Mold... What??!!

Where do I begin?  In the last few weeks, everything has changed, evolved and is making more sense than ever!  One night lying awake in the bed, I got an email from a doctor of osteopathy that I subscribe to, Dr. Mercola.  He spotlighted Dr. Shoemaker, the expert on Mold Exposure as a Biotoxin and Treatment.  He's written books like "Suriving Mold" and "Mold Warriors".  I've downloaded the former on my iBooks app and read through some here and there.  As I laid there, a thought came to my mind.  A memory.  A realization.  Could this be my underlying cause of all my health issues and what appears to be fibromyalgia and neurological conditions like Carpal Tunnel and Meralgia Paresthetica.  People don't just suddenly have a litany of diagnoses come up.  What is causing these health issues??  MOLD?

The memory was of last summer over Labor Day weekend 2011.  Austin and I cleaned out our basement and organized it and donated items, etc...  We threw out a lot of stuff too.  When done, I remember he was making trips to the landfill and Good Will as I swept up what I thought was only brown construction dirt left by the builders 8 years ago.  I remember seeing spots on items and cleaning them off with just a damp cloth and water.  I remember sweeping the blackish color on the floor from towels that were used to dry up a leak we've had issues with off and on for the last few years but could never find the source despite calling out a basement expert to try to figure it out.  I remember my nose dripping profusely while down there sweeping that last day.  I was 25 weeks pregnant at the time with Sara Beth.  I definitely remember feeling this water in my lungs feeling that night and for the next 12 hours.  I felt like I was drowning when I laid down flat in bed and had to sleep sitting up.  Eventually, it subsided.

Whoa!!  What if the spots, the leak for years, the respiratory difficulty was from mold?  When did my weird symptoms begin?  In my prenatal history at my 28 week midwife appointment on September 27th, I reported to my hospital midwife that I felt pain in my arms when typing or using the remote, I felt old and elderly like I was near death, I felt pressure in my eyes a lot, I felt general malaise, weakness and fatigue.  I had been having these symptoms for about 3 weeks.  Wait, 3 weeks?  The day I swept in the basement and had difficulty breathing was Sept 5th.  Oh, my Goodness!!!!!

I immediately contacted a local mold specialist (The Mold Doctor) and met the wonderful Tony who came and did an immediate mold test of our basement and upstairs where we sleep and our bathroom which about 2 years ago we knew had mold and when we had it painted had the mold removed and painted with mold resistant paint.  Tony took me around the basement.  He was wearing a respirator.  I was just breathing it all in.  He showed me mold on the duct tape on the duct system, mold around the A/C unit, mold in the carpet at the base of the stairs, mold on the drywall at the base of the stairs, mold growing on the basement ceiling underneath our Dining Room that is upstairs above the basement, mold on the insulation lining our walls which he refered to as "mold food", mold in our master bath on the door frame that wasn't painted with the mold-resistent paint, mold on our bathroom blinds, and I showed him the toys the kids used to play with that had black growing inside and he said throw them out!

What we thought were just water stains turned out to be mold from a leaky basement.

He also walked around the house and found mold growing on the side.  He did a mold test that Friday and the results came back on Monday. 

Types of mold found in the Basement:  Basidiospores, Cladosporium, Penicillium/Aspergillus, Smuts/Periconia/Myxomy, Pithomyces, Stachybotrys (the Black Toxic Mold!!)

Types of mold found in the Master Bedroom:  Alternaria, Ascospores, Basidiospores, Bipolaris/Drechslera, Cladosporium, Epicoccum, Penicillium/Aspergillus, Smuts/Periconia/Myxomy, Pithomyces

Elevated mold condition exists:  Yes.

