[Bernadette]

Hi @Yasmin atassi – you can check out these local resources:

https://farmingforyou.ae/

Dubai Chickens

Download the app Rootz (see image below)

Hope that helps!

[Bernadette]

@Rhondine sorrell wow – call me coocoo, but when things happen that fast, I believe it’s the universe guiding the way!!

I’m sure you’re feeling very scared having had so many surgeries, but I also believe in the power of our thoughts, and meditation/prayer. Don’t focus on the past which you cannot change. Focus on the positive outcome this will have on your immune system and toxicity level. Feel excited about this new chapter in your life that will hopefully bring with it renewed health.

Pray for a successful surgery. We’ll all be praying for you.

And now you’ve got 2 weeks to get ready for surgery and optimize immunity. Review the protocol I shared HERE, and get your post-surgery meals, food therapy options and/or supplements (for liver support and gut healing), and support system in place in the meantime.

You’ve got this! I’m really hopeful for you… ❤️

[Bernadette]

@Alyssa Ishizu

Very sorry to hear about your mom. EMDR therapy can be very effective at disassociating from traumatic experiences. Doing in-person Neo Emotional Release therapy, and body work can also be helpful at releasing trapped emotions. You can learn more about these healing modalities HERE from the Adrenal Balance course.

If there’s also hair loss, low energy and IBS, it’s also a good idea to test your thyroid function if you’re planning on getting labs done. And stress/adrenals impact the thyroid, so again, stress reduction should be your priority.

Regarding your diet – I’m glad the videos were helpful. If you’re needing to snack in between your main meals, ask yourself if you’re eating enough (portion wise), and also ask if you’re getting in enough proteins and healthy fats. If someone is insulin resistant, more frequent meals are helpful, but ideally, we should give our digestive system a rest in between our main meals, and therefore not be snacking. This allows the MMC (our migrating motor complex) time to do a “clean sweep” of the small intestine to prevent bacterial overgrowths. Constant snacking is often one of the biggest culprits of SIBO/IBS. So just keep that in mind, and ensure you’re getting at least 3-4 hours of digestive rest if you can between meals.

If you’re noticing more bloating since starting the probiotic, it might help to go slower. So perhaps taking it every other day for example to allow your microbiome the chance to adjust. Also, changing the time of day might be helpful. I normally recommend my clients to take their probiotics in the evenings or before bed.

Please keep us posted on how you’re doing, and let us know if you have any other questions.

[Bernadette]

@Moza Alsuwaidi well done for giving it a shot! That’s how we learn… I’m going to touch on every point you brought up:

So her bilirubin isn’t low, but it’s definitely suboptimal. In the video I shared on Bilirubin, I mention how suboptimal levels can be due to insufficient zinc, because we need zinc to convert biliverdin to bilirubin. Seeing that she was following a keto diet, I’m going to assume she was getting enough animal source proteins. So my next question is why would her zinc be insufficient? If you say she’s really stressed, could that be causing a suppression in her overall digestion, including stomach acid? RBC zinc can be measured, and we want it to be in the upper 2/3rds of the reference range.

Also, oxidative stress can also suppress bilirubin since it’s an antioxidant. Here’s a handout on examples of oxidative stress. You can show her these as well.

You’re correct about stress being a potential driver for suboptimal high glucose levels. A person can have the best diet, but chronic stress can lead to insulin resistance over time. You’re also correct that a lower HbA1c can be due to a low carb diet. But what other marker do I mention in the video that would be helpful in this type of situation? Hint – when it’s elevated, it will make losing body fat extremely hard because it’s a “storage hormone”.

Suboptimal high levels of eosinophils and monocytes could indicate the possibility of intestinal parasites. Higher eosinophils could also be due to allergies/sensitivities. And if she has asthma and eczema, doing a food sensitivity test (like the one by KBMO) could help eliminate a lot of trial and error and ease both of these symptoms. Weight loss is often a welcomed side effect of removing food sensitivities as well.

Hope this helps!

[Bernadette]

@Moza Alsuwaidi I checked the link for the glucose video and it’s working for me. Here it is again. Let me know if it’s still not working for you.

[Bernadette]

@Moza Alsuwaidi she’s lucky to have you guiding her. The best learning opportunity is to try and read labs yourself, so what I’m going to do is highlight a few markers of note, and link you to the videos from the Understanding Basic Blood Chemistry course to help with interpretation, and I would like to hear from you, what you think might be going on, since you know her better than me.

Let’s look at the ‘Maryam 1’ document:

Total bilirubin is 0.3 mg/dl, which is on the lower end of the clinical reference range. Please watch the video on Bilirubin and tell me your thoughts of what could be causing that suppression and how it can potentially affect weight loss.

