What Ails Steve?

Diet

Since most of my symptoms abate briefly when I stop eating, or when I use powerful laxatives, it seems likely diet is involved in my illness. Carbohydrates are the main trigger, but the problem is it seems that ALL FOODS produce some negative symptoms.

Some doctors thought the problems were due to candidiasis (yeast infection) hence the diet below is designed to fight that. But, a year on it didn't make much difference.

Below is a description of my diet and related information. No doctor has yet to explain what's going on. If you think you know, please email me. Thanks!

4-day Fast	In late November 2000, under the direction of a doctor, I tried a 4-day liquids-only fast. This fast nearly killed me due to metabolic acidosis, and produced several unusual symptoms, so is worth describing in detail. Fast consisted of 100-oz liquid daily (primarily vegetable juice, water and tea), plus the use of intestinal cleansers (Sonne Nos. 7 and 9). I had already been on a very low carbohydrate diet for over 2 months prior because it reduced my burning tongue/throat symptoms. I had lost about 10 pounds during that period. Burning tongue/sore throat and heartburn symptoms were reduced by the 4-day fast. I felt rather good on day 2. I woke on day 3 with oral thrush (top of tongue completely white). Also began to have burning pain in penis while urinating. On day 4 I began to feel nausea. On day 5 I was to break fast with simple meals, but anything I ate or drank was vomited back up. On day 5 I began to feel odd body temperatures, unusual breathing, and involuntary muscle movement. I went to ER late that evening. ER tests found arterial blood gas pH of 7.14 and CO2 level of 7 mEq/L. Urinalysis showed normal except high ketones. Diagnosed with metabolic acidosis. Given IV fluids, and pH rose to 7.25. Released. A few days later, odd breathing returned, along with chest pressure and involuntary muscle movement. Returned to ER, and went thru series of heart tests (sonogram, stress, etc.). Sonogram revealed minor mitral valve regurgitation, but no cause for symptoms, which had self abated by the next day. Subsequent research (on the Web) on my own found another person who experienced identical symptoms, and learned it was related to extreme low carb diet. When I ate more carbohydrates, symptoms diminished. Via experimentation, it seems I need about 75 grams of carbs per day minimum to avoid the symptoms. But, increasing carbos to this level has worsened tongue/throat/bloating symptoms.
Drugs / Vitamins / Herbs	Doctor Recommended: Twinlab Daily One multivitamin, breakfast Twinlab B 100 vitamin, dinner Biotics Intenzyme Forte enzyme mix, each meal Solaray Algin/Pepsin, 900 mg, each meal (helps reduce tongue pain, but no one can tell me why) Solgar Calcium (1000 mg)/Magnesium (400 mg) /Boron (3 mg), each meal Licorice root liquid, each meal DGL, breakfast and dinner Garlic capsule, each meal "Experience" colon cleanser, breakfast and bedtime (helps reduce tongue pain, but no one knows why) Tried for a period: diflucan, 100mg daily sporonox, 100mg daily nystatin via enema, twice per week Ceased (had no impact after months of use): Nystatin, 4 times daily orally Ester C, 500 mg, breakfast, lunch and dinner Zinc, breakfast Solaray Yeast Cleanse (also tried Twinlab Yeast Fighters), each meal Selenium, 200 mcg, dinner a few times per week Kelp tablet (for iodine), 225 mcg, weekly ProAlgen alginate supplement, each meal L-Glutathione, 250 mg, daily NAC, 600 mg, weekly Biotics Gastrozyme Twinlab MegaBromelain, each meal Super Co-Q10 enzyme, 50 mg, lunch Flax Oil, lunch Biotics Mg-Zyme, dinner Biotics Cytozyme AD, breakfast and dinner Schiff Acidophilus (or other probiotics), each meal Oil of Oregano Grapefruit seed extract Colloidal silver Propolis Butyric acid supplement
Basic Diet	I used a very low carb diet (< 20 g carbs per day) September to November 2000. Beginning in December 2000, I increased carb intake to about 75 g per day. This is all I ate between December 2000 and December 2001: Breakfast eggs, over easy or scrambled cooked ham plain rice cakes almond butter cilantro salt watered-down V-8 juice Lunch vegetable beef soup V-8 juice Dinner salad of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, tomatoes, green or red pepper, cilantro sometimes some meat (turkey, chicken, beef) and green beans watered-down V-8 juice Sometimes Non-yeast bread spelt-based pasta with simple tomato/basil sause whipped heavy cream with cocoa powder, vanilla and stevia (sweetener) sweet potato (might worsen ear symptoms) oregano onion Rare Excursions (once per month or less) pizza swiss cheese apple (tried once) cabbage Recent Experiments yogurt buttermilk
CDSA info	Stool test performed April 2001 by Great Smokies Diagnostic Labs. The doctor recommended that I stay on antifungal drugs during the test because I was still experiencing symptoms. Results in Normal Range: Digestion: triglycerides, chymotrypsin, Valerate, iso-Butyrate, meat fibers, vegetable fibers, Absorption: LCFAs, total fecal fat Metabolic Markers: Beta-Glucuronidase, SCFA Acetate, SCFA Propionate Bacteriology: Lactobacillis 1+, gamma H.Streptococcus 3+, alpha H.Streptococcus 2+ Mycology: NG Parasitology: no ova or parasites seen, yeast not seen Result Outside Normal Range: Digestion: (none) Absorption: Cholesterol 0.4 (high), total SCFAs 38 (low) Metabolic Markers: n-Buyrate 4.9 (low), pH 8.4 (high) SCFA n-Butyrate 13 (low) Bacteriology: E. Coli NG, Bifidobacterium 1+, pseudomonas species 1+, mucould E.Coli 2+, H.E.Coli 4+ Dybiosis Index: 26 (off their scale)

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