Weight Gain Post Stem Cells

Weight gain post stem cells has been a very humbling experience. I have never weighed more than 120lb in my life before Lyme Disease. I never thought I would gain so much weight with stem cell therapy. Though it is frustrating, I do remind myself every day that I rather be chubby and feel awesome, then skinny and feel like I am dying so that does help, but now I just want both. 

The massive weight gain started 1-month post stems for me. The first month I actually lost a few pounds but then started gaining with a vengeance. As a pattern, I  gained around 5lb each month and it usually would come the week before my cycle. Pre stem cells I would always gain weight before my cycle, but then would lose it immediately. This weight however just stays. 

I have aggressively tried everything I can to try and stop it or slow it down. Fortunately, in Oct, it did start to slow when I added in Thymus Therapy. I plateaued around 165 but once I stopped thymus, I started to gain slightly, but fortunately at a much slower rate. I am currently hovering around 168, which is 48lbs heavier then I should be. 

I have been able to work out a lot now and have been hitting pilates pretty consistently. I do realize that muscle weighs more than fat, so maybe some of the added weight is muscle, yet I am still big. I do feel like my hip area feels slimmer but my belly continues to gain and not budge. I think this is due mostly to cortisol being an issue. 

Considering how clean I eat and how active I am I am at a loss for what I can do to jumpstart my weight loss. My body literally looks like I am sitting on the couch eating pizza and ice cream all day.  

I have done extensive work on what could be causing my weight gain, and to be honest doctors are even out of ideas at this point. I really think the root issue is my Thyroid and something with my hormones. My Thyroid actually got a bit worse post stem cells and is doing better now that I did Thymus, but still not optimal. My hormones also seem to be really out of whack and it makes sense since the weight gain coincides with my cycle. 

Here is what I have done so far:

Labs

I have done a series of various labs to see what could be going on. My general labs look good except for elevated CRP. This makes sense to be elevated though since stem cells heal through inflammation. I am going to be doing another set of general labs here soon to see if anything has shifted. 

Other labs I have done are for methylation, which is currently optimal, I tested for Parasites and that was all negative and I also did the DUTCH Hormone test. The DUTCH is a very comprehensive test that shows I do have some estrogen Dominance going on and estrogen detox issues as well as low cortisol. More on that later in this post. 

Thyroid

My thyroid actually got worse post stem cells. For some reason my Hashimoto’s antibodies, which always have hovered around 130 went up past 250+ when anything over 34 is abnormal. 

I did another round of Thymus in Oct after my 1 year mark and that seemed to help a lot. I was able to come down 2 doses (.5grains) on my Thyroid medication and my antibodies have dropped down to where they usually hover in the low 100s. My T3 and T4 are finally balancing out a bit as well. It still has a ways to go, but at least I am moving in the right direction now. 

Another perk that happened with the Thymus is that I stopped gaining weight while I was doing the injections. I didn’t lose, but I did stop gaining which was a nice side effect. 

Adrenals

For some reason, my adrenals seem to be very low. I have the correct curve but my adrenals are as low as can be. It’s really strange that they are so low because I have lots of energy, my sleep is great, my stress is managed. I am even doing biofeedback as a form of long term stress management so not sure how its so low. 

I tested my adrenals with the DUTCH test and it was when I was 4 shots into Thymus so hoping with Thymus it improved a bit more. I am also taking a glandular to support my adrenals and get my cortisol up. I am not sure what caused this, but my theory is that healing with stem cells caused a lot of internal stress on my body that tanked my adrenals, even though I feel great. 

Water Weight

I feel like a lot of my weight gain is also water weight since it fluctuates so much day to day and I can see water retention in my limbs. For some reason I can’t really get the water to drain, but I do see it come and go no matter what I do. 

I tried extensive Lymphatic Drainage sessions and my weight did get eradicated on those days but it was not permanent loss as it would just come back the next day.  

I also have tried various diuretics, which did cause me to urinate more but I never lost water weight with them. I also have a Vibe plate that can be really helpful for lymphatics, but also had no weight loss results with it either. I continue to drink nettle and dandelion teas in hopes that it will keep supporting my lymphatics and drainage. 

Liver Detox

It is always important to support your liver when detoxing and I have done many forms of liver detox. I also added in Calcium D-Glucarate for detox, especially estrogen detox but this has not helped either. 

Hormones

I honestly think that my hormones are a root of my problem. According to the DUTCH Test I am Estrogen Dominant and this has been a main focus in what I do now. 

For Estrogen Dominance I have been ramping up my dosage of DIM, CDG and Myomin. I definitely can see I am detoxing estrogen by the color of my urine, but still no budge in weight.  

