dlp252

Hi everyone...I've been reading along, but just not commenting. I didn't keep a running list of the VCS biotoxin scores, but I found this one post from me:

OKay, here are the scores for the VCS test:

April: 99.62%

Paula: 99.99%

Donna: 99.99997%

I know we had a couple of others who took the test...Rachel I think.

Hi Fig! I've used spin cycle before and really like it. I've also used WildFlowers but can't remember now what I thought of it, lol.

Okay, I just HAD to put in an order, lol. I LOVE that they have the little "new" tags on some of the new products.

So I ordered all the new blushes and two of the new concealors in a personal mini kit.

Then ordered samples of three of the newer eyeshadows.

And, annother eye kabuki brush so I could get the free eyeshadow, lol.

New colors?! Sheesh, I'm falling down on the job...I didn't even know there were new colors.

From the last batch I ordered...

The free eye shadow Gold Medal was a hit with me, and Homework blush was great. This morning I'm wearing the raspberry blush and it's pretty nice as well.

Maybe I'll go over there now and see what's new.

  Rachel--24 said:

I just really needed to vent a little right now.

Ha, pretty mild vent IMHO, lol! You're entitled, vent away!

  tabasco32 said:

Also I joined choir at church and Sunday is my first time to sing in front of over 150 people. I'm a bit nervous. Pray for me that I will do okay.

It gets better! The first time I sang on stage with the choir my knees wouldn't stop shaking. We had probably 500-600 in attendance, and we had to sing at two services. I got over that pretty fast, then joined a small ensemble...THAT was REALLY scarey, lol. But even that is getting better. I'll pray for you anyway though, lol! Just keep reminding yourself that you are one of many!

Woohoo...got my hair done and didn't crash! Driving went well and my foot only hurt slightly. I think it was a good idea to take these short trips over the next few days...I think it would have been pretty uncomfortable to start out with a trip to work, which is 30 minutes one way. I think my foot will adjust and all will be well by Tuesday.

  mftnchn said:

Did you lose on the SCD when you did it?

...

The foot pain sounds really bad. Maybe a mini tramp to help lymph flow?

I think I lost a couple of pounds in the first week, but nothing after that. I also lost about 2-3 pounds doing an elimination diet about a year and a half ago, but nothing after that. THe most weight I've ever been able to take off with with a low carb anti candida diet. I just can't seem to get myself back on it even though I know I need to for so many reasons.

I've been faunching to do a little bouncing on the tramp, but I've been afraid to try to get on it. I think once on it'd be okay, it's just trying to get on and off with my foot that worries me. The one and only time I fell off the thing was actually when I was stepping off it. :rollyeyes: I've been massaging my foot today so I'm hoping that will help. So far the aching isn't bad today, so I'm hoping he just stimulated and irritated the nerve endings yesterday setting off the pain. The nerves are kind of "excited"...I've been noticing that since the surgery was done.

  confusedks said:

5 lbs is a lot on a 5'4" body. It will make it so none of my jeans fit...and that sucks.

Yes, it certainly does!

Am I the only one who can't lose weight around here, lol? Sheesh...I've GAINED weight and can't get rid of it.

I'm slight depressed, lol. My appointment with the surgeon next week was rescheduled to Sept. 15...grrrr I HATE waiting! Sounds like this guy is really busy which doesn't give me confidence. They actually were going to give me an appointment a few days later than this, but they squeezed me in after I told them it was for a precancerous growth and that my doctor gave me two names because of the type of surgery it was. Apparently both doctor's schedules were crazy.

Then, I saw my podiatrist yesterday. The good news is that I can drive...I have a hair appointment which I finally get to keep, yay, today and I can drive myself! Woohoo. I am also cleared to go back to work on Tuesday. Not especially excited to work, but it will be nice to get off my butt.

The not so good news. I can't exercise. He said only swimming and maybe biking. I can't swim and don't own a bike. I've been doing weights for the upper body, but I really need to start working the lower body somehow. At least there are some stationary bikes at work I can use.

More not so good: I have to start wrapping my foot again. It ached so badly last night that I couldn't sleep. It woke me up around midnight and I couldn't get back to sleep. It hurt so badly that I actually cried a bit. Finally took some tylenol, which didn't seem to help at all.

More not so good: since my foot is still really swollen and discolored, he doesn't want me to wear a regular shoe yet. I have to work up to it slowly, so will start with a few minutes a day, gradually increasing the amount of time in the shoe so that in a few weeks I'm mostly in a regular shoe. I can't drive with this boot on so I'll wear a regular shoe to drive in then change into the boot for work and walking around. I guess I should have requested a bit longer for my temporary disabled parking placard. Who knew.

