The Heavy Element Forum

Advocating for yourself with medical professionals

MrSatan

That's a good question I wished I had answer to.

Wyndle

The only advice I know to reliably work is to visit a holistic doctor. If there isn't one available then find a doctor who refuses to take Medicaid. The insurance system distorts the doctor patient relationship.

Kocytean

Some of the following may be not directly relevant to you due to differences in how the medical system in each country is set up.

If you are going to a new doctor, go in to the practice AT LEAST two weeks ahead of your appointment and organise for a copy of your file to be sent over from your old GP
If it's your first appointment, book a long session. Your new GP is NOT going to have the time to deal with getting to know you, your history, what has and hasn't been tried in a standard length consultation. Help yourself by helping your new GP and book enough time to do it right from day 1
NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER tell your doctor what your diagnosis is based on googling it. 99% of the medical info on google is either very subjective or complete horseshit. If you become 'one of those' patients that tries to tell the GP how to do their job you will just piss them off and they will not take you seriously.
Pain medication treats the symptoms, not the disease and is a waste of time in addition to not being a viable long term solution. For things like arthritis, back and neck pain (and don't take this personally, this is my personal opinion based on my own experience) usually the best thing you can do is lose weight.
Getting healthy and helping yourself is the best thing you can do. It isn't easy, it does require effort but there is no lazy way to do things right and anyone who thinks different is kidding themselves.
For reference I have broken - Right foot, left leg, left achillies tendon, right knee reconstruction, left collar bone, nose x4, all my fingers at least once, punctured lung, and broken right wrist. I dont take pain medication EVER. Not even when I had a diaphragm hernia repaired with a 10x10cm mesh and at the same time had a Nissen Fundoplication done on my stomach, I wouldn't even let them give me panadol/paracetamol, took myself home from hospital after 48hrs. And if your talking back/neck pain I also have Schuermanns Disease - my spinal xrays would make you cringe. Get health, get to a good weight for your height and I'm not saying it will 'fix' you but it will improve your QoL

gbryant

Kocytean thanks for the input! I've been on a steady trend of losing weight. At my heaviest I was 350lbs. I'm now down to 272. That's over the course of three years.

Still working on it. Definitely need to go on a special diet. My sister has RA and can't eat grains of any kind or they cause a flair up. Need to follow in her footsteps.

Axiom

Kocytean I've read about that the British Medical System has "General Practitioners" (GPs). The US left that system in the late 19th century and our Medical Doctors (MDs) are very professional.

Wyndle

gbryant I can personally recommend the Paleo diet. Essentially it consists of foods that are readily identifiable as something that was raised or grown. In other words, avoid processed foods. For example, honey would be preferable to any form of sugar or syrup as a sweetener. If it comes exclusively in a cardboard box or plastic bag then you should consider avoiding it.

For a faster result you can try either end of the spectrum of elimination diet: vegan or carnivore. Keep in mind that either of these will have some long-term drawbacks that require supplements. These are best used short-term to eliminate diet-related symptoms and then slowly re-introduce foods until you identify the source(s) of undesirable symptoms.

Many autoimmune disorders and cancers may be caused by glyphosate in our food chain, hence the rise in popularity of organic and grass-fed labels. The only issue with going by these labels is that they may not avoid glyphosate entirely. For example, the grass-fed label only means that at least one meal was grass whereas the animal may have been feed glyphosate containing grains at one or more time(s) in its life or grazed in a field saturated with glyphosate run-off water. The only way to ensure you are avoiding glyphosate is to be intimately familiar with your food sources by developing direct relationships with the producers or to produce for yourself.

*Edit - removed molasses since it requires reduction by heat, a form of processing. I still think being from sorghum is preferable to any corn syrup, but it is still considered a processed food.

Deblad

Wyndle That is a terrible nickname for that diet lol. It makes me think of antivaxers and organic diets. Not saying that there is anything wrong with what you're saying there tho. Comment for just the name, not the diet.

gbryant I understand having a good relationship with my doctor, and I that has to count for something. But maybe you should consider another doctor? I find that doctors in bigger cities or areas where they cover a lot of patients aren't as good at their jobs. Also, doctors hate it when we ask for specific medications and stuff (which is why all those drug commercials telling you to "ask your doctor if ____ is right for you" is so stupid). All this being said, I don't feel like I can give much advice anyway because I do not know the personality or disposition of your doctor, and the atmosphere of the clinic.

Kocytean

Axiom I wouldn't know - I'm not British

Wyndle

Deblad I didn't coin the term. There's plenty of evidence to show the effectiveness of the concept at least.

On a deeper level I think there is wisdom in the saying "you are what you eat." Not just from the perspective of not wanting to be a cog in the profit models of heartless corporations, but also in the harmonic resonance of the atoms we consume affecting our homeostasis.

