[Daniel]

Hey ,

Concerning your Hiatal Hernia, I was also wondering if you ever had a professional take a look at your posture. Maybe you did already (in this case you don’t need to read this). But a few dis-balances in posture can cause hiatal hernia as well, like
• Rounded shoulders • Caused by for example tight pectoralis minor/major. Tight hip flexors and abdominal muscles can be part of the problem as well. I would recommend a therapist (like a Chiropractor/Osteopath/Manual Therapist) using Active Release Technique which is a type of ‘massage’ that works really quickly.
• A sternum that goes inwards
• Scoliosis

The focus on healing the stomach/gut lining is important, but if the hiatal hernia isn’t addressed, the chances for reoccurrence of symptoms increase.

[Daniel]

Hey ,

Personally, I have never used it with my clients. But that has more to do with how I chose my first supplement interventions. I use a few principles. The most important are probably: what supplements have the most strong data backing them up to address a certain medical condition and what type of safety data is available.

The problem with BPC157 is that it has promising results, but it has never been tested on humans, so there is no safety data or reliable dosage data I believe.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t work or you can’t try it. I’m just saying I have no experience with it and why I don’t use it as a first-line intervention.

Lucas (one of the guest speakers on B Better) from Boost Your Biology/Ergogenic Health has a nice summary video on it which I will attach. He also mentions a supplement brand. But again, the studies he is mentioning are rat studies.

The only human study I could find was a study for patients with knee pain who were injected with BPC157. There is however a lot of anecdotal information. Some people experience headaches while injecting BPC157 with short-term use.  But anecdotal: people have found relief with IBS and stomach issues.


[Daniel]

Hey ,

I am replying with a video message because I wanted to show you 3 exercises that you can do to help you with your Hiatal Hernia.

Specially the 2nd exercise (which is more of a massage) can help you with pulling back your stomach through your diafragma. The 3rd one is to strengthen your diafragma.

My apologies, but Youtube chose the thumbnail. From the 8 minute video it chose a really poor frame of the video, but I promise you this is an educational video!

Let me know if these exercises help you!
 

[Daniel]

Unfortunately not. I’m based in Europe, in Holland. But I would love to travel to the UAE once!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

There are different kinds of gallbladder polyps. Somewhere between 60-90% of the polyps are made of cholesterol and are called pseudopolyps. We know D-Limonene can help dissolve cholesterol. I usually recommend my clients 1000 mg 2x daily, but it has to be this type of polyp. Bile acids might help as well since sometimes it is the lack of bile salts that can lead to those types of polyps or gallstones.

I would also recommend you watch this video where different support for the gallbladder is discussed. Since bile is produced in the liver, some ‘love for the liver’ could help you as well. 

Another simple thing that can help is drinking enough water. Water helps the organ empty and keeps the bile from building up.

Be aware that there are different types of polyps. About 5-10% are inflammatory polyps. These are a type of scar tissue caused by chronic inflammation of the gallbladder. In these cases, treatment is more difficult since they are scars. Do you know if your gallbladder was inflamed?

[Daniel]

Hey ,

I think  gave you really good advice. I would like to add that painkillers can cause some damage to the gut and the stomach. This article from 2006 are describing even elevations in liver enzymes from 2 weeks of use of Tylenol. Painkillers are usually treated as innocent, but they definitely are medications and they can have side effects!

If there is some damage to the lining of the stomach, building up the protective lining can be done by using a supplement like Thorne’s GI-Relief (click here). I usually recommend starting low in dose and when well tolerated, working up to higher doses between meals for at least 2 months.
 
It is however important to know if the damage to the lining of the gut was done by H. Pylori or painkillers. An infection with H. Pylori should be adressed first/
 
As an alternative to Tylenol, your mother could experiment with supplements if she is using painkillers to deal with the pain from her osteoarthritis. I sometimes recommend people try Meriva curcumin 2x per day. Boswellia is also an excellent targeted anti-inflammatory for arthritis. Pure encapsulations (click here) has Boswellia you can try.

A little side note to the list of medications you mentioned:

With long-term use of Pantoprazole nutrient deficiencies like calcium, magnesium, vitamin B12 and iron can occur.

Pravastatin can cause deficiencies in selenium, CoQ10 and vitamin E.

Obviously, my message is not to stop her use of medications. But maybe you can recommend to your mother the use of supplements like CoQ10 or a high-quality multivitamin as well!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

I agree 100% with . Yeast & mold can be a cause of elevated oxalates. Sometimes yeast & mold can ‘steal’ nutrients, leaving your body with lower values.

