Oxalates And Nightshades

[Flor]

Is anyone here taking MSM? I bought some a couple months ago for joint pain but never took it. I've read some amazing stories about it, though.

[jerseyangel]

Does anyone know of / use a brand of biotin that is (of course) gluten-free and not made with the aspergillis fermentation that was brought up in Rachel's article?

[jerseyangel]

Is anyone here taking MSM? I bought some a couple months ago for joint pain but never took it. I've read some amazing stories about it, though.

I have not--I'm sensitive to eggs (but not classic allergic, I was skin tested). I don't know if that means I'd be sensitive to MSM...

Rachel--I know you know this--help

[gluless]

I was just reading about biotin and wondering if I am getting enough! I am a little behind on what has been covered, but it is extremely important to get enough potassium and B vitamins while you are on the low oxalate diet.

I have been very interested in a product/supplement called Ip6 with inositol. It is derived from rice bran, but from what I have been able to dig out of what is on the net, it does not contain oxalates, but it will deplete calcium and magnesium unless you take it on an empty stomach. It also BINDS oxalates! Besides the oxalate binding, another reason I am interested in this supplement is because of its powerful immune building properties in regard to bacteria and pathogens and its chelating properties in regard to metals. I understand it is being given as an adjunct supplement to cancer patients and has been found to actually halt cancer cells from replicating. Anyone know about this or taking it?

I bought some, but haven't started it yet, but am desperate to try to get this whole process accelerated because of the problems with my eyesight. It isn't too expensive, and it is gluten free, soy free, yeast free, dairy free.

[Judyin Philly]

good info patti and robbin.

am behind in reading sorry.

just took my first CALTRATE 600-D SUPPLEMENT WITH DINNER

WILL LET YOU KNOW HOW THIS WORKS.

COOKED MY FIRST MEAL FROM THE LOD COOKBOOK WILL POST IT IF I CAN

IT WAS GOOD BUT 1/2 THROUGH MEAL STARTED TO GET A STUFFED UP NOSE AND SNEEZING..AND JUST USED TINY BIT OF BLACK PEPPER TO SEASON AND SOME SALT.

IT WAS A BEEF AND ASPARAGUS STIR FRY ON JASMINE WHITE RICE AND DRY LETTUCE.........AND MY CRANBERRY JUICE /SELTZER TO DRINK.

J

[jerseyangel]

Judy--

I'm excited that you took the Caltrate! Here's hoping Dinner sounded delicious. (Are you watching DWTS?)

Robbin,

I had never heard of the Ip6. That's all very interesting. I need to figure out the next step, I'm kinda leary of suppliments because I have yet to find anything, outside the calcium, that I can take without nausea.

I know your area of great concern is your eyes. I hope that you can get more info on it and possibly give it a try. I'm still in awe of what you've already uncovered and accomplished with the LOD.

[Flor]

Hi all,

Weird symptom here: burning pain up and down my shin bones. Not achy but burning. Never had this before in my life. Any guesses? Anyone else have this? Oxalate dumping?

I made low oxalate chicken soup with rice today -- a little bit of onion and garlic sauteed in olive oil, s$#&ake mushrooms, asperagus, and cabbage. Add a couple of cups organic chicken broth and simmer while sauteeing small pieces of chicken breast in separate pan. Add those in at the end. Serve over, you guessed it, white rice. Salt was the only spice I added and it turned out to be more flavorful than I would have thought. Big pot in fridge for lunches.

I'm finding this a very useful discussion! Thank you for keeping it up!

I want to look into that supplement you mention Robbin. Sounds promising!

I'm hungry at night and don't know how to fill the hole!

[jerseyangel]

Weird symptom here: burning pain up and down my shin bones. Not achy but burning.

Yes! After I started the calcium and started reducing my oxalates and potatoes I had a pain in both of my shins, very pronounced--along the bone. I also had it in my upper arms and the base of my neck.

