Back To The Doctor I LOVE To Go See
Thursday night Ryan and I paid another visit to Dr. Caputo, our naturopathic physician. I absolutely love this woman. She is no bullshit. No woo-woo. No hippie shit. No unhealthy raw vegan nonsense recommendations. Just pure natural science about how the body works and what it needs to work best.
Now that treatments are over and I am feeling not just back to normal but BETTER than normal, Ryan wanted me to go back and see her about ways to maybe apply natural medicine to some of the OTHER things plaguing me. Allergies. Anxiety. Menopause. Yadda yadda.
We figured if there were any of the chemicals I am on that could be replaced with something natural, we might feel more comfortable with that. Ryan was specifically concerned about the hormone replacement therapy drugs. She was very honest about this, saying that the fact that they have me on both Estradiol (estrogen) AND Provera (progesterone) is far less likely to cause problems - and basically said that if they are helping with the symptoms, I probably want to stick with them. Apparently if you are forced into menopause either chemically or surgically, the natural supplements that might normally help if you had just gone there naturally - well - they don't work so good. So that's two scripts I'm stickin' with.
Second up was Zoloft, which I take a low dose of daily for anxiety. However, I started taking this when a) we were thinking about moving and b) my symptoms that ended up being the cancer were just starting to get really bad. We are thinking that I can probably go off of it myself, without really even having to worry about a natural replacement. But she recommended a book for me to read first, before I make any decisions. She said she would never recommend someone stop taking any sort of prescribed antidepressant, and I respect that.
Finally was Zyrtec, which I take daily for allergies. Bad ones. To, like, everything that happens outside as well as dust, dogs, mold and other stinky things that happen IN-side. I am basically never free from allergy issues. She gave me a bottle of Quercenase and told me to replace the Zyrtec with two of these a day. It'll end up being a bit more expensive, but I tell you what! I took two this morning, and I have not felt ANY allergy symptoms today aside from very mildly itchy eyes. No sneezes. No runny nose and watery eyeballs. NONE of that! Hell yes! I am making Ryan take it tomorrow because he seems to be having CRAZY allergies this year, too.
Along with all of these things, we want to try to fix whatever damage the radiation and chemo did to my gut and my liver. I am taking very high end probiotics. And she has recommended as many fermented foods as possible. Today we started brewing our first batch of kombucha. I was nervous about it when she recommended it before, because the bottle in the store say "Kombucha Mushroom" on them - and I am REALLLLY allergic to mushrooms. But she assured us yesterday that the kombucha "mother" or "scoby" is NOT a mushroom. Sweet! So it takes ten days to brew and we are supposed to drink it every day. I'm super interested to see how it goes!! Making your own is supposed to be SO MUCH better and cheaper than buying it at four bucks a bottle in the store. Sheesh! In addition to that, I bought some kefir to try to maybe make a smoothie with or something.
Also important is high quality fats. Fat is super important for brain health and the "low-fat" myth is the reason, in her opinion, for a lot of the spike in alzheimer's. She already had us on a farm-fresh butter butter butter diet. As much antibiotic/hormone-free good quality meats as possible. And this is my favorite thing... Ryan and I are going to join a herd share so we can get RAW milk! We will basically own part of a cow because the law states that if you own the cow, you can drink the unpasteurized milk - which is full of really great stuff! Stuff we need to be healthy! She also has us eating extra virgin organic coconut oil every day, which is also great for the brain. And then I'm back on my fish oil as well.
It should not surprise me at all, but it does, that all of my issues are all intertwined. A lot of what I need to deal with all of these problems is healthier adrenals. Colorful fruits and veggies will help with this, as well as all the other gut-helping stuff I am already doing. I barely even remember all the ways that everything linked up, but it was pretty cool! And it basically kinda sounds like if I can fix the gut and the adrenals, my allergies may end up just... going away! MAGIC!
