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Constipation Etc.
I am positively longing for a theory (or many theories!) concerning constipation. WHY does it happen? Why does one person eating the same exact diet as other persons (like, they all live in the same household) experience constipation and bloating and gas...while everyone else is fine??
Anyone have ideas about this, and how or whether Vitamin A is implicated in this situation?? And what the heck can one do to balance the gut so as to provide relief to the sufferer?
Thanks for reading 🙂
Sarabeth
I suffer from constipation and for me it feels like insufficient lubrication. It literally feels like my stool is sticking to the sides and I am unable to easily evacuate. (I did use to produce dried out pellets but stool consistency has improved whilst on low VA.) I suspect I'm not producing enough mucus. I have come across similar descriptions on Sjogren's forums which makes sense to me.
I have never had any ezcema or cracked lips etc that many with high VA suffer from. I remember Grant and Garrett talking about how your digestive tract is an extension of your skin and that the lining of your gut can also be susceptible to VA damage just like our skin is.
I have wondered if my particular vulnerability is my "internal" skin surfaces so to speak rather than my external skin and that is why for me my biggest issue is gut pain and constipation.
This is all just speculation, I have nothing to back it up it other than my own sense of what is happening for me.
Another aspect of this might be about thyroid. Not sure where I picked up this idea now, but I think that low thyroid can cause constipation. Some here have said that their thyroid slowly recovers.
A loved one of mine flips back and forth between the two states (too bound up, not bound up enough).... sigh
Rachel, you could be right about that aspect of it!
I have sometimes felt in the past that my bowel works better on lower fiber, and that fiber bound me up. Now that I'm doing fiber better, I'm not feeling that way as much. Sometimes I'm so backwards from the world, LOL.
Those are both interesting ideas. Thank you! I keep thinking about this as I face the neverending daily conundrum: What Is For Dinner?? 🙂
I'll report back if I come up with any other ideas.
xoxo
Could be that the constipated person is suffering from more nutrient deficiencies (partly because of their absorption difficulties), and maybe that affects the ANS as well (check out the last few paragraphs of this article: https://ggenereux.blog/discussion/topic/patent-therapy-for-retinoid-pathogenesis/ ).
Do you mind my asking if constipation is a problem for the person in your family who has CFS?
Quote from Rachel on January 31, 2020, 1:52 amI suffer from constipation and for me it feels like insufficient lubrication. It literally feels like my stool is sticking to the sides and I am unable to easily evacuate. (I did use to produce dried out pellets but stool consistency has improved whilst on low VA.) I suspect I'm not producing enough mucus. I have come across similar descriptions on Sjogren's forums which makes sense to me.
I have never had any ezcema or cracked lips etc that many with high VA suffer from. I remember Grant and Garrett talking about how your digestive tract is an extension of your skin and that the lining of your gut can also be susceptible to VA damage just like our skin is.
I have wondered if my particular vulnerability is my "internal" skin surfaces so to speak rather than my external skin and that is why for me my biggest issue is gut pain and constipation.
This is all just speculation, I have nothing to back it up it other than my own sense of what is happening for me.
That makes a lot of sense! I don’t have as much difficulty as you do with my digestion, but constipation is a detox symptom for me (and it’s what happens if I eat a high VA-food) even though my external skin doesn’t react much. So I agree with your speculation haha. 😋
Quote from puddleduck on February 13, 2020, 9:52 amCould be that the constipated person is suffering from more nutrient deficiencies (partly because of their absorption difficulties), and maybe that affects the ANS as well (check out the last few paragraphs of this article: https://ggenereux.blog/discussion/topic/patent-therapy-for-retinoid-pathogenesis/ ).
Do you mind my asking if constipation is a problem for the person in your family who has CFS?
I'm curious why you ask about CFS. I have CFS and also constipation. The most effective thing for resolving my constipation is oats but I took those out re concerns about leutin. I've added a small amount back in and am also trialing beans.
@rachel Supposing @sarabeth-matilsky 's family member who is struggling with constipation is the same one who has CFS, I was wondering if nutritional supplements known specifically to help CFS might make a difference with his/her constipation as well! Especially as the trouble with digestion can affect absorption, exacerbating those nutrient deficiencies, which seems to be a common situation for people with CFS.
Oh fingers crossed the beans go okay for you! And the oats, too. The way you described your digestive tract feeling in your progress log (like a skinned knee or whatever) sounds terrible. Hoping that will heal completely for you as time goes on. Whole grains and peeled apples and beans seem to help me, if I consistently eat all of them every day (when the fatigue and gut problems are bad, it's harder to do that).
I'm having a bad CFS "flare-up" right now, so I'm motivated to research the nutritional supplement side of things.
Have you ever tried D-Ribose?
I don't know much about it (found out about it on YouTube lol). Seems pretty cheap, so I may order some and give it a try.
Yes I have tried D-Ribose before. I took it as part of a treatment protocol after a severe decline in CFS leaving me almost bedbound. That was the point at which I started to explore alternative treatments and I started working with Dr Myhill in the Uk. I was taking several supplements and gradually the worse of my cognitive symptoms eased but I was still v limited in energy and disappointed witht the lack of progress I was making. I can't say whether the D-Ribose specifically helped or not. I've considered trying it again but am nervous about it affecting my need for thiamine. I am pretty sensitive to thiamine and struggle with the gut pain from taking it vs deficiency symptoms.
Some people really notice a benefit from taking D-Ribose though so it might be worth trying.
I've been taking some biotin recently and though it's a bit soon to be sure it seems to be helping. Some sores in my nose have improved and it is reputed to help skin healing. If it is responsible for the improvments in my nose, I'm hoping it will also be helping heal my gut.
Sorry you have having a CFS flare. That really sucks. I know how much it gets me down especially after having a good spell. Hope you get some improvement soon.
@rachel Oh it’s encouraging that you’re seeing some healing of sores already—I hope the biotin makes a big difference for your gut!
I’ve just started biotin also. I made a list of all potentially helpful supplements and went to Walmart to get whatever they had (yeah, I’ve been feeling a bit down for sure, so making a plan and taking a small action, even if Wallmart isn’t the best vitamin store, gives me a bit of hope lol). 😆 Additionally, I found B2, Coenzyme Q-10 (I will switch to ubiquinol eventually), B3, and vitamin E.
Thank you for sharing your experience with D-Ribose. I will try it once I’ve ramped up the RnB Treatment Protocol. Too bad Dr. Myhill suggests a multivitamin with 2,000 IU of vitamin A. 😕 Seems like she has some other key pieces of the puzzle.
It makes sense that you’d want to focus on healing your gut first since it struggles to handle the thiamin... When I search “constipation vitamin” in Pubmed, Vitamin D comes up as a treatment:
I remember John was posting some interesting stuff about vitamin D (Dr. Stasha Gominak) on the Riboflavin thread, too. Do you know if you react in any way to sunlight?
I’m in the north, and not really eating vitamin D on this diet, so it makes me wonder if this is a factor.