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I’d love to hear how switching to a low oxalate way of eating helped you. And what motivated you to go down this path? Was it pain, weakness, low energy, anxiety, insomnia, bladder issues and/or restless legs and painful feet? (or something else?) How quickly did you see results when making the dietary changes? And what would you say to someone who can’t even imagine a better, easier and pain-free life, and really doesn’t want to give up so many foods?

I’ve seen incredible results personally and my painful feet and restless legs/insomnia (and also severe eye pain in one eye) was my motivation. I’m a nutritionist and understand the power of nutrition and know what is possible. But I know it’s tough to grasp for many individuals.

I’m asking for a dear family member who uses a walker and can’t imagine life without her walker and that dietary changes could make a difference.

I posted the above on Facebook and here are some of the few incredible responses I received. I hope they inspire and motivate you if you’re just beginning this low oxalate journey, or if you have a family member you’re trying to inspire, educate and help.

Beth shared how stopping high oxalate foods – beets, sweet potatoes, almonds, swiss chard, and chocolate – enabled her to stop using her cane in just 2 weeks:

I had to use cane by the time I was 28 and could barely hobble. The pain was like ground glass in my joints. To take a flight I had to get a wheelchair at the airport and had to use the electric carts at the grocery because I couldn’t walk or stand due to the excruciating pain. This went on for a few years.

When I learned about oxalates and stopped beets, sweet potatoes, almonds, swiss chard, and chocolate and went down to only medium oxalate foods or lower, I was off the cane in 2 weeks. I didn’t know about dumping, and I got lucky, but now if I eat too many oxalates the only problem I get is pain in my fingers and toes.

I can personally relate to the ground glass pain she describes – the pain in my feet felt like a mix of shards of glass and hot coals. It’s a common description I hear from clients.

You may be familiar with the wonderful work of Beth O’Hara, functional naturopath and founder of Mast Cell 360. She shares this too: “ I see a lot of mold toxicity underlying oxalate issues due to leaky gut, nutrient depletion, and a few other factors.”

Quick results for insomnia, bloating, stomach pain, peripheral neuropathy, body pain, brain fog, weird rashes and more

Nicola shared these wonderful results and the fact that her symptoms started to resolve quickly:

I had extremely quick results – a couple of days for some symptoms. But the thrill of the slow realization that I wasn’t actually seriously ill and brewing up ever more and newer ways to suffer, was the biggest relief. Lower stress also equals lower pain.

Insomnia first, then bloating, stomach pain, peripheral neuropathy, chest pains, body pain, swollen lymph glands, brain fog, TMJ pains, weird rashes, arthritis type pains in hands/wrists, headaches. The list is too extensive to enumerate. Suffice to say I no longer feel in imminent danger of contracting lymphoma, heart problems, Alzheimer’s etc.

I am 66 years old and I’ve only been on this TLO (trying low oxalates) journey for about 8 months or so and all those issues have mostly been resolved. Kind of magical really. Still dumping oxalates regularly as I had a long way to come having been mostly Paleo for about 8 years previously.

I think we are too quick to resign ourselves to the ‘aging’ process. I find I am getting younger by the month, the longer I am lowering oxalates. I may not look any younger, but to be living without chronic pain is quite the unexpected boon.

I have to agree with Nicola. It is quite magical to get results like this and too often we take for granted that as we age chronic pain is inevitable. As you can see from these stories it is not inevitable and you have much more control than you may realize!

So desperate with pain that she thought she was going to have to quit work

Yvonne found out she had oxalate issues after having DNA testing done. She shares this about her journey and motivation:

I had extreme shoulder pain, grainy eyes and in the end, I couldn’t take my thyroid meds without the shoulder pain or some other pain. I found my way to the group through DNA testing which …suggested that I may have an oxalate problem. I slowly started eating low oxalate, suggested by the TLO group.

I had been primarily consuming high oxalate foods trying to be healthy but my diet wasn’t diverse enough. I was eating nuts, celery, spinach, kale, chocolate and sweet potatoes.

I was cautious after going low oxalate and having my problems relieved. Over time I’ve gone back to eating medium oxalate foods and done well. I do feel like making my own kombucha and drinking it daily has helped.

Dietary oxalate issues are often worse for women as they start to go through perimenopause and into menopause because of lower estradiol levels (more on that below). Yvonne was 65 at the time.

She shares what motivated her to make changes: “I was so desperate with pain that I thought I was going to have to quit work. That’s the reason I had the DNA testing done.”

Belly pain (maybe bladder), left leg pain, scalp itch, eye stinging and itching reduced immediately

Cristina shared what she observed when switching to a low oxalate diet:

Noticed belly pain (maybe bladder), left leg pain, scalp itch, eye stinging and itching reduced immediately. But might have taken a couple of years to really unload excess oxalates. I still get the exact same symptoms if I have high oxalates, particularly carrots, potatoes and nuts.

With much appreciation for these women for sharing their stories and giving me permission to share. I do hope this is inspiring and motivating for you if you are navigating dietary oxalates and can’t yet imagine that a diet change could lead to a better life and symptom-free existence. I’ll be sharing all this wonderful feedback with my loved one too.

