gfp

Fillings are definately a major source of exposure....however, we are ALL exposed to mercury....fillings or no fillings. There is noone on this planet that will not have some amount of mercury in their body.

DPPIV is inhibitied by very small amounts of mercury.

People who are genetically more susceptible to mercury will probably be more likely to have problems such as loss of enzyme function.

Cinnabar was used in inks, cosmetics etc. from ancient china through India and Egypt and Greek and Rome.

Traditional Indian and Chinese medicine used mercury tablets as a "life enhancer" ...zhū shā / 朱沙

Add other heavy metal toxicity in cosmetics such as antimony and lead and the amounts of heavy metals the average person is exposed to was always high... at least since what we call civilisation. Pewter was used extensively as tableware, the common pewter (not what Kingsand Queens had) contained significant amounts of lead. People drank from it and ate off it... stored food in it... etc.

Romans used Lead almost exclusively providing water in cities...

In summary, there is good evidence that EMA and

TTG are highly sensitive and specific tests for identify-

ing individuals with celiac disease. In symptomatic individuals,

the positive predictive value of EMA and TTG assays

for finding biopsy evidence of celiac disease approaches 1.00.

In screening-identified individuals, AGA+EMA, EMA

alone and TTG alone have positive predictive values for

biopsy evidence of celiac disease ranging from 0.6 to 1.00. A

positive serological test in an individual with normal

small intestinal histology may represent a false positive

serological test, milder disease or a more sensitive test

that identifies latent celiac disease before mucosal injury.

so that makes 2 of us.....good.....

me, I am eating sesame butter between meals. A lot of sesame butter. but no improvement. I end up even hunger than before eating. This so strange....

My doctor said I should keep eating as long as I gain no weight but I would like an explanation....You see it is not normal. I am putting in about 3.000 cal/day and I am too too too skinny . Now I will visit my new doc and I hope he will have some answers..

Remember if your not adsorbing properly the calories you eat are not properly adsorbed ...

Sesame butter might be high cal but you may not be adsorbing the fat's very well.

Even though its less calories you might get more adsorbtion from simple vegetables?

You can make some grilled vegetables brushed with olive oil like Μελιτζάνα, κολοκυθοανθοί (I don't know if you learned american or English english) which have more calories but hopefully digest easily.. you can snack on.

Anyone who dumps you for being too ill isn't worth the time, let me tell you this now.

My girlfriend finds it hard not seeing me much, but the fact is she will have to cope, I have been hit quite badly these past few monthes and it certainly isn't my desire to feel like this, I'd love to see her especially as she goes to Thailand for 20 days on Friday, then straight down to cornwall to work for summer when she gets back!

Seriously though, anyone who can't handle you been ill isn't worth bothering with. Its hardly your fault.

Its not about faults .. its a question of the future...

If you are dating and you and your partner are getting more serious .. then people start to think about the future... will they forever not be able to go to resto's.?? Will they forever not be able to share a snack on a day out... etc. etc.

Its easy for them to deal with at a superficial level ... and its not so hard for those already in commited relationships.. but it is a real thing for a partner to consider in the inbetween phase...

It doesn't mean they blame you or think its your fault... its just they may have been considering a different life than always having to cope wit5h a partner who can't eat out .. (without a lot of planning).

I have mixed feelings on this....

While if she is going to be that unsympathetic about your celiac's, you are better off without her.

This is just one example....

Its really not that simple....

People want a 'normal' life....I guess and that means being able to do lots of things you just can't do when celiac.

Much as we adapt ... it does limit what we can do... from a kiss at the end of the night to going out with a group of THEIR friends and getting a meal or even snack.

My present Girlfriend tries but I know she would not be so limited if it wasn't for my celiac.

Its not always about "the meal", its more being out and about and needing to eat but not having anywhere safe... where we could pop into a sandwich shop or McDo etc. was it not for the celiac disease.

I know this was one factor in my last girlfriend getting sick of me... it was the lack of spontaneity it enforces.. it's something my present girlfriend is trying to cope with ... but its still an issue...

Its more if her friends invite us out and she has to say no because she knows I won't be able to eat...

Its going to expensive resto's just to get a snack ...

I walked past the pub on my way to find lunch .. I could eat a meal for

Don't worry, it *is* possible to eat out & not be glutened! After the first few times you won't even feel self conscious giving your 'speech' in front of a group

It is possible but its always pot luck! We make our own luck.. as you describe but it still involves a lot of luck not to get glutened if you eat out regularly.

