I needed to disable self sign-ups because I’ve been getting too many spam-type accounts. Thanks.
The beginning of a long journey
Some excerpts from Silent Spring
Have been thinking a lot about vA, so reading some historical books on poisons/chemicals. Silent Spring is a classic. Matches some of the thoughts we've been thinking here.
Altering the form of a chemical has substantial changes
DDT in powder form is not readily absorbed through the skin. Dissolved in oil, as it usually is, DDT is definitely toxic
Fats as a safe[r] storage for a variety of chemicals. Lead in bone is one as well. Might be safer than the free-floating alternative? Or because it's naturally fat-soluble so it tends to accumulate there?
[DDT] once in the body is stored largely in organs rich in fatty substances (because DDT itself is fat-soluble) such as the adrenals, testes, or thyroid. Relatively large amounts are deposited in the liver, kidneys, and the fat of the large, protective mesenteries that enfold the intestines.
Heptachlor, one of the constituents of chlordane, is marketed as a separate formulation. It has a particularly high capacity for storage in fat.
Chronic poisoning
Because these small amounts of pesticides are cumulatively stored and only slowly excreted, the threat of chronic poisoning and degenerative changes of the liver and other organs is very real.
The accumulation of chemicals.
One of the most sinister features of DDT and related chemicals is the way they are passed on from one organism to another through all the links of the food chains. For example, fields of alfalfa are dusted with DDT; meal is later prepared from the alfalfa and fed to hens; the hens lay eggs which contain DDT. Or the hay, containing residues of 7 to 8 parts per million, may be fed to cows. The DDT will turn up in the milk in the amount of about 3 parts per million, but in butter made from this milk the concentration may run to 65 parts per million
The possibility for chemicals to hide as different forms, so when someone tests things they may imagine it is safe, yet it is just masquerading itself.
Aldrin is a somewhat mysterious substance, for although it exists as a separate entity it bears the relation of alter ego to dieldrin. When carrots are taken from a bed treated with aldrin they are found to contain residues of dieldrin. This change occurs in living tissues and also in soil. Such alchemistic transformations have led to many erroneous reports, for if a chemist, knowing aldrin has been applied, tests for it he will be deceived into thinking all residues have been dissipated. The residues are there, but they are dieldrin and this requires a different test.
We are using chemicals we may not fully understand
the chemists' ingenuity in devising insecticides has long ago outrun biological knowledge of the way these poisons affect the living organism
The power of the liver. Alcohol is considered not that harmful, and neither is malathion. Only because of the liver.
The alleged "safety" of malathion rests on rather precarious ground, although—as often happens—this was not discovered until the chemical had been in use for several years. Malathion is "safe" only because the mammalian liver, an organ with extraordinary protective powers, renders it relatively harmless. The detoxification is accomplished by one of the enzymes of the liver. If, however, something destroys this enzyme or interferes with its action, the person exposed to malathion receives the full force of the poison.
Potentiation. One drug may be fine. 2+ drugs can be extremely dangerous.
A few years ago a team of Food and Drug Administration scientists discovered that when malathion and certain other organic phosphates are administered simultaneously a massive poisoning results—up to 50 times as severe as would be predicted on the basis of adding together the toxicities of the two. In other words, 1/100 of the lethal dose of each compound may be fatal when the two are combined.
Drawdown of fat = more symptoms. Have lost some weight in the past two months and felt worse.
Storage of the chlorinated hydrocarbons, as we have seen, is cumulative, beginning with the smallest intake. The toxic materials become lodged in all the fatty tissues of the body. When these reserves of fat are drawn upon the poison may then strike quickly. A New Zealand medical journal recently provided an example. A man under treatment for obesity suddenly developed symptoms of poisoning. On examination his fat was found to contain stored dieldrin, which had been metabolized as he lost weight. The same thing could happen with loss of weight in illness.
Noticing weird sinus congestion after eating. One time I ate nothing but rice + pork + single egg. This time ate rice + potatoes + a variety of spices mixed with the potatoes.
Keeping "histamine intolerance" according to Google on my mind.
Seemingly getting sinus congestion when eating rice. Seemed better last night with potatoes + beef. Really yellow poop today, maybe because I ate some chili spices or ate part of a lemon yesterday. Foamy urine too. I haven't been having much pain when eating lately, however. That may only be related to gluten.
Dry skin when doing things that get my heart rate up, i.e. sexual activity, but might be all things that raise heart rate. Iron taste in mouth.
Just writing out some personal thoughts. It's not meant to be coherent.
Still struggling to figure out diet fully. Still unsure about white potatoes. FW is fresh weight. mg/kg is apparently the same as ppm. So 5-10 ppm carotenoids in white potatoes. Doesn't seem unreasonable to eat 1kg of potatoes in a day, which would be around 5-10mg carotenoids.
Supposedly beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin are the main bits of provitamin A. Supposedly, lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin are not converted.
White potato is mainly xanthophylls, lutein, zeaxanthin, violaxanthin, neoxanthin.
