It feels like ages since I’ve put any of my ramblings down on paper! I’ve been meaning to write something for a while but life has a habit of getting in the way. Also I was getting to the point where I was feeling pretty lethargic again and I just didn’t really feel like writing. I was also losing the ability to focus and I would find my mind wandering whenever I sat down to try and read something. Just as I was pondering what my next move should be, the worst thing happened and my milk tolerance began to get even worse. I was usually able to drink some milk with my coffee but suddenly even when I had a few sips I would find myself running to the bathroom. Not good! My teeth were also starting to hurt and I still had the weird metallic taste in my mouth. I knew that I wasn’t anywhere close to meeting my daily calcium needs, so what to do?
In the midst of this I happened to have a conversation with a couple of people about my teeth and calcium, and they suggested trying vitamin K for the teeth sensitivity problems. I had forgotten all about vitamin K but as I had some in my kitchen cabinet I thought I would give it a go! They also suggested trying different types of dairy to try to get some calcium in, wondering if perhaps I might tolerate something different than milk.
Before I had chance to buy anything different though (might have been the same day or the day after) I decided just to heck with it and I was going to have a glass of milk (with some milkshake mix) to see what happened. So I downed it and waited (brave I know!! Lol!) I got a bit of a tummy ache but then the weirdest thing happened: I just wanted to fall asleep in my seat, at the table! It was quite a nice day outside so I stumbled outside and slumped into one of the garden chairs, then promptly fell asleep! I never normally fall asleep in the daytime so it felt extremely bizarre. Then I remembered that the same thing happened a few weeks ago when we were camping. After I’d had my tea, followed by a milky coffee, I just felt myself nodding off in the uncomfortable camping chair, so moved to the blanket on the grass, and promptly fell asleep (and apparently starting snoring! Lol!) At the time I thought it was because I’d had a rough night the night before (daughter was sick over her airbed and sleeping bag at 2am! Just what you want when you are camping!) but even when I’ve had terrible nights in the past (and I’ve had plenty!!) I’ve never ever just felt that wave of sleepiness come over me and almost immediately fallen asleep. So I wondered if it was something to do with the calcium.
My tummy was quite up and down after the glass of milk so the following day I went out and bought some Skyr yoghurt to try. It’s very high protein and I had to add sugar to it to make it taste just right for me! I had some later on in the day after my tea. It seemed to be ok. I got a bit of bloating but nothing too horrendous. That night I had the most amazing night’s sleep. I slept for a solid 6 ½ hours! Yes, it could do with being a little bit longer than that but being used to normally getting up to pee after a few hours (and sometimes it could be after 1 hour!) then I’ll take it! I wondered if it was a one off but the next day I did the same (had some skyr yoghurt in the afternoon) and I slept through the night again (still around the same amount of time). I was also taking the vitamin K so this might have added to the effect as well? The next day I got a bit bolder and had some yoghurt in the morning (after breakfast) but very bad idea! Stomach was in bits and I was on and off the toilet. Grrr!
What to do? I wanted to be able to tolerate dairy without problems. Milk is a great pro thyroid drink, plus I love chocolate milk, so I want to be able to drink it without worrying about consequences. Often tolerance of dairy can be lost in hypothyroidism and the way to get it back is to up your thyroid function. I’m pretty sure I need calcium though to get my thyroid function back up and running high enough to tolerate dairy! A proper conundrum! Lol! I’d heard that Danny Roddy (www.dannyroddy.com) got his tolerance to dairy back after taking antibiotics. Now I don’t mean that you can just rush out and get any antibiotics (all antibiotics are not created equal! Lol!), but the right antibiotics can help to remove endotoxin from the gut. I found this quote (which I think is from Dr Peat’s work) from an old Danny Roddy article:
"Bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine can be caused by hypothyroidism (Lauritano, et al., 2007), and the substances produced by these bacteria can damage the lining of the small intestine, causing the loss of lactase enzymes (Walshe, et al., 1990).
Another hormonal condition that probably contributes to lactase deficiency is progesterone deficiency, since a synthetic progestin has been found to increase the enzyme (Nagpaul, et al., 1990). The particular progestin they used lacks many of progesterone's effects, but it does protect against some kinds of stress, including high estrogen and cortisol. This suggests that stress, with its increased ratio of estrogen and cortisol to progesterone, might commonly cause the enzyme to decrease."
He goes on to add:
Once these issues are overcome, the addition of small amounts of milk can provoke the intestine to once again secrete the lactase enzyme:
"When a group of lactase deficient people have been given some milk every day for a few weeks, they have adapted, for example with tests showing that much less hydrogen gas was produced from lactose by intestinal bacteria after they had adapted (Pribila, et al., 2000)."
"Bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine can be caused by hypothyroidism (Lauritano, et al., 2007), and the substances produced by these bacteria can damage the lining of the small intestine, causing the loss of lactase enzymes (Walshe, et al., 1990).
Another hormonal condition that probably contributes to lactase deficiency is progesterone deficiency, since a synthetic progestin has been found to increase the enzyme (Nagpaul, et al., 1990). The particular progestin they used lacks many of progesterone's effects, but it does protect against some kinds of stress, including high estrogen and cortisol. This suggests that stress, with its increased ratio of estrogen and cortisol to progesterone, might commonly cause the enzyme to decrease."
