Day Two through Five

I'm sorry I missed the last four days' updates. The week actually went a lot better than expected, so my mind wasn't on getting in here.

Day 2:
I started out pretty fatigued and sleepy. Throughout the day I started feeling a different kind of headache coming on, more of a 'pulling' sensation from my sinus area, and it was pretty powerful. I was also chilled most of the afternoon, and felt my normal off-balance.

Day 3:
Woke up with the 'pulling' headache, but it was eventually replaced with an overall headache. By evening my off-balance issues seemed less and I felt more in control when walking. The headache came back again in the evening.

Day 4:
I woke up with stomach pain; none like I've ever felt before. It seemed to go away within the hour and didn't return. I had some bouts of brain fogginess mixed with some mental clarity. Overall, I didn't have much in the way of off-balance for a major portion of the day. It did come back again in the evening, however.

Day 5:
I felt pretty yucky overall today. It seemed like all the symptoms from the week were a bit heightened today. By lunchtime I had a nasty headache that started at the base of my skull and felt like someone was drilling straight up through my skull on the left side of the back of my head. I put a heating pad on my neck and took a nap. When I woke up that headache was gone, but the 'pulling' headache was back. The off-balance was back to normal today, which was a bit of a bummer. I was hoping yesterday was the start of something.

Like I mentioned earlier, the week went a lot better than I expected. I really expected to be sicker than a dog and feeling horrible all week. I think my choice of nutritional foods really helped with how it went, and I actually am planning on continuing the cilantro/chlorella tincture Monday through Friday each week but only taking it once a day. It seems to be doing something, so I might as well continue and try to heal my body as naturally as possible. Next Wednesday I finally go see the new doctor and get my HMT results back, so it will be interesting to see what they are. What will be even cooler is if this doc lets me use only the tincture and retest in a few months to see if it actually did something. I'll of course know by how I feel, but it would be good to get proof, too.

Day One

Day one went rather well. In the morning I actually felt a bit of energy and used it to my advantage and made a great carrot squash soup, baked apples, and baked rice while the kids did their homeschool. In the afternoon I started feeling extremely fatigued and tired. The chills were coming on, too, so I laid down for a twenty minute catnap. That seemed to help, and when I woke up I spent a little time reading and then found another short burst of energy. It didn't last long, but was good. Then after dinner I became fatigued again and got a pretty bad headache. It felt like a normal headache though, so I wasn't attributing it to the cleanse/detox. Later in the evening to my dismay, my left foot started hurting something terrible. After closer inspection this morning I realized it was a plantar's wart, and there's another one on the foot starting, too. Yuck. My daughter also has them (got them from a community pool), so we'll be starting the apple cider vinegar treatment today.

So far today I am feeling okay. A bit fatigued yet, and I seem to be warmer than usual. We'll see what the rest of the day holds and I'll try to check back in tomorrow. I am expecting a down turn if this is working, so I actually want to feel 'bad' to tell me that the stuff is moving out of my system. Because I really haven't yet, I am not sure it's doing anything. It's only day two though, so I'm hopeful.

Preparation...

Today's the day to start my week of detox/cleanse/fast with the cilantro and chlorella tincture. I'm pretty excited. In preparation for today I put together a program for me to follow:
I don't want to forget anything, and especially if I start feeling the effects of what I'm doing negatively, I want to have this plan in place so I don't get sidetracked. It could be a bumpy ride, or I could start feeling better within twenty-four hours. I am just hoping for positive results by the end of the week, and if that happens I'll be ecstatic! If I'm up to it, I'll try to post daily to share how things are going.

Trying something new...

It's just a little over a week away to when I will be meeting with the new doctor. I am apprehensive but eager to meet him and find out what he thinks is going on and how he can help me, and also very curious as to find out my HMT test results.

I have been doing a lot of research lately on the benefits of cilantro and chlorella in detoxing heavy metals. I found a lot of information, and also found this in the process. I ordered some and have a plan in place to detox/chelate/fast next week. I am so excited! If this stuff is for real (and safe for you since they are both foods), I cannot wait to see how I feel at the end of the week. The decision to fast is not a true fast in the sense of the word, but a fast from a lot of foods that could be detrimental to the tincture working properly. I am going to be sticking with mostly fruits and vegetables all week (no sugars, dairy, or gluten-based grains). I will have some rice and some meats, but the majority of my food next week will be foods that have not been processed. Nutritionally I am hoping that doing that will bathe my body in vitamins and minerals to immediately replace the heavy metals that would be coming out. I will also be including some supplements that I know to be helpful, and will be trying to do some form of exercise daily to help move the toxins out and strengthen muscle loss.

According to what I've read, cilantro digs into deep places other chelators can't, like the brain and larger muscles. The chlorella helps move it out of the system...they pretty much work synergistically. That's why I was so happy to find them together in one bottle so I didn't have to worry about taking one without the other. I am just really hoping it works and I feel some sort of relief at all. If it works I will take one week off, go one week on and so forth until I am feeling I don't need it anymore.

Test done...

I just finished the heavy metal tox screen today. It was a 6 hour test, and I had to take 21 DMSA caplets. I really am surprised I am not feeling as icky as I expected to. In fact, I seem to have a bit less off-balance/dizziness going on than normal, and seem to have a bit of energy. I'm not exactly sure if it was the DMSA, or if it has anything to do with me adding a vitamin B12 spray today. I have so far taken 48 mcg (or 800% rda) of it today, after reading this article and seeing some similarities with my symptoms. I also called my NP and left a message for her regarding it because I couldn't remember if they ever tested my B12 levels. I should hear from her nurse this evening hopefully. If that's the case, I would happily continue to take vitamin B12 in whatever form would be best for me. I of course also looked further into seeing if a deficiency could be caused by toxic metal overload, and yep, there is a correlation. Who knows, with how 'alright' I'm feeling today maybe it's a combination of both the DMSA and adding in the B12 that's helping. I sure wouldn't mind having less off-balance and dizziness going on, that's for sure. Maybe I could actually start driving again!

Waiting...(fingertapping)...

I just saw my NP today for the follow-up after seeing the neurologist. She has decided it's time to pass me off to the naturopath/family doctor at the same clinic as she's at since she feels she's done all she can for me. The only problem is, he doesn't have an opening until March 3rd. It's going to be a long wait. In the meantime, I will be doing another heavy metal test, and those results will come back a month after I send it in, so I'll have those results available when I go and see the naturopath.

A friend of mine has given me the name of another doctor that I might consider going and seeing. This particular doctor was able to heal a friend of my friend's terminal cancer. The only problem is that this doctor is about 90 minutes away, and I would really like for my doctors to be a lot closer from now on. My original naturopathic/napropathic doctor was that far, and it was not easy to go and see him as often as I needed to sometimes. What to do, what to do...I just know I want to get well.

Well, supposedly it's not in my head...so now the doctors don't have that excuse!

I got word yesterday that my MRI is clean. It's good news since it means no tumors are causing my problems, but bad news since we still don't know what the problem is. I learned from some online research that the MRI should have been done with contrast and wasn't, so there could still be some missing information, like possible infection surrounding the brain or other problems in the head that could be a factor. I don't plan on having another MRI any time soon though, so those questions will have to be left unanswered for a while.

I decided yesterday that I was going to stop the medication...I felt it was not doing the job intended and instead causing other symptoms I wasn't ready to live with. With just two days of being on them, I could feel that I didn't want to deal with the side effects. It just wasn't worth it.