Testing, 1,2,3

Oh Cholesterol. We meet again, you saucy minx!

If you looked at my LadyGrok FB page, you saw that I got some good news today. Test results were back!

Cholesterol is not something that I am naturally gifted at. I have a couple of strikes against me: I am one of these lucky people who has the hereditary kind of high cholesterol- the kind your docs will tell you, only statins can lower.

I do not want to take statins. My parents both take them. Many people on the maternal side of my family take them. Guess what? Statins can supposedly reduce some of your risk- if you're male. Statins are not correlated with the same proven health results for women. They do, however, have a whole bunch of really unpleasant potential side effects. Here's a list of the "most common" (so, by no means all of them) from WebMD:

• Headache
• Difficulty sleeping
• Flushing of the skin
• Muscle aches, tenderness, or weakness (myalgia)
• Drowsiness
• Dizziness
• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Abdominal cramping and/or pain
• Bloating and/or gas
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Rash

Ok. I mean, you can live with those. But then, there's this: 

"Statins also carry warnings that memory loss, mental confusion, high blood sugar, and type 2 diabetes are possible side effects. It's important to remember that statins may also interact with other medications you take."
 
Plus, no more delicious grapefruit.  I'll risk it.

I believe that cholesterol is an indicator, but not the end-all be all, and putting so much weight on one major lab value (and one that I feel isn't fully understood) is so incredibly frustrating. After all, your body needs cholesterol to function. I had "high cholesterol" when I weighed 50 lbs. less than I do now, did an hour of high intensity cardio daily, and ate less than 25 grams of fat and 1200 calories a day like it was my religion. I did this for over a year. My cholesterol tested at 250. I was told to watch my fat intake and exercise more. Thanks, Medical Science. (FAIL!!)

I know for a fact that my cholesterol levels negatively impacted my quest to get privately insured earlier this year. That plus my weight freaked insurance adjusters out. They were convinced I was going to have a stroke at any second.

So now that I am finally, FINALLY covered by insurance again (Thank you, Kaiser!) I was super-worried about what those tests would say about me now.

You see, in January, I was pretty confident. I had taken my diet super-low carb, as advocated in the forums.  I was avoiding fruit, dairy, sugars, and anything starchy. Leafy green veggies and the occasional carrot were pretty much my jam.

So when I went to a naturopath, and he wanted me to get labs drawn, I was confident that my numbers would be phenomenal. (And just in case, I was "off the grid" since I was paying out of pocket- thank goodness!!!)

And boy howdy, were they phenomenal! I got a combined cholesterol of 309. LDL 202, HDL 83, Trigs 121. I also got some weird liver panels, and a flag on my ratio of T3-T4.

Now, I did my research. While the numbers were scary, my ratios weren't bad. Back in the day, when I was on Accutane, I had to be taken off because my trigs went through the roof- I think they tested around 400. But still! This was definitely disheartening. Once again, research: going VLC (very low carb) has this effect on some people. The general consensus- that I was in the middle of clearing crap out of my system, and basically took a snapshot of my levels while my body was freaking out and adjusting. OK.

It took a month or two of experimenting to realize that VLC and fasting weren't putting a dent in the scale, and I was sick of being exhausted all the time. So I added back some fruits and starchy veggies, butter, and cheese. I immediately felt much better. And now, I have the numbers to prove it.

Combined cholesterol: 235. I haven't had a number that low since I was in my 20's. HDL 62, LDL 153, Trigs 101. That's a 74 point drop in just over 6 months, y'all! And my ratios are still good. Happiness! Next time around, I will get a VAP test, to see if my LDL is anything I need to worry about. It's a deal. 

As was posted on Facebook earlier- Paleo eating works. I feel healthier because I AM healthier. Hooray!

Detox

I didn't blog yesterday, mainly because my body decided that it was going to stage a coup and do whatever it could to take me out of the game. I drank my detox smoothie and detox tea, took my horrible tincture (which I refer to as ass in a glass but actually tastes horribly bitter and reminds me of EARWAX ew ew ew) and ate mostly veggies dutifully. The food was great: I made a vegetable soup, and was shocked that SG asked if he could have some for his lunch. Of course, he got to supplement it with sausages.   

