Sounds like a movie, doesn't it?

Well, the last few weeks my intestinals problems have gotten progressively worse and I've been trying to find the problem. Then my bottom eyelid started jumping and has been for a couple weeks now. Oddly, as the diarrhea is starting to subside, so is the eyeball jumping.

Does this make sense to anyone? I'm sure puzzled.

Well, Nancy, there's a subject line that I'm sure will get you lots of attention!! :-)

Have you been eating anything unusual or lots of something? For example, since it's harvest time of the year, I'm eating lots more tomatoes than I usually do and in another week or two I'll be eating tons more Asian pears than I usually do.

Are you eating more soy or casein than usual? Those two proteins are so similar to gluten that many people are sensitive to them, too, and this can sneak up on you when you don't expect it.

I'm sorry you're struggling with this. It's no fun.

Hope you get it figured out!

Rachel

Hi, Nancy....

I think you have lost alot of electrolytes with your "problem".
Eyelid twitching can reflect also a fatty acid deficiency. There is even a paper on PubMed from the Basel corp (I had a copy of it on the OBT) that saw
success in a trial of Omega-3's on blepharospasms.

But I think that in your case primarily you should try to to increase your
potassium intake by choosing foods high in that mineral. Cantaloupe is one of the highest and now in season. (1,400 mg/half melon).

Chronic diarrhea also depletes magnesium, which can cause muscle twitching.
But be careful... when you are "upset" this way, mag could set you off again.
So foods high in mag would be gentler.

I, myself, had a spate of traveler's diarrhea this summer, and it was a bit hard to get rid of too. I used metamucil (an old intervention a GI specialist gave me many years ago before my son was born). This soaks up the toxins into the fiber and allows you to pass them. I also discovered that using Lactaid milk helped alot. I am not typically lactose intolerant, but with age, and perhaps infection, the inability of digest lactose complicates recovery from diarrhea.
(small children often have this effect and my son did too).

I also used the new yogurt Activia... and found it helpful.

Sorry to hear about your troubles Nancy. My digestive problems were getting steadily worse this summer. I did a bunch of testing for parasites that were negative. The most valuable test was an IgG antibody test for delayed food allergies. Soy, nuts and seeds came up as the culprits, and I didn't even have that great of a reaction (mild to moderate). I had already suspected the soy, but having concrete numbers in front of you helps to comply to restricting that food. I never suspected the nuts because the reaction was delayed about 24 to 48 hours. I never had the patience to do a food elimination diet.

I don't get diarrhea anymore after restricting those foods, but I still get loose stools and gas, especially when I eat out or eat new processed foods. You never know entirely what you are getting from those two unknowns. When I stick to whole foods and leave out the ones I react to, I'm usually ok.

I have also had the eyelid thing. It was always something my chiropractor could tell me about through muscle testing. Usually, it was somekind of nutritional deficiency. Do you have a health care practitioner who can help you with that kind of thing?

Now, the challenge is to get to the bottom of this leaky gut and heal it. Unfortunately, my doctor never tested me for Candida, which will be one of the next tests I'll try to do. I think I'll be staying away from antibiotics and NSAIDs for the rest of my life, if I can help it!

Claire

I'm already soy, gluten, casein free. I think the culprit was one of:

sunflower seeds (I was eating a lot of them, noticed they were coming out pretty much in the same condition they went in)
Eggs (I eat lots of eggs -- noticed my gut burbling badly after eating)
Peanuts (*cry*)
Coconut

So right now I'm restricting down to fruits, veggies, spices, meats and I'll see if anything changes. I do have a carton of eggs I should use up.

Sorry for the gross title, I hope it does't make anyone queasy. It struck me as funny at the time.

The doctor sent me home with tests for all the common bacteria/parasites and is drawing blood for ttg again. I guess he suspects that I'm getting glutened, but I know I'm not.

Oddly, concurrently with all this, I've been having sensations at night that feel like someone is poking me with a pin. Very sharp, fleeting pain. Happens mostly in my hips. At first I thought it was a bug but I don't see any blood, don't see any bugs. This has also subsided a bit.

