June 30th, 2010: I am loving enzyme therapy. After having taken digestive enzymes (Enzymedica’s Digest Gold) and increasing my intake of raw foods for about two weeks, I experienced greatly enhanced mood, better Mom behavior, much more sensitive sense of taste, clear, open sinuses, disappearance of allergy symptoms, and a flat stomach resulting in appearing 15 pounds lighter. I was very happy with this turn of events! I feel I am on my way to achieving my health goals and the elusive sense of total well-being.
July 30th: After six weeks on enzymes (I ramped up **slowly** to 4 Digest Gold per meal and 4 Vira-Stop 2x between meals and bedtime to treat my autoimmune disease), I weighed in 16 pounds lighter than my usual baseline weight. I look great and have more energy.
*****Warning: enzymes do a great job of distributing nutrients throughout the body, so your body is much more supported in healing and functioning than it was prior to using them. This will also be true of any medications you are taking. If you are on any medication and want to begin an enzyme protocol, you must do so under the care of your doctor!! Don’t mess around! Enzymes are probably more powerful than either of you thinks they are.*****
August 15th: I found that by taking enzymes along with my thyroid medication in the early morning, I needed quite a bit less thyroid medication than I needed prior to beginning enzymes. My TSH went from 1.68 to .60 in the first 6 weeks I was on enzymes, I wasn’t sleeping, wasn’t tired (always a red flag), and I had one disturbing instance of waking up after taking my medication with my heart racing. Although my thyroid doctor wasn’t convinced my symptoms were from taking enzymes, I had no choice but to try cutting back on my medication so I could get some sleep. I cut my thyroid medication almost in half– from 112 mcg to 75 mcg. Now I am able to sleep.
August 25, 2010: The recommendation of many who have undertaken enzyme therapy in the past is that you start with one and increase slowly (after a few days) capsule by capsule as long as you feel you are benefiting from the increase. After this you maintain your dose for six weeks or so, then begin tapering off as long as the benefits remain. I felt many benefits when I began this therapy, and have continued to experience them (more or less) when I increase my dose. Some of the greatest benefits (the ones that really get me excited about enzymes), such as super-clear sinuses and no allergies, still seem to be fleeting though. I think it’s time to increase my dose again, to 5 virastop at a time.
There is an extremely useful website discussing enzyme therapy which you should visit: www.enzymestuff.com. She also has a study posted on using formulations like Vira-Stop to address various health issues. It’s a small study but promising nonetheless. One of the great things about enzyme therapy is the preponderance of evidence of its efficacy. Enzymestuff documents many of those studies.
September 20: After being on a fairly high dose of enzymes for a few months, I am experiencing a substantially greater sense of well-being, more energy, and greater mental clarity. However, some improvements experienced at the beginning of enzyme therapy have faded. I have gained some, but not all, of my weight back (this must also be due to the fact I had to significantly decrease my thyroid prescription), and my sinuses are not nearly as clear as they first were. I am taking four Digest Gold at the beginning of each meal and five Virastop 2x between meals and before bed. I know when I back off them I feel much worse, so the enzymes are doing good work. They are just not at this point doing…enough. After having scoured the Internet, I found Theramedix. This line sounds very promising, and I am excited that I might get this covered by my insurance. Maybe.
October 12, 2010: I continued on my protocol of four digest gold with meals (or less depending on the size of the meal/snack) and five Virastop until a couple of days ago. At this point I’m getting a little digestive irritation…let’s just say “on the way out,” so I think it’s time to slowly dial down the enzymes and see how I do.