Too much of a good thing

Even well- intentioned health choices can sometimes contribute to unexpected problems.

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A middle-aged gentleman revisited the clinic. He was very keen on improving his health and for many years had been reading health articles and consulting with our clinic. Until recently, we had not seen him for about three years - he had been consulting with other practitioners and become very interested in Ayurveda as a dietary approach. He was single and still lived with his ageing mother.

His recurring health problems were a persistent cough and digestive issues and he had noticed these seemed to be a problem in tandem when his digestion deteriorated, so did his cough. The gut-lung axis is much written about so this is not unusual. Not surprisingly, both have similar embryonic origins.

He had been following an Ayurvedic diet for the last two years and, while some things had improved, others had deteriorated. His digestion was deteriorating. He was nauseous, had increasing (although intermittent) abdominal pain and diarrhoea, including faecal incontinence all of which was seriously affecting his lifestyle and had become very low in energy.

On testing, he was anaemic and his liver enzymes had risen (particularly the AST). He was experiencing increased cravings for sugar and his gut tests showed lowered ability to metabolise oxalates in foods.