He found a stitch that hadn't dissolved and was starting to cause problems, so he spent a good amount of time trying to dig that out. Didn't hurt though, so that was fine.

Back to good news: whatever bug I had seems to be gone. Yay!

Aw, I'm sorry you got glutened!

I will say that I think the casein was more important in clearing up my sinuses than the gluten was. I get mostly gastro symptoms from gluten. I ocassionaly will have some unsweetened plain sheepmilk yogurt, and if I have it too many days in a row I'll get the head symptoms: clogged sinuses, sore throat which goes up into my ears, light-headedness, etc. I get those same head symptoms from sedations too.

I'm another one who reacts strangely to meds...I tend to get wired from sinus and cold medicines, even the night-time ones and that are known to cause drowsiness in most people, lol. Tylenol PM, sleep meds, etc. will keep me awake for hours!

I had continual sinus infections for a whole 3 year period before I went gluten and casein free. Since then I've only had one. I can tell you that the nasal rinsing didn't work for me for just the same reason your doctor said it wouldn't work for you. I tried the saline rinses (both home made and store bought) for several months, but stopped because my passages were so narrow that the fluid wasn't all coming out. One of my doctors said she could do nasal surgery to widen the passages, but I opted not to do that, and thankfully the gluten/casein free has helped.

  Helena said:

And I am doing better...my stomach is more settled now.

Good to hear!!! Yes, I mention my sensitivity to whomever will be administering the sedatives (in fact I mention it to as many people as will listen, lol, nurses, doctor, whomever, lol). With the endoscopies, I usually just have a nurse who gives the sedatives.

I actually had an anesthesiologist for my foot surgery and he gave me some things to help the nausea, but when I was in recovery, I couldn't stop shivering (even after two warmed blankets), so the nurse gave me something to relax me, and I think that's what made me really sick this time. So, now I'll know next time to just ask for more warm blankets and keep the happy drug for a last resort, lol.

Sorry, I didn't see this post either...just had foot surgery and have been sporadically on the boards.

My LLMD did a BUNCH of testing. He drew 7 vials of blood, and in addition to the lyme testing, did test for mold, tested my essential elements and metals, among a host of other things. I good LLMD will do the differential diagnosis as Carla mentioned. Mine wanted to rule out a bunch of stuff so he tested for a bunch of stuff. Unfortunately, I had all of it, lol. I was lucky to have a doctor referred from someone I knew on the boards, but the folks on lymnet will be able to give you one in or close to your location.

The initial appointment with my LLMD was fairly expensive, but he spent a LOT of time with me, and actually LISTENED to ALL of my symptoms instead of cutting me off like most doctors do (I think the appointment lasted between 1 and 1.5 hours!). Just the office visit was around $350 (some LLMDs are more), and the main followup appointment (to get results) was around $150. Office visits after that around $100 I think. The testing was probably an additional $400 (altogether). The western blots were around $200 for me, and the other tests combined were another $200 or so. Some of that testing was paid for by my insurance. I think the western blots were covered 100% by my insurance, and some of the other bloodwork was as well.

Most LLMDs are not "in network" so you would have to pay up front, and then submit a bill to your insurance company if you choose to do so. I submit mine because my insurance will cover 70% of out of network office visits. Some people don't want to submit these bills for various reasons.

I LOVE miso. I used to have it all the time when I lived in Hawaii, but the last time I tried it here (maybe in the last 3 years) I reacted to it. That's probably because it is fermented though...I can do soymilk as long as I don't have it often, but the miso got me right away.

Wow, what a lineup! Patti, I agree, lol.

There's a really nice range of ages, backgrounds, etc.

Kassandra,

Ditto from me too!

April,

Thanks for the link, I've bookmarked it.

Birdie,

Good luck with the LED!

Everyone,

Well, I spoke too soon about the D, but fortunately I'm not having the severe pain I had yesterday...I can deal with a little D, lol. I'm waiting to see if my "lunch" sits well, then my big outing for the day...starting my car, lol!

Good job Julie!!!

By-the-way everyone, Bronze Medal does look pretty good as a blush...not very bold, but a subtle bronzing.

  mftnchn said:

No other changes in meds lately?

  confused said:

I would say the soy, or unless you had hamburger from safeway lately lol. That is what gave me food poisoning last week lol.

