Take 18minutes to listen to this medical Doctor. Wow. May just change your life

Pre or Pro Biotic

Haven't written in a while. When you're healthy it's easy to "forget" the disease and live life to the fullest.  I've been thinking..... what has me feeling so good recently, many contributing factors, but one is this prebiotic I've been taking.

Prebiotin #1 Prebiotic Fiber

Put a little in my non-dairy yogurt. Some weeks 7 days a week, some just 2 or 3. First few days I'd recommend maybe 1/3 a serving for your body to adjust.  I've also taken VSL#3, I'm no Doctor but I felt the benefits were the same...except VSL#3 required refrigeration and this does not.  

Hope this helps, happy holidays everyone

Healing Powers of Mint

I traveled to Baja Mexico to spend time with a friend and ride in a 50mi bike ride. Everything went great until we got to the finished line, I had just finished an awesome massage, was quite relaxed, and my stomach started. Pain ranging from 4-7. I had to sit down. It was constant pain, not a periodic repeating pain like my last visit to the ER. Recalling the massage, I know they did not massage near any organs. I started to apply my Yoga training and breathed into the place of imbalance. Closed my eyes, and imagined positive things, the pain subsiding, stopping, how great the day will be without pain. This was difficult as the other part of me was wondering how I would get home, what is an ER in Mexico like, how something like this will regress my personal goals. It was a struggle of the mind, but I was going to THRIVE. I kept returning to positive thoughts.

Without any additional meds on me, and the pain being pretty high up in the colon, I'd say mid stomach, maybe transverse colon, I thought of options. Coming to the conclusion that medication would not help, though they are easy to purchase in Mexico, at any farmacia. I remembered that ginger is anti inflammatory, I was on a mission, found a sushi place but it was only a shack, so I'm sure they wouldn't have ginger tea or fresh ginger. Ignoring the pain we biked up the road. My friend pointed out Starbucks, I was not in a happy place, but thought it's worth checking it out. To my delight they had mint tea which is also anti inflammatory. Literally within minutes of drinking the tea my stomach pain subsided, to a pain level of 0. It was like magic. To be sure I added more hot water and had a second cup. I was delighted that I was able to seemingly fix myself. Delighted is an understatement.

Unfortunately a few hours later, though famished from the 50mi calorie expending bike ride, my belly was huge, similar to a pregnant woman's stomach! I was hungry, but majorly bloated. Not knowing what to do I ate a full meal, hoping I picked something low residue. sauteed shrimp, potatoes, and grilled vegetables. Sure enough, I had to go #2, as usual it took a while, but I felt GREAT afterwards. Learn something new every day.

Thinking back to what I ate in Mexico that may have set me off. ~45min before the pain started, I ate fresh fruit(Jicama, Papaya, etc..) out of a cup. ~2 hours prior, 2 flour tortilla's, perhaps grilled, and a can of re-fried beans. During the ride: lots of power aide as they sponsored the ride. And for breakfast my friend made an excellent vegetable omelet with fresh mint on the side. I can only think it was anything but the omelet that set me off. If only I knew exactly what it was, but I'm grateful I was able to recover so quickly. Now back home, I can safely say I'm healed and feeling great. I guess I should also say, Thank You Starbucks for being in Ensenada Baja Mexico.

M&M's melt in your mouth, not in your hand

Sign I'm getting better!?

Friends left an unfinished bag of M&M's at my house the other day. Though I don't have an addictive personality, for some reason I felt compelled to try just a few. Which lead to trying a few more..you know what happened next...finished the whole bag, sound familiar!? Here I am hours later without any pain. Shocking i must say as sugar, chocolate, skim milk, cocoa butter, lactose and milk fat are the first few ingredients!

Now I'm sitting here doing my homework, fat, and happy. Thank You Mars company!

Update

It's been 5 months since I've posted. I was scared to update as I did not have much good to say. Some days I felt like I hit rock bottom. Was adjusting to my diet well, but things were not great. I'd get random stomach aches, bloating, coughs, acid reflux, headaches, sensation to urinate often, mood swings, breakdowns, both physically and mentally. Typing this I realize just how bad things were, but at the same time I maintained a pretty normal life, work, friends, family, travel. (btw, for stomach bloating, nothing is better than "Stomach Ease" tea by Yogi Tea. Raw ginger in boiling water also does the trick) I had just recently completed a Prostate Biopsy with my Urologist(all negative!!) and an in office procedure called cystoscopy(otherwise known as uncomfortable tube down the pee hole, test was fine, but resulted in pain of 53(scale of 1-10) later that evening. Exam revealed an inflamed prostate. Semen culture showed 100,000 CFU of bacteria that Dr. Urologist put me on antibiotics, fifth time in a few months, from Bactrim, to Cipro, and now Keflex. After a few days of Keflex I realized it was making me lethargic, confused and irritated. Uncharacteristic of my personality. For example, on a beautiful Saturday beach day and after a pleasant night of sleep all I wanted to do was nap. I decided to stop the Keflex. I felt overwhelmed by everything. This is tough to admit, but a few times in recent weeks I actually broke down and cried to a close friend. I hadn't cried in 15 years, a few weeks after my father passed. I knew things were bad but didn't know where to turn.

