Edwin, I just tried to call both the numbers you mentioned but they are "not recognised"...

Any idea why?

Hey all,

I realise that this may sound freaky but since I had adrenal challenges, I now seem to have developed a cancer (just a word) condition, which may have spread from my left testicle (no lumps but change in nature), then to the right testicle (no lumps but change in nature) and now possibly to my brain. Something kinda popped in my head (with increased pressure) after a few sensations and then I felt like I was going to lose consciousness, but managed to stay conscious. I went totally white and my heart was beating like crazy - suffice to say I visited the emergency room, although things calmed down. Now I have a permanent sensation in my mid right brain.

Maybe this has occurred because my immune system has been fighting like crazy over something (maybe a soil-based probiotic I took) with chronic inflammation occurring etc., plus with hormone imbalances, estrogen has been unopposed.

Suffice to say that if I can stay conscious in this realm long enough before being unjacked from the matrix, I will endeavour to save what I have...

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Now, the only remaining option I have seems to be liver flushing and coffee enemas to try to get my liver/GB fully back online - this will have to be swift and well planned.

I'm looking for answers as to how I may execute the flushes because everything in the past seemed too difficult, even when I had the energy reserves.

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My fat digestion seems rubbish now even though it was good before, which may have caused many stones to come down without actually being expelled. If my fat digestion is poor, that must mean my mineral uptake is poor. The idea with flushing is to improve fat digestion and mineral uptake. Until then, I cannot really thrive on fatty meat as a source of energy or minerals.

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Also, what about alkalising minerals?

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If you can help me, it would potentially save my poor paleo ass...

I don't know when I will be unjacked from the matrix, so quick responses would be cool, thanks.

Sees you,
Scotty

Recovering from TMS (after reading Sarno's work in 2003) saved my career and life - little did I know it would start a chain of downward events that would ultimately see me with a fully rationalised eating disorder.

Hey all,

I had a break from RVAF for a while, mainly because of a plethora of problems that arose, which I've still not resolved.

However, I've been suffering too at the hands of neolithic foods (which I was eating for more energy), so I was trying to refocus again on raw paleo, although I'm so dysregulated now that I just don't know what to eat/incorporate.

I watched a documentary about mongolians using golden eagles to achieve their hunting in the mountains, which was amazing and inspiring - I really wanted to emulate their paleo hunting way.

Suffice to say, I'm wondering again what you're eating daily - muscle meats, organ meats, fat/marrow etc.?

I think my body is too metabolically and nutritionally damaged from past SAD/abuse and raw veganism to heal now (especially maybe because my gut is totally dysbiotic and my stomach acid and bile output are insufficient), although I can still just do my best in this situation out of respect for life. Who is taking HCl and bile salts with their meals?

My teeth still suffered on raw paleo as well as my gums (receding), so I can imagine that I wasn't getting sufficient minerals and fat-soluble activators (or maybe my uptake was poor). Metabolically, I wish I'd chosen raw paleo over raw veganism in the beginning - maybe then I'd have had the "fire" to digest better and not be so depleted in the first place. I was so naive at the time though and green smoothies sounded easier than raw liver.

Best,
Scotty

Hey Goodsamaritan,

I think I have a serious problem with estrogen at the moment, which my liver is probably not clearing (due to liver stagnation).

I'm trying to design a program to help me through these difficult times, which I know you have experience with.

Could you pm me your phone number or e-mail address please? I would gladly donate too...

Thanks for your help.

Best,

MrBBQ

Nice one for the quick reply. Pine pollen is an interesting suggestion - I think I heard that from Daniel Vitalis (good marketing name) once...

Currently, my testosterone is in the okay range, although it could be higher. My concern is really the accumulation of estrogen, which is prob'ly down to liver stagnation.

I have no sex drive whatsoever and with my strange hormone dynamic, I do not even feel human - there must be an impact on neurotransmitters, I'm sure. Maybe my gut is too destroyed also, which could be attributed to a soil probiotic I had a negative reaction to once.

I'm going to try to get the liver moving with some Chinese herbs and maybe flushing, although I don't want to rock my bowels too much because any loss of electrolytes (through loose stools) really puts me in adrenal stress territory, which I cannot handle.