The rest of my hormones are also a bit out of balance. My progesterone was slightly low so I tried taking oral progesterone for 2 cycles but got really intense night sweats. My testosterone is also extremely low so am going to go back to supplementing it with a compounded cream.  I had been on testosterone before and unfortunately, it did not help with the weight either. 

Weight Loss Treatments

I have tried a lot of targeted weight loss treatments such as leptin manager, which did not help and CLA, which is supposed to aid in fat loss.  I recently started doing MIC IVs and Injections. 

MIC is Methionine, Inositol, and Choline, which all are supposed to aid in weight loss and fat burning. I did do micronutrient testing recently and found that I was actually deficient in Inositol so hoping this helps budge the weight a bit. They say it can take 4-6 weeks to start to notice a difference so I am about 4 weeks into it now. 

Diet 

I don’t think diet has much to do with my weight gain as my diet has been really dialed down to what foods I thrive on. I also recently tested with Viome and it came back saying that the foods I am currently eating are optimal for my body and microbiome.  In addition to Viome, I did food allergy testing at the 1-year mark and my body is showing that it's very nonallergic so I know there are no hidden food allergies causing weight gain. 

I did play around with diet a bit just to make sure it was not contributing to my weight gain. I tried cutting down more on carbs, eating more veggies and salads. I adjusted my fats and proteins and cut down on portions to test things out and the weight gain continued, slow and steady despite daily exercise and diet changes. 

I don’t snack, I don’t eat sugar, I don’t eat gluten or grains, I don’t eat junk food. I eat so clean and healthy, that what is going on is much more than diet. 

Gut + Parasite

Our guts are always such an integral part of our health and immune system so it was important to me to make sure everything is going well there. My gut has healed a lot over the years between diet, gut protocols and stem cells. I did do gut and parasite testing to make sure everything was ok and fortunately, I had no Parasites but had a very slight over growth of yeast. We decided to try Nystatin on and off for a month to see if it was contributing to the weight issue. Again, no budge in weight, but I actually did feel really good while on nystatin so I am sure it cleared something out of me. Viome also recommended a specific probiotic for me so I have started including that into my regiment. Wouldnt it be miraculous if a simple change in probiotic could budget the weight? They say we do have gut microbes that make us skinny or fat! 

Micronutrient Testing

Micronutrient testing can be really great to show what your body is lacking. I had mine done recently and my labs looked really great. I only had 2 deficiencies which were slightly low in selenium and very low in Inositol which is interesting since inositol can help with weight loss. Fortunately, I just started the MIC IV’s and shots so that should repair the inositol issue. 

Exercise

Since nothing else seemed to be working, I also played around with different forms of exercise. I thought once I could work out again, that I was going to get in great shape after years of laying in bed. Boy was I wrong! 

I started out training with a personal trainer at Golds Gym. We did weight training, cardio and varied my workouts. I almost felt like I was getting bulky from doing weights so we switched my workouts to HIIT which is supposed to be great for weight loss. That did not help the weight gain. Next, I started doing more Cardio and that did not help either. 

I recently switched back to Pilates and feel it's the best so far. I do feel like I have lost some weight in my hips and I do feel I am finally getting stronger. It's just that stubborn weight that won’t budge! 

Detox

Detox is always a key piece of the puzzle as well. I try to use my infrared sauna and also taking the Calcium D Glucarate. I tried taking binders for a while to see if part of it was detoxing and not getting toxins out, but that made no difference either. I also upped my nettle tea and use my vibe plate for lymphatic drainage. 

Genetic Support

I did a genetic consult with Bob Miller and my report shows I could have impairment with Autophagy and Histamine. Autophagy is the bodies own method of cleaning itself out. Think of it as the bodies recycling center. Certain supplements like Tumeric can help trigger it on as well as fasting. I got a series of supplements from Bob to support Autophagy as well as Histamine. 

Intermittent Fasting

I also tried Intermittent fasting for a few weeks since this can really jump start Autophagy, but I continued to gain at a faster rate! I think there was something about my body thinking it was starving that made things even worse. 

Body Comp Testing

I did a body comp scan and found out I am 40% body fat, which is crazy and my BMI is around 29. Something is obviously making my body hold on to fat at an exponential rate. 

Misc.

As I mentioned before, my CRP was elevated, but I am planning to retest that here soon. I really think the inflammation increases with the healing process as stem cells heal through inflammation. 

What’s Next?

At my last doctors appointment, it was obvious my doctor was out of ideas and we had tried everything she knew to try so now its back to me figuring out what my next plan is. 

That being said, I really want to maybe do some more Thymus to see if that can at least halt the weight gain again. I will be starting a more aggressive glandular for my adrenals so hoping that helps with the cortisol and I also plan to continue MIC IV’s since I was deficient in inositol. 

Sometime in the next few weeks I also plan to try ACT Therapy at Infusio to see If it can help finally balance my thyroid and maybe even help with my hormones and weight gain.