What supplements do you currently take? And I’m also interested in what supplements seem to make your condition worse. Have you been using probiotics or saccharomyces boulardii? If so, did this made the symptoms worse or did you tolerated this well?

[Daniel]

,

Thank you so much for the detailed information! Let’s start from top till bottom.

Medications
Thank you for sharing! What medications did you felt worked for you and what medications did not? And right now, are you still using any medications? (This by the way would include birth-control pills, painkillers & acid reflux medications)

Blood tests
The more results the better! If you have older labs done they are welcome as well since they would provide information about how some numbers have evolved!

Leaky gut & Canida
Do you perhaps know how your Kinesiologist determined you had leaky gut and Candida overgrowth? Were there lab tests done for this? And if you have them, would you mind sharing them with us as well?

Food intolerances
Would you perhaps know what food intolerance test was done to determine your food intolerances? There are a lot of tests available.

Hypothyroidism
I would love to see your lab results done by your doctor as well. Although as I mentioned above, the traditional way of testing hypothyroidism at doctors makes it hard to rule out hypothyroidism. This is why I would advise you (definitely because of all your symptoms!) to also check besides TSH, fT4 the markers that aren’t traditionally done at first with your doctor: fT3, anti-TPO, anti-TG and reverse T3. This could provide us insight into if you are producing enough of the most metabole-active thyroid hormone: free T3. And if fT3 is low it would provide us insight into if it is caused for example by an autoimmune problem (in this case your antibodies could be elevated which could show up on an anti-TPO and anti-TG test) or if it is caused by stress (in this case reversed T3 could be elevated – just be aware that most doctors that aren’t doing functional medicine might not have heard of this marker!).

Let me first take a look at your labs before I advise you further. Let’s try to eliminate some options and see what is at play first. Maybe we can provide you with some rapid relief by finding nutrient deficiencies first.

With hypothyroidism, we know deficiencies in iodine, iron, zinc, vitamins A & D, selenium, and magnesium all can play a role. Since gastroparesis can be caused by nerve damage, vitamins B12, B6 and folate are important to evaluate for us as well!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

Welcome here! We have many great tips for living a more healthy life! My name is Daniel and I help  on the platform.

I was wondering what you feel you want to improve the most. Maybe we can help you point out the most important sections of B Better!

I am wondering if the POP surgery you are writing about was done to improve symptoms of gastroparesis (Per-Oral Pyloromyotomy) or if the POP surgery refers to Pelvic Organ Prolapse surgery which is done to lift muscles in the pelvic floor.

To help you in the best way possible, would you share with us what medications/supplements you are currently using and have used?

Gastroparesis is a condition we see in diabetes patients. The nerves to the stomach get damaged as a result of insulin resistance & elevated blood sugars.

It would be helpful to test blood sugars, Hba1c and fasting insulin (this marker isn’t tested so often with doctors. Also, a lack of some of the next vitamins can cause nerve damage: vitamin b12, b6 and folate. Perhaps your doctor already checked these numbers? Some red blood cell markers can provide us more function tests of how the vitamins are performing. It would be therefore helpful to examine your red blood cells as well. 

Also, hypothyroidism can slow down motility. Testing for markers like TSH, fT4, fT3, Anti TPO, Anti TG & Reverse T3 can provide us insight. Perhaps your doctor checked already TSH and fT4. The other markers aren’t usually tested in the protocols they have unless TSH and fT4 are out of the reference ranges.

With hypothyroidism we often see people experiencing feeling cold, hair loss, thinking slow, thinning of the outer parts of the eyebrows, depression, constipation (less than 1 bowel movement per day), fatigue and/or weight gain. But there is always a group who don’t recognize these symptoms in themselves. Perhaps you can share with us if you recognize any.

Some surgeries can also cause gastroparesis. Did you have any in the past?

Any virus that can cause GI problems (including COVID-19) can cause something called viral gastroparesis. It would therefore be helpful to have a White Blood cell Count and Differential.

There are many other neurological conditions that can lead to this dynamic. But we can start your health journey just by sharing what numbers your doctor(s) found and what conditions they thought of.

Lots of questions & information, I know! But every question can help us help you!

[Daniel]

Hi ,

I can imagine you want the best for your mom! I hope the tips,  gave, you can help your mom with her stomach pain.

With what you have written, I am also curious about why your mom needed the aortic valve replacement. Do you know? Did her valve for example needed to be replaced because the valve was calcified and therefore started to leak blood back into the heart? Or was there some other reason?