I would describe the shin pain as sharper (?) maybe burning. The others were more achy.

This has actually happen three times since starting this.

Is this something that typically happens on a cycle? I have to say that after one of these "attacks", I feel pretty good. Then, the cycle starts again.

[bluejeangirl]

I was able to read more today, still doing my best to understand all this. Thanks Catesfolly for posting the research paper on CFS. It does make alittle sense to about Methylation being blocked and must be cleared because this holds down the glutathion levels. It all sounds complicated to me. If I don't get better I'll have to copy that and try and find a doctor who can do all the tests. I can understand how you can't do this on your own.

Rachel, lactose has been found to increase the amount of oxalates? "Aspergellas produced a large output of oxalates when given lactose." I think I'll be going lactose free. Rachel, I hope you can find if you have a problem with this. I was very disappointed in the doctor reaction to your conscern about having and finding out if you do. I don't think she knows as much as you do about this.

I want to get some biotin. I'll find out what everyelse is getting first. Also intested in Ip6 with inositol. Please try to explain more and where did you get it.

Good nite all.

Gail

[Rachel--24]

Because I've stepped into a lot of this communication midstream, could I bother you to give just a quick overview of where you are -- treatment and symptoms?

Hmmm...where am I?? Well...I *hope* I'm getting closer to regaining my health. I know I'm doing ALOT better than I was a couple years ago...or even last year...but I'm still not there yet.

The first couple years I had just about every symptom you can imagine. I wasnt doing too well and couldnt work for 2 years.

I self-diagnosed candida and started a very clean and restricted diet...avoiding chemicals as much as I could. This was my turn-around....alot of the most scary symptoms disappeared and I could function again. Been back at work since then (2 years now).

Weight has been pretty stable for over a year now....after removing alot of triggers for weight loss. At one time I was down to 94 lbs...I've been at 110 for well over a year now. I'm 5'2 so its ok for me but I'd still like to gain another 10 lbs.

Seems like most supplements were causing alot of distress...the worst ones were the ones I later found to contain aspergillus, molds or yeasts....also the ones that I now know are high-oxalate. I stopped taking those things in April 2006 and it was my second turn-around.

What lingers is the food/chemical sensitivities...which are pretty significant. The head pain/swelling/pressure is chronic but mild in comparison to what it was prior to food and chemical avoidance. Eyes, ears, nose, jaw and lymph nodes are all affected.

Pain can spread to other areas if I dont follow the diet or do anything to add to the toxicity in my body. I can get some wicked brain-fog accompanied by stupid behavior.

I can get blurred vision, muscle aches, increased sensitivities, etc.

My treatment is involving alot of things....basically my gut, my adrenals, heavy metals, different infections, lots of stuff for detox, organ support, yeast, etc.

I've done alot of alternative type treatments for desensitizing and detoxing.

I know Lyme and mercury have come up repeatedly -- are those your main diagnoses? Do you have a sense about how you got Lyme and mercury poisoning?

I dont think Lyme is a main issue but it definately needs to be treated so that it doesnt become an issue later. I dont think it has alot to do with my symptoms but it may have been weakening my immune system....setting me up for alot of what occured.

Heavy metals and fungal infections seem to be what is really stressing my body.....the fungal issues are probably causing most of the symptoms...if not all.

The mercury came from my amalgams. I only had 4 but I guess it was enough. I was totally unaware about the dangers of mercury...I dont even think I knew the fillings had mercury in them.

I was healthy all my life and had no sensitivities to food or anything else. I had no reason to look into these things. One of my fillings broke...I swallowed part of it and didnt bother to go to the dentist to have it fixed...I was still healthy.

2 years later I went to the dentist and he said it needed to be replaced along with another one that was "deteriorating". He drilled them out....using no precautions....this was a regular family dentist.

I was not aware that there were special dentists (biological dentists) who use every precaution to protect the patient from high mercury exposure. I was not aware that I was being exposed to large amounts of mercury.