Source:  Southeast Environmental Microbiology Laboratories, Inc.
506-A Laurens Rd
Greenville, SC 29607
Phone: (864) 233-3770 

We spent the next week working out the logistics of getting contractors in to do mold remediation and living somewhere else for 4 days.  The entire basement had all insulation removed, all drywall and carpet at the base of the stairs (other parts of basement were unfinished) removed, all pieces of any wood that was effected removed.  Then, they painted the entire basement with a mold resistant paint so now it is all white, all ceilings, walls, and even most of the floor.  They also discovered the source of the leak!  Perhaps, we never would have if the mold didn't exist.  When the removed parts of the plywood from the basement ceiling under our front door, they could literally put their fingers through a large crack that went outside underneath the brick front of our home.  It was never sealed.  We also had a leak in the front foyer window that was never sealed properly.  We sealed it some years ago but it too caused damage and the entire foyer window area had to be remediated and painted, too.  Mold, mold, mold and lots of damage done but now it is all fixed.

You can see where the contractor had to pull back the plywood once covering this surface completely.  The sunlight is under the brick front leading out to the front of the house under our front door.  This is where the leak came from.  :(

This process was mentally exhausting and hard to digest.  How did we not know?  Well, for starters the basement isn't used but for storage so we didn't go down there much throughout the year and then there is our very busy life with the kids and work that kept us from focusing on it more seriously when we should have believing what we did see were just water stains from the leak.

Tony also said our humidity in the basement was 57%.  This is high because that was on a dry day.  All it would take is rain falling to cause it to go above 60% and that's when mold starts to grow.  So when the big rainfalls caused the basement to leak, it was well above 60% and mold grew rampantly.

We had to remove all of our belongings from the basement and check them for mold.  Any mold growth on fabric was discarded in plastic bags, any mold growth on a cleanable surface was cleaned with a mold surface cleaner we picked up from Home Depot.  We bought the respirators, suits, gloves, goggles.  Austin looked like a typical contractor suited up to remove a serious toxin.  It took us all weekend to do it.  We have what is safe to still use in our garage now.  We'll have to bring it back to the basement now and reorganize everything.

We also hired duct cleaners to clean out all of the ducts in the house.  This gives us more peace of mind and is recommended when doing mold remediation. 

We had the outside siding powerwashed to remove the mold growing on the siding and the contractor sealed the crack under the brick front.  We just had a nasty storm a few days ago and no leak.  We hope that will continue to be the case.  Until we know for sure it is the source, we aren't going to finish the basement anytime soon. 

We still can't believe this.  I think of few times I exercised down in the basement (and while pregnant!! and worse took the baby down there to sit in her bouncy chair!!!!).  We never really let the kids go down in the basement so that is good and no visitors to our home were in the basement for long periods of time because it wasn't finished except the carpeted stairs going down to the basement, so that made me feel a lot better, too.  But the fact it was in parts of the house, too, is very disturbing.  I started doing research on children exposed to mold and what the side effects could be and had to stop.  First, I've got to take care of me and figure out if that is indeed what my "biotoxin" is.

I saw a doctor who specializes in this area and trained with Dr. Shoemaker above but I won't be returning to their practice.  They are not professional or nice.  But when I did see her, she did the VCS Aptitude Test which tests for neurotoxins doing a visual test.  I failed it.  She ordered the 14 vials of bloodwork and some might be back now but I'm in the process of finding a better fit doctor for me who is like all of my other doctors - caring, sensitive, professional and wonderful to work with.  I have a consultation with a doctor today who also specializes in this area and who has been a victim of mold exposure and its effects herself.

A well depicted summary of my last year only leaving out the pain/fatigue/brain fog, etc...

I will update when I have blood test results back.  But please know this, everyone....  mold is toxic and harmful.  Especially, black toxic mold - stachybotrys.  Take leaks seriously.  You can have a beautiful new home like we do and be a victim to it.  You can have it hiding for years behind your walls.  If you sense a water problem or see stains, please have them checked out sooner rather than later.


Introducing Dr. Shoemaker...

YouTube video - Biotoxin 101:  Part 1 (Mold, CFIDS, and Fibro Treatments)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULJLAExjEDk

Questions, Questions, Questions...Answers Cannot Come Fast Enough!

