Knuckle Down

What happened between February and September?

In February, I injured myself rebounding and ended up with multiple herniated discs throughout my spine. Then came a hiatal hernia and an upgrade to my already low stomach acid which came in the form of GERD/LPR.


So what do you have now and how are you treating it?

BACK PAIN

• I did sciatica stretches (via "Bob and Brad" videos - bless!) as often as I could. I have a problem in the apartment where I cant lay on the floor much. This will be sorted when I move next spring, I hope. When I could do the stretches, they helped. I believe continuation of this, better posture, and standing desks should help. That, and walking more often. I need to be gentle with my body. I forgot that I'm no longer a 20 year old. I'm more than twice that number now.

HIATAL HERNIA/ GERD/ LPR/ LOW STOMACH ACID

• This is all related. I massaged my hiatal hernia by using a downward sliding motion. 
• The GERD/LPR caused me the most pain in this section as I started to lose my voice and had trouble swallowing.
• I started to get esophageal cancer scares. I treated this by taking HCL with pepsin, but my numbers kept climbing, so I looked at what else I could do. For my throat I was sipping "Throat Coat" by Traditional Medicinals (from grocery store) throughout the day, taking D-limonene capsules for when things got really bad with the acid and slept on a wedge pillow from Bed Bath and Beyond. (I wasn't going to pay a couple hundred dollars!)
• AVOIDED - mint (in food and scents) and chocolate related things (as of this writing, i can have chocolate again, but mint still triggers my LPR)
• I also ate less. I never ate till full. I always left the table a little hungry, which was challenging because I always ate my fill. However, this combination of things helped a LOT!  Eventually, my hiatal hernia became a 'sliding' hiatal hernia. Still an improvement. My LPR symptoms were under control, but my low acid was not.

THRUSH

• Yeah. Well, I had some at the start of this ordeal, so I was wondering when it would really show itself. Thrush worsened as I was not on a protocol for candida. I'm still dealing with this (see below).

 

CONSTIPATION and EXISTING ISSUES

I did the above stuff, and kept at it still, but I was facing the issue of constipation and only having one bowel movement (BM) a day. I ate less, too. So this is what I'm dealing with now plus my low stomach acid issue. The above stuff is all just managing symptoms. The real issue is still being addressed.


CURRENT PROTOCOL

• OIL PULLING - for thrush; oil of oregano (good ol' P73!) and clove oil in coconut oil. I also follow up with activated charcoal for die off symptoms. (For my turpentine protocol, i used chlorella to deal with detox, but for this one the charcoal is much more effective, plus, I like the chlorella as a food)
• CULTURED KEFIR - This I got from The Kefir Company. This kefir is far more superior than the grains i had been keeping alive all this time. It helped kick things into gear.
• I have fermented vegetables, but .. they're sitting at my friend's work place at the moment. I have pests at home and can't ferment here right now. So he does it for me in an empty drawer at his job. :) I'm still new to this, but once i figure out a recipe i like, I'll share.
• CELERY JUICE  - I just did this today. About 1 hour after juice, I had a BM. I hadn't had BMs in the morning for at least a month or so.. The celery juice is rather bitter, though.

SUPPORT

I was told I needed support for my candida protocl, as it can tear apart relationships and is emotionally taxing etc. Yeah. I experienced a lot of that first hand and things were bleak for me more than once. When you're suffering, it's hard when no one is there for you, and even worse when the people you thought would be decide that your suffering is too much for them or is cramping their style etc - but I can write about that another time.

Eventually, I joined several facebook groups. I typically don't but i joined one once I got LPR as I was so desperate for help. Eventually I found a group that was pretty helpful (so far). We'll see how things progress. There's some drama in here from time to time, but I generally ignore it. There isn't anyone in these groups that I turn to for emotional support. I'm here for answers. As for my emotions go, I invested in several blank journals and art supplies (not to be used together, though I suppose they could be.)


I was going to set up a Blogger for all of this as I felt I wanted to start fresh, but when Im going through protocol, i feel like crap and just don't want to do anything, so I figure it would be alright if I stayed here for a bit until I can be more reliable.

 

DISCLAIMER

I should add that my links above are NOT affiliate links. They are things I use. Even the amazon links are just quick searches for what i use and I copy/pasted the link from that. I'm not out to cheat anyone as I've been cheated too. I just want to heal and if I can help someone else along the way by sharing what I did, why not?

I think I had a bad day last week where I was hoping my parents would take an interest in finding out why I'm sick or at least what it does to me. I set up this blog for them, after all, hoping to answer some questions they may have. Nope. A friend. wants me to keep reaching out to them, but at the rate it stresses me, I think I'm better off not counting on their emotional support.

SO. I don't know whether or not I'll even keep this blog up now. We'll see what happens, I guess. The good news is that I'll write my thoughts now instead of keep up with that stupid template log. Actually, no. I know that log is helpful, so I should keep some incarnation of it up.



Recap

So, things I learned from my last mishap. Eat. Solid. Foods. I had one full day of soup and I was in so much pain afterward. I guess I was concerned if I was allergic to anything since I had been reading about food allergies and don't know if I have it. (I am not seeing a doctor.)

Radishes - strong anti-fungal. I can only eat 1 a day. Frankly, I've not even had 1 a week since that last horrible incident of die-off. It even sent me into painful bloat mode! (As did the soup day.)



New Problem! Tooth and Gum Issue!

It's Winter and the air is always dry. For the last few years since I've lived here, my teeth and gums would always ache in the winter. This year was no exception. However, this year I notice that my gum line near my bottom left molar has started to turn more black. 6 years ago, when I still lived in California, I went to a dentist who just said it was a stain and to not worry about it. (He's on 1800Dentist, by the way. Ripped off my mom too but that's another story.) I went to brush my teeth after having Alkalizing drink #2 (post after this one!) and noticed some blood. I checked and it didn't look like anything was bleeding, but when I spat, sure enough. I flossed again, especially around that dark "stained" area. My tooth looks fine from above, but that gum line looked like it had gotten darker and spread a little. I used a rubber pick around the area. Again, no pain, but we all know that when plaque is at work, it numbs the area so you can't feel it, little bastards. Anyway, I'm not sure if there's a natural remedy for this. I can't think straight to research or even comprehend anything but my protocol schedule, and even that sends me for a loop sometimes.

Note : I did have some jaw tenderness 2 weeks prior. That's when I bought a humidifier. Damned if the thing is working or not.