Additional reading about dietary oxalates

If you’re new to the concept of dietary oxalates here are some blog posts for additional reading:

Oxalate crystal disease, dietary oxalates and pain: the research & questions (this is a good one to start with if you’re new to dietary oxalates and the issues they can cause)
Vulvodynia: oxalates, GABA, tryptophan and physical therapy
Vitamin C causes oxalate formation resulting in pain, anxiety, and insomnia (when there is a defect in ascorbic acid or oxalate metabolism)?
Waking in the night due to environmental toxins: impacts on the liver, gallbladder and fat digestion (making oxalate issues worse)
Increased kidney stones in postmenopausal women with lower estradiol levels. What about increased dietary oxalate issues too?

I’d love to hear how switching to a low oxalate way of eating helped you and which high oxalate foods were you eating?

What motivated you to go down this path? Was it pain, weakness, low energy, anxiety, insomnia, bladder issues and/or restless legs and painful feet (or some other symptoms)?

How quickly did you see results when making the dietary changes?

And what would you say to someone who can’t even imagine a better, easier and pain-free life, and really doesn’t want to give up so many foods?

If you have questions please share them here too.

Creating awareness, motivating, inspiring and educating

I’d like to highlight some of the reasons for sharing this paper:

creating more awareness about the emotional/mood symptoms that can occur with a Bartonella henselae infection

educating about this infection in general so other families can find solutions quicker than this family did

motivating and inspiring you to not give up looking for answers for you and your family – this mom suspected Bartonella infection after doing internet searches (almost 3 years after all this started)

creating more awareness about possible hosts other than ticks (in this case woodlice and woodlice hunter spiders)

highlighting how family members exposed to the same infection can have different symptoms and how some family members may not be infected at all (in this case the father was not affected)

highlighting that some individuals (the mom in this case) do not recall being bitten and yet still get sick

educating on how amino acids can offer much symptom relief during the investigation and treatment of the infection (more on this below)

Treatment with antibiotics and Chinese herbs

This family was successfully treated with antibiotics and other medications once it was determined Bartonella was the cause of their symptoms:

The parents report that the [youngest] child is actively socializing with other children and now runs and plays like he had never done before.

Following this antibiotic course, the mother reported substantial overall improvement and was almost symptom free. However, she continues to experience occasional irritability, confusion, dizziness, nausea, and pain involving the shoulder, hip and the bottoms of her feet.

One of the common symptoms of Bartonella is burning feet and this article, How to Put Out the Fire in Your Burning Bartonella Feet, mentions a herb from the Zhang protocol:

In Chinese herbal medicine, an herb called “houttuynia” is classified as “Clearing Heat and Relieving Toxicity.” This herb has been successfully used to treat Bartonella by a Chinese physician in New York named Dr. Q. Zhang. This herb has antibacterial and antiviral properties in addition to clearing heat and toxins. Fortunately this herb can be combined with other herbs to help relieve Bartonella symptoms.

I mention this because I am personally familiar with the Zhang protocol, having used it when working with Dr. Darin Ingels to address my Lyme disease (Borrelia). Dr. Ingels is the author of The Lyme Solution and writes about the Zhang protocol in this excellent book.

Using amino acids to address anxiety, panic attacks, sleep problems, crying and pain

Individual amino acids, used as supplements, can offer much symptom relief during the investigation and treatment of the Bartonella infection, however they are seldom recommended. I would love to see this change and become the norm.

In this blog post, GABA helps with Lyme anxiety (while addressing the underlying disease), Tricia shares that “Lyme, Bartonella and Babesia are all known to cause anxiety and other psychological disorders ranging from mild to very severe.” She also shares that her daughter used GABA:

We’ve used Source Naturals GABA Calm sublinguals with good results. I learned about GABA helping anxiety and because I was treating my young daughter I purchased this because it was easy for her to take.

Looking at some of the emotional symptoms this family experienced, and how the amino acids could have helped:

anxiety, irritability, and panic attacks: can be eased by using tryptophan/5-HTP

disruptive sleep patterns and waking: can be helped by using calming GABA

inconsolable crying: can be eased by using DPA to boost endorphins

headaches, pain in the legs, shoulders and elsewhere: can be eased with DPA and/or tryptophan

rage episodes: can be eased with tryptophan/5-HTP

ADHD: can be helped with GABA in some instances and 5-HTP in other instances

I feel for this poor family. It certainly was a very complex family case and reflects the need to dig deep to find the root cause. And I appreciate the case being written up so more awareness can be created.

Have you or your family experienced something like this? And has your practitioner introduced you to the amino acids for some symptom relief while they are addressing the infection/s?

If you’re a practitioner working with Lyme disease and coinfections such as Bartonella, have you seen cases similar to this one? Do you use amino acids for some symptom relief while addressing the infection/s?

Feel free to post your questions and feedback in the comments below.

Low oxalate success stories: resolution of joint/body pain, insomnia, peripheral neuropathy and can walk without a cane