Omg...i Might Be On To Something

[CarlaB]

Paula, we're here to answer questions. The epsom salt baths help me with pain.

Florence, are you taking a good probiotic? Something like Theralac with 20 billion organisms, or Ultra Flora with 15 billion organisms might be a big help for you. I take both of those, plus VSL#3 with 450 billion organisms!!!

Also, are you on the Pill? That can also be a cause of candida.

Have you tried cutting out nightshades? Those cause some people joint pain.

[confused]

Definitely ask...it's MUCH easier than going back in this thread, lol. I've been told for years that epsom salts were good for detox...my massage therapist though says the epsom takes care of aches and pains mostly. I usually add a little baking soda to mine. The baking soda apparently has a little more of a detox affect (according to HER, lol). I still think the epsom does a little detox all on its own.

Epsom salts are magnesium, so it's possible a little gets absorbed through the skin...good for people like me who are deficient in magnesium.

Besides all that...it just plain feels good so soak in a hot bath...I turn the light out and light a candle or two and just relax...feels great.

I knew about that pain part, cause when i was in track in high school, i pulled an ligament in my hip and my dr told me to take epson baths to help with the pain cause they couldnt do surgery. And i have people say to soak ur foot in it when u hurt or ankle or what not.

I think i need to start taking my bath at night and try this. How often can you do this? It sounds like heaven to actually have time to enjoy an bath, with 5 kids i dont have time to enjoy one in the morning lol. In college i would take long baths with candles and wine and an textbook, or an good novel and it was heaven. ahhh the good ole days.

How much of each should i use? i wonder if i can pull my husband away from his football game to get me some lol.

paula

carla, in a couple of weeks after i keep asking more and more questions, you wont be saying that. lol

[CarlaB]

Nope, Paula, seriously, that's why we all hang around. I'm diagnosed and getting better, so I want to help others in the way I was helped. Ask away!

[confusedks]

Paula...everyone around here is great for answering questions...they still tolerate me!

Everyone,

I had an accomplishment today...I did 4 minutes of yoga! LOL! It's kinda pathetic, but I figure it's better than nothing. I am still shaking from it and I did it about 3 hours ago.

[CarlaB]

I had an accomplishment today...I did 4 minutes of yoga! LOL! It's kinda pathetic, but I figure it's better than nothing. I am still shaking from it and I did it about 3 hours ago.

Great job! Keep up the good work! Exercise is critical!

[Green12]

Paula, yes ask away!

I had an accomplishment today...I did 4 minutes of yoga! LOL! It's kinda pathetic, but I figure it's better than nothing. I am still shaking from it and I did it about 3 hours ago.

That's awesome Kass! I can't say enough about yoga. It's calming, grounding, centering, gets the blood moving and oxygen flowing, works all the muscles, I love it!

I had to work up slowly too, so just do what you can, baby steps, and you will be up to 20 minutes at a time eventually.

[Rachel--24]

There may be heavy metals in me, but my sickness correllates entirely with all the assaults on my body during and after my son was born. And those do seem to be about having gotten my intestinal flora completely screwed up.

Florence,

You are right to believe that you have some predisposition for candida overgrowth...every one of us who suffers from it does have a predisposition. Unfortunately, things are going wrong in our bodies long before the system breaks down and we become symptomatic.

While antibiotics are well known to be the #1 cause for candida overgrowth....there is usually something underlying that which is already weakening the system.... the antibiotics are sort of the "spark" that sets things ablaze.

When the gut loses its healthy balance and we are in a state of dysbiosis....candida is not the only pathogen thriving in the gut. Its not the only pathogen which can damage the intestinal lining. This type of chronic illness is definately multifactorial.

If you do have heavy metals in you....they would also be an assault to your body....weakening your system and making your body less capable of dealing with additional assaults.

The role that mercury plays in damaging the gut is well researched and well documented. It is considered to be a major underlying factor in dysbiosis, candida overgrowth, parasite infections and the resulting leaky gut.

I think it would be worth it to be tested since the link between these issues is very strong. Also, something was likely weakening your system long before the candida came into the picture 2 years ago....it may not be heavy metals but *something* was leaving you vulnerable to so many infections which required all those rounds of antibiotics.

I checked out the link you provided and this guy has some good info.

This jumped out at me right away...

Hair Analysis Reveals Underlying Causes

This article is a report on research conducted by Analytical Research Labs based upon tissue mineral analysis performed on several hundred candidiasis patients. A number of metabolic imbalances were revealed that yield insight into underlying metabolic factors responsible for candidiasis.

