The Healing Power Of Onions?

[green]

I've been eating raw onions lately, because I read that Iranian scientists found that onion juice raises testosterone levels in rats. In addition, some article I came across said that the onions have a lot of quercitin, which is an antioxidant that has exotic psychoactive properties.

Anyway, I feel great! I use www.brainturk.com to keep an index of my cognitive function scores (trying to quantify brain fog), and they all have been going up the past few days.

Who else is eating raw onions? Maybe only men should because of the testosterone thing...but I read that it increased luteinizing hormone, and so only increased testosterone indirectly. Not sure if women would turn luteinizing hormone into testosterone or something else. But worth thinking about!

[issie]

Good for you. Now you have more testosterone - but, onion breath. Got to have some parsley with that onion. Joking aside----glad things are working for you!

Just a little word of caution to those that have MCAS or suspect it ---sulphur type foods can make MCAS issues worse. Many of us seem to have issues with the breakdown of sulphur foods and therefore issues with sulfates/sulfites. This also has something to do with mutations in the methylation process.

Issie

[SoliDeoGloria]

Just might want to be careful. I think onions lower blood pressure (by thinning the blood?).

[green]

"Got to have some parsley with that onion."

Will parsley cut the onion breath?

I just bought two jumbo sized bags of peppermint candies, divided them into smaller baggies, and secreted the baggies of mints into various places where I will be able to find them at work - in my work bag, in my car, in my coat pockets, because I know that many people regard bad breath as if it were some of personal slight directed against them.

I don't know anything about MCAS. But, I am pretty sure I don't have problems with methylation. My pots is pretty much confined to my legs - they retain fluid and don't recirculate blood very well. idiopathic, localized dysfunction of the venous return mechanisms.

Something I am interested in though - is whether raw vegetables can accelerate liver function. I've been taking nuvigil for the past few weeks too* and although it keeps me awake during the day well, it also keeps me up at night. I've been thinking that this is because the drug is still in my blood at night and wondering if I could speed up the clearance somehow.

*(nuvgil preceeded onion diet signficantly, so I am not getting the effects of the two conflated)

[green]

Livestrong has some advice on how to reduce the sulfur in your onions.

http://www.livestron...aw-onions-mild/

One piece of advice is soaking them in water or milk. I like this, because I like to drink milk while eating the raw onions. For some reason the flavors go really well together.

[issie]

Green, it is thought that parsely will help with onion breath. It is sometimes added into onion poweder even in the stores to modify it. It does help with your breath and it will help kidney function. It can however - if taken in large amounts act like a diuretic. I use parsley when I find myself having too much edema or having issues with a UTI. I use fresh parsley and make a tea from it - to help numb the urinary tract from the pain of a UTI and the additional urination helps to flush the bad bacteria out of the system. It works better for me, then any medicine I ever tried for a problem with this. It is also high in potassium and can help with issues related to needing more potassium. Yeah, I'd tend to agree with your statement of finding onion breath offensive. You won't be able to use your new found testosterone - with onion breath.

Interesting, the suggestions given for the eliminating of some of the sulphur compound. Raw onions - give me terrible indigestion - so not something I will try. But, interesting non-the-less. Thanks for the link.

As for the nuvigil. The first thing I thought of was ---okay can this increase serotonin. I looked it up ---and yes it can. This could keep one up at night.

[Katybug]

http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/gbombs.aspx

I watched this doc on PBS one night. I thought his explanation of including what he calls G BOMBS (greens, beans, onions, mushrooms, berries, seeds(nuts)) and why was pretty good info and advice. This link explains the benefits of each of these foods. I think most of us probably knew most of this but the onions surprised me. In his program he said that cooking the onions is ok and won't destroy their benefits as long as you chop the onions into a small dice first to release the beneficial products in the onions. I can't so raw onions due to GI issues but I can eat cooked onion so that makes it easier to eat more of them.

[issie]

Green, I realized I didn't really answer your question of raw vegetables increasing liver function to eliminate the nuvigil faster. I've not heard of this as being studied. I use Milk Thistle to keep my liver working as well as possible. I have liver issues and problems with my P450 detoxing properly ---so drugs will stay around in my system way longer then they should and also a whole lot less of any drug or supplement, works. Possibly enzymes would help with function of the liver also - it definitely helps to break down things better. The other thing I use is Turmeric. It not only helps my pain, but it helps liver health. Some people find that it really helps their POTS too. I find that taking it with ginger makes it work even better for me. I actually get it from the spice isle in the health store - the organic versions of both and put it into capsules myself. A whole lot cheaper way to take it.

Issie

[LMG]

Issie,

Does Turmeric help with any specific symptoms? My acupuncturist wants me to take it for migraines (along with revestrol) and I just haven't seen the logic.

[issie]

I think tumeric helps with soooo many things. Turmeric seems to have really helped some people with their POTS symptoms --others say it makes them worse ---so depends on your subtype. But, for me it helps with pain and inflammation. I have read it is good to help with your liver function ---and that helps with your mood. There is a lot on the forum where we have discussed it - you can do a search and there is an awful lot of info out there from some of the health magazines. (I prefer Life Extension - they are more up to date with the latest research.) You can go to their web site and type in a search on it and pull up all kinds of articles.

Really, there is only one way to find out what it will do for you. Here comes --trial and error ----again!

Issie

[green]

Thanks Issie. I will look into ginger, milkthistle, and tumeric. Maybe something can make me liver livelier. :-)

I don't know if high seritonin causes the insomnia of nuvigil. No doubt high seritonin would mess up my sleep - I once took wellbutrin for a few months, and I slept poorly for those months. But, how do you LOWER seritonin levels? Unsure such a thing is even possible - maybe with that French drug - minitripine? The one that is a seritonin reuptake accelerator or whatever.... but as a rule, I try not to take a drug merely to quash the side-effects of another drug.

What is this about test:estro levels?

I ate another onion today, and I have been feeling like there is a lot of presure in my head, I don't know if there's a connection. Otherwise, still going strong. Me and another guy from work are going to start working out together a couple times a week.

[issie]

I bumped up one of the old threads where I wrote a comment about estrogen and my wondering about the connection and ratios between test and estrogen.

Wellbutrin supposedly works on dopamine more then serotonin.

I'm not sure how you would lower serotonin at night. If you figure that out - I'd like to have better sleep at night too.

Good for you. Nice that you feel your energy levels coming up enough to start some exercise.

Issie

[green]

>Good for you. Nice that you feel your energy levels coming up enough to start some exercise.

I actually did the 3-month exercise study over the summer, which was more cardio oriented. Now, I am tryign to get in more weight-lifting without moving backwards on the cardio conditioning.