OK let's start by laying out what we already know...

1) I'm not well.  My litany of symptoms makes this all very frustrating and confusing.
2) Inflammation is very much present in my body in multiple systems
3) I was found to be Vitamin D deficient in March 2012
4) I've been diagnosed with food allergies in late May 2012 - dairy/egg
5) I was recently diagnosed with two neurological conditions (both caused by inflammation in the body irritating nerves) although I am confident this neurologist is missing the mark - neither of the conditions he believes are my issue lead to either pain in the lower extremities past the thigh or memory/focus issues, so although he may be correct those nerves he diagnosed are affected, they are not the only problems. 

Now where to go from here...

1) I'm very well read on Fibromyalgia.  To-date it is the one condition I've extensively researched that seems to match all of my symptoms I suffer with daily.  But what is next if FM is my true diagnosis?

• I need to find a practitioner to do the body mapping to confirm FM and have a starting point.
• I would go on Dr. St. Amand's guafenisen protocol to reverse the symptoms of FM

 2) My naturopath is testing for candida at my next appointment end of July to see if this is a major factor.  I do have regular issues with yeast.

3) I'm going to make an appointment with an LLDM (Lymes Literate Medical Doctor) who can definitively rule this out.  So far, I've tested negative for Lymes in the April 2012 including the Western Blot test.  When I got an email from someone who was in my Guai Support Group that had undetected Lymes not FM, I decided to follow-up on my negative tests because they could have been wrong.  Dr. Burrascano's list of Lymes symptoms is extensive and also match my litany of symptoms. 

Visit www.LymeNet.org  and  www.ChronicLymeDisease.com for more info.

4) Neurological:  I will do the nerve conduction studies with my neurologist.  I'll also find a neurologist at Hopkins or surgeon if needed at Union Memorial for further evaluation, testing and possible surgical fixes if time will not heal these issues.  I still believe if I find the underlying cause of my inflammation taking over multiple systems, then the inflammation causing these nerve pains will disappear, hopefully.

My goals...

I hope to get better within the next 12 months.  No matter the ending diagnoses, I want to find the best, healthiest and most long-term healing and treatment plans possible.  I'm in pain every single day.  All day long.  I live with it.  I type now through the pain radiating in my hands.  I try to make sense in these blog posts despite my sharp mind fading in focus, concentration and memory.  My house is suffering because I have a hard time doing any physical work.  I want to exercise but I hurt my back severely whenever I attempt it.  I want to have energy not fatigue.  I have four kids to raise and want to have more.  I have a life to live.  I can't live it like this.  This is taking over my life.  It's slowing down my success as a mother, wife, household manager, childbirth educator, doula, midwifery student, etc...  I will not allow this to go on.
I will find MY cure. 

More Doctors Practicing Outside of the Norm: How Candida Causes Fibromyalgia

I wrote about Dr. St. Amand last who is an endocrinologist that is the leading expert in Fibromyalgia, a rheumatology disease.  Across our nation there are many doctors who don't just look at your bloodwork, see something negative and send you away.  There are doctors who don't just say "it's all in your head" or "you are too stressed out" or "you have so many kids" and that's why you are chronically ill.

In all of my research and reading on my symptoms including inflammation and a host of others listed on an earlier blog post that most likely fall under Fibromyalgia, I keep reading about candida and how it wreaks havoc on our bodies.  I've read about this many times over the years.

Many think yeast and candida is just a "female" issue but it is not.  And it also isn't just a vaginal infection that women suffer from who do have issues with candida.  Candida becomes systemic when the friendly good bacteria in our digestive tracts are destroyed by antibiotics (been on many this past year but even before from time-to-time), eating the typical Western diet filled with carbs, carbs, carbs, the effects of stress, and other medications (women who take birth control pills), etc...

