Environmental Triggers for Hormone Imbalance and Periodic Paralysis

Hi,

I'm really sorry to read about the difficulty you're going through.

What stood out from your post is the diets you said you've tried based on doctor recommendations. From experience doctors are rarely qualified to provide dietary or nutrition advice. Here in the UK, at least historically, the doctors and general medical practitioners receive little to no training on nutrition. I also understand that it is similar in the US, with less than 1% of a medical doctor's education being dedicated to diet and nutrition. I thought I'd highlight this in case you thought it would be helpful and were able to see a qualified nutritionist, instead?

Additionally, and in the off chance you haven't yet considered it. I've come to understand a whole food plant-based diet to be an optimal diet for health, and for protecting your body from diseases and mortality. I have a history of physical and mental health problems and all the pains and symptoms I used to have such as breathing difficulties, incontinence, body pains, and when things were at their worst: sleeplessness, overeating and recurring thoughts of suicide (which lasted for over a decade), all feel like they're gradually become nonexistent over the last four years, and particularly in the last year, where my eating habits feel like they've finally got to a good place. To briefly go into the diet side of things, or at least how I have come to understand it and have come to apply it: it's comprised of plant foods including fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, whole spices, beans and grains, and perhaps smaller amounts of nuts and seeds. With the colour in these foods being a good indicator of their nutritional value. So just as examples, brown rice over white, red or sweet potatoes over white, the black colour of the skin of an aubergine and the dark green of a cucumber indicating high levels of vitamins and minerals. Additionally, plant foods are full of fibre that help your digestive system operate well, passing through what it doesn't need. I think the best bit about it for me has been able to eat and not really worry about the amount I eat/overeat. And I've never felt more satiated. I also find that it's not hard or expensive to put together delicious meals. I go for convenience where possible with bags of pre-chopped fruit and veg, easy open tins of things like kidney beans and chickpeas, and easy to add spices to add to a variety of meals and salads.

I have also found it really helpful to fill-up on evidence based nutrition studies from nutritionfacts.org and other good sources. I find good in-depth knowledge on these things really motivate me to both try and keep to beneficial food and activity regimes such as getting enough sleep and adequate exercise. Regarding sleep, which is something I'm focusing on improving at the moment. It may be worth checking out the book 'Why We Sleep'. It's been really helpful to me, again in motivating me to sleep more (due to the evidence based study). The book also highlights things like the sleep epidemic the world is in, the damage that's done from lack of sleep, myths like sleep debt - there's no such thing apparently - losing sleep permanently damages us both mentally and physically.

The only other thing that comes to mind, and I might just finish by recommending a documentary that I thought was very well made and highlighted things well on the whole food plant-based side of things. It's called 'Food Choices' and should be available on Netflix and other good streaming services.

I hope I've been helpful, and I hope you find a way of improving things.