Billye: here's how Alan makes his shakes.

He tried a new one. Chocolate. That did it for him. He won't use anything else.

He takes a blender, fills it up to line 32 with skim milk, he takes two scoop of the chocolate whey protein mix (he uses GNC 100% Whey Protein), then he adds 4 splendas (he likes is very sweet). Then he adds some ice cubes. Then he hits the pulse button on the blender until it gets all mixed up. With the chocolate one, you get a kind of chocolate milk. Alan goes nuts (i tasted it and he is right to go nuts, it's the most delicious thing I ever drank).

Then he has the strawberry one. This one he does a bit different.
He uses the same amount of skim milk, two scoops of the strawberry whey mix, a whole banana, 4 splendas, and some ice. The he pulses it until it's like a thick shake. You never tasted something so good in you life.

But now that he bought the chocolate, he goes crazy over that. I told him "put a banana in that" and he said "no, I like my bananas at night. This man is eating me out of house and home but who cares, he feels better and the exercise he does is good for his neuropathy, (the PN doctor at Methodist told him to keep doing what he's doing).

So there you have the shake mixtures. Happy shaking!!!!

Show this graphic to your hubby, he'll bust out lauging.

Thanks Mel,
It saved me some irritation to my fingers.

Billye

I strongly suggest you add a tablespoonful of flax oil to your shakes.
It might help your nails alot, as well as the nerves. You have to have omega-3s in order to live and heal. (you won't taste it).

Try to use fresh fruit, as this is high in potassium. The whey is predigested so
you don't have to worry about protein failures. Some wheys have l-glutamine added and that is also good .

Bananas, strawberries, mango ( I like mango ones) are good and have alot to
offer. There are fruit sorbets by Edy's also, which make nice smoothies quickly. An ounce of boysenberry really works nicely with fresh strawberries!
I also do pineapple (canned in its own juice)/coconut milk to make a pina colada type. I typically use vanilla yogurt instead of milk. And thin with the fruit juice. I think you need to get some good fats into you, to repair. Your weight loss will allow you that luxury! Yogurt gives cultures and calcium for you better than milk. It is easier to digest too. (you can't taste it in the mix).

Some people cannot tolerate Splenda...so I would not use that yet. YOu are not looking to lose weight. Using fruit, no extra sugar should be necessary. I never have added sugar.

Thanks Mrs. D.
That's wonderful info. I love fruit so it's no problem. We will experiment with some to see what my mouth will tolerate.

I'm taking the Flax Oil Capsule and a Fish Oil Capsule. Will those be as good as the liquids?

Oh..another question. You know I just had a gastric ulcer discovered. I realized after I got home that the GI doc did not say anything about the Fosamax. Is this med a problem? I can't take it until I finish the antibiotics for the h.pylori bacteria anyway but wondered if my ulcer and the Fosamax was a problem with the Nexium. And should I take the Nexium before the Fosamax?

Thanks for all the info, you are so valuable to us.

Billye

I am printing your thread so I can read it thoroughly. Thank you for your sharing in this experience. I am grateful for it, yet, I am sorry you have to go through this. Many answeres to be found and I pray they do.

Bless Ya, Star

Hi Billye,

Glad to hear you are back home safe and sound. Were your dogs delighted to see you???

I am happy to hear they found the h. pylori! Not happy you have it~ but happy they found that. It is also one of those things that can commonly be seen in tandem with gluten sensitivity~ another chicken-egg scenario about whether the gluten sensitivity happens because the gut is damaged by h. pylori, or whether gut damage from underlying gluten sensitivity predisposes one to succumb more easily to h. pylori. (or coincidental) http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com...tritis&colitis

I know you said that you hadn't noticed any improvement on a gluten free diet, and my guess is that you didn't test positive for gluten related antibodies~ but what if a gf diet was slowly helping??? There continues to be new research on leaky gut and autoimmune disease...mostly research on zonulin levels/leaky gut....but one has to consider whether gut damage from any cause (gluten sensitivity, h. pylori, lyme disease, etc)..can lead to "food antigen related" autoimmune disease. This is still theoretical, but some of the new research coming in is supportive and worth watching, I think.

I'm happy you will be clearing that h. pylori!

And, I'm glad you made it through the trip! What a journey. I bet it feels very good to be back home .

Cara

Cara,
I did not test positive for the gluten related antibiodies. I am seriously thinking of returning to the gluten free diet. It just seems easier to digest for me. Just have to figure out a way to eat things that will help me stabilize my weight.

Yes, my fur-babies were delirious to see us. I posted in the Pet section of NeuroTalk about this.

I saw the local neuro this morning with the preliminary Mayo report. She readily admitted that this part of the country (Texas) is lacking in the facility to do a lot of the testing they do at Mayo. She said she had not done a sweat test in 10 years and also did not have the ability to do a lot of the autonomic testing.

She is concerned about my pain and is increasing my Lyrica again. I am ramping up to take 150 mg. 3 times a day. Hoping it helps with this burning pain. It seems to be the least drying of everything we have tried.

Yes, I am very glad to be home. But the downside of this trip was that now my husband is having problems with his back. So to the local ortho with him to see what has happened. Probably all the lifting and the wheelchair pushing etc. He has been so healthy that this is a blow.