The carotenoids of potato are primarily oxygenated carotenoids, also known as xanthophylls (Brown et al. 1993). White-fleshed potatoes have 5–10 mg kg−1 FW of total carotenoids, while yellow-fleshed potatoes have 10–35 mg kg−1 FW
Preformed vitamin A (from animal sources) can cause toxicity (liver, fish, eggs, dairy), provitamin A such as carotenes are not teratogenic. Might be best to avoid all forms of preformed vA.
Sweet potatoes at 1400 mcg RAE per serving (say 140g) = 1400mcg retinol, so 1.4mg, or 9.4mg retinol in 1kg sweet potatoes.
Having some problems with conversion factors. Beta-carotene said anywhere between 6-24. Conversion factor paper has a citation of osteoporosis to preformed animal A (supplements to animal). In that paper a depletion study, sample size 16, only caused 3 people to be deficient after a year. Daily doses of 1500ug beta-carotene (1.5mg) of 390ug (0.39mg) retinol was enough to reverse deficiency in blood. This study then could claim an equivalence of 4:1. Another study later saw 2:1. What was the original diet used in these deficiency studies? Apparently it's weird lab rat food, a mix of casein/soy/etc.
Grass-fed beef has a yellow color due to beta-carotene. A Japanese WW2 study showed yellow-orange flesh tinting of those who had been subsisting off of wild plants.
Apparently white rice has no beta-carotene at all, probably because the plant part of it has been removed. Light colored vegetables showed children depleted vA stores. White potatoes may be okay. Can't find corn. Can't find cassava here.
Fuck, my nail issues are because my nail is clubbing, not because it's individually detaching at the base or detaching at the top. Also my knees were always kind of not touching but I just realized my legs appear to be deforming at a faster rate than normal.
I'm not even 22, this is insane.
Wow those quotes from the book Silent Spring are really scary. I live next to an old apple orchard and I'm sure every chemical that has ever been invented for orchards is in my water. (And they still spray, although they say they are a "low spray" orchard). So, in my air too.
Personally I don't think we should get too worried about all of our detox symptoms. How do you know a runny nose isn't your body getting rid of something you ate 2 years ago and stored in fat in your nose, and not the vegetable you ate today? I still, after all this time, have loads of symptoms but do realize that the course is toward getting better. I think we get better from the inside out, and the outside is going to pay the price... and look and feel like crap.
I also pay attention to what I *want* to eat, rather than getting too wrapped around the axle with what we know about foods. What we know about foods is good, don't get me wrong. We just don't know everything.
I try to eat organic wherever I can. I'm not completely organic, but I think it's worth trying. I'm also, at this time, taking note of the fact that much of our clothing is treated with chemicals. For instance flame retardants, moisture wicking, wrinkle proofing etc. ACK! I have decided not to acquire any new clothing of that type. Probably things that have been washed 20 times are heading toward ok. I've realized that some of my itching might have been some (rolls eyes) camisoles that I wore every day that were supposed to keep you warmer because of magic high tech. I won't be keeping those.
Got eczema for the first time on my arms a few days ago. Still dealing with some gum issues.
Had nightmares (2x) that woke me from sleep last night, dry hands this morning. Poop is yellowish and has some fiber in it. I ate a fair amount of mushrooms, taro root, a tiny bit of cassava, bok choy, rice, and plantains yesterday.
Stopped having random internal organ pain. Diet is pretty simple these days, mostly beef, pork, white rice, occasionally with bok choy, mushroom, cauliflower, broccoli, soy sauce.
Egg appears to cause bleeding in poops and organ pain. Gluten as well. Don't react well to beans. I don't think it's a super severe bleeding. But enough where there's a speck when I wipe and darkish poops.
Still having
- random headaches
- heart pain
- bone pain
Protein in urine according to test strips has stopped. Protein in urine seems associated with how long the bubbles stay in the urine. Small bubbles that disappear don't appear to be a problem, but large bubbles that persist even after flushing usually come along with organ pain.
Happy to hear that you are doing better, having organ pain sounds just terrible!
A simple diet can be a pretty good baseline diet to compare any changes to.
From your first post I thought to share this thread on paprika and other nightshade spices that regularly are added to sausages and many other processed foods as well:
https://ggenereux.blog/discussion/topic/beef-sausages-and-diarrhea/
Quote from David on February 13, 2023, 3:54 amHappy to hear that you are doing better, having organ pain sounds just terrible!
A simple diet can be a pretty good baseline diet to compare any changes too.
From your first post I thought to share this thread on paprika and other nightshade spices that regularly are added to sausages and many other processed foods as well:
https://ggenereux.blog/discussion/topic/beef-sausages-and-diarrhea/
I do have bits of pain in the pancreas, liver, and lower intestinal area from time to time. But it's nothing like what I was experiencing months before that were sharp, painful attacks which caused me to clutch that part of my body. At most I can say there is a mild ping in certain spots.