Reynaud's Syndrome + miscellany

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Wow, Shelley - I was wondering where you disappeared to post-Curezone! Glad to see that you have your own page now. Congrats!

For my question - I have been told by an Allopathic Doc that I have Reynaud's and that there is nothing to do for it. I haven't had any occurances since last winter-spring but the last few days have been really cold here in the Seattle area and my fingers are purpley-blue to greenish to white and sometimes numb. It doesn't seem to be completely tied to the cold temps because it does happen when I am nice and toasty in my office. They don't particularly respond to heat or rubbing but they eventually return to normal. Is there any herbal treatment for this? Could it be due to stress or some other factor??

One more - I have just returned to Dr. S's cleansing products and remembered the hard way that #1 gives me heartburn big time. Can you suggest another product that may work similarly with no heartburn or should I just bite the bullet until this cleansing round is complete?

Thanks Shelley and again congrats on the site!!
Chris

[shelley]

Hi Chris! Great to have you here.

The simplest cause of Reynaulds is stress and overall poor circulation. If you have a condition like sticky blood cells or high sedimentation rate due to toxicity and deficiencies, Reynauld's can become an issue. Spinal subluxions in the neck can do it to. Wonky hormones.

Okay, did the doctor rule out ALL the various causes of Reynauld's syndrome? To do that, you would have had to:

have your nerves tested for conductivity. They literally shock them and measure the readout. This shows where there's pressure on the nerve. It's rare but possible to have symmetrical (both hands/sides of body) nerve damage but rare so they often overlook it.

If they don't want to do the test, see a chiropractor or Rolfer as they'd be good for spotting any structural impacts on the symptom. Since it's not always triggered by cold, it makes nerve pressure/damage more likely.

Did they test for auto-immune disorders with bloodtests for RA, ANA, ANCA, SED? (always keep copies of your blood tests!)

Do you mean Dr. Schulze' Formula #1, the laxative? You have many many options for gentle but effective laxative. It depends on why you have the constipation and what body type/Dosha you are which one you should take. Since I don't know the particulars the safest one to recommend is Triphala, which is good for all doshas, and something you should take even if it's not strong enough as a laxative if you have any kind of digestive disorder. You may still need a laxative tea or cascara sagrada, but only take more if you aren't having one BM a day.

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Hmm. Well, the Doc (and an Endocrinologist too) simply said it was Reynauds = too bad. They didn't think any testing was necessary. I am trying Network Spinal Analysis Chiropracty - so, I'll ask them too. I do, by the way have wonky hormones, thus the Endo. This year I was seeing a ND but I ran out of $$ and had to return to insurance-covered allopathy As for the nerve damage, I do have a rather mysterious dead spot on the side of my thigh which comes and goes. My mom had the same in the same place. The docs blew that off too. Any relation to the hands thing? And, stress is indeed in play at the moment - just got my hours cut back at work.

I did have a lot of bloodwork done with the ND and they did sed rate (which was ok) but I don't recall the others. I'll have to look. I did have my amalgams out - the ND tried everything else first at my behest but really thought the teeth were important, so I finally sucumbed. My hands stopped shaking which was good but I had to stop in the middle of DMPS pills because they were $150/mo! This and about 20 different vitamins/sups were the path they had me on when I left ... now I am interested in trying to accomplish some of these things piecemeal so I can afford it but I'm not sure what to do first ... I really want to try liver flushing but the ND did say that she didn't think my liver was strong enough to handle that. I do have a fatty liver and am on medication for that (metformin) and high triglyerides (tricor). I have low LDL and HDL and triglycerides make up about 2/3s of my total chlolesterol (~190). These drugs were started by the Endo after I left the ND. I also am being treated for hypothyroidism with Levoxyl and Cytomel. In a nutshell, I know now after being off of this program for several months now that I was starting to feel better so I want to start back up at least part of it somehow. I know this is probably not enough info but any ideas where to start??

As far as the Schulze goes, I do have at least one or two BMs a day but they are pretty uncomfortable. I was lead to understand that one takes the #1 to get things moving and #2 to pull and move the crud out. So, would just a bulk agent work or would it just clog up the works without the laxative? I have done the Schulze before with pretty good results and thought I'd do it again because of the current state of things and because hydrotherapy also stopped after the $$ ran out.