The candida will thrive in our bodies when this happens and when it goes systemic, our bodies react in different ways.  For me, if this is *my* underlying major cause and tigger of Fibroymyalgia, then I'm going to treat it and hope the side effects it causes (like Fibroymalgia symptoms), melt away!

Dr. Michael McNett, Fibromyalgia Specialist Links Candida to Fibromyalgia


Dr. McNett practices in Chicago running a practice there as both a family physician and in emergency medicine over the years.  He stated in an interview that he sees a link between those suffering from hypothyroidism or fibromyalgia and candida overgrowth.

He believes...

1st - Something causes the immune system of that person to aggressively attack candida cells that most others tolerate,

2nd - This immune attack then causes rupture of the cells and release of their contents

3rd - Our bodies absorb chemicals released by the yeast which then interfere with the thyroid's ability to cause its effect in the cell, and

4th - The patient then develops Fibromyalgia symptoms.

This series of events leads causes the candida to lead to hypothyoroidism and fibromyalgia symptoms.

Dr. McNett addressed the question of why women like me might test negative for hypothyroidism (my tests several times over the years are in the normal range but low and never outside of that range).  He stated this happens because the type of thyroid hormone receptor the blood tests is looking for is not the same as the one present in the brain, skin, muscle, bones and connective tissue.


How to Test for Systemic Candida

First, you can try a home spit test.

Instructions:

How To Tell If You Have Candida  -  The Free and Accurate Candida Spit Test.

THE TEST: In the evening, put a clear glass of water by your bed. First thing in the morning, briefly rinse your mouth, swallow, then gather some saliva in your mouth and spit into the glass of water (be sure to spit out saliva, not mucus). Keep an eye on the water for half an hour -- especially the first few minutes. If you have candida overgrowth, you will see one or more of the following:

1. Strings (legs) hanging down from the saliva.
2. Heavy-looking saliva at the bottom of the glass.
3. Cloudy specks suspended in the water.

My Results:  Positive.  Strings hanging after mere seconds.

Also, there are blood tests that can check for candida overgrowth in your body.  My naturopath has a test kit for me that tests IgG, IgH, etc... using a finger prick test looking for candida overgrowth in my body.  I'll have that test done after I get back from vacation.

Thought, Dr. McNett believes that just conducting a simple questionnaire of the patient and their symptoms and medical history will reveal whether their body is overgrown by candida.


How Do I Get a Balance of Yeast and Good Bacteria if I Test Positive for Systemic Candida Overgrowth?

First, a low-carb diet so that it will starve the yeast and prevent it from growing back. Second, nystatin or another anti-fungal to drive the yeast counts as low as possible.  Third, acidophilus which inhibits the growth of yeast and replaces good bacteria like from eating yogurt and taking a probiotic.


Again, Why Aren't These Conditions Tested and Treated by More Mainstream Doctors?

Dr. Crook who wrote The Yeast Connection basically chose to write a book rather than publish his findings in a medical journal.  More doctors are finding that candida is indeed a real issue and a real problem.  Until the mainstream medical doctors accept this, begin to test for it and treat it, there will continue to be unnecessary suffering.

I plan to get tested beyond my positive spit test above next week by my naturopath.  I'll tackle anything to move forward and get rid of my Fibromyalgia symptoms. 

Resources:

Click here to read Dr. McNett's full interview.

BioTek test kits used by my naturopath - http://www.usbiotek.com/Services_specialty-testing.php

Fibromyalgia: Every Body System is Affected

"We believe there is a genetically defective kidney enzyme, which causes phosphate retention to accumulate to critical levels within cells. This interferes with energy formation, a substance called ATP, and to a malfunction in susceptible tissues. Excess phosphate induces calcium retention, and together they cause all of the manifestations of fibromyalgia.  Fibromyalgia would be more appropriately named Dysenergism to better describe the overwhelming fatigue and the metabolic disturbances throughout body tissues."    
~ Dr. St. Amand, practicing medical doctor in Los Angeles, CA who stumbled upon the reversal treatment for Fibryomyalgia/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

