7 ms·

I finally beat my digestive issues and chronic fatigue (physical depression) which lasted 3+ years from 2019-2021. Without getting too far into it, here's the s

I finally beat my digestive issues and chronic fatigue (physical depression) which lasted 3+ years from 2019-2021. Without getting too far into it, here's the stuff that finally worked, weighted by immediacy on a scale of 10: - 10: Eating a serving of Brussels sprouts, preferably daily - 10: Taking about 3 psyllium husk capsules occasionally with FODMAP and spicy meals - 10: Taking a digestive enzyme occasionally with FODMAP and spicy meals (Digest Basic, no affiliation) - 10: Taking a "stress" B complex with 100% daily, instead of 1000% weekly (Nature Made, no affiliation) - 10: Avoiding all beans, unaged dairy, whole-grain wheat and most tree nuts for a few months - 8: Drinking at least twice as much water as I feel that I need, from one big container over the course of the day - 8: Eating plain giant salads with dressing, preferably spinach-greens mix, several times per week - 8: Drinking Kefir daily - 6: Trying several different brands of probiotics occasionally in no particular order - 6: Eating 1-4 eggs per day, preferably on post-workout days - 6: Taking an iodine supplement initially, a few times per week until the bottle was gone I think what kicked this all off was dabbling with keto 5 years ago which might have cost me most of my tolerance to milk, and prolonged dehydration from intense workouts and large servings of protein without proactive hydration. When I lost my gut health, I may have picked up bad bacteria or parasites from food poisoning or raw seafood. I was also under debilitating stress during the last few years at my previous job, so began every morning on an empty tank spiritually. I never listened to my body until my health failed and it made the decision to stop for me. The biggest change has been that being tired feels ordinary and rare, with no emotional component. Instead of the crushing "universe is against me" sense of being attacked, alone and hopeless knowing there was no end of it in sight, which I endured for many years before my physical health's deterioration finally caught up.