However, by the end of the day, I felt like I wanted to die.There was a persistent horrible taste in my mouth: an awful mixture of garlic and metal. I also noticed a lot of temperature fluctuation: I would be warm one minute, freezing cold the next. The worst part was a feeling of overwhelming nausea. Nothing sounded good. I tried eating blueberries for dinner, and I choked down about three before I gave up. They were delicious, but my body so obviously did not want me to eat them! I also had a persistent headache, the kind I get that turns into a migraine if I don't intervene. Since I have been cautioned against consuming any caffeine, I waited until the last possible minute before finally giving in and taking half my usual dose of Excedrin. At least I was able to make life bearable. 

I spent most of the evening curled up on the couch drinking water, which was the only thing that sounded good, and watching movies on cable- and was in bed before 10.

The interesting part: I stared reading bits of "Primal Body, Primal Mind" when I was waiting for SG to come to bed, and it was like the chapter was tailor made for me. It talked about how heavily leptin resistant people have a really hard time converting from burning sugar to burning fat as fuel, and that their bodies will make sugar out of bone and muscle tissue in severe cases. Looking at my labs, I cut out all sugar on Jan 1st, have been staying below 30 g. carbs a day since then as well, and have been relatively grain free for two years. My fasting blood sugar was still riiiight at the top of the range on January 4th. That's kind of terrifying. No wonder I have been getting headaches!

So I am just doing my best to be mindful and get through this. It's only for 5 days. And happily, I woke up this morning feeling much better. 1 day down, 4 more to go.

Screeching Halt

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

 

This pretty much sums up how I feel about my visit to the naturopath today. And it sounds a lot better than just a long stream of profanity. Thanks, Charles Dickens!!

 

After processing all the info, this is what I got out of it: summed up in excerpts from the email I sent to the acupuncturist.

"Well: not so good.  I will send you the labs once I get them scanned but this is the Reader’s Digest version.

First, my cholesterol is 309.  HDL: 83, LDL 202. (Holy crap!) That's a 100 point rise since I was tested in 2010. Trigs at least, are normal at 121.

I have a zinc deficiency, and something major is amiss with my liver. Uric Acid and GGT are both off the charts.- The range on Uric acid ends at 7, and mine is 7.9. GGT should be between 3 and 50, and mine is 80. This may explain why I occasionally levitate when you hit that Liver point around my feet/ankles. It’s not stress, it’s my super-angry liver. 

Free T3 is on the low end of normal.  I am also slightly anemic, which I expected.  Some good news: my immune system seems to be iron-clad. All my blood ratios look good, except for iron.

While I know you say FSH is only valuable in Day 3, mine was at 43.1, which (per the lab sheet) puts me in the “post menopausal” range. As someone who is only 37 and would like to eventually have children, this is...disappointing. Also, my blood glucose was high.  

So, the good news:  We were right about my thyroid being juuust a bit wonky.  He has given me (piggy) thyroid pills to try, at a dosage of ½ grain a day. He says those work more naturally with the body than synthesized T3. I am supposed to start taking those after a 5 day liver cleanse.  I’ll send those sheets over too. Looking over it, I’ll be drinking herbal tea and taking a tincture, as well as eating a lot of organic fruit, fresh squeezed juice, and veggies.  Oh, and taking a laxative (so not happy about this!) in order to help kick out toxins. He says that the imbalance in my liver would affect my hormones and everything else, and the resultant inflammation may be the reason my cholesterol is so high. He also said that my blood glucose levels indicate that my body doesn’t utilize sugar/carbs well- which is one of the reasons I gain weight so easily. My body is a "hoarder".

The consensus was that this is all fixable, and we’ll be testing at intervals to make sure that we are getting things right. He gave me a B-12 shot and all my little bottles and sent me on my way.  

Thoughts?  I am experiencing a strange mix of relief (I am not crazy) and frustration (this better freaking work, dammit), but I would like your input on this."