All of the healing tools seem to have catch-22 elements for me, which is very frustrating. Oftentimes, it seems that all of my endeavours are catch-22 challenges!

Nettle root is good for freeing up testosterone - maybe you could try that...

Matt Stone made the interesting point of eating "to appetite" and for a time, I gained some nice weight eating the pseudo-paleo tubers, feeling much more energised than usual. However, my teeth suffered more than fruity raw paleo, so I toned it down again.

I know that the mineral content of my paleo diet was not enough because as soon as I experimented with nettle/oatstraw infusions, I felt my teeth mineralising and strengthening from the copious minerals in those plants (something that I had to quit due to side effects from the herbs).

So while I was trying to find a nice source of balanced minerals (calcium, magnesium, silica), I was suddenly presented with the onset of severe adrenal fatigue - something that could have plagued me initially since my raw vegan days of hair falling out and eating insufficient calories (but only in the early stages).

Most people around here talk about "adrenal fatigue" as if it's just lack of energy, although adrenal fatigue has much more wide-ranging effects like severe insomnia (due to dysfunctional cortisol), water/sodium losses (due to low aldosterone production), catabolism of healthy tissues (due to chronic high cortisol) and plenty of other neurological manifestations.

If one's body is breaking down each day with noticeable effect, is it simple to not be concerned/alarmed, even though one knows that this could feedback into the stress loop?

Throwing the baby out with the bathwater and putting one's paleo principles in the background seems half-sensical, especially when one has desired to heal. After all, isn't that what drew people to paleo in the first place - a more optimal approach to life?

Self-presentation in this life is important for securing pleasurable work, new relationships etc. and my will to improve my teeth and now recover from adrenal fatigue is part of just being meticulous from the perspective of Weston Price and most people around here healing themselves etc. Most people from the naturopathic colleges here don't even know about phytic acid, let alone AGEs, PUFAs etc., so I'm not sure if there advice is complete.

@PaleoDonk: I did enjoy our discussions myself and I appreciate your kudos/comradeship. I seem to remember that from your pictures, your skin, hair and teeth aren't as "unhealed" as mine, so you have the buffers to enjoy the wider limits of donutdom. Respectfully, your point about not stressing over diet is appreciated, particularly at this time, although it seems to be reckless to introduce "any old thing". Funnily enough though, I've found myself becoming stressed about what to eat next and how it might affect me. I really wonder if I can keep a well-stocked paleo cupboard with enough calories and minerals all the time.

Sometimes, I suppose the answers do "come from nowhere", but I have read so many success anecdotes over the years and rationalised many parts of my diet, which others have claimed successful.

The question is, can one implement the "wisdom of ancient tribes" in this domesticated ecosystem successfully? In my case, I'm not certain...yet my demineralised teeth will tell their tale...

Hey all,

It's a while since I've been around here, mainly out of severely poor health with apparently nowhere to go anymore. I'm in complete turmoil and have no idea if there's a way out for me. I'm so underweight with no possibility to gain any weight.

I have developed serious metabolic problems to the extent that my muscles have wasted, my teeth are crumbling and my sleep cycle is totally nonexistent. My body seems to be in a severely catabolic state and I can't eat more than a small amount of fat without diarrhea, plus I think too much meat/fat and maybe not eating enough has driven me into this hyperadrenal stress state (along with cumulative stress throughout life).

I've been on some forums for adrenal fatigue, although it seems that megadosing on synthetic vitamin C is often the answer, along with other stuff like regularly eating neolithic foods etc. Many people report that adrenal glandulars make them worse etc., so I really feel I'm in a hole here.

Thinking about what to do and what to implement to turn the tide is proving to be massively overwhelming for me, thinking about the myriad of possible paths I could take according to my dampened intuitive sense.

I'm also thinking that I will have to remineralise with calcium/magnesium, although I've tried so many things to do this in the past, I already know it's a challenge, especially on a paleo diet. Dairy makes my teeth brittle.

Ultimately, it seems that most SAD dieters are far healthier than me and I really wonder what a wise move could be in this situation. I seem to be beyond what could be healthy now, so it's probably more an exercise in damage limitation.

Very low carb seems to have pushed me in the direction of low body temperature and metabolic ruin, although I'm not confounding it totally.

Does anyone have any wisdom for me to seek in these tricky times that are threatening my livelihood/life?