Vitamin D is clinically low. Here’s a helpful handout on dosages.

Fasting glucose is 96 mg/dl, which is suboptimally high and HbA1c is 4.9% which is at the lower end of the clinical reference range. Please watch this video and let me know your thoughts on what may be at play, and if anything else should be measured as a follow-up. Hint – this could be the reason for her inability to lose weight!

Neutrophils & lymphocytes in her white blood cells are skewed (45 and 43%). When they’re close like that, it could indicate some type of low-grade simmering infection of some sort. With a clinically low vitamin D, this will contribute to compromised immunity. Also, her eosinophils are suboptimal high (4%) and monocytes are at the cusp of being suboptimal high (7%). Please watch this video to understand what the differentials mean, and then this video for interpretation of results. Let me know your thoughts on what can be causing an increase in eosinophils and monocytes that could be affecting weight loss!

Finally, do you have her free T3 result? It’s not showing and is definitely something to be looking at when someone struggles to lose weight.

Waiting to hear back from you! After you watch the videos I shared, you’ll feel much more confident answering the questions/clues I’ve pointed out. Putting you to the test Give it your best shot!

[Bernadette]

@Rhondine sorrell the oat test does show possibility of mold (high aspergillus and need for glutathione) but the mycotoxin test doesn’t show elevated levels. This could however be a false negative. If the body is having trouble excreting mycotoxins in urine, it will show negative results like yours.

The next step that I would take would be to do an ERMI test to check my environment. As I mentioned in my previous reply, the goal is to determine sources of heavy metals /toxins (mold included). We have a course on Mold & Mycotoxin Illness that can help with that. Here’s the video you can watch about testing mold in your environment.

As for Lyme – what did your doctor say about the results? It’s not uncommon for someone with burdened immunity from toxins to be prone to pathogens and overgrowths. So it’s not the starting place when there’s a lot else going on.

The goal is still to identify the source of toxins and avoiding them which will alleviate the burden on the immune system and allow it to handle pathogens and overgrowths more effectively. Make sense?

[Bernadette]

@Rhondine sorrell always go low and slow with supplements. And always introduce 1 new supplement at a time and wait at least 3 days before introducing a new supplement to 1- give your body time to adjust and 2- give you time to assess if it’s causing any issues so you can adjust it accordingly.

For example, anything with B vitamins. I usually tell my clients to take 1 with food and wait for 2 days. If symptom-free, add another capsule for another 2 days and wait again. Then full dose. Some clients need to take it even slower than that. They’ll even open up a capsule at first and just sprinkle a little bit over food and close the capsule. See how they feel with that. And slowly, gradually increase the dose of B’s over time.

You can consider stopping everything to allow your body to “reset” and then resume low and slow to help you identify what is and isn’t working for you from those supplements. Your body knows best!

[Bernadette]

@Rhondine sorrell 125mcg is 5000 IU vitamin D, so definitely make sure you retest after 3 months or so.

And 0.6mg of iodine is another 600mcg to your already 345mcg. That’s more than double what’s usually recommended. Worth having a discussion with your practitioner about that. If it’s for a short duration, might be ok.

[Bernadette]

@Rhondine sorrell how long are they asking you to be taking these for?

I took a closer look at all the supplements and calculated the totals of what could cause issues in high doses. I summarized it below for you:

Paramin 3 x per day is providing:

400 IU vit D (I converted it)

600mg calcium

Selenium 2 x per day:

200mcg

Megpan 3 x per day is providing:

30mg B6 (pyridoxine form)

150mcg selenium

345 mcg iodine

150 IU vit D

1,635 IU vit A

600 mg vit C

Endodren 3 x per day is providing:

300mg vit C

300mg vit B5 (that’s a therapeutic dose)

Renamide 3 x per day is providing:

360mg vit C

Lincomin 3 x per day is providing:

1,227 IU vit A

150mg vit C

Total nutrients being consumed from supplements:

Vit D – 550 IU – this is not a high amount but I noticed they also recommended a separate vitamin D supplement which you did not show me. What is the dosage they’re recommending? This vitamin D handout can help you understand recommended dosages better.

