raynaud syndrom

[littleElefant]

Hi all ,

I'm on my  healing paleo journey coming from raw vegan I already feel a lot better.
Anyway there are still some issues from my vegan (starvation ) times I have not solved yet.
The last years I developed this thing with my microcirculation, like raynauds but not as bad. It is already better, also because of the cold treatment I am doing.Still my Fingernails are always white, the tips are red, looks weird. (sign of bad circulation) I have often blue feet or hands or lips and if it is a bit cold I get chilblains. So not cool.
I know I get warmer when I eat meat and good fats, fish I love but does not seems to help with this toppic. I get cold with veggies, specially with green juices. Not with wild herbs, they seem to be warming.
Löwenherz told me he had raynauds when he ate a lot of veggies, specially the hard and fibrous stuff. That made me think.
Perhaps I overdo the veggie thing and also might be that I eat to much fiber?
What are your experience with circulation, a lot of vegetation in the diet, fiber, warm and cold feelings in the body.
I also eat loads of coconut, it is also very fibrous. Would it be better to make coconutmilk, could it be that all this fiber takes to much strength to digest?
What about coconut oil, good for circulation or is it more a burden for the lymph? (I thing I am quite very much congested)
I thought about skiping or heavily reducing vegetable matter for a week or so and see if something changes? I feel that a lot of things I do are already so good for me but there are clearly some things I keep doing that sabotage my progress

[goodsamaritan]

Have you experimented with cayenne?

[joej627]

I have had issues with this in the past.  Partly has to do with what your eating.  Part of it has to do with metabolism.  Maybe emotional issues.  Here is my ideas for you:

1. enhance "microcirculation" through herbs like ginger, garlic, cayenne, parsley, turmeric, cinnamon, etc. 

2. Massage or self-scalp stimulation.  Basically massage your head and neck with tips of your fingers a few times a day.

3.  If your eating lots of plants, let them warm up to room temperature first.  The nature of plants is not as "cool" and shocking to the body normally in nature.  It is 100 degrees outside here.  Leave food sit out a bit before you try it

4. This is something i recently learned about.  Carry around a digital pocket thermometer.  The goal is 98.6.  I can almost promise you your average temperature will be lower than this.  Take it before and after meals and see whether you go up or down.  This shows what is REALLY good for you.  For instance, if I eat a giant salad, sure the veggies are "alive, rich of nutrition, etc" but the fiber completely screws up digestion making for a net LOSS in energy derived from it.  My body has to probably use more energy to break down all the fiber than it gets from the plants.

5. Mild exercise and sauna.  These also will increase lymph flow and circulation

6. Figure out if you have detox work to do.  Circulation won't work very well with clogged up colon, liver, kidneys

There is probably more but that is what i got for now 

-Joe

[bachcole]

noel,

You might check out Ayurvedic Medicine.  Although they were swept up in the agricultural fad 5000 years ago just like everyone else, they have a lot of really good ideas about hot:cold, dry:wet, assertive:passive, sattwic:rajasic:tamasic, etc.

The other thing that I can think of is niacin.  It needs to be studied; niacinamide is a waste of money.  And you need to not take too much.  This is probably not something that you would want to do forever, but it might help you to recover.

[raw-al]

I have had issues with this in the past.  Partly has to do with what your eating.  Part of it has to do with metabolism.  Maybe emotional issues.  Here is my ideas for you:

1. enhance "microcirculation" through herbs like ginger, garlic, cayenne, parsley, turmeric, cinnamon, etc. 

2. Massage or self-scalp stimulation.  Basically massage your head and neck with tips of your fingers a few times a day.

5. Mild exercise and sauna.  These also will increase lymph flow and circulation

-Joe

joej627,
All these suggestions you made make sense but here is further explanation on the selected ones.

Noel, Raw honey is a good choice, especially early season honey as it is stronger. If you have access to it, vata tea would be useful, as well as triphala or a teaspoon of castor oil before bedtime.

Your picture indicates a vata constitution which tells me that you have variable digestion/elimination, generally will feel cold and crave warmth, etc. Avoid any foods that are cold, hard, dry, rough or light. Favour warm, moist, soft, oily foods that are sweet, sour or salty tasting. Meat, eggs, fat, very possibly dairy, would be apropos.

Eat a number of smaller meals rather than larger meals.

Here is a better list, follow the vata list: http://ayurveda.com/pdf/food-guidelines.pdf

Here is an advanced version of the # 2 suggestion
http://abhyanga-rub-yourself-the-right-way.blogspot.ca/

# 5 would be satisfied by Yoga asanas or Tai Chi or other soft fist Marshall Arts. Meditation is a very good idea for you as it will calm you down mentally and physically.

