Jennifer's Recovery Log

Not only do they dance but they can fly!

Jennifer's recovery log in the #2 spot for "Recent popular topics". Looky looky who is trailing in 3rd.

Oh, be still my heart! It's finally happened!

I'd like to thank all the people who got me here. Your love, support and prayers have meant the world to me.

And to the turnip, I want to formally apologize for reducing you to nothing more than stew. I'm sorry turnip for letting my competitive spirit get the best of me. Though you are a yummy morsel, you are more than just a root.

With that said, I'd like to extend a hand in friendship, turnip and "turn up" the love:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UqXVgAmqBOs

Yesterday we celebrated my grandmothers 90th birthday. The family had pizza and ice cream cake. Given that my gut has really taken to hating me this year, I didn't partake in the goodies. This of course made my grandmother feel bad because grandmothers want to see people eat. A LOT! I think it's in their contract when they become mothers. So not being able to eat what she offered me felt like refusing food from a child. You know, when a child is excited to share their food with you/feed you and you don't accept it, they get that look in their eyes as if you just told them Mickey isn't a real mouse. Total confusion followed by disappointment. I've learned to never refuse food from a child. Pretend you ate it if you have to.

But enough about food, I just want to talk about my grandmother, if you don't mind. I know this log is about my recovery, but for me to get clarity on where I'm going, I need to acknowledge where I've been. :)

My grandmother is the best! She's this tiny French women with a h*ll of a lot of spunk and a sharp mind despite her age. Her father died when she was a young girl and her mother died when she was 18, leaving her to care for her much younger sibling so I'm sure this only added to her resilient spirit. She had beautiful raven hair most of her life and has the softest skin ever. I swear, even now her skin is like a baby's.

When I think about her, I think of a woman who would put everyone else first before herself and is very accepting of all walks of life. She irons everything right down to her underwear, sheets, even money. LOL She worked the press at a dry cleaners before she got married and acquired neat freaktitis.

She hates vegetables, loves Spam and I'm certain if she had her way, my life would play out like one of her romance novels. To this day, she still tries to set me up. What can I say, she knows a lot of doctors.

For as long as I've been alive, she's been saying that she'll probably be dead tomorrow. 33 years later and she's still here saying that. I'm convinced the secret to longevity is tempting fate. Say you'll die tomorrow and just for spite, fate will prove you wrong.

She collects bears, a hobby that dates back to when my grandfather died. She had a big teddy bear that she would take to bed with her to help comfort her from the loss and ever since then, her collection has grown. Like...scary grown! I wouldn't be surprised if they revolt one of these days and I find her trapped beneath a mountain of fluff and fur.

She believes every time she sees a white feather, it's a sign from my grandfather and then has a word with him, basically letting him have it because he hasn't come to take her home yet. Hehe! Glad I'm not on the receiving end of those scoldings.

I spent a lot of time with her growing up and she schooled me during my kindergarten days. We would take these long walks through the North End of Manchester, weaving our way through all the streets with the beautiful mansions and their gorgeous architecture, till we'd hit the hustle and bustle of the city. There was a sense of freedom, adventure and well, that energy of life that's hard to get in a classroom and I'm glad I had that experience. To this day, I much prefer a winding road and the unexpected over the straight and narrow and the same old same old.

She was never much into listening to music or dancing. I know, sad right!? But when my grandfather passed, she listened to this one song over and over again. So this songs for her:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vfb6KdUggQ8

So my gut has been hurting again these past few days. The only foods that don't seem to add to the pain are the maple chicken, gelatin, strawberry lemonade and this French coconut lime soda I've become addicted to. The carbonated water in the magnesium water recipe that VoS shared seemed to calm the gut pain some so I figured I would try this French soda and it seems to help or at least, not hurt. Anything more than a few bites of food kill my gut so I'm seeing my doctor tomorrow and will ask her to run a bunch of tests, basically starting from scratch. This gut pain just isn't normal and at this point, it's virtually impossible to follow my intuition and cravings when the foods I crave most, hurt. My beloved dairy, I'm looking at you!