I'll try adding some potassium. I have some salt-substitute. Magnesium... I think I'll have to buy some. I've been taking B-vitamins and B12 (sublingual). My diarrhea isn't the watery sort so I don't think I'm getting dehydrated at all. Its odd, none of my D is the watery sort. Very soft, but never watery. Also, there was a sort of oil or perhaps mucus floating at the top of the water. I think oil, not sure mucus floats like that. Sounds like malabsorption doesn't it?

I was thinking the doctor would check my pancrease since oily stools indicate pancrease enzyme deficiency, I think.

I had a problem with burping a while ago. I realized my deficiencies causes some problems with my pancreas. I needed not just enzymes but also bi-carbonate. If you take just enzymes without the bi-carbonate the enzymes may not work because they need the right ph in the GI tract. Burping is usually a sign of too much acid.

I am not saying that you may have this problem but in this country doctors over medicate stomach problems with antacids. Too much acid may be just that or it may be lack of bi-carbonate too.

The thing is that enzymes could be useful for most people. The bi-carb may be needed but this is something you might want to check with your doctor about.

Also eating one food every day is not good for people who have food allergies or sensitivities. But how many of us are guilty of eating the same foods day in and day out?

I have had to take potassium supplements and know they can cause cramps or other GI problems. I don't recommend the supplements but either the salt substitute or the e-merg-C mineral ascorbates packets instead. (The vitamin C packets you mix with water have 200 mg. of potassium which is twice the amount the pill supplements are allowed.) But magnesium regulates your calcium, potassium, chloride levels, so I think magnesium would work better for the twitching.

Sorry your not feeling well. I was looking at the foods you've been eating, and the ones your not suppose to have, but correct me if I'm wrong, I think soy beans and peanuts are related, there both lugumes. And if you can't have one then maybe the other one also?
I could be wrong, but I recently went on the GARD diet, and thats were I learned this info. The bean family, navy, lentils, pinto, garbonzo. lima , nuts, espeacialy peanuts , cashews, pistachios. sunflower, pumpkin. Those are the ones your not to eat.
Hope this helps, Patricia

I was thinking pancreas too due to the oily stuff in the toilet. I looked on the net and that was one thing that might cause it.

Soy seems to have it's own issues in addition to the problems all legumes have. I know I shouldn't be eating peanuts but it is one of my last treats. Well, perhaps I can work out a compromise with my body.

SCD for the *d*. Are you familiar with it? Meat, veggies, fruit... no starch (no potato, sweet potato, beans, grain, etc.)

Zinc has stopped my son's 'twitchy eye'. That's the second twitch it's stopped. He had a 'breathe twitch a couple of years ago that was resolved by zinc. I quit supplementing it a few months ago and noticed he came up with an eye twitch a month ago or so. I started up his zinc again and he has lost the eye twitch. I can't explain it though.

Ok, zinc is sounding good. I did SCD for awhile but through I'd follow Paleo instead, which is basically the same thing, except no dairy products and a little tighter restrictions on some things.

But, my Mom got ill and that lead to some stress eating. Pretty sure Cheetos aren't paleo food. I was getting back into the saddle with the my eating but went a little wild on Sunflower seeds and natural peanut butter (mixed with raisins and a touch of honey... don't try it, it is too good). And I have been hitting the eggs extra heavy with my discovery of "sweet omelets". I've always had this suspicion that nuts were not my friends and now I think we could add seeds to that category, and perhaps legumes and eggs.

I've been on a very strict paleo with a couple of exceptions (splenda, and an occassional forray into peanut territory when I'm absolutely starving at work). For the last week I've been getting more strict and things have been settling down. I guess I'll hold it at this and see if I can keep my gut in order for a week, then I'll try something fancy again. Like sunflower seeds.

Meanwhile, I suppose I should try to find some other thing I can have at work when I'm really hungry. Maybe I should just keep cans of tuna in my drawer. Yuck, not exactly what appeals to me in the middle of the day.