jstx1 4y ago
So difficult to pick out which part of this had what effect though.
- smt88 4y ago
  Or none of it had any effect, and something psychological or undiagnosed was resolved. It's a completely meaningless list for us and (possibly) for OP.
  - zackmorris 4y ago
    I understand that you're both skeptical, as you should be. My theory now is that ADHD is tied to diet and environment. So basically what happened was, my psyche was already vulnerable to anxiety and depression when it got coopted by my physical health issues. I struggled chronically to make an appointment to see a doctor for years, always letting work and family obligations take priority, which prolonged and exacerbated my suffering. This all happened while I was broke and out of work too. After years of being gaslit about my instincts, going all the way back to childhood. That's why I didn't listen to my intuition and just take care of myself. I still thought there was nothing wrong with me, so projected my false confidence onto the world by blaming it for my problems. Please view the list I posted more as leads than evidence. Also you're right, none of what I posted really applied to me until I hit 40, except maybe the general health advice about drinking more water and eating better. I do worry about leading people astray in their own journeys.
    - barrysteve 4y ago
      >My theory now is that ADHD is tied to diet and environment. I agree that it is, and it has shown to be linked to diet & environment. ADHD isn't strictly defined enough to be only diet & environment though. There's a whole bunch of ADHD symptoms that present as a result of an underlying health condition. Hypo/Hyperthyroid problems look like ADHD-PI and ADHD-H. Vitamin deficiency and environmental poisoning can create symptoms too. But also some people have it regardless of those factors, so it's really a broad label at the moment which could do with a lot more refinement.
dontbenebby 4y ago
I can't give instructions that specific but despite my sometimes spastic post history, having a healthier diet (yogurt in the morning for "breakfast" + 2 small meals, (as in an espresso and a croissant) then a big meal in the evening + no liquid calories (booze counts) helped me drop 50lb. Another key seemed to be avoiding artificial sugar. Following these heuristics (not rules - strict diets encourage you to chase losses if you slip up) seemed to help more than any strict diet, though it helps with depression, not anxiety, which is mostly situational. (This is a news site. The news is not good right now, even here, away from war and famine in the "tech world".)
mrharrison 4y ago
I had similar issues. I went and saw a functional medicine doctor, had a stool test and he diagnosed me with candida overgrowth. Which may be what you had. Here is the diet protocol for beating back candida, which is similar to the diet you put yourself on. https://www.thecandidadiet.com/ https://www.thecandidadiet.com/
- brigandish 4y ago
  Did you feel any different or notice change as it was dying off/reducing? I was treated for a fungal infection a while ago with some anti-fungal drugs and the side effects felt huge, but the doctor told me those drugs are considered very mild. It made me wonder if the fungus was affecting the way I feel and it dying down made me feel differently (better, but it was a big change).
  - mrharrison 4y ago
    I was also on antifungals and yes it was quite brutal. I was quite tired and had a red flush from the die off. I took off the shelf liposomal glutathione to help clear out the oxidative stress.
- zackmorris 4y ago
  Thank you, I suspect that I had a chronic infection of some kind like that. I'm leaving out a lot of details about my experience, because it's private and I lost hope several times. I want to stress that my self-medication and self-diagnosis prolonged my suffering. So please if anyone is reading this, see a doctor. They can run these tests and many more: Antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) Baylisascaris Procyonis intestinal roundworm Celiac Epstein Barr virus Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency EPI Find a medication that does what ashwaghanda does (like Wellbutrin?) H. Pylori Hashimoto’s Lactose intolerance Lyme disease Parasites SIBO Testosterone level Thyroid level Wheat sensitivity tests: 1) wheat allergy 2) celiac 3) non-celiac gluten sensitivity 4) non-celiac wheat sensitivity 5) non-celiac wheat intolerance Worms
  - mrharrison 4y ago
alexfromapex 4y ago
I think the main things here that helped me too are probiotics and B complex (the choline) because they both support healthy bile production
barrysteve 4y ago
- 6: Taking an iodine supplement initially, a few times per week until the bottle was gone Iodine related to hypothyroidism?
- zackmorris 4y ago
  Sorry, I should have added some details to this one. My eyebrows had mostly fallen out by the end of 2018, and my dad (a dentist) pointed out that maybe my iodine levels were low. That used to be really common a century ago before iodized salt, and many of my elderly family members have had thyroid issues. I took "thyroid energy" (NOW Foods, no affiliation) which has some additional micronutrients like selenium and felt shockingly better within just a few days. Evidently gluten can sensitize the immune system into fighting proteins in the thyroid. Also Hashimoto's thyroiditis can cause the thyroid to spike up and down so it gets missed in yearly screenings. And celiac disease plays into it too. And it didn't help that where I live in Idaho had radiation levels 80 times higher than normal after Fukushima. Hormones are so powerful and glands are so sensitive to the environment that it doesn't take much to disrupt them. Also trace minerals like cobalt have been depleted from soils, but are involved with vitamin B12 which prevents anemia. I think that my high consumption of beans and foods high in anti-nutrients might have bound up minerals and made me deficient, even though I was eating plenty and working out. Anyway, I was tested and my thyroid is fine, but it's important to remember that gluten is inflammatory for everyone. Even sugar and alcohol are inflammatory. So someone can get symptoms whose cause is difficult to isolate, even if their tests come back negative. But I'm angry/concerned that I had to derive this information myself over several years. Why is this not one of the top news stories, when hypothyroidism and obesity are rampant? I blame the Big Ag lobby, factory farming and the passion with which people believe the mainstream news.
