Lumbo-Sacral/Hip pain, hand eczema, underweight

[EndlessResearch]

I can't stop reading, and can't find all the answers that would apply to me so I am selfishly creating my own thread. First time poster. Pain in my L SI Joint/L Low Back/L Hip caused me to search vastly for answers both structurally and nutritionally. It all led me to Andrew Johnston, who is high in the chain of CHEK practitioners in ATL. He flipped my world upside down with his notions that my kale/veggie smoothies, green juices, nuts and avocados were bad for me. I have come to realize that my prescription from him follows a ***t load of RP knowledge. I CAN"T STOP READING. So here is me in a nutshell. Look I'm in a nutshell…how did I get in this little nutshell…bad Austin Powers quote….anyways

26 years old. 6'4" and only weigh 165 LBS. I eat all day. Pain in L SI/L Low Back/L Hip for 8 isn years. Used to be involved in tons of sports till I started trying to heal myself recently because I can't handle the instability, aches, and stiffness anymore! Used to eat TONS of milk and cereal as a child. Developed horrible hand eczema in my partying years (21-25) while consuming massive amounts of beer/liquor/shitty food on a daily basis. I cut out gluten and dairy and it went away. Since being told dairy is very beneficial, I tried to introduce it back in by consuming goat's milk, raw cheeses, and cottage cheese. The bubbles under my hand began to reappear. My stool is never "hard", and can sometimes not have any "form" to it. Never rancid or unnatural smelling though. I do notice I have cold fingers and toes now that winter has arrived. I get sunshine on my 30 min walks with my dog in the morning. I try to breath diaphragmatically and get about 8 hrs sleep/night. Here is a day of food and supplementation of me.

Water Intake:
60-80 oz/day

Morning:
Banana (I now know these are bad?) mixed berry, Coconut Milk, "Green Can" Gelatin, Unrefined Coconut Oil Smoothie
2 Organic Free Range eggs
2 Local Breakfast Sausage patties
1 Cup Organic Costa Rican Coffee

Snack on Org Popcorn with EVOO and Sea Salt with Dates or dried cranberries and maybe a slice of lunch meat.

Lunch:
Sandwich on gluten free bread with tomato, mayo mustard, ham, turkey, pickles
Or
Leftovers from dinner

Snack on an orange, apple, or pear and eat some Coconut oil and maybe another slice of meat

Dinner:
I roast a whole organic chicken once a week and have that with some sort of potatoes and carrots or something of that nature.
or
Quinoa pasta with ground protein (beef or turkey) with squash, garlic, onions, mushrooms, organic marinara, EVOO, seasonings
or
Tacos with corn tortillas, ground beef or turkey, taco seasoning, squash, onions, garlic with pico de gallo.
or
Something else

Supplements:
1/2 tsp ground eggshells with half lemon squeezed on top and ingested with meal approx. 6 hours later when pasty (any other easier suggestions of doing this would be greatly appreciated)

3 drops of Vit D3/K12 liquid

1 TBSP Great Lakes gelatin


Thoughts on why I might be experiencing the inability to gain weight? How to start eating dairy or if I even should with my obvious problems? Why I might be having all this joint pain/dysfunction and instability? Why my stools do not fit the description of healthy? I just signed up for the intro courses with Paul CHEK so I feel like this stuff is getting me miles ahead of the curve (not to sound conceited but I have never been addicted to reading like I am now!) Thanks and I am happy to be a n00b here! Live long and prosper…pun intended

 

[Dan W]

Welcome, EndlessResearch.

I think we have some similar problems:

1. Do you know whether your pain issues are related to the joints themselves, or to muscle / connective tissue? In my case, pain that I thought was caused by my hips and back was actually tightness / myofascial pain. If your problem is similar, I can share some of the things I've been trying.
2. Regarding the inability to gain weight, you might find that improving your thyroid function (with general Peat stuff and maybe supplemental thyroid) will boost your appetite, letting you eat enough to gain weight. It did in my case.

