20 something days after starting an intestinal cleanse based on just taking a fibre supplement and I spotted what (it transpires) was most likely a ‘cholesterol stone’. A hard waxy deposit passed out from the liver through the bile duct and off into the intestine and ultimately OUT.

Of everything I’d learned and read this was ultimately just about the most disturbing. Some significant research later and I discover that there is a very simple protocol that you can follow to attempt to purge the liver of any of these deposits whilst at the same time emptying the system of perhaps stale bile from the gallbladder and any stones that might form there.

I’ll not bother to go into the protocol in any detail as a quick google will tell you everything your need to know. In essence. A brief fast, a dose of Epsom salts. An emulsion of olive oil/citrus juice to stimulate the billiary system and that’s it. Fatty deposits expelled from the liver, the gall bladder emptied of excess bile and if you have any gallstones… off they go too.

Taking the epsom salts wasn’t too bad, the olive oil went down easily and then.. four hours later in bed… the worlds worst acid reflux. Then appalling nausea. Then… in the morning… more epsom salts to flush out whatever was set free by the oil cocktail.

Off to the loo… and the first results.

Me.

A month in and the plaque is finished. This is a good thing.

Changes?

Markedly increased energy levels

Understanding the vivid consequences on my digestion of what I eat has meant that I’ve subtly changed what it is that I eat.

Al BMs now look different! Longer, leaner, thinner

Still some lingering negative effects. Most recent being an outbreak of teen style zits. Also largely unseen for a good 20 years.. and lending more credence to the healing crisis theory.

Noticeable change in abdomen shape with the most bizarre consequence… my bladder capacity appears to have increased?! I can only assume that the space being taken up by the stash of mucoid plaque in my intestine/colon has yielded, allowed whatever capacity I had to expand a little.

My Partner. A whole ‘nother story.

Prodigious non-stop quantities of plaque.

Quite a few differences from what I was producing. Longer. Fatter. Harder. More leathery. Altogether even more gross than mine.

No photos. Yet.

I’d previously mentioned my suspicions of moon dust brought on by the cleanse. Whilst plaque production has dried up for now the recent appearance of the moon-dust was a bit shocking. More so when a little forensic work indicates that they might well have been Intrahepatic Cholesterol Stones.

Sitting inside the liver the internal  ducts that carry away the toxins that the liver flushes out by processing hundreds of litres of blood a day sometimes forms small ’stones’ of cholesterol.

Here’s a picture of the works.

and here’s a sectioned organ revealing an identical looking cholesterol stone.

 

 

 

Plaque production appears to have.. how shall I put this.. tapered off?!

On a colon cleansing detox the fun never stops though, so read on for tales of Oil Slicks and Moon-dust!

I’ve mentioned a couple of times now the domestic caution I was operating under for being overenthusiastic about the detox. So, it took some considerable persuading for my other half to commence on a similar regime but the results are undeniable.

So, a romantic yet cryptically short text message arrived yesterday morning to announce the birth of… some plaque!

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak! A corporate jolly to a day at Towcester races and I ate the biggest steak I’ve ever clapped eyes on.

Ill effects? None. Result.

Which is a good thing as the only other result I had was a place on a 9/4 e/w bet. CACK!

An array of uncommon minor ailments have befallen me of late (aches and pains), further online research indicates that these might be as a result of the detox process. The theory goes that as the body eliminates accumulated toxins cached up in the plaque then an assortment of other problems might manifest themselves in the short term. I’ve seen this referred to as a ‘healing crisis’

General discomfort starting at 14:00 yesterday and commencing distinctly just below my liver and marching on through the course of the afternoon. No BM during the evening (for the first time in a fortnight) which I’d put down to the fact that I’d eaten something ‘normal’ at lunchtime – a decadent Chicken, Bacon and Brie panini – my first bread and cheese in an age. Increasing discomfort all the way through the evening only relieved when I lay flat on retiring to bed. Awoke at 5:30 this morning, no desperate urge to go but when I did…

… and time to start the day with an Ooohhh and a Ahhhhh….

An unusual travel day yesterday, no real time to eat or act properly.

• Brekkie. 4 eggs, Scrambled. Smoked Salmon. Coffee.
• Lunch. Soup made with Squash, Smoked bacon and assorted winter veggies. Glass of Beer!
• Snack. A massive Doyene du Comice pear.
• Supper. Two fruit smoothies from Marks and Spencer whilst driving up the M1 at 9:30 at night in the fog.

It’s not great I know so I wasn’t expected what happened next to happen…

After a full day of physical activity Saturday, a relaxing hot shower then sitting down for a rest when a wave of flu-like symptoms hits me. Hot flush, aching joints, slight headache. Light a fire, open a bottle of wine – fall instantly asleep, an early night. Wake up fresh as a daisy this morning, full of energy. Morning coffee only seeming to super-accelerate things. I was out working in the garden as soon as it got light.  And then, could this get any weirder?

I hope not because this has got to be hard to top. This morning, along with a normal healthy stool and a smattering of tiny hazlenut ovine poops…

“Chicken Livers”

Not from a chicken you undertstand, nor apparently made of liver. We’re venturing into spectacular new territory here now. Soft, flappy, shiny fresh looking plaque lobes with a thin inner of Psyllium. Just enough rigidity to be held up like a piece of seaweed.

It’s hard not to make the correlation between the odd looking/feeling/smelling expulsions and my state of general health across the board. It does appear that each major occurence is preceded/accompanied by a shift in my feeling of wellbeing. It’s probably too early to tell but I am conscious of a slight general uplift in things. Time will tell.