From all that I've researched I'd say that this info. is 100% true. YES....there are indeed metabolic imbalances found in those people who have chronic candida. He does state that these underlying metabolic factors yeild insight as to a CAUSE for candida....however...he does not mention what would be causing the metabolic imbalances to begin with??

This is where mercury comes in...because as far as I know....the ONLY known cause for the kind of mineral imbalances seen in hair samples is mercury. It is the only heavy metal that displaces minerals from the cells and causes the imbalances seen in hair analysis.

So if you look at that info. and you look at the research which also shows that the majority of people with high levels of yeast also have higher than normal levels of mercury....it does make sense what this guy is reporting from his hair analysis studies.

Metabolic Aspects Of Candida Albicans Infection

A number of metabolic factors influence the body's ability to directly or indirectly control Candida Albicans overgrowth. While certain of these factors overlap, a separate presentation will lend more clarity to the multiplicity of factors involved.

Everything on this page matches up perfectly with what a mineral profile of a mercury toxic patient would look like....and yes...it does create an environment which is favorable for yeast. The yeast may not have sufficient room to grow until antibiotics wipe out enough good bacteria...but the problem would be slowly manifesting itself long before that.

So while all of these factors contribute to candida overgrowth...the most common underlying *cause* for all of these factors is mercury.

[mftnchn]

I won't be skipping a day of ecoffee anymore if I'm feeling bad at all! My Lyme only flared with this cold when I skipped the enema. I have skipped it before, but didn't have additional stress like this cold. This just illustrates to me how much it's actually doing.

Carla, that's why I am still doing them 7 years later! I have worked it down to twice a week during really good periods, but its been daily since the lyme re-flared for me this year. I am convinced it is what keeps me able to function as well as I do--in terms of the detox benefit.

[mftnchn]

Donna, well I don't want C!! Hmmm maybe I will rethink the charcoal......

I haven't noticed that the charcoal has this effect for me. I tend toward the big C. I think I wouldn't sacrifice the charcoal but would just add something else to assist with elimination. Unless you are able to use another good binder...

[mftnchn]

Quick fly by...took my first dose of Humaworm this morning. Feeling okay so far. Donna, I am preparing myself to need ambien every night, LOL. So many things cause insomnia for me.

[Rachel--24]

Here is the best description of hair analysis interpretation I have found...its long but very informative.

Introduction:

Mercury poisoning is difficult to determine; mercury "hides".

Trying to figure out whether someone has mercury poisoning is not an easy, direct thing to do. You cannot just test the level of mercury to find out. That is, one cannot simply test someone's hair, or blood, or urine, or feces, and measure how much mercury is there, and go by that.

Why not? The body's tissues are selective about how long they keep mercury inside themselves. Mercury will stay in some body tissues (such as the brain and liver) which are very attracted to it, for a long time. Other tissues (such as blood), will clear out the mercury pretty quickly. Blood will keep mercury for a few months. The brain keeps it for a lifetime. Other tissues are in between.

At first (soon after exposure), mercury is present in hair and blood. This means that soon after someone is poisoned, their blood and hair will probably show high levels of mercury. But later, in most cases, the mercury is "hidden". It is no longer present in the blood or hair or urine or feces.

If the person is poisoned, it is still present in other areas (such as the brain) and is still doing damage. For people who have been exposed to mercury through vaccines (thimerosal) or through amalgam (dental fillings), the exposure is usually too far in the past and/or too slow and chronic for mercury to show up in hair or blood or urine or feces.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: A PERSON WHO IS MERCURY TOXIC will usually (in most cases) have a NORMAL reading for mercury on tests of hair or blood or urine or feces. You cannot go by that.

The most recent edition of many medical textbooks tell physicians that mercury poisoning cannot be ruled out based on the urine or blood level of mercury. This is also true for hair levels of mercury. Only about 1 poisoned person in 10 shows up with a high level of mercury on these tests. The other 9 poisoned people have normal readings for mercury.

If the reading for mercury is HIGH (red) on a hair test, this probably indicates the person has mercury poisoning. On the other hand, if the reading for mercury is normal (or even very low), this indicates nothing one way or another about whether the person has mercury poisoning. Mercury can still be present in the brain and organs, doing lots of damage there, and NOT be present in the hair. THIS IS VERY COMMON.