When I got home, I laid it all out for SG, and he helped me to see the bright side of the situation, which is that it IS fixable, and that we should take the opportunity to go out and get burgers with sweet potato fries at The Counter. I had a few sips of PB shake too, and it was sweet in a horrible way, so evidently, I have kicked sugar for good. I will take comfort that eating this way for a week for cleansing purposes will just be like Grok had a bad 5 days of hunting. (And I am sure SG is dreaming of the inevitable pizzas he will order while I am on my fruit, veggie, root, and bark "liver cleanse".)

I have to admit, there was a moment when my naturopath was explaining this plan to me, and announced, "And people often lose quite a bit of weight doing this!" and I made a very unattractive snorting noise. He looked affronted. I was surprised by how UPSET I was to derail the way I have been eating, and how scared I am to do it. I did finally lose the last of my "Christmas weight", and I credit my discipline thus far with helping me to do that. It's still Primal: not necessarily low carb, but 5 days is certainly not going to kill me. Right?

The Infamous LCF

LCF= Low Carb Flu.

I am realizing now just how much sugar: in the form of fruit and heavy cream and chocolate/grain-free desserts must have been slipping through the cracks.

Because initially, I felt great. And then I got my blood drawn on Thursday, and when I got home, I was actually giddy. I suspect that this was the last gasp of my system, trying to run on sugar fumes. On Friday, I came to a screeching halt. I was starving, we are talking ravenously hungry, but nothing "allowed" sounded good. My joints and muscles ached. I kept clenching my jaw. And I had the mother of all headaches. This continued through Monday, when I refused to cop out and take Excedrin Migraine, and I had accidentally skipped my coffee- suddenly it was late at night, and if I wanted to sleep, caffeine would be a bad idea. So I toughed it out, until the unpleasant throbbing in my head turned into that distinctive migraine pain: which for me, feels like being shanked in the eye by an icepick. (So lucky!)

I tried taking Excedrin PM. Luckily the PM part worked, and I actually managed to go to sleep...but the migraine was still there when I woke up on Tuesday. Sir Grok took one look at me and brought me two migraine pills and water in bed, and commanded me to go back to sleep. When I finally woke back up, I felt like a million bucks. Here's hoping I am through the worst of it!

The naturopath called today: My test results are in, so I will be going in tomorrow to discuss those. Acupuncture was interesting today: cutting out sugar and dairy (except butter and occasional cheese) seems to be doing: well, something. My body is doing weird things: My temps are up, and seem to be evening out, and per my acupuncturist, "Your tongue looks almost normal."  And my wrist pulses are evidently "better" this week, too. Looking around, I see other people alluding to the sudden feeling of warmth or flushing that I have been getting since I started the Leptin Reset. My guess is that my body has finally started to adjust. Thank goodness! 

The Letter

I go in for a blood draw today. I am excited to compare my previous labs from two years ago to current data! I also got a pleasant surprise when I stepped on the scale this morning, and saw that three out of 5 of my Christmas pounds are gone. Wooohooo!

Man, yesterday was a big day, in the world of me. I had my appointments, got my first blog comment (yay!) and also the Amazon shipment containing my FitBit showed up! So I am enjoying trying that out.

I posted something about my multiple appointments to the acupuncturist and the naturopath on Facebook yesterday. One of my friends asked about why I wasn't just seeking out conventional medicine, and I wrote a novel: one that ties in pretty well over here, I think, so I will share. :)
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The short answer-

It's been my experience that alternative medicine practitioners do a lot more listening, and are a lot less cookie cutter with their approach to health. They seem to do better at discovering the cause of my problem, rather than just treating the symptoms.  I love the knowledge that the ultimate answer is that I can work with my body and do my best to help it heal, as opposed to just throwing stuff to the wall (in some cases you can substitute "huge amounts of money" for the word "stuff") to see what sticks. It's been gradual, and there is no "pill" I can take, but I can tell that it's working, because I feel better and better every day. I now feel like a rational human being, instead of a human guinea pig.


Here's the(really really long) lowdown: Since you lived with me way back when, you may remember that I always struggled with my weight and my skin (among other things.) I was constantly sick in the winter, with horrible sinus infections- and had pretty much been that way since childhood- although back then, it was also recurrent bladder/ear infections. And I was the world's heaviest sleeper- I snored, even as a kid. I'd sleep through my alarm and miss class all the time.

