dlp252

Is there no way to do a clean up? I know it would be expensive and maybe not worth it. Is it mainly in the bathroom where you could do a major renovation?

Can't afford to do anything! He wants me to move, lol. I don't even think I could sell the place in the condition it's in, lol. And that's the thing, I don't know where it is, or even for sure that I've got it. He asked if my neighbor who shares that wall with me is sick. Nope. But, the people who lived there before the couple that does now, did a lot of rennovation...I'm hoping maybe when they ripped the walls out, the took care of the mold if it was there. Wishful thinking, cuz the guy didn't do a good job in other ways, so probably not. So, I've got the mold plates ordered and I'll test and see. He asked what the longest time I was away from my place and did I feel better. I've been away for 3.5 weeks, and no, didn't see a lot of improvement.

I think he also wants me to get a different job.

Heck...if you werent ever exposed to it in the first place you might not even be sick.

It could be the main thing thats bringing the Lyme out....thats the way it seems to happen for so many people. Whole families get affected...its crazy what toxic mold does to us...and without us even knowing it!

Yep, basically what he said too

Its pretty scary. Mold scares me MUCH more than Lyme...if you can believe that!!

I do believe it and me too!

I'm also concerned about Andrea. I didnt know you had mold issues at your home.

I think if that were the case...it could be behind alot of whats thats happening with the kids....as far as the intolerances and even T.'s behaviors. I dont know....did she have any problems before you lived there?

I'm concerned too!

Okay, so not a whole lot new to report from my LLMD visit. He is very concerned about my sleep, so gave me one more supplement to take. He wants me to continue with the 5-HTP, melatonin and the detox agent he gave me a couple of months ago, and just add this new thing. It's called morinda (citrifolia)...never heard of it, but he says it will give me energy in the day time and help me sleep at night. I think it has some adrenal support properties to it.

We still aren't starting to treat anything yet...he asked about what percentage of normal I feel and I said 60%, so I think he is happy with that for now. He wants me to continue to do what I've been doing...general detox, supporting my liver and other organs, treating the lyme with herbals and supplements, etc. He also wants me to continue with my current doctor team...said that 60% is pretty good, so don't mess with a good thing, lol.

He is dismayed about the mold situation and came right out and said I will not get better until get away from any exposure. I did tell him I ordered the test kit...he just repeated that he has never seen anyone who has the issues I have improve as long as they were exposed to toxic mold.

Funny thing is that my blood pressure was pretty high today...it was 120/70...that's the highest reading I've had in a few years. Well, except for the time I was really, really sick after my cruise in 2005 and the nurse took my blood pressure reading OVER my winter sweater.

Anyway, he wants me to see if Anna can send him a report on my treatments, etc., so I called over there today to see if it can be done. He was really interested in which vials I reacted to in the Lyme panels. He did mention that treating the metals will help the lyme, but no word on when we'll treat the metals. I think he might want to see Anna's report first.

Hello Limpin, welcome! Yep, I think corn starch is bad for many people here. No other thoughts really...I've avoided the stuff for a few years now for various reasons, lol. Just wanted to welcome you and say that your experiment is what many of us have had to do to narrow down our issues.

I can just imagine that! Somehow I don't think that'd be a very peaceful wake up call.

No and I didn't tell you the OTHER piece of the story from a few years ago, lol. Definitely NOT peaceful!

i finally mentioned to my husband yesterday that i thought i should get tested for lyme disease since i am having so many health problems and i have been bit by a tick. my husband thought this was a GOOD idea. this may not sound like much, but to me this is a big deal because my husband hates to hear about medical things. i told him that i really appreciated his support. he thought it would be good to rule it out. i am amazed!!!

Hooray!!!!

Woodpeckers...Yeah, they're here, lol. Rachel, come with me up to my sister's house near Yosemite...I guarantee that each morning one of those lovely woodpeckers will wake you out of your sound sleep!