  - barrysteve 4y ago
    Wow thank you for the reply! I've heard similar things about soil being depleted of iodine (will research cobalt) in Australia and other places. They ended up putting a law in place in like 2008 to have all bread for sale be made with iodized salt to get the iodine intake back up. >But I'm angry/concerned that I had to derive this information myself over several years. Why is this not one of the top news stories, when hypothyroidism and obesity are rampant? Holy sweet crackers, yes. It's crazy how much information we have access too and so very little useful knowledge gets delivered, particularly on health and this topic. Never even heard of an "anti-nutrient" and while I skim a google search, I'll read up on tannins as I drink some hot tea regularly. Thanks for the post again.
jollybean 4y ago
How do you know any of that worked? You can't do all that stuff to yourself - and - go through COVID (and other things) which has caused widespread depression, and assume any of that had an affect one wary or another without a fairly big randomized trial isolating all of those elements. Even just the notion of 'regime' will change people's psyches via placebo. I mean, I would certainly 'feel' healthy if I did such a list of 'ostensibly healthy things'. That said, I wouldn't doubt some of it did, and that we are just barely beginning to understand gut health.
- DoreenMichele 4y ago
  Contrary to popular opinion, it is possible for an individual to somewhat confidently conclude that X helps them as an individual without checking it against large randomized trials. It's handwavy about some things but it doesn't assert anything beyond "I did this list of things and I, as an individual, am better now."
  - jollybean 4y ago
    Sure, but 'I did these 10 things at the same time'? ... 'this is how they worked, to varying degree'? One thing I can understand. Was sick -> did this -> was better. But a 'regime', it feels like infomercial logic though I doubt doubt the author's motivations.
    - DoreenMichele 4y ago
      It's a single comment covering an unspecified time frame with no explanation of how much research, tracking, etc was involved. It's the TLDR of their experience in hopes of nudging people in the right direction and saying, in essence, "anecdotally, fixing my own gut issues has correlated with fewer mood issues. Here is some food for thought if you want to try to do the same." The OP isn't selling anything, so it's not infomercial logic which is designed to get you to buy a product. The gut is complex. I wouldn't expect one single thing to fix it.
      - 4y ago
DantesKite 4y ago
I can give some context for what may have happened because I went through something similar. My two cents is the biggest factors were the keto and the stress. A low carb, high fat diet does not traditionally feature intact plant cell walls, or what we otherwise know as "fiber". There are literally thousands of different of variations of "fiber" of which we have catalogued only a few, but these structures feed the microbiota in your gut. And they really do depend on fiber in a profound way. Without this fiber, they tend to starve and adjust to feed on the epithelial lining of your gut. It also gives an opportunity for the pathogens in your gut to "takeover", especially when paired with the stress since most of the "beneficial" microbes will tend to die off. When you read stories of people who got an autoimmune problem, there's almost always a period of severe stress prior to it. My working hypothesis is this impairs the immune system which is what keeps the pathogenic bacteria in check through several mechanisms (pathogen-associated-molecular-pattern detection or PAMPs for instance). Through much, much trial and error and a lot of scientific article research, I've found the most consistent way to restore microbiota ratios is with Vitamin D, followed by a clinically tested probiotic like Visbiome, followed by Kefir. The Vitamin D alone at moderate to high doses will get you very far, although it doesn't necessarily restore diversity (since Vitamin D in of itself does not contain any microbes) but it helps shift the balance of microbes through a variety of biochemical functions. Vitamin D also helps with gum disease in my experience and in a way no other supplement or product has so far. Highly recommend and you don't even have to take a high dosage to see it for yourself. You just have to be consistent. One last thing I'll say is that for whatever reason taking the supplement seems to work better than exposing yourself to sunlight, which is unusual, but there may be something about the biochemical pathway Vitamin D takes when consumed as a supplement as opposed through the cholesterol-synthesis that happens with UVB.
- jollybean 4y ago
  "Through much, much trial and error and a lot of scientific article research, I've found the most consistent way to ..." etc.. Unless one has done proper, randomized, medical trials, I don't see how anyone could use such unambiguous language. These n=1 experiences lacking in objectivity and also likely proper measures might help us discover new ground for things that might work (i.e. the basis for a trail), but without any testing it's not something any reasonable person should be walking around saying 'works', unless you mean to indicate you're referring to the literature.
tekno45 4y ago
Gonna be honest. I love brussel sprouts but i found a TON of dirt in my last batch and have been super apprehensive. Just wondering. How do you clean your brussel sprouts? I roast mine with olive oil and fairly simple spices.
- blindmute 4y ago
  It's dirt. You'll be fine.
- bobthepanda 4y ago
  You just rinse them in a bowl of water.
  - plumeria 4y ago
    With added vinegar?
    - bobthepanda 4y ago
      No. Just rub the dirt off.
- divbzero 4y ago
  Brussel sprouts grow on stalks and not in the ground like carrots or onions or potatoes. You may have gotten unlucky with an unusually dirty batch, but rinsing with water should be enough in any case. Roasting with bacon is a delicious, if less healthy, alternative.
appguy 4y ago
I’ve been making my own kefir and have been drinking it daily for a few months. I feel more energetic, happier and my skin looks better.
- purplerabbit 4y ago
  Any advice on where to begin if interested in this?
zackmorris 4y ago
Somehow I forgot the most important food, which I eat daily now and credit with saving my health, wish I could add it to the parent list: - 10: Pumpkin seed granola (Nature's Path, no affiliation)

