You go Wanda!! I totally agree.

Sorry. It's been a long time since I've updated you. I've been too busy to post.

I visited Dr. Purcell and it was great. We spent 3 1/2 hours discussing everything in my life so that she can analyze me and look for potential imbalances. She said that my diet is already very good and similar to what she would put me on. She is going to alter it a little more with specifics to blood type and stuff. She has me on homeopathy for now, and I am going to see her next month.

She has stayed in touch with me via e-mail. This is such a great experience after my bad experience with Western medicine. I'll let you know how things pan out.

--Timothy

Hey Timothy, that's fantastic news! That was how I felt too when I switched over to alternative medicine. Wow, 3 1/2 hours!

A lot of alternative practitioners, I find, swear by the blood type diet. It was the first nutrition book I read when I switched to alternative medicine. A lot of people here poopoo the diet, but I think it has some real merits. What's your blood type? I'm going to guess A. Yes, no?

How are the physical symptoms doing? The chest pain, palpitations etc.

Wanda

My blood type is O positive.

My issues vary from day to day and week to week. Lately it's been pretty good. Currently - no chest pain. Very few heart palpitations. My sleep still isn't the greatest, though.

I got a saliva cortisol test and I hope to go over those results once my doctor gets them and we have another appointment.

--Timothy

I saw my naturopathic doctor again. Since the first homeopathy we tried (lachesis mutus) didn't make a difference, she started me on a new one (phosphorus).

She is really great. After our last appointment, she bought SPII and read through it and had notes for me and a plan for me, based on SP. That's a sign of a good doctor.

She said that she thinks my adrenaline glands are overactive on account of stress. She thinks that at some point, heavy chronic stress hit me and I really applied to my body, which started me down the road of damage. She said that my insulin was probably low on my test because it was a fasting level, and that the high blood sugar reading was probably on account of my liver releasing gluc-something into my blood as a response to my high adrenaline and cortisol. She also said that my LDL was probably so high because of its role in repairing oxidative damage - which is being caused by the adrenal malfunction. So I'm glad to have an idea of what is happening.

My saliva cortisol test showed normal night levels, but really high morning levels. So the doctor said that she thinks my adrenal glands are in the first stage of burnout, but that she plans to help me turn it around. So she's having me follow the insulin-sensitive with burnt-out adrenal glands plan. She's putting me on 20g carb snacks and 25g carb meals.

She's also having me take a good multi-vitamin/mineral and extra vitamin C complex (with bioflavinoids), in addition to the fish oil, calcium, and magnesium I was already taking. She also told me to lay off of my B complex for a while because type O's sometimes have adverse reactions to those.

She is having me do a bunch of stress management from SPII: 5 minutes of meditation per day, 20 minutes of relaxing exercise (yoga) and light resistance exercise, with no cardio.

I love having a doctor who takes everything very gently and slowly. And, contradictory to standard medicine, she thinks that there is always a reason for body problems and that they can often be reversed/healed, without resorting to expensive drugs and surgery. I feel so much better now that I feel like I have someone who knows what they're doing helping me through this.

--Timothy

Hello all. How do you find doctors like these and will HMOs pay for them?

Hi Carrottop:

You can find a doctor through ACAM: http://www.acam.org/dr_search/ I'm not sure about your HMO though. I guess you'd have to check.

Wanda

You can go to www.alternativemedicine.com and search for a practitioner. That's what I did. Insurance will not likely pay for any of this. You're paying cash - but it's worth it when you know that your copays to HMO doctors will get you nowhere - as was my case (actually I have a PPO, but it's still the same).

--Timothy

Timothy, how the heck did I miss this? That is bloody amazing news, bud! Isn't it great to have someone who actually listens? How are you doing, by the way?

Wanda

Definitely. She is always available and saves up all of my e-mails to talk about in our appointments. She is just the person I needed to find. Now, instead of looking all my issues up online, I just ask her and she can give me valid input. It's a big relief.



Since my last appointment, I've started to feel better. I feel like the daily 20 mins of power yoga has really been good for me. With the consistent exercise and the other advice and treatments she has given me, I've noticed improved sleep, a softer heartbeat much of the time, fewer upper body twinges and aches, and more energy throughout the day.

My sister, who is a physical therapist also helped me by evaluating my back and posture. As I mentioned before, I have some left-side issues. Some of these are definitely muscle-related. Fortunately, my sister, genius that she is, was able to see where a bunch of shoulder and posture problems were happening and gave me exercises and posture tips. This has really helped as well to relieve some structural aches in my upper body.

Whew. Finally, things seem to be looking up. I would be a fool if I didn't mention that my progress is also an answer to much prayer, and so God deserves the attention here. He brought me a good doctor, and by his kindness am I on the road to healing.

Thanks for posting, Wanda. I'll update soon. I have another appointment coming up.

--Timothy

Look for the Body for Life book in the library by Bill Phillips. His basic philosphy is 20 mins of quality cardio, which he calls HIIT ( high intensity interval training) 3 times a week will give fantastic results. Anyone can follow this plan and realize that all action is better than no action.
Good luck
Phil

Maybe you didn't read the whole thread, but my issues are adrenal-related. Cardio is not a good thing to do right now. Schwarzbein says to do no cardio when you have adrenal issues, as does my doctor.

--Timothy

Hi Timothy, you are so lucky to have found that Doctor. She is right on the money. I just read your story today but this is from an old book I read a few years ago.


Cortisol is a catabolic hormone, that stimulates the breakdown of body
tissues. It is released by the adrenal glands when we are under stress. When the body recognizes stress ( ie car won't start, late for work, baby etc.)
it releases a lot of adrenaline and cortisol (flight or fight response)

Cortisol steals nitrogen from the structural protein in our muscles and converts the protein to sugar for energy and naintenance of blod sugar levels in the brain. Cortisol eats the mucsle that we use to burn fat.

Excess stress equals excess corisol, which equals fat gain.

After stress your brain continues to send out feed me signals to refuel the reserves that have been emptied.

Obviously this is a pared down, short version of the section of the book but it also has good info about the best times to eat when working out. I enjoyed it and recomended to a lot of people along with Dr. S. who I love. She is so great to read and I love her detailed explainations of the science behind her books. Good luck and let us know how things are going.

Oops. the book is called " Fat Wars" 2002 revised edition By Brad King
(Brad is a local Canadian boy)

Hi HLFan:

I keep seeing his book in my HFS. One day I just might read it. Another good book that I consider the gold standard for adrenal fatigue is "Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome" by J. Wilson. I just found out today that Dr. Wilson is from Fergus, ON.

All these local boys writing about stress. Hmmm.....

Wanda

I think I've seen articles by Brad King, maybe I'll check out his book. I would love some good info on when and what to eat pre and post workouts. My understanding is that after an intense workout you actually do want to spike your insulin because at this time your insulin sensitivity is improved and you need to restore your muscle glycogen stores. I'm wondering how to control the high cortisol levels and if taking insulin spiking carbs is counterproductive for this. Schwarzbein doesn't really help with muscle recovery post workout. Sure I agree with only doing light cardio, but I'm going to hit the weights heavy. I want the muscles to grow!