Posted on 03/10/2024 9:42:24 AM PDT by ConservativeMind
Is your gallbladder in scope simple due to not know the source of the blood?
I take 1 gram of vitamin C morning and evening. That has been my practice for over 30 year.
The first liver clue was high ALP/GGT. I have classic "itching" that comes with bile backup into the blood. I've had an abdominal ultrasound to check liver/gallbladder followed by an MRCP(MRI) for my entire abdomen. My biliary tract is dilated to 17 mm from the "tree" in the liver to the ampulla next to the small intestine. Layers of stones are discernible in the gallbladder and "sludge" i.e. cholelithiasis is observable in the gallbladder and biliary duct. I've clearly had some bile obstruction with clay colored stools and fats floating in the toilet bowl (TMI). The bile isn't getting delivered properly. I'm not anxious to have my gallbladder removed as the long term changes to bowel function are not very pleasant. I am eager to fix the itching. It disturbs my sleep more than the apnea. The elevated ALP goes hand-in-hand with back up bile going into the bloodstream. ALP targets cleanup of the bile that went the wrong way.
A family member was ultrasounded and they saw it was filled with sludge.
I found that either TUDCA, or perhaps better, Jarrow’s Bile Acid Factors, which worked in a few months. A follow up showed it was all gone.
Do you eat fat, or are you on low fat diet?
Just one quick thought for tonight as I have just spent 16 hours working on catching up on back tax paperwork, and need sleep. Your height to weight measures indicate you are very thin. I wonder if you eat enought good fat like extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, omega-3 capsules (soften in mounth a bit, bite, and swallow the oil, spit out the empty capsule), salmon baked with skin on top to get crispy and eat the skin with the salmon. Also don’t remove too much of the fat from steak, and eat the skin on baked (not breaded) chicken. I had a friend who was seriously avoiding fat to lose weight. Eventually she needed gall bladder surgery to remove a bunch of gall stones. Also eat some butter, never margerine. Fat is needed in the diet to trigger dumping of gall from the gall bladder. How much fat do you eat a day. How much carbs and protein. More later when I am awake and done with more taxes.
Your sympathy is appreciated, but my husband died in 2005. I have been with my current partner for 18 years. He seems to have fully recovered from his prostate cancer, and I make him a weeks supply of supplements to take each day of the week. Cheers
I do indulge a grilled salmon at Texas Roadhouse. In recent weeks, I've added more red meat to rebuild the iron deficiency anemia issues. A gluten free "Good Ol' Boy" pizza at McKenzie River has a bit of fat. Saag lamb is full of butter. I'm getting adequate quality fat. I do have kill oil capsules. As recommended, I just crush them with my teeth and swallow the oil. Discard the capsule.
My taxes are complete, federal refund in hand. All of the recent imaging co-pays wiped out my HSA, so my tax refund may be covering bills related to the colonoscopy/endoscopy on Thursday. Surgical consult Monday for the gallbladder removal.
I conflated your references to your partner with your references to your husband. Thanks for clarification.
Just a few more thoughts before decending into the IRS miasma once again. My 50 year old son who has recently recovered from a rare neck cancer has a heightened interest in health building. He read one study done by the Army to determine how much carb soldiers should ideally have in their diet. It was 50 grams per day. When you say 40, 30, 30%, are you calculating calories or grams for your percentages? Since carbs have 4 or 5 calories per gram that would be 200 to 250 calories per day. You would then have to multiply calories per gram using 37.5 grams (3/4 of 50 grams) for the 30% figures. That leaves around 337 calories for fat at 30%, using 9 calories per gram, and for protein at 30% another 150 to 188 calories. Since I don’t remember whether it is carbs or protein that is 4 grams and the other one 5 grams, I added the three food groups using the low numbers, then the high numbers and found the midpoint which was 730 calories. This is a starvation diet figure.
I recently watched a program on diet and longevity. The 63 year old presenter who looked slim and healthy recommended people get 90 grams a day of protein for good health. He stressed limiting carbs, and emphasizing green leafy and other low carb veggies, and plenty of healthy fats like olive oil, and other plant based oils. So I multiplied his 90 gms protein by 4.5 to get 405 calories and added that to 225 grams of carbs using 4.5. Adding both figures provides 630 calories which subtracted from your old 1250 calorie diet leaves 620 calories. The 620 divided by 9 calories per gram for fat is just under 70 gms which I will round up to 70. Thus, what is a very low calorie diet at 1250 using recommended healthy grams for carbs and protein gives this plan, based on your protein, fat, carb percents of 30, 30, 40%. The figures I have calculated are: 90 gms protein, 70 gms fat, and 50 gms carbs. Since you are still what is probably an unhealthy low weight even with some increase in calories you now need to decide what to increase. Given the data I found, it would appear to be in the fat area.