Fasting is an exceptionally bad idea for you. Don't let anyone talk you into it.

[wodgina]

Lucky or unlucky it's Psychosomatic.

Better eating may help you feel better and cope with issues better but it's you body displaying stress, tension or some other emotional issue.

[raw-al]

Lucky or unlucky it's Psychosomatic.

Better eating may help you feel better and cope with issues better but it's you body displaying stress, tension or some other emotional issue.

Every body type has it's emotional issues,
Vata is typically afflicted with fear/anxiety and conversely cheerfulness and excitement, etc.
Pitta with anger and conversely excellent speakers, etc
Kapha with greed and conversely dignity and loving warmth, etc.

The body and mind are intimately connected and so one's distress, shows up in the other. That's why it is important not to stress the body unnecessarily, because it will drag down the mind and vice versa. When the mind gets dragged down, it is important to drag it back up again and the same with the body.

[jessica]

kelp! its my solution for everything
i used to have this problem and when my circulation finally kicked in for the day or week my feet and hands would burn up!  a lot of it has to do with hormones.  also i know when i was too skinny i was always cold it was harder to heat up.  keep up with what you are doing, consistently, nourish yourself well and have moderate exercise for a few months, sauna is great for this alternating with cold shower as it will draw circulation to places that are stubborn.  have you ever tried dry brushing? that is a good way to increase circulation. and also add the herbs(ginger, garlic, mustard, tumeric, cinnamon, pepper) or make teas (peppermint, ginger, there are a ton of others, google!) alway eat food warm,

[littleElefant]

Huh, thanks a lot for your advise, that's nice
goodsamaritan, I did not do a lot with Cheyenne yet, do you mean I should sprinkle it on my food like this or drink it or so?
Joe, yes, herbs are certainly very helpfull, I used a lot of ginger today. With garlic I'm not so sure, because it also lowers blood pressure and my blood pressure is already quite low. cinnamon is a good Idea also, even thou I don't do a lot of food preparation at the moment because I want to be more in tune with what I'm eating
Head and neck massage sounds good, I'm going to try this as well
I always try to eat warm food, cold food totally turns me off
The thing with the thermometer is cool. I just took my temp., it is 95,3.
My goal should be 98,6. OK I think I have to eat a lot of red meat and Cheyenne .
I'm going to take my temp the next days like you said before and after I eat, that could be very interesting. Often I feel how the food affects me but this will be objective.
Did you use this method already and did you learn something?
I would love to get my body temp up, I admire people with a warm strong body.
Mild exercises I do already.
Sure I have a lot of detox to do. But at the moment my focus is more stabilising and gaining strength. The last weeks I lost some of my hard gained weight because I felt the need to clear my system, I just stooped ove rating and late night eating and mixing so much. I feel better now but I start being skinny again
bachcole, I studied Ayurveda a lot and love it. I'm very much a Vata person and I try to live accordingly.
I take niacin already as a B vit group suppl.
Raw all,  honey does not agree with me but Vata tee I will try. Triphala, is it not a herb for constipation or more for detox? I will look into it. Do you take it, you have a lot of Vata yourself
I still eat to much food with cold rough dry light character. But I eat it warm .  Sure I have to reduce all this raw vegetable stuff, it takes so much energy to digest and makes me cold, especially the greeeens. On the other hand sides it feels clean and easy and it clears my system, I love it.
Dairy I don't want any more in my diet. I experimented a lot with it the last years, after some times it always makes me sick.
Eggs I'm not sure about, if I eat them I have a clogged nose the next day, sometimes small inflammations and candida symptoms???
There is not so much fat my body likes. Olive Oil and Coconut oil makes me sick, the back fat and fat around the kidneys from beef and lamb I find hard to digest as well.  I eat a lot of coconut every day and some avocado,  both are not very warming foods I guess.
Fasting I don't do of course. I try to eat already before I leave the house. Vor a couple of days I try to eat a bit later, do some exercises like swimming on an empty stomach and eat my proteins later, inspired by Dr Mercola, but I instantly lost weight  -XNot cool
Wodgina, of curse you are right, it is very much psychosomatic as well, I'm super anxious and scared of live itself I guess. I do a lot of energies work already and also I supplement things like magnesium and tryphtophan and gaba to calm me down .
Jessica, kelp is your solution for everything I don't have kelp but nori and dulse and I use them a lot because they are so good for me also.
My hormones are totally mixed up. I think it has a lot to do with my weight. My hormone status is very low.
That is not healthy at all, I already have signs of osteoporosis, umpf.

[Dorothy]

Cayenne is an adaptogenic herb that helps the circulatory system. You can sprinkle it or take it as a capsule, but if you take it as a capsule make sure to put just the tiniest bit on your tongue to as it is a kind of herb that needs the brain to register it's presence.

