Omg...i Might Be On To Something

[AndreaB]

Well, I called my doctor today.

I found out he does us IV chelation if we need to go that route.

Now I've got to add the cost of the challenge/hair analysis to my list of health things to do. I want to get hubby's done. My doctor wants me to get my amalgams out asap.....I told him this fall if all goes well.

[dlp252]

Andrea, great! I hope all goes well then for you (well all of us really, lol).

[Green12]

I use Metagenics probiotics, the dairy free formulation.

I usually alternate between acidophilus and bifidus, and they are both in powder form which I like.

I also test well with this brand.

I've used the PB8 before Andrea

[confusedks]

Andrea,

That's great!

Everyone,

We just changed the dressing on my PICC line and it itches so badly!!! I am hoping that once I post about it, the itching will stop! LOL

[dlp252]

We just changed the dressing on my PICC line and it itches so badly!!! I am hoping that once I post about it, the itching will stop! LOL

Oh, hope it works as well for you as it did for ME, lol!

I'm leaving in about an hour for my next B12 shot, but I'm hoping NO itching this time since I'm not letting them put a bandaid on me.

[AndreaB]

Kassandra,

Hope the itching is much better now.

Donna,

Hoping you don't have an itching attack too.

[confusedks]

Ahhh, no such luck so far!! It itches SO BADLY! LOL! I wish I could itch it though! It's so annoying!

[mftnchn]

Sherry,

Yes, I think I can increase my Vit C and that might work. I'm only taking 1/2 a tsp every day (that's only 2,500 mg), so I can increase more. I have been taking one magnesium capsule per day, but that's not enough--I think it's only 133 mg and my doctor wants me to take 500 mg per day. Yesterday evening I took another kind too...it's a liquid form, and I think that works better for me. We'll see.

Beyond that, I'm at a loss, lol...it's been so long since I've had to think about this that I can't think of anything, lol.

Donna, I take a powdered form of C with mag, also potassium and something else, I forget. Anyway, what has worked pretty good for me is to take 2 scoops at bedtime, and one scoop right away in the morning. Then I also drink two large cups of warm to hot water right afterward in the morning. This seems to help stimulate things a bit. For awhile I cut back to one scoop morning and evening, but then things got worse again and I had to increase. Maybe one of my newer supplements I haven't figured it out yet.

The mag is total about 1200 a day; C is about 7000. I'd prefer to push up the C and hold or reduce the mag but don't have a pure C option right now.

My doc said he wanted me on 400-500 mg, but he's ok with the increase until I can find some safe C.

Everyone,

Someone here was asking about psyllium. What I understand is.... that it isn't a laxative, its a bulking agent. A very good fiber source which absorbs 50 times its weight in liquid so swells in the intestine to help clean out the walls and stuff. So you need to have good motility to move things along. Sometimes fiber by itself can do that but some of us need more help. If you tolerate the psyllium but it stops you up, my guess is that adding something to help motility, like more magnesium for example, would be in order.

I read that a common laxative was psyllium plus senna, but it is the senna in that case that is the agent increasing the intestinal motility.

Sherry

[confused]

I just wanted to tell you all thank you for helping me figure out some things about my health, you all so wonderful. Im feeling somewhat better all the time.

I just got back from watching my 2 little boys play hockey, it was so much fun to be out there watching them and feeling good enough to yell and cheer them on. They were so happy that i was happy lol. Im a frozen popsicle right now but hey that is ok ill just make somewarm lemon water and defrost some lol. I have to brag to, there is 8 on the team that my husband coaches, 2 of the kids are our kids. Well my 7 yr old was the only one to score and he scored 3 goals and my 6 yr old played goalie and made some saves. It is so fun to watch the kids, i think they spend more time on the ice then they do skating on the ice.

paula

[mftnchn]

Sorry about the itching, Kassandra. Wonder if you use alcohol or betadine to clean it, could you rinse afterward with boiled or sterile water?

[mftnchn]

I got mine at Walgreens ... but I'm not familar with the "fountain" bag .... mine is an enema/douch/hot water bottle.

The fountain bag is found right next to the d%$#@#$/hot water bottle combo bags. I first bought one because that was all they had...but I love it. You can't use it for d%$#@#$/hot water bottle, but I don't care...I wouldn't use my ecoffee bag that way anyway.

You don't have to screw and unscrew the tubing, it is just attached directly to the bottom of the bag. The top of the bag has an open funnel type opening, very easy to just pour the coffee in from the top and hang it up. Then, for cleaning it is much easier because you can run the water full force into the larger opening, shake and rinse, etc.

