Phase 4, week 6 treatment

I tried to split this post into three sections- insights from the last week, background, and a summary of each day. If you are a friend or family member, I’d recommend sticking with the background and insights. If you’re someone who is having digestive issues, or is wondering what treatment might be like, I’d recommend reading everything.

This post is for informational purposes only and is not intended to treat or diagnose anyone. Go see a doctor for diagnosis and treatment.

Also, my brain fog is pretty intense at times. I try to make sure what I write is correct, but I may get things wrong from time to time.

Insights from the last week:

This week has been rough. After coming off the Metronidazole, I started sleeping much better. After a few days, I ended up with thrush, then after a few days I ended up with a yeast infection. The days in between the Metronidazole and the Fluconazole (anti fungal pill) were pretty good! When I took the anti fungal, I started not sleeping again, and have felt pretty awful since then. It’s hard to have weeks that vary so much. 

I must be sensitive to prescription drugs- 3 out of 4 of them caused me to sleep very little. I have found with having adrenal fatigue that when I don’t sleep, my capacity to do anything diminishes vastly. I have found it very hard to function, let alone to make and eat food that sticks to my diet. I will be advising my doctor that I will need to go the herbal route from here on out. I don’t think I can successfully do a treatment  (or anything else, for that matter) if I’m not sleeping.

Background:

This particular bout of health issues flared in 2015. My job had become extremely stressful and travel intensive, in conjunction with some major life changes: moving in with my boyfriend, becoming a Christian, getting married 2 weeks after being proposed to, becoming a step parent, then planning a wedding reception for the following summer.

 In 2016, I was finding I could no longer work full days, and my hair was falling out. When I felt that work was finally slow enough to go to the doctor, I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue and told to take a month off of work to rest. HA! It didn’t seem possible at that point. However, I did take 2 weeks off then go back at half time in May of 2016. Over the summer I was able to do less and less, and I finally ended up quitting my job in October 2016.

Between October 2016 and June 2018 I had the opportunity to learn how to rest and was able to work on a treatment plan for adrenal fatigue. I was feeling like I was making good progress in the first 3-4 months of 2018. Looking back now, I can see where I was sliding back a bit in April and May. In June, I experienced an extreme energy crash that left me looking for answers, since I didn’t think I had done anything significantly different than I had previously. In the beginning of July 2018, I went and saw a functional medicine doctor who ran a bunch of tests up front to figure out what other things might be wrong with me.

As mentioned in my post about the results from the last visit, my test results show that I have a yeast overgrowth, a parasite, SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), and gut dysbiosis.
Previous test results indicated I have low stomach acid, nutritional deficiencies, and hormone imbalances with the adrenal glands, ovaries, and thyroid.

I have been on supplements for the hormone imbalances (previously diagnosed as adrenal fatigue) for a while. They started with my previous doctor. The new doctor is continuing to work on those issues, but with different supplements.

I started the sixth week of my 4 phase, 10 week treatment plan on October 8th, 2018. Phase 1 worked on the yeast, phase 2 worked on SIBO, phase 3 worked on SIBO and the parasite, and phase 4 will continue with the SIBO. The supplements for everything else will continue through the whole treatment period. This week is all phase 4.

I currently take 12 different supplements throughout the day. Two are a phase specific treatment pill. Three are for the hormone imbalances, 3 are for nutritional deficiencies, and 4 are for digestive support.

Day 36

Yesterday I started the herbal pills- Olivirex and Berberine. I honestly couldn’t remember why the doctor had me on them, so I had to do some research.

The Olivirex seems to be an herbal antibiotic, and has some other benefits. As I was looking around, it seems like several people mentioned they were taking if for leaky gut and lyme disease. 

Berberine appears to do a bunch of things, but my guess is my doctor has me on it due to it’s lab tested ability to help normalize gut bacteria. It also looks like it may help with blood sugar issues. Since I have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), I’m wondering if Berberine will also help with my hormonal issues. 

With my treatment plan, I’m to only take Olivirex once a day (with breakfast), and Berberine twice a day (with breakfast and dinner).

I haven’t noticed lightheadedness or feeling hot with the new pills like I did yesterday. I am, however, experiencing air hunger. The air hunger isn’t as bad as yesterday, though.

