All The F’s in The World
The F Word Matters
To start with it was F for Fabry, Then F for Functional medicine. If there was one thing I was going to do was to get my head in the game and team up with a practitioner to delve deep and to try to treat the root cause to so many symptoms.
I signed up with the very lovely, very understanding and supportive Faye Hall. Faye is a Nutritionist specialising in clinical Psycho Neuro Immunology (cPNI) and Neuro Linguistic programming (NLP ) & a Functional Medicine Practitioner.
We worked together monthly and still do to try to ease symptoms of fatigue, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, gut health etc and to try to get the body and mind working as optimally as possibly aside from the Fabry.
Root Cause Matters
I’m a huge believer in treating root causes over popping pills to mask symptoms so armed with my diagnosis, my scans an initial set of full bloods it was time to get to work.
Mixing in my own Health Coaching & Nutrition Skills alongside Faye’s expertise, this was going to be a deep dive a new level of science and understanding test results, along with how best to pee…. Yes you read that right!!! Peeing on demand was a thing!
The first thing was a full on health Assessment, talking through the Fabry, all the symptoms and how I generally felt on a day to day basis. This was also understanding how it emotionally affected me as well as the physical elements.
From this we would work through the initial blood test results see what they showed us and work out what further private testing would be required.
DNA Fit Testing:
I had previously taken this test and then like a lot of things just left the results sat there on the laptop, not really taking any notice other than a low carb diet best suited me.. After the Fabry Diagnosis I don’t know why, but I referred back to this test to see if it gave any insight and wow it was actually warning me things were not right in my body..
I had a sensitivity to Fat, a High coeliac predisposition, very sensitive to alcohol, salt sensitivity was highly raised, then it showed my need for B vitamins, Omega need, antioxidants and how my body wasn’t processing things properly..
Without the Fabry diagnosis non of this I would have really taken much note of as I never added salt really to food, I ate plenty of good fats, always low carb and stopped drinking 8 years ago as I knew it wasn’t agreeing with my body.
This now meant something and was a great starting point to then do some further tests
ZinZino Omega Test
Because of my need for omegas I did a quick finger prick of blood to send off to Zinzino to get my levels read and then a good quality dose of omega oil to take daily and then monitored every 6 months.
Omegas
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats that have numerous health benefits. Your body needs to get them from food, and they’re found in things like fish, walnuts, and leafy vegetables. They’re also thought to help prevent heart disease and stroke, as well as depression. But like anything these days our foods are becoming more and more depleted of nutrients and also our fish more and more toxic.
Omega-3s provide the starting point for making hormones that regulate blood clotting, contraction and relaxation of artery walls, and inflammation.
Omega-3 fats have been shown to help prevent heart disease and stroke, may help control lupus, eczema, and rheumatoid arthritis, and may play protective roles in cancer and other conditions, according to many medical journals and studies.
Pee Test
Pissing in a pot easy peasy eh!! Well it was but the hardest part was ensuring you had timed it right not had certain things to eat drink before hand and then filled out all the correct paperwork and labelled everything up properly..
I’m getting pretty into this medical jazz and lab stuff.. The pee test was conducted through Genova Diagnostics, I opted for the metabolomix a combination of nutritional tests that provides an analysis of key nutritional biomarkers.
This test was to look at the functional need for antioxidants, B-vitamins, minerals, digestive support, fatty acids, and amino acids.
I had a need for b vitamins especially B3 Glutathione, it showed toxicity exposure which shocked me as I had a high level of plastic and petroleum in my body, issues with energy production and a need for Iron as I was extremely low and a few other key markers of inflammation and oxidative stress.
This gave a great baseline to look at a full overhaul of diet of supplements of adding in a water filter changing any containers to glass etc and ensuring all the products I use on my skin and hair are toxin free so using my favourite brand TROPIC SKINCARE.
Poop Testing
Well not as easy as it sounds especially when you struggle to go anyway… Oh and then catching it in a tray dissecting it to send off, at least I have a strong stomach and stuff like this doesn’t phase me.
It’s really not as bad as it sounds nor as fun as i’ve made out really.. I just love talking about poo because it’s vitally important to our overhaul health and wellbeing.
I used Invivo and the test I went with was GI EcologiX
This test is the ultimate gut health and microbiome stool test providing a comprehensive analysis of the GI ecosystem and chronic disease-related microbial (bacteria, yeast, parasites) markers, which are backed by the clinical literature, alongside host health markers.
It is a chronic disease-centric profile, replacing acute microbial markers and those routinely tested for in healthcare systems.
It looked at:
7 x health markers to assess inflammation, immune function, digestion, gut barrier health, and occult blood
– 63 x microbial markers including markers related to IBD, mucin degradation and gut barrier impairment, SCFA production, SIBO, H. pylori, dysbiosis, inflammation.
I was sure this test was going to say I had all sorts going on in the gut, but surprisingly my gut health was in good shape and the only real thing was a small amount of SIBO to deal with.. I was really happy with that. I do try to eat well and ensure i have gut friendly bacteria along with pre and pro biotics.
Private testing can be expensive but being sick can be even more so.. I highly recommend to work with a functional practitioner and get private testing done. This gives a really good insight as to what is going on in the body and it’s starting at the root cause so that we can deal with the issues rather than masking over symptoms.
He who has health, has hope and he who has hope, has everything. – Thomas Carlyle.
So F for Fabry F for Functional Medicine!!!
You will notice on my treatment days that I also have a little F ritual Face, Frock Flowers!!! F is the FEEL Good Factor!!
