Years ago Dr. Randall Gates, combined our disciplines to create a discipline capable of evaluating and successfully treating the complex of multiple systems breakdowns that create chronic diseases and chronic pain (ie as peripheral neuropathy, fibromyalgia, auto immune diseases, dizziness, vertigo, balance problems etc). To accomplish this task it was necessary to understand brain, thyroid, bowel, immune and hormonal dysfunction. At no time during our research did we ever delve into weight loss. But a few years ago while developing our protocols it dawned on us that virtually everyone who had and was going through our neuro-metabolic chronic pain program had lost weight. We interviewed several of our patients and to a person all indicated that they had previously lost the ability to lose weight- no matter what they did. They were surprised that they had lost the weight even more so because that’s not what they came in for and it’s not what we were treating them for. We did and still put people on our baseline diet which is not calorie restrictive nor meant to help patients to lose weight. Nor did we have them exercise, use daily weight scales, tape measures, etc.
We came to the conclusion that many, if not most, of the people in our community unable to lose weight were probably suffering from the same chronic conditions as our chronic disease and pain patients or at least experiencing dysfunction in the same organs causing our patients pain but manifesting in them instead as chronic obesity and the inability to lose weight. To test this hypothesis we made efforts to attract about 25 patients to the office who were from 25 to 150lbs over weight and couldn’t lose it.
Here’s what we found:
Thyroid – Many had undiagnosed, misdiagnosed or poorly managed thyroid conditions. 80% of them had Hoshimoto’s. These patients could not lose weight until this was handled.
Blood Sugar- Many had diabetes type II or were heading that direction and their medications weren’t working. Many were even eating good diets. These patients also frequently had the above mentioned thyroid conditions as well as various intestinal bacteria and or endotoxemia (gut toxins) which were altering hormone function and the ability of their insulin to function properly. As a result men were converting testosterone to estrogen and woman converting estrogen to testosterone. These folks had zero chance at weight loss.
Adrenals – Or in this case “stress”. All of them had 24/7 mini or full blown PTSD going on due to work or home. PTSD from verbal, physical, or sexual abuse or any “long term stress” that causes the adrenal glands to put out too many stress hormones (particularly cortisol) is a problem. Cortisol stimulates fat and blood sugar (carbohydrates) metabolism. This increases blood sugar which further increases appetite to replace carbs and fats used for the fight flight response (PTSD) problem. In today’s society stress causing situations are not equivalent to the primative 20 minute fighting or fleeing the tiger response which doesn’t require the body to use up a lot of energy. With today’s long term stress responses or PTSD cortisol ends up causing the body to refuel after stress even when it doesn’t need to. This causes excess fat fuel (glucose) which turns to fat causing excess fat storage. All the above referenced patients were suffering from chronic stress.
Gut – Just know that if you have leaky gut, food allergies (gut related), small intestinal bacteria over growth (SIBO), endo toxemia, dysbiosis, or lipopolysacharides in your blood stream that they will combine to cause multiple systems such as your thyroid, blood sugar, adrenals, and immune system to dysfunction killing any chance of weight loss.
All of the 25 patients evaluated suffered from various combinations of the above noted dysfunctions. They all lost all or close to the amount of weight they desired to lose. And most of you who can’t lose weight probably also have a combination of 2 or more of the above metabolic abnormalities.
The Solution: Find out which of the above categories you fit into. Fix them. And you will lose weight.
Is it possible to have 1 or more of these conditions and be misdiagnosed even with blood work that comes back Norma? I have fibromyalgia and find it virtually impossible to exercise or do anything extremely strenuous for longer than 30 mins at a time or I will pay for it for days afterwards. I do and will push through it as I have always been an active person and never had to worry about my weight until the last 2 years the fibromyalgia symptoms have hindered my mobility!! I would assume my now more stagnant life keeps my weight on more so now than it ever did. I often wonder if the inflammation level is caused by gluten or something that has my body severely inflamed??
Thanks for any answers,
Lisa Sonnier
Thank you for your comments. Yes, fibromyalgia is often tied with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and many labs can come back as being normal due to more detailed lab studies of thyroid function not being ordered. Let us know if you want us to review your case.
HI I have had several tests and have Leaky Gut as well as low estrogen, sludge in my GB and liver, and gastris/ileitis/and GERD. Could the gut being causing all of this? Despite having IBD/ UC and Fibromyalgia my thyroid tests were negative for any antibodies. I have had 30 lbs gained over 2 years and I eat only green veg, eat and fat (elimination/autoimmune). I am at my wits end…
First and foremost we are sorry to hear that you have been suffering with these health conditions.
Relative to your weight gain, in our experience the antibodies to the thyroid sometimes have to be tested several times for us to make an accurate conclusion on Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. We are also finding that subclinical endotoxemia associated with Leaky Gut Syndrome can also result in weight gain. If you want us to review your case let us know.
Hello, I find all this very interested. My husband & I have been dieting and I haven’t lost hardly any weight even though we eat the same foods. Yes, I have several things going on within my body starting with ITP in 2009. I was healthy up to this point. My Doctor recommended a Sphleendectomy to try and keep my Immune system from killing off my platelets. It worked for a couple months and then my platelets dropped again. I then took a few treatments of Rituxin and it worked. My platelets are normal now. Soon after I started feeling really sore in my neck and back and my doctors felt it was from the Sphleendectomy and all the nerves surrounding my surgery. After awhile they also thought I might need to see an Arthritis Doctor. I also started having problems with constipation and my colon narrowing from surgery scars. I have been since diagnosed with Polyarthritis, Fibrimyalgia and possibly Lupus. From blood test I know I have high inflammation in my blood and I feel sore to touch and hurt a lot. I wish I could find a Doctor with your experiences to help/guide me in the right direction.
We are sorry to hear about your struggles with weight, ITP, Lupus and Fibromyalgia. Let us know if you want us to evaluate your case. You can find out more about how we do that here http://powerhealthreno.com/brochure
okay I do not eat any vegetables none no salads I eat beef, chicken, and pork, the only fruits I eat is strawberries, pineapple, blueberries peaches, and coconut, I do not eat junk food, no chips very little bread only white so why do I gain weight?????? ty
Michael. We are sorry to hear about your difficulty with losing weight. Frequently we see patients like you who are unable to lose weight even with restrictive diets. There can be other factors involved generally, including hypothyroidism, subclinical hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, hormonal imbalances between estrogen and testosterone, hypercortisolism, subclinical endotoxemia, insulin resistance, and obesogenic microbes in the gut to name a few of these factors. Due to the complexity of this issue, in our experience it is important to assess all of these variables when we are evaluating a patient who is unable to lose weight. Let us know if you want us to evaluate your case.
Hi,
I have gained a lot of weight and was just recently diagnosed with SIBO. No matter what I try the weight just keeps going up. Is there anything I can do to get this weight off?
SIBO, if it is causing your weight gain, does so because the bad bacteria cause insulin to dysfunction and that creates insulin resistance, and prediabetes, and that causes weight gain. In general, it may not be the SIBO that is causing the weight gain. It may also be a mismanaged thyroid or mismanaged stress response that is causing you to put on weight for no apparent reason.