I did have a bowel movement again this morning after not having one for a few days. I ate way more yesterday than the last few days, so I’m thinking that helped.  I still wasn’t hungry much this morning, so wondering if the new pills will also affect my appetite, or if it will take a few days for my body to process through the last of the metronidazole.

Later in the afternoon, as I was driving the kid around, I was noticing that my tounge felt kind of dry and weird. Once I finally was at a red light, I looked in the mirror and saw my tounge had a white coating. I assumed at that point it was oral thrush (yeast) since I had read that many people end up with some type of yeast infection after taking metronidazole.

By the time I got home, the doctors office was closed, so I’ll have to call them tomorrow to ask what to do. While it sounds like the new pills may help with the condition, I’m not taking them as frequently.

I did try swishing with salt water a few times before bed to help with the thrush.

Day 37

I finally slept normally last night! Praise Jesus!

I also had a normal bowel movement this morning. It seems like being of the metronidazole is helping my body return to normal.

I found out about a week ago that I needed to do another hormone test, so I ended up doing that this morning. It’s a home test where you need to spit in a tube within 30 minutes of waking. It’s definitely one of the easier home tests to collect!

I called the doctor’s office about thrush today, but the doctors were out, so they said they’d call me with instructions on what to do tomorrow. In the mean time, I made a paste of baking soda, Himalayan salt, coconut oil, and tea tress essential oil that I used to brush my tounge. I got the idea to do it after reading about a few home remedies for thrush. Each of the elements of my paste was mentioned as individual remedies, so I figured maybe mixing them together would work?

Day 38

I slept well again last night! So excited to be off the antibiotics!

I was talking to a friend of mine about sleeping today, and I realized that while I had trouble falling and staying asleep, I was extra sensitive to noises. I’m a fairly light sleeper anyway, but something about the antibiotics made me an extra light sleeper. I am really only noticing the difference in sleeping now that I’m sleeping normally again.

My tongue didn’t look as white as yesterday, so it seems like my thrush paste is working to some degree. I didn’t hear back from the doctor today, so I used the thrush paste I made three times today. At some point in the afternoon, I also put some plain yogurt in my mouth and held it there for several minutes. It was another thing I had read about to help with thrush.

Day 39

I had to wake up early this morning to take my daughter to school. My husband normally gets morning duty, but he went on a hunting trip so it’s my job for a few days.

I actually felt fairly decent after dropping the kid off, so I looked to see if there was a 

gym class that was interesting. I ended up going to an hour long Zumba class, and I actually did alright! I ran about an hour of errands afterwards and was still feeling pretty good.

I STILL hadn’t heard from the doctor by lunch time, so I called around 1pm. Besides the thrush, I also noticed I was on the front end of a vaginal yeast infection.  One of the doctors was in, and they prescribed me two Fluconazole tablets. I was instructed to take one today, and I can take another pill in a few days if the yeast infections don’t clear up.

I started to feel pretty fatigued around 3pm. Unfortunately, I had volunteered to do concessions at my daughters school that night since I would have to pick her up later in the evening. I figured I could be tired at home or be tired doing concessions. It was a pretty easy job, but I did have to stay upright.

I wanted to wait to take the Fluconazole pill until I got home since I wasn’t sure how I’d react to it. I ended up taking it around 9pm. I was pretty exhausted at that point, so I went to bed right away.

Day 40

I slept horribly. I was awake for no apparent reason between about 3-5 am. I was then able to go back to sleep for a bit before I was woken up by my daughter banging around. I was actually able to go to sleep for a bit before my alarm went off. I did not want to get up, but I had to take her to school again this morning.

I came home, made breakfast, and sat on the couch for quite a while. I finally went upstairs and napped for a few hours. I was still tired after the nap, but I needed to get up because I had an appointment later in the afternoon.

I have not felt good all day. I’m going to try and find some other things to help with the candida because I would REALLY like to avoid taking the second Fluconazole pill. Given how well I had slept the last few nights, I’m assuming my horrible night of sleep and feeling badly all day is a result of the medication.

Day 41 & 42

While I slept well both nights, I slept for a long time a felt fatigued all day. On Sunday (Day 42) I felt particularly horrible after church-I felt feverish and sick.