I'll have to pay $500 out of pocket for a comprehensive stool test since my insurance won't cover it, but hopefully something will be found or at the very least, ruled out. This should also take care of the stool test for porphyria, something suggested I get tested for. Here's the list for the blood values I'll ask my doctor to check on:

Estrogen
Progesterone
Prolactin
Parathyroid
TSH
Whole blood serotonin
CO2
Lactic Acid
Free fatty acids
Vit D
Histamine
Albumin
Total Cholesterol
C-Reactive Protein
Sodium
Magnesium
Calcium
Potassium
Glucose

SIBO was ruled out and an endoscopy showed inflammation in the upper digestive track, but the lower intestines were never checked and that's where the pain is. Oh dear God, please say there isn't a colonoscopy in my future. Hmm...actually, that would make for an interesting log post. I must keep you guys entertained at all costs.

Eww...just kidding! To be brutally honest, I would rather stab myself in the eye with a fork than have a colonoscopy. That would be just as entertaining.

The other possibility is there's something going on in the lady's department and one of the employees is slacking. I've had an ultrasound done in the past on my uterus and ovaries and everything looked good, but maybe an ovary fell off or something since then. I joke, but in all seriousness, when I take progest-e, I bleed every other week. That's just not right!

My temps have been less than stellar given that I'm pretty much starving from the lack of calories. I'm so hungry, but in such pain and there's just only so much chicken, gelatin and juice/soda a person can consume. I've already dropped weight which was something I couldn't afford to have happen given that I was already kind of small to begin with. I need to put on some muscle for when I start hiking again. I was looking to get ripped not wrecked. Grr!

Along with the poor temps, my mood the past two days is pretty much "Ruh-roh!" It's taken a hit! It's times like these I really miss my girl, Cricket. I'd be curled up in a ball right about now snuggling with her. All I need is to be able to eat enough calories without pain and I have no doubt my mood would stay more consistently cheery like it use to be. Ever since dropping to 70 pounds 6 years back, I now find if I don't get enough calories and go hungry for too long, my mood gets sad.

Well, like I said in my opening log, if all else fails, dance!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_5IVuN1N6-Y

Hi Jennifer!
Have you already done the GI Effects by Metametrix? If not, talk to him about it..

Metametrix is still around, Amazoniac? I thought they were bought out by Genova.

I did testing through Genova 6 years back, but it was the most basic stool test and nothing abnormal was found.

Jennifer said:

The other possibility is there's something going on in the lady's department and one of the employees is slacking. I've had an ultrasound done in the past on my uterus and ovaries and everything looked good, but maybe an ovary fell off or something since then. I joke, but in all seriousness, when I take progest-e, I bleed every other week. That's just not right!

Click to expand...

What does your pain feel like??? You said the pain is in your lower GI?? On which side?? I've had many ovarian issues in the past and there are lots of things that can happen with them which create digestive discomfort - especially growths that cause torsion, or cysts which burst. However, if the pain is in your lower GI, I could recommend to you something Phedre at Peatarian recommended to me once - I know you are not eating dairy, but it might be worth a try to have a little kefir or raw milk, mixed with a resistant starch and honey. The starch carries the good bacteria from the kefir or milk to the lower GI and helps it feel better. This saved me once after a bout of food poisoning from an egg gone bad. It didn't save me from appendicitis, but it worked real well for lower GI discomfort that one time and allowed me to recover super fast.

Yes, Genova bought it. it's just that I still associate with Metametrix.
The I'm referring to is fairly detailed compared to the others available..
By the way, how is your skin?

lindsay said:

Jennifer said:

The other possibility is there's something going on in the lady's department and one of the employees is slacking. I've had an ultrasound done in the past on my uterus and ovaries and everything looked good, but maybe an ovary fell off or something since then. I joke, but in all seriousness, when I take progest-e, I bleed every other week. That's just not right!

Click to expand...

What does your pain feel like??? You said the pain is in your lower GI?? On which side?? I've had many ovarian issues in the past and there are lots of things that can happen with them which create digestive discomfort - especially growths that cause torsion, or cysts which burst. However, if the pain is in your lower GI, I could recommend to you something Phedre at Peatarian recommended to me once - I know you are not eating dairy, but it might be worth a try to have a little kefir or raw milk, mixed with a resistant starch and honey. The starch carries the good bacteria from the kefir or milk to the lower GI and helps it feel better. This saved me once after a bout of food poisoning from an egg gone bad. It didn't save me from appendicitis, but it worked real well for lower GI discomfort that one time and allowed me to recover super fast.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Lindsay for the resistant starch trick. My pain is a gnawing, burning sensation in the whole lower half of my intestines.

I still think there's something wrong though when it comes to all the bleeding on the progest-e. I know you need it to have periods too, but do you bleed that much while on it?

