My Body Doesn't Metabolise Calcium Properly And Nothing Seems To Help

[Grapelander]

Have you checked PTH? in some extreme cases there could be a benign tumor on your gland causing hyperparathyroidism which doesn't come down from vitamin D. I would however talk to your doctor about this and maybe an ultrasound (assuming you have high PTH). Also a removal of the gland and or tumor is generally very safe from what I've read and symptoms clear up quite quickly if that is indeed the issue.

I agree - sounds like PTH if calcium will not uptake into bones.
Magnesium will lower PTH also - I like Mag Carbonate as it is not bitter - and it sounds like you may tolerate it based on your original post. Best wishes.

 

[gately]

Between 2000 and 2500 kcal a day, depending on my digestion and how much nausea I feel that day.
I have quite a huge appetite and I love all food, but I feel very full and nauseous after very little food, so I'm "restricted" by that. Otherwise, I would happily eat twice as much.
I often crave sugars (friuts, sweetened milk), but I also love cheese and organ meats - I actually prefer the taste of organ meats to muscle meats. These foods makes up 90% of my diet.

What exactly (and what quantities) is your diet made up of? And how much do you weigh? You mentioned you don’t eat any grain or seed, so could you please explain your reasoning for any exclusions to your diet? Is there a reason you don’t eat a traditional or semi-traditional human diet?

Also, you mentioned the diet that you suspect got you into this mess was very deficient in calcium, it might be helpful to know what that diet consisted of, as well, and why you chose it for so long.

It sounds like you went from a long term extremely unbalanced diet to another extremely imbalanced diet. I understand that could be due to the sensitivities you’ve developed, but it might still be diagnostically relevant to know, besides high calcium foods, what you are otherwise reacting to that keeps you from eating normally, and what symptoms they present.

For instance, you mentioned you avoid foods with oxalates. What happens when you eat a food containing them?

Beyond more info which might be relevant to someone here helping you, I think it might be worthwhile to get a hair mineral analysis from TEI and see what their report says. You mentioned some mineral/vitamin supplements that make your situation worse and some that are benign, and that you’ve experimented with manganese to moderate benefit. But the truth is if you’ve developed a serious imbalance, like, say, copper toxicity from as you said “90% of your diet” being organ meats (so presumably lots of liver,) then when you take some things, like say zinc or chromium or molybdenum, in isolation they could be causing a detox reaction of the opposing toxic element. So a bad reaction might in fact be a positive sign. One way to gain clues about all this is through HTMA via a lab like TEI that has it pretty well figured out what you’d likely need. It’s not foolproof and they definitely get it wrong sometimes, but it’s worth a shot. Some hair levels, like molybdenum or boron or selenium, aren’t even mysterious: if they’re high you’re probably toxic, if they’re low you’re probably deficient. So it might be helpful regardless of what TEI suggests on the more complex minerals.

Also, while I’m not a huge fan of the “vitamin A is poison” theory, if your diet really is high in liver and has been for a long time, it’s very possible you’ve become toxic in vitamin A, so that might also be worth considering....as someone else mentioned.

 

[Recoen]

I agree - sounds like PTH if calcium will not uptake into bones.
Magnesium will lower PTH also - I like Mag Carbonate as it is not bitter - and it sounds like you may tolerate it based on your original post. Best wishes.

Will you please share what Mg carbonate brand you use?

 

[Tristan Loscha]

I could be very possible as I feel that the calcium/phosphorus ratio (1/1) that's touted around here isn't ideal. Maybe try dropping your milk to 1 quart/day and replace the other quart with 1/2 pound of ruminant meat. You might want to even drop the milk completely for a couple to a few weeks initially and up the ruminant meat to 1 pound/day.

What do you believe is the more optimal Ratio? I myself am conflicted about this also, the Ratio of 1:1 in Animals seems to be geared toward the more specific need of rapid growth of a skeleton, but there is the talk about the still needed and wanted high Calcium flux, despite considerably reduced need for Ca per se.

 

[marcar72]

What do you believe is the more optimal Ratio?

From what little I've read about it Jessie has summarized in his previous comment provided below. It's hard to achieve 1:1 ratio without sticking strictly to dairy or eating leafy greens with meat. Jessie's post I feel is the best response in the thread.

He has said the "ideal" ratio has never been clearly defined, but anywhere from a 1:1 to 2:1 ratio is safe. Most processed food eaters have around a 5:1 to 6:1 ratio, which will cause soft tissue calcification. Peat said he normally gets around 2,500mgs of Ca daily, so at a 2:1 ratio that would put the P threshold at around 5,000mgs.

It's also important to keep in mind fruit based diets and sugar based diets allow your kidneys to excrete excess phosphorus more efficiently. It's probably possible to cause hypercalcaemia by pushing the pendulum too far either way. It's just excess dietary Ca is not that common in today's western societies.

This is a very good interview, I'd recommend watching the whole thing, but the crucial part you're looking for is at 9:50 to 11:30. "About 1-2 quarts of milk and a 1/2 lb of meat is tolerable."

Later he dives into the stuff about sugar and fruits assisting the kidneys in shedding extra P, so if you're eating lots of sugar with your dairy you might want to consider eating a little extra P, or maybe cutting back on dairy just a little.

 

[Tristan Loscha]

From what little I've read about it Jessie has summarized in his previous comment provided below. It's hard to achieve 1:1 ratio without sticking strictly to dairy or eating leafy greens with meat. Jessie's post I feel is the best response in the thread.

Interesting, but still so many questions.

 

[RealNeat]

So I see a lot of attempts to balance minerals here and it seems pretty challenging if not impossible to do that on behalf of the body (beyond a certain extent, still eat what you think you need). I would highly consider CO2 baths. Attain CO2 tank and use the lighter method to detect presence and level in bath tub and soak until pink.