Was I dying or was it all in my head? (Part II)
This is a continuation from Part I...
We had just left off with me deciding that I was going to have to take my health into my own hands as I was after a cure and not simply a treatment that would require life long use...
Desperate times call for desperate measures!
A few weeks later through all of my researching online, I stumbled upon something people were swearing by. It was called a Water Fast. They were claiming all kinds of amazing transformations and healing from doing this simple fast. Basically all it required was that you do nothing but drink water for a period of time to help flush toxins from your body and give your body a chance to heal itself.
What kinds of things were people saying a Water Fast may cure you might ask?
- chronic fatigue
- fibromyalgia
- certain digestive issues
- IBS
- Ulcerative colitis
- Crohn's disease
- certain tumors
- and even certain types of cancers
- among others...
The basic premise behind the Water Fast idea is that your body spends a good amount of energy each day digesting food that you eat and then disposing of it. What could your body do if instead of spending energy performing those tasks, it could use that energy for healing and restoration of other parts of your body?
It was an interesting theory and one I was willing to give a try at this point in my journey of getting my body back to it's optimal health.
The Water Fast begins!
I started my Water Fast for healing hoping that it would somehow fix whatever was wrong with me.
The first day wasn't so bad. I just drank water any time I felt hungry. The second and third days were a little worse. I got very hungry and it took all my will power not to eat something. I had no idea how people could do this fast for weeks and some even a month.
Those hunger pains basically went away as the 4th day rolled around. I guess at that point your body decides it is not going to be getting food any longer and goes into starvation mode, where it basically starts nourishing itself with nutrients your body has stored up. This is where you have to get to before you will see any kind of healing according to the papers I had read.
Days 4-7 basically rolled by without a hitch. I wasn't really hungry but I definitely was sleepy a lot and had very little energy. I did this at a time when I didn't have many physical requirements so I was able to rest and stay home during most of it. It did present a problem though when I went out to dinner for my Mom's birthday and all I could "eat" was a glass of water, while the rest of the family made quick work of steaks. That wasn't much fun.
With each day that went by my family got more and more worried wondering how much longer I was going to go without food. The entire time they kept telling me that is not healthy, you are going to kill yourself before you heal yourself.
Finally after 8 days of "eating" nothing but water I came off the Water Fast, mostly to calm my family members down and ease their concerns. I really wasn't all that hungry and am positive I could have gone longer if I had wanted to.
Results of the Fast
The first thing I noticed is that my skin was no longer oily. My skin has always been very oily and while I was on the Water Fast, it was like the oil glands were shut off. My skin is often an oil slick at the end of the day but during the Water Fast I could have probably gone days between face washing's. Food must play some role in oil production.
Other than less oil, unfortunately I didn't really notice anything else. I went back to eating slowly to let my body readjust and I tried to incorporate a healthier diet as well but the same aches and pains and all the other symptoms still remained. They were mostly there while I was on the Fast and were still there when I ended it. Perhaps it is possible that the Fast may have worked had I done it longer?
Conclusions of the Fast
Overall, it is tough for me to say if the Water Fast would have really healed me or not as I didn't give it a long enough time most likely. However, it is hard to continue with something when everyone around you is telling you not to, especially when it relates to your health.
The higher your body fat percentage is when you do the Fast the longer you are able to go before it starts really negatively effecting you. Women are often able to Fast for longer periods of time because of their higher body fat percentages.
If you start the Fast and you are already very thin, you won't be able to do the Fast very long before all of your reserves are used up and it starts to negatively effect you.
Back to the Drawing Board
After spending all this time with supplements and Water Fasts it was time to go back to the doctor and see if he had any other ideas before we went on a life long medication for Fibromyalgia.
He said he had been doing some thinking and wanted to try a newer test that measured testosterone levels that had just come out in the past few months. In his opinion a lot of my symptoms could be explained by those levels being off. So, we ran the test.
Viola!
When the results came back we finally had our first test that was outside the normal range.
Finally, some answers?
My testosterone was significantly low. Finally I had a realistic answer as to what was causing the majority of my symptoms!
The doctor told me to try a couple specific supplements, and a sleep regimen combined with stretching and exercise plans that he believed might be able to boost the levels naturally. He believed that a combination of those might be able to boost the levels without resorting to medication which has side effects.
