights in where the process goes wrong (is it auto-immune? Is there a conversion problem from T4 to T3? Is there a lot of bound thyroid hormone and is there simply not enough fT3?

On the DUTCH test we can see how much cortisol was made and cleared upon a day. A slow thyroid can slow down cortisol production and this is how a slow thyroid can be visible on the DUTCH test.

The absence of a low cortisol production might not be the same as having optimal thyroid levels though.

I hope this answers your question!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

Does your system add in minerals? Usually with a reverse osmosis filter water gets demineralised. If the minerals that have been removed are in their food, this isn’t a problem.

I would honestly remineralize the water since most people don’t know how much minerals their pet’s food actually contains.

You could for example add a pinch of pink Himalaya salt or Celtic sea salt to each gallon of water.

You could also add trace mineral drops.

Perhaps  has some tips as well since she actually has some pets.

[Daniel]

Hey  

I believe something like this can be helpful for the right person. With functional medicine, we assume that identical health issues in 2 different persons can have other root causes.

I believe it can help. I also believe it can be a good solution for one person (for example, with brain trauma) while for another it is like a bandage (for example, when insulin resistance can be a big player in PCOS causing conversion of female hormones to testosterone by upregulating 5 alpha-reductase activity).

Some lifestyle factors (see the list above) can also lead to low progesterone. Some people might benefit from such an approach while working on these lifestyle factors (if possible of course). Others prefer to work on their lifestyle factors and hope that progesterone comes up.

My personal choice would be to work through lifestyle factors for younger women. Topical progesterone is harder to dose. The amount of hormone cream that is absorbed varies from person to person and is depended on where you apply them and how much fat tissue someone has.

It needs to be done under the guidance of a doctor.

[Daniel]

Try it! Let us know how you experienced it!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

It isn’t well researched, although I usually don’t recommend stopping anti-acid medications while using mastic gum. You might have seen this in one of the research links I have posted above (this one probably).

I have not seen any problems with my clients and in research, mastic gum has been found pretty safe to use also in combination with medications.

Now whether mastic gum becomes less effective because of the PPI or H2 blockers, in research I don’t know. Anecdotally I can tell that people do benefit from mastic gum even in combination with medications.

The problem with research studies
Usually, small research studies are done to see if we can pick up ‘signals’ to see if it is worthwhile for more extensive & expensive investigations. Because of a variety of reasons (one of them being that natural ingredients can’t be patented), it is hard to have big studies done on supplements.
 
The smaller studies are usually underpowered in lots of ways. For example, with the one I linked to here, we can see mastic gum having an effect on H. Pylori. But it was a small pilot study. They only could conclude Mastic Gum has anti-H.Pylori activity.

In this specific study example, they examined the effect of mastic gum in 4 different groups and they used Breath Tests to see if H. Pylori was eradicated. You can either score positive or negative on such a test. In one of the groups, they used mastic gum only which gave good results, in another group they used a combination of pantoprazole (and not famotidine, but that research hasn’t been done to my knowledge) and mastic gum – which made the mastic gum look ineffective. But here is what is missing:
• With how much H. Pylori does each person start?
• With how much H. Pylori does each person end? (You can still have reductions of H. Pylori while scoring positively on a breath test)
• Would the results be better if we didn’t stop the study at 5 weeks, but at 7 weeks?
• Mechanistically: if H.Pylori is slowly disappearing, does the return of stomach acid speed up the eradication in the mastic gum-only group? 
• Would we have seen a clearer signal if the group was bigger?

But because so many people experience relief, it became a topic for research. It is safe and definitely worth trying!

[Daniel]

 Thank you! Happy new year to you too! And thank you for your input.

All great topics!

Alzheimer’s and Dementia is a really interesting topic. is there a specific reason you are interested? Does it run in your family & are you trying to avoid it?

If I have time, I will share my supplement regime – but it might not be a ‘quick tip’ article

And yes! I love to write about exercise-supporting supplements! I will put it on the list, thank you!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

I can still find the old questions and answers. You probably did – but did you try the search option in the menu? Besides keywords, you can also do a search for your name for example
.

[Daniel]

Hey ,

It depends a little on what causes the tightness. It is possible your tightness could be caused by the Hiatal Hernia. In this case the exercises in the movie I showed you could help you.

I reposted it here so you don’t have to search for it!
In general, with Hiatal Hernia stretching the sides of the trunk of the body will cause relief. Another great video with stretches you can try out you can find here. Most are easy, but with some, you need some equipment.
 
But perhaps you can tell me more about what type of tightness you are experiencing. I assumed you are not feeling tight muscles, but more like something is pressing inside out – am I correct?

Exercise in general for the prevention of symptoms
I don’t know if you have some form of exercise routine you are doing now but in general, exercise will help motility and can have a positive influence on gastroparesis.

I am talking about mild to moderate exercise here since aggressive exercise is likely to worsen your symptoms. Just like with food, you might need some time to discover triggers, but here are some tips that are in general safe with an hiatal hernia and acid reflux:
• Walking
• Cycling
• Dancing
• Yoga (without the inversions) or Tai-chi
• Running:
Just a little tip here: running can also negatively influence acid reflux symptoms if you do this too aggressively or too long, so here my advice is to start to build up easily and run for a few minutes followed by walking.

