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Maes17
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She's been logging on here and there. I'm assuming she's fine or biologically off schedule
umphreak
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Frequent infections + fatigue + high copper + your description of your diet makes me strongly suspect zinc deficiency. Foods highest in zinc are oysters and red meat. You can actually be zinc deficient even if your zinc levels appear normal, because what really matters is the ratio of zinc to copper in the body. I had a lot of fatigue and brain fog when I was vegetarian. Adding meat back in helped a lot, especially red meat. But oysters are by far the best source of zinc, if you prefer to go that route.
Frequent infections also brings to mind a need for vitamin A and cholesterol. Vitamin A is known as the anti-infective vitamin. Best source of both of those is high vitamin cod liver oil. The stuff you can buy at the store is no good and wont help. Or you can just eat liver (but careful here, because liver is high in copper) regularly. Egg yolks and butterfat will also help with these nutrients to a lesser extent.
The brain is the part of your body with the highest concentration of cholesterol, where it is super essential for learning and memory. You say you have memory issues, which also leads me to believe that you have a need for more cholesterol.
Another possibility is that your digestion is not working as smoothly as it should. Do you have any digestive symptoms? I personally don't subscribe to the concept of food combining - it might help some people but not because the body is not capable of digesting different food groups together. It's more like people with weak digestion have an easier time digesting fewer foods at a time - so the food combining is more about reducing symptoms than addressing the root cause of the problem, which is the weak digestion. You can have the best diet in the world, but if your digestion isn't optimal, you won't absorb all the nutrients from your food.
Some things that can help with digestion are homemade bone broth, fermented foods, bitters, and (if symptoms warrant it) hydrochloric acid supplementation. Some people also need supplemental enzymes. I had chronic lifelong constipation that finally went away when I supplemented with hydrochloric acid. I can elaborate on how these things help with digestion if you're interested.
Also consider that some foods are harder to digest than others. This is particularly true of seed foods (grains, beans, nuts, and seeds), which contain antinutrients that actually prevent mineral absorption and inhibit protein digestion. Fermenting and soaking these foods before cooking, as in true sourdough for example, can reduce or eliminate these antinutrients.
Likewise, raw vegetables (especially the really fibrous ones) are hard to digest. Humans don't produce the enzyme that digests cellulose (plant fiber). So in order to absorb the nutrients, the fiber cells must be broken up by chewing really well, blending, or cooking.
Frequent infections also brings to mind a need for vitamin A and cholesterol. Vitamin A is known as the anti-infective vitamin. Best source of both of those is high vitamin cod liver oil. The stuff you can buy at the store is no good and wont help. Or you can just eat liver (but careful here, because liver is high in copper) regularly. Egg yolks and butterfat will also help with these nutrients to a lesser extent.
The brain is the part of your body with the highest concentration of cholesterol, where it is super essential for learning and memory. You say you have memory issues, which also leads me to believe that you have a need for more cholesterol.
Another possibility is that your digestion is not working as smoothly as it should. Do you have any digestive symptoms? I personally don't subscribe to the concept of food combining - it might help some people but not because the body is not capable of digesting different food groups together. It's more like people with weak digestion have an easier time digesting fewer foods at a time - so the food combining is more about reducing symptoms than addressing the root cause of the problem, which is the weak digestion. You can have the best diet in the world, but if your digestion isn't optimal, you won't absorb all the nutrients from your food.
Some things that can help with digestion are homemade bone broth, fermented foods, bitters, and (if symptoms warrant it) hydrochloric acid supplementation. Some people also need supplemental enzymes. I had chronic lifelong constipation that finally went away when I supplemented with hydrochloric acid. I can elaborate on how these things help with digestion if you're interested.
Also consider that some foods are harder to digest than others. This is particularly true of seed foods (grains, beans, nuts, and seeds), which contain antinutrients that actually prevent mineral absorption and inhibit protein digestion. Fermenting and soaking these foods before cooking, as in true sourdough for example, can reduce or eliminate these antinutrients.
