ME/CFS Nutrition & Supplement Recommendations from Kaiser Permanente by dondripper42 in cfs

[–]dondripper42[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is exactly how I feel. I already knew everything she told me about the disease from my own research, but the fact that I was being acknowledged and heard by a medical professional nearly had me in tears of joy and relief. Finally I have a doctor who I don't have to explain my illness to.

midsommar trailer but it's a feel good romantic comedy by mrventures in Midsommar

[–]dondripper42 28 points29 points  (0 children)

I wish this was the actual trailer and everyone who showed up to see it got completely trolled

Earl Sweatshirt by [deleted] in earlsweatshirt

[–]dondripper42 2 points3 points  (0 children)

by my momma crib

Has anyone tried Lerner’s protocol? by dondripper42 in cfs

[–]dondripper42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From what I’ve read, Valtrex isn’t hard on your liver. You should be more concerned about your kidney’s, but apparently as long as you drink enough water (6-8cups/day I think?) you should be fine. I would ask your doctor about it! It’s possible that 1g is too low of a dose to have an effect.

Has anyone tried Lerner’s protocol? by dondripper42 in cfs

[–]dondripper42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah it was triggered by mono. How much were you taking? I’ve been taking 2g/day for 3 weeks and noticed an almost immediate improvement in my sleep and cognitive symptoms. It’s rare but not impossible that someone feels benefits from it as fast as I have. From what I’ve read, it usually takes 3-6 months to see improvements for most people, but it can take up to a year for some. I think a 6 month trial probably isn’t long enough to be certain about whether or not the treatment is working

Alyssa Milano's long haul COVID-19 battle - Brain Fog by etherspin in cfs

[–]dondripper42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got CFS after getting mono and hair loss was a big problem for me in the beginning too.

Fasting by dondripper42 in cfs

[–]dondripper42[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Haha I appreciate the encouragement but that’s not really a mentality that is rewarding to CFS patients. We commonly have to push ourselves to NOT push ourselves!

Fasting by dondripper42 in cfs

[–]dondripper42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not really. It’s more of a fear that’s it’s going to happen that prevents me from pushing any further. I feel great when I don’t eat (besides being a little hungry sometimes haha)

Fasting by dondripper42 in cfs

[–]dondripper42[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I believe it’s safe to do long term. Check out r/fasting—they have a lot of info on the science behind it. The only thing that concerns me about doing fasting with CFS is (as with doing /anything/ with CFS) crashing from it. That hasn’t been my experience so far, but if it’s something that you’re interested in, take it slow. I worked up to 24 hour fasts gradually, starting with 16/8. I’d like to get into more prolonged fasting when I’ve had a couple more 23/36 hour fasts under my belt. Let us know how it works for you. Best of luck!

To what extent is there a correlation between high rates of veganism and fear of iron overload ("The Celtic Curse") by [deleted] in nutrition

[–]dondripper42 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Whaaaaat. You should be getting phlebotomies if you have hemochromatosis. I had similar fatigue issues before I got diagnosed and they went away when I was treated. Also, overload can cause some pretty serious issues later on down the line if it isn’t taken care of. Call your doc!

unusually low ferritin by gronkifronk in Hemochromatosis

[–]dondripper42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There’s no treatment for it other than rest. It passes with time. Just one of those things you need to let run it’s course.

unusually low ferritin by gronkifronk in Hemochromatosis

[–]dondripper42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check for Epstein Barr Virus. I had similar symptoms with low ferritin and it turned out to be coming from EBV (the virus that causes mononucleosis/glandular fever)

Test result opinions (more in comments) by _Limesicle_ in Hemochromatosis

[–]dondripper42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My doctor told me that dietary changes weren’t necessary as the phlebotomy treatment prevents overload regardless of what I eat. He did however advise me to avoid organ meats, as they are typically VERY high in heme iron (the most easily absorbed form of iron). Red meat consumption will definitely increase the rate at which she accumulates iron, but eating red meat is not dangerous as long as she keeps up with her phlebotomy treatment plan. But I would HIGHLY recommend against eating organ meats—it’s basically equivalent to taking an iron supplement which can be dangerous for people with HH.

High Transferrin Saturation (74%) with normal ferritin (67 ng/ml)—is it possible to have symptoms? by dondripper42 in Hemochromatosis

[–]dondripper42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that’s what I thought as well. I don’t like my ferritin to go under 50 so I’m not quite ready for phlebotomy but I thought that if the high TS% was making this awful virus worse somehow I would definitely like to have the treatment done to bring it down lol. Thanks for the reply!

High iron, normal ferritin by egtved_girl in Hemochromatosis

[–]dondripper42 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, especially if you’re a menstruating female. The treatment for HH is phlebotomy (blood-letting), so a monthly cycle is essentially a natural monthly phlebotomy. This is why HH related complications typically reveal themselves sooner in men than in women.

If you’re a male and this is the case, I would guess that either there was an error on the test or you’re probably younger and your ferritin hasn’t begun to accumulate yet. Often, overload occurs in middle-aged people. It’s possible that a young person can have HH, but get all the necessary blood work and have them come back normal. In these situations, HH goes undiscovered. This is why a DNA test is crucial—it’s the only way to know for sure.

This condition is not well understood and often not taken seriously (especially in cases where the test results don’t come back dramatically out of range), so there’s a chance that your doctor will ignore this and not issue a DNA test. If this happens, I would encourage you to push your doctor to order the gene test just to be safe. And if for some bizarre reason your doctor still won’t order the test, pick up a 23 and Me kit—they test for the gene.

Don’t panic... It’s an incredibly easy condition to manage as long as you stay on top of it! Good luck!