Sherry

[tabasco32]

has anyone had any luck with hempmilk? I was wondering if it would do any good.

I was eating my food today and saw somewhat of a gasoline rainbow on my fork and plate.

I was wondering if it's the mercury from my teeth. Do you think having surgical removal is better than waiting to get them replaced with something else since they are leaking bad?

[dlp252]

Just a quick drive-by...we're having a huge storm here and power is going out all over the place, so I want to get off the computer as soon as possible. When I came home my stereo was on--and it was on the radio part. I haven't had my stereo on in WEEKS, and I NEVER listen to the radio part of it so it wasn't just that I forgot to turn it off....I think there must have been a HUGE power surge. Kind of a scarey thought. I have a battery backup/surge protector on my computer, but don't want to push it, lol.

NEAR RACHELVILLE MEET-UP ALERT, lol. I saw Rachel again at Dr. S's office. Unfortunately, she was asleep! Looked pretty out of it, lol. Asleep when I came in for my shot, and asleep when I came out, lol. Rachel, I was afraid to wake you...you looked so peaceful...not comfortable, but peaceful.

Thanks Sherry...I'll keep upping things til I figure it out.

Kassandra, sorry about the itching....so far so good with my shot, but then it didn't itch until the next day last time, lol. No bandaid this time.

Lisa, gee I don't know. Whatever that is sounds pretty darn toxic!

[CarlaB]

The fountain bag is found right next to the d%$#@#$/hot water bottle combo bags. I first bought one because that was all they had...but I love it. You can't use it for d%$#@#$/hot water bottle, but I don't care...I wouldn't use my ecoffee bag that way anyway.

You don't have to screw and unscrew the tubing, it is just attached directly to the bottom of the bag. The top of the bag has an open funnel type opening, very easy to just pour the coffee in from the top and hang it up. Then, for cleaning it is much easier because you can run the water full force into the larger opening, shake and rinse, etc.

Sherry

That does sound easier .... and I agree, coffee enema bag is for coffee enemas only, LOL.

Do you think having surgical removal is better than waiting to get them replaced with something else since they are leaking bad?

No, I don't.

[AndreaB]

Donna,

I hope the power surges don't last long.....or any outages.

We lost our power for about an hour this morning.

Hope Rachel is ok.

[Green12]

The fountain bag is found right next to the d%$#@#$/hot water bottle combo bags. I first bought one because that was all they had...but I love it. You can't use it for d%$#@#$/hot water bottle, but I don't care...I wouldn't use my ecoffee bag that way anyway.

You don't have to screw and unscrew the tubing, it is just attached directly to the bottom of the bag. The top of the bag has an open funnel type opening, very easy to just pour the coffee in from the top and hang it up. Then, for cleaning it is much easier because you can run the water full force into the larger opening, shake and rinse, etc.

Sherry

This is the kind of enema bags I used. They were very easy to work with, fill, administer, empty, clean, etc.

I got them in bulk at medical supply type stores.

Also about the laxatives, just fyi (i.e. senna) a lot of things like this are only meant to be used short term or ocasionally so that you don't become dependent on them.

I made senna leaf tea at times of C and it really did move things along really well.

Lisa, I meant to post this earlier, I'm so sorry you are struggling so much. I forget what your Dr situation is, but I am thinking you are seeing some of the same people that Rachel and Donna are??

All this takes time, I know that doesn't help to hear, but we all didn't get sick over night. I think you are in good hands with a knowledgeble medical team and the will address all of your issues as an onion, peeling away each one slowly as your body can tolerate.

I do agree it's probably a good idea to try to get off the ice cream, I know that is easier said than done when you don't have much else to eat .

The hempmilk, I haven't personally tried.

Paula, glad you are finding info and support here!

[confusedks]

has anyone had any luck with hempmilk? I was wondering if it would do any good.

I used to use it all the time! I loved it, but I also can't tolerate any other milk of any kind, so it was great!

Everyone,

I just woke up from a 3 hour nap! I must have been really tired, but i did sleep 12 hours last night. Hmmm...must be the yucky weather, or the phenegran?! I had to force myself out of bed otherwise I would have kept sleeping...lol!

I hope everyone stays safe in this crazy storm...aren't a lot of you guys expecting bad weather? I think we are (don't watch the news...lol) and I know my uncle in Lake Tahoe said they are. Keep safe!

