Brussels
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13480
posted
I suffer from cold hands and feet, and cold in general since my memory can reach back. Certainly by 10 years old, I already felt mostly cold in tropical Brazil, where I grew up. Except in high summer, of course.
I always loved very hot showers, and any breeze would make me freeze. I took hot showers in any season, and slept with thick blankets almost every single night (except some days a year).
While everyone slept with fans, I still had a blanket...
I have no idea since when my thyroid could have been affected, but the cold problem, bad circulation etc never improved, only got worse, to the point of developing these problems (all Raynaud's-related):
- hands and feet always cold, rarely reaching warm temperatures.
- discoloration started to become definitive on feet by end of 20s; on hands, by end of 30s. They never improved. It looked like I lost skin color for life.
- feet skin infections started early 20s, on and off, until I moved out of the tropics to temperate climates: then I had such skin infections + chilblains every single year, during all months of winter, partially during fall and spring too.
- when I reached 30 years old, it was clear it became chronic, as my chilblains + fungal infections were with me for AT LEAST 6-8 months a year.
During lyme (early 40s), they could stay active the whole year, 12 months.
- During lyme, my hands and feet got in such a bad state. I didn't know joints could be involved too, and they poured pus and liquids, and I felt like dying once. No antibiotic helped (I even tried antibiotic back then, even in combos, short term, zero improvement).
Well, I only discovered now that I probably had Systemic Sclerosis: all symptoms from it, almost like by the book! Photos from the internet describe almost exactly the horror I lived.
They say it's a deadly condition and once diagnosed, patients have 10 years of life (!?!)
Well, I'm still alive!
I just want to say I'm healing from it!! The skin color returned about 80-90% on hands, and 70% on feet, most of the time.
When I go out, I still freeze (hands and feet), but much less. By entering a warmer place, it takes minutes to get warm again. Before, no matter how many hours I spent in a warmer place: they did not get warm, but remained cold.
Only saunas/hot baths changed that, for a short time.
If I did not make a hot bottle of water to go to bed, I would not sleep until 4, 5 AM, when my feet finally started to get warmer inside thick blankets... This has been my life the last 20, 30 years.
Even that seems to be improving!
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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Brussels
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13480
posted
What am I doing?
Cleaning my liver, basically, eating extremely low fat diets, low protein, high fruit, high veggies, high leafy greens (almost daily for 14 months), avoiding all inflammatory foods such as eggs, dairy, ...
.... too many nuts, gluten, rapeseed oil, corn, soy, most animal proteins too (but I still eat these in small amounts), taking celery juice on and off, cucumber juice on and off, ginger juice on and off, licorice, some supplements (vitamins, zinc, B12, liposomal Vit C) ...
Basically that.
I thought I was going to die with Raynauds / Sytemic Sclerosis / chilblains / discoloration / fungal and other infections on extremities, but now I think I may not!!
It's been 14 months eating this way (it's based on both Dr Rau's diet and the Medical Medium diet tips), and I don't think there will be a coming back for me.
Food allergies are all gone with this diet, sinuses keep improving (from old dead tooth during lyme), I stopped losing weight (which had been happening for the last 10 years without doubt).
Arthritic pains are reduced to a minimum, and still improving, my energy is stable during the day, no more fatigue bouts, brain fog is definitively gone for good I think.
Even my body density changed, as I can lie on these bubbles beds in the swimming pool without straying away (before, I had to hold strong on the border, and could not even relax, as I floated away ).
When lyme left me 10 years ago, it was a big relief. Like vacations from treatment, from symptoms, from hell.
Then slowly, small problems started appearing - such as food allergies, they only increased with the years.
Then nose allergies, nose / eye problems, until hay fever got so bad I could not move one step further, but had to stay with eyes closed, extreme burning pains, for hours....
Then arthritis slowly started appearing, slowly, but surely. And systemic sclerosis did not heal, but kept coming back... And I kept losing weight, every single year.
It's all reversing. All my health problems. Even Raynauds.
The first months on this diet, I herxed intensely in the thyroid, with clear pins and needles there, on and off.
No doubt it was doing something there. I never felt that with any treatment I did. It lasted months, then died out.
Just writing this to say how I regret having eating such a high fat / high protein diet during lyme.
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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Brussels
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13480
posted
There's a book that is now number 1 in Germany, called Die Ernahrungskompass by Bas Kast, who shows amazing data on how high protein + high fat can cause all sorts of health problems, not only cardio vascular, but for example, kidney problems, prostata problems, cancer, etc.
He's just a biologist and journalist, who started having heart problems at an early age, and researched that looking for a good diet to heal. Only after, he decided to write a book.
He read the reports on Atkin's death, and the guy was fully sick, in fact. It had been a lie that he died just by slipping on the ice and hitting his head: the death reports showed Atkin fell because of heart failure. He suffered from hypertension and other problems.
He promoted high animal protein high fat diet low carb for years.
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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