Halllllllllloooooooooooooooo friends!

HI to everybody else. When's Donna leaving? She's such the cruiser, isn't she?

Halllllllloooooooooo to you too! Not leaving until October, but in my heart I'm there now.

Woohoo the luck continues!! Looks like a place in Los Gatos coming our way. It's even $1k/mo *less* than we thought we might have to go!

AND, when I asked the manager how big a deposit to hold it for us until John's back from Chicago, he says NOTHING - he'll hold it!!! Wooooohoooooo!!!!!!

Wow, now THAT's amazing! When is John coming back from Chicago?

Hey, you are here and showing me how to work this thing

Great pic Shelly!! Nice to "see" you!

WILL TRY TO KEEP UP MORE.

Hi Judy! You do amazingly well at keeping up!

I tried to read some of these posts, but there are ALOT!!! Lol, you guys and gals have all been very very busy people. Is there any way to get a quick recap? Also, is there anyone on the soyfree and dairyfree diet? I have lots of questions.

Recap, lol. I think we tried to do something like that once and it was hard, but basically we've all been talking about WHY we didn't feel better after having been on on a gluten free diet for a while. Many of us have multiple issues besides the gluten intolerance and many of us have been tested for and have lyme or other underlying conditions that cause the food intolerances.

I'm currently dairy and soyfree although admittedly I'm not strict about "hidden" ingredients with either of those, and ocassionally I'll do something stupid like I did two weeks ago and binge on gluten/casein free chocolate chips that are loaded with soy.

I was just talking to my hubby about this tonight. We were planning on paying down some credit cards but now they are going to stay close to maxed out. The financial burden can be stressful but I feel we've got to get some more treatments into these guys. We'll be out of funds in September probably.

I would be suprised if we didn't have mold in the walls here. We had a leak in the Master Bath and I'm pretty sure the ceiling wasn't cleaned up. I figure if we get the children as much treatment as possible that it will help with the toxins from the mold. Talitha tested for aspergillus and I already mentioned Seth tested for the penicillium.

I hear you on the credit. I'm really uneasy about my situation as well. I've decided I'm going to cut down on some of the supplements...that's what's costing the most right now. I'm going to figure out which ones are the most important and just stick with those...I may ask Dr. S what he thinks about that too.

I talked to my doc yesturday i really like this guy we both agreeed that i could not handle chealtion right now . I am going to do a special malabsorbtion drip and he is going to add extra alkalizing things to hopefully quiet this horrible reaction i am having.

I really like him too!

Well, all this talk of mold got me moving...I just ordered my mold test plates. At least that way I can tell Dr. S that I've got them ordered when I see him tomorrow and maybe he won't have to shake his head as hard, lol. I'm getting 5 plates so I will test my car, work, and the 3 major rooms in my condo.

Aw Brenda, I'm so sorry...it's so darned hard to find that right doctor, so I know this is hard for you! I'm hoping that because she is recommending these, that perhaps one of them might be a good one!

Aw Andrea, take care of that back!!!

Donna- sorry about your rough night, and eye goop . Is that the same eye symptom that Rachel used to have with the goopy, sticky, stinging eyes?

Well, similar I think, but mine never really stings...it's uncomfortable, verging on pain, but not a stinging, and it's not particularly sticky, but does feel just like I imagine it would feel to have goop or gel put in there. Hurts and causes my eye to water uncontrollably for several minutes. This happened in the middle of the night last night...most annoying, lol.

You cannot do a visual inspection. I ended up redoing our masterbath in our house because I always smelled something like mold (that musty smell). Well, I pulled up the ceramic tiles in the bathroom (which are POROUS) .. and between the cement board and the tiles was TONS of black mold. This was because the builder didn't put a non-porous membrane behind the tiles. I removed all the drywall, plywood - everything - which had mold on it. Of course I also put in a nice new NO TILE shower (100% acrylic). Only took a year to do it myself but now it's much better in there (although I myself am not allergic to mold).

