Omg...i Might Be On To Something

[Rachel--24]

Also, its funny, because I wasn't the one who said that I wanted them to go slowly, they did. I was of the mindset that herxing hard was good, but they're not.

He was worried that if I herxed too hard I'd end up in the hospital because I could not get out of bed. So, it's a very personal thing. Just like he does NOT want me doing saunas every day. He said no more than 3 times a week.

Sounds like your Dr. thinks along the same line as mine do. I am not suppossed to feel worse through treatment and if that were to be the case....they would stop the treatment. From the start the goal has been to proceed only at a pace that is tolerable for me...meaning w/out adding extra stress to my system.

If you're herxing hard it means that your body is not able to cope with the amount of toxins circulating.....and its alot of stress on the immune system, organs, etc. My Dr.'s feel that treatment should allow for us to feel better...not worse. I had to learn that it was not benefiting me to push my body with more than it could handle.

[Rachel--24]

....It's hard to believe that summer of Rachelville fun was almost 2 years ago

I know....its crazy how fast time flies! In a few weeks the OMG thread will be 2 years old!

I guess this has to be the longest slumber party ever!

[Rachel--24]

Heres a good explanation of how epsom salts help with detoxification.

Dr. Rosemary Waring has found that most autistic spectrum kids, and lots of others with neurological conditions, are very low in sulfate. They may be as low as 15% of neurologically typical people.

Sulfate is needed for a pathway in the body that processes salicylates, phenols, chemicals of all kinds (including food colors, artificial flavoring, and preservatives), and other things the body sees as toxins. This can include heavy metals.

The body may have more toxins to process than it can because of a lack of sulfur. To alleviate the unpleasant reactions such as hyperness, aggression, tantrums, sleep problems, night sweats, irritability, eczema, other skin conditions, etc. you can unclog this "bottleneck" by:

1) getting rid of the amount of toxins that enter the body, or

2) supplying more sulfur to increase the amount of toxins that can be processed from the body. Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) supplies the needed sulfur. The body takes in more sulfur, more toxins are processed and you don't see the nasty behaviors and effects.

Many people on a typical American diet are very deficient in magnesium as well. Epsom salts also supplies magnesium. A main effect of insufficient magnesium is hyperness, irritability, anxiety and muscle twitching or spasms. So the salts provide two-way assistance. Sulfur can also be added to the body by supplementing with MSM.

Some people may think Epsom salts work by pulling the toxins out of the body and into the water. Certainly you can sweat out certain toxins like you would in a sauna, but the role of sulfate in the water for that process is questionable. The way sulfate in the water is most likely to be working is by being absorbed into the body through the skin where it can become part of the biological process of detoxification.

Once in the blood, sulfate does not stay there for long. In fact, some studies have suggested that it does what it does and then ends up in the urine four to nine hours later. The Epsom salts left on the skin may continue to be absorbed as long as it is still on the skin, offering something sort of like "timed release" into the blood stream.

For that reason, leaving the Epsom salts on the skin to dry may be beneficial for stretching out the effectiveness of this intervention, like medications that are administered through skin patches. None of this process of skin absorption has ever been quantified (as far as I know).

[Green12]

A Patti sighting!!

Sounds like your Dr. thinks along the same line as mine do. I am not suppossed to feel worse through treatment and if that were to be the case....they would stop the treatment. From the start the goal has been to proceed only at a pace that is tolerable for me...meaning w/out adding extra stress to my system.

If you're herxing hard it means that your body is not able to cope with the amount of toxins circulating.....and its alot of stress on the immune system, organs, etc. My Dr.'s feel that treatment should allow for us to feel better...not worse. I had to learn that it was not benefiting me to push my body with more than it could handle.

Same with the LLMD my ART lady works for.

I was talking to her about why have I gotten so much worse after all that I have done over the years and while we can never pinpoint it to any one thing, anything that you do that stresses the body or that is too much for the body it really burdens the immune system and it can't fight anything off.

