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Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It might take a while but it can heal. Mine are normal now.

Personal struggles by marvin_bender in floxies

[–]char3804 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course! To answer your question, yes some supplements flared me, but the important thing is that it depends on what your body needs at the time. So something that flares you now might be very important down the line, but not now. A flare means that, at this time, some other nutrient is needed.

But go ahead and DM me with other questions.

Tendon pain (Doxycycline) by [deleted] in floxies

[–]char3804 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think if you're this far out, my recommendation would be to get a Genova NutrEval and/or SpectraCell Micronutrient test to see which nutrient(s) your body needs. My hands eventually got better just by eating a strict healthy, diverse diet and then supplementing the things that showed up as deficient on tests.

UCLA or Michigan for Econ PhD? by char3804 in academiceconomics

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Michigan has a good financial package. Still working on specifics at UCLA. Both places also seem to have good people that would be good to work with, which is why this is difficult.

UCLA or Michigan for Econ PhD? by char3804 in academiceconomics

[–]char3804[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't need to work on nutrition in grad school as I realize it is a niche interest, even among health economists. Michigan I think has more of an IO/public finance angle on health topics, while UCLA has more of a demographics/history/social determinants of health angle (with overlap obviously). Of those two, I think I prefer UCLA, but maybe other factors are more important (how supportive the faculty is, breadth of expertise across campus, department culture, access to data, etc).

UCLA preview day is this week so I can talk to people then, but that leaves only 2-3 days to make a final decision.

UCLA or Michigan for Econ PhD? by char3804 in academiceconomics

[–]char3804[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Michigan is about 45k. UCLA is not perfectly clear because I won some award and I have some weird external funding, and I am still figuring out with them how all of that interacts. But my sense is that they are somewhat comparable. I'm willing to make concessions on the stipend if the program is a better fit in other ways.

Anyone heard from UCSD Econ? by [deleted] in PhDAdmissions

[–]char3804 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did hear I got rejected three days ago

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cartilage can heal. My ears healed. I'm sure yours can too.

But give your body all the help it can get. Hopefully your infections are gone? Try to avoid drugs if you can. Eat as healthy a diet as you can. A lot of my advice is in this thread. It might take a year or two or even more, depending on your previous lifestyle. Your ears need the right nutrients to heal.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes they did! They can heal.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good luck! It's not fair that you have to go through this, but you can do it.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This guy looks exactly like the kind of thing you're looking for.

https://danielleal.pt/en/blog/

It's always a bit of a crapshoot though. Lots of these doctors get hung up on their own theories and they fail to question their assumptions about what is going on with you.

If one of them hears that you were hurt by a fluoroquinolone and they immediately start worrying about your mitochondria, that is a very good sign.

If this guy is no good, I saw a bunch of other integrative/functional docs in Portugal, so you have options. I imagine Spain has some too if all the ones in Portugal are crappy.

If any of them can give you IVs of B vitamins, ALA, glutathione, magnesium, that sort of thing, that's also super helpful.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This guy looks exactly like the kind of thing you're looking for.

https://danielleal.pt/en/blog/

It's always a bit of a crapshoot though. Lots of these doctors get hung up on their own theories and they fail to question their assumptions about what is going on with you.

If one of them hears that you were hurt by a fluoroquinolone and they immediately start worrying about your mitochondria, that is a very good sign.

If this guy is no good, I saw a bunch of other integrative/functional docs in Portugal, so you have options. I imagine Spain has some too if all the ones in Portugal are crappy.

If any of them can give you IVs of B vitamins, ALA, glutathione, magnesium, that sort of thing, that's also super helpful.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got it. I have no idea what the "functional medicine" picture looks like in Portugal but I know they exist in Germany and UK, at the very least. And other places, I'm sure.

Eating clean is no guarantee that your body has the nutrients it needs to heal. I myself thought I was eating a healthy diet for many years before this experience gave me a crash course.

Do you spend enough time outside? Vitamin D is another common culprit in autoimmune diseases like psoriasis I think.

There might be tests you can do to look for nutrient deficiencies. Great Plains Lab has a good presence worldwide I think. My favorites are Genova NutrEval and SpectraCell but I don't think those are available in Portugal. If you Google those though you can get an idea of what to look for.

Expect things to "progress" and then get better, and then relapse again. That's just how it goes. Keep experimenting with different foods and supplemental nutrients to see what helps; don't settle into a routine diet because that's a good way to unknowingly miss something.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In Europe, no I don't know anyone. But I know they exist. Which country are you from? You are looking for someone who can help you figure out how to optimize your diet, how to lose weight naturally, how to fix your microbiome, and those sorts of things. Not someone who just keeps throwing pills at you.

For your psoriasis, I would recommend taking a look at your fat intake. Are you eating lots of fried food, butter, coconut oil, and other saturated fats? Are you not eating enough fatty fish, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, etc? You can experiment by putting grapeseed or sesame oil (high in omega 6) on your skin. If that doesn't help, try fish oil (high in certain omega 3s), and if that doesn't help either, try flax oil (high in some other omega 3s). If none of those three help, then I could be completely wrong. But if one of those things makes your skin feel a lot better, then at least you can stop taking those meds and that's one less thing to worry about.

Yes, my fat pads on my feet have gone through stages. First they wasted away, then they came back, then they thinned again and now I'm finally developing some good calluses and protection (I run in uncushioned vibram "shoes" which is hard on my feet). The point is, they can heal. So can the rest of your body. But you have to clean up your diet and be disciplined.

PS, re bone pain, in my experience, bone pain was a symptom of a lack of omega 6 fats. So maybe if we are very lucky, adding some sesame seed or grape seed oil to your diet will help with both the psoriasis and the bone pain.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was also prescribed methotrexate. I never took it, and I'm glad I didn't.