Sorry it's tough but ...

Please read "Our Daily Meds" if possible. I under no circumstances would take a drug for something that I can control with diet.

Everything about the pharma industry acknowledged but just challenging this idea .. (from personal experience)

I'd likely say the same yet I know for instance I didn't get hay fever when I lived in North Africa... back in Europe its "daily meds" least over summer but It is in my power to say move back, apply for Libyan citizenship ... etc.

OK, perhaps extreme but I would guess New Mexico or Nevada might leave me without hay fever too?

My first response is like you ... but thinking about it, why don't I move to Nevada ?

I wouldn't be concerned about the mushroom containing gluten, but I would make sure I washed them to avoid CC. Same with chicken. If a chicken eats oats, it metabolizes the oats and turns it into energy which in turn builds the muscle we eat. It's no longer in gluten-form.

What about the undigested food in the crop and stomach? Or even partially digested food in the intestine?

Ah yes, but perhaps if enough of us shout loud enough they will finally start to sit up and take notice!

What we lack in health we seem to make up for in common sense - anyone who is prepared to give gluten-free a trial must have some degree of that!

The problem however is cyclic....

IMHO what is important is the fact that the current "normal ranges" for antibodies are taken from a sample which includes a large percentage of undiagnosed gluten intolerants/coeliacs....

This basically makes the "normal range" worth nothing... I have yet to see any publication of RAW data... the ranges and distributions or for instance one GROUP of people being tested over time... what is one persons natural variability? What levels should a 2 yr old have or a 6 yr old?

All we ever get told is "the normal range is XX".... without seeing the distributions of where people lie OR where an individual may vary. Perhaps one day we have one level and a month later a different one? Who knows unless they actually measure!

Whilst this is the case the actual basis for much of the research is just wasted! When this is combined with the biopsy as a golden test it just clouds the picture further....

Mercury cannot be created (by humans)...nor can it be destroyed...its an ALL natural element. This means that we do not ever get rid of mercury....we only add to what is already here. Since we DO release TONS of mercury into the environment each year....a decrease in environmental mercury would be an impossibility.

Not really, it just doesn't work like that...

We mine mercury ores (Cinnabar), refine and use... then it get adsorbed into living things from trees to plankton to fish...and me and you.

Then we die, get buried .... as you point out burning coal releases mercury... because that mercury was released and readsorbed into dead matter, it was buried and turned into coal.. endless cycle... but a cycle..

(honestly trust me on this my pre-grad thesis was on trace metals in the environment and their effect on health)

The good thing is that the amounts of things using mercury is decreasing... the use as a wood preservative has stopped which was one of the biggest uses along with mercury thermometers (again hardly used anymore except specialist ones) and batteries..... this is good because overall we use a lot less (the amount used in vaccines is trivial as a percent of mercury used ... it just happens to be one where they are directly injected)...

Hence environmental mercury is decreasing... because less is being released in industrial processes and that which is in the environment is slowly being adsorbed, gets buried and will end up again in milllions of years as coal. I know it sounds a little cold but when we die we will take that mercury with us... even methyl mercury is short lived outside the body... as we rot we release it but within 200 days it is half gone and 400 days 3/4 gone... and coal as a fuel is decreasing (faster elsewhere than the US but even in the US) ..

but I know that IF I become a mother....I will opt for safer alternatives. There ARE formulas which are free of mercury....I may have to pay out of pocket for them but I feel it would be in the best interest of my child to not expose him/her to large amounts of toxins unnecessarily.

The call might be wrong ... it might later turn out to be 'just' be viral meningitis ... but that wouldn't mean you were wrong to take the route least likely to kill them???

Don't get me wrong, I fully believe the use of mercury preservatives in vaccines is stupid and misguided... WHY TAKE THE CHANCE ... and I also believe this is due to corruption and interference in the FDA and similar organisations worldwide by the pharmaceutical industry ... (why pay more to make a safer vaccine in their view) .. and i think there are FAR FAR too many vaccinations for non-killer diseases...

BUT, I do think blaming mercury in the environment for all our woes is also misguided...

To go back the point of divergence on the thread ....

Why are more children getting allergies ....?

Let's throw this in the air....

Processed food making a large proportion of their diet ???