Especially with the lyme, you want to do things that will support the system all the way through so that the lyme won't come back in a few years.

I know....its crazy how fast time flies! In a few weeks the OMG thread will be 2 years old!

A celebration of some kind surely is in order?!?!?!

[Nyxie63]

Not really meaning to interrupt the frivolity...

I gotta vent. Just got back from Round 3 of allergy testing. Harrumph!

So, apparently I have moderate allergies to chicken, eggs, soy, oats, brewer's yeast, milk, gluten, and rice.

I have "high" allergies to beef, pork, corn, tuna, sugar, and wheat.

I've alredy cut out gluten, sugar, milk, yeast, and wheat. What's bugging me is the reactions to rice, soy, chicken, egg, beef, pork, and tuna. Geeze! These have been some of my staple foods since finding the intolerances. I've also dropped the grain products since going on the candida diet.

Doesn't leave much except for fruits, veggies, nuts, legumes, and fish. They haven't tested most of the fruits, nuts or legumes yet. That's next week. And guess what my least favorite foods in the world are? Legumes and fish, with the exception of tuna.

Came home and told hubby that we're going vegan. He wasn't amused. I meant it as a joke, but in all seriousness, I feel very limited right now.

Part of me is wondering if the fight against lyme has revved my immune system into overdrive mode. ????

This is just nuts!

[Green12]

I gotta vent. Just got back from Round 3 of allergy testing. Harrumph!

So, apparently I have moderate allergies to chicken, eggs, soy, oats, brewer's yeast, milk, gluten, and rice.

I have "high" allergies to beef, pork, corn, tuna, sugar, and wheat.

I've alredy cut out gluten, sugar, milk, yeast, and wheat. What's bugging me is the reactions to rice, soy, chicken, egg, beef, pork, and tuna. Geeze! These have been some of my staple foods since finding the intolerances.

Nyxie, it's very common to have allergies/intolerances show up to what you are currently eating, or those staple foods you have been relying on.

With leaky gut whatever you are eating you will eventually become intolerant to. You can cut out all these foods and find a few that are ok, but as you keep ingesting them the signal will be oh, this is a foreign object, must attack.

I don't have any advice or suggestions to share since I personally haven't had a whole lot of faith to begin with in food allergy/inolerance testing.

Sorry you are going throught this!

[tom]

Hi Everyone!

I haven't been keeping up much, but hope progress is being made by all.

Julie?!! I hope our not seeing you much lately in Sillyville doesn't signify a downturn.

OK, here's my question:

Did anyone have a bad reaction to Humaworm?????

I've just had a couple not-so-good days & think I should give it a shot.

Only slightly worried about all the dried herbs since I've had ZERO dried herbs in ~2 yrs due to mold/candida worries.

But I figure the benefits outweigh the risks on this point.

Should I have any other concerns about Humaworm?

[tabasco32]

Hey everyone

yeah so real quick here, does anyone know, because I am lazy to goggle about more natural thing to clean algae from pools other than chlorine that can be less toxic?

I am not swimming this summer but my dumb family will be in there ghetto fabulous doughboy.

So anyways I was just wondering. Last year it bothered me a little but not being on a real, real strict candida diet this year might be worse for me. I especially hate it when someone sits there big butt on the toilet after being in the pool.

Yeah Rachel, that was a long list of symptoms on amines. Reading all those symptoms made my symptoms of dizziness be a symptom, if that makes any sense.

OH Donna that name of makeup you use, what's it called again?. I want to look somewhat decent for easter sunday at church.

Has anyone got use to the time change yet??

[CarlaB]

Lisa, there are salt water systems for swimming pools. I always said if I had a pool it would be this type of system because it's so much better for you.

About Rachel's post on epsom salts .... there was a salt pool with mineral salts at the Spa we went to in Florida. They said to air dry after the pool so the minerals would continue to be absorbed, so when I got home I did the same after my epsom salt baths.

Yea. This is so true. You have a body that can handle almost anything

That is true, LOL.

