Low Toxin Logs Let's talk about poop

[Don]

It sure does. I am into this detox about 2 years now and know all the symptoms for me that come along with copper toxicity. And without a doubt copper toxicity is what causes my LPR. Any time I push on copper my LPR flares up. I can feel the electrical sensation that fires off the LPR, its almost like electricity running up a line. Then sometimes that sensation will fan out into my arms/legs. When my copper is calm, I barely have the LPF. These days I push copper pretty hard so I just deal with it. I was not able to push copper at all in the beginning, it would fry me. Now, I am able to push pretty hard. It's slowly but surely leaving.

This is awesome to hear.

 

[L_C]

Wowsers, you are on the fast track detox. The green is a great sign and signs of bile and also possibly copper detoxing. Diarrhea shows high bile output. So yeh, you are definitely detoxing at an accelerated rate at this moment. This is a great sign.

You can bring in charcoal and other binders like soluble fiber to help soak up the extra bile.

Yes pale yellow is a sign of "vitamin A" detoxing. I had a round of this with the last solar storms but am back to dark brown now. And yes different colors mean different toxins leaving.

Wouldn't you end up with more gray hair while on low copper diet?

 

[charlie]

Wouldn't you end up with more gray hair while on low copper diet?

Copper toxicity causes gray hair. Those in the low toxin groups are seeing their gray hair return to its natural color.

 

[lilrawhoney]

No worries. Your weight will sort itself out when your liver fires up.

The bile is flowing.

Incredible.

It's an amazing sign. Your two year old's liver is firing up. Beautiful.

Looking good!

The "cowboy" diet of beef, beans and bread is the healthiest diet on the planet. The "anti nutrient" mumbo jumbo does not concern me at all.

Thanks, Charlie! Reading this today has me feeling very hopeful. He had three, dark green bowel movements today, two of them were HUGE. My husband also commented that he has had a more *aware* look in his eyes. Tomorrow we are going to try adding in beans too.

 

[charlie]

He had three, dark green bowel movements today, two of them were HUGE.

Ooooh yeeeh. Me and my brother call it the "logs for life" club. The poo's get so huge when the bile is flowing properly.

My husband also commented that he has had a more *aware* look in his eyes.

This is so wonderful!!!!

 

[lilrawhoney]

Ooooh yeeeh. Me and my brother call it the "logs for life" club. The poo's get so huge when the bile is flowing properly.

This is so wonderful!!!!

I hope to reach that point as well Have you ever heard the infamous Reddit “poop knife” story? Google it, if not. That’s what I’m striving for, for my family lol

 

[BRENBAIL]

@taralynne Finally, someone who is in the same boat! I've been suspicious for awhile that my thyroid medication is what's causing my slowed metabolism. I am on a T4/T3 compounded prescription too (It's not Armour or Nature-throid, or any of the more 'natural' forms). I wonder if it's clogging my liver. I have had a conversion problem from T4 to T3, but I know now that 80% of the conversion happens in the liver, so that's what I'm trying to heal. I convinced my endocrinologist to help me wean off of the T3 portion of my medication and I was going to switch to Levothyroixine, but when I saw all the crappy fillers, I was disgusted and just chose to keep on buying the more expensive compounded version and have him wean me every 6-8 weeks. But then in Nov. 2023 I decided to just taper it down myself, going down by 6% every 6 weeks. I've been successful so far, albeit a little bumpy ride the first week or so of weaning to the next dose. My labs actually look better, and today my body temp was up to 98.0! I never saw that in all my years being on the highest dose of thyroid (at least since 2004 when I started checking body temps). I know mineral supplementation has a lot to do with it. I'm hoping as I cleanse the liver, that symptoms improve, metabolism increases, and the weight just comes off. I know I am not overeating! Today was: oatmeal, banana, tuna on homemade GF sourdough bread, brown rice pasta & homemade kidney beans (presoaked for 48 hours with changing the water, then cooking for about 6 hours). (I know tuna may not be on the good list, but it's Lent and a Friday....not sure what else to have now that eggs & dairy proteins are gone). Although today I feel more fluid retentive, and I have heartburn. My lower back is achy too, like it's going to give out (again). Must be detoxing *but I guess that's a good thing?

I would love it if you can post more about your journey too on weaning from your thyroid medication. I don't feel so alone anymore! I'll try to keep my posts up too.