Anyways....I started having mild symptoms after the fillings were drilled out. It got worse once he replaced them with gold crowns. Dissimilar metals should NEVER be in the same mouth....of course I didnt know that then. I had a galvanic reaction between the metals and this allows for a very high release of mercury from the remaining amalgams.

Less than 8 weeks later I was on disability...multiple chemical sensitivities, food intolerances, active Graves Disease, candida and everything else.

Yeast and molds have the highest capability (of all microorganisms) to bind heavy metals. For this reason the fungus is always present with mercury....they go hand in hand. Its believed that the immune system actually allows the yeast to overgrow to protect the body from the heavy metals. Mercury kills cells...but when the yeast binds with the mercury it prevents that from happening.

The yeast overgrowth is toxic to the body....but not as toxic as the mercury.

At that time I believe I was extremely susceptible to molds...they would remain in my body together with the heavy metals. So now my greatest sensitivity is to the molds....I'm highly reactive to them. No nuts, no grains, no fruits, no fermented foods, etc....the list is long.

The only way to fix that is to remove the mercury. I can treat the fungus which would help with symptoms but as of now I've only treated yeast....not aspergillus...which requires different antifungal treatment. Thats why I'm now focusing on the aspergillus...because the yeast antifungals have no effect on my head symptoms.

Aspergillus has shown up in all kinds of testing but so far we have not been certain as to whether its an actual infection....or a sensitivity/allergy that is showing up. Thats why I'm doing more testing...CT scan is on Wednesday.

I have Lyme and one co-infection. I have no idea when, where or how I got it. The number of people exposed to Lyme is much higher than those who are actually sick from it. It all depends on the immune system and other factors in the body. It can take years for a person to start developing symptoms....or they might never develop any symptoms....or they might get symptoms right away. There are no "rules" with Lyme.

All I know is that I was not sick prior to my dental work....my illness did not progress slowly over time...it happened almost overnight. The circumstances and the testing/lab results leads us to believe that the Lyme had not progressed to the point of causing symptoms.

What I do not know is if its presence had anything to do with my body's susceptibility to the mercury. Lyme can do many things. Was it putting alot of stress on my immune system?? Was it depleting my body of glutathione and essential nutrients?? Did it impair my body's ability to detoxify?? Those are the things I'm not sure of.

People with chronic lyme seem to have multiple infections, heavy metals, fungal infections, parasites, leaky gut, etc. Its never *just* Lyme.

And it sounds like you're having a lot of sinus symptoms? How are your guts? Does the diet you've been on manage those symptoms?

Yes....my diet manages these symptoms. My gut doesnt give me too many symptoms as long as I'm sticking to the diet. My gut is far from healthy but its the head symptoms which are most bothersome.

[Rachel--24]

I have not--I'm sensitive to eggs (but not classic allergic, I was skin tested). I don't know if that means I'd be sensitive to MSM...

Rachel--I know you know this--help

Patti....if you're sensitive to the eggs because of sulfur then you would also be sensitive to things like garlic and onions. In that case you would probably be sensitive to MSM.

[Rachel--24]

Exposure to aspergillus can often cause skin rashes and hair loss.

These were actually my first symptoms...along with headaches.

I had alot of hairloss and started noticing weird skin symptoms....which was misdiagnosed as rosacea.

I was prescribed antibiotics for the "rosacea" and the fungal issues totally blew up from there.

I think any neurotoxin can cause those symptoms though...so it could have been the mercury or even Lyme (although I doubt it in this case).

[Rachel--24]

Hello all, I'm so very interested in this topic, but haven't read the whole thread yet, lol. I'm printing it off now, and will read it and then hopefully join the discussion.

Hi Donna!!

Hope you will jump into the discussion.