He goes on to add:
Once these issues are overcome, the addition of small amounts of milk can provoke the intestine to once again secrete the lactase enzyme:
"When a group of lactase deficient people have been given some milk every day for a few weeks, they have adapted, for example with tests showing that much less hydrogen gas was produced from lactose by intestinal bacteria after they had adapted (Pribila, et al., 2000)."
I’m guessing that I am still hypothyroid (given that I still have lots of water retention and problems to overcome!) so I probably have bacterial overgrowth and a progesterone deficiency, making it harder to overcome my lactose problems. So, enter the antibiotics!
A week and a bit ago I chose doxycycline from the tetracycline group of antibiotics. I started by taking 1 per day, in the evening, after food. The first evening, after taking 1 capsule, I felt pretty weird! Hard to pinpoint why (and I’m often pretty weird anyway!) but I just felt weird. I slept pretty well (all night again for approx. 6 ½ hours) but felt very sick the following morning. Yuk! I was maybe guessing that I just didn’t eat enough whilst taking it so I endeavoured to eat more the next day. I had lost a large chunk of my calories from not having coffee anymore (as I just couldn’t tolerate the milk and I didn’t like coffee without it!) so I needed to add something sweet after my meals. I decided to go for meringue nests, strawberries, sugar and cream! Yum! I added this after 2 or 3 of my meals and by that evening I was feeling much better. I had no bowel movement that day (probably because I’d had such a rough day the day before, after my yoghurt shenanigans, and I don’t think there was much left inside!!!) I took another antibiotic that evening (in for a penny and all that!) but was fine the next morning. I had a great, pleasantly firm bowel movement after breakfast, and felt pretty pleased with life!! Haha!
A week and a bit ago I chose doxycycline from the tetracycline group of antibiotics. I started by taking 1 per day, in the evening, after food. The first evening, after taking 1 capsule, I felt pretty weird! Hard to pinpoint why (and I’m often pretty weird anyway!) but I just felt weird. I slept pretty well (all night again for approx. 6 ½ hours) but felt very sick the following morning. Yuk! I was maybe guessing that I just didn’t eat enough whilst taking it so I endeavoured to eat more the next day. I had lost a large chunk of my calories from not having coffee anymore (as I just couldn’t tolerate the milk and I didn’t like coffee without it!) so I needed to add something sweet after my meals. I decided to go for meringue nests, strawberries, sugar and cream! Yum! I added this after 2 or 3 of my meals and by that evening I was feeling much better. I had no bowel movement that day (probably because I’d had such a rough day the day before, after my yoghurt shenanigans, and I don’t think there was much left inside!!!) I took another antibiotic that evening (in for a penny and all that!) but was fine the next morning. I had a great, pleasantly firm bowel movement after breakfast, and felt pretty pleased with life!! Haha!
The following day I added milky coffee back into my regime without any problems. This then led to some over excitement on my part, and when my daughter was having a milkshake later that afternoon I also decided to participate. I only intended to have a couple of sips but it was so good that I downed half the glass! Half an hour later I was doubled over and back in the bathroom! Yuk! I noticed though that I had a horrible after taste from the milkshake and wondered if it was actually the milkshake mix that was causing me some problems? I don’t know as I haven’t tested it out again. The after taste was enough that I don’t actually want to use it again. It was the Crusha mix that I used to love as a kid! Mind you, thinking back, it always gave me stomach ache as a kid too!! Lol!
So I’ve taken one doxycycline tablet each day for just over a week. I take it in the evening after I’ve had plenty of food. Today I had a small glass of chocolate milk – no reaction whatsoever! Whoop whoop! I’ve also had coffee each day, along with sterling bowel movements! Lol! I sleep right through the night every night; albeit still only around 6 ½ hours (I’m hoping that will start to improve soon!) and my teeth are absolutely fine now, with no sensitivity at all. My gums also used to bleed a bit when I brushed them but now that has stopped. My nails have started growing faster again and they are not breaking as easily. I’m feeling more focused and have more energy. My only question is, why didn’t I do this months ago?
As always, I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings and that you get something out of them. Please remember that what works for me might not work for someone else, and that everybody is different. Do your own research and go at your own pace. I’ve been cautious about taking things, mainly because until now supplements and whatnot have always caused me problems of some sort, so I took some time to think about whether I wanted to try antibiotics or not. That’s actually another thing to note, that throughout this experiment I have had not one single twinge of anxiety! Even though I was mostly free of it before, I would still get the odd bit now and again. Life is definitely looking up! A couple of weeks ago I felt I was in the middle of a huge step back in my recovery, now I feel like I’ve actually made a few cautious steps forward! Hurrah!
Big thanks to Billy (www.billycraig.co.uk) who is a never ending source of fantastic help and advice when I pester him about trying something new in a bid to move forwards!
Feel free to add any comments, thoughts, questions, stories, whathaveyou (!) down below. I always love hearing from others. I really believe that through sharing our stories we get to move forward in ways that we wouldn’t necessarily think of just by ourselves. Take care x
Feel free to add any comments, thoughts, questions, stories, whathaveyou (!) down below. I always love hearing from others. I really believe that through sharing our stories we get to move forward in ways that we wouldn’t necessarily think of just by ourselves. Take care x
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