 

[BRENBAIL]

@htuoyabc

 

[BRENBAIL]

@taralynne I've been gluten free for 17 years and very strict about it as I get tons of symptoms otherwise. Not worth having it.
For years I've also been low carb as it seemed I was very carb sensitive, gaining weight very easily. That meant a high fat, Weston-A-Price diet model with lots of veggies.
Since the new year, I've been slowly adding more GF carbs and going as low in fat as possible. Now I'm about 95% low toxin diet, eating rice, homemade GF sourdough bread, beans, GF sprouted oats, meat, apples (not peeled, I'm running out the door grabbing an apple to prevent the hungry horrors & lost lives), fresh pineapple. Trying to find more pale colored veggies like parsnips, rutabaga, peeled cucumbers, peeled zucchini. I'm nervous I'll get bored on this diet, or that my hectic lifestyle will get in the way of extra cooking, preparing, etc. (any easy recipes would be appreciated if they could be added to the topic 'low toxin recipes' thread!)

 

[BRENBAIL]

@charlie is LPR silent reflux? If so, I have that too. Right now though my reflux is NOT silent. I'm chronically congested in the throat and have been trying to find remedies for it. It's copper toxicity?? Well, I hope then my poops stay green for awhile so I can flush them out!

 

[Don]

@charlie is LPR silent reflux? If so, I have that too. Right now though my reflux is NOT silent. I'm chronically congested in the throat and have been trying to find remedies for it. It's copper toxicity?? Well, I hope then my poops stay green for awhile so I can flush them out!

Ye LPR is silent reflux

 

[taralynne]

How much salt are people struggling with weight eating? I wonder if it's water retention. I managed to get in some jeans (Just) that didn't fit well at all 3 months ago. I have been taking extra potassium chloride and coconut water.

I couldn't say exactly how much salt I use but I definitely increased it when I found RP- started salting all my liquids and adding extra salt to meals. The extra salt has helped me to not have to be in the bathroom 20 times a day or multiple times per night so I think the extra salt has been helpful. I have experimented with increasing and decreasing salt with no change in water retention, unfortunately. After I started to follow a low A diet, I added in potassium- I now do the 50/50 salt and also take extra cream of tarter and it hasn't helped at all. It may be helping other things, IDK, but it has not helped reduce water retention for me. In addition to the extra weight I have chronic water retention which does not go away no matter what I do. I'm down to a few theories on the cause- either its the thyroid meds and/or the carbs which I probably still am not able to handle well even after several years of coming off low carb paleo and AIP. Some things make the water retention and bloating worse- fresh fruit, dried fruit, too much dark chocolate, beans, some vegetables, juice but even when I don't eat those things the underlying inflammation never goes away.

 

[taralynne]

No worries. Your weight will sort itself out when your liver fires up.

Thanks Charlie, I'm trying to be patient but its hard sometimes :)

 

[Peater]

I couldn't say exactly how much salt I use but I definitely increased it when I found RP- started salting all my liquids and adding extra salt to meals. The extra salt has helped me to not have to be in the bathroom 20 times a day or multiple times per night so I think the extra salt has been helpful. I have experimented with increasing and decreasing salt with no change in water retention, unfortunately. After I started to follow a low A diet, I added in potassium- I now do the 50/50 salt and also take extra cream of tarter and it hasn't helped at all. It may be helping other things, IDK, but it has not helped reduce water retention for me. In addition to the extra weight I have chronic water retention which does not go away no matter what I do. I'm down to a few theories on the cause- either its the thyroid meds and/or the carbs which I probably still am not able to handle well even after several years of coming off low carb paleo and AIP. Some things make the water retention and bloating worse- fresh fruit, dried fruit, too much dark chocolate, beans, some vegetables, juice but even when I don't eat those things the underlying inflammation never goes away.

Thanks for the detailed reply, it sounds like you've tried a few sensible things. Are they synthetic thyroid meds?