Are there any medications your mum is taking, for example, painkillers to ease the pain caused by osteoarthritis? Or maybe medications for her heart like beta-blockers?

I am asking because painkillers might ease the pain, but chronic use of painkillers can do some damage to the GI tract as well.

Some beta-blockers can, with long-term use, cause problems with energy production. Beta-blockers can also cause stomach upset and other GI symptoms like nausea, diarrhea or constipation.

If she is using medications, it would help us to know which medications to give you the best possible advice!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

I have never heard of it. Is it this lucky fish here? I think the idea is brilliant. I do however have some doubts. It is hard to determine dosages with this fish. More importantly, I can’t tell what form of iron you are actually supplementing with.

Usually water, iron and heat change the metal iron into 4Fe(OH)₃ which is rust. I have never seen this used as a supplement form. Research does show it can reduce anemia (Click here to dive deeper if you would like to). 

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ingesting rust in small amounts will not harm your health (unless you have a rare disease called hemochromatosis, which causes your internal organs to retain iron).

Personally, I have my doubts if this is the way to go and wouldn’t recommend it.

[Daniel]

Hey ,

Being anaemic is no joke! I hope you feel fine soon! Usually, I tell my clients that red blood cells live for around 3 months. Many people can feel after 6 weeks already a change in their energy levels. 

If you don’t feel the progress you could test after 6 weeks. If you feel improvement but would like to know how your values are, you could retest after 3 months to see how your red blood cell has changed.

Another thing that influences your health journey is how low your iron really is. If your iron was really low, it could take a while longer to get your numbers back in the optimal range. If you don’t feel improvement after 6 weeks with very low iron, it would be important to retest after 6 weeks as well. Perhaps you can share your numbers!

I hope this was an answer to your question!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

I’m so sorry to hear! It looks like your immune system & gut could use some support.

Could you help us help you and describe exactly what kind of symptoms you experience in your gut? Do you feel boated? Cramps? Diarrhea? Constipation? Lots of gas? Do symptoms seem to be worse at special times of the day?

Gut problems can sometimes be at the root of some nutrient deficiencies. For example, iron absorption can be blocked by an inflamed gut. An iron deficiency can lead to hair loss. A doctor could test your iron status.

A zinc deficiency can lead to poor immune health & hair loss as well.

Another reason for hair loss is a slow thyroid. Have you been ever tested for that? Common other symptoms with a slow thyroid are feeling fatigued, easy weight gain or a hard time losing weight, feeling depressed, feeling slow, constipation, and thinning of the outer parts of the eyebrows. Do recognize any symptoms?

Since you are feeling sick often you could start with the immune-boosting protocol (click here to find the protocol). I would recommend, as soon as you feel better, you focus on your gut health and dive in a little deeper into why you are losing hair.

We are happy to help you!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

Welcome to the forum! My name is Daniel and I help Bernadette on the forum. I already saw you asked a question on the forum. Great, because that is what it’s for!

I would really advise you to take a look at the gut health masterclass. It will explain to you in detail how to take care of your gut.

You can find the Gut Health Masterclass by clicking here.

What do you hope to find here?

[Daniel]

Hey ,

You for sure can try supplementing with Iodine. I just mentioned the 1100 mcg to let you know that supplementing with Iodine, in general, is very safe (unless your friend uses other supplements containing iodine!)

And yes, you can take iodine without supplementing selenium if there is no autoimmune thyroid disease.

Are you referring to the RBC Iodine test? Or to the iodine patch test? (For the serum Iodine test we don’t have functional ranges because the marker isn’t considered that reliable)

RBC Iodine
Because the RBC Iodine test isn’t everywhere available this one is harder to order. Honestly, I think RBC Iodine is a better marker than the urine iodine test. But since most iodine (70-80%) is stored in the thyroid gland, I would personally go for the Iodine Patch Test. Since most iodine is stored in the thyroid gland, it might be more sensitive to a lack of nutritional iodine.

24- hour urine test
The 24- hour urine test is a little less convenient, but if the body has enough iodine, we would like to see 90% of the iodine excreted via urine. Everything lower is an indication of iodine deficiency (you can find more information in this study.

And here’s more information about the Patch test (here’s the video to see how to execute it), which is a self-test.

Again, if you think that a low-iodine diet is at play, just use an iodine supplement and see what happens.

If nothing happens, it could still be a subclinical hypothyroid state. It just wasn’t caused by an iodine deficiency.

I hope this answered your questions!