[dlp252]

I hope the power surges don't last long.....or any outages.

We lost our power for about an hour this morning.

Hope Rachel is ok.

Me too! I figured out that my power was out for 2-1/2 hours. My mom's is still out...it's been out since 11:15 this morning, so almost 6 hours. Los Gatos (which is just down the street from me, lol) had wind gusts of 105 mph! The weather guys said that gusts of 110 can flip a car!

The highest winds they reported for my town was 49 mph. There's lots of debri (how the heck do you spell debreeeeee, lol) all over the roads. I'll feel better knowing Rachel gets home safely. Lots of flooding, trees down, etc.

The weather guy thinks the worst of the winds and torrential downpour is done for the night...just scattered downpours and possibly some thunder storms for a few hours. THe bad stuff is now where my sister lives up near Yosemite. It's moving East!

I hope everyone stays safe in this crazy storm...aren't a lot of you guys expecting bad weather? I think we are (don't watch the news...lol) and I know my uncle in Lake Tahoe said they are. Keep safe!

Yeah, it's been crazy all day here. I watched at work from my co-worker's window...just sheets of rain pouring down all day. The parking lot across the street looked like a lake.

My friend (that I travel with all the time) works in our Sacramento office and they actually lost power...she had to call me to test the phone.

The news guy said the roads to Tahoe are HORRENDOUS and is advising people to NOT go up that way if possible.

Okay, they just said my town has had 2.85" of rain today...that's more than we get in some whole months, lol. Some places around here got 7" of rain!

[confused]

Me too!

[AndreaB]

I hope everyone stays safe in this crazy storm...aren't a lot of you guys expecting bad weather? I think we are (don't watch the news...lol) and I know my uncle in Lake Tahoe said they are. Keep safe!

Me too! I figured out that my power was out for 2-1/2 hours. My mom's is still out...it's been out since 11:15 this morning, so almost 6 hours. Los Gatos (which is just down the street from me, lol) had wind gusts of 105 mph! The weather guys said that gusts of 110 can flip a car!

The highest winds they reported for my town was 49 mph. There's lots of debri (how the heck do you spell debreeeeee, lol) all over the roads. I'll feel better knowing Rachel gets home safely. Lots of flooding, trees down, etc.

The news guy said the roads to Tahoe are HORRENDOUS and is advising people to NOT go up that way if possible.

Okay, they just said my town has had 2.85" of rain today...that's more than we get in some whole months, lol. Some places around here got 7" of rain!

We've had some winds and rain but not as bad as the early Dec storm. We lost power again this evening for about 1 1/2 hours. Back on now.....obviously.

Sounds like things are real bad down there. I may just have to call Rachel and make sure she's ok.

Isn't Manteca one of the places that is driven thru/by on the way to Tahoe?

[CarlaB]

.aren't a lot of you guys expecting bad weather?

We're not.

I remember living in CA .... I had to make a call on a day it started to rain. My boss asked if I was still going, I looked at her like she was NUTS and said yes.

Well, THEN I figured out why she'd ask such a stupid question .... no one knows how to drive in the rain in LA! OMGOSH it took forever to get where I was going! If the world stopped here when we got a little rain, no one would ever get anything done, LOL!

I hope you all enjoy the storm and that there's not any damage. Unplug your computers if there's lightening.

[confusedks]

I remember living in CA .... I had to make a call on a day it started to rain. My boss asked if I was still going, I looked at her like she was NUTS and said yes.

Well, THEN I figured out why she'd ask such a stupid question .... no one knows how to drive in the rain in LA! OMGOSH it took forever to get where I was going! If the world stopped here when we got a little rain, no one would ever get anything done, LOL!

LOL!!!! People have NO idea how to drive in the rain. They don't realize you have to slow down a little bit otherwise you'll get into accidents...instead they speed thinking it's fun to watch the car/pedestrian next o you get soaking wet!

I really wanted to go to Whole Foods to get a couple things, but I decided against it. Also, the phenergan has a warning "do not operate heavy machinery while taking this," so I figured it would be a bad idea...lol!

[Robyn G]

Well I've been struggling for quite some time now. It doesnt matter what I eliminate I'm still sick. Its like it HAS to be something that is constantly in my system because I havent had a single symtom-free day for over 3 years now. Even when I limit myself to 2 safe foods I'm still having symptoms so basically nothing has worked. All meds or supplements have worsened my symptoms. All gluten-free packaged foods bother me. I toatlly eliminated casein and still have problems. It was only one supplement I was taking that had milk in it so I stopped taking it...felt better...started eating more foods and totally symptomatic again.