Calcium – 600mg – I’m always wary of recommending calcium supplementation especially if there’s ongoing inflammation as it can lead to calcification of soft tissue. It’s a good idea to check your sCRP level. I usually reserve calcium supplementation to pregnant women and those with osteoporosis, and it’s important to have the right cofactors. Vitamin K2 is one of those cofactors to ensure calcium is going into bones and not soft tissue. You are not being given K2 in any of the supplements so perhaps the discussion about calcium is something to discuss with your practitioner. You can learn more about calcium imbalances, testing, cofactors, and how to correct calcium imbalances starting with this video HERE from the Mineral Balance course (there’s 4 videos to watch). You can also watch THIS VIDEO to understand the interpretation of calcium marker that’s measured in blood as part of the electrolyte panel.

Selenium – 350mcg – in general, 200mcg per day is what’s recommended to correct a deficiency. So this is a little on the higher end, so a discussion about the duration and when to stop should be in place with your practitioner.

Vitamin A – 2,862 IU – since this is a fat soluble vitamin, I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t excessive as it can accumulate in the body and also affect vitamin D. This is not an excessive amount.

Vitamin C – 1,410mg – this is a water soluble vitamin so excess will be removed in urine. No issues here.

Vitamin B6 – 30mg – firstly, it’s in the pyridoxine form which needs to be converted to P5P. Second, for someone who has a strong need for vitamin B6, this dose could get their detoxification going too quickly and they may experience Herx symptoms as a result. But it’s not a high dose.

Iodine – 345mcg – 200-300mcg per day is usually what’s recommended to correct an iodine deficiency. So again, it’s on the higher end so a discussion about duration is important. Also, this is the total from the supplement images you shared with me. The protocol they gave you also has additional kelp, so this may be overdoing it. Please have that discussion with your practitioner as well.

Hope this helps.

[Bernadette]

@Naveed Aslam blood sugar should be done fasting, and for reassessment purposes, it’s also a good idea to test thyroid in a fasting state first thing in the morning as well. Also stop any B vitamin supplements at least 2 days prior to testing thyroid.

Please watch THIS VIDEO on best practices for successful labs from the Understanding Basic Blood Chemistry course for more helpful advice.

[Bernadette]

@Rhondine sorrell yes, it does seem a bit of an overkill to have 3 different formulas of multi-vit/min supplements. It could be ok but it all depends on the dosage they’ve recommended for you, and how many of each you’re actually taking.

The absorbable form of B6 you’re referring to is called pyridoxal-5-phosphate. The form that many people cannot convert properly into the absorbable form is called pyridoxine, which is the form in these supplements.

And this is the perfect example of how someone can have high levels of B6 when measured in the blood, but actually be low in B6 in the cells. What’s in the blood does not reflect what we absorb into the cells where it counts!

So if this has happened to you in the past, it would be a good idea to make sure B6 is in the P5P form. Too much B6 in the pyridoxine form can also lead to nerve impairment / neuropathy and tingling.

[Bernadette]

@Naveed Aslam they’re actually very relevant, but unfortunately they aren’t typically ordered in conventional medicine.

If the doctor you’ll be seeing has functional medicine training, he should understand the utility of these markers and shouldn’t give you a hard time ordering them.

[Bernadette]

Hi @Naveed Aslam – please watch this video on testing considerations from the Blood Sugar Regulation course in case you haven’t seen it.

And here’s the video on testing thyroid function.

Fasting insulin isn’t something they will typically order from the get-go, so you’ll need to insist. Same with thyroid. They usually only measure TSH, and at best TSH and free T4.

I want you to watch these videos so you can understand what the necessary markers mean so you can advocate for yourself. Hope that helps.

[Bernadette]

@Rhondine sorrell I’m glad you joined a few BII groups and are considering an explant. There is evidence of a heavy metal burden from your HTMA and blood tests, so once the source is found and removed, the body can then start to detoxify at a much faster rate, which is why many women start to experience symptom relief almost immediately.

Think of it this way. Imagine a bucket filled with water that has a hole at the bottom of it that allows water to leak out of it. The bucket represents your detoxification organs (the liver and skin being the largest ones) and the hole at the bottom of the bucket represents your ability to eliminate toxins through these detox organs. The size of that hole that lets water drain out varies from person to person. If the toxins coming into the bucket is faster than what the hole at the bottom can drain out, your bucket will overflow and you get symptoms. So the goal is to reduce the toxins coming into your bucket. Does that visual analogy make sense?

And I want to acknowledge and give you credit for not giving up! And give yourself credit for instinctively knowing what the next step should be in wanting to support your body and immune system to be stronger for the explant surgery. You know your body better than anyone, including myself and doctors. Give yourself credit and keep listening to that gut feeling you have.

We actually have a “Preparing for Surgery – Pre & Post Op Recommendations” protocol that can hopefully help you do just that!

Please let me know if you have any other questions, and do keep us posted on what happens with the insurance. I’m praying they cover it!