B101

gbryant My personal advice is two fold; You're already doing the first one. If something is bothering you, voice your concern. If it's not heard, find another Doctor. Second, tell your new physician your experience and why you're there. In the U.S. we have a terrible system setup. Do not be afraid to ask for a preliminary interview before you schedule an appointment.

As for your health issues, I did keto successfully for a few months and dropped 30lbs (about 4 to 5 months). The second time I did it (₁ month), I lost 9lbs, then gained it back when I went off. I also lost 15 when I decided to quit drinking soda. I was on a great kick of water only for a few years. Sadly, I'm very codependent and my wife is unbearable whiny whenever she is the least bit uncomfortable..... Which is why I am drinking soda again and why I had to quit keto. Lol. My best recommendation for weight control though? Just keep track of what you eat. I've found that if you are writing it down or entering it in an app (another bag of privacy issues there), it definitely causes you to think and look at what you're eating. Just keep at it. And if you ever need help or inspiration, you always have friends and family! 🤗

As for migraines, ask your new doctor about your posture. I always thought mine was great and it turned out to be the reason I was getting severe tension headaches. Also, check/update and prescription glasses/sunglasses/lenses you may have. Reducing screen brightness, as well as warmer color temps (considered "natural" among HT/AV enthusiasts), and frequency of use. Also, ask your doctor about an allergy test. Reducing/increasing any white or ambient noise can help as well. I've been a chronic migraine sufferer for about 30 years.

Lastly, if you are on multiple meds from a psychiatrist, look into therapy, which could lead to consolidating them. Doctors, as well as ourselves, tend to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause.

And if all else fails, ask about medical marijuana. It won't help with weight, but it definitely helps headaches, general aches, etc.

nqbw

Wyndle the harmonic resonance of the atoms we consume affecting our homeostasis

Que?

Wyndle

nqbw "If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration." - Nikola Tesla

cymatics

Harmonic resonance is the mechanism underlying all physics. What happens to a still pond when a pebble breaks the surface? It creates waves. What happens to air when a jet breaks the sound barrier? It creates waves. See also: standing wave, sound levitation.

All of these principles apply at every level, from the galaxy down to the atom. The main reason physicists have trouble around quantum mechanics is because they have trouble seeing probability as a dimension in and of itself. What happens when a probability becomes a result? It creates waves.

How does this apply to diet? Think of your body as a string instrument. If it isn't tuned properly then it cannot perform as designed. If it is too far out of tune it ceases to work at all. Each atom, each molecule affect the frequency of the responses your organs and microbiome produce. Produce a sour note and it will have negative results. Produce a clean note and the waves will help keep your molecules in their intended locations by adhering to a standing wave.

Wyndle

As for why one would want food as close to natural as possible: nature uses rhyming tones (i.e. compatible to our own standing wave). When you use synthetic inputs there are differences in the harmonics that causes interfering wave patterns. If the interference is severe enough your body would see it as an attack (allergy, autoimmune disorder, etc).

Caeglathatur

The carnivore diet is a thing, and many seem to report improvements in the areas you mention.
That said I'm not precisely advocating for it, nor saying for certain that it works. Just saying it exists.

https://meatheals.com/

MrSatan

Caeglathatur
Bits of knowledge about the topic I do have (and come from scientific source) say that meat is only healthy if you don't eat too much of it.

Diets in general are very complicated topic, so everything differs with type of meat, other stuff you eat, lifestyle and your body, but if I were to take uneducated guess on this one, I'd say it's probably not very healthy.

Caeglathatur

MrSatan My uneducated view is this:

The studies I've heard about that point to meat being unhealthy fail to properly control for other factors like excercise or smoking. But I don't think for a second that I have a comprehensive idea of what studies are out there.
Some claims that I think seem reasonable but cannot properly back up:
- Meat (and particularly cooked meat), being very nutritious and easy to digest and convert to other kinds of meat, is what made humans grow much bigger brains than our ancestors.
- During the ice age there was nothing but meat for humans (at least some of them) to eat. Also the Inuit eat/ate pretty much nothing but fish and other animals and were just fine.
- Our metabolic system is more like that of carnivores than herbivores. Herbivores tend to have much more intestines because plant matter is harder to break down (and they have to constantly eat enourmous amounts).

MrSatan

Caeglathatur My sources are:
Alena Kazˇimírová and others. Does a vegetarian diet influence genomic stability?
SERENA TONSTAD and others. Type of Vegetarian Diet, Body Weight, and Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes.
Lan T Ho-Pham and others. Effect of vegetarian diets on bone mineral density: a Bayesian meta-analysis.
Corinna Koebnick and others. Long-Term Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian Diet Impairs Vitamin B-12 Status in Pregnant Women.
Massimo Filippi and others. The Brain Functional Networks Associated to Human and Animal Suffering Differ among Omnivores, Vegetarians and Vegans.
David Benton I Rachel Donohoe. The influence of creatine supplementation on the cognitive functioning of vegetarians and omnivores.

they tend to focus on vegetarian diets and its effects on health but you can't do it well without comparing it to diets with meat.