For years, I've had one issue pop up after another.  I thought... it was just because I worked in an office environment in a sedentary job, I didn't exercise enough, I have 2, 3, 4 kids, I "do too much", I attend births in the wee hours of the night, I should have eaten more protein in pregnancy or hydrated better, it's pregnancy's fault, no, it is breastfeeding's fault.  I'm here to say, it sometimes takes us many years of suffering various conditions and recurring issues with a symptom big enough and painful enough to grab our attention, SHAKE US, and proclaim, "there is something really wrong with you!"

 No one wants to have anything medically wrong with them that is serious.  No one wants a terrifying, depressing diagnosis.  No one wants to suffer with chronic illness.  But, sadly, I do.  :(

As I'm writing this, my cousin on my mother's side of the family writes to tell me there are a few suffering with this condition in our family.  I suspected but didn't know anyone was diagnosed.  I'll have to get more info so I can understand my family history of this illness more.

For now, I'm going to attempt to remember (see the letter B above for why I say "attempt") all of my symptoms and issues to-date:

• Chronic fatigue
• Insomnia
• Restless legs and arms
• Muscle and joint pain in legs, arms, toes, fingers, back
• Feeling that I'm elderly and near death's door
• Anxiety, history of panic attacks
• Getting really hot but when I'm cold feeling super cold
• Chronic infections (yeast, mastitis, pneumonia, bronchitis, colds, stomach flu, etc...)
• Chronic low back pain before children
• Short-term memory loss (getting worse)
• Inability to focus and concentrate to finish a project efficiently or even a sensible conversation
• Post Partum Depression twice, other low points in life some caused by traumatic events
• Stress of being a busy mother of many, wife, running a household and finances, involved in organizations, work, studies
• Skin problems - new places popping up out of no where
• Low energy - hard to exercise when it makes me feel worse or exacerbates my low back issue
• Flu-like body symptoms following too much exertion like painting a room, day at Disney that takes 2 days to recover from the immense pain especially in my feet and legs
• Muscle weakness making daily activities hard like washing hair, brushing teeth, lifting baby, holding baby to breastfeed, changing the channel - the weight of the remote, typing, handwriting, knitting, driving - holding the wheel for long periods
• Digestively: stomach upset after eating, gas, bloating, nausea between meals
• Diagnosed in my mid-20s with Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Diagnosed last month with dairy/egg allergy resolving a lifetime of constipation and regularity issues.
• Easily irritated due to the frustration of the above symptoms and any minor amount of stress
• Apathy at times feeling like giving up then determined at times to find a solution

Every part of my body feels dragged into this symptom nightmare.  In pregnancy with my fourth, I even had high blood pressure (from 90/60 to 130/80 with some bad days in the 140/90 to 148/101 range but thankfully not that last week), diagnosed with proteinuria using 24-hour urine test, diagnosed with hyperuricemia, had pitting edema, gained the most weight ever (so much was retained fluid!), and the metabolic panel showed changes but thankfully the liver enzymes though elevated were not outside of the normal range.  This all came to a head a few days before she just plopped out in one hour of labor making induction talk moot.

I refuse to give up searching for ways to reverse, eliminate, or lessen all of the above symptoms.

I want my life back.

Closer to My Inflammation/Pain Cure! What's Fibromyalgia Got to Do With It?

A week ago this time, I was reading up and researching inflammation.  I wanted to know everything I could about it and how to minimize it or even cure it!  Friday, June 22nd, God put a thought into my head to see what was on the Health/Auto-Immune bookshelf at Greetings & Readings in Hunt Valley.  I stumbled across what is the best kept secret in medicine today.  How to REVERSE Fibromyalgia!!

Fibromyalgia - the "Catch-All" Diagnosis or Is It?

