I started my "everything but the kitchen sink" regime a week ago.
I started with a vitamin D protocol and I've just finished the introductory week of that. This required me to take 5,000 IU daily of vitamin D3 oil-based, softgel supplements, afte a breakfast containing at least 15g of healthy fat. In order to be absorbed, Vitamin D needs Vitamin K at the same time, so the supplement i bought has both. Vitamin D pulls magnesium out of the body, which in turn causes calcium issues. To counteract this, I had to take 200 mg magnesium glycinate (200 mg of elemental magnesium), before bed. Magnesium cannot be taking within several hours of eating calcium rich food (like a milky drink or yoghurt).
This all went well. Before I started the protocol, I was taking a PPI every other night. During the protocol I had a gap of 3 nights and now I'm seeing if I can stretch it a bit more before taking one.. PPIs prevent absorption of minerals, so I'd like to come off them if I can. I'm hoping that the large quantity of water kefir and kefir fermented veg that I am consuming will help my stomach instead.
Now I've done the introdictory week, I need to up everything. So, last night I increased my Magnesium, but only to 300mg. It's supposed to go up to 500mg, and I need to do it because I know that it will cause other issues if I don't, but I cou;dn't bring myself to ramp it up immediately. I tool 300mg ysterday and I'll do that today as well; I'll go to 400 on Thursday and Friday, and then 500 from Saturday.
I've doubled my Vitamin D from today, to 10,000 IU. I've kept the K2 the same as before. I bought a second set of softgels that have only the D3 in, so I take one woth K2 and one without. The protocol says its OK to double the K2 as well, but I don't want to do that.
Yesterday, my first set of blood test results arrived. These were looking at my Thyroid (all of the parts), and showed some areas of concern. I guess these may be addressed when I start taking amino acids, at some point in the near future.
My Vitamin D (73) was within the NHS "adequate" range, but was lower than the protocol's target.
What was also very low was my folate (2.6, well below the minium of 8.83), and my B12 (in range but on the low side). I've joined a couple of groups to get more information on how to deal with this, but the information is a bit overwhelming and taking action isn't as straightforward as the Vitamin D protocol. I do need to try and do something though, as the Vitanin D and B12 and Folate issues are closely interwoven. I don't know how to proceed with it, so I'll mull it over while I carry on with the Vitamin D3.
I'm not sure what to do about the amino acid introduction. In my original plan, I was going to introduce them next week (I'm hoping the test results will be back by then), but the Folate thing has thrown me a bit.
The Kally body pillow has been a bit of a challenge. I've now managed to get it so my head feels less unsupported. It's definitely stretching my neck a bit, but my body is telling me it's a positive stretch rather than a negative one. I'm not getting a neck ache when I get up, but I do sometimes wake up and have to move around.
I am sleeping a little better. I still wake up, but I am waking up less often. This improvement started when I began with the water kefir/fermented vegetables, and there was another noticeable improvement when I started with the Kally and the D3. Of course I don't know which contributed to the positive change.
We went away overnight and I didn't take the Kally pillow with me, I went back to the V pillow. It was ok but I found myself missing the Kally which surprised me a bit.
Last night, I had the first full back spasm for a couple of weeks, which wasn't great. It also wasn't a surprise: we'd done a 4 hour car jouinrey Sunday night, and then a 5 hour car journey home Monday lunchtime.
I can't put my hand on my heart and say that I'm already feeling the benefit. Maybe I am, a bit - last Thursday's cleaning marathon suggests something. I'm looking forward to my next Chiro/Physio appointment, as I'm interested to see whether the therapist can feel any difference in my back.
