Prednisone, lung transplant, breast cancer, appendicitis - where to start to improve health?

[Genuine.2me]

I’m asking on behalf of a friend.
I suggested she write to Ray, which she did, but she is aware that her emails are often sent to spam. Of course, I realise he is busy, too.
The main consideration for any treatment is that she is on 5mg/day of Prednisone.
About 5 years ago she was diagnosed with a pseudomonas aeruginosa infection, fibrosis developed, and she had lung transplant.
Around 5 months ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a biopsy, then a second surgery to remove an extra amount of breast tissue too “get it all”. She is now having to work out if she proceeds with radiation.
At the same time she was being diagnosed with cancer, an inflamed appendix was found, after a colonoscopy was performed to try to find the source of a chronic pain.
Some historical symptoms that I think will give some insight. She is 5’ 2” and has always been skinny; difficulty gaining weight. For many years she functioned on an average of 1 hours sleep a night, as she couldn’t sleep any longer than that.
My question is, how can she continue to have the anti rejection effects, while encouraging her body to heal in other ways? Is there another drug that is a better option?
@haidut

 

[Genuine.2me]

Just in case somebody can help, I’ll amend any misleading information.
A second specialist has said the colonoscopy did not show appendicitis. He believes her pain is from an inflamed intestine.

 

[LucyL]

Do you know what her cholesterol levels are?

 

[Maljam]

All the signs point to elevated serotonin amongst other stress hormones. I think there is a lot going on, it is hard to say for sure where to start without more information.

I personally think she should resend the email to Peat too. I know a lot of people are emailing him with issues much less serious than the ones she is going through.

When you say it is hard for her to gain weight and she is skinny, is she undereating, or eating a ton and burning through it? Undereating can cause people to be unable to sleep, so it would be useful to rule it out. Something such as adequate calories is so important yet seems so simple.

What is her diet like?

I think adequate calories leading to weight gain (in the context of being underweight) would show improvements. If she has been historically undereating it might take some months of eating large amounts of calories to get back to normal.

I think eating larger meals, mix of protein, carbs and saturated fat, avoiding all vegetable oils, avoiding fortified wheat flour, getting some vitamin D, aspirin, vitamin K, would help.

Aspirin would be a big help to all her issues, making sure she gets the K to balance any bleeding.

Does she take any birth control, or anything other than the prednisone?

 

[Genuine.2me]

Do you know what her cholesterol levels are?

Yes, that would be interesting, but she said she doesn’t know.

 

[Genuine.2me]

All the signs point to elevated serotonin amongst other stress hormones. I think there is a lot going on, it is hard to say for sure where to start without more information.

I personally think she should resend the email to Peat too. I know a lot of people are emailing him with issues much less serious than the ones she is going through.

When you say it is hard for her to gain weight and she is skinny, is she undereating, or eating a ton and burning through it? Undereating can cause people to be unable to

All the signs point to elevated serotonin amongst other stress hormones. I think there is a lot going on, it is hard to say for sure where to start without more information.

I personally think she should resend the email to Peat too. I know a lot of people are emailing him with issues much less serious than the ones she is going through.

When you say it is hard for her to gain weight and she is skinny, is she undereating, or eating a ton and burning through it? Undereating can cause people to be unable to sleep, so it would be useful to rule it out. Something such as adequate calories is so important yet seems so simple.

What is her diet like?

I think adequate calories leading to weight gain (in the context of being underweight) would show improvements. If she has been historically undereating it might take some months of eating large amounts of calories to get back to normal.

I think eating larger meals, mix of protein, carbs and saturated fat, avoiding all vegetable oils, avoiding fortified wheat flour, getting some vitamin D, aspirin, vitamin K, would help.

Aspirin would be a big help to all her issues, making sure she gets the K to balance any bleeding.

Does she take any birth control, or anything other than the prednisone?

Thanks for replying.
I, personally, think you’re right about the serotonin. I believe it caused the fibrosis of her lunges. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was causing the issue with her intestines.
No pill, as she hasn’t been able to conceive.
I have just read an RP article on low salt intake stimulating the release of serotonin, leading to the release of prolactin. Salt is also needed to increase carbon dioxide production. I don’t know if her doctor picked up on low sodium, but he gave her salt tablets. She won’t take them, because they “don’t taste nice.”
I’m currently dealing with someone who was willing to have a mastectomy to make sure the cancer didn’t come back. I’m trying to warm her into the idea that all her health issues are connected, and chopping off the offending body part, won’t address the cause.
I will suggest that she resends the email.