Just a note on herxing ..... when I started meds, I felt immediately BETTER. When my monthly herx would come, the first one sent me back to how I was feeling before treatment, which was pretty bad. After each herx, I felt somewhat better and each herx got easier.

I do think that if they just made you feel worse and worse that it would be counter-productive, but I also think treatment is going to make you feel bad sometimes. It's a matter of striking a balance.

I sent out my update. Let me know if someone didn't get it and send me a PM with your email address and I'll send it.

Thanks ..... sounds like you're on the right track!

I gotta vent. Just got back from Round 3 of allergy testing. Harrumph!

I agree with Julie, that with leaky gut, you're bound to show a reaction to the foods you eat daily. I think this will improve as you get healthier. At least it did for me, though my testing was only elimination.

Did anyone have a bad reaction to Humaworm?????

Yes, the first couple days make me feel bad. Then during the month I'm on it, I occasionally feel some stomach discomfort, usually in the form of being gassy. Sometimes minor diarrhea. It's not fun taking it, but I had great results the first time.

I'm on it now and actually had to stop taking it for a couple days, then restarted it and have done better. I just needed to have the break to clear out the toxins it was stirring up. I had started another med at the same time, so the combination of the two was too much for me (LOL, Kassandra).

I am allergic to mold, but don't have any problem with the dried herb aspect of the Humaworm.

[Ridgewalker]

Heres a good explanation of how epsom salts help with detoxification.

Rachel,

This was really interesting. Some of the symptoms really jumped out at me: sleep issues, aggression, tantrums, etc.... make me think of my four-yr-old. He's not autism spectrum, but our doctor has said that he has "bipolar tendencies." A lot of his problems have improved dramatically since going gluten-free, but there are still daily issues...

Was that the full article? Would you mind posting the URL?

TIA

[Green12]

Hey everyone

yeah so real quick here, does anyone know, because I am lazy to goggle about more natural thing to clean algae from pools other than chlorine that can be less toxic?

OH Donna that name of makeup you use, what's it called again?. I want to look somewhat decent for easter sunday at church.

Has anyone got use to the time change yet??

Hi Lisa,

Don't have anything to add to what Carla said, but have to agree with you that chlorine is awfully toxic. I researched it over he last couple of years since I swam competitively for years before getting sick, there's a mercury connection as well.

I'm not Donna, but I wear the same make-up and belong to the same crazy make-up cult It's called Everyday Minerals:

Open Original Shared Link

I am definitely not with the time change I didn't even realize this weekend was when it was happening

About Rachel's post on epsom salts .... there was a salt pool with mineral salts at the Spa we went to in Florida. They said to air dry after the pool so the minerals would continue to be absorbed, so when I got home I did the same after my epsom salt baths.

I agree with Julie, that with leaky gut, you're bound to show a reaction to the foods you eat daily. I think this will improve as you get healthier. At least it did for me, though my testing was only elimination.

That's good info about the epsom salt baths, thanks for stressing that point Carla. Not only great for detox and other things, but our bodies are absorbing the much needed magnesium.

Just an additional thought about the leaky gut and food intolerances Nyxie, and to add on what Carla said, I have a lot of food issues but my ART lady said it's all about immunity.

She said to just focus on eating a variety of nutritious foods, variety being the key, and that as I support my immune system and organs and body systems the reactivity will go down.

So it is possible as you continue treatment and you are supported with your supplement protocol it might improve for you as well.

[Nyxie63]

Leaky gut. Hrmmm... ya know it never occurred to me, even though I've read a little about it.

Think it's worth even bothering to finish the food allergy testing? If it's leaky gut, I'm probably going to react to a whole bunch of my other staple foods next week as well. If most of these are temporary, this kind if thing is probably pointless, huh?

On the bright side, I had no reactions whatsoever to chocolate or coffee!

[ShadowSwallow]

Those are fascinating articles, Rachel. I'm wondering now if I should try to have another Bioset appointment to check out my sulfur pathways. I know I react to sulfa drugs, and to sodium laurel/laureth sulfate, etc. I'd like to start doing the baths again, though.