Where do I send a sample of the rice bran I suspect has just made me (very, very) ill to see if it's got gluten in it, in the UK or Ireland? Or is there a chemical test I can do myself?

You can buy expensive and low threshhold test strips from a company in Ellesmere Port ... (Open Original Shared Link)

Or you can send it for testing at a food lab...(more expensive)

Open Original Shared Link

(My ex-wife works at the latter)

Another medical article pointed out that in the antibody blood tests a lower figure means a negative result. Because some 'healthy' control subjects also show the antibodies the level has to be set higher in order to assume a positive result. But, it argues, what if those 'healthy' control subjects are showing the antibodies because they are actually Celiac although not (yet) symptomatic? Doesn't that then suggest that any reading greater than zero could actually constitute a positive result?! They are assumed to be healthy, but what if they are not? That puts a cat among the pigeons!

Yawn.....

I've been saying this for years.... does anyone listen?

What are your favorite websites to purchase hard to find food brands/items? Also, I want to try some of Schar's products. I hear they are awesome. Where can I buy them retail? Online for decent prices?

I would never buy Schar, they use(d) CODEX standard "gluten-free" wheat starch in many of their products (or certainly did last time I checked).

So far as I'm concerned any company making gluten-free products knowingly containing gluten @<200ppm are simply not to be trusted.

The Solanaceae is a family of flowering plants, many of which are edible, while others are poisonous (some have both edible and toxic parts). The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear; it has been suggested it originates from the Latin verb solari, meaning "to soothe". This would presumably refer to alleged soothing pharmacological properties of some of the psychoactive species found in the family. It is more likely, however, that the name comes from the perceived resemblance that some of the flowers bear to the sun and its rays, and in fact a species of Solanum (Solanum nigrum) is known as the sunberry.

The family is also informally known as the nightshade or potato family. The family includes the Datura or Jimson weed, eggplant, mandrake, deadly nightshade or belladonna, capsicum (paprika, chili pepper), potato, tobacco, tomato, and petunia.

The Solanaceae family is characteristically ethnobotanical, that is, extensively utilized by humans. It is an important source of food, spice and medicine. However, Solanaceae species are often rich in alkaloids that can range in their toxicity to humans and animals from mildly irritating to fatal in small quantities.

Open Original Shared Link

IMHO the term "nightshades" is just a "scare name"... I'm not saying they are not toxic or bad for us but calling them "Potato" family would carry less weight.

I might be personalising but how many people have (or have had) mercury fillings in their mouth?? The answer is ALOT.

And how many of those people have also been given antibiotics? The answer is MOST.

However the part I think is wrong is that this is a "recent" phenomenon.

I think that this sentence is VERY misleading. First, mercury has never been proven to be "safe" at ANY level.

I absolutely agree ....

Mercury is the ONLY naturally occurring element that has no known use within the human body.

Stop for a second and think about that... there are a lot of supertoxic elements where even a tiny amount is fatal BUT even these have an actual use in the human body...(in tiny amounts).

However this is really not recent,

By far the largest mercury exposure today comes from amalgam fillings and thee have been around for almost 200 years.

Mercury has been used in medicine and cosmetics for over 2000 years! Ironically it was taken to promote longevity in ancient Chinese and Indian traditional medicine. The Greeks, Romans and Egyptians used it in cosmetics. From the mid-18th to the mid-19thC it was used in a process for felt... (Mad as a Hatter) ...

from Wikipedia:

Historical uses: preserving wood, developing daguerreotypes, silvering mirrors, anti-fouling paints (discontinued in 1990), herbicides (discontinued in 1995), handheld maze games, cleaning, and road levelling devices in cars. Mercury compounds have been used in antiseptics, laxatives, antidepressants, and in antisyphilitics.

So I can't just think that environmental mercury is rising, indeed quite the inverse...

As for thimerosal ... what do we expect, the FDA to accept responsibility for being wrong? Seriously, that just isn't going to happen...

I posted the extract from the FDA as it actually say's it is used in Flu Vaccines and susieg had a flu vaccine! (I wasn't disagreeing at all simply providing the information that its still used in flu vaccines)

My dentist routinely prescribes antibiotics *before* dental work. I used to think that was ridiculous overkill, to say the least. But then I became aware of TWO PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCES (not his patients) who were hospitalized after having dental work. One of them, a perfectly healthy and vigorous man in his 50's died. DIED! ohmy.gif From a routine trip to the dentist!