[gluless]

Rachel, I am so impressed by how far you have come. How much of the lingering illnesses do you think is healing and how much do you think is something maybe still to be discovered? Do you take marine algae for the metals? I forget if you mentioned what you take for the chelating of them. If you don't see significant change, perhaps ask your doctor about the Ip6 w/inositol. The sinus/lymph node head symptoms are something I am wondering about since I have had chronic sinusitis, allergies and many infections since childhood too. Does your doctor think this is all from aspergillus? The yeast type "bugs" attach to oxalates, and that would explain why they stay in our bodies for long peroids of time. Perhaps this will be the key to finally getting rid of them.

A side note- storms make me feel so much worse and I am thinking that when nitrogen is released into the atmosphere from lightning and weather changes, that it causes the "nasty bugs" in our bodies to feed on it and reproduce faster. This is just one of my theories, though, so don't bank on it, lol.

Shin pain--Yikes, that is a bad one I experienced too, as well as most other body parts pain. It is different than the fibro pain which tends to be all over with one or two places like an elbow or toe hurting worse. The "dumping" pain tends to be very concentrated on one area with extreme pain for a couple of days and then suddenly gone and a relief of trigger/tender points afterwards. Strong smelling, almost chemical-like urine tends to go along with this. I get a burst of energy afterwards, but I just noticed this pattern lately.

The list of antibiotics that killed o. formigenes stuns me. My sons were both on most of those for ear infections, strep throat, bronchiitis, etc. at one time or another. My oldest had so many ear infections, he was on antibiotics almost continuously for the first five years of his life! The horrible thing is that he also was a soy milk baby. I really am convinced that this is why he has type I diabetes. My youngest has multiple allergies--the allergist had never seen so many allergies in one patient! He was breast fed too! I thought I was being a good mom and doing what was best for my kids, but I was killing them. It makes me so angry and so scared. Hopefully, the tide will turn in medicine and they will acknowledge more of the importance of taking care of the intestines.

I am probably fighting various yeasts, metals, and lyme along with the oxalate buildup, so I am trying to find something to take that is safe and effective at taking care of most of those problems at once. Not getting any younger and I am so fed up with being sick and tired, I just want to scream!

In regard to weight-I have been overweight since the illnesses all hit me, but have been losing mostly inches with some weight loss while on the LOD. Clothes that were too tight last Fall are now too big! What I thought was hard lumpy fat has gone--I am convinced this is oxalate build up since most of my body was painful to touch. I never knew actual "fat" fat was soft!! Mine was all hard and hurt like crazy! One side of my face --the cheek-was hard and actually thicker than the other side and one day after a bad headache the day before, I noticed that I had a dimple that had disappeared return! So weird! I look more and more like my old self again and it is freaking out my hubby, lol.

The Ip6 with inositol can be found at vitamin shoppe, but also any health food store or on the internet.

Patti- have you investigated the possibility that you may be sensitive to anachronic acid as well as oxalates? Egg yolks are high in anachronic acid and a lot of people have problems with that. It is in beef as well, I think. It would be worth googling to find a list of foods and see if there is any correlation with your diet.

Please keep this thread going guys-we are finally getting somewhere! Celiac seems to be just the beginning for some of us, doesn't it?

Judy--let us know how the caltrate works out for you!! xoxox

[jerseyangel]

Patti....if you're sensitive to the eggs because of sulfur then you would also be sensitive to things like garlic and onions. In that case you would probably be sensitive to MSM.

Yea, that's what I thought. I don't do well with garlic and onions, either....

I had alot of hairloss and started noticing weird skin symptoms....which was misdiagnosed as rosacea.

I was diagnosed with rosacea, too, and used the Metrogel. It didn't do a thing . My skin got a lot better when I eliminated my problem foods. I swear since I've lowered the oxalates and potatoes, my skin is softer and the tone is evening.

Even my elbows and heels (gross) are so much smoother and softer.

[gluless]

Yes!! I forgot to mention the skin thing! I had horrible hard calluses on my heels that are now softer and my skin is so much better and softer too! Another thing that I didn't mention on here is that my sense of touch in my fingertips is so much more sensitive too! Interesting.

