if you’re taking medication, please make sure you check with your doctor if it’s safe for you to stop. If it’s nutritional supplements,  yes, it’s better to stop them for a minimum of 2 days before testing.

Always test in a 12-hour fasting state, first thing in the morning, to help reduce variability on repeat future testing.

In addition to the full thyroid panel (video here with panel markers), you might also want to check thyroid nutrients like iron, ferritin, vitamin A, selenium, and magnesium. Vitamin D also if you haven’t checked it in a while, and RBC zinc since these are immune nutrients to be checked if there are high thyroid antibodies.

I’d encourage you to watch the video I shared above which discusses additional tests to do alongside a thyroid panel (at about the 5min mark), as there can be many factors influencing the thyroid that can be investigated as well.

 please update us on your investigations with mold at home.

 results were released to you. Feel free to upload them here for us to take a look.

 I used to recommend Jarrow, but they discontinued that product. There’s also Premier Research Limonene Premier which is a liquid version, but I believe they also stopped production. But check if some suppliers still have stock.  are you aware of any other brands with liquid or low dose limonene?

Eeeeeee – I’m so excited too!! I have butterflies in my stomach. The GLO recipe is also in the recipe section at the back of the book.

Hi  – yes absolutely! It’s my GLO dressing which I share in my book. I will add it to the recipe resource as well. Here is is for now:

GLO (Garlic, Lemon juice, Olive oil) Dressing:
Makes: 3-4 Tbsp of dressing
 
Ingredients:
1 clove garlic, crushed (or ¼ tsp crushed garlic)*
½ lemon, juiced (or 2 Tbsp lemon juice)
2-3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/8-1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Dash of pepper, or to taste
 
Directions:
1. Mix all of the ingredients together.
2. Adjust seasoning to taste. Extra dressing can be stored in the fridge for 2 weeks.
 
*Note: If you don’t like the strong taste of garlic, use half the amount instead so approximately ½ garlic clove or 1/8 tsp crushed garlic.

we partnered with True Health Labs, and they provide tests to Canada!! Here are the options for stress tests in Canada. Let me know if you need help narrowing it down, but you can see the different prices and if it’s something you’d like to pursue.

Hi  – thanks for the follow-up question in this space. As we mentioned in another thread, endometriosis is worsened by estrogen dominance so to help alleviate pain associated with endometriosis, reducing estrogen dominance (i.e. decrease estrogen receptor sensitivity and increase estrogen detoxification) and excretion is key to reducing symptoms.

1. Do you have any recent blood tests you can share with us?

2. How long have you been vegan for? I ask because B vitamins are critical for phase 1 detoxification, and proteins are essential for phase 2 detox. Given that the goal is to help with hormone detox, we need to ensure that you’re providing your body with the raw ingredients it needs if not through food, then through supplements. Would you say you’re getting in enough protein and B vitamins?

3. How often do you run in a week and what distance? How often do you lift weights in a week? I ask because I’m sensing that stress (physical and emotional) might be a factor here especially that you work in a high stress environment already.

4. Are you taking any supplements? If so, please share.

5. Other than intense pain that causes cyclic vomiting, do you experience any other symptoms? Perhaps GI related? Immune related? Mental health related? Circulatory? The more information you can provide the better.

I’ll wait for your reply.

thank you for sharing your labs.

1. So your blood test does show patterns of dehydration (higher RBC, hemoglobin and hematocrit). All 3 being on the higher end of the reference range can indicate dehydration. So definitely work on this and watch the video for more tips on how to increase hydration.

2. Keep me posted if increasing magnesium citrate helps you achieve a type 3-4 stool daily.

3. Unfortunately, only total bilirubin was measured. Liver markers look good. If you’re going to get more tests done, it would be good to ask them to get a breakdown of bilirubin: total, direct and indirect bilirubin, as it can give us clues about biliary tract health. Alkaline phosphatase is suboptimally low, and since it is a zinc dependent enzyme, this could point to a need for more zinc, B6 and B12.

Also, your MCV of 95.5 is suboptimally high, which means the size of your red blood cells are large. This can happen when there’s a need for more folate/B9 and B12. Are you taking any supplements with methylated forms of B vitamins?

