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Turbocharging the body's healing efforts
Givens: (1) We know that some sufferers with lung disorders experience spontaneous improvement. (2) Whatever we can do to amp up our body's natural tendency toward health is a worthwhile undertaking. (3) It is well established that our gut microbiota interacts with other systems in our body, notably the brain and the LUNGS. (4) It is also well established that the beneficial microbes in our gut thrive on resistant starch and fermented foods. Resistant starch is a starch that isn't digested in the small intestine but travels on to the Colon where it ferments. (5) Naturally fermented foods, e.g., kraut, kimchi, some pickles, yogurt are equally helpful in establishing and maintaining gut health. (6) It seems reasonable believe that anything we can do to foster a "kick ass" healthy gut will devolve to the benefit of our lung health.
Foods that provide resistant starch include cooked and cooled oats, legumes, rice, barley, potatoes, and generally cooked starchy vegetables. And if you're worried that starches will pork ya up, betcha can't remember a time when you noticed an obese person and thought they'd been eating too much acorn squash, sweet potatoes, or beans, brown rice and so on. You know better: too much high-fat, high-salt, high-sugar processed foods. I enjoy and take a quiet satisfaction in making kimchi and eating 2-3 ounces daily. Being involved in battling this condition on my own turf with the work of my own hands is reminiscent of Daniel Pecaut's experience conveyed in his book, Beating Bronchiecstaisis. Let's do it. Don
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@blm1007blm1007 yes I have an MAI infection in addition to BE. Diagnosed at essentially same time. I have no history of lung issues so I suspect my BE was caused by the NTM. The only mucus I experience is largely after eating, I get the sensation that I have to clear my throat for the first 10-15 mts. I also mainly only cough while eating, and often feel like food/drink is going down wrong tube. I have had a workup for swallow dysfunction and gerd and nothing was found. I am headed back to speech therapy to see if there is anything they can do for me from a PT perspective despite the negative test results. Since being part of this group I can see that others struggle with that feeling of mucus in the throat but mine is limited almost entirely to eating/drinking, so not sure what to make of it. I would not have thought it related to my lungs, but given others experience, hard to say. I am of course worried about aspiration and NTM, as perhaps my eating/drinking issues are how I got infected in the first place, but I can’t seem to get either my ENT or GI doctors interested, but perhaps given my negative test results that is not unexpected. It’s frustrating for sure given the risk of NTM with aspiration.
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1 ReactionThe first time mucus came up to my throat after eating it was so dramatic, it was one HUGE glob. I was shocked and said to myself 'What the heck is this?" That was the beginning of it all.
I also have that feeling of mucus in my throat pretty much all day long...that's not how it was in the beginning. For me, chewing a small piece of stick gum does help stop the feeling in the throat of sticky mucus just sitting there, that feeling subsides with chewing the gum many times. Never did I chew gum before, but to get the relief of that feeling it is worth it to me. Hopefully no bad dental problems surface. My last tooth cavity was when I was ten, lucky me.
Yes the ENT and GI probably feel there is nothing they can do more since the tests proved negative. It is all so frustrating for all of us with wanting to find out what the cause is of our symptoms. At least for us, and all of us, who have been told we have BE/MAI, we have learned what to do for ourselves with the help this Mayo blog.
I know you were planning on going hiking and hope you have, or had, an enjoyable and good experience.
Barbara
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1 ReactionStress reduction is the one that I tend to neglect the most! Thank you for the reminder, Linda!
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1 ReactionOne thing about seitan is that it’s not a whole food—pretty processed from all I’ve ever read. Tofu is the most processed food I eat. And though I am not gluten intolerant that I know of, I like to have a variety of grains since I already soak a slice of Ezekiel toast in my soups, which is predominantly wheat. But I should definitely have seitan sporadically as another protein source so I can diminish the bone broth. Many thanks you for that reminder. I am still hoping to get through this hurdle.
I also have some version of this aspiration issue. I didn’t test as having a swallow issue, but I calmed it down considerably by eating more slowly, and watching my eating while in conversation with others. I used to grab a couple of nuts as I dashed out the door and that could trigger it. Sometimes even saliva. So there is something going on. But again, slowing down made a lot of difference. It happens far less frequently now.
Drs. Colin Swenson and Wendi Drummond have a great episode on aspiration in their NTMTalk podcast, which is terrific across the board. Of course, found out about it right here! So grateful for all you kind folks here.
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2 ReactionsThey tend to have yearly summits on different health topics. Each of them is capturing a niche in the new functional medicine frontier and the summits are chock full of interesting information and you can listen for free for 24 hours and can then purchase the whole series usually for about $97. It’s a model many of them use. Dr. Michael Greger is different. He has a video blog where he discusses medical studies on different conditions and is a complete advocate of plant-based eating. He gives all the proceeds of his books to charity. Mark Hyman is more middle-of-the-road. He heads up some functional medicine division at the Cleveland Clinic.
I found out about all these doctors through John and Ocean Robbins’ Food Revolution Network, which has another very substantive blog about the nutritional value and environmental impact of all kinds of foods. Also plant-based. He’s not a doctor, but a master researcher on nutrition, and a humorous, entertaining writer. The father, John Robbins, wrote a bestseller in the 90’s called Diet for a New America. He was a principal heir to the Baskin and Robbins ice cream fortune and went in a radically different direction. So much good information on staying healthy out there!