I was eating Enjoy Life chocolate chips with no problems..also did some baking...no problems. I had one cake mix with all safe ingredients and reacted. The mix only had like 4 ingredients and I tolerate all of them...the only questionable ingredient is Xanthan gum. Its also in every gluten-free product I've reacted to and also rice milks and almond milks and a ton of other stuff I cant have. I found out its from CORN. I never thought about corn...but its in everything. Even when I'm only eating meat and veggies (no corn) I'm still having corn everyday in my thyroid meds and any supplements or vitamins I've ever taken most likely have corn.

Pre gluten-free I never ate much candy or sweets....my favorite snacks were popcorn and Tostitos. These were also the first foods I started avoiding long before I ever heard of gluten because the next day I always had a swollen face and a migraine. I had thought it was from the salt or something. I thought everything was thyroid related since I had Graves so I started avoiding all salt.

I did some research on corn and its in pretty much everything...seems more difficult to avoid then both gluten and dairy. Today at work (I work in a grocery store) I started reading all the labels of the foods I used to eat before I got sick. They ALL have corn. Its in bread, soups, microwave dinners, yogurts, cheese (why is corn in cheese?). Anyways, I've never been corn-free because of my thyroid meds and lots of other things I've tried over the last year. I had posted about getting "glutened" by all the gluten-free cereals. Well they are all corn based....DUH. I dont know why I never thought of this since everything I've had problems with have some form of corn in them.

I really need to eliminate the corn to see if I get better but dont know how I can do this when I need to take thyroid pills everyday. What do people do in a situation like this? What if I'm intolerant to corn all this time and its in the medication I need to take?

The other big question is am I really intolerant to gluten and dairy? If I get better off corn I dont know what to think about that. All the foods that have gluten also have corn so I would likely have to stay off gluten anyways....hmmm...does pizza have corn in it?

Also yogurt and ice cream really mess me up but they also have corn. There ARE some brands and flavors that dont have corn so I would LOVE to not have a problem with dairy!!

I would rather be intolerant to corn and gluten both than have to give up dairy for good.

Does anyone have a corn intolerance? Could I have just developed this out of nowhere and NOT have gluten intolerance...or is it more likely that gluten caused this to happen in the first place? I'm actually hoping I'm corn intolerant cuz as hard as it seems I've been struggling a long time now. The symptoms I've gotten from the stuff I've eaten with xanthan gum are severe....also I had powdered sugar yesterday and had another severe reaction. I have no reaction to cane sugar but when I looked at the ingred. of the powdered stuff its cane suger AND corn starch! Right now I feel exactly like I felt before I ever went gluten-free...everything hurts. This would explain why I dont do well with anything processed or with any supplements or vitamins or medications.

I dont see too many people here with corn problems but hopefully someone has some advice about the thyroid meds??

[Robyn G]

I have always found corn bothers be and any other Celiac I know. It has a very high glycemic index and that may cause issues. I get moody when I eat corn. My realization years ago on a gluten-free diet is that I have to avoid all packaged foods and stick with a very simple diet of foods that i prepare myself. Recently, about a year ago, I started on the Ultra Simple Diet that is from the book with the same name by Dr Mark Hyman. It has been the best for me. Basically brown rice, los of steamed veggies, and about 4 ounces organic chicken or fish daily, plus smooties as desribed in the book. It's a cheap book to buy and worth a read. It's made my life a lot better and he explains allergies very well in there and how to detect them on your own safely. I recommend it. If I stick to the diet I feel great in every way. I just wish I were not sooo sensitive. It's a challenge but it could be worse.

Hope this helps.

[ShadowSwallow]

Everyone,

Wednesday I had an EAV, and some interesting things came up. Lyme didn't show (didn't really expect it to), copper toxicity in my nervous system was big, and the mercury toxicity is methyl- and free-floating at this moment, so we're focusing on chelating it right now. Candidia mix also showed up, along with some bacteria (aspergillus, and another one that starts with a "b" ), and my neurotransmitters are messed up. I still feel like we're not getting to the bottom of things, though, there has to be something causing all of this... more than one thing, most likely, but we're making some progress at least.

Robyn, welcome!

Kassandra, so glad that you can finally eat again! Woohoo! :D

Nyxie, sorry that your appointment with the LLMD. I hope your test comes back conclusive.