When I got very sick after my Vitamin D levels were too low and my weight too high—157 lbs at 5’5” I began to diet in earnest. I have to go do something now, but will post this and come back later.
First a correction, I once was 5’5”, but at 85 have shrunk to 5’3”. You said you had increased your calorie count because your weight was in the 140s at 5’11”. So regarding the two recommendations based on ideal diet studies, your 93 gr protein is fine, but the 125 gr carb is way above the 50 gr the Army decided based on their study for soldiers, not elderly people. Therefore, if you want to approach the Army figure and not struggle to keep your weight down with very low calorie diet, you will need to increase your good fats. Note, my calculation was at 70 gr fat to stay near the 1250 cal level.
Frankly, based on my experience losing weight from Jan. a year ago, 25 to 30 pounds with no diet suffering, if you do that your weight will not go up a lot and you will probably become a lot more healthy. Regarding counting carbs, all packaged goods now have a chart with fats, carbs, fiber, and protein. meat, fish, poultry, and seafood have almost no carbs to worry about. The green leafies and other low carb vegetables also are not of much concern if your target is 50 gr carbs a day. However other healthy carbs like brown rice and barley, whole grain breads, etc. need to be watched carefully. With them you need to read the labels, subtract the fiber grams from the total carb grams to get the NET CARB number. Add up the net carbs for each day and try not to go over 50. You can look at those figures on cans of beans and lentils to judge whether cooking the dried equivalent will work in your diet or look up figures for them on line. Seeds and nuts are also good, and even for single ingredient packages, these figures are often listed.
The first 4 months I was dieting I was trying to go no higher than 20 gr of carbs and occasionally 25 gr. Now I have stabilized around 130lb and probably consume around 35 to 45 gr of carbs. I don’t count calories. I enjoy an occasional holiday dinner, dining out, or a pot luck party, and eat all I want of the things good for me, and small tastes of rice, potatoes, and the bread with the meal. I dip my lobster pieces in melted butter with delight. On those days I eat very little until I arrive at the event, and very little again for the following one or two days. When I had my annual physical in late Jan. my lab results were the best they have been in almost a decade. I do take lots of supplements, but my only medication is for thyroid, $5 for a 3 month supply of pills. Cheers and good luck.
Many years back when I was still able to eat pretty much what I wanted, I went on a wheat free diet.
I ate rice, popcorn, and oats without counting carbs and the weight STILL fell off.
For me, wheat was the culprit. Potatoes also give me trouble but by far, wheat is the worst.
And no, I do not have celiac. Been tested for it about 5 different ways and all come back negative. It does not give me common celiac symptoms. But it does cause in me, weight gain.
Interesting observation. Many years ago would have likely been white bread. Have you ever tried some of the recent whole grain breads, especially those made with “ancient grains” like spelt? Cheers
Yes, but it was long ago, and since then I have not been able to do it with my food sensitivities.
More later. I have some critical software updates to make today. Tomorrow is going to be somewhat unproductive with a colonoscopy/endoscopy starting at 7:30 AM. Hopefully the docs find the gastric bleed and find a way to fix it.
I am really glad you had such a good set of outcomes, Myrddin. You’ve done well.
I can say I’ve read a study that showed curcumin can be instrumental in reversing polyps, but that was performed in people who genetically get a lot of polyps. Still, it made a fair amount of them regress back to normal or not start up, at all.
I strongly encourage you to try the Jarrow Bile Acid Factors. Within five months, it completely resolved all the sludge this relative had. It may have resolved sooner, but nothing was checked between those occasions. If choosing to use them, be cautious as you learn how much you need for fat you are eating.
Again, congrats on the positive changes and I trust you will do what is best from your choices.
COVID-19 is an allergic reaction to SARS-2-CoV protein spikes, whether existing on the virus or induced by “vaccine.”
Allergic reactions (”AR”), such as the small AR/inflamation that a person usually does not notice nor see, are vulnerable to irritants.
So, we observe many different responses to the virus and to the shots; and there are often misdiagnosis of “pneumonia” when actually pneumonitis.
IMH-not-a-doctor-O
I have a good ox bile in capsules. The problem is I can't swallow them. I have to open the capsules, dump the contents in my mouth and wash it down. Ox bile has a very foul taste. I'm not looking forward to that being my "sentence" for the balance of my lifetime. That said, I'm taking TUDCA twice daily to attempt to dissolve the existing stones and sludge. There is sufficient blockage to elicit itching and swelling of my liver and itching in lower limbs and shoulders. I would really like to resolve that soon.
Back to the topic of the thread, it is possible to reverse iron deficiency anemia by arresting the cause of the blood loss, eliminating intake the subverts iron absorption and getting a good heme-based iron supplement. It is also important to consume your iron intake away from calcium as they compete for the same input channels.
Thanks for the Jarrow Bile Acid Factors recommendation. I'll order a bottle on my next pass in Amazon. Jarrow is a pretty high quality supplier.
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