[jerseyangel]

Robbin--Hi

I hear you on the antibiotics. When I was sick all those years before my diagnosis, I took so many antibiotics. I actually ended up allergic to many of them..Between those and all of the steroids they pumped into me it a miracle if I'd have any O.F. left.

The thing I wanted to ask you is, do these painful flares (shin pain, odd smelling urine, etc) happen cyclically for you? I'm finding that as I go along, about every 10 (?) days or so, this happens. In between, I'm good. I haven't even had D once since starting the calcium (which is a miracle that has not occured since my 20's)

I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants here, but on to something nonetheless.

[Flor]

Wow, that's amazing to hear about the shin pain! I wasn't even going to mention it because it's such a weird symptom. It's not like anything I've ever felt. But I was starting to worry about it. SO you all put my mind at ease!

Rachel! Thank you for the overview. My regular family dentist just told me I have a couple of old fillings that need replacing. They're all mercury amalgam. I had no idea about biological dentists or that doing a different metal might cause additional problems. I was going to ask about porcelain because I didn't want to put the mercury ones back in, but that's as far as I had gotten. You may have averted a huge problem for me! Thank you! I will do some research to find the right kind of dentist!

I'm about a week and a half on the LOD and am still having D. But I am getting now some parts of days where my guts are NOT in any pain or discomfort. It's such a new feeling it almost feels euphoric. I think there's a low-grade of constant discomfort that one adjusts to so that you don't even notice it. It becomes part of the overall ICK. So I continue to be hopeful!

[Judyin Philly]

wow amazing personal stories here

so happy for you guys and i'm learning so much.

Tried the Caltrate last nite.......this pill is smaller than the one the chiro gave me hers was twice as big.

well all i can report..............brain fog gone.

deep sleep and total 'soaking' during the nite and the strong smelling urine.....and the warm, itchy, wareness in the 'v' area.

i'm going to do this tho.........legs look like i've lost 30 #'s again...........joints don't ache..........just the urine issue for now

Thought I might just have been getting ready to have 'd' but just gas.......... I'll take it

the LOD cookbook has alot of good info in the front......just getting into the list of foods but the dinner was so good and bare with me i'll see if jm knows how to scan it in so i don't have type it all

so ...............i'm positive here.

so happy for your post robbin and rachel for that long concise history.

patti so happy for your results........florence see you on how are you doing with all this?

edit.......just saw your post.......glad your better we were posting at the same time i guess

love

judy

[Flor]

Hi Judy!

It's very up and down doing this. I think this is another round of the discouragement that newly-diagnosed celiacs feel. Combo of hope and despair.

Going to the health food store is aggravating because there is SO much I can't eat. I come home cranky with my small collection of acceptable foods.

I have always gotten the "munchies" at night before bedtime and now I can't seem to fill that hole. It FEELS like hunger but eating doesn't satisfy it. And I wake up with a sour stomach anyway, so it's probably better for me not to eat close to bedtime.

Anyway, thanks for asking! It DOES feel like the most hopeful road I've been on since getting sick.

BTW, I want to put in a plug for yoga here. I only do it a couple of times a week but it makes a HUGE difference in how my body and head feels. I come home from yoga class and drink a ton of water and do a long epsom salts soak. I feel a bit drained for some hours, but ultimately MUCH better.

How you?

[gluless]

Judy-I still am convinced the urination is part of the oxalate problem. When I have the dumping episodes, I have to urinate constantly. I drink the same -at least 8 glasses of water-but go so much more frequently. I do notice a cyclic pattern to the dumping too, Patti.

catesfolly--Omg, I know EXACTLY what you mean about developing a tolerance to pain and illness-the euphoria you mentioned--that is a biggie for me too!! It is a strange feeling. Almost like not having a foothold in new territory. It is almost scary for me how weird it is to wake up and have a clear mind and not be in horrible pain.

Patti-I think we are all flying by the seat of our pants, lol. It sure helps to have company in the air though.