Along with all the suggestions already you might want to check out Al's thread on incline bed therapy. I have a vata issues as well and inclining my bed has helped me to be warmer at night and during the day. With the intensity of issues like yours though I would highly suggest going VERY slowly raising the head of the bed up no more than an inch at a time.

[goodsamaritan]

Acupuncture and chiropractics may help if that is the root cause of your problem.  There is an 8 year old boy who recently had your symptoms and acupuncture in his spine did the trick.

[cherimoya_kid]

I know I get warmer when I eat meat and good fats, fish I love but does not seems to help with this topic.

I'd suggest eating the very fatty fish.  Lowfat fish won't help much.

[joej627]

Yea fatty fish is good advice.  It seems you are starving for good quality fat/protein and warming foods.  Could there be part of your psyche that doesn't allow them in?  I know it's weird, but sometimes our bodies won't accept things even if they are good for us if they don't fit our mental ideals.  Yea i have made  a lot of progress with raising my temperature.  My baselines are around 97.3 or so first thing in the morning then around 98.1-98.8 during the day depending on what i eat.  Eat some slow cooked root veggies smothered in raw butter or bone marrow and see what happens =)  Lightly cooked liver/onions in bone marrow or butter is another one.  Your just need more "rich" or heavy foods I bet.

[Dorothy]

I personally find that when I eat cooked foods the heat/energy from my extremities goes to my stomach to work on that tough job and I get cold after a cooked meal where if I ate all raw I stay warmer generally.

[stoneforest]

This raynauds phenomenon is due to vasospasm of the capillaries in the affected areas. I believe this is due to neuropathy in which the tiny nerve endings  are not able to quickly readjust to temperature changes and maintain normal temperature in ur hands. I believe that this is due to loss of myelin in the nerve endings which is made up of fat.
Cayenne and ginger may provide a temporary relief but I feel fat is the answer.   I myself have thisproblem and im increasing my beef and fatty fish intake. I feel this is a slow but lasting solution to the problem. People with MS are able to regenerate myelin so why shouldn't others with neuropathies.  Good luck my friend

[raw-al]

This raynauds phenomenon is due to vasospasm of the capillaries in the affected areas. I believe this is due to neuropathy in which the tiny nerve endings  are not able to quickly readjust to temperature changes and maintain normal temperature in ur hands. I believe that this is due to loss of myelin in the nerve endings which is made up of fat.
Cayenne and ginger may provide a temporary relief but I feel fat is the answer.   I myself have thisproblem and im increasing my beef and fatty fish intake. I feel this is a slow but lasting solution to the problem. People with MS are able to regenerate myelin so why shouldn't others with neuropathies.  Good luck my friend

Have you tried the Inclined Bed Therapy? It's free.

[Dorothy]

Al - my first suggestion was incline bed therapy. It can rebuild the myelin sheath they say and people that have nerve damage where they can't walk get up and walk again. It works for MS for why not for raynaud?

I still think that an all raw diet can help at least some just about anything though. Takes a load off of so many systems.

[raw-al]

Al - my first suggestion was incline bed therapy. It can rebuild the myelin sheath they say and people that have nerve damage where they can't walk get up and walk again. It works for MS for why not for raynaud?

I know of one person who does massage therapies etc. who had serious issues after a car accident, who did/does the IBT and he flatly states that IBT is very bad for massage therapist's business. People self-repair. No need for MT

[Dorothy]

I know of one person who does massage therapies etc. who had serious issues after a car accident, who did/does the IBT and he flatly states that IBT is very bad for massage therapist's business. People self-repair. No need for MT

Cool! I wonder how many doctors and physical therapists would go out of business too.

[littleElefant]

Thank you so much for all the good advice.
I learn so much in this forum
Now life is improving every day. I think I will be totally whole and healthy soon
I already put a lot of things you suggested in practice
I started with the inclined bed therapies two days ago . Lifted the head 5 cm.   
So far nothing happend. I had a sleepless night, , I think because I exercise and eat to late in the evening. 2nd night was good. I'm curious, next week I will go higher
Started with high meat also. Ate it yesterday and twoday with my meat and egg breakfast. Was a bit scared but felt fantastic after it, I love it
I eat more of the good fat now, also a lot of fat fish. I even put whole sardines with the head in the food processor  with some greens and veggies and spices and algae and made a paste out of it. Taste was ok and I had such a good energy after it. I wanted the benefits of organs and cartilage and the glands and brain. Don't want to depend so much on supplementation
I go swimming once ore twice a day in the see take a lot of gaba and magnesium and I am very relaxed.
Goodsamaritan, sometimes I do acupuncture, it is good but never solved the issue
I'm not in the habit of taking my temperature but this is a thing I'm going to do the next day to find out what is working for me.
Cooked food is out for the moment, I never worked for me, just causes trouble
Stoneforest, what can you do to heal neuropathy other than fat? How do you feel about coconut fat and coconuts?
What about magnesium oil?

cheers
Noel


 

[Dorothy]

Incline bed therapy could help you with your neuropathy say many on the IBT forum. Don't do too much all at once or you won't know what did what. You are already doing a great thing to rebuild your nerves with the IBT and your fish smoothies. Can I ask you what herbs and what kind of algae - your recipe basically - for what you made?

