Parasites, Flukes and Hormones

It has been close to a month since my last post and I wanted to keep you all up to date on track and life. About three weeks ago Jack and I decided that it wasn't in my best interest to do the USA vs. Germany decathlon on August 18th because my training has been so on and off with various bouts of sickness. If you have been reading my previous post through out this year you can find a number of them littered with comments about being sick with strep throat, exhaustion, cramping, throwing up and just general not feeling like myself. After USA Championships was the last time that I had a throwing up fit where my body completely rejected the food that I was eating. Since then it was hard to keep most anything down and I would feel sick to my stomach after almost any meal.

Jenna and I investigated my diet, which is normally very healthy and full of greens, grains, and meat and searched for a reason why I couldn't keep certain foods down. We came to a conclusion about 4 weeks ago that I had developed a severe wheat allergy to the point that even if I ate a food product that was wheat-less but was made on machines that also produced wheat I would keep severe stomach acid, cramping, and anxiety. Jenna so loving put it as "Wheat-tarded" because she would get similar symptoms back before she was pregnant. So we pursued a wheat free diet since that discovery and I felt a lot better but had to be extremely cautious about eating any food I ate. For a guy who normally eats anything and everything put in front of him, it was a real struggle finding wheat-less food that would quell my excessive appetite.

As the weeks went by I dropped a lot of weight and became a wheat-less-ohlic, making sure products at restaurants where wheat-less and constantly checking labels fearing that if I didn't I would have another violent throwing up fit. We began to realize that even after going wheat-less I was still extremely low energy and would get symptoms even if I ate products that contained no wheat. Feeling like I had exhausted a lot of resources I made an appointment to see a clinical nutritionist in hopes to find all the things that I have become allergic to.  Last Wednesday I spent an hour and half with Dr. Cochran in Pismo Beach testing everything under the sun. Here is what was found:

1.) No food allergies what-so-ever

2.) Multiple fungus and parasite infections

      A.) Aflatoxins
      B.) Aspergilla
      C.) Aspergilla Niger
      D.) Candida Albicans
            a.) Feeds off of wheat, yeast, and all types of sugar
      E.) Aspergillus Mix
      F.) Claudosporium Mix

3.) Bloodflukes

      A.)Schistomosa Mansoni
            a.) Causes cramping and various other symptoms
      B.) Schistomosa Haematobium

4.) Hormones

      A.) Hydrocortisol, Aldosterone, and Cortisol all extremely low
         
5.) Vitamins

      A.) B-12 extremely low

That's a giant list of a lot of things going on in my body that I had no idea. But it was such a relief to finally know why I have been feeling so incredibly crummy for so long. Its hard to tell where I acquired all of these problems, but Dr. Cochran believes that some of the parasites and bloodflukes most likely came from when I competed in the Dominican Republic three years ago. The mold fungus could have come from living in my old place that I moved from when I discovered mold in the walls. As for the hormone levels and vitamin deficiency are most likely direct results from my body being overtaken by so many invaders.

It is almost a week since my appointment and getting on four types of supplements aimed a killing the fungi, parasites, bloodflukes, and also restoring my hormone levels as well as a probiotic for detoxing my system, and I cant remember a time that I have felt better. Its amazing how you can get used to feeling crummy and think that its the norm. My problem was that my symptoms came on over a long period of time so in a way they were masked. Once I took the Amoxicillian in January to help my strep throat, it killed all of the good bacteria  (and bad bacteria) in my body leaving it at the mercy of all the invaders. Which is exactly the time when my symptoms really started to progress to and almost unlivable level.

So the question I wrestle with now is where to go from here. I am still a candidate to compete in the Pan America Games in October which is an amazing opportunity to compete as part of team USA, but I want to make sure that my body is rested a ready for the next season as its an Olympic year. Still contemplating about what the rest of this year holds and I will keep you all updated on my decisions. Hope all is well and thanks for all your support!!