Health Report - February 7, 2023

Next Tuesday, February 14th, will be the first anniversary of the beginning of the health challenge I've been facing. I've made a lot of progress, and plan to make a lot more.

As I reported in Health Report - December 16, 2022, my sed rate (i.e., erythrocyte sedimentation rate), which is an indicator of inflammation, was normal in October. That's also the month in which I took my first multi-day trip since November of 2021. My sed rate continued to be normal in November and January. When I saw Dr. Liss, my primary doctor, on January 26th, she said that the normal sed rate from October into January indicates that whatever stiffness and achiness I continue to experience is not the result of inflammation.

Below is a graph of my sed rates from blood tests in March of 2019; March, April, June, October, and November of 2022; and January of 2023.

SED rates
Mar 2019: 3   Mar 2022: 31   Apr 2022: 33   Jun 2022: 53   Oct 2022: 4   Nov 2022: 5   Jan 2023: 3

I've been told by a few people that acupuncture is good for inflammation, so perhaps the weekly acupuncture sessions I've had with Cynthia Hewett since last summer have been helpful in bring my sed rate back to normal.

Starting a few weeks ago, I began a practice of almost every morning spending about 30 minutes on the floor doing a large variety of movements, many of which are taken from Awareness Through Movement lessons, others of which I've invented myself. Maybe sometime I'll post instructions for these movements, which help me to start the day with easy flexibility.

A month or so after the inflammation started last February, I injured my left shoulder and was unable to do any pushups. On January 28th I did my first single pushup since the injury, and in the days since then several times I've done two and then three successive pushups.

Results from a stool test I did in early January showed Candida overgrowth, which might explain the stiffness and achiness I continue to experience. In early February I started taking Nystatin in order to combat the Candida.

There's a fungus amongus!

By the way, in case you were wondering, Nystatin is not a statin. Instead, its name comes from "New York State". See for yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nystatin#History

Today, a few days after starting to take Nystatin, I had a consultation with sports nutritionist Beth McDonald. For the next month I will be following the Candida diet, and so will not be eating any of the following:

• bread, rice, potatoes, or anything else with gluten
• dairy other than yogurt and butter
• sauerkraut
• mushrooms
• vinegar other than apple-cider vinegar
• fruit juices, dried fruit, and fruit with added sugar

I'm free to eat any of these foods:

• beef, pork, chicken, and fish
• eggs
• butter
• olive oil
• yogurt
• green leafy vegetables
• apple-cider vinegar
• nuts
• beans
• squash
• tomatoes
• fruit without added sugar

I will be drinking a cup or more of bone broth at least five days each week. For years I've made broth from chicken, beef, and pork bones left over from our meals. When I collect enough bones I make a batch of broth, typically six quarts. I will need to buy beef bones to make sufficient broth for my new regime.

Beth McDonald noticed that my January stool test showed a lack of helpful bacteria, so she told me a better probiotic to take daily.

I'm looking forward, through these changes in my diet, to eliminating the stiffness and achiness I continue to experience despite my sed rate having returned to normal after being very high. Once that's accomplished I look forward to improving my diet in order to optimize my health in general and my performance on my bike.

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