It was nice to finally have some answers as to what was causing all these strange and seemingly unrelated symptoms. Low testosterone is strange in that it affects everyone differently. I had no idea how much that hormone effected so many different aspects of the male body. Now I just had to go about getting those levels up...
The only lingering question in my mind has been, why was it low?
To this day I am not really sure but I do know that if I don't follow those exercises, eat right, get enough sleep, and take those supplements the levels begin to drop again and many of those symptoms return. Such is life I guess.
Thank you for reading and live well my friends!
Image Sources:
http://www.hayleycamille.com/2017/01/31/an-invisibility-cloak-for-your-brain/
http://goqii.com/blog/benefits-and-tricks-of-24-hours-water-only-fast/
https://listaka.com/water-fasting-and-10-things-you-should-know-about-it/
https://vossworld.wordpress.com/
https://www.healthable.org/how-to-figure-out-about-low-testosterone-levels/
https://www.consumerhealthdigest.com/health-conditions/low-testosterone.html
Follow: @jrcornel
I'm glad I had the chance of reading the rest of this, thanks for sharing.
Many things around us, like plastics for instance, contain pseudo-oestrogen which trick the body into thinking that it has the wrong amount of hormones. Eliminating as many plastic containers holding your food might be a good idea, while making sure they are never used with microwaves.
Using zinc in decent amounts would crank up and/or stabilize your production of semen and what is relating to it as well, I guess. using extra goodness such as maca may very well increase the momentum of your libido as well as the general functions relating to this system. Maca might actually be able to kick start it back to normal!?!
I wonder if the kind of water you used was dead water containing no mineral or, even worse, containing chlorine! thinking of my body digestive system as the soil on which the garden of my health grows, I make sure I have the right amount of water depending on the environment I find myself in. If it weren't for the mineral salts found on the surface of the Earth, the plant world would have been quasi-impossible. your digestive system is extremely closely related to the vegetative world and needs to be taken care of in a very similar manner I discovered. The general health of your entire body depends on the health of your intestinal tract allowing you or not to digest properly what comes in. the environmental factors such as air also play a role in your functions and health of every organs in your body, this includes your fat organ as well! With properly balanced fat levels, your brain functions can work efficiently. Same goes for your minerals, too much water is like a flood over the ground and takes away a lot of its mineral salts. not enough and so many aspects of the soil changes...
I'm glad you have been able to reacquire a certain level of health allowing you to at least come back to a "normal" life. It is quote-on-quote because if you have never been super extra mega healthy, how would you know the difference!?! Keep your smile and taking very good care, thrive on and namaste :)
That is some really good advice. I have been doing some reading and will continue to do so. The plastics in the microwave is an interesting one, but thankfully not one I tend to do often :) It would be nice of the medical community focused more and getting to the heart of the problem instead of just treating the symptoms. I guess that will continue to be my responsibility. Thanks for a great comment.
Thank you for your post. I am currently going through almost exactly the same situation and deeply understand your frustrations.I have been to multiple doctors and endocrinologists over the course of two years. Currently I am being treated for CFS. My testosterone was tested and on the low end but just inside the normal range, thus they would not give me any treatment. Can I ask what your Testosterone levels were? Also, more info about the supplements and routine to boost T would be greatly appreciated! Glad you are feeling better!
Mine was around 120-180, the normal range was 300-1000.
Supplements were: DHEA, Melatonin, L-Glutamine, then just supplements for overall health and also a sleeping aid. He focused on making sure I was getting uninterrupted sleep at night.
The exercises were yoga and tai-chi for several months, and once strength levels are up lifting very heavy weights only a few reps each time. According to him those were the best ways to increase testosterone.
Also certain foods seemed to help as well, I can't remember them off the top of my head though. He gave me a list.
A google search of some simple tips and diet tips may also be helpful. Good luck!
Thank you much appreciated! I have had some success with melatonin already, will definitely research everything else.Thank you!!!
I was under the impression that melatonin was just for helping you sleep, apparently it has some other helpful uses as well :)
It does help me sleep but also, some of my other symptoms feel better for taking it as well
Good work figuring this out. Sometimes, the body just needs time to detox and adapt.