One thing I noticed is that it took about two months for me to have a consistently normal bowel routine. A bad thing that happened to me was a horrible pain in the gallbladder/liver area with yellow D for quite a few weeks. This went on for awhile off and on, until one night I had a severe spasm in my right side under the rib area and then tremendous relief. I am thinking I passed a gallstone--I am convinced as well, that this was an oxalate dump, however it was scary -BUT-- I have a huge fear/dislike for doctors and hospitals, so I stubbornly didn't go to the emergency room. I don't recommend this, lol. If I wouldn't have passed it, I would have gone since the pain was so severe. Thank God it stopped and the D is gone now. No more pain in that area either!

I really would like to keep my gallbladder, lol.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to drink plenty of water--filtered or spring water-not fluoridated. If I slack off on this, I get burning urination right away. If you have oxalate problems, you are at risk for kidney stones too, so keep the water going!!

Gotta go back to the grocery store--take care--love you all--Robbin

[Rachel--24]

How much of the lingering illnesses do you think is healing and how much do you think is something maybe still to be discovered? Do you take marine algae for the metals?

I think that all of the remaining symptoms are caused by the infections...which were brought on by the mercury.

We do know which infections are there but its not possible to get rid of everything while the mercury is still a problem. The aspergillus was identified by 4 different people testing me but so far it has not been treated and I'm assuming that noone thought it could be a huge contributer....so thats why now we are gonna look more into that and try to treat it.

I dont take chlorella, modifilan or any other algae because I'm reactive to them. I take DMSA, charcoal, porphyrazyme, ALA, NAC and glutathione for the metals.

The sinus/lymph node head symptoms are something I am wondering about since I have had chronic sinusitis, allergies and many infections since childhood too. Does your doctor think this is all from aspergillus?

Yes my Dr. does think it could all be caused by the aspergillus but we dont know yet if the aspergillus is there or not. It could be another fungus....or just a combination of bugs and toxins.

The yeast type "bugs" attach to oxalates, and that would explain why they stay in our bodies for long peroids of time. Perhaps this will be the key to finally getting rid of them.

Its the metals which the yeast bind with....getting rid of the oxalates doesnt solve the yeast problem or prevent a reoccurance (as far as I know). It may reduce symptoms but its the metals that keep the yeast in the body. That part is known for sure...and was explained to me by all of my Dr.'s currently treating me. I think the diet has managed my symptoms very well.....but my goal is to correct the problem with the metals and the fungi so that I can eat a normal diet again.

Yeast and aspergillus produce oxalates so even though I'm on the most restricted diet possible I dont think the oxalate problem is solved. All of the issues are still present in my body...just being managed by the diet.

Also the yeast tend to flare up during chelation...as the metals are moving around....so some of my yeasty symptoms are aggravated by that but my Dr.'s are treating the yeast throughout this whole process to keep that under control. So far its gone smoothly.

[dlp252]

Well, finally read all 12 pages that I printed off yesterday, and caught up on what was posted after that. Prolific group!

I think my diet is fairly low oxalate, but I have few high oxalate things...especially nuts, that are probably a huge problem, and I definitely have an aspergillus problem (confirmed by blood test)...I have bacterial and fungal problems and have lyme, metals toxicity and mold toxicity (all confirmed by lab testing).

So, a little background for those who don't know me.

First off, I am the Rachelville pest relocation expert, lol. I also co-own the Rachelville bead store and do shopping consultations.

I live in Northern California and see many of the same practitioners as Rachel, although I've not met Rachel in person, lol. Someday we'll meet in one of those waiting rooms. I have been doing a combination of alternative testing and traditional testing. I'm finding ART and BioSET to be invaluable and so far all they have found has been confirmed by lab testing.

With that out of the way...

