Ammonia monster

What is the deal with ammoniac and how is it linked to heavy metal poisoning?

High ammonia symptoms include confusion (brain fog), fatigue, nausea, muscle weakness and sleepiness.   In my case I also experience ringing in the ears, muscle pain (fibromyalgia) and shaking similar to Parkinsons. You just feel awful, like you are dying.  Many sites quote the only cause for high ammonia levels as liver damage.  I've found this not to be true.  I've had liver tests done and they are all within normal parameters.  There are other things that can cause your ammonia levels to be go high that your liver cannot cope with it, regardless of how healthy it is.

The body is a complex system - something that doctors seem to ignore.  There is not always only one contributing factor and sometimes there is no one to one relation.  I've found 4 contribution factors to high ammonia levels

• Bacteria such as rikettsia, mycoplasma and proteus mirabillis produce ammonia.  Many people with heavy metal poisoning are also suffer with these infections.
• The death of bacteria releases ammonia
• Aluminium can cause and adduct on your DNA blocking the functioning of the glutamine synthase enzyme which converts aluminium to glutamine
• High protein diet such as the GAPS diet.  As bacteria in the gut digest protein, they release ammonia
• And I almost forgot.  Free glutamate.  I'm _extremely_ sensitive to free glutamate atm.  This includes MSG, yeast extract, hydrolysed vegetable protein, soy sauce (even naturally fermented) and any pasteurised milk products (heating of milk releases the glutamate bound to the protein).  

So now you are in a bind.  You have high ammonia levels and being on the high protein GAPS diet aggravates it.  You can't eat carbohydrates because rikettsia and mycoplasma LOVE carbohydrates, multiply and increate the ammonia levels.  As soon as you kill the nasties with rife, anti-biotics (which I don't recommend) or otherwise, they release ammonia making you feel worse.

Thanks to Ted from Bangkok and others here are some tips to minimize and deal with ammonia.

1. Supplement with L-Methionine (2000mg per day) and L-Arganine (1000mg per day) are used by the liver to excrete ammonia.
2. Take 2 -3 drops of Magnesium chloride solution (70% MgCl 30% distilled water) 3 times per day
3. Take 1 drop of concentrated Hydrogen Chloride per glass of water -several times a day or whenever you feel nauseas.  The body uses chloride to convert the ammonia to urea.  When the natural HCl from your stomach is used up trying to get rid of the very poisonous ammonia, you feel nauseous.
4. Black pepper oil.  5 drops in a bit of water whenever you have ringing in the ears or brain fog.  Black pepper oil contains a high amount of saponins.  It crosses the blood brain barrier and thus helps remove ammonia from the brain.  Black pepper also have good anti-convulsant and anti-microbial properties.
5. Humus or cooked chickpeas - eat at least 3 table spoons per day.  Humus is also high in saponins and helps absorb ammonia in the digestive track.  Chickpeas, the main ingredient for humus, is not indicates as GAPS safe, but I've found it agrees with me.
6. Eats vegetables before eating meat or your GAPS stock.  This will slow down the digestion of the protein and thus the release of ammonia.
7. Coffee enema.  Yip you read it right.  Coffee enema stimulates the liver and helps detoxifies it.  Read about the proceed here

The above is to help with the symptoms of high ammonia.  This does not resolve the root causes which are the aluminium poisoning and the bacterial infections.  But that is another blog for another day.

GAPS stock - the low down

I've been on the GAPS (Gut and Psychology) diet for more than a year now.  So by now I must have the art of stock making down pat.

As any new GAPS patient can tell you, in the beginning you feel completely overwhelmed by the requirements for the diet.  There are many do's and don'ts and on top of that you probably have to do extra things like detox baths.  And this comes at a time when you are probably very ill or caring for someone who is very ill and it all just seems too much.

My advice is to add new things to do at a pace of about one a week.  Get settled into that routine then tackle the next item.

So without further ado, my instructions and tips on making stock.   I make 3 litres of stock and 3 litres of soup in one go.  This is enough for one person for about a week.   I'm tired most of the time.  Making stock once a week is plenty.  I bought two big 3 litre bottels for storage.  Luckily I have quite a big fridge to fit them in.

Lets look at the pros and cons of the 3 methods of making stock.

Pressure cooker on the stove

This is the method I use.  We have a gas stove top and using a normal stock pot with an open flame for 8 hours is not an options.  Advantage: I can make stock and soup in about 3 hours.  Disadvantage:  I have to have 3 hours.

Slow cooker

Advantage - it needs hardly any attention and you're not going to burn the stock.  Disadvantage - you need at least 8 to 12 hours to prepare the stock.  I only have a small slow cooker and no more counter top space

Normal stock pot on the stove

Advantage - you can use any big pot.  It is cooked at a lower temperature and may retain more of the nutrients.  Disadvantage - you have a pot on the stove for 8 hours and with my poor memory I'll probably burn it.  Also takes at least 8 hours.

Making the stock in a pressure cooker

Place 2 kilograms of stock bones or a whole chicken in you pot.  Stock bones are bones with very little meat on.  They are the bones that are left after a butcher has left after preparing all the cuts of meat.  Add 6 liters of water, 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon of salt.  The apple cider vinegar helps to pull minerals from the bone.  Seal the pressure cooker and bring to pressure.  Let it cook for about an hour.  I put the whole pot in the washing basin, put a dish rag over the top and then release the pressure.  Sometimes with the steam that comes out some fat also escapes and this way it is contained in my washing basin.  Please be careful with the steam.

Fish out the bones and meat with a slotted spoon into a big bowl.  Pour 2/3rds of the stock into a 3 litre bottle and let cool.  Add another 2 litre of water to the stock left.  Now add your vegetables, a bit more salt and return the pot to the stove.  Once the pressure cooker is at pressure let it boil for about 20 min.

While the soup is busy, separate the meat from the bones.  I use the meat in other dishes or add it to the soup later.  Make sure to eat the collagen from the bones while it is still hot.  It is great for skin elasticity and joints.

I'll post some recipes for soups in the near future.