4. Unfortunately, TSH and free T4 only do not give us enough information about thyroid health. Here is a video in the Thyroid Balance course that explains what a full thyroid panel entails, so you can ask for it (and insist) the next time you test. If the doctor isn’t willing – there are plenty of others who are. And if you don’t want to bother with a doctor, you can always pay out of pocket. If you’re in the US, we partnered with True Health Labs. Here’s their full thyroid panel.

5. Have you tried an elimination challenge before? Removing gluten 100% for at least a month and then re-introducing it once symptoms disappear to see if it’s a food sensitivity or not? Here’s a handout on how to do an elimination challenge. And here are handouts on how to eliminate gluten and dairy – the 2 most common food sensitivities.

6. The DUTCH Plus would be a good idea if you’re experiencing fatigue in the morning as it would also show the cortisol awakening response (plus all sex hormones, and some organic acid markers for B6, B12, glutathione, etc). It’s not cheap though and turnaround time is about 4 weeks +/-. With True Health Labs, it’s $569. With Nordic Labs, they charge $499 plus shipping. We can help with the requisition with Nordic Labs. No need with True Health Labs.

And to answer your question, I suspect the main driver to be adrenal function, given that your labs show a pattern of parasympathetic dominance (lower sodium and chloride, and higher potassium). Here’s the video where I explain the electrolyte markers. The pattern you are showing is common when stress has been prolonged, and the body starts to slow down on purpose as a protective mechanism. It is appropriately responding and skewing the HPATG axis to protect you from a prolonged threat. So I would recommend focusing on adrenal health first and foremost, but also thyroid health as it can be impacting digestion by slowing everything down.

 you can see a disclaimer on Amrita’s website: Formerly Histamine Block – you may receive the old packaging, no change in formulation.

GastroMend by Designs for Health is a great product that has a combo of mastic gum, DGL licorice and zinc carnosine that I’ve used successfully with clients too.

And here’s the video on iodine testing to help you ask for the right one.

Thanks for sharing your results with us. So yes, like you said, there is some H Pylori overgrowth that could probably be resolved with a course of Matula tea. I can’t remember if you’ve ever taken Matula tea before but I usually tell my clients to take it twice per day, 30 mins before or 2 hours after food.

The opportunistic overgrowth is being allowed to happen due to low gut immunity (low sIgA), so your focus should be on boosting sIgA (secretory immunoglobulin-A) by optimizing immune nutrients vitamin D, zinc, and A, and other strategies like omega-3, s. boulardii, etc. which I share in this video here inside the Gut Health Masterclass.

You can also look at direct immunoglobulin support which I discuss in this video here on probiotics and gut immunity.

And given the high zonulin, there is likely some enhanced intestinal permeability (leaky gut) from gluten in your diet (if you’re resumed eating it again) and/or the bacterial byproducts of the microbial overgrowth called LPS (lipopolysaccharides) which can cause a lot of inflammation and wear and tear on the integrity of the gut lining. So a course of broad-specturm antimicrobials like Biocidin as Daniel had suggested, is probably a good idea in this case too.

So to summarize, I would address the H Pylori overgrowth, support gut immunity and overall immune nutrients, and do a round of anti-microbials.

In addition, since your TSH is quite elevated, I would ask your doctor to check your iodine status with a loaded iodine urine test since there are no thyroid antibodies present.

Hi  in addition to Daniel’s excellent suggestions, I often recommend that my clients take a probiotic that also has a strain of S. Boulardii (or separately to Klaire Labs Therbiotic Complete) since antibiotics create a favorable environment for opportunistic yeast to overgrow.

I often recommend Klaire Labs ABx Support which has some lacto, bifido, and S. boulardii for that purpose.

But like Daniel mentioned, fermented foods are even more powerful in terms of diversity and quantity of beneficial probiotics.

And the duration is another factor to consider. Most people believe that taking probiotics for a month or two is enough, when that’s not the case. After only 1 course of antibiotics, it can take several months to replenish the gut with healthy microbes. Most people don’t supplement for that long for various reasons (they forget, the expense, pill fatigue, etc), and that’s where food becomes your best friend.

I share several recipes for fermented foods in the recipe section of the Resources here if you’d like to venture down that road.

 I replied in the comment above