6.5 months

Nothing really new in my health

Doing poorly on the gluten free diet, fair free egg free etc.  Nothings helping much.  Starting eating small amounts of gluten and cheese.

Hurting- neck, hamstrings, BACK, jaw/TMJ, never really tired, never really awake either.

Recently decided to stop being vegetarian as of June 1st. WE SHALL SEE/

New Supplements: Intestinal Support, Morinda, and Melia

5.5 Months

Supplements:

Lentra- 2x/day
Prolent- 2x/day
Takesumi- 2 scoops/day
Vit D
Iron
Multivitamin

and (new) 1 scoop RepairVite/day

How I'm doing-

I learned something!  I learned that the reason my body hurts everywhere, muscles are weak, and I can't walk is that my muscles are all knotted.  As in, muscle knots are THE primary thing that is putting my body in disarray.  No longer do I think its all the digestive issue.  Then, from there- why are my muscles so messed up?  That's  the anxiety from high school days that caused that.  And they never recovered.  Never, ever recovered on their own.  Apparently a tight muscle doesn't just loosen on its own like I would have thought.

Now I've been massaging myself like crazy since I can do that and it helps.  But, its too much for one person to handle, and I do need help, but I can't lay on my stomach or back easily in a massage so it sort of doesn't help like it should.

Besides that, and "that"  will be a long process full of massage, physical therapy, stretching, small movements, yoga, feldekrais, eating healthy, etc.

Besides that, there's my stomach not doing very well; sleep isn't very good, still little sense of taste, and thoughts are still bothersome in quantity although not terrible.

I went down to 1x/day Prolent and Lentra to see if I could save money by dropping them- bad idea.  Life went back to too much thinking; it was horrible; I understand what my plight was now throughout high school, college, up until this year.

So its been close to 6 months of treatment.  I'm fully gluten free, and I eat 'only a little' bit of dairy.  I'm not organic, although I'd like to be.

One other thing- my knee issue got fixed after I started doing leg lunges, after I put two and two together.  That had fixed my knee back in college after an injury. Yay!

Progress is being made.  Thank you Dr. Olsen and team Tara.

4.5 months

Supplements:
Takesumi twice a day, 1 scoop
Prolent, 2 in morning
Lentra, 2 at night
Zinc 2x/day
Vitamin D 1x/day
Multivitamin 1x/day
Oregano Oil supplement - 3x/day

1 month ago- began a very low sugar diet, in addition to gluten free, dairy free.

How I'm doing:
For one, I got my period for the second time now.  It came two months after the first one.  It was a little shorter- 5 days versus 7.  So that was random and good.

I'm having sleep issues- trouble falling asleep, dreamy dreams.  I'm trying to adjust the dose of Takesumi, less at night, or just once a day, but I haven't come up with something that is leading to the tiredness of earlier.

I feel like my mind is better- definitely much better than before I've been seeing Dr. Olsen.  Its been gradual.

I feel depressed, a lot.

I'm having serious, terrible back pain.  I  can't stay standing, it puts me into severe pain every time.

I'm not regaining any flexibility.  My back feels horrible in massage.  I did have the feeling however, that I could feel my hip crease the last two days, in a way I've never had before. I predict that will continue to improve.

Lastly, and this is nothing new, my hamstrings are seriously and badly tight, all the time.

Also, I'm having knee problems and haven't been able to sit cross legged for months now.

I had a few good shits in the last few days, that was an improvement.

3.5 Months

Treatment Supplements:

Prolent (2 in morning)
Lentra (2 at night)
Takesumi (two times/day)
Melia (3/meal, 3 times a day)
HCL (3/meal, 3 times a day)
Vitamin D- 1 at night
multivitamin- 1 in morning
zinc- twice a day

I am doing so better this month.  Sort of; not the entire month.  The first part of the month, my head was getting clearer, but my mood and thoughts were still pretty shitty.  I was confused why I felt so low given my head hurting less.

My body feels basically the same. My back is cracking more than it used to, and it still has a ways to go.