 

[taralynne]

USER=9741]@taralynne[/USER] Finally, someone who is in the same boat! I've been suspicious for awhile that my thyroid medication is what's causing my slowed metabolism. I am on a T4/T3 compounded prescription too (It's not Armour or Nature-throid, or any of the more 'natural' forms). I wonder if it's clogging my liver. I have had a conversion problem from T4 to T3, but I know now that 80% of the conversion happens in the liver, so that's what I'm trying to heal. I convinced my endocrinologist to help me wean off of the T3 portion of my medication and I was going to switch to Levothyroixine, but when I saw all the crappy fillers, I was disgusted and just chose to keep on buying the more expensive compounded version and have him wean me every 6-8 weeks. But then in Nov. 2023 I decided to just taper it down myself, going down by 6% every 6 weeks. I've been successful so far, albeit a little bumpy ride the first week or so of weaning to the next dose. My labs actually look better, and today my body temp was up to 98.0! I never saw that in all my years being on the highest dose of thyroid (at least since 2004 when I started checking body temps). I know mineral supplementation has a lot to do with it. I'm hoping as I cleanse the liver, that symptoms improve, metabolism increases, and the weight just comes off. I know I am not overeating! Today was: oatmeal, banana, tuna on homemade GF sourdough bread, brown rice pasta & homemade kidney beans (presoaked for 48 hours with changing the water, then cooking for about 6 hours). (I know tuna may not be on the good list, but it's Lent and a Friday....not sure what else to have now that eggs & dairy proteins are gone). Although today I feel more fluid retentive, and I have heartburn. My lower back is achy too, like it's going to give out (again). Must be detoxing *but I guess that's a good thing?

I would love it if you can post more about your journey too on weaning from your thyroid medication. I don't feel so alone anymore! I'll try to keep my posts up too.

That's great to hear that your temp is coming up. Its funny because a common symptom with hypothyroidism is low body temp but thyroid meds never increased my temps either. My temps have slowly come up; though, after being on a modified low A diet for the last year and a half or so. My morning temp prior to the low A journey was typically 97.7. It typically dropped after breakfast & I would usually be in the 97's throughout the day. Now I typically wake up at 97.8, my temp almost always rises after breakfast- usually somewhere between 98 - 98.5 and stays in the 98's throughout the day though it fluctuates up and down which I assume is due to poor blood sugar control though I'm not entirely sure.

I maxed out at 200 mcg/day in thyroid meds. For awhile I just did T3 and then I switched to 150 mcg T3 and 50 mcg T4 (levothyroxine). Maybe a year before going low A, I decided I wanted to start coming off of thyroid because as far as I could tell, it wasn't doing anything for me. I only went on it to try and reverse the weight gain that happened after I started to eat pro metabolically. I never lost any weight and only gained more. I decreased the T3 a little too quickly down to 6.25 mcg threes times/day and stayed with the 50 mcg T4 and gained a little more weight. This was prior to going low A and I'm not sure if the weight gain was related to the decrease in meds or if it was related to dietary changes as I was always trying to alter my eating in different ways to try to lose weight. Anyway, I was disheartened by the additional weight and kept the dosages the same for quite a while. Then in December of last year, I thought I really need to try again as nothing else was helping the water retention and I read of a few people going off their thyroid meds and resolving their water retention issues so I have been on a very slow taper of the T4. I am now down from 50 mcg in December to 12.5 mcg 3xwk. I will stay here for 2 weeks and then stop the T4 altogether. I am still taking the 6.25 mcg of T3 3xday and I will taper off of that once I'm completely off the T4. I don't know if it is the slow taper or something else but I have not gained any weight since lowering the T4 so I am really happy about that. My temps also have not dropped so I think that is a good sign too. Another good thing is that my thyroid antibodies have been greater than 900 since 2015 and the last time I had blood work done in September they were down to 696 which to me means that the lower A diet is working for me. Thyroid meds never reduced my antibodies. I still have a long way to go but its progress!

I know what you mean about the struggles to eat well when you're busy and also if you have a family that doesn't want to eat such a limited diet or if you want to have any kind of a social life. I struggle with all those things so I don't follow a super strict diet; otherwise, I think I'd completely fail. You do the best that you can and keep moving forward.

Do you have a recipe that you could share for GF sourdough? I would love to add that to my diet if possible.

Yes, I would love to hear how your progress with getting off thyroid! I hope things continue to improve.

 

[taralynne]

@taralynne I've been gluten free for 17 years and very strict about it as I get tons of symptoms otherwise. Not worth having it.
For years I've also been low carb as it seemed I was very carb sensitive, gaining weight very easily. That meant a high fat, Weston-A-Price diet model with lots of veggies.
Since the new year, I've been slowly adding more GF carbs and going as low in fat as possible. Now I'm about 95% low toxin diet, eating rice, homemade GF sourdough bread, beans, GF sprouted oats, meat, apples (not peeled, I'm running out the door grabbing an apple to prevent the hungry horrors & lost lives), fresh pineapple. Trying to find more pale colored veggies like parsnips, rutabaga, peeled cucumbers, peeled zucchini. I'm nervous I'll get bored on this diet, or that my hectic lifestyle will get in the way of extra cooking, preparing, etc. (any easy recipes would be appreciated if they could be added to the topic 'low toxin recipes' thread!)