 

[Mittir]

Ray Peat has mentioned low thyroid and endotoxins as major source of
joint pain. Good thyroid function promotes healthy weight in both direction.
He recommends avoiding or minimizing soluble fiber and starch to lower endotoxin
production. Here is a general guideline to his dietary recommendations.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20
Measuring temperature and pulse 1-2 hours after breakfast gives a good idea
about thyroid function. For blood tests he recommends TSH, Total T4 and Total T3
and if possible reverse T3. Blood tests are not definitive indicator of hypothyroidism
but it gives an idea about things to rule out.
Edit: He thinks ideally TSH should be below 0.4, where most labs use
reference range below 3.

 

[EndlessResearch]

Welcome, EndlessResearch.

I think we have some similar problems:

1. Do you know whether your pain issues are related to the joints themselves, or to muscle / connective tissue? In my case, pain that I thought was caused by my hips and back was actually tightness / myofascial pain. If your problem is similar, I can share some of the things I've been trying.
2. Regarding the inability to gain weight, you might find that improving your thyroid function (with general Peat stuff and maybe supplemental thyroid) will boost your appetite, letting you eat enough to gain weight. It did in my case.

As for the weight gain. I need no boost in appetite..at least I don't think. I am literally hungry all of the time. I can eat and eat and eat and not gain any weight, so my appetite is definitely there. I don't know if that is an indicator of anything.

It very well could be myofascial pain, because if I get a lacrosse ball and lay on it to break up tightness of the muscles around my iliac crest, and my glutes, I will get temporary relief. If I lay on a foam roller with my knees bent, and my sacrum tucked in a tad, and I lay there for long enough, I will get a mobilization in my L SI Joint that helps immensely as well. I know I have a pretty serious anterior pelvic tilt going on which stresses everything as well.

Regarding the thyroid stuff…What are some things I could do to give you experts a better idea about possible issues. Varying pulse/temperature rates throughout the day? Did my diet look ok at least? It is hard for me to "peat" because of my bodies resistance to dairy. I LOVE CHEESE, and miss it so. My CHEK practitioner said dairy would serve me well eventually, but when I consume it I get the little orange bubbles under my skin which eventually pop and cause the skin to get dry, crusty, and crack easily to the point of bleeding. RP eats SOOOOOO much dairy…I don't get it. My question on dairy is, "If it is so good, why are humans the only animals that consume the milk from another animal?" It's probably been asked a thousand times, but I can't find a good positive explanation. I have been eating clean for a while now, and it still give my skin issues. I don't get it!?

I'm looking at all this RP stuff because I love how scientifically backed it is. There always seems to be an explanation for everything. Plus, I hated green smoothies, but I did them anyway because of the supposed detoxing qualities they had. RP seems to be the opposite of everything I thought was right. No greens, high fructose, no avocados, low muscle meat, tons of dairy(Why so much dairy!?) I'm still second guessing myself with all of this. I am just to the point that I will do anything to feel better. My energy levels have indeed been higher since the small changes I have been making, and I have more patience and am less irritable, so good things seem to be happening. I feel like finding RP tossed me into the deep end of the pool though, and the guidelines seem to be so vague. It's all about what serves the individual, which obviously makes it ******* hard for me to continually self diagnose. God dammit I want some cheese. Thanks!

 

[tomisonbottom]

My question on dairy is, "If it is so good, why are humans the only animals that consume the milk from another animal?" It's probably been asked a thousand times, but I can't find a good positive explanation. I have been eating clean for a while now, and it still give my skin issues. I don't get it!?

Here's my 2cents on that:
We're not animals; we're human. I'm sure those terms could be argued endlessly but why would you use an animals diet to decide what works for a human's health? I think the questions should be: does this food nourish my body? Does the science back it up? Not, "do animals eat this way".
In the long run the ideal diet can/will save or lengthen your life and I don't think your energy is best spent worrying if any particular animal eats that way or not.

 

[EndlessResearch]

My question on dairy is, "If it is so good, why are humans the only animals that consume the milk from another animal?" It's probably been asked a thousand times, but I can't find a good positive explanation. I have been eating clean for a while now, and it still give my skin issues. I don't get it!?