As for eating only meat, there's a huge difference between surviving fine and eating healthy. Also modern lifestyle differs greatly from needs of people of ice age. It's kinda the same with vegetarian diets. You can survive on them just fine, they even tend to be better than most diets in general, because most people don't eat healthy at all, but there are certain risks and certain nutrients can me more difficult to get than others. Also, no vegetarian diet will be better than "perfect" mixed diet (which apparently won't have much meat in it).

Wyndle

Let's not lean too far into this. As I mentioned above, neither the carnivore nor the vegan diet is sustainable long term without supplementing for missing nutrient or mineral compounds.

Humans are omnivores and we need some elements from both plants and animals. There is room to debate over quantity and sources, but both are essential. Both of these extreme diets are useful in a short term, controlled context such as eliminating possible sources of allergens.

Keep in mind that not all allergies present with the same symptoms. For example, my wife and I have an allergic reaction to the same pollens. Her reaction presents as respiratory distress whereas my reaction presents as eye irritation. Same allergen, different reaction.

Taking that example to a different context, some foods are well known to cause allergic reactions. Let's examine the spectrum of peanut allergies. At the extreme end is the fatal reaction from even distant second-hand exposure, then there is anaphylactic shock, skin rash, and down to something as mild as a slight increase in methane gas production or headache.

This is where the extreme diets for meat or plants shine. They eliminate a huge swath of potential sources of allergens. It takes anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks to fully purge any allergens already in your system, depending on your metabolism and potential traces of the allergen(s) remaining in your chosen diet (did the hog sneak into the peanut patch or the farm get hit by drifting/runoff pesticides?). Once the symptoms subside return one eliminated item per week. Patience and discipline are key here. You'll feel great and want to enjoy more foods but if you add too many in a short period you'll have trouble identifying the source of your symptoms.

An extreme example, worth a watch (skip to 2hr 44m, I couldn't get the timestamp to work).

Wyndle

Another example of something causing damage that I have a long medical history for: sodium fluoride. Yes, the same ingredient in most toothpastes and in some municipal water systems.

In my early 20s I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Initially I blamed it on the anthrax vaccination. While I cannot rule out that acting as a catalyst, it was years later that I found out sodium fluoride was used to treat hyperthyroidism. I went without thyroid medicine and sodium fluoride for a few months and my blood test showed my thyroid was adequately compensating even though it was still damaged. I have had years of annual tests confirm the results since.

On a side note, at one point I tried to resume my synthroid (still avoiding fluoride) only to end up in the ER with a severe allergic reaction. I had hives and anaphylactic swelling in my throat (possibly the thyroid itself).

Wyndle

In regard to the academic bias of vegetation based diets, it seems to me to run in parallel to the political correctness movement. In other words; an orchestrated attempt to persuade the thoughts and actions of the masses without regard to the facts or consequences.

If one were to put a conspiratorial consideration into that then it would instead be considered an attempt to persuade the masses away from meat due to the facts and consequences. When one also considers that bovine flatulence is considered by the IPCC to be harmful to the global environment, worthy of heavy taxation by the U.N., the conspiratorial viewpoint doesn't seem far-fetched. Fact: CO2 is plant food. Just ask any commercial greenhouse grower. An elementary school science lesson on how the food chain works, combined with secondary education level economics (supply & demand), should dissuade any notion that CO2 can harm the environment.

MrSatan As for eating only meat, there's a huge difference between surviving fine and eating healthy. Also modern lifestyle differs greatly from needs of people of ice age. It's kinda the same with vegetarian diets. You can survive on them just fine, they even tend to be better than most diets in general, because most people don't eat healthy at all, but there are certain risks and certain nutrients can me more difficult to get than others. Also, no vegetarian diet will be better than "perfect" mixed diet (which apparently won't have much meat in it).

Please exercise caution when comparing the modern lifestyle to that of the last ice age. Human biology didn't change because it got warmer. If anything, greedy corporations with little to no morals have done more damage with sugars, fillers, and artificial ingredients than any environmental changes could possibly have done on their own. The cost of real food is relatively high compared to the mass produced junk on the shelves at most grocers, and there is the tendency towards laziness that has caused a boom in the fast food industry over the past few decades.

Also, we are on the precipice of a new ice age. This will have drastic consequences, not the least of which being a prolonged shift in weather patterns.
green desert
In the past 18 months I've seen/read/heard reports of record breaking weather of nearly every category. Record snowfall, record rainfall, flooding and lakes in the deserts around the world, record hail, and much more. Naturally, a drastic shift in global weather patterns will affect global food supplies.

If anything, I recommend learning how to produce both meat and vegetables for yourself. At a minimum, a greenhouse and a chicken coop if you have any space for them at all. If you're in an apartment then build planters on balconies and window sills.

Note: I had to remove over a dozen supporting links and log out and back in to post this. I guess this has to do with spam filtering.

Links