This is the point... its easy to look back after no infection occurred but infections after dental work are dangerously close to the brain.

One of the remaining thimerosal containing vaccines is Meningococcal multi-dose vial

This is sometimes given without evidence of bacterial infection .... WHY ... because by the time the lab results come back the patient can be dead.

My friend and mentor died because he wasn't given this... so my turn to personalise....

We all grew up with a lot more environmental mercury and our grandparents still more... wood preservatives was huge, especially for people living in wood houses...

But its not only mercury, for instance my Grandma had lead pipes for the hot water.

Unfortunately almost anything you can take for sleep is strongly habit forming, herbal or not...

This doesn't mean people don't have imbalances need addressing but that even gentle herbs can be mentally addictive when it comes to sleep.

The tried and tested way is to set an alarm and get up at the same time EVERY DAY.... this will kill you for a week and be hard for another but the 'secret' is no secret. Its when we get up, not when we go to bed that's important...

The real problem with getting off to sleep is the fact its 90% psychological, the more you worry about it the worse it gets! Merely worrying you won't can prevent you sleeping!

Forcing yourself to get up at the same time will force you to get tired ....

White noise etc. is all well and good but just as addictive. I have a friend can't sleep without it after 30 years! I'm not saying there is any harm using it to drown out noise on occasion but if you use it EVERY night then it becomes a habit and you can't sleep without it even when its not needed.

All this talk of mercury in vaccines has me wondering about my own symptoms that have not subsided wiht gluten-free diet. I believe a flu vaccine was given just prior to the onset of symptoms!! Thanks for this thread as it gives me a clue to what direction to take next in my quest for good health

From the CDC

Mercury and Vaccines (Thimerosal)

Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative used in some vaccines and other products since the 1930s. There is no convincing scientific evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines, except for minor reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site. However, in July 1999, the Public Health Service agencies, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and vaccine manufacturers agreed that thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure.

Since 2001, with the exception of some influenza (flu) vaccines, thimerosal is not used as a preservative in routinely recommended childhood vaccines.

GFP:

I also agree with your post as well. I haven't read the entire thread, but I don't think anyone here was completely AGAINST antibiotics, just the lazy and irresponsible way they have been dispensed by our Health Managed Organizations (HMOs) and associated medical culture. They are literally corporations that can't be bothered with actually healing people. So they prescribe a pill, and that is "efficient" for them and profitable for the pharmaceuticals who reward pill-pushing doctors.

I lived in Asia for 4 years working with refugees, and I do have some background and immediate experience with the infectious population and situation that you discuss in the UK.

However, I know the healthcare system in the UK and most of Western Europe is different than here in the U.S., whereby they have incorporated integrative health responses as well. Here in the U.S., there is a genuine crisis in healthcare, and unfortunately, having it doesn't protect you from the crisis.

Hence, the sense of paranoia that you may perceive from some of us, because over here, it really isn't paranoia - health care irresponsibility and denial is a fact.

Calicoe, there have been quite a few threads that have turned into "antibiotics are evil" etc. and the problem I feel is that people should be able to make a educated decision for themselves ... hence I try and add some "balance" for the person who browses the thread and picks up the vibe ALL antibiotcs are ALWAYS bad.

The UK health system is itelf in crisis ... its hard to make one to one comparisons other than to say its next to useless ... but perhaps in different ways to the US one.

My friend came back from Thailand with a stomach problem and it took her a while to even confront the whole registering with a GP. (Primary care)

Quite honestly its made so difficult its offputting.

From the time she actually got the paperwork in to actually seeing a doctor took her another 2 WEEKS! I know a lot of people here will know what it feels like to have 2 weeks of being afraid to eat anything... she couldn't sleep for reflux and by the time she saw a GP was 10x worse than when she started the process.

Codex Alimentarius Summarized

I have been saying the same thing ... for quite a while now.

The problem with crumbs is they are just crumbs! Its culturally acceptable to just wipe down the surface and use the same dishcloth etc. and its so hard to get in a mindset where we would treat it like poison.

Imagine you had some poop, you wouldn't use the same dishcloth yet the reality is a bit of poop would likely NOT make you sick, its just YUCK!

The whole cross contamination thing is a mindset. I spent a lot of time working in labs handling dangerous chemicals and I try and use the same mindset around gluten.

When I was younger I used to think many of the procedures were way over the top, then I had a few friends get serious burns or poisoned.