Yep, I can't believe I did that Water Fast for 8 days with no food... that just sounds unbelievable when I think about it. Most people tell me they think they would die if they just went a day or two without food... lol
there are even stranger stories, how about stopping food altogether, or even water intake, there was some Indian guy, I remember watching some documentary
Yea there were a couple people that had tumors that were completely consumed by the body when they did a long water fast... like 28 days or something. So, basically they healed themselves by letting their own body cannibalize the problem :)
Tumors can't live if they aren't fed, they eat only sugar(carbohydrates) since their cells for production are dead, It's a vast topic, but you can read up on it at @lifeworship
https://steemit.com/health/@lifeworship/energy-clarity-and-healthful-vitality
Mitochondria* yeah that was it, about cancer I know nothing apart from what I've said, there was a video I was watching on the ketogenic diet.
Maybe you can find something interesting there, I did watch the 2 hour videos an I did find some new ideas.
Good point. Amazing stuff... Thanks for all your contributions! :)
I wonder about your use of the phrase "eat healthy" since that means so many different things to different people. If your diet was or is high in carbs (more than 30% of calories from carbohydrates), I would expect you to have those symptoms including the symptom of low testosterone. You may not know that testosterone is actually made by converting cholesterol, something that many "healthy" diets lack.
Further, as a long time fasting proponent, I would not expect one 8 day fast to cure your symptoms, but a three day fast once a month might do much more. The goal is to depend on the clean fuel of your own body fat for long enough to heal damages to your digestive system (leaky gut, yeast, gluten sensitivity), and to relieve inflammation due to insulin swings, but not long enough to worry about consuming muscle protein. Unless you are already keto-adapted, you risk damage to important muscles, like your heart.
Fasting more than three days is okay and may be beneficial. After three days the body changes to ketosis mode and stops burning muscle once carbohydrate stores have depleted in the organs. This is why someone can fast for weeks and have more energy than some other people. But of course pay attention to your body as we are all different in nature and our imbalances. Also suggest intermittent fasting for a few days monthly , more or less. This is what I do and I find it to work wonders.
Fasting ketosis in a non-keto-adapted person can still affect muscle loss. It's fine if you are already low carb or fast fairly regularly, but can be dangerous for high carb dieters.
Yes true. Good to balance things however we may.
Have to check on you too :)
Good points. I will have to give that some thought (regarding the periodic fasts). My diet in general has always been one that is fairly high in carbohydrates. I have always been involved in athletics and needed the carbohydrates to keep up energy levels and keep the weight from totally falling off (I was always skinny but that's a problem I don't have so much now) ;)
Interesting add, I have to check you out, I'm still figuring out the dietary thing, me personally, I spent the last 2-3 years stacking the pages, for two of which I was mostly eating healthy, vegetarian diet, without meat, mostly milk from the animal products and cheese. apart from that salads, soups, potatoes from the stove, but yes that's about it. for the most part, at the start I went about eating too much oil, and sugar, then got rid of that, found the fact that oil is essential, lowered my sugars, started eating non-white bread then tried getting the healthy baked bread, costs too much for my lack of finance, and I have to say I was feeling amazing when I was going about that, I was exercising at least two times a day, sometimes 3 and on the off chance 4 times :D I was able to run for miles in both directions and all, but I overexerted myself from time so i gave myself a few days to recover here and there. Anyways the fasting got to me and I failed miserably :D I tried the 1-2-3 day fast, with my social circle it was next to impossible, I had to keep silent, if I said anything everybody tried to get me back to "normal" then yeah, I still have to learn I'm still picking up speed, since I kind of trailed off for the past year, my daily regiment kind of changed and I lost the momentum. Anyways that's my story :D I'm still learning on keto diet and tried intermittent fasting ,the problem is what you stated above and the fact I'm rushing through many topics one by one.
Yes social circles can really ruin fasts. I was able to go for 8 days because I didn't tell anyone about it until I was on day 4 :)
I think the water fast was a good idea as a way to wash the system out.
Green vegetable also can help.
Sad you did not get an answer as to what was causing the low testosterone levels but admire how you went ahead and tried to tackle the problem yourself.
The thing with doctors is that if none of their tests work then they are pretty useless. Ina mystery illness the best they can do are good at telling you what you have not got but not what you have.
Hope it goes well for you, interesting read.
Take care.
Very true... that is what my father said at the time. He said "look at the bright side, you have eliminated hundreds of things that you know that you don't have;)"
I may try that water fast again at some point. It made sense on a lot of levels... I just have to be careful it doesn't mess up my metabolism if I go into "starvation mode" too frequently. Thanks for great responses and for reading! I enjoy reading your stuff as well :)
Your Dad was wise there.