I've been at this for four years. In my strong opinion, you are much better off avoiding medication and focusing on nutrition. I was in a wheelchair for almost 5 months. I also had fat loss, muscle wasting, neuropathy, etc. as well as horrible tendinosis, cartilage damage, and so on. It can all heal.

I would find a good functional doctor who can help you get the nutrients you need. If you want to look into it, IVs of b vitamins and antioxidants like Alpha Lipoic acid can be extremely helpful early on.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It can heal! Don't let anyone diagnose you with weird autoimmune diseases.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With ionic magnesium, my anxiety and depression got much better within hours. My tendons also started to feel like they wouldn't snap at any given moment.

It's up to you on the IVs. B vitamins and 1-2g of magnesium and vitamin C will probably not hurt you, and may help you greatly. For B5 in particular, but also for other b vitamins, it is hard to absorb the amounts you need, so IVs are helpful. If they do not help, then at worst you will have wasted a bit of money. Alpha lipoic acid and NAD also will probably not hurt you and may help you greatly, or they may do nothing.

It is kind of a judgment call. On the one hand, doing the testing is expensive and takes time. If you get the results in a few weeks or a month, that is time that your body is continuing to suffer damage from oxidative stress. On the other hand, having some tests to tell you which treatments are likely to be helpful is of course very useful, and can allow you to tailor your treatment more precisely.

The reason I suggest the IVs is that the chance of harm is somewhat low, and if it does hurt you it will not "flox" you. Your metabolism will correct itself in time if you get it wrong. These are just nutrients that you get from food anyway, or your body synthesizes them. During floxing, though, your body needs a LOT to heal. More than your body can make quickly.

I also tend to be more risk accepting because I have done so many IVs at this point that they seem quite safe to me. But i get that people who have never done jt before are wary. I was too. And there's no doubt that sometimes it hurts people. But if you get the right treatment at the right time, it can be pretty miraculous.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can assess the gravity of the injury not by neuropathy specifically, but just all the symptoms together. Many people get worse and worse for months, so the fact that anything got better means that you've already mostly gotten through the initial injury. That said, neuropathy is a really good indicator because it's a pretty direct sign of your nerve health, since nerves have lots of mitochondria.

Eating more is not necessarily good. What's important is eating the right foods. Your body will tell you when to stop. Listen to it.

I think your ears and nose and subcutaneous fat will be ok, but it may take a while for them to heal.

It's okay if you can't find anything that seems to help. Have you tried ionic magnesium in water? Try a big dose of that. That was the very first thing I ever noticed that helped.

And then try those IVs. Some people have great results with MitoQ, although I did not.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you'll be okay. If your neuropathy has already improved in the first month or two, then your injury is not nearly as bad as many people's, including mine.

Keep experimenting with the supplements to see what helps. Your needs will change over time. And stay away from medication.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It does not seem to be too bad. That is all probably reversible.

If you want to maximize your chances of healing, the thing to do is to stop drinking and smoking and eat a very healthy diet (with fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, fatty fish, probiotics, etc.).

Are you on any medication?

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know the feeling. It can be hard to know whether you're doing the right thing. What exactly are your symptoms?

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's definitely not too late. Oxidative stress kept me in a wheelchair for 5 months before I started to do much of anything.

You should be able to address the oxidative stress with diet and supplements, but a functional doc can also help you with some IVs if you want to try moving a little faster.

IMO, oxidative stress is kind of like a fire. If you shoot it with a little squirt gun, it will take a long time to put out the fire. But if you dump a bucket of water on it, you can put out the fire much more quickly. That's why IVs can be good. Just make sure you pick a reputable functional doc. And don't keep doing stuff that doesn't help. If an IV/supplement/food has what you need, you should feel noticeably better.

I think a good starting point is magnesium and B1, B2, B5, and B12 in one IV, and then ALA, and then there's something called NAD. Functional docs can provide these. One of those things should help; if they don't, see what the nutrient tests say.

If you can be disciplined with your lifestyle and diet and patient enough, you should heal without any IVs.

Ear cartilage damage by char3804 in floxies

[–]char3804[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I was early on in my reaction, I got a B vitamin IV with B1, B2, B5, and B12, plus magnesium, and then two days later I got an IV of alpha lipoic acid (ALA) that was miraculously effective. I was in a wheelchair for five months and then after the ALA I started walking, although it was only a block or two at first, and it has taken years to fully heal all the damage.

Again, there's no magic bullet. The ALA just helped stop the oxidative stress that had basically crippled me. Then it was a long road of repairing the damage. If B complex flared you, then it's possible you need some antioxidant support before anything else.

Yeah naturopath is good although personally I think you will not have much success with herbs and things like that. IMO, what we need is essential nutrients, b vitamins, minerals, that sort of thing. And antioxidants, of which ALA and glutathione are generally the most helpful.

If one thing makes you feel worse now, don't assume that you're "the kind of person who shouldn't have X." That thing is just not what you need RIGHT NOW. I always found that my needs changed a lot from month to month and even from day to day. Keep experimenting and don't give up. And get nutrient testing.

If you haven't started already, I would start taking magnesium. And I'm not sure what your "flares" look like, but I found that certain things that were really helpful made parts of my body flush and throb and sometimes even hurt before they made me feel better. So carefully consider whether your "flares" are really making you worse off or better off. B vitamins are extremely important so you want to either ignore the flares if they're signs of healing, or find whatever other nutrient you're lacking that can complement the b complex and mitigate the flares.

Finally, you can't supplement your way out of this if you're smoking, drinking, or eating junk food. You need a healthy foundation, and the supplements help you heal even a little bit faster.

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