What are your symptoms from eating gluten? I went GF for several years after being diagnosed with hashimoto's but then became more lax about it in the last few years for various reasons. I had been thinking that the gluten could be contributing to the water retention & extra weight so I gave it up again recently for 3 months and did not notice improvement any improvements. Maybe it wasn't a long enough period of time to really judge. I caved last weekend when I was meeting up with extended family for dinner who wanted pizza and I noticed absolutely nothing after eating it. No bloating, no digestive issues. No increase in water retention. I know some people have reported a return of being able to tolerate gluten after following a low A diet for a period of time and I wonder if that is the case or if I should try to keep it out of my diet.

Your diet looks great. I agree it hard to be strict especially when there are competing priorities with food being just one of them. Dr. Smith doesn't peel his apples either so I wouldn't worry about that, Better to eat and keep everyone around you safe, lol!

 

[BRENBAIL]

That's great to hear that your temp is coming up. Its funny because a common symptom with hypothyroidism is low body temp but thyroid meds never increased my temps either. My temps have slowly come up; though, after being on a modified low A diet for the last year and a half or so. My morning temp prior to the low A journey was typically 97.7. It typically dropped after breakfast & I would usually be in the 97's throughout the day. Now I typically wake up at 97.8, my temp almost always rises after breakfast- usually somewhere between 98 - 98.5 and stays in the 98's throughout the day though it fluctuates up and down which I assume is due to poor blood sugar control though I'm not entirely sure.

I maxed out at 200 mcg/day in thyroid meds. For awhile I just did T3 and then I switched to 150 mcg T3 and 50 mcg T4 (levothyroxine). Maybe a year before going low A, I decided I wanted to start coming off of thyroid because as far as I could tell, it wasn't doing anything for me. I only went on it to try and reverse the weight gain that happened after I started to eat pro metabolically. I never lost any weight and only gained more. I decreased the T3 a little too quickly down to 6.25 mcg threes times/day and stayed with the 50 mcg T4 and gained a little more weight. This was prior to going low A and I'm not sure if the weight gain was related to the decrease in meds or if it was related to dietary changes as I was always trying to alter my eating in different ways to try to lose weight. Anyway, I was disheartened by the additional weight and kept the dosages the same for quite a while. Then in December of last year, I thought I really need to try again as nothing else was helping the water retention and I read of a few people going off their thyroid meds and resolving their water retention issues so I have been on a very slow taper of the T4. I am now down from 50 mcg in December to 12.5 mcg 3xwk. I will stay here for 2 weeks and then stop the T4 altogether. I am still taking the 6.25 mcg of T3 3xday and I will taper off of that once I'm completely off the T4. I don't know if it is the slow taper or something else but I have not gained any weight since lowering the T4 so I am really happy about that. My temps also have not dropped so I think that is a good sign too. Another good thing is that my thyroid antibodies have been greater than 900 since 2015 and the last time I had blood work done in September they were down to 696 which to me means that the lower A diet is working for me. Thyroid meds never reduced my antibodies. I still have a long way to go but its progress!

I know what you mean about the struggles to eat well when you're busy and also if you have a family that doesn't want to eat such a limited diet or if you want to have any kind of a social life. I struggle with all those things so I don't follow a super strict diet; otherwise, I think I'd completely fail. You do the best that you can and keep moving forward.

Do you have a recipe that you could share for GF sourdough? I would love to add that to my diet if possible.

Yes, I would love to hear how your progress with getting off thyroid! I hope things continue to improve.

