December Labs and January Consult

1/9/14

So, after a very busy December and crazy (but good) holiday season, I was finally able to get my phone consult with Dr. Cervantes at Clinica Nutricion y Vida (or the Gerson Clinic in Mexico) done.  They were very much the same as they ever are with him.  He asked about my weight, and I unfortunately had to tell him that I had lost about 6 pounds since I had gone back to work full-time.  (I know most women dream of this, but for me I did not want to lose weight too quickly.)  I also had new information for him about my intolerances. 

We did start the conversation off by looking at my labs, so I will do the same here.  As always, we start with the CBC and the Auto Diff...

  

He was pleased with all the lab values, and did not see anything of concern.  I believe his favorite response to my labs here are that I am showing a good immune response.  Yay!

Next for the CMP or comprehensive metabolic panel...

My sodium, potassium, and chloride seemed good.  My glucose was holding steady.  Good kidney and liver function.  I had good levels of both calcium and protein.  Always good signs!

Now for the UA...

Everything turned up pretty normal here.  My pH is a bit high.  It is preferred that it stay between 6.5-8 to keep my body alkaline.  It might just be a fluke, so we will keep an eye on that for next time around.

Now for my thyroid labs.  As a reminder, The hypothalamus releases TrH or thyrotropin releasing hormone. This stimulates the pituitary to release TSH.  This in turn produces T4 or thyroxine by the thyroid.  The "free"  T4 then influences the production of T3 or triiodothyronine by the thyroid as well.  The amount of free T4 in the blood then in turn tells the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland how much TrH and TSH to produce.  (It sounds confusing, so I will leave it to the experts to really know what is going on here.)

And the results for my TSH and T4 Free are...

both normal.  Since they are both in the normal range, Dr. C did not have anything to be concerned with or to complain about.  ;)

On to my lipid panel or cholesterol...

Everything here is a bit on the low side.  This is not such a huge deal, but it is good to have the high density cholesterol or the HDL (the good cholesterol) a bit higher.  Dr. C did say that the coffee enemas do affect these results quite a bit.

Vitamin D is the next result to review.

Although my vitamin D is in the normal range, it is still low.  This is an important one to keep up on as it is believed that increased levels of vitamin D are linked to a higher incidence of breast cancer survival.

We discussed my intolerances that I had discovered, and his only big concern was when it came to potatoes. Everything else I could do without.  He asked if I had felt any issues with the potatoes, and I said I feel bloated even when I didn't eat large amounts of potato.  This is a large part of the Gerson therapy, so he wanted me to be tested to see if it was just the potato skin.  I told him I would give it a try.

Now we come to my new schedule...

Here are my changes:

1. Potassium compound decreased from two teaspoons to 1 teaspoon (Dr. Cervantes thought maybe that was contributing to my weight loss.)
2. Try potatoes without skin 
3. Make sure to get plenty of rest (He said this many times during the phone conversation. Wonder why he would think that was hard for me to do?) ;)

I think the biggest challenge of this was the potatoes.  I was pretty sure that the potatoes were still a no go even without the skin, but I said I would give it a try, and so I would...