As a though - if you have tiles in your house you have a HIGH chance for mold if any water gets through them. I personnally would never have a tile shower because of the problems you get with mold. (You are safe with Vertical only tiles ONLY on the wall and a solid cast tub.. absolutely no horizontal tiles though - they HOLD water in and grow mold!)

Just some FYI.. good luck with your mold problems all!

Yep, I have tile, and it's old. It was installed by a guy in whom I have no faith did it correctly. I think he did use green board behind the tiles (at least he was supposed to and we had it there, but whether he actually USED it is another story)...but not sure about any other protective barriers. I have decided, mold issue aside, that I don't want tile anymore anyway...too hard to keep clean for this lazy girl, lol.

But, even that isn't my biggest issue I think...I had a leak between the walls (from an improperly sealed roofing job) for almost 3 years I think. They tried to fix it many times (the seal on the roof), but the company that did the roofing job was not a reliable company...the homeowners assoc. ended up hiring another company to fix it. They did, but we had some pretty rainy winters in those 3 years and I'm sure there must be mold between the walls. Wish I'd been a little sicker (that's an odd statement) back then because I would have pursued having the HOA check for mold. I may still contact them to see what can be done, but it's been a long time already.

I don't have DH so I don't know how helpful this will be, but your outbreak sounds very serious...I think I might consider going to the ER. There may be something they can give you that can at least ease the itching/burning. Maybe not, maybe so.... I sure hope you get some relief before your trip.

Happy Birthday!!!

Rough night...tossed and turned all night and woke up with the strange eye goop thing. I know we've talked about this before, and I used to have it almost every day, but haven't had it happen in months now! It lasted for about 20 minutes. Feels like someone put a gel or goop in my eye...doesn't sting, but it does hurt a bit and it makes my eye tear up like crazy...I had tears running down my cheek for about 15 minutes.

Usually, patients that used to love Sushi will be at it for a long time.

OMGosh, lol, I LOVE sushi and used to eat tons of it. LOVE sashimi and used to eat a ton of that too. Practically the whole time I lived in Hawaii!

They can be found but I dont think the stool tests are very valuable for this. I've had lots of stool tests for parasites...all negative. I know I have them cuz I've *seen* stuff....it would be unrealistic for me to think they werent there and contributing to the overall picture.

Yeah, I read this part in the stuff you posted yesterday (or was it Saturday, lol). I've seen stuff too so am pretty positive I have an issue.

And you just *know* that if I'm ever in Kansas I will have to go there and stare at all of these bugs for hours.

Oops.

Indeed!

Mold you cannot see is the worst kind! That is true! Black mold is possibly Penicillium. You do not want that stuff in your home! It is terribly dangerous! I did not know they had kits to test the air in the home. How much do they cost, and where can you get them?

The link Rachel posted yesterday for the Better Health Guy has them I believe. I have this site bookmarked, and it may be the same site Scott mentioned on his site:

Open Original Shared Link

I think of you daily, no kidding, Rachelville has a hold on me.

I've been thinking of you too!!! Glad you checked in.

I know I won't be the last one to express that I've missed you here!

So there's Tom...beginning to think you got lost in SJ, lol.

THe good news is right now I am in my new apartment!!!! It has so many windows- its airy, its clean , its cozy the walls have been painted with non VOC paints, I feel safe!!!! Now hopefully this reaction will start to ebb and maybe this new place will allow me to start healing!!!I think for many reasons the old place I was living was contributing or at least definitly hindering my ability to get better.

Sorry you've been feeling so bad, but the new place sounds GREAT!!!

and Susie...

How did the camping trip go??!! We need DETAILS.

Are there details posted somewhere? Anyways, hope you had fun.

Hope your back feels better each day.

Yes, ditto...details needed! And, hope your back is better!

