[Daniel]

,

Usually, I recommend 2x 100-150 mg of CoQ10. Make sure you have the ubiquinol form (and not the ubiquinone!)

Here is a brand that I like in particular. It’s from Thorne and is called Q10. You can find it here!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

I have never tried it. It is very hard to get here in The Netherlands. The good thing it might also help you with your stool. It has a laxative effect.

One thing to be aware of is that high consumption of Bitter Gourd can also cause abdominal pain. I don’t know how much Bitter Gourd is ‘high consumption’, but I thought you should be aware!

How does it taste?

[Daniel]

 Thank you!!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

I hope this will bring some relief to you. You sure deserve it! I hope you can hang on until then! 

[Daniel]

,

Are you having sources you might not be aware of? Sometimes vitamin B12 is added to foods, drinks or protein powders/bars.

Do you know if your older serum B12 levels are much elevated? Some people are able to absorb B12 much more efficiently because they produce more haptocorrin (which is a protein that transports vitamin B12 into the body).

Some bacteria in the colon also produce vitamin B12, which could contribute to elevations in vitamin B12. It might not be the only factor at play in this case though. The amount of B12 produced by the gut microbiome is usually pretty low.

Several liver issues can cause elevations in serum B12. Your liver enzymes look low normal, but just slightly. Vitamin B6 is a cofactor that is needed to produce liver enzymes. If you’re low in B6 your body might try to produce liver enzymes but lacks the building materials. This then can hide potential liver issues. An ultrasound to examine the liver to rule out a fatty liver or liver damage is advisable. Again: this is to rule out stuff.

Did your doctor also look at your kidney function? Also, healthy kidneys are important to clear vitamin B12.

If stress is a big player in your life right now this handout could provide you with some relief. But tackling the stress source is where the real focus should be of course!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

I uploaded my answer by accident, but it is corrected and finished.  Are you taking any B vitamins or multivitamins? What about other supplements (like iron containing supplements perhaps)?

[Daniel]

Hey ,

Your vitamin D appears to be borderline low. I usually recommend my clients have their serum levels around 50 ng/ml. Also folic acid (or vitamin B9) I usually recommend being in the upper half of the reference range.

Your fT3 is in the lower half of the reference range while your fT4 seems to be fine. This could indicate a sluggish conversion from fT4 to fT3.

This handout will help you guide in what nutrients are important for healthy thyroid hormone balance.

The values concerning female hormone health are a bit dependent on when in your cycle you took your blood. Do you remember? One thing that does stand out to me is the elevation in prolactin. This can happen with pregnancy, and breastfeeding, but also with stress and a low fT3.

Do you recognize symptoms of a slow thyroid? For example, are you feeling cold easily? Are you feeling fatigued? Do you struggle with weight loss or do you have unexplained weight gain? Do you experience hair loss? Are you constipated?

[Daniel]

Hey @Sara,

With SIBO often a low fodmap diet is recommended. Below I attached a handout from the BBetter library so you won’t need to search it!

I would, however, recommend stopping sourdough and all gluten-containing grains. Breakdown products of gluten will elevate zonulin and zonulin will cause the gut to be more leaky by opening the tight junctions (basically doors between cells) in the gut lining.

SIBO
To prevent SIBO from reoccurring you should also spend some time in finding what causes it. Here are some factors that can lead to SIBO:
• Low Stomach acid. Stomach acid is our first line of defence against foreign invaders. When stomach acid is low (for example to chronic stress, a slow thyroid or simply bad eating hygiene) the wrong microbes can populate the microbiome.
• Snacking. The migrating motor complex (MMC) is a pattern of electrical activity observed in the gastrointestinal tract causing intestinal peristalsis. Eating stops the MMC. If you find yourself snacking all day, you might want to change this habit, since it can cause bacteria from the large intestine to migrate to the small intestine causing SIBO.
• Antibiotics kill bacteria. In order to prevent yeast and fungi from growing I often recommend my clients take a good broad-spectrum probiotic supplement. Ther-biotic from Klair Lab has a wide range of probiotics and I often recommend this one myself. It can take a really long time after a course of antibiotics to repopulate the gut microbiome. I would advise you to at least take probiotics for half a year.
• Make sure you aren’t constipated. This video offers great solutions if you are in need of them.
• Are you using Berberine as an anti-microbial? Berberine is a great option. With SIBO I often use a mix of antimicrobials containing wild oregano, thyme, cat’s claw, pau d’arco, peppermint, garlic, cinnamon and olive oil extract. Great multi-herbal supplements that are anti-microbial are Metagenics CandiBactin-AR + CandiBactin-BR.
• The immune system plays a critical role in ‘allowing’ which microbes can live in the gut. I often recommend my clients check their vitamin D levels. I personally aim for around 50 ng/ml. Zinc and vitamin A are also important nutrients for the immune system.
• Digestive enzyme support in your case could help you as well. Bile for example is antimicrobial to a degree and creates a good environment for an optimal microbiome.

