u/turmeric_cheesecake

Yesterday, after months of good looking kefir - my most recent batch was kind of slimy.

At first I was alarmed. Reading up, I saw that the reason was a substance called "kefiran". It seems that this kind of kefir is even healthier to drink, because the slimy layer protects more bacteria from going through stomach acid and making it into the intestines.

In the name of health, I can get over the weird feeling I get when drinking it if I'm convinced it's better for my dear insides. Any experiences with your own kefir?

My oral lichen planus started when I ate too much of a cinnamon candy. What a surprise when the whole left side of my tongue started having white lines and red spots!

No pain, but the sight was very disturbing. And there was an ache when I ate.

After 30 days of my tongue not healing, doctors took a biopsy (results still not in, but docs don't think it's cancer because it is widespread and also on my gums) but I didn't want to wait. I wanted to regain some of the control I felt I lost.

I've always believed in the power of fasting, and once had done a 5 day fast where afterwards my skin literally glowed.

So I did a 4 day (96 hour) fast, where I took electrolytes (magnesium, potassium and vitamins b) and drank a lot of water.

My theory was - OLP happens because renegade immune cells attack my tongue. In fasting, after 72 hours, immune cells are shown to retreat to the bone marrow in order to conserve energy.

On the last day of my fast, my tongue was still full of white lines. I was a bit demoralized. But I read up, and learned that the real healing happens in the 2 days after the fast ends. What they call the "re-feeding period".

So yesterday I broke my fast with bone broth soup. Then I ate eggs and avocadoes. Drank some of my home made kefir. And finished up with a dinner of salmon and broccolis.

Lo and behold, today I wake up and all the white spots are gone! And the redness is considerably less.

I don't think this is a cure. I will probably still need to take some medication.

But my goal was not to deny medication. It was to tame my immune cells. And it seems that the fast helped.

Now, fasting does how trade-offs. While we fast, our immune systems do reset in a way. But after we break the fast, there is a rapid multiplication of stem cells. Which slightly increases the risk of intestinal cancer - due to stem cells there multiplying rapidly to make up for those lost during the fast to autophagy.

I weighed the benefits and costs and made my own decision.

But in life, there is no free lunch. Every choice has its risks.

I do feel happy today though. :)

I am in my 30's, and even though I got the HPV vaccine in my 20's; a lot of people in my generation didn't. Cases of young people with throat, tongue and neck cancer are increasing.

I have a day job, but wonder if I can get a used  Digital Sonoace 5500 made in 2000 for 1,500 dollars, which uses DOS! - and scan people in my neighborhood in the weekends to watch out for any throat lymph enlargement.

Obviously imaging will be shared with doctors with consent, not used to make diagnosis. I know the idea is radical, but ultrasound is non invasive and most of my friends are top doctors who welcome the idea.

I just wonder if such an old machine can be used. I plan to record videos of scans, with an external camera. All legal forms will be filled by participants.

If this idea is too stupid, I will switch to my Plan B: Buy a used Vitamin D serum testing device, and mass test for Vitamin D.