On the bright side, I had no reactions whatsoever to chocolate or coffee!

At least that is great news.

Lisa, I also use that makeup, and it's FANTASTIC. :D:D

[Green12]

Think it's worth even bothering to finish the food allergy testing?

That's a tough call Nyxie.

For me, I did all this food testing and it was always changing according to what I was eating.

Another thing, I would show up super allergic to all my safe foods even though they gave me no reactions when eating them and then they would say I had zero reactivity or problems with a lot of the foods I reacted badly to. It just didn't seem to be useful info for me, and ended up costing a lot of money I could have put on other tests.

But we are all individual, can't stress that enough. Maybe talk to your team of people and see what they think?

I'd like to start doing the baths again, though.

Did you have problems with the baths Birdy, I can't remember?

[ShadowSwallow]

Julie,

I generally stopped doing the baths because they contributed to my back pain (vertebrae sticking into the tub ), my periods were long and the only time I felt toxic "enough" to take them was right in the middle of one, and they have in the past made me feel very lightheaded, hot, nausea, and caused heart palpitations/irregularities. However, I've been majorly slacking off on detoxing (but I've finally gotten to the point of regular BMs, yay!), and can definitely feel it.

Maybe a bit TMI.

[Green12]

OMGosh,

Carla, what did your parasite look like that you passed?

I just passed about 12" or so long stringy, white, mucousy looking thing, tmi

[AndreaB]

Nyxie,

That's a tough call on the allergy testing. I believe you're going to come up with a lot due to the leaky gut/lyme. I also believe it will get better as you work through treatment.

Birdy,

Sounds like you are doing ok?

Julie,

Are you taking humaworm?

Lisa,

I don't know about pool stuff....sounds like you've got some good answers though.

Who'd I miss?.........

I will have to talk to hubby about whether he'd want me to try the EM. I haven't worn makeup for years but most time wouldn't mind foundation anyway.

[CarlaB]

OMGosh,

Carla, what did your parasite look like that you passed?

I just passed about 12" or so long stringy, white, mucousy looking thing, tmi

Mine was broken into pieces about 4-7 inches long, looked flat, about 1/4" wide.

As time went on, it looked more digested .... maybe that's what yours was, something digested.

I'm on the Humaworm again and had some mucus today .... yuck.

I think we've discussed it before, nothing is TMI here!

[Green12]

Julie,

Are you taking humaworm?

No Andrea, I'm not on the Humaworm.

But, one of my supplements has parasite stuff in it.

Mine was broken into pieces about 4-7 inches long, looked flat, about 1/4" wide.

As time went on, it looked more digested .... maybe that's what yours was, something digested.

I'm on the Humaworm again and had some mucus today .... yuck.

I think we've discussed it before, nothing is TMI here!

I know, you would think at this point I would be used to talking about bodily functions like we always have, but for some reason when I was typing it out I was thinking it sounded tmi-ish

Maybe that is it, course it could have just been mucous I guess? But it was very long and stringy, it wasn't very large in diameter, very thin. I don't know. It was definitely suspicious

[CarlaB]

No, I didn't mean it wasn't a parasite! Something that long wasn't something you ate, you would certainly have remembered swallowing something a foot long! I meant a digested parasite!

Sounds suspicious to me for sure!

[Rachel--24]

I gotta vent. Just got back from Round 3 of allergy testing. Harrumph!

I have to agree with Julie since I've had similar experiences with food intolerance testing. I did not find this type of testing to be useful for me at all. Instead I kept detailed journals and payed attention to how my body reacted. Thats what helped me the most as far as determining what was "safe" and what wasnt.

I also agree that whatever you are eating most frequently will more than likely become problematic due to leaky gut. Your intolerances will change according to what you are eating.

