looneymom Posted January 21, 2015 Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 Here is an interesting article on fasting. If you think your POTS might have an immune connection this might be something to try. I think this would be hard to do but it seems to be helping people.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140605141507.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjensen Posted January 21, 2015 Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 That is interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoGiuliana Posted January 21, 2015 Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 Just a question--I am no expert!--wouldn't the immune connection for many of us be auto-immune? Doesn't that mean that our immune systems are actually working well--probably too well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katybug Posted January 21, 2015 Report Share Posted January 21, 2015 Interesting. Thanks for posting. I'm going to ake it to my immunologist in case he has no seen it. He loves research! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Libby Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Not quite the same, but I've juice fasted. I know that proponents of juice fasting also claim that it clears out lingering infections and damaged cells. I can't maintain it for super long - 7 days is my max - but after 5 days or so my old, long healed injuries start to ache. Not proof positive, but it's an interesting result.Again, juice fasting, but there's a documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (on Netflix, might be on YouTube too) where a guy cures himself of an autoimmune skin condition through a month or two of juice fasting. A second guy with the same condition (as well as morbid obesity) cures himself too, if I recall correctly. There's a pretty large group of followers who swear by juice fasting. Forums and groups and whatnot. If I ever have a month when I don't need to use my brain, or possibly stand upright, I might give a longer fast a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arizona girl Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Hi momG,Interesting enough your immune system can be both hyper and hypo at the same time. I'm living proof of that. I have a primary immune deficiency (hypo) along with 3 autoimmune diseases (hyper) one of which is hashimoto. Charlotte Cunningham Rundles, MD who studies and treats primary immune diseases like CVID, has a certain percentage of her patients that also present with autoimmune diseases. I just like to say my immune system is dysfunctional. While I have treatment options available for the different autoimmunes and infusion of ivig for the deficiency, they won't cure them. Perhaps stem cell treatments will be an option down the road.It will be interesting to see where this fasting theory goes. It may have some merit as it is well documented that when we sleep and get to stage 4 sleep is when our body does repair work. Sleeping by it's nature is a fasting state, so maybe that has something to do with the repair cycle of sleep working.I didn't see where this study though gave details to the type of fast they used.Here is a link to one of her papers on cvid and autoimmunity: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11882-009-0051-0#page-1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoGiuliana Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Thanks arizona girl! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
looneymom Posted January 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Hey Arizona Girl,Got a question. Is CIVD something you are born with or can your body progress into this situation with an autoimmune condition? The reason I am asking is I got back some more test results on Tyler the other day. His Lymp on the CBC was 2 points below the normal range but I am assuming that doing the PEX will affect this number. I can pose this question to his doctor tomorrow along with a few more questions. I can tell that things are better because Tyler had this test done 2 months ago and things that were out of range then are now in range.I see this as improvement but seeing the Lymp below range means that we are dealing with low B or T cells. This is a little scary because it means this momabear has to keep her son well.Like you, I wish it would have stated how they fasted. There are many different types of fasting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arizona girl Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Yes, I think pex can lower that number. As it pulls out all the proteins good and bad. Due ask your doctor. Remember I got anemia after pex along with an infection. So those things should be watched closely. The infection and the anemia were partly why I switched over to ivig. By then though many of the antibodies had been cleaned from my body, though they do come back. I believe the ivig is modulating their ability to cause further damage, at least partly any way. My labs have all improved. I still though deal with muscle spasms and infections here and there. IVIG infusions are rougher when I have an active infection.If you look into rundles research she is studying genes that are associated with cvid and has identified 3. I think that the research on this is still in progress and no conclusions are final on this being genetic. Some of the x linked ones though are. Primaryimmune.org talks about those.In my case I imagine it is, as I already know that I'm homozygous mthfr and my father has the other combined mthfr defect. What are the odds that I also have other genetic defects!I'm so glad to hear that ty is having some improvements, it is so much better then nothing or worst case a further decline. I think that my treatments have stopped or slowed the decline. Of course though now I have the challenges of aging to deal with.Thanks for posting all your research articles, they are so helpful to others here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sue1234 Posted January 22, 2015 Report Share Posted January 22, 2015 Fasting is not easy, but not impossible. The article mentioned fasting for 72-hours, which I have done 3 times over the last 5 years. Each time I was in the hospital for a 72-hour fast to see if they could rule out an insulinoma. The first fast gave me the clearest thinking I've had in a long time! The next two fasts were rougher on me, but I must admit the first 24 hours are the hardest, then much easier for the next 2 days. My first thought is, fasting gives your body a rest from the onslaught of potential allergens. We know that the first line of defense from outside pathogens and allergens is in our intestinal system(well, besides the skin). What if not putting anything there lets it calm down? If that is what is happening, it makes me think of two things:1. Someone is regularly consuming something that causes a low-level allergy for them (not an IgE reaction)2. The gut itself is not impervious to foreign material as it should be(the tight junctions are not closed), and needs to heal up.Maybe I'm making it too simplistic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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