Blood, urine, feces and hair are all relatively easy to test. But, the mercury level there is not a good indicator of past mercury poisoning or slow chronic mercury poisoning. Because of this, measuring mercury in blood, urine, hair or feces is often not helpful in determining whether a person is poisoned.

The way to tell if a person is poisoned (when mercury doesn't show up), is to use the available samples (hair, blood, urine, etc.) and look for the biochemical aberrations which mercury causes.

We can look for what mercury DOES: impaired "mineral transport"

Mercury usually interferes with the body's ability to use, process, and store minerals. Regular minerals: stuff like calcium, magnesium and sodium. (On a hair test, these are called "essential elements".) While this is a very bad thing in terms of health effects, it is "helpful" for the purpose of determining mercury poisoning, because it is a pretty predictable result. This is exactly what the "counting rules" look for: seriously messed up minerals.

To be just slightly more technical about it, mercury poisoning usually causes impaired "mineral transport". Mineral transport is the ability of cells to pull minerals into themselves and pump minerals out of themselves selectively.

If mineral transport is normal then someone with too much mercury will have high hair mercury levels. This happens with about 1 person in 10 who have a mercury problem. This person will have a HIGH reading for mercury. In this case, it is easy to see they have a problem with mercury. These people have normal mineral transport, and can move mercury from the large pool in the body into the hair.

For the other 9 people who are mercury toxic, it is harder to figure out if they have a problem or not. The normal level of mercury present in their hair could mean they don't have much mercury in their body (they are okay), or it could mean they have impaired mineral transport due to mercury poisoning, and that is why there is little mercury in their hair.

Since mercury impairs mineral transport, examining hair for the level of many minerals lets us determine if mercury has left its signature in the hair's biochemistry even if the mercury itself doesn't show up.

What the counting rules should be used for:

The counting rules determine if a child/adult has impaired mineral transport. That is what they are for.

Impaired mineral transport indicates mercury poisoning is likely:

In a strict sense, all the "counting rules" check for is that SOMETHING is causing disordered mineral transport. While in theory there may be many things that do this, the only one we know of is mercury poisoning, and it is certainly the only common reason for mineral transport to be messed up.

We are not aware of any other condition (besides mercury poisoning) which regularly results in impaired mineral transport. This does not mean that some other cause is not possible.

In particular, the other heavy metals (other than mercury) do NOT generally appear to cause impaired mineral transport. If you have normal mineral transport (as indicated by the counting rules), and you have a high level of a toxic metal (other than mercury), this would tend to indicate that you are poisoned with that element, and not mercury.

Another point worth noting is that it is having mercury in one's body (not brain) which causes impaired mineral transport. A person with mercury in their brain only would most likely not have impaired mineral transport. They would still have mercury poisoning, but would not show up as having impaired mineral transport, based on the counting rules.

This would be likely in a person who was poisoned with mercury long ago, with no exposure since. This gives the body organs time to slowly clear out the mercury. The brain (unfortunately) hangs on to the mercury much longer, and does not clear itself out. Such a person might not have any laboratory abnormalities. Or, they might have endocrine (hormone) abnormalities (of the sort that endocrinologists and mainstream MD's are unlikely to understand), or neurological abnormalities.

Most people with mercury poisoning do seem to have abnormal mineral transport as shown by their hair tests, and small children do not appear to have enough time to clear all the mercury out of their bodies to get normal mineral transport again, if they are mercury poisoned.

The only group of people likely to have mercury poisoning AND have normal mineral transport AND have a normal reading for mercury are those who have tried to remove the mercury from their bodies for many years but who have been using protocols that do not clear the mercury out of the brain, or those who have had no exposure to mercury for at least a few years.

In other words, from a practical standpoint, almost everyone who is mercury toxic will have EITHER impaired mineral transport (what the counting rules measure) OR have high level of mercury in their hair.

If your hair test shows a high level of mercury:

If the reading for mercury is HIGH (in the red area) on a hair test, this indicates the person may have mercury poisoning. You do not need the counting rules. It is clear that there is mercury present at high (unhealthy) levels.

Other ways to look for mercury toxicity:

There are a number of other ways (besides looking for impaired mineral transport) to look for mercury poisoning. However, getting a hair test and using the counting rules is RELATIVELY cheap and RELATIVELY easy and RELATIVELY reliable.

----------------------------------------------------------------

So when you read both of these pages...one having to do with contibuting factors for candida overgrowth...and the other demonstrating the type of metabolic disturbances which mercury creates in the body...you can see how all these things are related.