Pain in the upper stomach
There are a few reasons why you could experience pain in the upper stomach.
• Indigestion.
• Abdominal muscle strains from exercising for example can also cause abdominal pain.
• Hiatal Hernia, which happens when the stomach pushes through the diaphragm.
• Gallstones are formed by cholesterol crystals and can cause pain in this region. Make sure you aren’t hydrated. D-lemonene in this case can help resolve the cholesterol crystals.
• Peptic ulcers can also cause pain in this region
• Inflammation in the liver can also cause some pain in this area

The type of pain is hard to assess for me. If you feel worried, you should talk to your doctor since he will be able to judge the situation better and faster.

If you did talk to your doctor, you can share his findings. We could provide you with much more targeted advice!

I hope you feel well soon!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

You might be describing a migraine. People who have tension headaches often complain of a band of pain across their forehead or pressure on either side of the head. The pain is tiring, but less severe than a migraine. Migraines, on the other hand, usually hurts worse on one side of the head often combined with pulsing or throbbing pain. Visual changes can occur, but it isn’t always the case. Sensitivity to light and sounds do often occur, but in a minority of people, these symptoms stay away.

Reasons can vary and are hard to pinpoint since there are many. But here are a few:
 
• If you still are sick, viral infections can cause headaches and on some occasions a migraine. With COVID infections a migraine is more common than with the flu.
• You mentioned in earlier posts your stress levels are high as well and also stress can cause headaches or trigger migraines.
• Food sensitivities can cause migraines as well. The most common food sensitivities that are related to getting migraines are oranges, coffee, tea, wheat and eggs. 
• Foods contain tyramine like cheese, cured meats, alcohol and vinegar. 
• Foods containing tannins can provoke a migraine as well, like coffee, tea, chocolate and wine.
• Histamine intolerance can cause migraines as well
• Certain heavy metals like lead and cadmium
• Fluctuations in atmospheric pressure
• An elevation in homocysteine is also associated with migraines. Homocysteine is something you could test if you experience migraines regularly.
• Dehydration can also play a role in triggering migraines

Things you could try
I often recommend my clients to try one (or a combination) of the following things for relief:

• 300-400 mg of magnesium 2x per day with food. Malate & glycinate are well absorbed. Citrate might be a better choice if you also experience constipation, but if it is the only magnesium form you have at home, you certainly can try it.
• CoQ10 has been shown effective with migraine prophylaxis (click here if you like to see some research)
• An elevation in homocysteine is can be influenced by genetics or a deficiency in B12, folate, B9 and riboflavin.
• Water!

Stress reduction: journaling, meditation, massages… they all can help reduce the incidence of migraines should they occur more often.

If toxicity is at play, a different kind of approach should be taken.

But since stress and viral infections are at play, I would focus my attention on those two primary causes first!

I hope you feel better soon!

[Daniel]

,

I have attached the handout “go-to immune boosting protocol when sick” below. Let me know if you could open it now!


[Daniel]

Hey ,

I know a lot of people recommend it – especially in the blogosphere. There are studies that confirm that regular use of saunas can increase white blood cells in healthy adults (according to this study for example)

I believe having saunas can be really beneficial, but you should consider it like the effect of a workout. It is a stressor to which the body adapts positively.

The direct benefit of a sauna is that it can release heat shock proteins. Heat shock proteins can directly stimulate innate immune responses, such as the maturation and activation of dendritic cells and the activation of natural killer cells

But it is also a stressor. We see studies mentioning that a sauna can increase cortisol and catecholamines like adrenaline and noradrenaline (Just like workouts!). And although taking regularly a sauna can increase white blood cells, having a sauna while being sick isn’t being investigated well.

So what does this all mean?
Based on what I have read I would recommend letting you guide by how you feel. If you’re too sick (especially when you have a fever), I would recommend staying in bed. There is a risk of fainting. If you feel like a sauna, I wouldn’t use too high temperatures or stay in too long.