Over the years, things just seemed to snowball and get worse. I went to a bunch of the usual specialists, they ran a bunch of tests, and always said something like, "Well, it sounds like thyroid, but your labs are fine, so we don't know WHY you have this problem- but since we obviously need to deal with it, here's a ton of antibiotics/Accutane/maybe it's all in your head, but you should go on a diet, and also exercise more- couldn't hurt." And it was generally a solution that was ineffective, or in some cases, actually made me sicker. And I guess I just assumed that it was the way I was: I had always been a heavy sleeper, and low energy, and I always had breakout-prone and super oily skin and got my weird colds in the winter, etc.

And then there was a point where my husband and I started trying to get pregnant, and just...couldn't. Once again specialists, who all fixated on my weight- but admitted that it was just a guess, as there was nothing technically "wrong" with my husband, or with me. We went through the whole gamut, with no luck. There was no explanation they could come up with as to why it all failed.

So I went with the only thing I had control over. I started desperately trying to lose weight, and it worked- briefly. But inevitably, even with tracking my exercise and activity, and every calorie that went into my mouth, I'd not only stall, I would start to regain. And then, when I would freak out and tell the doctor, "Something isn't right, look at the math!", the doctor would tell me that stress is another factor in infertility, and I just needed to be patient. I finally elected to take a break from pursuing it: We were both emotionally bankrupt after a few rounds of it, our savings account was a wreck, and I was desperately sick of being a crazy hormonal diva monster with all the pills and shots!

So. When we moved up here, it was (at least in part) because of the proximity to the fertility specialists in the Bay Area (there was ONE GUY in my hometown) and also because the change in earning potential- we would be able to do IVF without it being a horrible financial strain.

I was desperately trying to stay in control of my health, and failing. I'd added a ton of whole grains into my diet, since they're supposed to be good for you! But I just got sicker. I developed rosacea, my hair was falling out, I was getting debilitating migraines two or three times a week, and once again, nobody knew why. My new doctor advised me to quit my job and lose a bunch of weight- once again, she cited "stress".

Luckily, (but misguidedly) I decided that if I wasn't working, we should start focusing on the baby thing again. I decided to start seeing an acupuncturist. He basically looked me over, asked a bunch of questions, and said, "You're too sick to have a baby, and you're almost too sick to function on your own.You have no business pumping yourself full of drugs like this, your hormones are all messed up, you're just making the damage worse." He's the first person who ever looked at my charted temps in the morning, which were consistently below 97 degrees, and said, "You're way too cold- this isn't normal, and we need to fix it." That's the way my temperature has always been, but nobody had said anything about it until now, even when I had tried to bring it up in the past!

He suggested I try an elimination diet. By this point, I was willing to try anything. Coincidentally, I had recently read about a diet that meant you cut out all grains, sugar, and dairy. I had dismissed it as "Low carb dressed up in a caveman suit," but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made, and I decided to try it for a week. And well, here I am!

It's been about two years: skin problems started to disappear in the first week. I will occasionally get a pimple (Thanks, PMS). Recurrent sinus infections and UTI's- gone. Migraines: I'll occasionally get one if I get off track with my eating: otherwise, they're gone. Seasonal depression- gone. Brain fog- gone. My eyes aren't bloodshot all the time. I actually wake up in the morning before my alarm goes off! I haven't lost a lot of weight, but I am not as "puffy" and I can maintain, which is amazing. My teemperatures seem to be slowly stabilizing and climbing. And my hair lady says my hair is healthier- growing back in thicker and stronger.

Confession time-I do occasionally cheat. I had some gluten-free treats over the holidays, and I am not always good about avoiding sugar. I learned the hard way that it is definitely gluten my body has a problem with. We had cream puffs leftover from a party last Christmas, and I ate some- you'd think they were poison. It was like the world's worst hangover and flu combined. I was horribly sick for a week.

My goodness, I wrote a novel- my apologies! I know my zeal sounds a little crazy, like I ran off and joined the Hari Krishnas or something. But it really has been life-changing- on par with going off to college or getting married for me. I can't stop thinking about what it would be like if I had never figured this out. So, if my story can help anyone, I am happy to tell it.
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