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Health Update
During a follow up appointment with Dr. Crist on September 9th, we discussed improvements and declines in my condition.
Improvements since June include: more energy, warmer hands, clearer voice, less throat clearing, improved feeling in forearms and hands, elimination of sporadic hives and I’ve regained the ability to open a dryer door.
For quite a while now I’ve been using a spatula or other tool to open the dryer doors at work and at home because my fingertips were not strong enough to pull open the door. I’ve been consistently opening these doors without tools for at least 3 weeks now.
Declines include: Some struggle with wrist extension on the left when holding things like deodorant but this seems to have improved in the last 2 days.
What’s working:
Dr. Crist has made some adjustments to my thyroid medication which has helped a lot and we’re still figuring out the perfect dose.
He’s also added testosterone and progesterone to my daily routine. Both of these blood tests have come back low for me.
(Fun Fact: So according to AI, for younger individuals, more men get ALS than women 2.5:1. But for older individuals or post-menopause, the ratio becomes 1.4:1…perhaps hormones are a piece of the ALS puzzle?)
Dr. Crist has also recommended some other supplements like iron, DHEA, potassium, magnesium, probiotics, ALA, Boluoke and vitamin D. We continue to test and monitor levels to get them back to optimal and this is not the full list of supplements that I take.
I’ve also been greatly increasing my magnesium intake.
Did you know that a lot of the symptoms of ALS can also be seen in people with severe magnesium deficiencies?
Did you also know that magnesium is what regulates calcium’s movement and activity inside the cells of your body…BUT in ALS there is a disruption of calcium homeostasis causing too much calcium within the cells which contributes significantly to the damage and death of motor neurons?
I was able to find this information by doing a simple Google/AI search but initially learned about this connection from Jeff T. Bowles and his book: ALS BREAKTHROUGH.
I’ve also been reading Dr. Carolyn Dean’s book, The Magnesium Miracle and I’m blown away by all of the symptoms and health conditions that can occur just from a magnesium deficiency.
There are two magnesium supplements that I’ve been focusing on:
ReMag - I add this to water and drink throughout the day.
Life Extension Extend-Release Magnesium - I try to take 1 in the morning and 1 at night.
I’ve also tried an IV infusion of magnesium and plan to try this again soon.
And lastly, I’ve been taking STEMREGEN.
This supplement protocol increases the amount of stem cells that are circulating in the body which helps to repair damage from disease, injuries or aging.
When I stumbled upon this supplement from a reputable source, I immediately sent it to my mom who has been a bit obsessed with stem cell research.
She harassed the company a few times with questions then decided that we needed to try it.
I agreed.
We can’t prove that this supplement is helping but the things we’ve noticed are enough to keep taking it. I’ve been using the advanced usage protocol for about 2 months now.
You can check out the Stemregen product line here: https://stemregen.co/whitneyo
Since we have been seeing some tiny improvements, I’ve decided to hold off on the gene therapy that Mayo has offered. It’s not completely off the table but we are waiting to see what happens over the next couple of months.
Stay tuned for updates!
Thanks for reading!
Whitney Owen, LMT, CHC
