A question about health/veganism

[Guest guest]

Hello all!

I have a serious question, i suppose it's been posted somewhere along the

line, but it regards veganism and health problems.

I've recently become pretty sick with fevers, nightsweats and chills and

lethargy, and quite a few people are choosing to tell me that it may be that

i'm deficient in " something " or that i may just be one of those people who's

bodily constitutions just need flesh (eek!). I did have something similar,

but worse, about 4 years ago that lasted 7 months and i'm scared it could be

a repeat. This could just be something that " I " alone have to deal with and

it may have nothing to do with the fact that i'm vegan, but i just want to

check out possibilities.

I've been vegan for about 3 years now, and vegetarian for 9, and the last

thing in the world i'd want to do is consume an animal product. Not to

mention how repulsive it would be just thinking about it. I suppose i'm

wondering if there is any validity to these statements people are telling

me? Obviously if it were a life changing/ saving choice, i suppose i'd have

to bite the bullet, which would be awful!! Please, if anyone has any

statements regarding if they've had problems with veganism, or about how

from one person to the other different bodies need different things? I would

love to think that everyone on this planet could survive on a beautiful

vegan diet, this is why i'm a vegan chef! So this disturbs me and i'd love

to hear any advice possible on this topic. Thank you to all! i appreciate

any info!!

warmest regards

Mickey

 

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[Guest guest]

Mickey,

 

When I first was sick with what was later diagnosed as systemic lupus, I was

hospitalized for 3 months (spending 11 days in the ICU, nearly not making

it). The staff at UCSF, since they didn't initially know what was wrong

with me, tried desperately to somehow find blame with my vegan diet, or

determine what type of weird blood cancer I had.

 

But, guess what? After a full month and a half of pretty much every test

available (from 6 daily blood draws for weeks, being hooked up to lots of

different machines for weeks, regular urine/fecal tests, tons of CT scans,

MRIs, X-rays, nuclear medicine for my brain and lungs, lots of ultrasounds,

multiple kidney and bone marrow biopsies and bone scans) - they finally

found that my diet had absolutely nothing to do with it! Well, that's what

I had been telling them all long! They even brought UCSF's Director of

Hematology as she was simply aghast that the diet-related aspects of my

blood values were all so absolutely perfect (B12, Calcium, Vit D, iron -

etc. etc.) She was at my bedside, I remember, and asked in totally, utter

amazement, " But, how do you do it? Everything looks absolutely stunning!

And you're vegan! " (never mind I was in the isolation ward " bubble room "

for four weeks because of severe neutropenia (I think I had 150-200 white

blood cells! yikes!) and was having daily transfusions for weeks due to

severe hemolytic anemia, and had very low platelet counts - this was all

from the lupus it turned out, and had nothing to do with diet! I

answered with, " It's not such a miracle! I just eat a varied diet of

wonderful, organic foods and take good care of myself - no coffee, soda,

cigarettes, drugs, chemicals, etc. "

 

I actually think I lived through that whole experience because of my diet

and lifestyle choices, not despite them!

 

I have been vegan for 20 years and hadn't ever taken regular vitamins or

supplements - because I just hate taking pills. I would, however, take a

multi-vitamin, vitamin C and B-complex very occasionally whenever I felt a

little " low energy " - which, honestly, was not very often at all. I hadn't

been sick with a cold or flu for over 15 years and had never had any serious

illnesses before this. I had always made sure I ate a wide variety of

fresh, whole foods and ate quite a lot of raw meals, with loads of

whole-food nutrients.

 

My father has a business friend who's son is vegan. He's 15 or 16. He's

had such excruciating headaches for over 3 years that he's had to miss so

many days of school, he had to drop out. They were persistent in feeling it

*had* to be the diet. They even went so far as to ask me to send

information about the diet to them to make sure he was doing it right. This

went on, blaming the diet, with no help for many doctors, for years - while

the poor kid suffered tremendously. They finally went to Stanford and they

found out he has a serious medical condition that had nothing to do with

diet that was affecting his brain.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is - they always try to blame the diet first!

It is what makes you different from others, and it is easy to point blame at

something that makes you different from others. But, if you eat lots of

fresh, whole foods and a varied diet with the occasional vitamin here &

there, most likely you are doing fine on the diet side of things. Some

vegans do require supplementation with sublingual vitamin B-12, but that has

not been the case with me or with that boy (above) - but it is the case for

my sister in-law who has been vegan for years.