I would really appreciate anything you can offer because this thing seems to be taking me under right now.

Please help my soul...

Very best,

Scotty

You make sleep sound simple..."So get some sleep" is an insensitive thing to say to someone with insomnia from dysfunctioning adrenals, who can try (or not try) all night to sleep. Sleep is controlled by hormones...

I go to bed and lay there all night waiting for the lull of sleep...it doesn't happen...I have to take pharmaceuticals to sleep at the moment...

I believe that it was eating excessive meat along with ketosis (not enough carbs) that pushed my cortisol out of whack. Now I seem to have high cortisol at night time (when it should be low), which prevents serotonin/melatonin kicking in and producing natural sleep. The adrenal fatigue has also given me poor digestion and it's affecting my energy production, so I'm becoming a skeleton with wasted muscles (catabolism).

The crisis is nutrition and health...

Only those that "know" of the experience of adrenal fatigue can identify with its all-encompassing crippling effect on all body systems...

You're a sound man (wise teaching) and I've just been contemplating popping one of my prescribed Temazepams (I know benzos are bad) early doors to get me into the circadian jive...

I did seem to reach a few days of less dysregulation after my first prescription nap, but maybe the tide turned again because I broke off the prescription too early.

I love your prescription of future planet fiction and Bill Murray (awesome!), although I'm unsure as to the creeper coming back when the lights go out, if you know what I mean.

What's your experience of insomnia anyway? Did you break the vicious circle by hitting the meds yourself or was it self-prescribed cannabis ingestion or something?

I'm fairly sure that too low carbs rewired my circuits after a collective period of covert stressors like negligence for aspects of life, job performance, nutritional pressure, loneliness, relationship breakdowns/obscurities. Being Zen I suppose should allow the wisdom of the "atman" to shine through, but I suppose that's how spiritual colours are gradually accumulated - through direct experience.

Given my signature text, the lines "fate is not without a sense of irony" and "be careful what you wish for" are most bemusing/amusing...

Tyler Durden's words "everything is a copy of a copy of a copy" strongly resonate with me now, hehe.

Hey ForTheHunt,

Nice one for the advice - fruits (simple sugars) + standard probiotics is something I was considering myself (a la the SCD diet), so that seems like good advice to restore some kind of normality, although I read these SBOs can be very persistent in their "task" depending on the strains, which I'm yet to discover via the importer.

I ordered the Natren probiotics, which are especially meant to be the best, particularly having no nasty fillers like magnesium stearate. The only thing is that they were delivered to my office, which I would have to visit to collect.

Natren formulates a probiotic called "Healthy Trinity", which is very potent but contains sunflower oil, which totally discouraged me. I ordered their dairy-containing powders, which despite the trace dairy seem the most benign (if trace dairy could be benign), although some people have said that only the Trinity formulation works (I read that after I made the decision).

The more I continue on this journey, the deeper I seem to get into complications, when all I'm looking to do is simplify. I suppose hindsight is always 20/20...

Thanks for your wellwishing and if the avatar is your physique, well established!

No, I decreased my fat intake again (according to your advice) and increased meat intake. There's no way I can take anymore than 200g meat per day - it destroys me. Even my instinct rejects eating more than that. I know it doesn't reconcile with everyone's experience but frankly, too much meat is not good in my opinion - maybe it's a kidney insufficiency thing, particularly with renal acid load. I really think those bubbles in the urine are from bicarbonate buffers made by the kidney in the presence of acids - the more meat/eggs, the more bubbles. There is something nice about those bubbles though, I have to admit - I can almost feel comfort in past paleo lives looking at those bubbles, although maybe they wouldn't be so self-evident when pissing up a tree or in a stream (certainly not into the wind).

The other problem I discovered with high fat is that I have to eat it 30g per serving, otherwise there's too much bile in my intestine and the resultant peristaltic waves push sodium-rich fluid down the small intestine (before reabsorption), resulting in severe dehydration and new facial wrinkles (from water moving out of cells due to change in osmolarity, causing shrinkage and death).

Also, I think insulin promotes potassium loss (kaliuresis) vs sodium recycling (antinatriuresis), which is another interesting electrolyte fact - maybe a little salt is good for seasoning, especially as a source of chloride for stomach acid.