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Hello, background and some progress
Last night my wife came home and was in really bad shape and I knew she needed to go to the hospital. For her, going to the hospital always means downtown, not a satellite campus they will literally ask me why I would even bring here there. Anyhow, we make the trip downtown and find the ER waiting room is packed with standing room only. As I was helping her inside she collapsed so some nurses came help her get into a wheelchair. Our kid was with us so shortly after they triaged her I had to go home as having a kid in an ER waiting room like that is a nightmare. Anyhow, she finally got a bed in the ER around 2am. All I know so far is they are going to admit her to the hospital.
As far as symptoms, she was complaining of pain all over her abdomen and even shooting down her legs and it hurt to breath. The day before she had salmon, cauliflower, white carrots and a few homemade fries. I have no idea if that could have made her worse somehow, but she first woke up to the pain in the morning and by evening it was too much.
Its so frustrating because I know for a fact she is a victim of the very system upon which she is entirely dependent. Best they can do for her is make sure she's not immediately dying.
Oh no, how awful! I am sorry to hear your wife is doing so poorly right now, @concerned. đ It must be difficult for you wanting to help her, but feeling unsure how to do so.
Itâs unlikely one meal triggered her episode, unless it is extremely different from what she normally eats? And if so, there are many things that could be factors in her case... If Benadryl helps her, it sounds like she is sensitive to histamine, which might be at play if the salmon was smoked (fresh fish should be all right; search the web for âhistamine intolerance foods listâ if youâre interested in that).
Has she ever worked with a Naturopathic Doctor?
Cauliflower pretty regular, Salmon I guess a couple times a month, first time we had white carrots, homemade fries maybe once a week. I was just trying to keep track of it as an observation. I already threw away the package but I am pretty sure it was farm raised salmon, which I believe they use a retinoid to give it the pink color since farmed salmon usually aren't very pink.
She has not worked with an ND. I think there is a pretty broad spectrum depending on the particular ND. Are there any other ND's besides Smith talking about low vA tox?
She was working with a DO of functional medicine, that Dr wanted to do some basic tests but my wife just never did them because, I guess, she didn't think they would be able to help her.Â
Unrelated to the above, but I've spent a good chunk of today continuing to research. Not sure anyone can comment whether this line of reasoning makes sense. I've continued to investigate my wife's illnesses and how many of them can be related to low vA toxicity. The one I haven't completely nailed down yet is the one that caused her to clot and kill her original liver, this was believed to be caused by Protein S deficiency (I'll use PSD for short). According to info I've been able to find, one can be predisposed to PSD genetically, it can also be related to liver disease, kidney disease, infections and surgery (leaving out other things that probably weren't here issue at the time). Prior to losing her liver, she was already experiencing symptoms of pseudotumor which is linked to vA tox and had already had several surgeries for revise her shunt by that time. So could it then be that she unknowingly had Liver or kidney disease, or perhaps even an infection that triggered the PSD and thus causing the clot that led to her liver being lost?
To me it makes sense that its a possibility. Its really the final piece to tying it all together which I can confirm no Dr has been able to do to this very day, and I doubt even a skilled Diagnostician (which are very hard to find) could pin this down. That makes me reluctant to believe I pieced it together (which if anything is because of combing over others research such as Genereux, Mawson and even Smith).
What I don't know are what possible sources of excess vitamin A she may have been exposed to prior or after her health problems started occurring as a child, her sister is a few years older and has had not a single one of the same health problems. I am sure genetic predisposition is a factor, it is known as such for PSD and I am sure for other things she's had, but it seems the vA triggers it and genetics aren't the actual cause.
Of course the bigger question is best approach to reversing (to whatever extent possible) all this so she can get better. I am not sure there's any more that can be done other than slowly adjusting diet to minimize vA release.
@concerned Iâm so sorry to hear about your wifeâs health issues. It sounds extremely stressful for you all. I hope they manage to stabilise her condition. Itâs so difficult once people get put on a series of medications. This happened to my Mum and my MIL. Have you looked at energy medicine? I like Donna Eden and have found some of her stuff really useful. Getting into a relaxed healing state is vital for recovery, but very difficult when suffering extreme health crises.Â
Sorry to risk overwhelming you with resources, but Hormones Matter is excellent:
https://www.hormonesmatter.com/astronauts-iuds-intracranial-hypertension-pseudotumor-cerebri/
Maybe youâre familiar with Dr. Lonsdaleâs work on thiamine from Dr. Smithâs network already, but an important test more MDs and NDs ought to run in complicated chronic conditions is explained here:
https://www.hormonesmatter.com/thiamine-deficiency-testing-understanding-labs/
Elliot OvertonâEONutrition on YouTubeâhas some helpful videos on thiamine deficiency, too, which may interest your wife:
ETA: Nutrient deficiency is what makes one more susceptible to toxicity in the first place. I consumed high doses of vitamin A in highly processed âhealth food products,â but I believe they damaged me more severely and more quickly than they wouldâve done if I wasnât already in a state of nutrient deficiency.Â
This is why I wonder if it might make sense to focus there, first...to âbuild upâ a weakened person with those nutrients identified to be lacking, which often results in a natural increase in detox anyway, since as the body gets stronger it is able to digest better and utilize the energy for general improvement.
TY for the replies I'll have to look into these things.
Just heard back from the wife, they did a CT with contrast of her liver today, which is an all day ordeal because she's allergic to the contrast they use (iodine). The found she has dilated bile ducts but apparently aren't concerned about it.Â
My thought on it is that possibly some inflammation decreased and perhaps that's allowing more bile to move and causing all the symptoms if she's already vA toxic (and probably toxic and/or deficient in other things at the same time). Only time will tell, but I think she's ready to make some dietary changes to see if this works. I've tried to warn her that its not going to be fast and things could get worse so expectations are set.
In other news, I connected the fridge to the RO system so there's some progress toward less toxic water.
How are you doing? Are you still on here?