Nope, no changes in meds...I'm not on any prescription meds, and I'm only taking my neurotransmitter supplements...I haven't wanted to start up all the other supplements because I'll be having more surgery. I DID take my probiotics...started a few days ago.

I looked up food poisoining in one of my medical books, and it really seemed like that's what it was, except I didn't have the nausea.

My fever was gone by early evening, but the pain continued until I went to bed. I'd be laying there all comfy and suddenly the pain in my abdomen would be so bad it would double me up. This morning my temp is back to 97.6 and so far no cramping, pain or D.

  AndreaB said:

We haven't even been to church lately because every time we went it seems we got sick. I know we had colds or cold/flu in May, June and July.

I haven't been since my foot surgery either. My friend was going to pick me up yesterday, but I was sick so just stayed home. This no driving thing is really cramping my style.

  aprilh said:

I have read that Manuka Honey is good for H.pylori bacteria. The 15+ quality I think....

I've never heard of Manuka Honey. I bet Whole Foods has it.

Okay, so apparently I have either an intestinal bug or I bacteria'd myself.

I was laying on the couch and feeling a bit cool...not really cold, but just kind of goose-bumpy on the inside, so decided to cover up my arms with a little throw. After a while I had to throw it off cuz I was too hot. I took my temp and it was 99. Not bad, but considering that my normal temp is around 97 now, that's a lot, lol. So, I've been checking it for the last 3 hours or so and it's going back and forth between 99 and 99.1. I'm having random, ocassional pain in the abdomen, but haven't had any more D, yet.

It's one of two things I think (since I haven't been out of the house to catch anything except yesterday at the grocery store and Monday at Starbuck's):

I am soooooo sick of the veggies I've been eating. I've eaten the same ones for over two years and I'm finding it hard to eat them all of a sudden. I noticed a package of squash in my freezer...now, who knows HOW long that's been in there because I haven't bought any in at least a year, so I'm thinking it's 1-2 years old. I decided to eat it anyway. Probably a bad idea. Can it have bacteria even if it was in the freezer? It looked (except for a lot of frostyness on it), smelled and tasted okay. Anyway, I had the squash on Friday night...would it take that long to react...from Friday night to Saturday night?

The other thing I had yesterday was Knikkiknick white bread. I was really in the mood for a hot dog so I made one. I've had the hot dogs before, so unless it was a bad batch, I don't react to them. But I don't tend to have this kind of reaction to stuff like breads and baked goods...I usually get head symptoms, like clogged sinuses and ears.

One more new thing...egg white protein powder. I bought a new kind, and didn't notice that it has soy lecithin in it, but I drank a whole Starbuck's coffee on monday with soy milk and didn't react.

So, I don't know what the heck it is...

  AndreaB said:

Hope it's not h pylori. You were on meds quite a while for that before weren't you?

Yeah, I think it was 14 days of two antibiotics plus prilosec (PrevPac) plus pepto bismol. I was on the prilosec and pepto for at least 30 days after I finished the antibiotics I think, and it seemed like a massive amount of all of it, lol.

My foot is actually doing really well. I can stand a little while without my boot and I can move my toes without using my fingers. It's still swollen and red and parts of my foot are bruised still (tomorrow will be 5 weeks!), but it doesn't hurt much. I get sudden onset of what must be nerve pain that shoots through that area, but it only lasts a second or two and doesn't happen very often. My toe is really, really stiff though and when I say I can move it, it isn't much. I think that's because it's still swollen.

The sore throat thing is pretty normal for me. I just had my fourth endoscopy on July 2, and this time the sore throat lasted a bit longer. I also have reactions to the sedatives they give me, and that can last for up to a week with some symptoms lasting a bit longer depending on what they give me.

I tend to react to all sedation type drugs...I just had foot surgery and was quite sick the day after. I had a sore throat which spread to my ears, which lasted for almost a week. I tend to get very light headed/dizzy (where I feel like my brain is disconnected and floating in my skull), sometimes nauseated, sometimes diarrhea, sore throats, and ear aches.

Over the last two years I've had 4 endoscopies, a bladder surgery and a foot surgery, with several different types of sedation and anesthesia, and have reacted to all of them, some moreso than others. So it could be that one of the medications had gluten, or you could just be sensitive to the meds in general.

Well, after saying how good I felt, I had a really rough night, lol. Last night about 8:00 I started getting some gnawing/burning sensations in my upper abdomen, and then it progressed to absolute pain in my lower abdomen. Finally I felt like I might have D, and eventually did. I went twice, then it seemed to calm down, so I went to bed. Woke up several times during the night with that same gnawing feeling, then finally just got up at around 4:30 and went again. It calmed down again, so I took my shower and had a little something for breakfast, then within 30 minutes had D again.

