GermanMia

Well, seemingly the liver thing is an issue for me, too.

I just got the report from my testings and - well - can't say I'm exactly happy. Adrenals are completely okay, which is good. Who would be fond of suffering from adrenal insufficiency...

Basically the report says I'm perfectly healthy and the psychiatrist was right: I'd go to some psychosomatic clinic and get help there. Wonderful.

On the other hand the report tells that my iron is much too high, zinc is on the lowest level which is still called normal (normal is said from 66 to 110 and it's 66 with me), vit. D3 is not lacking but "unsufficient supply", and the creatine kinase is slightly elevated.

The CT report says it's difficult to judge the condition of the small intestine because I'm cachectic and there is no intra abdominal fat, but that the vena cava inferior, the celiac artery and the liver and spleen venes are extended and the left lobe of the liver is enlarged. This, so they say, would bring up the question if there is a hint to heart failure.

All in all this is totally stupid. I just TOLD them my problem was muscle weakness and general physical fatigue - now, they wonder that I'm cachectic - yes, that's the problem, I'm cachectic whilst stuffing myself with high caloric stuff all the time. Are they dim, or what??? I'm weak although I eat more than most women my age do and there has to be a reason which I want to find out. Creatine kinase is related to heart and skeleton muscles. It's elevated if you're muscles are affected in some way or if your heart's got problems. As my protein level is perfectly okay, they can see that the muscle weakness is not nutrition related. With protein levels like that I should have muscles like an athlete, given the fact that I jog every day and try to do workouts for some more muscles (I do workouts but the muscles don't mind that). Can you imagine that this idiot of a psychiatrist told me to go to the gym if I had a problem with muscle weakness???

Sorry if I wind - I just have to. This is not only humiliating but it really starts frightening me. Great thing - if I tell a doc that this starts frightening me he will say, okay, clear sign of mental problems. I'm feeling weak and tired and start worrying if there probably might really be something wrong with my heart, but if I say so it will be a heart neurosis - !

All of you - if you aren't absolutely convinced yourself that you have mental problems, never, NEVER let someone talk you into seeing a psychiatrist if you have physical problems the reason of which nobody can find.

Ali, so glad to hear things are improving.

I'm trying to figure out what to do to help with increasing my bile, which tests as extremely low, last winter, summer and just recently. I've a couple of liver supports, which I use sparingly as I don't test well for them with energetic testing. I have no symptoms of pain to suggest stones, and liver enzymes are fine.

I'm thinking that my low bile levels are contributing to the digestion/malabsorption issues?

I've started adding tumeric to my chicken carrot soup, and really like the taste. It is supposed to be very good for helping bile production. Also, I'm drinking ginger tea that I make; its great for nausea, but I also read it helps the liver.

I'd like to try a castor oil heat pack, but I can't find castor oil here. Thought I brought a bottle from the US but can't find it. Does anyone know if there is another oil that can be used for this or if it has to be castor oil?

Hi Sherry,

I'm not quite sure if that is for the same issue, but I know of some naturopaths who make heat packs with paraffin. It's said to take the toxins out of the body. No idea whether this is true or not but maybe worth a try?

Just stumbled over this SCD legal toothpaste recipe:

Mix 100 ml sage or peppermint tea with 100 g white clay and some salt until creamy. Then add 5 drops peppermint oil. Store in small container.

Hi all,

I just pop in to post a recipe for starch free, sorbitol free toothpaste I just found:

Mix 100 ml sage or peppermint tea with 100 g white clay and some salt until creamy. Add 5 drops peppermint oil, store in small container.

I'll put this into the SCD recipe thread, too.

I don't think my doctor will test anything else for me. He thinks I'm a hyperchondriac and won't do anything

Do you have to eat yogurt? I don't like yogurt.

Are there foods you can get that are already made?

Hi,

welcome to the thread :-) Don't let your doc talk you into feeling stupid, just listen to your Body and try to figure out what diet will help you.

Yoghurt isn't a must; but eating things which are high in probiotics might be helpful to restore your gut flora. There are recipes for yoghurt made from coconut milk which maybe don't taste like yoghurt at all, perhaps that's helpful?