You know all this talk of parasites is refreshing my memory a little, I thought (if I recall correctly) that parasites are most active in the night and can contribute to sleep problems. Also around the full moon

I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't a part of my problems too. I know that if the D doesn't go away, one of my doctors wants to do more testing...and out of all of my doctors none of them has checked for parasites, but maybe that's because it's sort of a given with all the stuff I've got going on.

I have been learning quite a bit from this group, but I am still in shock! I hate to keep asking questions, but just wondering if anyone knows of the best way one would do a mold inspection?

I have someone offering to do a mold inspection this week and here is what he says:

The procedure consists of a visual assessment. What that entails is myself looking around the house, using my expertise, and visually assessing anything I see. Also, if accessible I will make entry into the crawlspace, where you said you may have a leak.

In addition to that we collect air samples and thermal imaging. The thermal imaging is a double check on our visual.

I do not have a crawl space.

Ask all the questions you need to, lol! That's what we're here for.

As far as the visual inspection...I'm a bit skeptical about that. My doctor (the LLMD) told me that the most dangerous mold is the kind you can't see. The mold in your bathroom around the tile isn't what is the most dangerous (the way I understand it).

I've also heard that black mold is more dangerous than the stuff around my tub. If there is a lot of black mold on your walls, THAT would be dangerous. The air samples sound about right. I've not heard about thermal imaging in this context...is mold hot or colder than the surroundings? I thought thermal imaging had to do with hot and cold spots, etc.

My doctor told me that there are kits you can get which will test the air...they are like petri dishes that you set around your house for a period of time, then you seal them up and ship them off to a lab. I have yet to look into this though.

I really need to get this checked out...I see my LLMD on Tuesday and he will not be happy that I haven't done anything about this.

Oh sheesh...I've spent the last 15 minutes or so trying to get to the previous page...I'm having that stupid page loading problem again, lol. Finally got it by searching for Charlies "whatnot", lol. Thanks Charlie!

As far as the chlorella thing, I DID start taking it before I had all my amalgams out...started it in January and had just had half of them out at that point, so it isn't dangerous in that sense, but I did have the BioSET practitioner and my doctors at HN who were aware of it and monitoring it. I did have to stop taking it for a while too though because something was bothering me...a few weeks later it was okay though and now I've been continuously taking it for several months.

Dang Donna....thats a long time to be dealing with it.

I couldnt imagine going through that....and then going to work everyday.

Yeah, it is really tough sometimes that's for sure. This is one reason why I think that the lyme or mercury must be driving it though...the timing is about right I think.

He said studies done at Stanford (I guess they are pretty much the experts on sleep) show that a person can "catch up" on their sleep. So they can get less sleep during the week and more on the weekends and their bodies are fine with it.

My moms hubby does this....he barely sleeps during the week (maybe 3-4 hours a night)....and then he sleeps alot longer on the weekends...he never seems tired and he works 2 jobs.

The Dr. said for a person who's sick...no....he would not recommend that. We need more sleep. If our body needs 7 hours and we only give it 5....then thats another stressor.

Yep, I never seem to feel caught up. Ever.

He said "Why dont we just test her and see how much sleep she needs?"

So then he had me saying something like "5 hours of sleep is enough for me."

I was saying it very firmly and feeling like it should be ok...but it wasnt...neither was 6.

So my arm stayed strong at 7 hours...he said if I dont allow for seven hours...I'm causing added stress.

Heck, I might go get LED just for this, lol!!!! Seriously!

Then I also had that thing where I woke up every hour....it was actually almost exactly 1 hour each time. Totally wierd...I would look at the clock and it would be like 2:08...then I'd wake up...3:08....then 4:10...and on and on.

It would always be an hour....with a few minutes variance. I dont know what caused it or what made it get better.

Yep, that's how it is for me...almost exactly an hour, every hour...usually after midnight...I'll wake up around 1, 2, 3 and 4. I get up at 4:20 during the week, so not much chance of getting caught up there. Dr. S thinks those are the prime detox hours and Dr. Rick thinks I may have the blood sugar issue. I think it's lyme, lol. I'm blaming everything on lyme at the moment.