Likewise, raw vegetables (especially the really fibrous ones) are hard to digest. Humans don't produce the enzyme that digests cellulose (plant fiber). So in order to absorb the nutrients, the fiber cells must be broken up by chewing really well, blending, or cooking.
Maes17
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Stay strong Vixy!So sorry for my late reply, you guys, I wasnt notified about any replies on here for some reason.
Ha! BOTH!
Yup, am defo zink defeciant, got those white marks in the nails as a kid and when I'm having PMDS like a son of a b..(like now), Zink is the only think except painkillers that help. Ive read that copper toxicity takes down the zink levels.
I just had another urinary tract infection (cant remember if I've told you about that or not) and it went up into my kidneys this time around. I was on antibiotics for 2 weeks but am still in pain and suppose it will never go away, have been in pain in my back since 2008, I thought it was the back but it seems its from the kidneys since the pain dissapeared when on antibiotics.
Right again. My digestion hasnt worked since I was 19. I get periods of diarrheeas for MONTHS, at worst I can run to the bathroom 11 times a day. ELEVEN times. I thought that was normal until my friends reacted and told me to see a doc, who ofc couldnt help me at all.
Sry for any typos this time around, having trouble staing awake and my brain is functioning on a caveman stage, lol!
Exactly that. It does not matter what I eat, it changes nothing. My friend took me to a secluded house for five weeks and made sure I ate nothing but healthy foods, only thing that happened (Ate as much as her and shes a BIG girl) is that I gained 20 pounds.
Yes1 Ive tried hydrochloridic acid for a couple of months for hearburn and such but nothing happened with that either. Heard about hoe people became much better on it so tried it for that reason but no.
Yeah, it doesnt matter what I eat, can be anything from Mcdonalds to raw vegetables, makes no difference whatsoever. Tried juicing too, made me nauseaus but nothing happened.
Right now, it fells like my back is about to split open and theres one man on each side pulling it apart..and thats despite antiinflammatory painkillers.
Why the fuck am I even alive, really?..one wodners sometimes.
Anywho, I've just finished a detox without any copper dump so I'm going to go for another one and keep going until I get the dump and then watch the results. FUCK If I'll give up!
Helluva process you've been through. You're still here though.
Red Sky at Morning
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Poor Vixy!! Last time I felt that way I listened to the whole book of Job on audio. Hope things start to turn around for you soon x
Red Sky at Morning
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This site looked pretty well rated ...
"Correcting a copper imbalance can NOT be done in 2 weeks or even 2 months."
~Dr. Lawrence Wilson
"In the case of copper, a mineral almost all burnout victims accumulate, this by itself can take three or more years to eliminate. Sometimes we have had people on a nutritional correction program for up to two years before any of the stored copper starts releasing." ~ Dr. Paul Eck
https://coppertoxic.com/detox/healing
Maes17
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Only thing I can do is send positive thougts your way. You're going through a lot/been through a lot growing up.
Those on here who know more about copper detox, listen to them. Try garlic. My doc told me garlic is good at removing excess metals.
Maybe try pineapple. The enzyme bromelain is supposed anti-inflammatory.
You're a damn strong missy that's for sure.
umphreak
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Not sure why I didn't think to say this before, but I have a home remedy for urinary tract infections that you should try next time if you haven't already. All you have to do is take baking soda in water twice a day at the first sign that you're getting an infection, and keep taking it for several days after symptoms go away. Try 1/4 teaspoon twice a day, and if that doesn't work, bump it up to 1/2 teaspoon. This makes the urine too alkaline for pathogenic bacteria to reproduce. This has worked like a charm for me. Since you have probably taken a lot of antibiotics, you'll need repopulate your gut with good bacteria. I'll get more into that in a minute.
Disclaimer: none of what I say here is intended as medical advice. I'm a former nutritional therapist, and as such I never diagnose or treat any disease condition. Rather, I provide nutritional support for disease conditions and to move the body towards optimal health. Here I'm just going to tell you what I personally would do if it were me.