 

[Maljam]

Thanks for replying.
I, personally, think you’re right about the serotonin. I believe it caused the fibrosis of her lunges. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was causing the issue with her intestines.
No pill, as she hasn’t been able to conceive.
I have just read an RP article on low salt intake stimulating the release of serotonin, leading to the release of prolactin. Salt is also needed to increase carbon dioxide production. I don’t know if her doctor picked up on low sodium, but he gave her salt tablets. She won’t take them, because they “don’t taste nice.”
I’m currently dealing with someone who was willing to have a mastectomy to make sure the cancer didn’t come back. I’m trying to warm her into the idea that all her health issues are connected, and chopping off the offending body part, won’t address the cause.
I will suggest that she resends the email.

As a salt lover myself I don't think I'd enjoy the taste of salt pills. Encouraging her to start salting her food would be better, typical doctor wanting to "prescribe" something as simple as salt.

In my opinion her health is too far gone for it to be simply fixed by increasing salt, although that will certainly help.

I would think eating more saturated fat (butter, beef fat) and eating nothing with vegetable oils in would be the first major step.

Mushrooms with the water they are boiled in are potent anti estrogens in my experience which sounds like would be elevated in her case.

Aspirin would help everything wrong with her. Dissolve the geri care aspirin tablets in hot water and take alongside a meal or drink if stomach irritation occurs.

Vitamins A, D, E, K would all be beneficial.

I would be wary of recommending any cow dairy to her, goat only (see Travis's posts on this)

In her condition I think her whole diet would need to change, cooking everything herself with saturated fat, ensuring she is consuming no additives/gums/emulsifiers in most packaged foods.

All of the above would help but I think at this point she would even need some sort of pharmaceutical intervention at this point, which isn't my speciality, maybe some of @haidut posts would be best for this.

You are absolutely right all of it is connected.

 

[LucyL]

Yes, that would be interesting, but she said she doesn’t know.

I would encourage her to get some cholesterol tests done, because a lot of the Peaty lifestyle changes, supplements etc won't be effective if there isn't any cholesterol. If her cholesterol is low, the first thing to do is work on that.

 

[Genuine.2me]

As a salt lover myself I don't think I'd enjoy the taste of salt pills. Encouraging her to start salting her food would be better, typical doctor wanting to "prescribe" something as simple as salt.

In my opinion her health is too far gone for it to be simply fixed by increasing salt, although that will certainly help.

I would think eating more saturated fat (butter, beef fat) and eating nothing with vegetable oils in would be the first major step.

Mushrooms with the water they are boiled in are potent anti estrogens in my experience which sounds like would be elevated in her case.

Aspirin would help everything wrong with her. Dissolve the geri care aspirin tablets in hot water and take alongside a meal or drink if stomach irritation occurs.

Vitamins A, D, E, K would all be beneficial.

I would be wary of recommending any cow dairy to her, goat only (see Travis's posts on this)

In her condition I think her whole diet would need to change, cooking everything herself with saturated fat, ensuring she is consuming no additives/gums/emulsifiers in most packaged foods.

All of the above would help but I think at this point she would even need some sort of pharmaceutical intervention at this point, which isn't my speciality, maybe some of @haidut posts would be best for this.

You are absolutely right all of it is connected.

I gave her some Progest-e, but because that stimulated menstruation, that put her off. That was my fault, as progesterone hasn’t had such a noticeable effect on myself, so I hadn’t thought about working in with her cycle.
I use aspirin, myself, but it lowers cortisol, and the cortisone is used to lower the immune system to cause the anti rejection effect.
She doesn’t like mushrooms or carrots, so she’s not prepared to eat them.
If it wasn’t for my lack of understanding on what hormones and nutrients will work against the anti rejection effect of the cortisone, then I would agree with all your suggestions.
As much as RP stays away from Authoritarianism, I think she would only listen if RP or Haidut told her what to do.

 

[Genuine.2me]

I would encourage her to get some cholesterol tests done, because a lot of the Peaty lifestyle changes, supplements etc won't be effective if there isn't any cholesterol. If her cholesterol is low, the first thing to do is work on that.

Yes, that’s true. She gets all sorts of tests on a regular basis. Her cholesterol stats must be amongst all that.

 

[LucyL]

Yes, that’s true. She gets all sorts of tests on a regular basis. Her cholesterol stats must be amongst all that.

Even if they're not - it should be really easy to get any doctor to check her cholesterol levels. That test is right up their alley.