Me, too, I've had it as long as I can remember. I remember in college, I had a roommate who talked in her sleep constantly ... it was good entertainment trying to figure out what she was dreaming about! LOL

But it's never been night after night like this .... ususally it's just a couple nights per week.

Interesting ... I do usually sleep till 9 ... I get good sleep from about 4-9 ...

Funny thing is, when I was younger and even into my adult life I slept pretty well. I'm a light sleeper, but I'd sleep pretty much through the night...it's just if there was noise or something I'd wake up. Not now, lol.

I think if I didn't have to go to work, I could probably fall back asleep for at least a few minutes.

ON a good night now, I still wake up, but usually fall asleep again pretty quickly. Last night I only REMEMBER waking up twice for any length of time, but I know I woke up more often, it was just that I fell asleep really quickly again.

Donna and Calra, I am SOOO sorry you are still not getting any sleep. Sleep is vital for everyone for good health, but when a chronic illness is present the need for good quality sleep is at the top of the list. I was also told there is something about getting deep sleep between 7 am and 9 am, supposedly it is very very healing, but with jobs and a busy life I know that makes it hard to sleep in until 9 am most of the time. If at all possible, maybe try to do it on the weekends?

Thanks Julie!! It really sucks that's for sure, lol. I wish I COULD sleep that late. Unfortunately I have stuff early on weekend mornings too, although once in a while I declare a rest day and will stay home...when I do that I lay in bed as late as I can stand it even though I don't sleep. By 6:00 I'm usually so wide awake that I just get up. This morning I made it til 5:40!!!

I thought the goal of the treatments were to "desensitize" these things and hopefully calm down the immune system so that its not attacking everything in sight and not causing so much stress in the body.

I dont think it can tell how severe any infections are...or how much metals a person has or anything like that....just that the immune system is reactive to those things and stressed out by them.

I could be wrong.....if I remember I will ask Anna if its an immune response (sensitivity) or what??

I gotta call and schedule to see her and I keep forgetting....we have to go over my lab results. Since she's the only one testing I wonder if its gonna be difficult to schedule....probably shouldnt be too bad since I go during the week.

Yep, even during the week might be hard although I was able to get in on a Thursday...Amy said she had to open up Thursdays because she couldn't fit everyone in.

I think you're right...the way they explained it to me was that my body was sensitized to the things they test and I react to. So you're right in that regard. When they tested me the two times previously for Lyme, they were using the "basic" panel--I had no reaction to any of the vials.

On my "last" appointment we had some extra time so Anna asked if I wanted her to test me for lyme and I reminded her that she had twice and I didn't react. She said that was the basic panel and that they had a more detailed panel they could test me with, but they usually only do that once a person has had the bloodwork(?? or something like that...didn't make a lot of sense to me, lol). The detailed lyme group has 4 panels, so she tested me for one of them that day. I reacted to at least 10-15 I think. I reacted to about the same number on the second panel, and last week only 3 vials, but each time, the vials that I reacted to were causing problems in nearly every area of my body.

I was really happy that I only reacted to 3 vials on that last panel, but the way she said it was "well, but those 3 vials are affecting nearly every area of your body." On my first run through on the detailed panel she said something like, maybe we can test these and treat you for them and it might reduce some of your symptoms. So yeah, if it is an immune response, some of my symptoms might be improved by desensitizing me.

But, I also have strong lyme presence when I do ART...and I don't think ART picks up immune response.

Donna, I think the two are somehow related, but I didn't find anything saying not to take the L-t. when taking abx. I'm still trying everything, letting it build up in my system ... hopefully it will start working soon. I've never had insomnia this long ... usually it's just a day or two, then I get a good night sleep. I haven't slept well in a few weeks now. I'm starting to get really tired, not Lyme fatigue, just tired.