I had some issues adjusting to Takesumi because I upped it to 3/day.  Dr. Olsen didn't give me much idea of when I was supposed to do that or leave it at twice a day.  Anyways, didn't have side effects at twice a day but was overly tired at three times a day.  I thought it was due to Lentra, but I had to figure that out by upping and lowering Lentra.

Anyways, in REALLY BIG NEWS- since taking Takesumi, I've been getting tired at night, EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.  Without fail.  Simply getting to a point where my mind gets tired and I decide, 'its time for sleep'.  Its been really cool.  Isn't that amazing?  I've been unable to fall asleep or feel tired for literally over a decade, and then I take this thing and am doing find with sleep within a few weeks.  I'm just more chill in general because I know I don't have to deal with being up thinking 15-20 hours a day. 

I've still had some TMJ, worse on some days than others, and my neck is really bad and didn't respond to an adjustment, so there are issues there.

My back is killing me.  Nothing new.

Didn't get my period, was disappointed but its okay.

I've been not great about eating protein, veggies, or fats (most notably, protein).  meh.

Also, I went to a session of Landmark that suggested living life 'upset-free', and my mood improved for a good 5 days, which is pretty huge for me.  TBA if I can maintain it in the future.

2.5 months

Supplements:

Zinc- 2x/day
Melia- 3 at a time, 3x/day, 3 days on and 3 days off
Takesumi- 2x per day
multivitamin- 1 tablet/day
Prolent- 2 in the morning
Lentra- 2 in the evening
Hydrozome- 3x/day with meals, 3 capsules per meal recommended, but I often don't take them.
Vitamin D3-x/day, 5,000 IU's

How I'm doing:
Moods been pretty stable.  I haven't been mood-bobbling too much.  My mood has been pretty neutral for the most part.  I have things I feel okay about but not really happy.

body pain- incremental changes.  My neck cracks sometimes, but really its hurting a ton and hasn't gotten better.  My back cracks sometimes- that happened initially after taking zinc, and I really got my hopes up, but it hasn't been cracking much since the first week of zinc.  Mostly everything hurts constantly and my back in pathetically tight and severe pain from walking.

stomach- still feel like eating food is hard for my body to process and sometimes get sick feeling, its confusing.  In fact, I was sick the last two weeks, and I used that as an excuse to eat very little.  I never feel hunger.

sleep- my sleep has improved, without a doubt.  I've had multiple nights of feeling like I actually had slept easily. 

exercise- at my doctors request, I am bike riding.  I just go along streets without a lot of incline.  I don't enjoy it but I can do it.  I'm really, extremely conscious of not trying to overdo it on my back so I'm not going far, fast, or hard or even moderate.

The biggest news is: I got my period!!  Just out of the blue, I just got it.  Its been a couple years since the last time I got it.  Its now the 4th time I've gotten it in my life.  To say I'm surprised and impressed by this is a gigantic understatement. 

other therapies- not doing massage, chiro adjustments, or anything else because too tight for anything to help.

All in all, just sticking with the eating routines of gluten free/dairy free pretty well, and realizing this is going to take much longer than initially hoped. 

Day 1 - Day 45 (first 1.5 months) Gluten Free Diet / Naturopathic Doctor

Current Regimen:

Supplements:
Prolent - 2 in morning
Lentra - 1 at night
Melia (Neem) - 2 per meal, three times a day
HCL (Hydrochloric Acid)- I'm currently at 2,000 mg per meal and don't feel anything.  I've been building it up for two weeks from 150 mg per meal, since my one-month follow-up.

Eating regime:
Gluten free, as well as no wheat/grains/oat, soy, dairy, coffee, nuts, peanuts, sesame, rice
A few cheats along the way- a Clif Bar, ice cream

Changes (very low to no improvement in my quality of body pain):

There's been a few (maybe 5) days where I felt like I slept pretty well, where I slept through the night, and woke with my mind feeling kind of rested for a few minutes.  That doesn't ever happen for me normally.

I had been getting very vivid dreams since this treatment (from the brain supplements).  I was switched to taking two Prolent in the morning instead of at night.  The vivid dreams have backed off somewhat, but are still there, just at less intensity.  I got this with antidepressants so I was sensitive to my brain supplements being the culprits.

