Hi all
I'm new to the forum but have been reading posts for some time. Briefly, I've had CFS for nearly 8 years and would be classed as moderately affected.
I see a lot of people referring to gut healing and wanted to pass along what seems to be working for me. A few years ago I did the adrenal fatigue "thing", including taking hydrocortisone for about 10 months. It was the worst thing I ever did. I had a horrible time when I was on it, doctor couldn't explain it and even after I'd weaned myself off it, I never recovered to my pre-HC days. That was 3 years ago. HC can supposedly cause candida/leaky gut so I assumed that's what it did to me.
Probiotics and general candida remedies did nothing for me. Cleaning up my diet didn't help either.
About 9 months ago I started making kefir; first with soya because I am intolerant of dairy milk. Then I switched to dairy about 3 months in and have stayed on it (without any problems). Kefir was the only thing I was doing for the first 7 months so I'm pretty confident when I say "kefir resulted in these benefits".
Results;
1. My MCS problems improved tremendously. I no longer feel like I'm choking if I walk past someone wearing perfume or hairspray. I still avoid chemicals as much as I can but when I encounter them, they dont affect me quite so badly.
2. I had eczema occasionally on my hands; it was usually in reaction to wearing my wedding ring. That has completely cleared up and I can wear the ring without any issue.
3. The most amazing thing (to me anyway) is what it did to my need for thyroid meds. I had a full thyroidectomy many years ago and have been taking Eltroxin/Synthroid (T4) since then.
A month after starting kefir I had a blood test; my FT4 was too high so I reduced my meds. Every 3 months since then I've been retested and each time, the results (and symptoms) indicate that I have gone hyperthyroid again.
In the last 9 months I've had to incrementally reduce my daily T4 meds from 225mcg to 150mcg today. I haven't been on that low a dose for 15 years, maybe more. So SOMETHING has been healed, although I cannot prove what that might be.
There are anecdotal reports which claim that kefir can cure all manner of ills, but very little research that I can find. So I am guessing when I say that perhaps I had leaky gut syndrome and/or candida and that the kefir has helped my gut to heal, which in turn has resulted in my intestines becoming more efficient at absorbing the thyroid meds.
Unfortunately, it hasn't done anything to help the brain fog or general energy and stamina. But, it is promising that one issue has been resolved.
I started the methylation program + support factors 6 weeks ago, but only switched to the folic acid-free supplements a week ago. So far its been tough; I had hoped removing folic acid and adding carnitine fumerate would bring benefits but it hasn't. But I am dreaming a lot more which is new, so I have hope that I'm on the right track.
Anyway, I hope that some of what I wrote will help others who are struggling with gut healing; I've never found any gut product which was as powerful as kefir. I'm in the UK and at the moment I have enough spare kefir grains to post to maybe 2 or 3 people which I'm happy to do if anyone wants them.....
Oh, and another thing; anyone thinking of using dairy milk, you need to use non-homogonised milk. Pasteurised is fine; homogonised is just too sterile to work. Tesco & Sainsbury's sell it in my area; Asda & Morrisons do not.
Also, I forgot to mention that my hyper-sensitivity to supplements has disappeared since starting kefir. There was a time when almost every supplement I tried made me very ill; I am much better in that respect. Without having crossed that barrier, I doubt I'd have been able to start the methylation supplements.
BB
I'm new to the forum but have been reading posts for some time. Briefly, I've had CFS for nearly 8 years and would be classed as moderately affected.
I see a lot of people referring to gut healing and wanted to pass along what seems to be working for me. A few years ago I did the adrenal fatigue "thing", including taking hydrocortisone for about 10 months. It was the worst thing I ever did. I had a horrible time when I was on it, doctor couldn't explain it and even after I'd weaned myself off it, I never recovered to my pre-HC days. That was 3 years ago. HC can supposedly cause candida/leaky gut so I assumed that's what it did to me.
Probiotics and general candida remedies did nothing for me. Cleaning up my diet didn't help either.
About 9 months ago I started making kefir; first with soya because I am intolerant of dairy milk. Then I switched to dairy about 3 months in and have stayed on it (without any problems). Kefir was the only thing I was doing for the first 7 months so I'm pretty confident when I say "kefir resulted in these benefits".
Results;
1. My MCS problems improved tremendously. I no longer feel like I'm choking if I walk past someone wearing perfume or hairspray. I still avoid chemicals as much as I can but when I encounter them, they dont affect me quite so badly.
2. I had eczema occasionally on my hands; it was usually in reaction to wearing my wedding ring. That has completely cleared up and I can wear the ring without any issue.
3. The most amazing thing (to me anyway) is what it did to my need for thyroid meds. I had a full thyroidectomy many years ago and have been taking Eltroxin/Synthroid (T4) since then.
A month after starting kefir I had a blood test; my FT4 was too high so I reduced my meds. Every 3 months since then I've been retested and each time, the results (and symptoms) indicate that I have gone hyperthyroid again.
In the last 9 months I've had to incrementally reduce my daily T4 meds from 225mcg to 150mcg today. I haven't been on that low a dose for 15 years, maybe more. So SOMETHING has been healed, although I cannot prove what that might be.
There are anecdotal reports which claim that kefir can cure all manner of ills, but very little research that I can find. So I am guessing when I say that perhaps I had leaky gut syndrome and/or candida and that the kefir has helped my gut to heal, which in turn has resulted in my intestines becoming more efficient at absorbing the thyroid meds.
Unfortunately, it hasn't done anything to help the brain fog or general energy and stamina. But, it is promising that one issue has been resolved.
I started the methylation program + support factors 6 weeks ago, but only switched to the folic acid-free supplements a week ago. So far its been tough; I had hoped removing folic acid and adding carnitine fumerate would bring benefits but it hasn't. But I am dreaming a lot more which is new, so I have hope that I'm on the right track.
Anyway, I hope that some of what I wrote will help others who are struggling with gut healing; I've never found any gut product which was as powerful as kefir. I'm in the UK and at the moment I have enough spare kefir grains to post to maybe 2 or 3 people which I'm happy to do if anyone wants them.....
Oh, and another thing; anyone thinking of using dairy milk, you need to use non-homogonised milk. Pasteurised is fine; homogonised is just too sterile to work. Tesco & Sainsbury's sell it in my area; Asda & Morrisons do not.
Also, I forgot to mention that my hyper-sensitivity to supplements has disappeared since starting kefir. There was a time when almost every supplement I tried made me very ill; I am much better in that respect. Without having crossed that barrier, I doubt I'd have been able to start the methylation supplements.
BB