I have seen my health decline over the last 12 years or so. By the time I was 12 I had 11 fillings in my teeth...even my front tooth has a filling! About 12 years ago they started to deteriorate (according to my dentist) and needed to be replaced. Every one of those (except the front) were replaced. However, most needed crowns, so gold crowns were put on over them. None of the crowns ever seemed to "fit" right, and eventually those were replaced as well. Two of them then needed root canals.

The health decline started with repeated bouts of bronchitis and tonsilitis for which I was given antibiotics and codine cough syrups.

At some point I had shingles.

Then in 2001 I had a hysterectomy for large fibroids (someone asked about that here, lol). My uterus was removed and after the surgery, my doctor told me I had SOOOO many fibroids that he stopped counting at 20.

Within a year or two of that surgery my health really took a downturn. I had a nearly constant sinus infections...no exaggeration, had them about 6 weeks apart for the next three years. I was put on augmentin 875 for 10 days plus an 8 day course of prednisone, I'd finish the course, be well for a week or so, then it would start all over and I'd be given another round of antibiotics/prednisone. Towards the end of the 3 years, I was up to 4000mg (that's not a typo) of augmentin a day plus the prednisone. Some of the courses of antibiotics were 30 days and at least 1 or 2 were for 60 days.

The one good thing that came out of that period was that my doctor figured out I had a funal issue and had me go on the candida diet. I basically only ate meat and veggies during that time. Did that twice, and each time I did that diet strictly, my sinus issues stopped. The first time I did it I was free of sinus infections for 3 full months, but eventually got bored and needing confirmation went off the diet. A few months later I went back on it (a rotation version though) and was free of sinus issues for 6 months!

You'd think that would be enough confirmation, but it wasn't. At the end of that six months, I went on a cruise...for the first week I was great at sticking to my diet, with just a little extra fruit. By the end of the second week, I was eating full slices of cake and breads and stuff. I puffed up like a blow fish, gaining 10 pounds virtually overnight, but also developed much worse gastric symtoms, and got sick. Really sick. I got strep throat, followed by an ear infection followed by a sinus infection! It didn't take long to connect it all.

I started checking into the gluten connection, which led me to this site. After going gluten/casein free, many of my symptoms went away...the biggest being the sinus infections and joint pain. Some lingering symtpoms were extremely low blood pressure, disconnected brain (feeling like my brain was floating inside my head...a sense of being off balance, but not really dizzy), itchy skin, burning skin (like a really bad sunburn, but no redness or rash or other visible signs, clothing touching it is excruitiating), stiff extremely sore neck and a few others. All the while, I started developing severe TMJ symptoms.

So all that led me to the OMG thread, and to some of Rachel's doctors, and consequently to the discovery of many of the things that have been causing all of it. So, all of my diagnoses since October of last year have been from the doctors I am seeing now. The one thing I've still been plagued with is extreme fatigue, insomnia, D, low blood pressure, sore stiff neck. One of the symptoms that went away but has returned is joint pain. My LLMD was really surprised I had never been given the courtesy of a Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue diagnosis...so he tacked those on, which in my opinion is just fine because he isn't just leaving it at that...when it comes time to treat some of this stuff, those diagnoses will be better recognized by the insurance companies.

So all this discussion of oxalates and the fungal connection is quite interesting to me, and I'm especially interested in some of the symptoms you are all seeing improvements with.

[dlp252]

Oh and there was some discussion about tissue growth...I had that enlarged ampulla (it's the opening in the intestine where the bile and pancreatic ducts meet and empty into the intestine) that they found last year...so the discussion on the possible connection between oxalates and tissue growth is pretty interesting to me. I don't eat a lot of oxalates normally, but I crave foods with them in it. I'm pretty sure many of my 30 or so supplements are also high in it.

[gluless]

Wow, Donna, you have been through the ringer! I hope the low oxalate diet is the final piece of the puzzle for you. (It is me, Robbin, btw, lol)

For anyone with any questions related to starting the low oxalate diet, this is a great link to help you --

Open Original Shared Link

I hope this helps!! xoxox