I've had insomnia for the last 10 or more years. It's awful! It makes being healthy a lot more difficult that's for sure.

I now have magenta toes with white flowers and some small jewels.

Slept better last night. I did a few things differently...didn't take the 5-HTP at all, but still took the melatonin and also took 3 magnesium capsules (which I emptied into the yogurt). I had a small container of plain sheep milk yogurt right before bed (this was one of the items on the list). Don't think I can take the sheep milk every night...that seems to have a cumulative affect as far as symptoms, so will only be able to do that a couple of times a week I think.

I mostly had alot of problems with one of the crowns...like there was something going on underneath it that was causing alot of pressure and pushing the crown out of place. It had to keep getting fixed and in the meantime I was getting really sick. I could taste metal and there was alot of heat and sensitivity around that crown....it seemed like "gases" were coming out from underneath. My teeth were being constantly pulled together so that I was constantly clenching and grinding.

Yeah, I had some similar things going on with my crowns, especially one. I had a lot of jaw pain which has mostly gone away since having all the amalgams out and all the crowns replaced.

Donna, I don't think you're on abx yet, but I thought I'd let you know that I was researching 5-HTP and saw it listed under interactions that you can't take it with abx. So I guess I need to return mine.

The L-Tryptophan needs to build up ... it didn't work for me last night, but the sites I saw said it took a week or two to build up and help with insomnia. So, I'll try it for a couple weeks.

Huh, nope not on antibiotics yet, but I think I may be getting close...I'll know more on Tuesday. Now that my toxicity "score" is 0, Dr. S may start treating some of this stuff, lol. That's good to know about the 5-HTP and abx. Guess I'll need to find some L-Tryptophan. My bottle of 5-HTP contains 5-Hydroxy-L-tryptophan...is that different than just plain L-Tryptophan? For some reason I was thinking it was the same thing.

I've also heard (don't know where) that the melatonin has to build up a bit.

I'm definately glad I found about Lyme now. I've never been sick from it....its just kind of "there"....but that doesnt mean that it cant turn into something worse later on. I'll be treating it with antimicrobials throughout this process of detoxing the metals and other toxins so that it doesnt flare up to the point that its causing a big impact on my health.

Similar case here. Although I'm sick, I"m not nearly as sick as many here and definitely not as sick as most people on the Lymenet, but in my case the lyme is affecting nearly every system in my body...it's causing problems in all of those areas even though I'm not totally disabled. I think if I hadn't addressed any of this now, it would have gotten much, much worse and eventually it would have led to disability. A few months ago I could hardly make it through my work day, and now, while I'm exhausted at the end of my work day, it's getting better.

Hi everyone. Can I join in the discussion here? There is great information on mercury here (among other things!). I'm really starting to believe that is part of my problem. I first went gluten free and felt GREAT. I thought wow this has been the problem all along. Then I started having other food intolerances and was very disappointed. I have been reading this thread and others which have led me to think beyond food intolerances. I do have 2 amalgam fillings. I used to have a total of 7. One fell out when I was a young teen and I had to have the tooth removed and a bridge put in Over the years I've had to get crowns where 4 others were. I am certain none of these were removed safely. I found a dentist Open Original Shared Link who I'm going to call about removing these 2 remaining fillings. I will ask if he has a detox program as well. I have learned a lot from all of your discussions. I'm going to try and read about the LED treatments that's being discussed here as well. I have suffered for years from chronic fatigue, brain fog, hypothyroidism, food intolerances, hair loss, low body temp and most recently arthritis in my thumbs, my hands go numb at night and a stiff neck. No doctor has ever been able to give me an explanation for any of these things. I would love to get to the bottom of it all and restore balance and health to my body.

Hello Ami, welcome!!!! Glad you found us!

