Dear Diary...I'm so tired of feeling bad!

Today's entry is about my battle with getting healthy, repairing gut damage, dealing with GERD and vitamin/mineral deficiencies. 

I am working really hard on getting well and dealing with this Hashimoto's thyroiditis issue is a huge part of it. Can't lose weight, hair falling out, reflux issues, digestive problems, most of us are dealing with at least some of this. I have read this book, and refer to it ALL the time. It has helped me more than anything else in terms of information and Hashimotos! 

One of the things I have found to be a huge issue is magnesium deficiency. A lack of magnesium can exacerbate GERD and acid reflux. Why? Because Gerd is an alkaline wash issue. A body under stress can not produce HCl acid because under stress we lose Zinc, B-Vitamins & Magnesium — all needed to make stomach acid. And this acid is also critical to activating all the digestive enzymes in the small intestine which are dependent on magnesium for creation. Lord knows, we all have had our share of stress these past few months! 

What's worse is that if you are taking prescriptions for acid reflux, or anything similar to kill what stomach acid you do have in your gut, it is making the reflux way worse. Plus, modern Rx meds for this are very destructive and have black box warnings about how they deplete the body of magnesium! 

So while trying to make ourselves better, we are making things worse by taking these prescriptions our doctors so readily hand out! 

Our grandparents and great-grandparents used Milk of Magnesia to solve their occasional stomach issues by providing added magnesium, which they knew they needed! They also used good old fashioned baking soda in a little water to help with heartburn or bloating. I use this myself quite often. About 1/2 teaspoon in a cup of water does the trick!

When I was on Zantac last year, I started having PVC's. (premature ventricular contractions) That is where your heart feels like it is beating an extra beat or skipping a beat. It sucks. Come to find out, the Zantac was depleting my body of magnesium! Plus, I am on lisinopril everyday which also depletes mag and potassium! 

Once I got rid of the Zantac, the PVC's stopped -- but they came back. Why? Whenever I ate spicy food (goodbye Mexican favorites)  or anything with MSG, I have them. I do have a weapon against them that I have found works wonders, though. It is OX BILE. This is for people with no gallbladder (mostly) and it is exactly what it sounds like. 

When you have no gallbladder, bile just drips into your small intestine instead of being squeezed out when needed by the gallbladder. This is horrible when you eat a high-fat meal because you end up feeling miserable with bloat, heartburn etc. OX BILE helps me with that and it came with the bonus: it completely got rid of the PVC's for me. 

This is the OX BILE I take, along with other things I am taking and doing to get healthy. I don't take it every day, only when I eat a high-fat meal or feel the PVC's coming on. 

There are several things I am taking to help in my road to good health. At 54, I really have to look hard at my diet and health habits. And I am, believe me. This link will take you to my store where I am keeping track of all the things I take, the books that are helping me, etc. I have to pay bills, so I opened the store to help with that. Just putting it out there in case you are curious (Yes, I make a little off of the things you buy from my store, but it's more about helping others than making money for me.) 

I am not telling you to take any of these things, and my advice is not intended to be used in any way for a medical condition. This is just my personal findings and what I have done for myself that seems to be working. I really think that gut issues are what are making us all so sick! 

I will post more about this journey in the near future. I am just now figuring out what is wrong and how to fix it. Slow and steady wins the race! 

Til next time-- YOU ARE LOVED!