And look here: www.scdbakery.com

As I'm from Germany, I can't tell if that's an option, but I happened to stumble over it at the beginning of my own SCD experience.

Good luck - you will get lots of support here.

Mia

Jan,

I totally agree with you that many of your family members would get better if they had a look into their diet. My mother for sure had lots of intolerances - gastro problems were the starting point of her alcoholism: She had pain in the chest that nearly drove her crazy, and as nobody found the reason for that pain, she started drinking alcohol to fight the pain. When she was diagnosed with stomach ulcera it was too late. She was completely addicted to alcohol and not able to come off it even after stomach surgery. At that time helicobacter was unknown in Germany, so they tried to get rid of the ulcera surgically... Her doc just wanted to send her into the psychiatric hospital because of her imaginated pain. She broke down and agreed but claimed one more medical check before she went into psychiatry. It was luck - the surgeon told her that one week later she might have been dead because her stomach was about to perforate. That much for psychosomatic illness...

That astronaut food thing sounds quite reasonable. I can imagine that it would help to sort out allergies and intolerances pretty well.

Now I'll have to wait for the results of the tests and hope that they will help me to do something above keeping diet...

Ali,

sorry to hear your mother's sad story. Good thing you are working things out for yourself so that you won't end up like that, too!

I had some colonics several years ago, and I felt similar to what you describe after the first time. But it got better, and that was a time when I felt really great - no wonder, I ate nearly no carbs and for sure not the slightest bit sugar at that time Hopefully that will help you improve further!

The body's ability to resorb magnesium depends on the form in which the magnesium is offered. Magnesium is an anorganic element, chemically, and our body cannot use most anorganic stuff. So you need an organic form of magnesium which would be magnesium citrat or gluconat.

Ms Jan,

yes, as a kid you listen to your body and not to what is said to be convention.

Thanks for the parasite idea! In fact I had such a testing even before I discovered the fructose malabsorption, because a friend of mine has relations to some institute for tropical illness' research in the Netherlands. I think it must be the test Sherry mentioned which I made. It came back negative.

Now I got tested for adrenal insufficiency and lack in B-vitamins and most dietary minerals. You're right, it actually feels like my system didn't extract enough fuel from what I offer.

Maybe something to laugh - although I wasn't quite sure whether to laugh or to cry:

I agreed seeing a psychiatrist, too. Actually here in Germany most gastro-problems are very easily called psychosomatic, which is one of the reasons why it took me 30 years to get rid of nausea... Now I thought, well, get through with it, talk to a shrink and get the certification that your problem is not psychological and you don't have to argue anymore.

So what happened was that the psychiatrist came in and told me that the first thing he saw on my file was that I have baby-sitted my parents since I was 13. (My father was quite old and suffered from coronar heart disease, my mother was quite old, too, ill all the time and alcoholic) So - OF COURSE all my problems are psychosomatic, can't be something else. Kids with celiac who keep their diet are feeling quite normal, so gluten and fructose intolerance cannot be the reason. I pointed out that those kids don't malnourish their bodies for 30 years, but no, he insisted it was absolutely impossible that my problem could be anything but psychosomatic - !

Great - really big help. If I look back, I just laugh because it was so ridiculous, but there were some hours when I could have cried with frustration. Just opposite of what I wanted - now if any doc reads my file, he'll tell me go see a shrink and I'll be happy again. Wonderful.

Hi All,

I just had my first sweets in months: made the coconut candy balls from the SCD book (only honey, coconut flour and chopped nuts). And they were great! Somehow felt I needed the sugar, particularly for my brains, and now when I sense my heart beating strongly and the blood running faster, I realize that probably it was my entire body demanding it.

To help fight candida, I'd cut out honey and any kind of other sweets when I started the SCD three months ago - except for bananas and the occasional pineapple. Also I used to get horribly sick from anything sugary. So it's very strange for me to 'demand' sugar without it being an actual craving - and so far I feel my body will manage to digest it (I sure hope so !!!). But I guess I'll see over the weekend ....