I am very excited about all this and look forward to continuing on this healthy path. It's weird, and not something I ever thought would be "me" - but I feel great! Better than ever and getting even BETTER every day!
Xxo, Phoebe
Now that treatments are over and I am feeling not just back to normal but BETTER than normal, Ryan wanted me to go back and see her about ways to maybe apply natural medicine to some of the OTHER things plaguing me. Allergies. Anxiety. Menopause. Yadda yadda.
We figured if there were any of the chemicals I am on that could be replaced with something natural, we might feel more comfortable with that. Ryan was specifically concerned about the hormone replacement therapy drugs. She was very honest about this, saying that the fact that they have me on both Estradiol (estrogen) AND Provera (progesterone) is far less likely to cause problems - and basically said that if they are helping with the symptoms, I probably want to stick with them. Apparently if you are forced into menopause either chemically or surgically, the natural supplements that might normally help if you had just gone there naturally - well - they don't work so good. So that's two scripts I'm stickin' with.
Second up was Zoloft, which I take a low dose of daily for anxiety. However, I started taking this when a) we were thinking about moving and b) my symptoms that ended up being the cancer were just starting to get really bad. We are thinking that I can probably go off of it myself, without really even having to worry about a natural replacement. But she recommended a book for me to read first, before I make any decisions. She said she would never recommend someone stop taking any sort of prescribed antidepressant, and I respect that.
Finally was Zyrtec, which I take daily for allergies. Bad ones. To, like, everything that happens outside as well as dust, dogs, mold and other stinky things that happen IN-side. I am basically never free from allergy issues. She gave me a bottle of Quercenase and told me to replace the Zyrtec with two of these a day. It'll end up being a bit more expensive, but I tell you what! I took two this morning, and I have not felt ANY allergy symptoms today aside from very mildly itchy eyes. No sneezes. No runny nose and watery eyeballs. NONE of that! Hell yes! I am making Ryan take it tomorrow because he seems to be having CRAZY allergies this year, too.
Along with all of these things, we want to try to fix whatever damage the radiation and chemo did to my gut and my liver. I am taking very high end probiotics. And she has recommended as many fermented foods as possible. Today we started brewing our first batch of kombucha. I was nervous about it when she recommended it before, because the bottle in the store say "Kombucha Mushroom" on them - and I am REALLLLY allergic to mushrooms. But she assured us yesterday that the kombucha "mother" or "scoby" is NOT a mushroom. Sweet! So it takes ten days to brew and we are supposed to drink it every day. I'm super interested to see how it goes!! Making your own is supposed to be SO MUCH better and cheaper than buying it at four bucks a bottle in the store. Sheesh! In addition to that, I bought some kefir to try to maybe make a smoothie with or something.
Also important is high quality fats. Fat is super important for brain health and the "low-fat" myth is the reason, in her opinion, for a lot of the spike in alzheimer's. She already had us on a farm-fresh butter butter butter diet. As much antibiotic/hormone-free good quality meats as possible. And this is my favorite thing... Ryan and I are going to join a herd share so we can get RAW milk! We will basically own part of a cow because the law states that if you own the cow, you can drink the unpasteurized milk - which is full of really great stuff! Stuff we need to be healthy! She also has us eating extra virgin organic coconut oil every day, which is also great for the brain. And then I'm back on my fish oil as well.
It should not surprise me at all, but it does, that all of my issues are all intertwined. A lot of what I need to deal with all of these problems is healthier adrenals. Colorful fruits and veggies will help with this, as well as all the other gut-helping stuff I am already doing. I barely even remember all the ways that everything linked up, but it was pretty cool! And it basically kinda sounds like if I can fix the gut and the adrenals, my allergies may end up just... going away! MAGIC!
I am very excited about all this and look forward to continuing on this healthy path. It's weird, and not something I ever thought would be "me" - but I feel great! Better than ever and getting even BETTER every day!
Xxo, Phoebe
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