Its amazing how stuff can transfer, get on your hands then into your mouth, even when you are working in a lab and have to wash before and after .. Its a shame gluten doesn't glow in the dark ...

i don't see any topics about it, and it's something that can easily get in your mouth if you're a guy, so does anybody know of any that are?

Not off the top of my head since I'm in the UK so we have different brands ....

I would DEFINITELY consider this though ... the effects of IV Gluten might be quite weird.... and that's basically what happebs if you knick yourself shaving ...

Someone did post a while ago about one containing oat protein and in the same way I just think why take the risk?

Erm no definitive answer ...

Why take the risk?

I think a black and white answer would be no but why do grapes make different wine depending on the soil and what else grows around them?

cool avatar geek

Since 2 glasses is normal for you I wold very strongly suspect that you got cross contaminated.

Indeed with or without the wine this is an ever present risk when we eat out.

Antibiotics and vaccines are definately necessary.....however, now we are at the opposite end. Now we're living in a time where antibiotics are abused and we are over vaccinating our children. These things may have increased life expectancy but now we are destroying our quality of life because we are abusing these things and it does have an impact on the immune system.

Too many vaccinations given in a short time is a huge stress on the immune system. The immune system is not yet fully developed and children are being injected with toxins such as mercury at doses much higher than some can tolerate. Genetic vulnerabilities, large doses of toxins, the introduction of several live viruses at once, a suppressed immune system....its not difficult to see how this can all be very damaging.

I agree wholeheartedly ... however I think there are vaccines and vaccines...and non-disclosed financial interests!!

Quite honestly I have seen countries with the absense of ready vaccines and anti-biotics and its an eye opener ... or perhaps eye wetter is more apt.

Being serious for a minute... this is a problem of mass medicine... I guess an easy way to explain it is in the "time management" context...

Some tasks are non-urgent and non-important, others are urgent but not important, others not urgent but important and others urgent and important.

Most tasks fall somewhere inbetween but to manage them efficiently we are told to classify them into one of these four boxes.

Doing the same for vaccines ... some are killers but rare, others are "inconvenient/uncomfortable" and rare then we have killers and common and inconvenient and common. (By inconvenient I mean they are unlikely to be fatal or leave you needing constant medical care, obviously more than an inconvenience if YOU get one but inconvenient for the economy )

Now this is all fine and dandy... except just because something is RARE now in the US (or UK or...) doesn't mean it always will be... this is the problem. If a significant proportion of the population is un-vaccinated then it can go from a single case to an epidemic. The UK used to have virtually no TB... it was vacinated away ... then we had a huge influx of Asians who were unvaccinated. Now TB is on the rise... still most of the population is vaccinated so it stay under an epidemic but there will be a critical point where enough people are not (especially in specific immigrant communities) where this is just bubbling away waiting to explode.

(It doesn't help thee communities regularly visit areas with TB and shun vaccination) (Its also actually ironic that the first "vaccinations recorded" come from the same region....)

Being a freak I am using one disease I cannot get since I am naturally immune... so no bias from me... but the problem is further complicated by the vaccinations not being 100% effective.

This is such a sticky subject because it infringes on human rights whichever way you look at it!

Firstly, if too many people opt out then sooner or later a single case will spread.

Secondly, even if I get my kids immunised (well I don't have any and supposing they don't inherit my immunity) then you not getting your kids immunised could be the stepping stone that spreads it to school and my kids getting TB.

So the "country or statewide" edict that kids must be immunised against x,y,Z has some validity... unfortunately I know from Fiddle-Faddle that the amount of immunisations required in NY is not x,y,x but A thru Z ad beyond!

This is the concept gone mad! But IMHO it doesn't mean the whole concept is flawed...

And then come the antibiotics to treat the infections that are inevitable when the immune system is burdened by toxins.

Antibiotics are often given for infections which they are not even meant to treat. They are given for yeast infections....yet antibiotics actually promote yeast problems and do not treat yeast at all. They are given for viruses even though they are ineffective against a virus. They are even given when there is no proof of infection AT ALL.

Unless a definate diagnosis of bacteria infection is made....there is no reason to take antibiotics... in fact the antibiotics can make a person's situation much worse. I was given antibiotics after my dental work..."in case" an infection were to develop. Nevermind the huge amounts of mercury vapor I'd just been exposed to....lets not worry about that...thats not as dangerous as a bacteria infection that *might* occur.