Ok, so here's what I would do if I were in your position: I would focus on digestion first. Without that it literally does not matter what you do, what foods you eat, what supplements you take; you won't absorb shit. First things first: Eat only when you're in a relaxed mental state. Don't eat when angry or irritated. Don't eat in front of the TV, instead focus all your energy on eating. Be sure to chew your food well and take time to really enjoy it and feel appreciation for it. This helps put your body in the right state for digestion, chewing well also helps mix in saliva which has enzymes that start the digestive process.
Next, I know you said you ate nothing but healthy foods for over a month and it didn't help. However, healthy is a subjective term unfortunately. What you think is healthy could be dramatically different from what I think is healthy. Some people think a veggie burger made of soy protein is healthy, or vegetables cooked in canola oil. I view both of those as poison. Some people think eating a raw carrot by itself is healthy. That's definitely not poison, but it's also a waste of your time because without some fat, you don't absorb many of the most important nutrients in the carrot. The fact is that disinformation touches every area of our lives. It’s by design that there is so much confusion about what is healthy. We know there are people out there in powerful positions who would like to keep us from thriving.
So maybe you could elaborate on what kinds of foods you were talking about. There was a time in my life when I was vegetarian, and I ate lots of raw salads with nuts and seeds, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, beans, cooked with olive oil exclusively, and avoided animal products almost entirely. I've never been more sick in my life. In fact, part of the reason I replied to your post was that what you describe reminds me a lot of myself back then. My digestion was TERRIBLE. I had severe chronic constipation that occasionally switched to diarrhea. Like you, it never occurred to me that this was abnormal!
At any rate, if it were me, I would start making my own bone broth at home, and incorporate that very heavily into my diet. Like, I would make huge batches of broth (this is actually quite easy if you get an electric pressure cooker, but can be done on the stovetop or slow cooker if necessary), and use broth as a component of every meal. Broth is very soothing and healing to the digestive tract, and it also stimulates digestion in a number of ways. Start with chicken broth, it's flavor is more neutral and you can add it to almost anything. You can use it to make soups and stews, of course, but an often overlooked use of broth that makes eating this way much more interesting is to make sauces. You boil the broth to reduce it by about 1/2, and add whatever seasonings or flavors you want. Right now I'm cooking a pot roast in my pressure cooker with a balsamic-dijon reduction sauce made with chicken broth, for example.
As for other foods, I would basically follow a modified GAPS diet - tons of broth, meats, eggs, yogurt, well-cooked non-fibrous vegetables, starchy vegetables, some fruits, ginger tea, raw honey or pure maple syrup for sweetener. I would incorporate beef, lamb, shellfish, and poultry on a regular basis as these are better sources of zinc than fish. I would avoid grains other than white rice in general. If you want pasta, I would recommend avoiding whole grain pasta and steering towards organic pasta made with white flour. You simply cannot digest whole grains so they need to be avoided for now. The only exception is if you can get true sourdough bread, but even this might not be the easiest for you to digest. The same could be said for beans, nuts, seeds, and most raw vegetables. I would avoid salads until your digestion is working better. Cook with butter or ghee. Coconut oil and olive oil are ok too, but butter and ghee are better for digestive healing. All meals should contain some healthy fat. If you make a broth-based soup or stew, make sure you add some butter or ghee. If you steam your vegetables, add some melted butter or ghee on top. The only supplement I would recommend at this time is high-vitamin cod liver oil. There are several brands to choose from, but I cannot stress enough that the cod liver oil you'll find at the store is no good and a waste of money. Let me know if you want brand recommendations. 1 teaspoon per day is where I would start. You need vitamin A for healing the gut lining, and cod liver oil is the best source. Liver is also great but you should probably avoid that until your copper situation is under control.
Also, make sure you are eating enough *unrefined* salt. I use Himalayan pink salt because apparently sea salt contains microplastics from the ocean. The idea that most people need to cut their salt intake is a humongous crock of BS. Disinfo from those guys we all love to hate. Salt is sodium chloride, and it's literally the ONLY significant source of chloride in our diets. Chloride is needed for the body to produce hydroCHLORic acid. I wonder how many cases of low stomach acid are caused by misguided avoidance of healthy salt. It's easy to know how much salt to eat - just salt your food to taste. We have a taste for salt for a reason.