Here's my 2cents on that:
We're not animals; we're human. I'm sure those terms could be argued endlessly but why would you use an animals diet to decide what works for a human's health? I think the questions should be: does this food nourish my body? Does the science back it up? Not, "do animals eat this way".
In the long run the ideal diet can/will save or lengthen your life and I don't think your energy is best spent worrying if any particular animal eats that way or not.

I'm just new to all this. That's all. I'm on this forum because of the scientific minds that post here. But you didn't say anything on why you think my skin freaks out when I consume it. That is my main question on this topic. There are other questions though that I hope experts will chime in and answer as well.

 

[Dan W]

It very well could be myofascial pain, because if I get a lacrosse ball and lay on it to break up tightness of the muscles around my iliac crest, and my glutes, I will get temporary relief. If I lay on a foam roller with my knees bent, and my sacrum tucked in a tad, and I lay there for long enough, I will get a mobilization in my L SI Joint that helps immensely as well. I know I have a pretty serious anterior pelvic tilt going on which stresses everything as well.

Your description sounds similar to my problems. Other than the physical stuff you mentioned, I've been trying a few things that have helped, though I'm not sure which ones are best:

1. Lowering serotonin by avoiding certain foods (I've been experimenting with eliminating nightshades, added-vitamin milk, starch, etc.) and using an ionizer. I have a few more details in this thread).
2. Meditation where I try to methodically relax different parts of problematic muscles.
3. Periodic paper-bag-breathing, maybe 5 minutes 3x a day.

I'll leave the milk issues to smarter people than me!

 

[aguilaroja]

Endless Research,

It’s sounds like you’ve got a sense of humor about the difficulties, which is good.

Dan Wich and Mittir have given excellent perspective.

Briefly, it’s concerning that the difficulties are substantial at a young age.

You are very lean. The impression from your description is that the metabolism is depleted, probably for some time. When metabolism is low, it is hard to get well. There is no intention to minimize the pain and specific symptoms.

The cabbage family vegetables/juices have goitrogens (thyroid lowering substances), and are, to put it politely, less than ideal for some people. See, for instance:

http://thyroid.about.com/od/symptomsris ... hyroid.htm

My experience, personal and with friends, is that extreme thinness, even with high food intake, tends to be a high adrenalin compensation for low metabolism, including low thyroid. Sadly, many health professionals cling to an unfortunate stereotype of hypothyroid people as always being overweight and sluggish.

Find a website or a medical text with a lengthy list of low thyroid symptoms. I think you’ll find that you have many symptoms on the list. Thyroid is not the only possible issue, but the low thyroid scenario is an approximation for hindered metabolism.

For instance, in the low metabolism with low thyroid, high adrenalin, low absorption tendency, people tend to feel either cold in the hands or feet, or cold in the core more than others in their area. [ATL is not chilly most of the year :^) ] Sometimes such people sweat very little compared to others exercising the same amount.

When metabolism (such as thyroid) is low, sometimes mineral retention (magnesium, sodium, others) is not so good, even when intake is good. The relatively lower mineral state can predispose to different pain/discomfort stuff, like crampy or even tingling “muscular pain”.

Mittir mentions many of the specifics to check. Again, my experience in this situation is that the temperature often runs notably below 98.6 F throughout the day. If the temperature is low around the middle of the day, it’s likely to be low most of the day.

With better metabolism and lower adrenalin, the digestive absorption improves, among other things. In the improved state, people tend to optimize their weight in either direction, whether previously too thin or too thick.

By the way, in this situation I’d suggest cooking the gelatin after dissolving rather than simply dissolving it in liquid, for better digestion. (When possible.)

Ray Peat has mentioned low thyroid and endotoxins as major source of
joint pain. Good thyroid function promotes healthy weight in both direction.
He recommends avoiding or minimizing soluble fiber and starch to lower endotoxin
production. Here is a general guideline to his dietary recommendations.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20
Measuring temperature and pulse 1-2 hours after breakfast gives a good idea
about thyroid function. For blood tests he recommends TSH, Total T4 and Total T3
and if possible reverse T3. Blood tests are not definitive indicator of hypothyroidism
but it gives an idea about things to rule out.
Edit: He thinks ideally TSH should be below 0.4, where most labs use
reference range below 3.