You are taking a good first step. If you still have crowns and they were done by a regular dentist, you probably have some amalgam under there as well. I just had all my amalgams out in February. I had 11 altogether...six of those were crowns done by a regular dentist...my biological dentist couldn't say that I was amalgam free until he looked under those...every one of them had amalgam still under the gold crowns!

Many of us here have multiple things going on...for me I didn't get better going gluten and casein free so had to look for other things. I suspected the mercury thing because I had so many fillings. But I did some alternative testing which suggested I might have lyme. I went to a LLMD who did a BUNCH of tests on me (not just for lyme). Turns out I have mold toxicity, metals toxicity, vitamin/mineral/elements imbalances AND lyme. I never remember being bitten by a tick, and since you've been bitten several times, I wouldn't rule it out completely. Taking care of the metals is a good first step though!

No....you should not do anything without knowing whats going on. You should be under a Dr.'s care and guidance before messing around with mercury detox.

Some people do this stuff on their own and I think its fine for people who arent sick and are just doing whats necessary to prevent sickness from occuring....but for people who are already sick I think its best to work with a knowledgable Dr.

I definitely agree with this...I've read too many stories on the mercury boards of people doing on their own and getting sicker and sicker...lyme boards too.

Donna, the lady at Wild Oats printed out a page for me from their computer ... it says to take 200 mg. 5HTP at 9:15, then 400 mg. at 11:15. I'm trying that tonight ... I'm also taking the melatonin and valerian with it.

Egads, I'm in bed by 9:15, and still asleep at 11:15, lol. Hum, I wonder if I could take it if I wake up at midnight. I think the eating at bedtime is now keeping me from GETTING to sleep which is not usually my problem. I need to experiement with WHAT I eat and maybe eat it earlier.

Last night I took the melatonin, valerian and L-Tryptophan. I couldn't get to sleep, then I woke up at 1AM, then again at 3AM. I went right back to sleep at 1, but didn't fall asleep again till about 5 after the second wake-up.

I think I woke up every hour on the hour last night.

I used to be able to handle the occasional bad night sleep, but now it's every night. I can't remember the last time I slept through the night and it's causing me to not feel as good as I was. I definately need to address this. I left a message two days ago at my LLMD's office, but didn't hear back .... I wonder if she just called something in or if I need to call them back Monday.

Yeah, I can't wait until Tuesday so I can talk it over with the LLMD.

I used to take HTP-5. It was great at first, then not so good . I had to stop taking it because it wasn't good for me anymore. I think you have to be really careful about the amount you take because you can take too much. I forget how it works, but I think maybe it builds up the hormones in your body. Can you get someone to test it on you to see if it's still good for you? I take my magnesium right before bed, 300 mg. My problem is getting up about an hour or two before I'm supposed to get up. It seems to have gotten better lately, and I'm not sure why. Maybe the LED treatment? If I had to be at work as early as you, I don't know that I would get enought sleep!

Yeah, I think my early schedule has something to do with it. Lyme is probably responsible for a huge portion of it...in my BioSET testing, the lyme so far has been affecting nearly everything, but especially krebs cycyle (which has to do with sleep), pitutary, thyroid, adrenals, etc.

Okay, so my experiment for tonight is to eat something different at bed and to take 300 mg of magnesium, lol. The 5-HTP was just tested about 3 weeks ago by the BioSET lady...she even said I could up the dose. I've been taking it and the melatonin for a long time though, so maybe it would be good to just give it a rest. I do know that when they tested my adrenals, melatonin was low...but that was tested in November.

Your new avatar makes me laugh ! After all our talk about your cruise trips, I'm just gonna call you Cruising Spice now!

It is good to hear you do not get that passing out feeling anymore. What changed? Did you begin taking herbs or what? Or was it supplements of some kind that made the difference? I am feeling a bit better upon adding more salt, which means the low blood pressure probably has something to do with it.

The sleep issues are tough to deal with. I tried Valerian in high school. It did nothing but come out the other end the next morning. I do not think I digested any of it. No more of that!