Morning motion and I did have a good old prod with Mr. Chopstick and can happily report that Leathery ropelike plaque, Ovine pellets and big dried prune like chunks, as seen individually on other days all put in an appearance today.

And Lots of it. I’d say the above comprised a good 65.4% of my output! Umm, approximately.

No pics today… as I’m starting to tire of that whole rigmarole and today was nothing particularly new. Talking of which, my enthusiasm for the whole thing was reigned in marginally when I received a domestic RED CARD and was sin-binned for poop talk.

Bad dog, no biscuit.

Good news? Hip aching has ended and with its disappearance has come an amazing uplift in late night energy. I’m normally an early riser but come early evening I’m generally done for the day but last night I was startled by an unusual surge in energy. Turned in at my usual time and was working away writing, doing some planning for work etc… next thing I know 3:30am. Still bolt awake and not a hint of tiredness.

The bad news. Ovine poops.

A little over a week since I started with the Psyllium supplements and the regime looks like this.

No Breakfast. Soup or salad for lunch. A light meal for supper, typically steamed fish and vegetables. No refined carbs. The fibre is taken with a glass of water and washed down with a second glass of fruit juice. Probably taking the fibre drink 4 or 5 times through the day. Very simple and apparently effective…

This mornings chopstick antics revealed… a significant development!

Morning report: Something new!

Well, not nothing of course. But this mornings field report indicates… nothing suspicious found!

A full day of physical labour, which, despite the change in diet to mostly liquids and a small/light evening meal – wasn’t too taxing.  Just relaxing in front of a warm fire and sipping on a glass of red whilst chatting with a neighbors and then.. stop the press CODE BLUE! A Gastrointestinal emergency.

Cock-a-doodle-doo! Off goes the organic alarm clock, paying no heed to the clocks going back… another hour in bed affords the opportunity to veg out and watch a snippet of the Casino DVD. It’s not long though before I the call of nature takes over…

Busy with stuff around the house and I knew something was afoot. Profound movement detected in the lower belly area.

Time to assume the position. And calm, like a Zen master… I let go.

Well.. aside from the thrill/fear/bizarre awakening that I’ve actually been toting around that stuff for who knows how long.. I’ve developed a bit of a headache.

Early morning, good nights rest, punctuated by distinct gastrointestinal happenings. No pain, only really a mild discomfort of some minor cramping and a very strange slo-mo sensation of movement. Like a baby kicking!

Time for a motion in the ocean.

And, a RESULT. Pics behind the cut.

Home for the weekend and off to the shops. I’m going to have a go at doing this for real so it’s time to stock up at the supermarket…

Ahhh… just as the crescendo mounts… an email in my inbox. Could Mucoid Plaque all be some awful scam?

Nothing like a little sporting wager between gentlemen to spice up proceedings.

A handshake sealed the deal. If in the course of the detox I managed to produce anything approximating the seaweedy green/brown/black/bicycle innertube type plaque feted in the photos seen online a £100 bounty was mine.

Photographic evidence required of course.

Splendid stuff. The germ of a mucoid plaque photo blog was born!

Hardly!

But, that’s what we talked about. The general ‘ew’ factor associated with the expulsion of mucoid plaque is a fertile breeding ground for a bit of comedy. But over supper out at an Indian restaurant that’s pretty much all we talked and laughed about.

Three hours of poo chat over a fine meal… what else could you ask for!

The camp was broadly split into the

• Passionate believers.
• Morbidly fascinated yet fearful
• Morbidly fascinated yet disbelieving
• Rather not talk about it thankyou very much.

I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in ages. Now, at this point I’m already off and running having already knocked back a few fibre shakes. And somewhat mindful of the risks I opted for a reasonable middle ground. Lamb Dansak. No Rice. No Narn.

Don’t want to upset the Gastrointestinal gods!

A quick search tells me that there is a Holland and Barret – uk chain ‘healthfood’ store nearby.. and they have a ‘half price’ sale on.

A quick departure into town and shopping ensues!

‘Regucol’. Psysillium husks. £7.49for 420g. This appears to be the key ingredient mentioned in all of the online reading I’d done. 10g in a glass of water produces a bit of a slurry… quickly mixed up and downed (no specific flavour at all) and then followed by another glass of water.

The ‘digestive health’ section of the store was full of all manner of pills and potions. I opted for some extras

Slippery Elm Bark. £3.49, a mucilage producing powder.

Acidopholus . £7.49m to biologically recharge the intestine.

And that’s it. Wagons roll.

The ‘Blessed Herbs’ company has page after page of testimonials for their cleanse products

http://www.blessedherbs.com/photos2i.html

and a similar set of astonishing photos and testimony from the users of the ‘Colonix’ product

http://www.drnatura.com/picture_gallery.html

Broadly similar products, broadly similar results.

Well, plenty of kits for a self adminstered intestinal cleanse to be seen online. All with photographic evidence. Necessary of course because without the photos you’d hardly believe it.

Mucoidplaque.co.uk resell the blessed herbs kit in the UK for Price £64.99, €97.99 in the Eurozone. A little bit harsh when the kit retails in the US for quite a bit less ($90) and I suspect the ingredients and packaging might cost… umm…€15?

“Where there’s muck, there’s brass “

Idle googling took me down the road of discovery to mucoid plaque.

Google image search will probably tell you all that you need to know.

And having seen that lot I’m persuaded enough to share it with colleagues and think about having a go. After all, as the saying goes, Better out than in!