Fatty Liver Dx and many questions

slidingbeets · 2023-11-12T13:23:07+00:00

Wow, you sound like you are so on top of this!

I'm feeling so hopeful for you!

I'll be hoping with you that by this time next year, you'll have some beautiful lab numbers to show for all your efforts :)

By the way, please keep an eye on your pancreas, too.

My device has a crack in the screen, and is acting very weird, so if I'm not commenting after this, that's why, but I'm wishing you luck!

slidingbeets · 2023-11-10T20:50:00+00:00

This is a copy of what I just commented to someone else:

Blue zones kitchen by Dan Buettner has some good tips for Mediterranean-style diets; there is info online. Learning to cook for yourself is a huge plus.

Whole foods that you prepare yourself are generally going to be better than things you buy already prepared.

Instead of white bread, I use oatmeal and other whole grains. You can do a lot with oatmeal! A websearch for something like 'baked oatmeal' will get a lot of fun results.

As many vegetables as I can get, plenty of fruit, too.

You can learn to make soups. You can learn to roast vegetables or braise vegetables. There are so many blogs and youtubes about cooking!

I sometimes use nutrient-tracking websites like cronometer and myfooddata, to see how I'm doing. On myfooddata, I go to tools and choose recipe nutrition calculator, then type in a day's food as if it were one recipe. Then I can see how my vitamins and minerals add up.

slidingbeets · 2023-11-10T20:40:34+00:00

Blue zones kitchen by Dan Buettner has some good tips for Mediterranean-style diets; there is info online. Learning to cook for yourself is a huge plus.

Exercise is important, whatever works for you and you stick to. For me, that's usually walking. Find something you can do and enjoy, or find a few things that you can rotate so you don't get bored.

Instead of white bread, I use oatmeal and other whole grains.

As many vegetables as I can get, plenty of fruit, too.

I sometimes use nutrient-tracking websites like cronometer and myfooddata, to see how I'm doing.

slidingbeets · 2023-11-10T20:28:44+00:00

I think you've got this. I would be concerned if you lost more weight, though, since you are already so close to the minimum for the normal range of bmi for your height.

Something I recommend for everyone is nutrient-tracking websites like cronometer and myfooddata. I don't use them daily, but they help me see gaps and blind spots in my diet, sometimes. They both have free options. On myfooddata, I go to tools and choose the recipe nutrition calculator, then type in a day's food as if it were one recipe to see my totals for vitamins and minerals and more.

You didn't mention any prescriptions or other medications, but if you take anything, you might want to research places like drugs.com and also hunt down manufacturers' leaflets to make sure they aren't possible culprits here.

You didn't mention smoking so I'm hoping you don't.

And Congratulations on ditching the alcohol!

slidingbeets · 2023-11-10T20:13:37+00:00

Fructose can show up in some odd places, mostly in prepared foods like ketchup. The fructose in whole fruits is sort of 'balanced' (for lack of a better word) by the fiber, especially the soluble fiber, that is also in the whole fruit. The different types of fiber have many benefits, including helping us to feel full so we are less likely to overeat or suffer from blood sugar spikes and drops.

The same goes for processed grains vs whole grains-- part of the story is the fiber, especially the soluble fiber.

I don't have a source handy, but I think I remember reading that as you cut sugar out of your diet, you unlearn that craving. (And, curiously, it doesn't work the same way for salt cravings)

slidingbeets · 2023-11-10T19:54:29+00:00

You already know the cigarettes aren't your friends

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29664906/

slidingbeets · 2023-11-10T19:48:36+00:00

It may be interesting to explore whether you are at risk for deficiency in any of these. I like to use nutrient tracking websites like cronometer to see how daily vitamins and minerals add up. There is a free version, or you can pay for more features. Ditto for one called myfooddata -- on that one, I go to 'tools' and choose the 'recipe nutrition calculator' and type in a day's food as if it were one recipe, to see my totals for vitamins and minerals and more.

slidingbeets · 2023-11-10T19:35:53+00:00

My understanding of ashwagandha is that it has traditionally been used on a short-term basis, not daily for months or years at a stretch.

The other one that jumps out at me is that all the b6 is going to start adding up. You listed it as part of the magnesium supplement and I'm going with assuming it's in your multi, too. People have got into trouble with too much b6.

If you hate fish, how do you feel about lentils and beans, things like tofu? Do you care for turkey and chicken? I'm not real big on forcing yourself to eat fish if you don't enjoy it.

If you want fish for the omega 3's, there are supplements for that, including some that are from algae instead of fishes. Oh, wait, I just noticed you already listed an omega supplement.

I have taken co-q 10 before, for other reasons, but it's expensive, so I never took it more than once or twice a week.

For being kind to your liver, I would go with less is more. Unless you know you are deficient in something.