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

[mftnchn]

Hmmm, Carla, how soon after starting humaworm did you have symptoms? I am about 6 hours after the first dose and am getting some pretty strong pain in my upper back/shoulder/arm.

[AndreaB]

Actually, I've been sleeping better the last three or four nights...since I stopped the Humaworm, lol.

Great news!

I had an accomplishment today...I did 4 minutes of yoga! LOL! It's kinda pathetic, but I figure it's better than nothing. I am still shaking from it and I did it about 3 hours ago.

Yay!

Susie, Cute picture of your son!

Rachel, Wow, lots of info....thanks!

Sherry, I hope you get through the first effects of humaworm quickly.

[Rachel--24]

Rachel, Wow, lots of info....thanks!

Andrea....there seems to be alot more info. available now with regards to interpreting the hair analysis. Either that or I wasnt looking hard enough back in 2004 when I had mine done. I wish I had come across this stuff back then...I might not have wasted so much time.

I did read somewhere that if calcium was elevated and minerals messed up....you are probably mercury toxic. It just wasnt enough to totally push me in the right direction. I had never seen anything as detailed as what I just posted back when I was trying to understand my results.

I was doing it on my own. I had ordered the hair analysis myself...online. There was no Dr. to explain it to me.

[mftnchn]

Good info, Rachel. Thanks.

[Rachel--24]

Ooooh....I forgot to mention that my Doctor's Data results are in.

I wasnt expecting them for another week because the nurse had told me it would take longer due to the holidays.

When I went in for chelation on Friday I asked the nurse to check "just in case" even though it hadnt even been 2 weeks yet. The results were in but she couldnt release them to me without Dr. S. looking at them first....it was too late in the day and he was with patients.

They're closed Mon. and Tues....so I have to wait till Wed. to get the results. I'm pretty anxious about it though!!

My 5th chelation went great...so far I have not had any symptoms following my treatments. Its gone much better than I had ever imagined!! I was a little concerned that it might be rough since I'd loaded up on "bad" foods all week...incuding Friday...the day of my treatment. I had no problems with it though.

I actually look forward to getting the DMPS. Its a long two weeks in between treatments so Im looking foward to adding the Transdermal DMPS...hopefully soon. I have to schedule with Dr. S to see if he's willing to do that.

[Rachel--24]

Good info, Rachel. Thanks.

Suddenly I'm in the mood for scientificness.

I dont know what happened but for at least a month now I've had no interest in getting scientific!

My mind has TOTALLY been on other things....which is kind of a first for me. Usually I'm pretty much obsessed with the research stuff....but lately....not so much.

Oh well...I guess my mind was preoccupied....I lost my "focus".

[mftnchn]

Quick note then I have to get to bed as it is late on this side of the pacific pond.

I did the "gua sha" tonight, again. Along the inside of my shoulder blades, and just below that toward the middle of my back is where the strong color shows. In a nutshell, where it turns color is where it also hurts when she does it, and this corresponds to the areas of the body that have toxins or have problems.

She scraped my whole back like from the waist up. My friend told me tonight that if there is not a "problem" in the area, no matter how long you scrape it there won't be color. My friend said I need to go again in a few days, waiting too long it won't have benefit. You have to "open" up the area of problem, and then keep treating it and then it will "heal" the part of the body and color will no longer come up when you gua sha. My friend says my skin is much more tender then their skin, she sees one place where the skin is a little broken (it shouldn't do that), so she says I can't do it again right away, but I'll be here another 8 days or so. She said go again before I leave.

She says the area of color corresponds to the parts of the body, she needs to look it up to figure out what it means. I am very curious to know what this points to.

Does it hurt? Well, parts of my back hardly hurt at all, in fact it feels like a really good "scratch." It only burns a little bit when she repeats it in the same place, by the 5th or 6th pass or so. According to my friend, those parts (and the corresponding areas of the body) are fine and have no problems. Other parts of my back are quite tender and it is kind of like grit you teeth and bear it--and this is where it turns color. She did it harder this time I think, and during the experience I thought--I don't know if I can stand it again. But once it was done I realized it wasn't quite so bad and I can handle it again. Now afterward is it mildly irritated, maybe like a very mild sunburn where it is just feeling a bit sore but not stinging. And it looks horrible in places--as it brings up bruising in the troublesome areas.

I did a massage before that, but told her to completely avoid my lower back as it is still giving me some trouble.

Also, Humaworm update: after I took charcoal in mid afternoon, I perked right up and have been fine the rest of the day. So far so good!