Amazoniac said:

Yes, Genova bought it. it's just that I still associate with Metametrix.
The I'm referring to is fairly detailed compared to the others available..
By the way, how is your skin?

Click to expand...

Oh, okay! Thanks, Amazoniac!

My skin has been rashing up big time and gets really itchy and dairy exasperates it the most.

Jennifer said:

Thanks, Lindsay for the resistant starch trick. My pain is a knawing, burning sensation in the whole lower half of my intestines.

I still think there's something wrong though when it comes to all the bleeding on the progest-e. I know you need it to have periods too, but do you bleed that much while on it?

Click to expand...

I would definitely give it a whirl. If you don't want to use the dairy, you could try something like sauerkraut - it may or may not have the same effect. My digestion wasn't perfect when I was living in Russia, but it was better than it is now and I regularly ate a lot of fermented cabbage, as well as this salad with cooked beets and one with raw fermented carrot and garlic (which was a Korean salad). Fermented cabbage might help, but it can cause diarrhea initially until the body adjusts to it.

As far as the progest-e, I confess that I haven't been using it as regularly as I should and I haven't had a period since April, as a result. But when I did menstruate, it was not heavy at all. Pretty much normal. Hoping I will get another period again, but for now I just get PMS like symptoms (which could be a sign that I am cycling at least).

Anyhow, it could be that you have cysts and they are draining blood - maybe something like PCOS? Or Endometriosis. I can tell you that if you have had a cyst rupture and it was filled with blood and other fluids, it causes an entire lower system seize (burning, irritating, cramping, etc.) Torsion is more isolated to one side or the other. You are not experiencing pain around your appendix are you?? Appendicitis can also cause a variety of lower GI issues and mine seemed to take months before it came to a head. They should be able to check your appendix region during an ultrasound.

Additionally, is it effecting your bladder? If the burning pain bothers your urination, it could also be UTI related. It's so hard for ladies!!! We have so much going on down in that region, but when I went to the clinic for my ovarian tumor a couple years back, the doctor I met with told me that 9 times out of 10 it is related to the ovaries. Best wishes to you and I hope you will find relief very soon!!!

Yeah, my periods aren't heavy either, but I do bleed consistantly for a week and then I get a week off and then it starts back up again. I stop the progest-e and like you, the periods stop. I read something by Peatarian a year back that might explain what is possibly happening with you and I bleeding while on progest-e. I think she said it has to do with progesterone levels staying elevated to counter high estrogen which thus prevents bleeding. I'll take a look and see if I can find it again and post it.

I did have PCOS, but in 6 weeks of high dosing progest-e, my numbers showed I no longer had it. I've had ultrasounds done on my ovaries and uterus and I was told they looked perfect.

I've also had ultra sounds on my gallbladder and appendix area back when I went to the ER for the burning in my lower abdomen the first time around. Again I was told everything looked perfect except for a few stones in my gallbladder, but there was no inflammation and no blocked duct.

This is why it's been so frustrating. I'm told everything looks perfect, but my gut is clearly a mess. I've often wondered if I picked something up while hiking. I did a lot of backpacking and even though we filtered our water, I did spend my first year wading through waist deep water logged trails to bag peaks. I don't know, I'm grabbing at straws here at this point.

Thanks Lindsay for helping me try to sort this out. I appreciate your insight! :)

Okay! Found it!

peatarian said:

When you say that your menstruation has been weak already (meaning hardly any bleeding, I suppose) this is usually a sign for a strong estrogen dominance and low thyroid function. The body shuts down fertility functions to safe energy.
The menstruation starts when your progesterone level drops. (If you want to know exactly, I recommend to read Ray Peat's 'From PMS to Menopause' and everything by Katharina Dalton, starting with 'Once A Month'.) If your estrogen is high, your body will produce as much progesterone as possible to antagonize it. When it drops and estrogen is suddenly unopposed - the menstruation bleeding is heavy. If there is hardly any progesterone to oppose the estrogen to begin with - the drop is not significant and produces hardly any effects. Estrogen will stimulate building up the mucous membranes of the uterus, progesterone will maintain it and keep the tissue oxidized.
It stays very low for the first half of the cycle until your ovulation. The corpus luteum then produces progesterone. It increases your thyroid function and by that your temperature raises. (Other hormones are important in the cycle like LH, FH and GnRH but I will concentrate on estrogen and progesterone. It's actually a bit more complicated.)
If your estrogen has been unopposed for years, it takes time for the stress hormones to decrease. It's not just estrogen - cortisol is usually high, PTH, serotonin (no hormone, a neurotransmitter), prolactin (which is decreased by estrogen), melatonin, histamine.