I've been waking up (again, a handful of days only) without my normal horrible TMJ.  Its just absent.

Its the weirdest thing; I always thought it was a result of my depression and frustration with my life.  But within the last six weeks, I've had more nights without TMJ than I've ever experienced before.  My jaw still hurts and has knots from all the previous years of TMJ, though.  I'm just not getting 'fresh' TMJ from the night before in the same manner I typically do.

My neck and shoulders are a bit more flexible, which I noted at my one-month follow up.  A BIT.  They are still in huge knots.  I can do arm circles and shoulder circles better than usual, less pain/tightness.

My mood- its hard to explain- I (today) feel pretty good in my mood even though my body still hurts just as much.  I'm not in a massive depression, although I was at my one-month follow up; my mood seems to have improved just since then (nothing is new in my life).  My 'switching' thoughts have calmed down somewhat- not to the degree I want, but there has been noticeable change.

I've had tons of gas these past 6 weeks.  I'm not usually particularly gassy, but I've had gas every day.

I've been having pretty good BM's.  They've been good texture, but sometimes they aren't daily.  I haven't had a single 'dump shit', diahhrea, or sludge shit for the past 6 weeks, which is certainly an improvement.

Biggest Complaints- severe low back pain and can't get tired at night, neck pain

neck pain side note: I've gone to the chiropractor so many times, I'm just getting greedy with it since my insurance is covering it.  I love hearing it crack.  But it never helps ease the pain.  I've been having major troubles with putting my head on a pillow (neck pain), and moving my head let and right to listen to people talk or see things that are to the side of me.  Nothing new, but its bad.

General Complaints - thinking all the time every second, don't want to focus, no energy moving through my body, sometimes get really tired and sick if I don't eat, and then sometimes fall asleep when I do eat, laying on my side hurts my back as I'm trying to sleep, can't walk but knees hurt from cross legged, all my muscles hurt so much.

Last thoughts-

• I am reading Grain Brain and will switch to a higher fat diet, and if I'm a stickler- lower carb too.  I'm currently pretty personally invested in the idea that gluten = body problems. 
• My brother also has dilated (big) pupils.  HUH.
• At 6 weeks I really don't feel much better.  I'm a little irritated that all the gluten free elimination diets are for 30 or 60 days, and I really haven't felt much of anything, and I'm being much more restrictive than most of the diets call for.
• Its so wierd that my C-Reactive Protein (test for inflammation) is at a normal level, when I've been told and having been reading 'INFLAMMATION, INFLAMMATION, INFLAMMATION.  I don't get it.  I've responded well to Naproxen, Cortisone shots- both of which are supposedly anti-inflammatories.  I've had huge levels of gut inflammation tested.
• If my stomach acid is low, then shouldn't my nutrients all be low in blood tests?  But they aren't, they are normal.
• Just utterly surprised by my TMJ going away, as well as my head pain going away.  That means I'm not some kind of despicable life hating depressive weak jerk that I thought I was; rather I was at the mercy of mental illness that was HAPPENING IN MY BODY, not something that I WAS THE CAUSE OF.  Also surprised that 'my brain is hurting because my body hurts so much' does not exactly seem to be the case anymore. My body is hurting just fine, but my brain is doing okay. 
• Basically I've been told so many times to see a therapist for my mental problems that I thought it was all something in my experiences that were holding me back.  And no, I did not know WHY the depression ever started.  But currently, it seems like my depression is just absolutely biochemical in nature, and that its caused all the loneliness and frustration and social issues, rather than being the end result of it.  This is really a big deal for me.  Pain in the ass to try to describe it in words though. 
• Why is everything hurting so much?  All pain, and no pain relief in sight. FML 

New- Dr. Olsen repeat in November 2016

I'm seeing Dr. Olsen again, in November 2016.

I got tested for gut troubles of many kinds with a gastrointestinal test, and a neurotransmitter test, Neurolab.

We are basing the treatment off of those results.

I would like to update this blog, monthly, with how my body and mental health are doing, in order to keep track.