Thanks for the welcome home.

Billye

I just wanted to take time to give you all a progress report. Lots of things going on.

Mayo sent me home with a 4 week intense physical theraphy program to hopefully help with the sitting pain and to help me gain some strength. The result of all of this intensive therapy is that I drove myself to the beauty shop yesterday to get my hair cut. I haven't driven in almost two years. I still have several weeks to go on the pt and I can't say the sitting pain is any better, but..I have more strength in my legs, more balance and a much better outlook. We actually made a very brief foray into the local mini-mall and purchased me some sox. Hey..new socks for the first time in a couple of years. Yay!! I actually get up and feel better about my life. The physical therapy hasn't been easy and it doesn't seem to be getting any easier to do but I am doing it. I freely admit..it hurts..but I feel I have to do the very best I can.

The middle back strain has gotten better, I can bend now without it catching in my back so obviously I injured something with all the lifting/traveling/whatever and hopefully it is healing. Just have to be careful not to do it again.

I have also gained some weight. I'm hoping some of it is muscle. But some of it may be because I'm not so depressed. My appetite is better and I think the additional dose of Lyrica has helped cut down the pain in my tongue. The whey shakes (thanks Mrs. D and Melody) have helped with this. Now I just need to maintain and not get fat. I'm hoping I can do this with some of the good diet tips you all have posted on this forum.

Nothing has changed about my medical situation. No changes in testing at the rheumatologist two weeks ago. The inflammatory process is still neutralized and he is cutting out one Indomethecin giving me only a morning dose. This is to allow my ulcer more room to heal. He is recommending I have a followup endoscopy in two months to be sure the ulcer and erosions are healed/healing and to test again for the h-pylori bacteria. This is all just a safety precaution. I'll do this locally. Cutting the dose will give me an increase in overall pain but he thinks it is necessary because of my compromised immune system. He also feels that we should start cutting down the methotrexate and Humira doses to give my body the balance it needs. He plans to do this slowly so we can keep an eye on things. Mayo told us that they would not recommend I go any lower than 15 mg on the methotrexate due to the nervous system involvement. That means I can drop 5 mg and still have the protection from it. And dropping 5 mg means that I will be that much less likely to develop the cancer, bone marrow, etc. problems that can come from these drugs.

We still plan to go back to Mayo in late Spring to have the pelvic floor therapy. Dreading that trip terribly, but maybe I will be in much better physical condition and we will have learned from the previous trip what to do and not to do. And the therapy might help me with another serious problem.

All of these things add up to a much happier, healthier me. Now I just wish we could get my sweet husband's back/hip problem cleared up. He's not getting any better and physical therapy has actually made it worse. He's scheduled for a sacro. joint injection to see if that gives him relief or helps diagnose what is wrong.

Once again, I've written a book, but I thought I'd pass on the things that have come out of this trip for us.
Love to all,
Billye

Thanks so much for the update. I think of you often and wondered how you were doing.

Continued improvement with everything, Billye.

Hi Billye:

Good to hear you drove, bought sox, etc.

Hope you continue to improve. One step at a time. You've had a very rough road and it was so nice that you shared your progress with us.

Glad the whey shakes are doing you good.

Oh by the way, I found a new way to get vegetables into Alan. Also very cost effective. This man is eating me out of house and home and his snacks are disgusting. He loves Shredded Wheat and Fiber One cereal. One box of Fiber one cost $4.69 and he loves this. I think he's lost his mind.

So I got him to stop eating cereal at night and eat some fruit instead so that's one good thing. But here is what I do to save money on my veggies and he LOVES THEM.

I take a half zucchini, half a carrot and half an apple, I shred them with the shredder of my new V-Slicer. Then I put a little egg beaters in the mix, and a dash of unsalted bread crumbs (as a binder, I guess).

Well, I made a batch, formed nice round patties, and sprayed some pam in the bottom of a frying pan. I add maybe one table spoon of Extra virgin olive oil to the whole pan so that's not a lot, for all these patties.

Now I put the patties in the hot frying pan and let them brown and sizzle. Now the secret why he's crazy about them is the honey. Just a drop on each pattie. (I don't eat this by the way, I can't stand anything sweet). And he can't have that stupid pancake syrup any more), so these patties have no sodium, a dash of honey and all the veggies and whatever calcium is in the small amount of egg beaters. I guess I could use egg whites but this is what I have in my fridge.

You should have seen him the first time I gave this to him. The honey makes glaze on the top of the patty and as it browns it combines the tastes of the apples and the carrots and he WENT NUTS!!!

His exact words "this is the most delicous thing you ever gave me, what is it". I just said "oh, it's a fritter". So at night, he gets his veggies, his protein and his baked potato. He is maintaining his weight, he is off the lyrica with no problems (so far). and on the 22 of Jan, we go to Methodist to get further consult with Dr. Goldfarb, about the cause of his PN. SHe had said that if all the test came back negative and she thinks it's his back, she knows a good back guy. So we shall see.
Alan just wants to know WHY he has this PN.

We probably never will but I believe he's doing the best he can be doing (going to the gym, maintaining the weight loss, so that's a good thing.

So I'm so happy you are doing good.

Love, Melody

P.S. Try making the veggie fritters. You'll love em