The rule of thumb would be to feel warm, but not so warm that my body needs to fight off the urge to go outside. This is the moment that your body wants to go into a fight-or-flight state. A reason for me to stay out would be if I’m dehydrated because of a fever for example – or having diarrhea.

One last thing: I would also make sure I’m the only one in the sauna since I wouldn’t like to contaminate others.

I hope this makes sense!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

Did you send them an email? Perhaps they could provide you with a solution!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

I have to disagree with you there. In the time you did your anti-inflammatory diet, symptoms became less! Which to me means, you were able to reduce inflammation.

One of the core beliefs in the world of functional medicine is that everyone is unique. Two persons with the same disease might have different root causes and might need 2 different approaches.

Reducing inflammation might be the perfect example to explain this to you. Of course, there are recommendations that help the majority of people: getting vitamin D up and taking omega 3’s are two such examples. Reducing fast digestible carbs, sugars and processed foods are examples that often reduce inflammation as well.

When it comes to reactions to specific foods the area becomes much more ‘grey’. With rheumatoid arthritis removing nightshades might help. It just doesn’t help everyone. The same goes for avoiding lectins. They are in a way nothing more than educated guesses.

Maybe you are thinking: but why is it there so much variation from person to person?

We often see in autoimmune diseases that the gut for some reason suffered some damage or is more ‘leaky’ and lets in undigested foods. The immune system sees undigested foods as possible invaders and starts to clean up the mess. The reaction of the immune system causes inflammation. And although there are rules of thumb (like nightshades with rheumatoid arthritis), many reactions to food are also really personal. I for example had a food sensitivity to fish, which is considered anti-inflammatory.

There are 2 reasons why I’m explaining this. Often the most inflammatory choices aren’t about choosing between bell peppers and broccoli, but about choosing to sleep 8 hours, reduce emotional stress/trauma and reduce the number of processed foods.

If guess what I try to tell you is that you probably did more right then you thought! If you like to learn and read more about anti-inflammatory foods I could recommend you the book Digestive Wellness: Strengthen the Immune System and Prevent Disease Through Healthy Digestion. It’s written by Elizabeth Lipski. 
The second reason why I explained the relationship between the gut and how the immune system can be triggered by undigested foods is that even when you follow the best anti-inflammatory diet in the world, when the gut lining is leaky (which we see a lot in auto-immune diseased) you need to reduce the leakiness. You might not have focussed on this step the last time, but here are some steps to reduce a leaky gut:
• Remove gluten-containing grains. Breakdown products of gluten will open the doors (also called tight junctions) between the cells of the gut lining.
• Remove dairy.
• Vitamin D is necessary to close the tight junctions. A low serum vitamin D needs to be addressed in my opinion
• Focus on gut-healing foods – watch this movie about gut-healing therapies.

Of course, I could recommend more, but have you watched the Gut Health Masterclass already? It might be something that could help you in your healing journey!

 

[Daniel]

Hey ,

It can be a little tougher to get enough protein in your diet, but it is still possible. Legumes like beans for example are rich in protein. They are a source of lectins though and some research shows that lectins aren’t helpful with rheumatoid arthritis. I’m mentioning this, because ankylosing spondylitis is also a rheumatic disease.

Cooking does however destroy almost all lectins, so make sure you cook your beans well. Other sources of lectins are for example other legumes like soybeans, peas and peanuts. If you like to consume a low lectin diet, you should also cook them well.

Nuts can be a great source of protein as well. But some other nuts like walnuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds contain some lectin as well. The next nuts are low in lectin and fit in a low lectin diet if you choose to follow this route: pecans, pistachios, pine nuts, flax seeds, hemp seeds, sesame seeds, and Brazil nuts.

Plant based protein powders can also be a solution. In this case I would recommend hemp based protein powders.

I hope this helps!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

The handout Bernadette mentioned is wonderful and full of tips!

I would also like to add that being sick, although it definitely isn’t fun, might also have an upside.

When you are sick, your immune system is very active. You could also see it as a way to ‘clean’ your body from possible other pathogens that aren’t causing a problem but still are a burden for the body.

Just provide the healing possibilities for your body! Make sure you rest and give in to it if that’s possible so your immune system can do its job effectively.

I have a rule of thumb: once you can vacuum clean your house, you could consider yourself better! If it is an option, don’t go back to work too soon since your body is still busy removing waste products afterwards.

Get well soon!