After I picked up Dr. R. Paul St. Amand's book, and read through a few pages in the store, I was WOWed!  I immediately purchased it, and as of 4AM today, finished reading all 300+ pages of it!  Fibromyalgia is more than what you think it is and more than what I thought it was.  Most doctors, pharmaceutical companies and Fibromyalgia sufferers and their families believe this just causes painful muscles and joints. Dr. St. Amand explains that it is so much more!

Fibromyalgia (FM) symptoms include fatigue (especially chronic and severe fatigue), irritability, nervousness, depression, insomnia, impaired concentration/focus "FibroFog", impaired memory, anxiety, hunger tremors, palpitations, panic attacks, frontal headaches, occipital headaches, general headaches, dizziness, vertigo, eye irritation, nasal congestion, abnormal tastes (bad, metallic), ringing ears, numbness, restless legs, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, dysuria, pungent urine, bladder infections, vulvodynia, weight changes, itching, rashes, sensitivities (chemical, light, odor, sounds), and allergies.  FM sufferers also have chronic infections, skin rashes, itchiness, digestive upset, some have been diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, some lose their hair, and the list goes on...  As you can see, the name Fibromyalgia isn't a good name. It means pain in the muscles/fibers.  It is so much more than that!

You may be treated right now for these conditions separately by more than one doctor.  This is how so many millions of sufferers go without treatment.  They don't realize they really have one condition causing all of these things!  Especially because your body goes through cycling - good days and bad days with flares then a period of remission or at least days that are better than your worst days.

FM is genetic.  Parents, siblings, grandparents, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles - someone in your family suffers from FM whether properly diagnosed or not if you are a FM suffer.

FM can start in young children.  Children today diagnosed with arthritis or ADD might simply suffer from FM.  Most doctors wouldn't think of FM because it is such a confusing condition to many. (There's a whole book on this if you want to know if your child might be suffering - What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Pediatric Fibromyalgia by Dr. St. Amand.)

FM has no diagnostic blood test (yet!!) but Dr. St. Amand and his team are very close to making that happen!  When that happens, finally, family doctors and rheumatologists can test patients blood and know right away what the problem is - Fibromyalgia. They have already proven with research that proteins in our blood are increased for FM sufferers.  This diagnostic tool will make lives change forever once it is finally fully developed and in use!

Another way to confirm FM today is to do "mapping" of the body to find the lumps and bumps in your muscles that show you do indeed have FM.  This can be done by a chiropractor or massage therapist or someone trained in how do perform mapping.  (Your provider, if willing, can even learn more about FM and mapping by purchasing Dr. St. Amand's CD on how to do perform mapping.)

How Many of the Below 18 Points are Tender on Your Body?

What is the Reversal Treatment Plan by Dr. St. Amand?  More Prescription Drugs?

No, not prescription.  Not drugs with dangerous or frustrating side effects.  Dr. St. Amand discovered that Guaifenisen, an over-the-counter medication in doses of 300mg or 600mg or 900mg or 1200mg twice a day will reverse your symptoms of FM!  The dosage depends on how your body reacts to the lowest does and if in time, that isn't producing the reversal effects desired (more pain before less pain), then the dosage is increased until your body begins to respond - you feel worse.  After so much time feeling worse, you'll finally feel amazing!  You'll have good days like you haven't known in years.

After all, you cannot forget that every drug you take for the above listed symptoms only mask the pain like putting on a band-aid and does not prevent the symptoms or reverse the symptoms like Dr. St. Amand's protocol will.


Why Should Anyone Trust This Doctor's Protocol Over a Rheumatologist Prescribing Anti-Depressants, Sleep Disorder Medications, Pain Medications, Anti-Convulsants, etc...?

Dr. St. Amand has been studying this condition and its symptoms for 50 years and he himself suffers from it.  His entire family suffered too.  He has devoted his career to doing a study in 1995 that failed but was also successful (more on that soon), writing recently published scientific articles, and treating 10,000+ patients suffering from FM.  That's a lot of experience!