Wouldn't it be great to win the lottery?? Then I could go to any doc I wanted too!!!

Chris

[shelley]

Okay, the thyroid gets #1 priority. Nothing happens correctly if you don't have enough thyroxin in your system! I take Synthroid and it's only about 20 a month (plus you can get your doctor to prescribe double what you need, cut the pills in half and save even more money). Synthroid is the original drug, the rest are generic. Since Synthroid came under fire about 10 years ago for not being accurate with their manufacturing, they've had totally clean up their act and now it's good stuff. Some people do better with Armour tho.

As for the other drugs, well, there are good non-pharm solutions. For fatty liver, Lecithin and bupleurum and chinese gentien are wonderful, as are the amino acids that burn fat (taurine, arginine, etc), and blueberries. Planetary Formula's Bupleurum Liver Cleanse is the cheapest version that's still very effective. Livatone Plus is effective too but more expensive. Taking that plus lecithin, cleansing carrot salad, carrot juice, beets and artichokes should help a lot.

High cholesterol can be due to so many things, it's best to try to cure it wtih diet and exercise before resorting to drugs if it is at least below 300 total cholesterol and your kidneys and blood pressure are fine. If diet changes don't work then it's probably genetic and then pharms can be considered. The newest lipid lowering drug is Crestor and it works great without driving your digestion totally crazy.

High cholesterol is not cnecessarily due to fats or eggs. In fact, it's usually just the opposite - a lack of good fats, especially Omega 3's, and other deficiencies like potassium. It also raises when the thyroid is low, becuase only thyroid hormone can break down cholesterol! So don't even worry about cholesterol readings until your TSH reading is down to 3, or 2 or 1 for at least 3 months in a row.

If you don't have insurance, find a good walk-in medical place that offers cash discounts on lab tests. I go to one with this great doctor who had to hire 3 others doctors becuase his practice grew, we all love him so much. He rarely charges me for my visits anymore because I'm there about every-other month for my bloodwork.

Fascinating about the spot on the thigh. Where exactly is it? Because there's a gallbladder point on the outside of the right thigh. It would be interesting if that's where the issue is.

DMPS is for chelation therapy, which must be done right or you do further damage. Never take something that loosens metals from where they've deposited unless you also have a plan on how to exit them from the bloodstream. It's better to let the body do it slowly and naturally thru thorough cleansing and adequate nutrition and the right supplements like Vit C/EmergenC/CalMagFizz and good oils.

So see? That's not a lot of money!

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Excellent! I knew you'd have a plan for me

I am currently on the thyroid meds (have been for a couple of years) but they are always tweaking my T4 to keep my TSH where it should be - still haven't quite got down to 1-2 yet.

I think that the reason why he put me on the cholesterol drug is because of the ratio between the low HDL/LDL and the triglycerides. I'll try to up my Omega 3's - I am not to consistent with that because I can't handle getting down the oil. I guess I'll have to try capsules.

The spot on the thigh is on the outside of the left thigh on both of us!

Can you clarify about cleansing re: chelation? Keep up with the bowel and try to find some less stressful way to liver/gb flush??

Thanks so much. This has been so helpful!
Chris

[shelley]

Yep, there are many many ways to cleanse the liver of rancid fats, cholesterol and stones. The less stressful version is cleansing carrot salad, lecithin, malic acid supplements and/or apple/cherry cider plus ACV, herbs and frequent doses of oil/juice, and the Cleansing Drink, garlic, chlorella/blue-green algea, Vitamin C and Calcium. All of these help the liver and help the body deal with metals.

When you have lots of fibre in your bowels (or do coffee enemas or distilled water enemas) that takes out metals released by the liver via the colon. When you sweat or do a clay bath that opens up another path of elimination.

It's slow but safe. That's why I focus on holistic/systemic cleansing rather than chelation therapy. Chelation therapy should be done under the care of a very experienced practioner, because once you take a chelator the metals are freely floating around only about 24-36 hours. If they're not exited within that time, they just redeposit themselves, after bombarding the delicate kidneys and perhaps damaging them.

[chickpea]

Hi, just wanted to say that urine enemas help get rid of numbness in the fingers as a couple of people I know have experienced (don't know if they had Raynauds though). However, avoid using urine if you are doing any chelating as some will come out via the kidneys and you will end up absorbing it again!
Anne