[littleElefant]

Dorothy, I do not have a real recipe, I always change, never do the same thing.
The fish pate I do quite often. Sometimes I use shellish also. New was that I trow the whole fish inside
Basically I take apr. 100 g of fish with some greens, as much coconut(or avocado or beef fat) as I feel like. I put some dulse or spagettialgea or seawheat inside, sometimes chlorella or spirullina. Then ginger or garlic, fresh herbs from the garden like coriander, parsley, mauve, Melisse, basil or so, something for the liver like turmeric or grind milk thistel , sometimes black pepper and if I feel I could have problem digesting the fat I add some fermented coconut water or raw apple vinegar or lemon juice.
sometimes I use a lot of ingredients. But if I do not overeat I digest it very well. The last week I ate mostly mono. I ended up eating almost all day because and was so occupied with eating and waiting and eating again . I like the feeling thou, I feel so tidy inside but I also lose weight very easy this way
Don't know what the right way is yet, mixing, mono, instincto
You might be right Dorothy I should not do to many things the same time but I want to be BETTER l)so much. And I think about trying Hydrogen Peroxide. Du you think it could help. Sometimes I don't think that I do not have enough oxygen in the blood because I am often sort of blue, blue lips, feet etc

[Dorothy]

I haven't tried h202 therapy yet myself but it does sound like you have symptoms of low oxygen with blue lips. Do you do any exercise that makes you breath hard? Do you ever do breathing exercises? Do your lips stay blue when doing that? You can buy an oxygen meter gadget that goes on your finger to show the oxygenation of your blood if it's a real concern.

You always run the risk of overwhelming an organ or two when combining things. The incline bed therapy puts an extra stress on your kidneys by making them work all night - it's part of the healing - but starting that while at the very same time starting a therapy that could release a lot of toxins like h202 - I personally wouldn't do it at the same time even if I was sure each therapy separately would be beneficial. Maybe just try a little bit of deep breathing exercises instead at first to see how that affects you? It's a shorter and more controllable experiment I would think.

Just getting your bed inclined fully, slowly, will increase oxygenation because oxygenation is function of the blood and incline bed therapy affects the blood system.

Taking a few deeps breaths probably a really good idea on many levels.    I understand your desire to want your health fully instantly and your desire to try everything to get it. I've seen that backfire though and have had it backfire on me. The key is to always be moving in the right direction and not setting yourself back by overdoing. Do whatever you can knowing that it's not too much. You'll know what that is if you do some deep breaths and ask your body instincto style.

Thanks so much for telling me how you make the pate. I really want to try that. I have yet to figure out how to eat whole tiny fish in a way that works for me and I think you are right that it's a great way to get all the organs. I don't use recipes either so your instructions were actually quite good for me.

[raw-al]

Not sure where you are from noel, but sardines means something different in Europe than it does in North America.

In Europe what is labelled as Sardines is the real thing. Over here any small fish can be labelled sardine.

Sardines have taken on an almost mythical stature as being very nutritious and part of the diet of long lived people with fewer health problems.

[littleElefant]

Dear Dorothy,
I see your point. I often go to fast and after it I feel worse the before 
I do so many things and supplementation that it is already very hard to find out the effects of each.
Generally I feel better and better, but when I act against my Instinct I harm myself. Like yesterday. I hade a late (hard to digest) dinner because I thought I need the calories. I suffered the whole night.
Made this morning a leaf water . I do it sometimes. Just take the leafs of healing trees and plants from my garden, put them in the Vitamix with some green steviapouder and perhaps milk thistel or ginger or so and water, mix it and filter it.  Gives a very greeeen waterjuice.
It feels very healing and mineralising, after it my mood goes up
I will do more deep breathing, that's a good Idea. Actually I don't breath very deep any more because I think I was so scared for a long time, just stoped breathing and I'm still very tensed.
Raw all, I live in France. The sardines here we get are from the Mediterranean or the Atlantic.
They are very healthy indeed. We have some other small fish as well like anchoise. I like them very much, sometimes I let the dry in the ventilated fridge for one ore two days, then they taste like fried, do Delicious.

I  go to the beach now
noel