It was time to seek a Doctor I choose, rather than one the ER assigned me. Dr. Pratha was someone I've heard a few times(twice in Dr. Chen's waiting room from other patients, and twice from the CCFA support group meeting). From the moment I walked into her office I knew things were different. She was semi-casually dressed, and discussing books on the Kindle with a patient. Nothing medical related, but she was actually treating the patient as a human being. Encouraging.

Dr Vijaya Pratha is board certified in gastroenterology and Internal Medicine, specializing in clinical research. We sat and talked of my symptoms, my past, and her thoughts on how I could improve my condition, and my life. I felt like she cared, I wasn't just a number in the system that would get a prescription and sent on my way.

Some things she recommended:

I asked her about moola bandha, she recommended an expert to see.
Minimize/Eliminate use of the microwave

continue my vegan-ish diet.

Further recommended I go Gluten Free. My cousins in Israel have Celiac's so I know a little about what this means, but not the full extent. She recommended I remove artificial sweeteners, stick with natural sugars. Greatly increase Green Veggies, like Kale and Chard, and pick up the book "Green For Life". If I need to use Metamucil, switch to Psylium Husk. Add VSL#3 to my daily intake. And perhaps most important, she ordered complete blood work. The first doctor I've ever seen who has done this, though I do remember Dr. Chen recommended the same, I don't believe he can write prescriptions. Interesting out of all the doctors, MD's, etc.. I have seen, only the two eastern doctors recommended this. And I'm so glad I did....

Blood Test results revealed low testosterone. And by low I mean 114, which according to my research is similar to a 100 year old man. This explained a lot! Also low Vitamin D. For Testosterone she recommended Testim 1% Gel, two/day in the morning to boost me back to normal. And for Vit D 4000 IU/day. Even here in sunny SoCal, not enough sunshine for Vitamin D intake. Here's a nice whitepaper on natural foods to boost testosterone: http://www.increase-testosterone.info/testosterone-report.pdf

She also strongly recommended I not take a fourth Antibiotic recommended by my "regular Dr". And I'm glad I listened. Follow-up semen culture revealed no more bacteria. She also felt the only reason I was doing SO WELL was because of the herbal teas to balance out the havoc the weeks of antibiotics were doing on my body.

Things are looking up

Flare Scare...

It's been many months since I've needed Canasa or Rowasa, both medication administered in the rear nether region. Canasa is a suppository, Rowasa, a suspension enema. Both contain Mesalamine, and both are meant to "keep in you as long as you can". Yesterday was not a good day.

On business travel it's not easy to find health food easily, especially when the closest eatery is 25mi away. I ate the same exact food as I have all week, except I added, because lunch was a few hours late, a few fiber one Oats&Peanut Butter bars, and Clif Bar Builder - Chocolate Mint. I'm not positive which bar it was, but I'm guessing it was the Mint. Ever since I have had UC Mint has set me off like a firecracker. In my exhausted mental work state I bought the mint bar and not the peanut butter bar like yesterday, apparently the neon mint green blue color didn't hit a visual nerve. As my stomach yearned for Rubios I ate the Clif Bar...within a few short hours I was in pain.

Urgent I must go NOW pain. My stomach was bloated to the point where a side view would have made you wonder if I was pregnant. I remained as calm as could be with my clients, went to the restroom a few times. Violent sounds erupted, and all was good. For a bit. Repeat. Business dinner followed and I enjoyed the salmon n vegetables, but back at the hotel room I again endured pain over the white porcelain statue. For the next few hours it was on and off to the bathroom. Popped in a Canasa hoping to ease the rumblings, within 5mins, made a deposit. No more Canasa. No Rowasa here at the hotel...added a cup of cooked spinach, some of the herbal tea, and called it a night.

Thankfully, my positive thoughts kept me through the night and now 24 hours later there has been minimal side affect. My fear of a flare starting was rebuffed and I just will have to remember...no...more....mint....or is it the Clif..or the Fiber One...the mystery continues. Much rather have lost just one evening to a full few week(or worse, months, flare)....note to self, make a list of good snacks to have with you...Bought creamy peanut butter and almond butter just in case for tomorrow.

Just what am I drinking?! - herbs in the Tea

Curious what doc was having me drink thrice daily, I obtained a list of ingredients:

and in English, in parenthesis is what I found via google

radix bupleuri
rhizoma atractylodis macrocephalae (Bupleurum Root)
radix paeoniae alba (White Peony Root)
poriaherba menthae
herba menthae (Peppermint)
radix angelicae sinensis
radix saussureae
fructus crataegi (Hawthorn Fruit )
fructus aurantii (Immature Bitter Orange)
rhizoma phragmitis (Phragmites, Reed root)

pericarpium citri reticulatae (Tangerine Pee)
Herba Patriniae Seu Thlaspi
caulis sargentodoxa???
radix glycyrrhizae (Liquorice)

Semen Armeniacae Amarum (Bitter Apricot Kernel)

If anyone knows Chinese, would be curious to know if these match up