Has anyone experienced something like this, after going non-sugar for a while?

Hi Ms Jan,

yes, I've experienced something similar. As unfortunately I'm fructose intolerant and can't have honey nor any fruits or veggies except very few cranberries, rhubarb, corn salad and some chard, broccoli or zucchini, I got huge problems with my blood sugar level soon. Somehow my body is not able to live on proteins and fat only - the Atkins mechanism doesn't work with me So I was forced to reintroduce a small amount of "illegal" stuff, like some rice syrup and a bit of rice or some tapioca. Which really surprised me because I thought tapioca was the most horrible starch-stuff in the world, but it works fine with me when I cook some rhubarb with rice syrup and tapioca and mix in a bit scd cream.

I do think by the way that the first problem I had was the fructose, not the gluten, because at the age of 8 I was very sick and had to keep a fructose-free diet. As they always told me that it was something with my liver (some markers high like with an alcoholic), I always thought low-fat was the idea of that diet, but thinking of it I realized that in fact it was low-fat AND no-fructose, and I felt great with it. Only after going back to normal half a year later I started feeling sick again after every meal. Especially sweet things used to make me sick - I remember feeling terrible after every single birthday party...

As all my body fat has melted away - even the fat between the organs! - and after six months of restricted diet I still feel faint all the time, my doc sent me to a hospital for three days to do further testing. The docs were great, but the kitchen was horrible - they are specialised in gastroenterology but the only thing they got was "gluten free". My food always was labled as "gluten free, fructose free" but what I got was peas, carrots, potatoes, tomatos, marmelade - ! No meat or fish at all but oats porridge one time - oats in Germany are NOT gluten free because they always are cross contaminated! Luckily it was only three days...

I really do hope that this will bring some idea about what the heck goes wrong in my metabosism.

Hi Clearsky,

welcome to the thread :-)

Seems like you are on a good way - you're lucky to start a healing way of life so early, maybe this will be easier than for people who start past their thirties.

Nice to have you here and share your experiences!

Mia

I was JUST thinking about doing that. The other day I had roasted some garlic and i LOOOVE garlic, so i literally just ate clove after clove and had the worst gas that night. I was thinking about what you had said, about the negetive reaction maybe being from the bad bacteria or a parasites (it was either the garlic or a portabella mushroom i had). I have some "cadi-gone" its a supplement that combines garlic, caprilic acid, oil of oregeno and some other anti-fungals. I was thinking about starting to take that. Would that be the same type of thing to take for the parasite?

Hi Whitney,

sorry if I already asked this - again I lost track a bit But have you ever checked for fructose malabsorption? That is something which comes along with celiac quite often, and very often it makes bad C. Maybe trying to avoid everything high in fructose is an option, just to see if it gets better? That's not easy doing SCD, because it means practically no fruits, few veggies, no honey, no nuts, only almonds, but not much.

Garlic and mushrooms cause lots of problems if you have a fructose issue.

'Good thinking, Batman'!! (Sorry Mia, that might be lost on you - from the old 'Batman & Robin' series on UK/USA TV).

We just tend to think of fermenting the milk from the start when it is liquid, but fermenting the cheese could be an option. Hmm, wonder if you could do the same with ordinary cottage cheese? Might need to break the curds up so that the bacteria can get right through it.

I managed to pick up some DCCC a few days ago (I used to buy it years ago but it is very hard to get hold of here in the UK now). Trouble is it is in a huge tub. I was wondering if it would freeze and whether that would destroy the benefit of it in any way. It would be a lot easier if I could just get a small pot of it out as I need it. Any thoughts on that one?

Sorry, I wasn't around the past few days :-)

Ali, I thought about fermenting cottage cheese, too. Maybe first process it in a processor to get it smooth and then ferment?

The curd cheese which I buy comes in 1lb containers. But I found that once fermented you can store it for quite a long time. I had one batch of two 1lb containers which lasted two weeks - no problem.

I have a question.

I would like to explore making my own dry curd cottage cheese from raw cow's milk. There are simple recipes on the internet for "farmer's cheese" that are similar to panir. Basically heat milk to a boil, add lemon juice, strain out the curds.