Click to expand...

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=227&hilit=peatarian&start=45

Okay, one thing peatarian wrote that confuses me is the part about prolactin being decreased by estrogen. I thought progesterone decreased prolactin. I have low prolactin and I thought that meant lower total body estrogen levels. Can anyone clarify this?

You are correct about estrogen/prolactin. May have been a wrong word used since English isn't her first language. A few quotes from different articles.

"Many things suggest an increased estrogenic activity at menopause. For example, melatonin decreases sharply at puberty when estrogen increases, and then it decreases again at menopause. Prolactin (stimulated by estrogen) increases around puberty, and instead of decreasing at menopause, it often increases, and its increase is associated with osteoporosis and other age-related symptoms"


"Prolactin--which is increased by estrogen--stimulates growth of the rat's lateral prostate (Holland and Lee, 1980), and stimulates the growth of human prostate epithelial cells in vitro (Syms, et al., 1985)."
Bold is mine.

Ah, perfect! Thank you, Diane for clearing that up for me. :)

You are welcome, Jennifer! Thank you for sharing, I enjoy reading your log. You are my kindred spirit in dancing! :P I hope you are feeling better.

Oh YAY! I'm glad you're enjoying the log. I was hoping my soul sisters were out there reading it and enjoying some dance time!

I've been wondering how the other dancing queen BP is doing. I hope she's well!

I saw my doctor today and she issued the blood tests that I asked for, along with the GI Effects comprehensive stool test by Genova Diagnostics (thanks Amazoniac for suggesting it) and she's going to send a letter to my insurance company requesting a preauthorization to hopefully get it covered or at least partially covered. Given that the test is even more expensive than the $500 stool test I was originally going to do, I'll be spending some time on my knees praying to the insurance gods.

I hope something is found because I've honestly hit the bottom of the barrel for guesses as to the origin of my gut pain. The only thing left I can think of is I ate my twin in the womb and now the bugger is fighting back. No really, it can happen! I've seen it in the Enquirer so it must be true. Other than that, I've got nothing!

I had a successful shopping trip today at Whole Foods. I picked up more of the strawberry juice and I even found the Japanese sweet potatoes I've been on the hunt for. I spotted those magenta gems a mile away, but as I approached them, Ray's voice sounded in my head and reminded me that with my current gut issues, it would probably be wise to stay clear of them for the time being. So I said a tearful goodbye and promised to return when my gut and I are one again.

I also bought five chocolate bars. One Alter Echo orange bar, one Equal Exchange mint bar and their 365 brand of dark chocolate. All of these are soy free so I snatched them up since they're hard for me to find locally. As I was eating one of the 365 bars, I realized I no longer like chocolate. This seriously doesn't bode well for me as a Wonka disciple, but a few bites of the bar and it was grossing me out. I do love the brewed cacao nibs drink, but something about the dense chocolate just turns me right off. On the plus side, it only took one bar to get 500 calories in and this made me toasty warm and no longer hungry. YAY to you yucky chocolate!

I also stopped over at Trader Joes to stock up on some grade B maple syrup and while I was there, I noticed they carry a creamed honey. In the past I was going through at least 5 jars a week of the McLure's brand so I was happy to discover the Trader Joes brand for a better price. If you guys haven't tried creamed honey before, please do. It's really delicious and so thick it requires a spoon to eat it. Seriously, no oozy honey, but a solid mass. Just scoop out chunks of sugary goodness and let it melt in your mouth. So good!

Oh and for those who might be interested, I also spotted a bottle of organic condensed milk. It contains just milk and sugar.

Well, that's about it!

For tonight's tunes...

It's more than a feeling:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SSR6ZzjDZ94

Ahh...with that voice Mr. Cummings, you should be getting some sugar tonight in your coffee:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IJbFVJvRqOQ

And my favorite slightly creepy peeper song that's oh so pretty:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k7in-9E3ImQ

Jennifer, i have no clue if this is related or not but thought I would let you know what I found. As I have been researching scurvy I have found that stomach issues are a part of it. I wonder now if thats what caused some of my stomach issues of the past and maybe I have been dealing with this in some form all my life.

Well anyways, just thought I should mention it.