Author’s Message of Pancreas Damage Survival
With this book I share the actions taken to uncover the pancreas damage, particularly EPI, which had caused dozens of health symptoms, including ME/CFS, and the steps taken to go from death’s door to a functioning human being again.
It is written it in a way that I wish had been available to me when my health first started to deteriorate, or after dozens of doctors still had no answers, or even after my official medical diagnosis.
Like many others, my situation had stumped a few dozen doctors with varying specialties after countless ECGs, ultrasounds, X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, blood, urine and stool tests spread over the years prior to the diagnosis. Most available hours of energy I had in the last 4 years were spent in reading and researching my symptoms and possible ways to heal.
Just a few examples of major symptoms that were resolved in my case: malabsorption, nutrient deficiencies, heart arrhythmia and premature ventricular contractions, asthma-like breathing issues, pre-diabetes, hypoglycemia, low testosterone, sleep disorders, neurotransmitter issues, paresthesia, coordination issues, eyesight issues, brain fog, memory, temporary stuttering and dyslexia issues, many layers and areas of constant pain, microbiome dysbiosis, slow wound and soft tissue healing, debilitating weakness and fatigue, secondary mitochondrial dysfunction, silent reflux, small intestinal bacterial and Candida yeast overgrowth, triglycerides, HDL, homocysteine, and HbA1C levels
It has been a journey of six years of unhealth, five years without knowing a pain-free day, four years of non-stop malaise, over three years of being homebound where anything food related, and frankly life itself, was torture. For those of you suffering from chronic fatigue, pain or illness, or any pancreatic damage you have likely suffered far worse.
I was too stubborn to accept that the remainder of my life would have devolved into being a prisoner of my bed or couch, dependent on my wife for everything to just survive in pain and malaise. Determined not to take doctors’ feedback as gospel any longer, I was able to ask for the right medical tests to perform to finally uncover my exocrine (EPI) and endocrine pancreas damage. Four doctors had actually told me my pancreas was fine, even though it was so atrophied that there was only a sliver of the organ left, barely visible on the scan, and I had less than 10% functionality left.
Since I wanted to find out what caused my health breakdown and how I could get better, I kept track of how I felt most days, including any symptoms, medical test trials, food and supplementation experimentation, bodily insult lowering actions, as well as any interesting bits of information I gathered during my research. The notes I kept throughout the years helped me to write this book.
If it can help even one person by shedding some light, in order to speed up the diagnosis and healing process, it was worth writing
I also hope that doctors who have a difficult time diagnosing a patient due to the wide variety of symptoms, or even when pancreas damage is suspected or confirmed, can use this book as a reference guide.
Now I would like to share this information with you!
A. Toxopeus
Road to Recovery Actions
I had to figure the recovery steps out myself through lots of reading, trial and error, by being proactive with doctors, and researching desired medical tests. Healing required root cause analysis and a comprehensive approach that looked at the overall metabolic and mitochondrial functioning. Almost all the steps I had to take would be helpful for anyone trying to heal, or even as preventative maintenance.
This included the following major areas:
1. Removing any bodily insults I had control over in order to lower oxidative stress, inflammation, and the toxic load strain to the body. Help the body rebalance and heal is the goal.
2. Analyzing and correcting nutrient deficiencies.
3. Medical testing for pancreatic damage and any related downstream health effects.
4. Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy (PERT) to be able break down food into useable nutrients.
5. Strict food and water intake quality analysis and adherence. Immensely important step! Many elements were completely surprising to me during my research and recovery, as I always thought I ate and lived healthily.
6. Supplementation to resolve deficiencies in vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, amino acids and fatty acids.
7. Tackling microbiome dysbiosis through medical testing, food, water, medicine and supplements.
8. Testing and re-balancing Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) and Candida yeast overgrowth. Both of these also hinder nutrient absorption and production, impact auto immune reactions, increase food sensitivities, and increase the toxic load on the body.
9. Silent or acid reflux resolution, as this is a big signal from your body on food and water quality intake, as well as microbiome dysbiosis. The potential for further damage impact and malabsorption is not trivial. This signal should not be ignored nor constantly suppressed by the common antacids and PPIs.
10. Rebalancing neurotransmitters through nutrient support, food and water quality. Much of it can be caused by nutrient deficiencies and microbiome dysbiosis, but there is also a mental element of being chronically ill that needs addressing, both of which can get you into a vicious cycle.
11. Other primal healing elements to help support the body in its healing process, for example, meditation, sauna, mineral baths, sleep hygiene, etc.
My goal with the Primal Pancreas practical guide book is to share all my findings with you in the hope that it provides one more avenue to at least consider.
https://www.primalpancreas.com/
Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) and Pancreas Damage Book