WARNING SCATALOGICAL TALK, lol: this time there was a semi-formed piece that had a large white thing in it. The white thing was about a half inch (or slightly more) long and maybe about 1/8th in wide. I can't say for sure what it was because I had D again so couldn't see it any more.

I've been getting a lot of noise in my digestive system the last few weeks...especially in the UPPER, like right at the point where the ^ in the ribcage is. I guess I'd better get back in and get retested for parasites and maybe H.Pylori. I've been holding off on all that stuff because of the upcoming surgery (not wanting to do anything to delay that and may not be able to do follow-up appointments).

Other than the D, I haven't felt nauseated or anything...just a little weird when I get the gnawing feeling.

  CarlaB said:

Donna, you might feel better from not being under the stress of your job.

Yeah, that thought has crossed my mind as well.

  ShadowSwallow said:

I only have a slight EMF sensitivity. When I'm on the computer for hours at a time I feel slightly more anxious, and more revved up. But other than that I really don't get any symptoms. And that alone isn't going to keep me off.

I can tell when I've been on too long...I get extremely anxious. My muscles all start screaming and my mind feels like it might explode...it's not a physical pressure in my head, it's more of a cellular thing...like everything is super excited and active. I actually start to feel a little sick and usually when I reach that point I have to get off the computer right away and go lay down. Weird, lol.

  confused said:

Are you going back to work soon lol

I have one more week off. I go back a week from Tuesday. That's IF he clears me to drive. Then, I have a meeting with the surgeon that same week I go back to work, so depending on how quickly he can schedule me for surgery, I'll be off again shortly thereafter, lol.

  aprilh said:

Positive for Echrilosis??? I don't know much about that one. Does anyone else?

I have it, but don't know a lot about it. There wasn't a huge amount of info about it when I did my searches...that was more than a year ago so hopefully there is more now.

  ShadowSwallow said:

Ehrlichiosis is the one co-infection I tested positive for. It causes flu-like symptoms, and is treated with Doxycycline. For at least 2 weeks.

Hum, that would definitely explain why I've had such a history with D, lol.

  confusedks said:

That is not a dis to anyone who spends a lot of time learning about this stuff, but I just have found it to be a big shift in my attitude to not read about it all the time.

Yeah, that's why I take breaks from the board for a while every now and then. I can't focus on the health stuff all the time, I have to take breaks from that and focus on other stuff once in a while.

I've been away from computers for 5 weeks, and that really MIGHT be one of the reasons I'm feeling better and sleeping better. I sit at a computer for 8 hours every work day and that can't be good! While at home my computer usage has been limited to maybe an hour or two at the most a day max.

  mftnchn said:

I'm curious if it has to do with Vitamin D from the summer sun, given that you previously were so deficient and haven't been supplementing.

Except that I haven't been outside, lol. For the past 5 weeks I've been basically housebound, only going out for a minute or two at a time, and then for a couple of doctor's appointments.

  tabasco32 said:

Does anyone play mah jong the chinese board game with tiles? Thats my favorite game ever! I even have a set

Only on my computer, lol. I also have a computer game called Word Jong which I like a lot.

Hey, there's still hope for me though...by the end of my next surgery recovery maybe sleeping in will be 6:00 or 7:00, lol.

  confused said:

Were is everyone? Are we feeling worse or are we all feeling better lol?

I'm actually feeling pretty good too. I've been sleeping better and don't seem to be reacting to stuff that a few months ago would have caused reactions. I'm beginning to wonder if my house is really the problem. If it weren't for my stupid lame foot, I'd be painting and doing stuff I haven't done in a long time.

What you wrote about why...I feel the same things. I've been trying to start an anti-candida diet for two years!

  CarlaB said:

(yes, Donna and Rachel, that is early for normal people ).

You can't convince me! I'm at home, on leave for 5 weeks already, and I'm waking up at around 5:40. Course, I've never claimed to be normal.

  ShadowSwallow said:

Kinda idealized.

Hey, at least it's a plan!!! Better than not having one. I'm not familiar with LED either, so can't comment on that...I just think it's a good plan to have a plan, lol.

OMGosh...destructor kamikaze squirrell is back, lol! I just watched him climb up the downspout and then jump from that to the bird feeder (which is about 2 feet away!). Silly squirrell, lol. Ooh, apparently the bird ganged up on him and he jumped down to the ground, lol.

I got to get out of this condo!