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My progress
@liz Thank you Liz for your feedback. Sorry for your endo and other health issues. About IUT be careful if it is in copper (copper toxicity). You might already know that but Karen Hurd (bean diet) may help you with your condition. Her protocol is very close to the Vit A detox diet, something you might want to look at (there is a FB group).
For me I am starting from scratch: I am having white rice alone (10 days), white rice and chicken (10 days), rice and beef (10 days) rice and beans etc...I will do blood tests every 10 days to measure CRP & ESR to check inflammation. And from there I will build my diet. I hope I will be able to tolerate beef, whole rice and a variety of beans...will see.
I wish you all the best,
Bertrand
@bertrand no it is not copper, only hormones "help" with endo. And yes I am aware with the havoc the synthetic hormones can cause. But it was that or amputation and I'd rather keep my organs.
Thank you for your advice regarding beans. I am familiar with the bean diet. I am familiar with all things that is supposed to cure endo. I have tried them all, nothing had helped. So as I wrote previously, I don't care anymore. No diet or supplement can cure me, this is not in my hands, it is in the Lord's hands. I have eaten shitloads of beans for years and years long before I even heard of vitamin A. If they were so magical I would not have this disease anymore.
I will have a new surgery in 6 months time. They will make sure to remove everything this time. New country, new surgeon, a stronger medical team. Everything leading me to where I live today has been little miracles not happening by chance. I am in the Lord's hands and I am safe there.
Mat 6:25 KJV Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
I wish you the very best on your journey.
I do know from studies that macrophages in endo builds up tissue
@liz Re malfunctioning macrophages maybe they need a little boost with certain antibiotics to help resolve the issue/fix defective phagocytosis of the to be recycled cells, etc:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16737992/
Doctors should know more...
Liz you are a trooper. I am saying a little prayer for you.
It's funny how some people get fed up with the docs, and some get fed up with the alternatives to the docs.
I suppose the common ground is: we're all frustrated! 😉 Hang in there!
Thanks @rockarolla but yeah I did that already. No difference. As I said previously, I have done everything that has worked for others, proven by studies, convinced that this time I will see results, this time it will not have grown but shrunk instead. It never happened. Not even low A has made any difference. And I am quite astonished by that because I SHOULD have seen some results at some point.
The only reason I have accepted conventional medicine is because I am pretty fed up by alternative medicine AND science and all the empty promises. I had ran out options and things to try with my own power. I think God wants the honor for this one, he has seen my struggles all those years probably shaking His head thinking, she knows My Word, why doesn't she apply it?If I get cured, it will not be due to anything I have done, because believe me I have done it all, but by his grace only. 🙏🤷♀️
There is a third route, and I know you are happy with your course so I'm just tossing it in the ring.
And that is to do nothing.
Ah well,
To each his own!
I'm assuming you've looked into iodine? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yINSNtpCX2Q
Iodine helped some of my womanly issues.
I'll add my prayers to lilchicks prayers for you. One thing mentioned several times in the Bible is a several day dry fast. This sounds scary at first, but I've done it a few times myself. Russian scientists have found that even people who are quite sick can handle 5 days without food or water without ill effect. In fact, the positive effects are tremendous. On Youtube there are testimonials of people being cured of incurable kidney disease, sexually transmitted diseases, and many other things. Cole Robinson from Calgary has a lot of videos on this topic. My introduction to the topic was this blog post by Richard Nikoley: https://www.freetheanimal.com/2020/03/i-met-a-dry-fasting-nut.html I think it is still free, but you didn't need to log in to read it back then.
I've wondered how dry fasting works with vitaminA detox; I never had any bad results or symptoms from doing a dry fast, only improvements.
I just wanted to say, I no longer believe A is the one great villain. I do believe there are several, with oxalate being a huge factor, and a pretty overseen one.
One year since my last update. I was doing quite well. Eating a majority of low A. Until I wasn't.