[Daniel]

 I agree here with  as well.

But I was also particularly interested in what your rationale was for trying out a keto diet. Was it for the reason to try & improve insulin sensitivity? Or did you have another train of thoughts there?

[Daniel]

Hey ,

With low free saliva cortisol values it isn’t always the case that this reflects cortisol concentration at tissue levels. This test does show low urine metabolites of cortisol, telling that the body doesn’t break down cortisol, either because the body wants to keep cortisol or because cortisol is actually low.

In this case, it is hard to see directly how your tissue levels of cortisol were. Some indirect clues are there, for example, we see low testosterone (which the test results do show) can be caused by long-term exposure to stress, but it needs to be interpreted together with your life back then. Low testosterone can also be caused by
• a few nights of bad sleep
• a low caloric intake – for example, due to problems with getting enough food because of acid reflux.
• (simmering) infections
• and many more reasons of course

But anyway, these results are from november 2021. I wouldn’t lean on this data to make supplement choices for today.

You are right by the way about Cytozyme-AD, it does contain pork. And it can be used in low-cortisol situations. But this test doesn’t provide us with recent data, unfortunately.

Often when people in the morning need a cup of coffee to feel energized or if people feel they are getting more energy hours after waking up, this can be indicating a low cortisol awakening response (the peak of cortisol you are supposed to get 30 minutes after waking up that provides you with energy and alertness)

But it isn’t diagnostic (and sometimes even wrong). And it doesn’t provide you with information on what cortisol does during the rest of the day.

[Daniel]

Thank you !! Happy new year to you too! I hope this will be a year of opportunities, love, joy & health for you!

Welcome in 2023!

[Daniel]

 just like slippery elm and marshmallow root, mastic gum has some miscellaneous properties which you can benefit from if you take mastic gum away from your food.
 

[Daniel]

Hey ,

First of all: congratulations! What wonderful news!

With pregnancy, hormones do shift for sure! Estrogen rises quickly during the first trimester of the pregnancy which can lead to nausea.  This meta analysis from 2014 concluded that the use of ginger (∼1 g daily) for at least 4 days is associated with a 5-fold likelihood of improvement in Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy. Perhaps this is something she could try!

Here are some other tips that can help:
• Stay hydrated
• Prioritize protein
• Avoid Food & Smell triggers
• Stay vertical (which might seem counterintuitive, but this seems to be best with pregnancy nausea)
• Embrace yourself with pleasant aromas (like peppermint, orange, lemon, etc)
• If she consumes prenatal vitamins, take them at night
• An empty stomach can make nausea worse during pregnancy, so eat every few hours.

Hormones do shift. And yes, sulforaphane helps to break down estrogen more safely. It reduces the metabolites that cause DNA damage and helps to break down estrogen via a better less damaging pathway. It also helps with detoxification in general.

SulforaClear
The ingredients in SulforaClear are dicalciumphosphate (which is safe during pregnancy), broccoli seed extracts and broccoli sprouts and flower powder.

Getting sulforaphane via foods is safe. Unfortunately, getting sulforaphane via supplements has not been studied.

But here are some other good food sources of sulforaphane: broccoli sprouts, cauliflower sprouts and mustard seeds contain the most sulforaphane.

Broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts are also sources of sulforaphane. To be exact, all food sources don’t contain sulforaphane … but the precursor Glucoraphanin. Glucoraphanin, when you chew, mixes with the enzyme Myrosinase (which is also in these foods) in your stomach and forms there the sulforaphane.

Myrosinase however breaks down when the vegetable is cooked. So to get the sulforaphane from vegetables, eat them raw or, cook the vegetable lightly or add some mustard seeds or mustard powder on top of them. The powder is a good source of Myrosinase and helps to form Sulforaphane.

You did mention your daughter did a hormone detox. Are there other supplements your daughter uses right now besides SulforaClear?

Calcium food sources
The next foods are rich in calcium and are dairy free: beans, lentils, almonds, leafy greens (spinach in particular), rhubarb, amaranth and figs.

Unfortunately, I might not have the best tips for morning sickness, since I have little experience with that.

But I hope these tips can help your daughter!

[Daniel]

 I was curious! How are things now these days? Did you try the elimination diet? Did it bring you some relief?

I hope you are doing better!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

The short answer is: yes!

I also will recommend it to my clients who deal with H. Pylori infections. There is some research which concludes that mastic gum can also help with dyspepsia and ulcers.

An older study from 1984 found that mastic gum in 38 people could improve the symptoms of duodenal ulcers. Those who took 1 gram (g) of mastic per day reported a reduction in ulcer symptoms after 2 weeks.

Another study from 2010 found that mastic gum can help with H. Pylori eradication. In this study they used 3x 350mg of mastic gum per day.

Mastic gum can reduce inflammation and help with preparing the lining of the gut. It is only contraindicated in people who are allergic to pistachio’s.

You also shouldn’t take it when you are using taking angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors because it may cause hypotension.

Brands that have been used in scientific research are Jarrow – Just click here. Mastica from Allergy Research Group I like personally as well.

I know you have had in the past some sensitive reactions to other supplements. In general mastic gum is well tolerated.

Please let us know how your experience is if you are going to try it!