jstx1 4y ago

So difficult to pick out which part of this had what effect though.

smt88 4y ago
Or none of it had any effect, and something psychological or undiagnosed was resolved. It's a completely meaningless list for us and (possibly) for OP.
- zackmorris 4y ago
  I understand that you're both skeptical, as you should be. My theory now is that ADHD is tied to diet and environment. So basically what happened was, my psyche was already vulnerable to anxiety and depression when it got coopted by my physical health issues. I struggled chronically to make an appointment to see a doctor for years, always letting work and family obligations take priority, which prolonged and exacerbated my suffering. This all happened while I was broke and out of work too. After years of being gaslit about my instincts, going all the way back to childhood. That's why I didn't listen to my intuition and just take care of myself. I still thought there was nothing wrong with me, so projected my false confidence onto the world by blaming it for my problems. Please view the list I posted more as leads than evidence. Also you're right, none of what I posted really applied to me until I hit 40, except maybe the general health advice about drinking more water and eating better. I do worry about leading people astray in their own journeys.
  - barrysteve 4y ago
    >My theory now is that ADHD is tied to diet and environment. I agree that it is, and it has shown to be linked to diet & environment. ADHD isn't strictly defined enough to be only diet & environment though. There's a whole bunch of ADHD symptoms that present as a result of an underlying health condition. Hypo/Hyperthyroid problems look like ADHD-PI and ADHD-H. Vitamin deficiency and environmental poisoning can create symptoms too. But also some people have it regardless of those factors, so it's really a broad label at the moment which could do with a lot more refinement.

dontbenebby 4y ago

I can't give instructions that specific but despite my sometimes spastic post history, having a healthier diet (yogurt in the morning for "breakfast" + 2 small meals, (as in an espresso and a croissant) then a big meal in the evening + no liquid calories (booze counts) helped me drop 50lb. Another key seemed to be avoiding artificial sugar. Following these heuristics (not rules - strict diets encourage you to chase losses if you slip up) seemed to help more than any strict diet, though it helps with depression, not anxiety, which is mostly situational. (This is a news site. The news is not good right now, even here, away from war and famine in the "tech world".)

mrharrison 4y ago

I had similar issues. I went and saw a functional medicine doctor, had a stool test and he diagnosed me with candida overgrowth. Which may be what you had. Here is the diet protocol for beating back candida, which is similar to the diet you put yourself on. https://www.thecandidadiet.com/ https://www.thecandidadiet.com/

