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lil chick's log
Food attacks
What is it? It's like being poisoned.
Starts with a stomach ache, typically a few hours after a big meal. I associate certain foods as triggers, but they aren't ALWAYS triggers. Travel is also sometimes involved (mild vertigo is one of my issues).
The normal stuff in the bowel goes. When that is gone, acrid runs commence with associated cramping.
The nausea feeling is very severe, and laying down isn't an option. As much as barfing seems like a good idea, it isn't always productive. My stomach is often empty by the time the food attack starts.
Uncontrollable shivering (sensation of freezing), nasal congestion and running nose, panting, paleness, peeing, pacing.
You cannot rest until your system has been emptied. Then, sleep comes.
On awakening, headache and a feeling of being hit by a truck. Similar to a hangover.
I have had food attacks since about 12 years of age (at which time I also started having other VA symptoms).
These food attacks increased in frequency very slowly over time, culminating in about one per month in recent years.
My theory is that this happens when the pathways for VA (and other things like alcohol and aldehydes) are blocked, deficient or etc. And so the body decides that everything must go until such a time as the pathways have been restocked.
The only thing I've ever found to help is to sip water. My guess is that outdoor air also helps.
I have had only one this year, after a home-made BBQ ribs meal with all the fixings and an alcohol drink.
@lil-chick these food attacks sound awful 🤢 So pleased to hear that they are decreasing. I’ve luckily never suffered from these. VA seems to hit us all in different ways - if you pull a chain it breaks at weakest link first - but with common themes of course.
I’ve just been catching up with your posts I’d missed on this thread. I find your philosophy very sensible & in agreement with my thoughts (I think we are a similar age). I too have no doubt that I have been poisoned with vitamin A, accumulating through my life culminating with my big 2018 vA supplement debacle which really made it VERY obvious. This is why it rang so true when I read Grant’s books. It’s now so obvious to me what is happening that I find it difficult to see why people can’t at least consider the possibility. I believe that the truth will out & I hope I’m around to see it happen.
(I'm at about 13 or 14 months lowered VA)
ok, sigh, I have what I think has risen up to the level of a "new symptom". Anger! Last night I even dreamt about being angry! First time for that...
And a bit despairing. I find myself sad with the amount of pain I've been through and not really wanting to face any more of it. I'm generally a cheerful individual.
Recent change: not having nightly small alcohol drink. Had a "food attack" about 2 weeks ago, I had a beer that night. So I dropped alcohol. I can't do it anymore. The food attacks. I sort of wonder if I need to drop coffee if I'm going to drop alcohol. Nothing there to counter the "coffee nerves" lol. Bookend addictions.
My daughter thinks I've developed a real phobia to travel, and that worries me too. I tell her that it isn't a phobia if my fears are realistic, LOL. But the joke rings hollow.
I suppose these all go into the box of: emotional symptoms.
Watching my cat go through the painful stages of kidney disease is also affecting my emotions. Of course, I can't help but think that will be me (or is me). and then I despair.
Hi lil@lil-chick
I feel for you. I suffer the same detox symptoms, anger and despair. The Ancient Greeks thought anger was stored in the liver. Most probably true.
The angry part could be OK, even useful. No problem for finding a suitable victim elected from those who took unfair advantage of when you were down.
I am at the despair stage at the moment, have been for nearly a month and it is HORRIBLE! All these fears which turned out to be premonitory... All the destruction that came about... All this pain of losing friends and cats.
If it can help you, know that you are not alone. Stopping the drink might not be the best thing to do. I haven't stopped the nightcap because the detox is too fast. But I am getting better albeit slowly. No use if I have to commit suicide before I am cured. Better not drink wine (methanol there), better triple distilled alcohol with no color in it. Vodka or gin. White rum is full of methanol too.
Hugs
The anger has gone at the moment. . I suppose it can come back, but now I take all these emotions as VA by-products.
However, the despair and the fear are terrible. They have not stopped yet (I just passed the 7 month mark).
The good news is, a glass of vodka and the gut wrenching anguish immediately disappears for a day or so.
If I don't suffer I don't drink. It is about a drink every three days at the moment. I don't get tipsy at all, it is just a wave of relief and optimism.
Sorry to hear you are feeling so bad.
Some thoughts:
Anger damages liver and gallbladder qi and likewise when these organs are struggling we can feel rage. Make sure you are supporting your liver as much as possible with a liver friendly nutrient dense diet. Best to go easy on fried food, smoked meats, coffee, alcohol, dairy, raw food, fruit, nuts and sugar. Chicken and chicken stock, fish, vegetables, mushrooms, legumes, almond milk and grain based foods are ideal. Soups, stews and porridges are very liver friendly. Be frugal with the lard and the salt.
It would also help to do exercise like swimming or aerobics.
Make sure your home is well ventilated with regard to co2 levels and airborne pollutants, also liver issues are greatly excacerbated by indoor molds so it's very important to make sure that you don't have that issue.
Interesting what you've found with alcohol. Ethanol is used as an antidote for methanol so the body probably does preferentially metabolise ethanol over retinol too. What I've been saying is that when we are vA toxic we want to minimize dehydrogenase enzymes acting on retinol, we obviously want to deplete liver retinol stores over time but the damage and nasty symptoms mostly occur when more retinoic acid is created than we can deal with in one go.
I drink one or two beers per day and I feel healthier than when not drinking.
@tim-2 when you say raw food not ideal for liver. Do you mean like in chinese medicine perspective. Where they say raw foods or even worse cold liquids will "weaken the liver" ? I wonder if the reason is because cold liquid will contract the liver so there will be bad blood flow/blood filtration?
I found this info on "liver fire" https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-liver-fire-89973
Smiling at how the list of symptoms is so close to my own!
Interesting that eggs are recommended.
"Causes: Difficulty in managing stress and anger appropriately is attributed as a cause of the liver fire. Alcoholism and chronic liver imbalances can also result in a heat pattern."
" If there is a constitutional yin deficiency, the liver yang can flare upwards and call for calming treatments."
"Signs and Symptoms of Liver Fire
- Red face and eyes
- Irritability
- Outbursts of anger
- Dizziness
- Ringing in the ears
- Dry mouth and thirst
- Bitter taste in the mouth
- Muscle tightness in the neck and shoulders
- A headache, especially on the sides of the head
- Feeling hot
- Blood pressure rises with stress
- Migraine
- Dark, scanty urine
- Insomnia
- Constipation
- Dream-disturbed sleep
- Bloody nose (epistaxis)
Pu Gong Yin (dandelion) clears the liver and clears the eyes. But Jue Ming Zi (cassia seeds) has the same function and also subdues Liver Yang. Xia Ku Ciao (prunella) clears Liver Fire and brightens the eyes.
These are just some of the foods that are believed to help liver fire:
- Seaweed
- Spinach
- Chestnut
- Rye
- Vinegar
- Asparagus
- Egg
- Royal jelly
- Aloe leaf (dried juice concentrate)
- Bitter melon
- Burdock root
- Celery
- Dandelion greens
- Lemon
- Peppermint
- Spinach
- Tomato
- Water chestnut
- Zucchini"