 

[EndlessResearch]

Ok….So I've gathered from you smarties as I like to call them that low thyroid and endotoxins can cause my joint pain. How do I minimize soluble fiber if I am supposed to eat fresh fruit with every meal? Starches(potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice) cause endotoxins? I thought RP was a fan of those?

So my metabolism is low and my adrenal gland is picking up the slack? I'm still foggy about the dairy as well. Why so much dairy? Some articles I read I see that he suggests reduced fat milk, and even pasteurized, and then I see that no vit added raw milk is best. Why am I getting the eczema? Would it be beneficial to reintroduce it back into my diet? It seems so if this MO FO drinks 2 Quarts of milk a day! Jesus! I would diarrhea all over the place! With cheese and cream in my coffee on top of that! Holy hell! I just need some example day to day diets of thing you experts would think benefits me, or maybe some links to something similar. I see all these RP charts, but can't figure out how to make a tangible plan of attack to achieve my goals. I need expert help

 

[EndlessResearch]

Ray Peat has mentioned low thyroid and endotoxins as major source of
joint pain. Good thyroid function promotes healthy weight in both direction.
He recommends avoiding or minimizing soluble fiber and starch to lower endotoxin
production. Here is a general guideline to his dietary recommendations.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20
Measuring temperature and pulse 1-2 hours after breakfast gives a good idea
about thyroid function. For blood tests he recommends TSH, Total T4 and Total T3
and if possible reverse T3. Blood tests are not definitive indicator of hypothyroidism
but it gives an idea about things to rule out.
Edit: He thinks ideally TSH should be below 0.4, where most labs use
reference range below 3.

What should my temp and pulse be 1-2 hours after breakfast?

 

[Mittir]

RP quotes from Danny Roddy Advice page

http://www.dannyroddy.com/main/2011/12/ ... tandi.html

Checking your temperature when you wake up, then about an hour after breakfast, can give you an idea of your thyroid status, it should get up to about 98.5 by mid-morning. With restful sleep, the waking temperature is somewhat low; poor sleep, with high stress hormones, can cause the waking temperature to be high.

I occasionally see that happen [T3 WILL CAUSE LOW TEMP/PULSE]; sometimes people have had their pulse rate decrease 40 or 50 beats per minute. The temperature of your fingers, toes, and nose helps to interpret the balance between stress and thyroid; your fingers should be less cold as your metabolic rate comes up. In extreme hypothyroidism, the hands and feet can be very cold while the oral temperature looks o.k.; then as the metabolic rate increases, the difference between fingers and mouth decreases.

I think 85/minute resting is a good average. For the last 35 years I have tried to keep it averaging a little over 90. When people are using thyroid to recover from tumors or cataracts or other chronic problem, they sometimes hold their resting pulse rate at 100 or more for a few months, without any harmful effects. Sometimes I think you'll be able to figure it out by yourself.

IIRC He mentioned some where that it usually takes
more time to correct pulse than temperature.

 

[EndlessResearch]

So I have been doing some cheese for a bit now and this joyous stuff appears on me. Little orange/yellow bubbles appear under my skin and eventually cause the skin to get scaly, dry, and even crack.

 

[Kray]

So I have been doing some cheese for a bit now and this joyous stuff appears on me. Little orange/yellow bubbles appear under my skin and eventually cause the skin to get scaly, dry, and even crack.

Endless: Just picked up on this thread while looking for something. I'm pretty new here, too. I have also had eczema/dermatitis issues, both in childhood and again in the past year. I have been peating for about 2 years.

In reading all the posts back and forth between you & others on this thread, I didn't notice anything particularly addressing your skin problems, but I am curious to know if you have figured out what was causing your eczema-- food, environmental, low thyroid? Would love to hear if your problems are better and what you have found to have helped. Thanks :)