About Rachel's post on epsom salts .... there was a salt pool with mineral salts at the Spa we went to in Florida. They said to air dry after the pool so the minerals would continue to be absorbed, so when I got home I did the same after my epsom salt baths.

I always towel dry and I've never noticed the salts on my skin after a bath. This time I really wanted to have salts remaining on my skin for continued absorption! After my bath (while I was still wet) I took a handful of salts and kind of rubbed them into my skin. I let it air dry.

So now I'm super salty.

Rachel,

This was really interesting. Some of the symptoms really jumped out at me: sleep issues, aggression, tantrums, etc.... make me think of my four-yr-old. He's not autism spectrum, but our doctor has said that he has "bipolar tendencies." A lot of his problems have improved dramatically since going gluten-free, but there are still daily issues...

Was that the full article? Would you mind posting the URL?

TIA

Heres the link to what I posted earlier...

Open Original Shared Link

I'll put up a couple more links in my next post.

Those are fascinating articles, Rachel. I'm wondering now if I should try to have another Bioset appointment to check out my sulfur pathways. I know I react to sulfa drugs, and to sodium laurel/laureth sulfate, etc. I'd like to start doing the baths again, though.

The "sulfa" in sulfa drugs as well as sulfites, sodium laurel sulfate and other synthetic types of sulfates are not beneficial in any way...they are toxins. Once absorbed they can remain in tissue and these chemicals can interfere with normal metabolism of sulfur. These chemicals can cause problems with detoxification.

Last summer I had LED treatments (laser energetic detoxification)....the first treatment is always for sulfa residuals because Dr. Cowden found that once these are detoxed from the body all other toxins (especially heavy metals) are more easily detoxed.

The sulfa residuals from antibiotics (including those from meat and dairy products) can remain in the body for years.....and they can make it much more difficult for the body to detox mercury and other metals.

I had one treatment for sulfa...I think Lisa had to have a few treatments addressing residual sulfa.

The sulfate that is absorbed through the epsom baths is beneficial...its not in the same category as chemicals like sodium laurel sulfate.

[CarlaB]

So, the dissolved salt isn't enough for you, now you're Racheling SALT! :lol:

[Rachel--24]

Ok....heres more info. about PST enzyme and epsom salt baths.

Open Original Shared Link

Dr Rosemary Waring found that most people with autism conditions have a deficiency in a key detoxification pathway. The pathway involves using sulfur in the form of sulfate (known as sulfation). The enzyme involved is phenol sulfur-transferase (PST), but the problem is thought to hinge on an inadequate supply of usable sulfate ions, not the metabolic enzyme itself.

Dr Waring found that most children on the autism spectrum are very low in sulfate and may be as low as 15 percent of the amount in neurologically typical people. People with low or no ability to convert compounds to sulfate have problems handling environmental chemicals, some medications, and even some chemicals produced within the body. They include people with other conditions such as Alzheimer

[Rachel--24]

So, the dissolved salt isn't enough for you, now you're Racheling SALT! :lol:

LOL....ummm yeah....I guess I wanted to make sure I had maximum absorption!!

I wanted to SEE the salts....and yup...they're there...like little crystals all over me!

[confusedks]

I just looked over some old lab work from when I saw my OB/GYN after I had been bleeding for 90 days. It is very interesting. She ran lots of tests obviosuly...to see why I was bleeding.

Most of everything came back within normal range, BUT most things were on the low end of normal. All of this thyroid talk reminded me to look.

Here's what my results were (I know it was 2 years ago, but still...it might shed some light onto what is going on with me):

TSH 1.370 (range is 0.456-4.68)

FSH 4.26 (range is 5.14-23.4) isn't this really low?

LH 21.60 (range is 27.3-96.9) isn't this really low too? what does it mean?

Prolactin 10.20 (range is 3.0-27.0)

Does anyone even know what any of these things mean? They are all on the low end of normal. Did she even run the right tests? I think we are re-testing these this month to see how everything is doing hormonally, so we'll get a better picture of what is going on for me now. But I'd love to hear what people think of these results.