Update On All My Natural Supplements

I have been researching a lot about natural supplements. I am no longer willing to do only as my doctor prescribes (although I will always continue to do all that he prescribes). There are so many other options outside of the medical world and as I feel more and more desperate to be as healthy as possible for my daughter I am now delving into the natural side of treating CF.

Part of me wants to start all the supplements I have been researching right away and see how it improves my health. The problem is I am the daughter of a scientist and so for me, this just isn't possible. I want to make sure each supplement works for me and that I can feel the difference. I don't want to waste time and money on things that don't work for my body.

I started juicing in April and after deciding I felt a positive difference, I enjoyed the taste, and genuinely liked juicing so I decided I continue to juice.

In June I started L-Glutathione and noticed a HUGE difference and loved the change. I decided it was absolutely worth my time and the cost. The first night of using it my mucus was so thin I actually woke up gurgling. This was such a dramatic difference that I instantly wished that I had done L-Glut since my diagnosis. But then, something not so miraculous happened. I started to feel tight. It was subtle at first, but over the next few days I felt much more tight to the point that I became hard to breath let alone move mucus at all. The only change I had made was L-Glut (which is why I didn't start everything new at once) so I immediately stopped it. I felt some relief within a day or two. In order to be a good scientist I want to try L-Glut again and see if it was a fluke (something in the air that made me tight like an allergen) or if it really was the cause of my extreme tightness. Honestly, I have been a little nervous to try again.

In July I started Fizzy NAC for the second time in my life. I felt like I had positive results two years ago when I was using it, but stopped when I got pregnant with K. I am not as impressed with it this time around. I don't seem to feel a huge difference, but my health has been a little rocky since I got the flu last winter and so maybe it is just harder to tell the difference it is making. I am still using it, but have not decided if I am going to buy another shipment.

In late June I started Liposomal Vitamin C. Again, I am not 100% convinced it does much. I haven't noticed the difference that a lot of my CF friends have noticed. I wonder if I was getting enough Vit C through my diet so I didn't really see a difference. Again, I am not sure if I will be buying more when my bottle runs out.

Juicing

I have been using the juicer my brother got me for my birthday everyday for the last month. I can officially say I love juicing (and so does my husband. Kaylee even gets a few sips. Her favorite is spinach, kale, apple, carrot, and celery juiced together. Strange kid!). Before I get to the health benefits, I will say I love juicing mainly because I simply love the taste of fresh juice, it is the most refreshing drink! I have yet to find a combination I don't like (granted, the only food I can think of that I don't like much is cilantro so maybe I am just easy to please when it comes to flavors?). I will admit that I have yet to build up the courage to try adding garlic to my juice which I read is really healthy, but yuck! I am finding I might have a slight addiction because fresh juice is the only thing I want to drink now and I seriously crave it.

Okay, as for health benefits. I really wanted to start juicing because I have been having such a hard time recovering from the flu. I have no energy and cant get back to feeling like myself. I will admit it is hard to know if the juice made the difference or if it was simply my body building back strength due to time, but I have been fever free for a few weeks now! I have more energy (stopped napping every day with Kaylee, although I still lay down with her every few days) and I feel much more me than I have in a long time. I am sure juicing played some role in my recent health, but I will never know exactly how much. With breastfeeding I know I am using a lot of the nutrients I eat to make milk and give to Kaylee so I feel grateful that I can make an extremely nutrient dense drink everyday to help replenish some of what I am giving away with each feeding.

I am really trying to juice foods that are high in the vitamins that CFers usually need more of so I always add carrots (Vitamin A) and often add kale (Vit A, C, and K). I am supposed to get my labs drawn at my next CF clinic so I will be curious to see what my levels are (especially since I nurse). I also juice carrot and apple (yum) often because it is supposed to help with inflammation and I have a pretty severe asthma component to my CF.

I will keep everyone posted on my juicing journey. I am excited to continue juicing and trying new recipes especially as the heat of summer is just around the corner.

Bloodtests

So I got all my labs back and am happy to say they look pretty good. All my vitamin levels are in the healthy range, but all of them are in the low healthy range. Shocking because I eat SUPER healthy, take my vitamins EVERY day, and drink two ensures which are full of vitamins too. I am just happy they were in the healthy range, but looks like I will be adding AQUADEKS to the mix. I don't mind taking pills at all, but those things smell SO bad they are hard to get down. My liver enzymes are a little funky so I may start a new med to get those in check. They said they will retest in about 3 months and if they are still high then I will need to add one more pill to my routine. Stupid CF, but overall a very good report.