You could also try those hard shell Garlic tablets too. They are fantastic for the body / immune system. I still think you had a pathogenic bacteria infection. They are almost impossible to detect. If you have then they are still in there and you will have a flare up again. Garlic tablets destroy pathogenic bacteria but do no harm if you are healthy. Some a thought.
Best wishes to you.
I was wondering that too... I even mentioned that to the doctor but he said if that was the case we should see at least some signs of inflammation or some signs of white blood cell increases, we saw neither... so he seemed to rule that out.
He is right and wrong.
Some pathogenic bacteria can actually hide inside the white blood cells which makes them effectively invisible to all tests- and as such will not show inflammation until years later. Lyme works like this. Some people do not show symptoms until l 5 year after a bite.
As I said, if it is still there then it will come back but only if you eat unhealthy.
As long as your immune system is good then it will keep on top of it and gradually destroy the bacteria anyway.
You are young and so the body can pretty much destroy anything at your age. Good healthy food and no cheap burgers and you will be fine ha ha
That is interesting and kind of goes along with what I have noticed. As long as I get plenty of rest, eat mostly healthy, take vitamins, and get exercise I tend to be ok. However, if I have some late nights or get off my routine that is when the symptoms start to flair up again... interesting.
Yes I've heard something like that, even bacteria or viruses that enter the nervous system and sleep there, just like real world sleeper cells, they activate when the body is weak and spread the infection through the nerves. There are many things we have no knowledge of, at least most people.
What about a happy medium between fasting and eating. Drink lots of water and go for a green diet composed of the highest nutrition foods? I did also did this for months feeling the water and nutrition to be important. May be able to offer a service to fine tune nutrition in your diet as I have researched this extensively.
Did you notice any results from doing that diet, if so what did you notice?
It's very interesting post!!
I like your work :)
Thank you foe sharing !!
have you heard of the topics being discussed in the comments, actually since I doubt that, we have intermittent fasting, water fasting, green vegetables, garlic tablets and pathogens :) on the menu :D
Thank you for the kind words and for stopping by! :)
I enjoyed reading you journey through this process. I am really wanting to share with you that every single thing (imbalance) is caused by an emotional energy of some kind. There are multiple studies about this. I would look into releasing negative emotions that may be at the core of why your levels are off. Hormones are most of the time "thrown out of wack" because the gut flora is off. We need. 3.5 lbs of good gut bacteria all the time. Fermented foods are your best sources; sourkraut, kefir,kombucha,acidopholus, PB-8, kimchi etc. I hope you found some of this helpful. This of course is not medical advice over what you are doing ☺ Good luck on your healing journey!
My doctor mentioned that he thought fibromyalgia could be caused by long periods of stress or a traumatic emotional experience. However, I didn't really have either at the time which is why I kept telling him I don't think it is fibro. We finally found that my testosterone levels were significantly low, but we still can't figure out why and we can only really get them to the very bottom of the normal range by doing all of the things he suggests. It sure would be nice to figure out what they heck caused the change...
I like your post keep up the good work..can you follow me..thank you
Fasting can be good for your immune system and body in general. Though by no means is it a cure all. Maybe check your water's purity and make sure you aren't getting any toxins in it like fluoride or various heavy metals. Also you might want to try and eat as much organic food as you can. Avoid conventionally grown food so you can avoid pesticides and GMOs. You want to avoid those nasty endrocrin disruptors.
Yes and it seems it was my endocrine system that was "out of whack", so good thoughts. I was thinking of trying one again at some point here using only bottled water, what are your thoughts?
Bottled water is just tap water in more expensive packaging. Avoid Nestle, they are evil. I'd get a good water filter or try to find a place with a well. Better yet move to a town that didn't have fluoradated water. Look into some herbal or homeopathic detoxs (personally I opt for herbal but everyone has their preferences and i hear homeopathic are gentler). I'd suggest getting a liver clense specifically as it has a lot to do with hormones and is responsible for cleaning toxins out of your system. Dandelion root can be made into a good liver clense. :-) Learn your herbs dude.
Haha the moving part isn't really an option at the moment, but the other stuff might be feasible. I will get to some reading. Thanks! :)