At the beginning I ate mostly white Rice and muscle meats, suffered horrible detox, but got so much better. I started to slack. Or, add in more variety because I got sucked in to Garrett's "no need to be so strict"
So I ate more home made bread, potatoes, dark chocolate, oats, whole grains, approved veggies and fruits, nuts, BEANS!!!
And all came back. The sharp back pain, kidney pain, endo pain, foggy brain, social amxiety, lethargy, hair loss....and the list goes on. Slowly it crept back. And I didn't get it. Some days I was fine. Some days I was a mess. And I couldn't see it. I had severe dairy cravings, so I gave in to it and ate shitloads of yoghurt, cheese and milk. While still eating everything above. And felt great. For about 5 days. When I quit milk again 2 months later the same night I couldn't sleep due to excruciating back pain. And on it went.
So I prayed about it. And got a response. Oxalate. The missing key is oxalate. How could I not have paid more attention to it? I know it has been brugt up previously on this forum. It just never bothered me to look deeper into it. I mean, I didn't eat spinach or rhubarb anyway.
The same night I had stopped all oxalate foods and added dairy back in I slept so well and my back was so much better. After 3 days back pain and stiffness gone.
Now after 10 days brain fog is clearing up and skin is less dry. I get bursts of detox, like itchy skin, a dry flaky spot on one arm, hair loss comes and goes, sneezing and flu like symtoms. But social anxiety is fading and I feel happy again! Happy!! Also, milk cravings are fading. And I am no longer constantly hungry, and I no longer crave chocolate or cake or anything else. I must have been chronically starved for minerals, oxalic acid binding to everything. I feel satisfied after eating.
Now I know my kidneys will heal, just like Grants. And I know oxalate has ruined them. This was the missing piece I was looking for.
And I beg of all of you, if you have a history of eating vegan/vegetarian/whole foods, nuts, beans, you know the so called health food that used to be seasonal but are now available year round in large quantity? Many of vegs are high in A as well as oxalate. A double edged sword for sure. Please PLEASE look up oxalates as well and TRY IT!! it has literally saved my life!
As for a year ago, right kidney function 28%, left kidney around 80%. Might be worse today, I haven't checked. Severe stage 4 endo. Now I have hope!
Take care everyone! I'll update again in a year or so.
Why would you put most of the blame on oxalate when all of the symptoms you describe could very well be the result of the carotenoids in the plants you ate? I don't disagree about the oxalate theory. There's certainly something to it, but in hindsight, doesn't it make sense to you that all plant food is toxic to us, no matter what exactly it is in plants that causes harm to the human body?
What I have yet to figure out is why there is this craving for dairy products, whether that comes from the body needing it to detox plant toxins or because of the carbs in milk and some components in cheese that are addictive. Any ideas?
Dairy contains opioid-like chemicals AND a combination of fat and sugar that makes you want to keep eating it. It is supposed to be addictive in order keep young animals suckling as much as possible. Fermentation helps convert it to something not quite as addictive, but even the multi-day ferment homemade kefir I used to drink years ago was difficult to put down once I'd started...I could easily go through a liter at a time. I could also just spoon plain butter over and over again by itself.
After eliminating dairy for over 2 years, butter is now kind of sickening to me, whereas I can spoon tallow out of a jar no problem. Dairy always made my stomach feel heavy and gross, I'm much happier without it. If you can't get meat, dairy is certainly a much better food than eating plants, but it's clearly intended for young animals and is going to have unwanted side effects of some kind.
Glad you're finding some relief when cutting out those plant foods. Oxalates may be one of the worst compounds in them, but like @carnivore said, there's an almost limitless number of other xenobiotic compounds in plants that will muck with the human body in ways known and unknown. Best to steer clear of them entirely if you are able and willing to. Don't adopt the Gundry mindset of blaming one (for him, it's lectins) and letting the rest pass for no good reason.