Does anyone know if this is SCD legal? How do commercial dairies make DCC?

Hi pele,

curd here in Germany is a very common diary, so I use to buy normal curd and then ferment the curd for 24 hours. I just mix it with one cup starter-yoghurt and leave it in the yoghurt maker for 24 hours. It always turns out delicious. So why shouldn't you make curd and then ferment it?

Mia

Hi Mia and welcome dtgirl!

Mia can you tolerate ripe bananas and/or avocados? Sorry, you've probably mentioned it before. I often wonder if i have fructose malabsorption and even histamine intolerance. The only foods i'm able to tolerate right now is all meat (no additives and organic seems to do best), fish, romaine lettuce, cooked carrots, asparagus, broccoli, green beans,goat yogurt, ripe bananas, avocados, olive oil and a little lemon and lime juice. I think spinach is ok cooked or raw but i'm still trying to figure out if it does bother me sometimes. A friend of mine recommended a Naturopath which i probably should make an appt. I've also found a Nutritionist about an hour away who specializes in celiac/gluten intolerance. They're not covered under insurance so it would be expensive. My GP is really good so i probably will make an appt. with her first. Thanks for any info!

Hi fig girl,

first I thought I could tolerate ripe bananas and avocados because they don't cause bloating. But then I became aware that it's not only the gastro intestinal symptoms but quite a range of other symptoms, too, which might be caused by histamine. Now I found out that I can tolerate tiny amounts of avocados at once, about 1/8 avocado per day. But no bananas. If you can tolerate carrots, asparagus and green beans, you probably have no issue with fructose. But on the other hand, fructose malabsorption also doesn't necessarily show typical gastro intestinal symptoms. If I take too much fructose (which would be more than 2 gram per day!) I am only slightly bloated but get muscle cramps and muscle pain in the legs, hypoglycemia, more fatigue than usual, dizziness and headaches.

Bananas, avocado, all citrus fruits and spinach are critical with histamine, so if you don't feel any symptoms such as gastro intestinal problems, itching, flushes (red hot face), low blood pressure, hypoglycemia, fatigue and weakness, maybe histamie is not a big problem for you.

I don't know how it is in the US, but here gastroenterologists are covered under insurance and you can have fructose malabsorption breathe test and histamine blood test there.

Mia, was it you who had to take the course of antibiotics recently? Did you feel better after, and have you had any problems with Candida or anything else since?

Ali

Hi Ali,

yes, I had to take antibiotics recently because of bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine plus recurrent kidney infection. Well, evidently the antibiotics killed the bacteria - good and bad ones - and I had no further problems with kidney infection, and the bloating in the small intestine has gone, too. No candida because I didn't eat carbs and sugars, not even fruit, and I'm still restoring the gut flora. So far the gastrointestinal problems are under control as long as I stay away from everything that contains fructose or saccharose or histamine.

Sadly I don't feel better, because all the rest is like before: Weakness, hypoglycemia, muscle weakness and pain, heavy fatigue, very low blood pressure. But that's the reason why I'm going to see an endocrinologist on 2nd april. There must be something that caused all those intolerances.

But as I say, staying away from sugars and restoring the flora as quickly as possible, and the antibiotics at least don't cause candida.

Do you consider taking antibiotics because of helicobacter? I still didn't find the source where I got that idea about alternative helicobacter treatment from, but tomorrow I'll see my naturopath friend who maybe can tell me something.

Mia

I have heard it said more than once that if your system is run-down due to years of glutening, then your adrenals may be in bad shape, causing increased allergies. Does this make sense regarding your histamine intolerance?