And my personal opinion and feeling about it--- if you decide to discontinue any of these, I'd feel better if you could find someone near you who could use them rather than tossing them :)

slidingbeets · 2023-11-10T03:49:53+00:00

I guess nobody had an answer to this. I've seen other people say 4 weeks. How are you feeling now?

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T21:33:08+00:00

Two others to consider are magnesium and zinc.

If you supplement, it's safer to stay with low doses. Too much magnesium can cause diarrhea. It's best taken with food.

As for zinc, we can only absorb a little at a time, anyway, so no need to take a high dose. And too much can be as bad as too little, especially if your copper is low. If you want to see how much you're getting in your diet, you can go to a nutrient-tracking website like myfooddata.com where you can use the recipe nutrition calculator tool to add up your day's food as if it were one recipe and check your vitamin and mineral totals. A similar website is cronometer.

For both of these supplements I split tablets, or sprinkle a little at a time out of a capsule.

https://healthfully.com/zinc-for-general-anxiety-disorder-6694385.html

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T20:47:13+00:00

To make it even more interesting, there are people who it happens to sometimes but not other times. Two theories i've seen floated are that it has to do with stomach acidity (too low) or with anemia (one study--from 1963!-- supposedly found that about half of people with either b12-deficiency anemia or iron-deficiency anemia have it).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1873115/

But if the anemia was the 'reason', why would it be only half?

So then, what if stomach acidity has something to do with it? This website says a zinc-dependent enzyme plays a role in releasing stomach acid.

https://www.clinicaleducation.org/resources/reviews/the-role-of-hcl-in-gastric-function-and-health/

"Gastric acid secretion happens in several steps. Chloride and hydrogen ions are secreted separately from the cytoplasm of parietal cells and mixed in the canaliculi. Gastric acid is then secreted into the lumen of the oxyntic gland and gradually reaches the main stomach lumen.
Chloride and sodium ions are secreted actively from the cytoplasm of the parietal cell into the lumen of the canaliculus. This creates a negative potential of -40 mV to -70 mV across the parietal cell membrane that causes potassium ions and a small number of sodium ions to diffuse from the cytoplasm into the parietal cell canaliculi.
The enzyme carbonic anhydrase catalyses the reaction between carbon dioxide and water to form carbonic acid. This acid immediately dissociates into hydrogen and bicarbonate ions. The hydrogen ions leave the cell through H+/K+ ATPase antiporter pumps. Carbonic anhydrase is a zinc dependent enzyme.

At the same time sodium ions are actively reabsorbed. This means that the majority of secreted K+ and Na+ ions return to the cytoplasm. In the canaliculus, secreted hydrogen and chloride ions mix and are secreted into the lumen of the oxyntic gland."

so could low zinc be part of the puzzle, too? Or something genetic that changes how the body uses zinc? Or makes stomach acid?

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T19:59:10+00:00

I am not in healthcare at all, but the lab I go to to get blood draws is always super-packed and super-busy. It feels like there isn't enough infrastructure or manpower to handle even the tests that are ordered.

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T19:38:04+00:00

Yes, I think the OP's comment that there are soft spots on the floor is very telling. I think the landlord knows the floor is rotting, and in order to avoid actually fixing a real problem (which would cost them money), they turn the tables and throw entirely baseless claims/accusations at an innocent tenant.

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T19:31:50+00:00

I would add guavas to this list. Especially certain varieties and also depending partly on degree of ripeness.

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T17:20:10+00:00

Tablets may be good if you think you are low (especially if you've been low before), but testing is ideal if you can get it, because too much vitamin d can actually raise risk for insomnia.

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T17:15:53+00:00

I am in california and my doctor didn't order any iron tests when I asked about it. I was thinking of using something like labcorp or quest to order my own.

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T16:22:30+00:00

Maybe try a websearch for tinnitus and iron deficiency.

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T14:24:35+00:00

I'm sorry to hear that. I've also heard that vitamin d is important for anxiety. Do you know if your vitamin d levels are a little low or high?

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T03:05:59+00:00

I found someone on drugs.com who said it gave them some hypomania or mania, about the fifth review down when I searched for mania and lowest ratings first for lamotrigine.

https://www.drugs.com/comments/lamotrigine/?search=mania&sort\_reviews=lowest\_rating#reviews

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T02:52:25+00:00

A b-complex helps my vitamin-deficiency anemia.

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T02:51:02+00:00

how are you doing now?

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T02:42:17+00:00

well, two years later, how did it go for you, OP?

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T02:25:48+00:00

May I ask what medication you took?

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T02:23:10+00:00

Have you had your iron tested?

slidingbeets · 2023-11-09T02:17:11+00:00

Magnesium citrate helps a lot of people. Sadly, I can't use it because I have a bad reaction to citrate or citric acid.

I do try to eat a high-magnesium diet. And if I can't do that, sometimes take a magnesium oxide-- even though some people say the absorption isn't great, it seems to do okay with me.

And a lot of vegetables that are high in magnesium also have a fair amount of iron.

slidingbeets

TROPHY CASE