Yup, I have Hashimoto's too. My antibodies were in the 500's. Since going GF 17 yrs ago and maybe with other therapies throughout the years my antibodies are now in the 60's. At least scientifically, being on selenium and iodine seemed to help as well as going GF. There's controversy as to how long one needs to completely avoid gluten, but we do know that there are gluten receptors on the thyroid, so if you are reacting to gluten it could be causing that auto-immune reaction. Even small cheats here and there can set it off. One doesn't have to have GI problems to have a gluten intolerance or celiac disease (celiac runs in my family, and stool testing for me showed antibodies to gluten). When I do have it, I do get GI symptoms, headaches, joint pain, other hormonal imbalances (I did have severe PCOS as a teen and young adult. Going gluten free fixed about 80% of my hormonal problems, that I know).
The weight issue is extremely aggravating, draining, and frustrating. I shouldn't have to starve to even just maintaint weight. I truly feel that God did not mean for us to be overweight, nor have to starve the body constantly to keep at a 'healthier weight' (how ironic!). There needs to be a key to unlock the metabolism, and I've been on the hunt for that key most of my life, suffering through an eating disorder in my 20's as the extreme case. I've made my peace with myself and with food, but there is still an appropriate level of health for the body, and that is giving it the proper nutrition (so not constantly on starvation diets) and at the same time maintaining proper body weight. I'm not looking for super-model body (geeze, I'm in menopause now!), but there is an appropriate weight for my height/age/weight and I can tell that it's not just water weight (although that's not healthy either), and I shouldn't be just storing.
The GF sourdough bread was posted in the 'low toxin recipes' page. I really like it!

 

[taralynne]

Yup, I have Hashimoto's too. My antibodies were in the 500's. Since going GF 17 yrs ago and maybe with other therapies throughout the years my antibodies are now in the 60's. At least scientifically, being on selenium and iodine seemed to help as well as going GF. There's controversy as to how long one needs to completely avoid gluten, but we do know that there are gluten receptors on the thyroid, so if you are reacting to gluten it could be causing that auto-immune reaction. Even small cheats here and there can set it off. One doesn't have to have GI problems to have a gluten intolerance or celiac disease (celiac runs in my family, and stool testing for me showed antibodies to gluten). When I do have it, I do get GI symptoms, headaches, joint pain, other hormonal imbalances (I did have severe PCOS as a teen and young adult. Going gluten free fixed about 80% of my hormonal problems, that I know).
The weight issue is extremely aggravating, draining, and frustrating. I shouldn't have to starve to even just maintaint weight. I truly feel that God did not mean for us to be overweight, nor have to starve the body constantly to keep at a 'healthier weight' (how ironic!). There needs to be a key to unlock the metabolism, and I've been on the hunt for that key most of my life, suffering through an eating disorder in my 20's as the extreme case. I've made my peace with myself and with food, but there is still an appropriate level of health for the body, and that is giving it the proper nutrition (so not constantly on starvation diets) and at the same time maintaining proper body weight. I'm not looking for super-model body (geeze, I'm in menopause now!), but there is an appropriate weight for my height/age/weight and I can tell that it's not just water weight (although that's not healthy either), and I shouldn't be just storing.
The GF sourdough bread was posted in the 'low toxin recipes' page. I really like it!

It sounds like being GF makes a huge difference for you. My thyroid antibodies were greater than 900 all during the years that I was strictly GF. When they were tested several months ago and had dropped, I had been intermittently eating gluten again which surprised me. I still think its probably best not to eat it regularly but if I could have some more variety in my diet it would be really nice.

I agree that we should not have to starve in order to maintain a healthy weight. I'm 53 and I also don't care about being really skinny. I just want to feel comfortable in my skin and not get stressed every time I get dressed. I definitely think my metabolism is sluggish due to my intermittent dieting history but there is also more to it than just CICO because I have tried reducing calories over the last few years with no change in weight. I have also tried increasing carbs and eating very low fat which also did not help. I think it may just come down to liver health and hopefully with patience, I'll get to where I want to be. Hoping the same for you... I'll check out the recipe page for the sourdough, thanks so much!

 

[BRENBAIL]

Back to the crappy subject, poops are still green, still not formed, and it seems that I'm just 'spitting' poop out (I don't trust farts, if you know what I mean). Is this still normal? I'm going like this about 3x/day or even more. I'm drinking more than 80oz of RO mineral water daily & about 1-2 cups of coconut water (for the potassium). I've increased my acacia fiber to 1 tbsp 2x/day in hopes that my stools will at least be a little more formed, but not happening right now. It's not too bothersome, as I'm not experiencing bloating or gas. Just making sure this is still part of the process of detoxing.
Good news is that I could never tolerate beans/legumes in the past. I'm having them everyday now and no more bloating/severe GI cramps. I love this! I hope lentils are OK because I made a big pot of lentil soup and that's what I'm eating for lunches every day.

 

[youngsinatra]

Fiber can help to create more bulk to your stool. Oats for example. Or beans.