Yes, that makes big sense. I'm going to see an GE who also is endoctinologist in two weeks

hello! I hope you do not mind me "joining in". Thank you so much for this information; I have read and learned SO much! My whole life (I am 23) I have suffered from major C, bloating, strange food reactions, everything and NO ONE has ever understood or they think I am making it up or it is all in my head. I have bad C, and contrary to what most people believe, fiber makes it much worse. If I eat an apple, I get extremely bloated, retain fluid, and will go not have a BM for a few days, even if I drink a few liters of water. Additionally, if I eat offending foods, I get this "binge" like behavior where i feel like I "must" have the food or else! is that weird? The less veg and fruit and starch in my system, the better off I am. Unfortunately, my diet right now is pretty limited: buffalo, elk, venison, salmon, ostrich, a little tuna, oils, zucchini, avocado, some goat products, a little bit of low fructose fruit. I can't eat nuts, soy, gluten, beans, the usual suspects. I have had many random other problems (hormonal imbalance, chronic low grade depression, hair thinning, dry skin, sleep issues..) my gi system hates me. Anyways, I look forward to reading and learning more.. this is a very informative thread!

Hi and welcome :-)

Just recently I found out that besides gluten intolerance and fructose malabsorption I developed a histamine intolerance. The funny thing is that one symptom of histamine intolerance can be craving for "forbidden" foods, and I found that as soon as I stay away from these things the carving gets better. Did you ever get tested for celiac / gluten intolerance, allergies, fructose or histamine?

Uh - glue - yes, that's nasty to drink...

I don't know if it was this, but they seem to go back to bismut salt as a cure. I'll see if I can find it.

Ali, what is PVA??? Sorry - at this point my English has come to it's end

But concerning the helicobacter: I just read that recently they do some new cure which is not antibiotic. Just caught a glimpse of it and sadly don't remember where. But maybe it's something from Australia?

Ali,

the breathe test is the most reliable HP test, so really do that! I'm afraid I haven't heard of a working cure except the antibiotics - meanwhile it's even a triple antibiotic which is recommended because the other one seemed to fail in most cases. My naturopath friend himself had HP and did the quadruple treatment (three antibiotics and omeprazol). He was not happy at all, but after two horrible weeks he did better, and after he had rebuilt his gut flora he does fine now with everything except gluten. Maybe this is worth it.

I am with you there - I am not sticking to strict SCD. I cannot tolerate nuts, fruits, (raw or dried), honey, coconut milk, and can tolerate a few veggies. If I eat anything high in free fructose or even fructans (i.e. asparagus), I have extreme fatigue, brain fog, ect. So, I have been starving all day. I never bothered to count calories, but it seemed to me like I was eating a lot of food, but then would be starving again in between meals and unable to work. I am eating oatmeal on occasion and it fills me up.

I know that a lot of fructmal people suggest taking glucose tablets (which I think are dextrose) to help with fructose absorption, but I am curious about the rice syrup. Has it had an impact? How are you using it?

Well, actually the calories wouldn't bother me, either, but as I'm very skinny it is quite difficult to get people believe that I'm not faint because I'm anorectic and don't eat enough... I was just fed up with doctors suspecting I might be anorectic - the worst thing is that anorectic people deny that they are anorectic and don't eat enough, and they tend to lie about their actual calorie intake.

Plus if I want serious research I need data about my intake and the reactions, and I must admit that I had some moments when I started doubting myself whether I really eat enough because I still do feel hungry all the time.

As far as I know it's not really proven if the additional intake of glucose helps. In fact the resorption mostly is better when you have a 1 to 1 ratio of glucose and fructose because the glucose pushes the carrier systems for fructose. But unluckily it depends on how good your resorption generally is, what the reason for the malabsorption is etc. So it's not really possible to say something general.

The rice syrup - which consists of glucose, maltose and oligosaccharides - didn't seem to hurt. It's not overly sweet (less than honey) and I dumped a teaspoon full into my espresso. (Funny enough, coffee doesn't disturb me in the least) Tastes horrible, because I hate sweet things and especially sweet coffee, but it helped. One hour after lunch I started getting dizzy as usual, then I had this small espresso with syrup and I felt okay for the next two hours.

Sadly I can't have it with yoghurt, that would be nicer, I think, and it would be good for the blood sugar to combine it with some proteins and fat, but the espresso way was okay. Maybe it would be nice with tea, if one likes sweet tea. Many fructose intolerant people here use it as a sweet bread spread or as a sweetener to bake with.

