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Question: I
am a 25 year-old female and for 3 years I have been
suffering from non-epileptic seizures that occur
only when I am falling asleep. Tests performed by a
cardiologist including echocardiogram and
neurologist, MRI were normal as were all other blood
tests and thyroid tests. I have used epileptic
medication which has not helped. Seizures have been
worse around periods. Being 25 I am habit to
skipping meals, smoking and replacing meals with
milk drinks, eating junk food when life is hectic
and not exercising enough. What should I do?
Answer:
Certainly you need to have your hormones
comprehensively assessed as these affect your
mineral levels such as magnesium and calcium which
in turn affect the excitability of your brain
cells. A week before your period would be a good
time to assess hormone status and a 24-hour urine
profile would assess your minerals quite nicely and
also a hormone called cortisol which affects your
brain function. Your habits and your diet suggest
that nutritional deficiencies are implicated.
Question:
I have an under-active thyroid, arthritis (main
place in the knees) and am on hormone replacement
due to a full hysterectomy almost 7 years ago. My
diet- I am aware of foods that are not to be eaten
with arthritis. I am on a range of herbal
medications. My last blood test showed that my
sugar levels are close to type 2 diabetes.
Answer:
An under-active thyroid is linked to weight gain
which in turn would exacerbate your arthritis. If
your blood tests show that you are heading towards
diabetes then you need to be seriously looking at a
weight loss program with dietary changes including a
reduction in carbohydrates and fats. Optimising
your thyroid function would also help with weight
loss. Weight loss strategies are discussed in
detail in ‘You
have the power. Why didn’t my doctor tell me about
this?’
Question:
I am lately facing two problems. I am a woman in my
late twenties and I’m putting on weight and I am
going bald?
Answer:
Once you start to put on weight you might develop a
condition called insulin resistance which can make
it more difficult for you to lose weight and cause
hormone imbalances specifically an elevation in the
hormone testosterone leading to hair loss. Reducing
your intake of carbohydrates and fats, increasing
your exercise regimen and boosting your production
of those hormones that assist with insulin function
including thyroid hormones and vitamin D would be
helpful.
Question:
Can you help? I have severe insomnia, which I have
had now for 4 years, I am hypothyroid, however not
been converting the T4 to T3 for years, I am now
taking armour thyroid and just started T3. I also
developed Crohn’s 4 years ago, which I think came
from all the years of being constipated. The
insomnia started when the Crohn’s symptoms got bad.
I have adrenal fatigue too. The Endo has put the
insomnia down to the thyroid along with my hair
loss. I am taking amitriptyline 200mg to try and get
the sedation. I am not happy taking the pills but
after all this time I am only getting 2/3hrs sleep.
Is there anything else I could try? Will now taking
the T3 help? (had hypo symptoms undetected for over
20 years previous).
Answer:
Ideally you should find a physician who investigates
your problem thoroughly and sadly this is not done
by conventional physicians. If you are not
converting T4 to T3 you may not have enough zinc,
selenium and iodine. Zinc can be assessed by means
of a 24-hour urine collection and this same test
will assess your calcium and magnesium status as I
suspect you are also low in magnesium which prevents
proper sleep. Inflammatory bowel disease may
inhibit the absorption of nutrients. If your
cortisol levels are out of balance this would also
compromise T4 to T3 conversion. Cortisol can also
be assessed by means of a 24-hour urine collection,
not a blood test as these are mostly normal,
unhelpful and don’t truly reflect what is going on,
as well as a saliva cortisol profile which does spot
saliva checks of your hormone levels at 6am, 12pm,
6pm and 12am. Also at 12am you should have your
melatonin level checked as this hormone affects
sleep. If you have an oestrogen/progesterone
imbalance with excessive oestrogen and not enough
progesterone this will lower T4 to T3 conversion and
having too little progesterone makes sleep more
difficult. So it’s a matter of extensively
investigating hormones and nutrients. This is
covered in ‘You have the power’ very nicely.
Finding a physician who embraces this approach would
help a lot. Also food allergy, gluten intolerance/
immune imbalance might be related to Crohn’s.
Question:
I have BPH, with bleeding upon urination, and the
only thing that helps is proscar. I did a saliva
hormone test which showed a high Testosterone level
of 143.1 (according to them, normal for a male is
75-95) Estradiol was 1.9 (normal is (.8-1.5) DHEA
was a bit high at 445.7 (normal is 250-450). But
DHT was low at 9.1 (normal is 20-40) That is
probably due to the proscar.
Urologists have diagnosed it as BPH with varices
that cause the bleeding (like haemorrhoids). So, it
seems that high testosterone is my problem even with
the low DHT. I am having to double the dosage of
proscar to limit the bleeding. Is there any drug or
natural supplement that lowers testosterone?
Answer:
This is most unusual especially as you also have
high estradiol which lowers testosterone. It is
possible you have some type of congenital enzyme
mutation which makes more DHEA and in turn more
testosterone. I have to say that I’m not always
confident with saliva labs although I do use them
especially with regard to your testosterone and DHEA
levels. Verifying them with a blood panel would be
indicated. Low dose cortisone at a dose of 10mg,
twice daily, slow release, would help but you would
need to check you glucose levels before proceeding.
Question:
We have chosen not to vaccinate our daughter of 4
months but I am wanting to boost her immune system
to prevent her getting sick. Do you recommend babies
to take anything like a probiotic or iron
supplement. I am breastfeeding and plan to continue
for a year.
Answer:
There is an acidophilus compound called baby biotic
which might be helpful. Also if you are
breastfeeding then optimising your immune status and
getting your gut right, making sure you don’t have
food allergies/intolerances and candida overgrowth
would be wise. See to it that your zinc, selenium,
magnesium, vitamin D and thyroid status is optimal.
Question:
My stomach is the size of a woman about 7 months
pregnant. I suffer pain, excessive wind, bloating
and diarrhoea. What could this be? No matter what
I try I cannot loose weight. Any suggestions?
Answer:
You would need to have your food
allergies/intolerances investigated and also have
the competency of your digestive system evaluated
with regard to providing you with sufficient enzymes
and hydrochloric acid. An under-active thyroid can
also lead to weight gain.
Question:
What do I do for osteoporosis? My husband, 78,
wants to lose weight. The only other problem I have
is low thyroid.
Answer:
Hormones, vitamin D and nutrients including
magnesium and calcium are involved with the health
of your bones. You would need to enlist the health
of a holistic physician who can comprehensively
evaluate your thyroid hormone function which will
also help your husband with weight loss.
‘You have the power’ explains this in detail.
Question:
I have just read an article from here where it
mentions alpha-lipoic acid and milk thistle helping
with liver issues. I have tried to search for the
product however I have not been successful.
Answer:
Memozeal contains alpha-lipoic acid. Milk
thistle is a liver boosting tonic which is located
in formulations found in health-food outlets.
Question:
I am 55 yrs old and for many years suffer from sinus
problems and lose of taste and smell. I have had 3
sinus operations and within weeks the blockage is
back. Is there anything I can do to get back my
taste?
Answer:
Undergoing a complete food and environmental allergy
evaluation will help you to uncover the underlying
cause of your sinus problems. Taking supplementary
zinc might help you to recover your sense of taste
and smell.
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