The 1995 study was unsuccessful because it seemingly showed his reversal treatment didn't work.  However, it was a success because he learne two new things that patients must do in order for "the guai protocol" to work for them - 1) stop using all salicylates and 2) if you are also hypoglycemic (HGs) adhere to his diet for HGs.

Thousands have benefits from his findings and have felt completely or partially cured by the guai protocol.  There is a web site, support group and list or providers who guide patients through this protocol and do the mapping to test to see if the bumps and lumps are going away as you take guafenisen each day without using salicylates.


Why do FM have to Avoid Salicylates?

Salicylates block guafenisen from working properly.  Dr. St. Amand describes how guai works by having us imagine there are little parking garages inside of receptors in our kidneys tubules that the guai must park in to remove the excess phosphate that is in our body.  But if we are using salicylates topically or taking them in concentrated form orally, we can block the guai and the salicylate will take the space in the garages first preventing phosphate from leaving the body.

What is the Cause of Fibromyalgia?

It is genetic, as I said, and it is triggered by life events, stressors, age, hormonal changes, injury, trama, etc...  Essentially, your body systems are suffering because your kidneys are not properly ridding your body of phosphate which is in so much we consume and are exposed to.  This surplus of phosphate then leaks out into the cells of our body;s tissues, muscles, organs and that is why the list of symptoms above is so long - this can (and usually will after years left untreated) affect the entire body and all its systems.

What is My Plan?

Well, I'm being the good patient and am waiting for my neurologist appt mid-July 2012 to rule out neurologic conditions.  Once that is done, I'm sent back to my rheumatologist who already says she suspects Fibromyalgia.  My first rheumatologist suspected Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  Dr. St. Amand believes both conditions are one and the same and that there are millions of suffers in the U.S.

I also have to set up an appt with someone who can do "mapping" on my body and mark on a chart where all of the lumps/bumps are on my body.  This will also confirm a diagnosis of FM and give me a starting point to work from.  Once I've done this, I can go on the guai protocol at 300mg twice a day and if my symptoms get worse, I'll know that it is working.  If they don't do anything after awhile, my dosage will be bumped up until it does get worse.  Getting worse is what I have to do to get better.  I long for the good days I know are ahead of me!

In the meantime, I'll start replacing products with salicylates in them.  It isn't easy but I've been practicing already on how to read the labels using the great resources in Dr. St. Amand's book and his web site.  I'll also begin a journal of my symptoms so that I can know what my bad days are like now to compare them to the worse days coming when the body is ridding my tissues of phosphate and then compare that to the days I long to see - the good days when I'm symptom free!


My Hope

One day, I hope to report to you that I am free and clear of all symptoms (as long as no permanent damage has been done but I'm hoping considering how young I am that has not happened).  I hope to take what I've learned and help others.  I hope that all I know with symptoms like the ones above will understand each person suffers differently with FM and no two suffers are exactly alike but very similar to one another and that they will take this information and apply it to their lives and live normal again.

Many FMs stop living, live in their home, don't work, can't work, withdraw socially, have guilty feelings because of all they cannot do, don't pay bills on time, have depression from all of this, cannot stop sleeping in cars, feeling too tired to even begin their list of to-do's, can't take care of their kids/family well so their relationships suffer, have strained relationships because no one around them understands mostly because most FM don't even understand their own condition.

I don't want to be this way forever.  I don't want to get worse.  I want to be pain-free, live without digestive upset, have my memory back, my ability to focus and concentrate returned, my energy to be awake all day long, etc...

I will find my cure!


Resources:



The Fibromyalgia Treatment Center - operated by Dr. St. Amand and Claudia Marek, his medical assistant

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Fibromyalgia
 by Dr. St. Amand and Claudia Marek

Mapping Chart

Research behind the Guafenisen Protocol by Dr. St. Amand

Salicylate-Free Products Guide


Find a Doctor Near You that Knows of Dr. St. Amand's Treatment


Hypoglycemic or Think You Might Be?