Anyway I think it's not good to overdo it with this syrup because of the oligosaccharides. I know that I cannot handle them very well, so I try to keep it balanced. Maybe two teaspoons per day will be just all right for me.

Sweden, I think. Hundred year old fish - the cans have to be opend under water - horrible thought

But there also are fermented fish products in far eastern cuisines, like fish sauce, which I really like (although I must admit that I *am* picky with those things...).

Normally the body is able to provide the brain with the glucose it needs without us eating carbs in any form; this is the way low carb or no carb diets work. This just hits the point which I've gotten to. I'm afraid I can't stick to a strict SCD because for some reason the gluconeogenesis in my body doesn't work at all - and as I cannot eat enough fruit and veggies, no honey and no dried fruit, I have to take in something that feeds some glucose into my system. Counting all the calories I take I come to about 2400 calories per day. My blood sugar is at about 70 except when I eat one orange and half banana - then it is 104 and I feel sick from the fructose - great. Either I'm sick from fructose or I feel like fainting. Now I decided to try some rice syrup which doesn't contain fructose but some oligosaccharides which balance the glucose.

Yes, we do; raw or fermented, but not cooked - more than 42 degrees Celsius and the enzymes are dead, I'm afraid.

I don't know how it is in the US and GB, but in Germany you can make stool tests (nearly every conventional medical lab will do them if the doc orders it) to check for candida. Everything up to 10.000 candida-cells per g stool is considered normal, starting with 10.000 per g stool you should keep an eye on it and from 1000000 candida-cells per g stool it is recommended to take antimycotics.

Candida is not supposed to be a normal part of the gut flora, though. It may be found in "healthy" people, i. e. in people who don't show symptoms, but usually you can suppose that even low candida in "healthy" people means that there is some kind of maldigestion which just has not become pathological yet.

I did come across that point about fructose malabsorption but it is not necessarily the same in all people (just shows that not all information on the net is correct!).

There are two types - hereditary fructosemia which is caused by a deficiency of liver enzymes, but ordinary fructose malabsorption is due to a lack of enzymes in the enterocytes due to gut damage. I have been intolerant of fruit for many years, but that was probably because my gut has been damaged a long time. Now it is healing I am able to tolerate more fruits.

The hereditary type usually results in symptoms like vomiting, jaundice and even kidney failure and death if fructose is ingested and is probably present since birth. A deficiency of the fructose enzymes in the gut usually results in bloating, diarrhea and/or constipation and will have been 'acquired' at some point.

I know that Wikipedia is not the most accurate of information sources but in this case I would feel that the info is pretty kosher.

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Annoys me though how some articles mention cutting out or down on fruit but none of them suggest supplementing with enzymes to help the malabsorption! One hopes that as the gut heals properly, eventually the production of the enzymes would restart to some extent and the problem may resolve itself.

Ali,

the acquired form, i. e. the fructose malabsorption, may result from mucosa destruction in the gut, but it's not especially an enzymatic problem. In fact there is a thing called carrier protein (GLUT 5) which transports fructose into the cells of the small intestine from where they are carried via another carrier protein, GLUT 2, into the liver. If for some reason you lack this GLUT 5 protein, the fructose passes through the small intestine into the large intestine. If you avoid fructose for some time strictly (and heal the gut by avoiding everything else that cannot be digested) mostly the malabsorption gets better.

It's only the hereditary form of fructose intolerance which is an enzymatic problem. In that case the liver does not produce the enzyme which breaks down the fructose. Unluckily this enzyme cannot be substituted until now, but luckily the hereditary fructose intolerance is not very common...

In fact there are studies which show that high intake of starches and sugars - carbs - leads to high colesterol. My egg and fat intake is *very* high, and my cholesterol is even "too low". Well, that might be because my fat digestion is not very good, and I know that too low "good" cholesterol will disturb hormonal regulation, but that's another thing.

Anyway there is no reason to worry about high cholesterol levels except if you don't take in enough antioxidants. The problem is not the cholesterol itself but the oxidation of cholesterol.