You say you've tried hydrochloric acid (HCL) supplementation with no results. Heartburn is a clear sign of low stomach acid and HCL need. I'm wondering how much you were taking and how you decided on that dose. Some people need A LOT of HCL to get results, because some people's stomach acid production is lower than others. This is absolutely key that you get your stomach to the proper acidity, because digestion is a north to south process, so to speak. Anything that goes wrong at the beginning of digestion can wreak serious havoc on the entire rest of the process. Proper acidity is needed to digest all macronutrients, as well as for absorption of many vitamins and minerals, including zinc. Taking a little when you actually need a lot will not help, and if you have heartburn it's practically a guarantee that your stomach acid is too low. Let me know if you are interested in trying again with this, and I'll explain the process for how to determine your proper dose.
Once you've got your stomach acid situation in order, and are eating a healing diet, you'll need to get your gut flora back in balance. This can be achieved by eating small amounts of fermented foods with every meal, and by incorporating prebiotics into your diet. Naturally fermented sauerkraut is probably your best bet to find in the store if you don't want to make fermented veggies yourself. You only need a tablespoon or two per meal, and you can also use the juice from the sauerkraut in soups or stews - just make sure the soup isn't hot enough to burn your finger before you add it. Believe it or not, it adds the perfect touch to soups and really brings out/brightens the flavor. Unsweetened yogurt or kefir are good too (you can sweeten yourself with honey or maple syrup or fruit/berries), just make sure they are full-fat. You can make your own fermented drinks with water kefir grains - there are tons of recipes online and it's easy to do. Milk kefir is also easy to make yourself, and yogurt is not that difficult either.
For the copper/zinc imbalance, this is a great article that explores many facets of that issue: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/modern-diseases/copper-zinc-imbalance-unrecognized-consequence-of-plant-based-diets-and-a-contributor-to-chronic-fatigue/
This article also mentions pyroluria, which I would recommend looking into. The testing is not that expensive. It's a condition that causes the body to eliminate large amounts of zinc and vitamin B6, leading to deficiency. It's genetic so the only cure is high-dose supplementation of these nutrients. Here is a questionnaire that can help you determine if testing is warranted: https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/pyroluria-questionnaire-from-the-antianxiety-food-solution/
darthghidorah85
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any recommendations for making broth? just buy the carton and add veggies and chicken to it?
rainerann
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You can use any recipe for chicken broth available. The recipes are really easy to follow for any beginner. There aren’t a whole lot of ways to mess up. The hard part, and the reason it is more convenient to buy broth in the store, is because it can take a loooong time to make, which is why a pressure cooker is nice to cut down the cooking time.
I made a beef bone broth once that I cooked on low for almost two days on my stove top, and I will probably never do that again. So I would definitely recommend a pressure cooker or a crock pot to make broth. Although, veggie broth’s cook pretty quick. I can make a veggie broth on the stove top in a couple hours.
When you make a broth from scratch, you add veggies and protein to plain water. Otherwise, your flavors will compete with the boxed broth, so you don’t want to do that. When I have time, I love making broth from scratch and making homemade soup. They taste so much better that way.
Maes17
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You'll get over it Vixy. Try to be positive. Easier said than done.
Best wishes
umphreak
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Don't waste your money on the carton - it has nothing of value in it. There are a lot of different ways to make bone broth, it just depends on what you prefer to do. Personally, I prefer to buy chicken that I'm going to eat and use the bones from that - that way, the bones are basically free, because if I wasn't making broth I would have thrown them away.
