Husband Health Update

Ryan, my husband, had an illuminating, fun and energizing visit to Ken Morehead, our Dr. of Oriental Medicine, www.ortientalhealthsolutions.com. He hadn’t been to see Ken in about nine months and very much needed to. Ryan has excelled in some areas, such as freeing himself from his ADHD fog, and Ken was very happy with and excited by this accomplishment.

There are still some health difficulties, though. After a full night’s sleep (eight hours or more), Ryan is exhausted and can sleep more. His energy decline in the past year has been significant. Ryan asked Ken if his adrenal glands were exhausted. Ken said that in most patients with adrenal fatigue he can still hear a good “whoosh, whoosh” when checking their pulse. Ryan’s is barely a whisper!

Why are Ryan’s adrenal glands so fatigued?  Because of his lifelong battle with ADHD, Ryan has always needed stimulants to try and push away the ever present brain fog. Many years of mega-doses of caffeine, a few years of Ephedra (a now illegal stimulant because it causes heart attacks) and various other products that have been deemed unhealthy did help lift his brain fog and hurt his adrenal glands.

Ryan’s diet is exceptionally healthy, with only one hurdle left. Coffee. Full caffeine, double strength French press, addictive coffee. The coffee has been over-stimulating his adrenal glands, causing him to live in a continuous state for fight or flight over 20 years, and it continues to push the adrenals toward burnout.

As if the adrenal problem wasn’t bad enough, French press coffee in particular has been linked to high cholesterol. Ryan’s cholesterol was “high” this Spring, with high LDLs (bad cholesterol) and triglycerides and low HDLs (good cholesterol). His western medicine doctor mentioned putting him on statin drugs, which is completely absurd. Those drugs kill people!

Thank goodness for perspective. I learned about the cholesterol farce from Sally Fallon during the Real Food Real Medicine conference this spring:  Conference with Sally Fallon – Day 1. Here is some more information and my victory regarding food and cholesterol. Victory – Cholesterol. Ryan and I are different people with different areas of health that need strengthening, but I can’t help wonder what role coffee is playing in Ryan’s cholesterol numbers given that we eat exactly the same way except for coffee.

Thank goodness for Ken Morehead! His advice on Ryan’s cholesterol numbers is not to worry. Our body produces cholesterol to heal itself, and more significant healing should occur once Ryan breaks the coffee addiction. Ryan will be free from coffee soon by following the plan that he asked Ken to help him develop. It has been an interesting two days on the plan, and Ryan will blog about it shortly. Our nutrient dense eating habits promote healing, so there is nothing to change in that regard. Once Ryan’s adrenal function improves, Ken will be able to help Ryan with the final fine-tuning regarding ADHD and brain function. Ken estimates that Ryan should visit again in about six months.

Even with the adrenal issue, it is clear that Ryan is still healing. He has had a rash under his arm for about three months that changes in intensity. He tried all kinds of natural topical remedies to stop them but nothing works. We know that the topical treatment of rashes does not fix the problem, and the problem is an expression of the body needing to heal, but those rashes hurt.

Ken said that Ryan has been detoxing something for the last three months. Three months of detox…oh my! We began detoxing a year ago when we started the Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet (GAPS) www.gapsdiet.com. We stayed strictly on the diet for nine months, with some loosening of it about three months ago when Ryan’s ADHD fog lifted and my and Colson’s seasonal allergies appeared to be healed. Colson and I have had no noticeable detox symptoms lately, although we each went through three rounds of it. The detox lasted a little over a week each time during the first five months. Ryan is detoxing like crazy. On the scale of GAPS-related illness, ADHD is more severe than seasonal allergies. Combine that with being different people with different lifestyles, and it makes sense that Ryan’s detox would be more severe than mine or Colson’s.

When straying from GAPS, Ryan and I notice that our body odor increases, which is especially significant for me because I am now usually odor-free. Ken says that the increase in body odor is an indicator that some type of food is not agreeing with our bodies and that we need to play with food to figure it out. It could be a gluten issue.

This is the fun part…it is now finally cool to play with our food! To be so clean and healthy that we get fast and powerful feedback from our bodies about the food that we eat is incredible!

Here is to the next six months, when Ryan’s adrenal glands strengthen and his fatigue fades away. I am immensely excited for him!

Comments

[Maria Droujkova]

Coffee is a huge deal. You have to decrease it gradually, too, or risk pretty serious physical, mental and emotional pain.

My stimulant of choice are B vitamins. They are somewhat addictive and can have adverse effects, too. I don't know what your take on vitamins is in general, and it has to be discussed with doctors, but they definitely clear out brain fog and help you wake up more rested.

[Hanlie]

You are so right about the link between clean eating and body odor. We find that we smell very natural and pleasant without animal products and processed foods. The minute we add any of those back in, our body odor changes. Furthermore, because our diets are so clean, the minute I eat oatmeal or anything containing gluten, I bloat up and shortly afterward I get a dermatitis rash on my hands. Similarly, the preservative sulfur dioxide causes hives and swelling of my face and hands. Eating right is just so worth it!

[Cascia @ Healthy Moms]

Taking extra B vitamins is a good idea. Like your husband I am addicted to coffee, well the caffeine. I wish him the best in continued good health!