brigandish 4y ago
Did you feel any different or notice change as it was dying off/reducing? I was treated for a fungal infection a while ago with some anti-fungal drugs and the side effects felt huge, but the doctor told me those drugs are considered very mild. It made me wonder if the fungus was affecting the way I feel and it dying down made me feel differently (better, but it was a big change).
- mrharrison 4y ago
  I was also on antifungals and yes it was quite brutal. I was quite tired and had a red flush from the die off. I took off the shelf liposomal glutathione to help clear out the oxidative stress.
zackmorris 4y ago
Thank you, I suspect that I had a chronic infection of some kind like that. I'm leaving out a lot of details about my experience, because it's private and I lost hope several times. I want to stress that my self-medication and self-diagnosis prolonged my suffering. So please if anyone is reading this, see a doctor. They can run these tests and many more: Antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) Baylisascaris Procyonis intestinal roundworm Celiac Epstein Barr virus Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency EPI Find a medication that does what ashwaghanda does (like Wellbutrin?) H. Pylori Hashimoto’s Lactose intolerance Lyme disease Parasites SIBO Testosterone level Thyroid level Wheat sensitivity tests: 1) wheat allergy 2) celiac 3) non-celiac gluten sensitivity 4) non-celiac wheat sensitivity 5) non-celiac wheat intolerance Worms
- mrharrison 4y ago

alexfromapex 4y ago

I think the main things here that helped me too are probiotics and B complex (the choline) because they both support healthy bile production

barrysteve 4y ago

- 6: Taking an iodine supplement initially, a few times per week until the bottle was gone Iodine related to hypothyroidism?

zackmorris 4y ago
Sorry, I should have added some details to this one. My eyebrows had mostly fallen out by the end of 2018, and my dad (a dentist) pointed out that maybe my iodine levels were low. That used to be really common a century ago before iodized salt, and many of my elderly family members have had thyroid issues. I took "thyroid energy" (NOW Foods, no affiliation) which has some additional micronutrients like selenium and felt shockingly better within just a few days. Evidently gluten can sensitize the immune system into fighting proteins in the thyroid. Also Hashimoto's thyroiditis can cause the thyroid to spike up and down so it gets missed in yearly screenings. And celiac disease plays into it too. And it didn't help that where I live in Idaho had radiation levels 80 times higher than normal after Fukushima. Hormones are so powerful and glands are so sensitive to the environment that it doesn't take much to disrupt them. Also trace minerals like cobalt have been depleted from soils, but are involved with vitamin B12 which prevents anemia. I think that my high consumption of beans and foods high in anti-nutrients might have bound up minerals and made me deficient, even though I was eating plenty and working out. Anyway, I was tested and my thyroid is fine, but it's important to remember that gluten is inflammatory for everyone. Even sugar and alcohol are inflammatory. So someone can get symptoms whose cause is difficult to isolate, even if their tests come back negative. But I'm angry/concerned that I had to derive this information myself over several years. Why is this not one of the top news stories, when hypothyroidism and obesity are rampant? I blame the Big Ag lobby, factory farming and the passion with which people believe the mainstream news.
- barrysteve 4y ago
  Wow thank you for the reply! I've heard similar things about soil being depleted of iodine (will research cobalt) in Australia and other places. They ended up putting a law in place in like 2008 to have all bread for sale be made with iodized salt to get the iodine intake back up. >But I'm angry/concerned that I had to derive this information myself over several years. Why is this not one of the top news stories, when hypothyroidism and obesity are rampant? Holy sweet crackers, yes. It's crazy how much information we have access too and so very little useful knowledge gets delivered, particularly on health and this topic. Never even heard of an "anti-nutrient" and while I skim a google search, I'll read up on tannins as I drink some hot tea regularly. Thanks for the post again.

jollybean 4y ago

How do you know any of that worked? You can't do all that stuff to yourself - and - go through COVID (and other things) which has caused widespread depression, and assume any of that had an affect one wary or another without a fairly big randomized trial isolating all of those elements. Even just the notion of 'regime' will change people's psyches via placebo. I mean, I would certainly 'feel' healthy if I did such a list of 'ostensibly healthy things'. That said, I wouldn't doubt some of it did, and that we are just barely beginning to understand gut health.