Usually I buy organic chicken drumsticks which are super cheap ($2/lb at Costco or Trader Joes). I throw them in my electric pressure cooker (seriously I cannot say enough good things about these, if you do a lot of cooking just buy one!) with just enough filtered water to cover them completely, and cook on high pressure for about 22 minutes. If you're doing it on the stove, they probably need about an hour at a slow simmer - don't boil, just simmer. I remove the drumsticks with a slotted spoon to a bowl, and cover with a dish towel or lid until they are cool enough to handle. Then I pull all the usable meat off of the bones and store in the fridge or freezer. The meat can be used for taco filling, soups, stews, quesadillas, whatever you want. All of the bones, skin, and connective tissue goes back into the liquid in the pressure cooker, and gets cooked on high pressure for around 3-4 hours. If you're doing it on the stove, it will need to go for a minimum of around 8-10 hours, and it must be at a slow simmer. What you're looking for is the connective tissue to be completely dissolved, which means it's in the broth. The connective tissue (gelatin) is the healing part. And the way to tell that your broth has lots of gelatin is that it gels when you refrigerate it.
*Side note* People who have serious gut issues or are very sick may not be able to handle broth cooked for this long, at least at first, so they should start with a broth that has been cooked for a shorter time, like an hour in the pressure cooker or 3 hours on the stovetop, and work up to the kind of broth that I make.
The other thing I do is save and freeze the entire carcass when I roast a whole chicken. Then when I put the bones from the drumsticks back into the broth, I add the carcass. You can also make broth with just the carcass if that's all you have. If you don't use the pan drippings from roasting the chicken to make a sauce (which I very highly recommend doing as it is one of the most delicious things in the world!), add them to the broth. Your broth will not be as gelatinous but will still be a good product and worth making. You can also save the bones from any bone-in chicken you eat, and use them in the same way, as long as they don't have something strong flavored like BBQ sauce on them. Some people buy chicken wings and make broth with them, as they have a good amount of gelatin. But they are more expensive than drumsticks and the meat they produce is not even worth the effort in my opinion. Homemade bone broth should be free or extremely cheap, in my opinion. I'm not into buying bones just to make broth.
Bonus points for your broth if you add chicken feet, which are very high in gelatin. Back in the day I even used to get chicken heads from my local farmer and put them in my broth - they make the best broth.
Some people add vegetables to their broth but this is not really necessary unless you want them for flavor or specific nutrients. The gelatin is the healing part and veggies don't have gelatin. If you want to add veggies, you need to add them towards the end of the broth cooking, about an hour before the broth is done. Otherwise the flavor will get kind of weird. Personally I do not add veggies (though I do sometimes add a strip of kombu seaweed for minerals) because I want a neutral flavored broth that I can use in all of my recipes. I put veggies in whatever meal I use the broth for instead.
umphreak
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A detox will not help you. What you need is someone to help you. Someone to do food prep for you so you can focus on getting better. Do you have any friends or family that would be willing to help you with this? You don't need salads, you need protein, and more importantly, you need to be able to digest that protein! A detox is physically incapable of fixing that problem for you. Making good food at home is definitely more work, but it doesn't have to be fancy. If you have bone broth made and a food processor you can just chop up some veggies quickly in the food processor, throw them in the simmering broth with some meat and herbs for flavor, add a dollop of butter and salt to taste and you're done!
The reason why everyone give you long answers when trying to help is that there are no quick fixes. Anyone who sells you a quick fix is not really trying to help. I was once in almost as bad shape as you. I had the brain fog, the lack of motivation, the depression. I get it. But the thing is, I would still be there if I hadn't decided to take personal responsibility for my health. It was not easy. I had to take serious baby steps. It's literally been 10 years now since I started making changes and I'm still making them. You obviously don't really want to die, or you wouldn't be here asking for help.
So if you want to start with baby steps, start with the baking soda when you feel a UTI coming on. Next, do me a favor and take a look at the pyroluria link at the end of my last reply to you. Figure out if you have the symptoms of pyroluria. If so, there is a good chance you aren't taking enough zinc, and you should be taking B6. This could make a major difference in your overall symptoms. So look at the link, take the questionnaire, tell me the results, and then tell me how much zinc you're currently taking.