I agree but you are "personalising".... (no offence meant I'm just blunt as you know). In your case the ignorance of the mercury poisioning was IMHO the real problem not the post dental anti-biotics but the pre-antibiotic thinking....

I grew up with an inventors shed in my garden (If you ever so Wallace and Gromit its about 101% accurate ) and my father had a lot of dangerous machines, chemicals and .. well lethal stuff from high explosives to a silver purification plant and a working industrial laser ... (I know how that sounds but its true).

He had a big sign i the shed/garage "Engage brain before operating machinery"

IMHO this is what needs to flash on the Dr.s Screen or be written on the script pad... "Engage brain before dispensing anti-biotics"

Post operative antibiotics do save a lot of lives and limbs... to go back to rice guy's av. age. .. Yes people did have successful operations before.... people had amputations and arrows removed from brains and lived... BUT a heck of a lot developed infections and died...

So the mercury did a number on my immune system, my gut, my endocrine system, my brain, etc. etc....and the antibiotics were just like throwing gasoline on the fire. It was all very damaging to my health.

After all this my Dr.'s advised me to NOT receive a flu shot....or any vaccine containing mercury unless I wanted to significantly worsen my condition.

I think the safety of antibiotics and vaccinations is definately up in the air nowadays....there are risks involved that may have not been present in earlier times.

True but the maxim "Engage brain before dispensing anti-biotics" might actually go a long way if people stopped and thought.

There is a world of difference to having say four wisdom teeth removed and mercury fillings removed.

I am probably one of the people who stays WELL away from antibiotics... and I sometimes go too far.... I admitted it once on here but last time I got a 2 week huge dose made me sicker than a dog... but this is largely because I refused my GP's previous 3-4 antibiotics for the same sinus infection that after 1 year was just draining me! Because I then needed such a huge dose I also needed anti-fungals which did nothing to make me feel well either but to inhibit the fungus taking advantage of the antibiotics and colonising my sinus'

So I am not pro-antibiotics ... I am just not into demonising them for all our woes... because truth be told most of us wouldn't be here without them because one of our recent ancestors would have died...

My view is they are a double edged sword and should be used with caution but they can and are lifesavers! (I also had a friend die from bacterial meningitis which could have been treated by antibiotics)

Steve,

Can you at least carry some things on you--like a safe energy bar type thing in your pockets? I think it's awful that you're expected to work such grueling hours, and I really understand you're wanting a change of scenery after last year. (and maybe even a little immersing yourself in your work?)

I'm just thinking that until things change, a little nutrition on the run is better than none at all--and passing out!

Thanks and you are of course correct .... I guess I'm a little too gullible in the "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" ...

I keep resolving to carry energy bars and stuff but everything at work is always SO last minute and SO little planning...

I might go in in morning and then at 10am my boss might tell me I'm going to the other side of the country at 10:30! Just like that... and I'll be told its just a little job... but it never is... there are always stupid complications and I end up getting home at midnight..

Or I get sent to one site and then I'm about to come home and get sent to another..then another... (this is what happened for the week without sleep more or less)...

So I build up stocks in my desk then miss lunch because I get asked to do something priority ... so I end up nibbling on my emergency travel food and not having time to replace it... get home totally whacked out and don't force myself to go and replace the food... then whoosh, I'm off and no food to take.

It would be different if I could plan.... but all my planning gets micromanaged without any visible grasp of geography... for instance I'm sent one place then the other end of the country then back to 50 miles from the first place... because for instance the towns sort alphabetically that way!

So everything is last minute, rush here already late, rush the job and go to the next ... which leaves little time to get safe food.

Are you really desperate for work & money? Because I think with your qualifications there should be something better to be found, no? Or is it just that you didn't have the energy to look for something better?

I think if you could document any of this it would be grounds for some kind of lawsuit, I really can't believe that kind of work conditions are legal in the UK...but I don't know if that's something you would want to take on...

Take care of yourself will you? We want to keep benefiting from your advice here on the board you know.

Pauliina

Paulina,

You sum it up perfectly!

I'm actually more desperate for work than money... I got myself into such a rut last year with my relationship falling apart that I ended up doing something I didn't really want to do for a change of scene and to get me out of Paris which had too many "twisted" memories.

Now the work is so draining I just struggle to keep my head afloat in the rest of my life.

I know I should, I make excuses to myself each night because I'm just so exhausted .. both mentally and physically.