DoreenMichele 4y ago
Contrary to popular opinion, it is possible for an individual to somewhat confidently conclude that X helps them as an individual without checking it against large randomized trials. It's handwavy about some things but it doesn't assert anything beyond "I did this list of things and I, as an individual, am better now."
- jollybean 4y ago
  Sure, but 'I did these 10 things at the same time'? ... 'this is how they worked, to varying degree'? One thing I can understand. Was sick -> did this -> was better. But a 'regime', it feels like infomercial logic though I doubt doubt the author's motivations.
  - DoreenMichele 4y ago
    It's a single comment covering an unspecified time frame with no explanation of how much research, tracking, etc was involved. It's the TLDR of their experience in hopes of nudging people in the right direction and saying, in essence, "anecdotally, fixing my own gut issues has correlated with fewer mood issues. Here is some food for thought if you want to try to do the same." The OP isn't selling anything, so it's not infomercial logic which is designed to get you to buy a product. The gut is complex. I wouldn't expect one single thing to fix it.
    - 4y ago

DantesKite 4y ago

I can give some context for what may have happened because I went through something similar. My two cents is the biggest factors were the keto and the stress. A low carb, high fat diet does not traditionally feature intact plant cell walls, or what we otherwise know as "fiber". There are literally thousands of different of variations of "fiber" of which we have catalogued only a few, but these structures feed the microbiota in your gut. And they really do depend on fiber in a profound way. Without this fiber, they tend to starve and adjust to feed on the epithelial lining of your gut. It also gives an opportunity for the pathogens in your gut to "takeover", especially when paired with the stress since most of the "beneficial" microbes will tend to die off. When you read stories of people who got an autoimmune problem, there's almost always a period of severe stress prior to it. My working hypothesis is this impairs the immune system which is what keeps the pathogenic bacteria in check through several mechanisms (pathogen-associated-molecular-pattern detection or PAMPs for instance). Through much, much trial and error and a lot of scientific article research, I've found the most consistent way to restore microbiota ratios is with Vitamin D, followed by a clinically tested probiotic like Visbiome, followed by Kefir. The Vitamin D alone at moderate to high doses will get you very far, although it doesn't necessarily restore diversity (since Vitamin D in of itself does not contain any microbes) but it helps shift the balance of microbes through a variety of biochemical functions. Vitamin D also helps with gum disease in my experience and in a way no other supplement or product has so far. Highly recommend and you don't even have to take a high dosage to see it for yourself. You just have to be consistent. One last thing I'll say is that for whatever reason taking the supplement seems to work better than exposing yourself to sunlight, which is unusual, but there may be something about the biochemical pathway Vitamin D takes when consumed as a supplement as opposed through the cholesterol-synthesis that happens with UVB.

jollybean 4y ago
"Through much, much trial and error and a lot of scientific article research, I've found the most consistent way to ..." etc.. Unless one has done proper, randomized, medical trials, I don't see how anyone could use such unambiguous language. These n=1 experiences lacking in objectivity and also likely proper measures might help us discover new ground for things that might work (i.e. the basis for a trail), but without any testing it's not something any reasonable person should be walking around saying 'works', unless you mean to indicate you're referring to the literature.

tekno45 4y ago

Gonna be honest. I love brussel sprouts but i found a TON of dirt in my last batch and have been super apprehensive. Just wondering. How do you clean your brussel sprouts? I roast mine with olive oil and fairly simple spices.

blindmute 4y ago
It's dirt. You'll be fine.
bobthepanda 4y ago
You just rinse them in a bowl of water.
- plumeria 4y ago
  With added vinegar?
  - bobthepanda 4y ago
    No. Just rub the dirt off.
divbzero 4y ago
Brussel sprouts grow on stalks and not in the ground like carrots or onions or potatoes. You may have gotten unlucky with an unusually dirty batch, but rinsing with water should be enough in any case. Roasting with bacon is a delicious, if less healthy, alternative.

appguy 4y ago

I’ve been making my own kefir and have been drinking it daily for a few months. I feel more energetic, happier and my skin looks better.

purplerabbit 4y ago
Any advice on where to begin if interested in this?

zackmorris 4y ago

Somehow I forgot the most important food, which I eat daily now and credit with saving my health, wish I could add it to the parent list: - 10: Pumpkin seed granola (Nature's Path, no affiliation)