 

I would recommend you go see a doctor and have a full blood chemistry

profile done - it's easy to do and they can tell a lot from this simple

test, just to get started anyway. They can do other tests based on your

symptoms as well. Don't let them second guess your diet if you know it is

balanced and healthful - have confidence in yourself and your decisions -

that will get you through to find out what's *really* wrong! The symptoms

you describe sound a lot like how I felt when I was first neutropenic, but

don't let that worry you, it could be all sorts of things - just make an

appointment and have it checked out.

 

Kasie

[Guest guest]

sfBAVeg , " Mickey Walker " <mickeydwalker@h...> wrote:

> I've recently become pretty sick with fevers,

> nightsweats and chills and

> lethargy, and quite a few people are

> choosing to tell me that it may be that

> i'm deficient in " something " or that

> i may just be one of those people who's

> bodily constitutions just need flesh (eek!).

 

I'm sure there are others on this list who know a bit more about this than I,

but I will tell you what I have found during my time as a vegan. Like with any

kind of diet, you do indeed need to keep it balanced so that you are getting all

the things that your body requires to function correctly. Same goes for a vegan

diet. If all you eat is a few kinds of veggies and thats it, you won't be

getting proteins and vitamins you need. I won't post a whole list of foods and

things you need (partly because I don't know them all, heh) but I will mention

that a common deficiency is vitamin B12. Theres a lot of " hype " about vegans

never having enough of this, etc, and I think for the most part, it is greatly

exaggerated. However, there is some truth to it. We do need vit B12. This is

found in dairy and meat, but not much in vegan foods (at least if you wash them,

I think it actually originates from a bacteria or fungus that is soluble in

water, so if you wash your food, which most do - you don't get it. If I'm wrong

about this, and somebody on the list knows better, please correct me!). A lot

of vegans I know take B12 supplements. You can get them in just about any

health store, and even some grocery stores. Also, most of the enriched soy and

rice milks have B12 in them (just check the label, it will say.) And from what

you have described your problems to be... it sound a LOT like what another

friend of mine (who I only know via the 'net) was having and it WAS B12

deficiency for him. It got pretty bad before his doctor told him he needed to

start getting B12 somewhere. So that, I think, is something you should look

into. But there are other things you might be lacking in too. Iron seems to be

a " popular " one that veg-critics are always saying there isn't enough of in the

vegan diet.

 

As far as being one of those people that " just needs flesh " ... well I am

extremely skeptical that such people even exist. Some people definitely have to

be a LOT more careful about balancing their diet than others... and will be a

lot more limited in what they can eat (even as vegans) and yes, some people do

better eating some animal products (really only see evidence of fish and fowl

products there, though) but there IS a way to get everything you could possibly

need without having to resort to eating animals. It just could be very

difficult. But we, as humans, are MUCH more similar to natural herbivores than

we are even to natural omnivores (thats not to say we can't survive as omnivores

and be relativly healthy, because obviously we can. what we are NOT in any way

shape or form is carnivore, though. I'm not just talking behavior, I'm talking

physiologically. So... in my (rather strong) opinion... you will NEVER need to

resort to eating flesh so long as you are willing to work at maintaining a

potentially difficult diet to keep your deficiencies or other problems in check.

 

> I did have something similar,

> but worse, about 4 years ago that

> lasted 7 months and i'm scared it could be

> a repeat.

 

Well, if you don't mind sharing, what was that? If it happened 4 years ago,

you've been vegan for 3... then you can pretty much rule out deficiency if this

is indeed the same thing happening again. :/

 

> This could just be something that

> " I " alone have to deal with and

> it may have nothing to do with

> the fact that i'm vegan, but i just want to

> check out possibilities.

 

Well, whatever the problem is, I hope you find out quickly and solve it quickly.

But yeah, I agree that it's always wise to consider different possibilities.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

.....

 

I showed a friend your post and my response thus far, and she said " The energy

thing is DEFINITELY B12 deficiency. If you look up the symptoms for B12

deficiency, it's almost word for word what this person wrote. "

 

So I did a quick google search " vegan B12 deficiency symptoms " and these two

results seemed like they might be helpful to you:

 

http://www.mycustompak.com/healthNotes/Concern/Vitamin_B12_Deficiency.htm

 

http://cwpp.slq.qld.gov.au/vvsq/nutr_b12.asp

 

These sites do seem to make it sound rather drastic... and I'm no doctor, so

don't take my word for it... but having known other vegans, some of whom DID

have B12 deficiency, it never seemed " that bad " at least not as much as you may

think reading these sites. So keep that in mind. However, this is something

that should be taken seriously and checked out (again, just my opinion).

 

Once again, good luck!

 

 

Veovis

(Still keeping an eye out for potential veg* friends in the Sonoma County area!)