Nursing Mom with Acidic Body pH

by Nursing Mom
(Ottawa, Canada)

So this is my story. I have been having health issues for more years than I can count. I have seen Dermatologists, Allergists, Gastroenterologists, Urologist and the list goes on.

I have a hiatus hernia, eczema on my hands and arms, sensitivity to dairy, itchy anus, indigestion, acid reflux, always tired, dark circles under my eyes, recurrent UTI's (every 2 months). I have been on antibiotics 20 times in the last 4 years and that is just for the UTI's and 2 cases of mastitis while breastfeeding both my daughters.

I am sure there is more but this is all I can think of off the top of my head.

I am terribly frustrated at the fact that when I see a doctor/specialist they only focus on their
specialty and 1 symptom. I have been trying to think of what can be going on with me and came up with the fact that maybe I have too much acid in my system.

I happened upon your website while researching this and decided to test my pH. My saliva is low acid and my urine is high acid. I have tested my urine multiple times and even had my husband test his to see if the strips were working right.

I also read on and found that I have quite a few of the symptoms of Candida Albicans.

I am really eager to start feeling better but am at a crossroads as I don't know how to approach my doctor about all of this without him looking at me like I have 2 heads and also I am breastfeeding my 7 month old.

I am concerned about what I may be passing to her and also what I may have passed on to my 4 year old while I was breastfeeding her.

I took the advise of my sister who is really into natural therapy and stared HMF powder, the Acidophillus powder. I took 2 doses and had crazy diarrhea, thinking that maybe it's cleaning out the bad stuff???

ANY suggestions, advice, recommendations would be helpful.

Thank you in advance for reading my story.


RESPONSE


Hi Nursing Mom,

I can feel the intensity of your frustration through your words. I used to feel like that. There's also a sense of feeling helpless and overwhelmed. I was there too.

You brought up the issue of doctors only treating the symptoms of their specialty. Have you heard the old expression, "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"?

This is the problem that I have with most medical doctors. While I commend them for their life-saving abilities, when it comes to general health issues I find I am better off researching things for myself.

The way I see it, you have several choices.

1) You can follow your doctor's recommendations - which will probably include several prescription medications that will end up making your body even more acidic.

2) You can tell your doctor the things you've read on this site. Just to be clear, he probably will look at you like you have four heads instead of just two. I know from personal experience. :) Expect no support, along with a good dose of patronization and/or irritation.

3) You can continue to see your doctor and not let him know about these alternative treatments. I would only recommend this if you are not currently on any kind of medications.

4) You can try to find a more open-minded doctor - in effect, fire your current doctor. Remember, you are paying him for a service. If you are not happy with him, find someone else. Look for a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO's instead of MD's). They are much more holistically minded.

The last one is my favorite if there is a DO near you. DO's believe that our bodies have an inherent ability to heal themselves. They look at all the symptoms as a whole before making a diagnosis.

It's a refreshing change from the majority of MD's that are drug pushing and surgery happy.

But even if you can't find a new doctor, there are things you can do to turn around your health.

Balancing your body pH is an important first step. Increasing the raw fruit and vegetables in your diet will help greatly with that. Alkaline supplements will increase your pH quickly too. Both ways of achieving body pH balance will do nothing but good things for your breastfeeding little one.

Speaking of your youngsters, please get your vitamin D levels tested. Low vitamin D could be an explanation for all your recurrent infections.

The fact is that most of us in Canada and the U.S. are severely deficient in this nutrient. Breastfeeding moms that are vitamin D deficient pass that deficiency on to their newborns. Vitamin D is critical for healthy growth and development (more benefits of vitamin D).

As for the candida albicans infection, I generally recommend some kind of natural body detox. But you should hold off on any detox programs until you are done breastfeeding.

In the meantime, use good quality probiotics and prebiotics. That along with increasing your body pH will make it difficult for the yeast to thrive.

Organic virgin coconut oil will also help safely kill off the yeast (and make your breast milk more nutritious). This healthy oil is also great for remedying skin conditions - just rub it on your eczema (more coconut oil benefits).

For your urinary tract infections, 100% cranberry juice (unsweetened) is a natural UTI treatment. See my page on natural UTI remedy and treatment for more info.

Your acid reflux/indigestion is also going to need to be treated. See these pages for more information on improving your digestion.

Feeling Extremely Tired Especially After Eating

HCl Supplements Effect on Body pH

Acid Reflux Medications Negatively Affect Body pH Levels

I know this is a lot of information, but just take things one step at a time. An easy (and not very expensive place to start would be with Betaine HCl tablets (to improve digestion and get more nutrients from your food), prebiotics and probiotics to rebuild healthy internal flora and crowd out candida, and more fresh raw fruits and vegetables in your diet.

Please let me know if you have any questions about any of this (use the comment link below).

Wishing you the best of health,

Melissa
Approach Wellness