Just a reminder that all of this information is not medical advice in anyway. I'm just sharing what I did for myself <3.
Because this protocol is just me showing what I did for myself and not me encouraging you on what you should do you'll find that amounts are not standardized but personalized to me (for example it shows how many vitamin pills I take exactly for the brand and potency that I use. Or the amount of water that I need to drink according to how much my water bottle holds.) In the future I may change these for my own reference because both my water bottle and the brand of pills I take have changed since my last pregnancy and it is a bit annoying to have to go back and rework it all.
Ultimately I figured for now its just another reminder that each individual needs to do their own research on these things and a reminder that I am not telling you what to do and can not be held accountable for it legally as a medical professional can. <3
A QUICK OVERVIEW OF CHOLESTASIS AND MY PHILOSOPHY/ APPROACH:
To try to explain it really simply Cholestasis is a Liver condition where when a liver is taxed bile salts from your liver spill over into your blood stream. This is what causes the itch. Cholestasis of Pregnancy just means this condition happens during pregnancy/ is triggered by something during pregnancy and goes away after!
The intensity can vary and levels can be tested via a blood test. The main symptom of Cholestasis is a severe itch. I have personally found that the intensity of the itch is directly correlated to the levels of Bile Salts in the blood.
AKA very little itch- very little Bile Salts (and associated risks), very intense itch- higher levels of bile salts in blood.
The cause of Cholestasis of Pregnancy is just taxation of the Liver during pregnancy.
Some people find that simply eating a reasonably healthy diet can prevent Cholestasis of Pregnancy but please don't feel bad it you, like me, have an extremely healthy diet and still end up with this condition.
Your body produces a hormone called Relaxin (I know fancy name right) that ..well relaxes you- everything from your skin to your muscles to aid in making room for baby. It can also loosens toxins stored in your body for safe keeping because of the damage it would do to your body to be cleared out all at once (pretty cool your body can do that). This would be things like heavy metals from pollution, pesticides, or vaccine preservatives.
My theory is that for some people this can cause the over taxation on your liver even in health individuals with a reasonable diet and even when we weren't seeing it before. (this is my personal theory not scientifically backed- just makes sense).
Additionally another reason you might think "this condition just popped out of nowhere and now I hear of it all the time!" Is because the medically allowable limits of Bile Salts in the blood were in recent years reduced to HALF of the levels that were before ( from 20 units to 10) to merit a diagnosis.
With risks that will scare you with like jaundice, early term birth and stillbirth (I suggest looking into the risk numbers and the association with Bile Salt levels in blood before freaking out too much) testing just over the now reduced limit will land you not only with a Cholestasis of Pregnancy diagnosis but also a big fat HIGH RISK sticker on your forehead and typically an induction or C-Section date of 37 weeks.
Most Midwives are either too scared to treat those with ICP or are not legally allowed to do so.
This can be a big bummer and a HUGE dent in an out of hospital birth plan.
As soon as I found out enough to know this I started to do some research to see if I could manage my symptoms to avoid even being tested!
With Brighten I downplayed my symptoms with my midwife and continued with a healthy diet. My intuition told me everything would be ok and I was better off not getting tested. Brighten was born a week and a few days later and the symptoms went away.
With Sage the symptoms started much sooner and were much more intense. My intuition told me I needed to take it very seriously because of this and that if it carried on too long I would need to get tested and follow medical protocol in order for my baby to be safe. BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO SETTLE FOR THAT SCENARIO!
So I just decided to get rid of it instead. My theory was that if a taxed liver was what was causing the issues if I just buckled down and avoided everything I could that would tax my liver I would MAYBE be able to keep it under control.
This was 3 years ago. I had NEVER known or talked to anyone who had this condition. I definitely didn't know anyone I could trust to ask about managing it naturally without them thinking I was being extremely dangerous. Especially with out severe my symptoms were.
I finally happened upon a midwife in Australia who had a protocol for natural Cholestasis of Pregnancy management and it aligned with pretty much everything I had come to conclusions to on my own (with God's help and my husbands support. I must add).
When I find her protocol somewhere in a random text to my mom I will credit her and put it up here too!
I didn't talk to ANYONE about it with Sage. I was so scared that people would judge me and try to talk me out of it.
But...
After 1 solid week of this extreme regime. Including things not expressly listed in these lists like: Cutting out ALL OILS except coconut Oil for cooked foods and EVOO unheated on salads and such. No meat outside of Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon and Wild Caught Sardines (very low fat therefor very little effort for the liver), continuing with my extremely healthy all organic diet, drinking ONLY filtered and remineralized water in glass bottles (yes it is extreme), no processed foods, and a strong focus on high protein but essentially no 'meat' diet.
THE ITCH WAS ALL BUT GONE during the day and mild during the night time when it is usually at its peak.
It came back each time I would not be careful what I ate (mostly when we would eat out and I didn't know what oils they used).
As long as I was extremely careful not to tax my liver I was golden for a few solid weeks. Just a few flair ups at night time (when its usually worse) on my hands and feet (where the itch usually starts).
At the final point I was 38 weeks 6 days and it came back full force that day. It was unrelenting. I tried not to let fear take over but instead used my intuition. I decided that she needed to be born as soon as possible. Before seeking more drastic measures I decided to go for a walk/run for a few miles. Then I went home and did all the laundry and cleaned the whole house. She was born 5 hours later. <3
This time around I plan to get fully ahead of the itch all together because I was seriously barely hanging onto a safe range by the skin of my teeth.
This protocol comes with inherent risks and I recognize that. I almost didn't share this protocol or my story because I dont want people to think this is not something that should be taken seriously! Its a HUGE commitment to constantly monitor your health and take it into your own hands. For me it is worth those risks.
This is not medical advice. (credit for the juice recipe to Chris Wark: This is his cancer cure smoothie focused on liver detox)
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