I read somewhere eating ten cherries, almonds, or some pumpkins seeds has tryptophan that helps. It is a calming hormone. Carla mentioned it. Lots of people have a shortage of it. Peanut butter has it, too, but that stupid mold ruins that for us!

Not sure what changed...I think the adrenals are starting to come back, so maybe that's it. I've always eaten TONS (and I'm not kidding) of salt so that was never my problem. Must be the herbs and supplements...I'm taking lots of stuff to support the adrenals and lots of stuff for energy. Plus we've been addressing the lyme and mercury with herbals and supplements so maybe everything is just starting to work better, lol.

I do eat turkey (that was my bedtime snack) which has tryptophan in it and the 5-HTP has it in there too. I can't take valerian either...started reacting to that so I stopped taking it a few months ago.

Sometimes several months after removals (especially unsafe ones) the body becomes overwhelmed with mercury and symptoms get much worse.

Yeah, Dr. A (dentist) told me to wait six months before doing any kind of chelation. I think he had this in mind when he said that. I'm just passing the 6 month mark.

Judy, the pictures are wonderful...my dad LOVED camelias and always had one or two in his garden.

The painting by Jim is fantastic...was that watercolor? Very nice!

HI Judy! I'll going to check out your link now!

Patients must abstain from sexual intimacy during the 24

Well our get together is done...Claire is on her way to Santa Cruz (hopefully ) and Tom is out looking at places to live. I'm about to crawl onto my beloved couch, lol! Very fun getting to talk in person!

Donna, I'm having the same problem. I have trouble sleeping, then wake up about 4 times per night. I wasn't making much of a deal about it, but my PA said I absolutely had to sleep. She wanted to prescribe something, but I wanted to try the natural stuff first.

I started with Valerian and Melatonin. I was very relaxed, but still didn't sleep. So, I tried the drug she prescribed for three days (Rozerem). It did even less than the herbs.

I read on LN that sublingual Melatonin works better, so I bought some today. I also bought some 5HTP and some L - Tryptophan (supposed to help people who wake up 3 or more times per night). Tonight, I'm going to take the Valerian (I like it, it's relaxing), Melatonin, and L-Tryptophan. I'm going to try various combos to see what works.

If none of them do, I'll have to go on something stronger.

Yeah, I also tried the valerian root...then the doc switched me to 5-HTP. I'm thinking I might have to do the stronger thing too, but like you wanted to try natural first. I just never feel like I'm rested or rejuvenated.

Hi Carla Good to see you again too. I hope that you get your sleep issues sorted out soon as well, hopefully the combo ot melatonin, l-tryptophan, and valerian will do the trick. I aslo read some people do better with taking the 5HTP out of the capsule and mixing it with water, juice, etc. if it is something you are going to try out. Mabye that maximizes absorption, it makes sense with the sublingual melatonin.

Hum, I'm going to try taking the 5HTP out of the capsules tonight! Thanks Julie! I sure missed you!!!

Thanks Julie! I take 2 capsules (can't remember now how much is in each capsule), one hour before bed and, 2 capsules at bed. I take 2, 3mg tablets of melatonin at bed. Both doctors LLMD and the one at the clinic I go to, think it's okay to take them together. The LLMD also gave me another supplement to take, which I've run out of, which is supposed to help the liver detox. He says that the hours I'm waking up are the prime detox hours for the liver, so his hope was that the supplement would help that process. Jury is still out on any of them though. I'll be seeing him on Tuesday so will discuss the sleep issue and pick up some more of the supplement.

I've tried only taking 1 or two capsules, and I've tried taking one without the other.

I try to take a few days rest from all of them every once in a while...since I'm not sleeping that well anyway, might as well try it now, lol. The few times I've not taken them, I've been awake virtually all night.

I know the doctor at the clinic doesn't want me to take stuff...his goal is to get me away from taking so much stuff, but he wants me to sleep.

So in the end...sleep dance please!!!!