I want to share my family’s story. My three girls, my grandchild and my husband all have symptoms of poor methylation, but I want to start with my experience since it’s how I discovered methylation.
I was hospitalized for 16 days in February 2013 with acute pancreatitis. In the first days my confused plethora of doctors transfused me, and gave me a b-12 shot every day for a week. The transfusion was a mistake. I have beta thalassemia minor, and my normal hb is around 9. My ferritin soared to nearly 600. According to my records, the b-12 was hydroxyl, but even before I was released, I was feeling its effects. I lost 20 pounds in the hospital, and another 30 over the next six months. For six months I had the kind of energy I’ve heard people talk about but never experienced, even as a child. I had clarity and focus. I saw muscle begin to build when I exercised. I rediscovered my libido (actually the first thing I noticed before I even got out of the hospital). I felt reborn, and when the effects began to fade not quite six months later, I tried to find out why.
Everything got thrown into the pot. I went grain free, and pretty much paleo. I tried vinegar, dmso, castor oil, herbs, high dose supplementing with vitamin c and niacin—all useful but not the answer.
My primary provider was unimpressed with my story, but my hair was so noticeably thin (it worsened after being on Coumadin for a splenic clot (probably caused by inflammation from the pancreatitis) I got a referral to an endocrinologist. Despite my missing eyebrows and other hormonal symptoms, my numbers were all “normal,” and I got no help there. My hematologist just warned me not to take iron (I thought having a high hb—11—might account for my experience). I had taken b-12 before, and had been taking it again without noticeable effect, but when I researched the dangers of iron overload, I went back to b-12 after poring over my hospital records. There simply was nothing else in my treatment that I could credit with my amazing transformation. Months of reading on the internet brought me to Yasko via my autistic grandson, thence to Ron, and finally to phoenixrising and freddd’s protocol.
My symptoms (some now returning), according to freddd’s list were freezing hands and feet (also didn’t do well in hot weather despite always low body temp), bad nails and thinning hair, little body hair (didn’t shave for years), restless legs and cramping, chronic sinusitis—repeated bouts of bronchitis and hospitalized twice for pneumonia with coughing so bad I broke ribs, rhinitis (my nose hasn’t stopped running since 1994. Inability to build muscle, shortness of breath, psoriasis, gluten and dairy intolerance, chemical sensitivity. Little perspiration (saved a ton on deodorants). Brain fog. Edema and bloating, frequent urination, kidney stone, unexplained pain especially in my upper right arm, nausea after eating, inability to lose weight even when stringently dieting, loss of sexuality (I mean zero anything), dizziness and vertigo, inability to find the right word when I am speaking. Got terrible floaters then cataracts, and now even more sensitive to light. Eyes tear a lot, and often feel sticky. Tinnitis. Thought I wasn’t going to have neuropathy, but getting the occasional stab in my right foot. Et al...
Through all this, I considered myself essentially healthy, and still do.
In ‘94, after two years of antibiotics for a sinus infection, I had surgery to remove scar tissue. Several months later I was having a breast removed for cancer. Then six months of chemotherapy and two years of tamoxifen. Essentially, my metabolism shut down. The thirty pounds I gained during chemo grew to sixty. My doctors were unhelpful. I was a slug for seven years, then I experienced an event—lost the weight, the brain fog, et al. I never could figure out what happened. Then as now I was constantly experimenting with vitamins and diet—and it lasted about six months. But that time, all my symptoms returned, gained back the weight, etc. A few years ago, I experimented with Sherry Rogers protocols, and experienced a few weeks of wellbeing, but the effect couldn’t be prolonged (and I read every one of her books). So detox was in there somewhere.
At some point, I went gluten free and that helped the gut issues and sinuses. When I got very serious about it, the number of sinus infections I got in a year were halved, but I was still taking antibiotics at least three times a year. I’d guess in the last twenty years I’ve had more than 60 infections, or maybe I just never wasn’t infected. Till I got out of the hospital. I haven’t had ANYTHING in almost two years. That’s a near miracle.
I haven’t lost any more weight, but I haven’t gained any back either. I was starting to lose some ground with focus and word finding, my amazing energy has faded, my libido is less. But after starting the b-12 protocol I’m trying to be very mindful about my symptoms because changes are small and gradual. What I’ve noticed in no particular order—my eyebrows are filling in, my hair is not so thin, my nails are better. I’ve started sweating, and shaving my legs (could have done without that). I get up at night to urinate once, not hourly as I have for years—that’s huge. The restless legs and nighttime cramps are 97% gone. Floaters are almost completely gone. Dizziness is almost gone. I'm not struggling to find a word, any word will do...
My family has done the DNA testing. We all have problematic snps. Still waiting on my husband’s results. He’s a real mess—but that’s another post. And I want to share what we’re seeing with my autistic grandchild.