[confused]

Rachel,

You just like making my head spin dont you, wow that was alot of information to wake up to lol. It was very informative tho.

Were did you order your hair analyzer from, and was it any good?

I slept like crap last night, cant wait to get my epson salt today lol.

paula

[confused]

Quick note then I have to get to bed as it is late on this side of the pacific pond.

I did the "gua sha" tonight, again. Along my shoulder blades, and just below that toward the middle of my back is where the strong color shows. She scraped my whole back like from the waist up. My friend told me tonight that if there is not a "problem" in the area, no matter how long you scrape it there won't be color. She said I need to go again in a few days, waiting too long it won't have benefit.

She says the area of color corresponds to the parts of the body, she needs to look it up to figure out what it means.

I did a massage before that, but told her to completely avoid my lower back as it is still giving me some trouble.

Also, after I took charcoal in mid afternoon, I perked right up and have been fine the rest of the day. So far so good on the Humaworm!

what is qua sha, it sounds really interesting. Glad you are feeling better now to.

paula

[confused]

Ok another questions, what are coffee enemas for and how do u make them.

paula

[Nyxie63]

Out of idle curiosity, does anybody else get this?

When I take probiotics, they go through me.. well, like a dose of salts. An hour later and "woosh!". I'm just taking el-cheapo acidophilus, nothing fancy.

[aprilh]

Rachel - you truly have gift of words. I am usually "thinking" about what you are saying, but cannot put it into such words!

I agree that most people with chronic candida, such as myself, have underlying issues - most likely heavy metals.

I would only like to add one point that seems to work for me.....If the candida is really bad this seems to keep the body very toxic and the elimination organs sluggish - therefore making it hard to chelate heavy metals effectively. So, for me I try to keep my diet as clean as possible, support my liver, support the lymphatic system, ect. so that when I do detox its a much easier process.

When I first started Humaworm I got this terrible pain in my leg. A really wierd spot! I did some research on curezone and found others got the same issues. So, I kept taking it and that pain went away after a few days.

I did notice I couldn't sleep while on it. I started feeling toxic so I quit for about a week and now I am back on again.

Charcoal - I open the capsule and mix it in with my apple pectin fiber at night before bed. That prevents the C for me. Which I am totally prone to. Never the D only the C.

Here is a recipe for e-coffee:

Making Coffee Enema

Ingredients

[aprilh]

Out of idle curiosity, does anybody else get this?

When I take probiotics, they go through me.. well, like a dose of salts. An hour later and "woosh!". I'm just taking el-cheapo acidophilus, nothing fancy.

What brand are they?

This doesn't usually happen to me.....

hmmmm......

[Rachel--24]

Rachel,

You just like making my head spin dont you

Sorry.

I seem to be REALLY good at posting large amounts of info. at once ....but I do try to break it down so its easier to read and hopefully easy to understand.

Were did you order your hair analyzer from, and was it any good?

It was over 3 years ago so I'm not sure where I ordered it...I just looked online for a place I could do this without needing a Dr. to order it. I had all the wrong Dr.'s at that time...totally clueless about all of this.

I do have my results...but not with me today. I can let you know tomorrow which lab I used. Doctors Data is a very good lab for this type of testing. I would have used them if I'd known back then....I'm pretty sure you need a Dr. to order the test though.

Open Original Shared Link

This is the lab my Dr. uses to monitor the heavy metals/minerals in my urine as I'm currently going through my chelation treatments.

The place that did my hair analysis was probably decent. My results did show that there was very likely a problem with mercury...especially with the calcium being very elevated. Unfortunately I wasnt seeing any Dr.'s who knew how to interpret the tests or who even knew *anything* about mercury toxicity.

I just sat on the test results for more than 2 years before I could finally show them to Dr.'s who understood how to read them.

I'm actually supposed to fax the results over to one of my Dr.s...I forgot to do this!!

She said the results (from what I told her) do show mercury toxicity...even though the mercury wasnt showing up at all. She wanted to pass the results onto someone who is studying the hair analysis results in mercury toxic patients. Now that I have been diagnosed...with other methods of testing....looking back at the hair analysis I can see that I did have the answer all along.

The test was inexpensive and easy to do. The only bad part was that I had to cut a chunk of hair off my head. You have to send in the couple inches that are nearest to your scalp...and discard the rest. I picked a spot at the nape of my neck....but whenever I put my hair up in a ponytail you could see this obvious chunk of short hair....there was no hiding it!