HouseCall: Appendix & Obstruction, Tapioca Starch Substitute, Armpit Odor, Gingival Fibromatosis, Benfotiamine
Welcome back to our weekend Cabral HouseCall shows!
This is where we answer our community’s wellness, weight loss, and anti-aging questions to help people get back on track!
Check out today’s questions:
Kari: Hi Dr. Cabral, Thank you so much for all that you do! You’re much loved. I recently landed in the ER with a ruptured appendix. Apparently, I had an obstruction (fecalith) that led to the inflammation and ultimate rupture. I’m 51, so this isn’t common in my age group, and I eat incredibly clean. I literally follow the same diet you recommend and don’t even do the cheat meals. I worked for four years to recover my gut, so this is heartbreaking in a lot of ways. My question is what could have caused the obstruction? From what I’ve read, it normally happens to those that eat more of a western diet and don’t get enough fiber. I’m not constipated, eat plenty of fiber and honestly don’t know what more I could have done. Thank you!!
Lara: Hi, dr. Cabral 🙂 I listened to your podcast where you said tapioca starch is difficult to digest.. what would be a good substitute for it in recipes? Also, do you have a good substitute for nutritional yeast in recipes? Thank you so much and happy healing to everyone!
Sam: Dr. Cabral thank you so much for all that you do. Your work has helped so many people. I even tell my naturopathic doctor about things I learn on your podcasts. I have a very strange question. One of my armpits omits a very strong onion-y odor when I sweat. Until more recently, my body never produced much sweat in general. Now when I sweat, my right armpit will have a slight body odor, but my left will have a pungent onion odor. I have tried baking soda and antibacterial soaps, but the smell always returns. Do you have any recommendations to help what I assume is a bacteria or yeast imbalance in the affected armpit? (There are no other localized symptoms besides the smell, although I have had systemic issues with Candida, mold, and heavy metals in the past)
Anonymous: Hello! My question is about gingival fibromatosis. I’m not sure if that is what I am experiencing but after some googling I think it might be. I have always had a gummy smile and when I was in my late teen years I had surgery to fix it, where I was told that I had excess bone on my teeth and that gum grows over bone. So, they had to scrap off the excess bone for my gums to recede. This worked great and I was told as long as I floss and keep up on my oral health I wouldn’t have anymore issues. However, now 8 years later I am starting to have a gummy smile again. I did some more research and it says this can be caused by hormonal imbalances, I do have PCOS so that makes sense. I am currently working with an IHP for my PCOS but I was wondering if you had any suggestions for my gummy smile.
Justin: What are your thoughts on Benfotiamine? I’ve never heard you talk about it, but have heard other functional medicine clinicians say it’s the one of the few beneficial synthetic vitamins. Also, I’ve heard that the reason B vitamins are yellow is because they are synthesized from sewer sludge, is this something you’ve heard of?