Gotta go through the bad before you get to the better...

Since my last post I have been doing a lot of detox. I have felt pretty terrible, but I am keeping a good attitude about it as much as possible because I know the reasons why I'm feeling so badly.

I have been taking probiotics, taking my usual Sunrider products, eating cultured veggies, cilantro, onions, and garlic daily, and I've taken one epsom salt bath. I am now totally on the candida diet, eating only meats and vegetables, and have for two weeks now. I also purchased and have been using a neti pot daily and finding some relief from the stuffiness I was having in my nasal passages. All of my symptoms have come back stronger due to the die off of the yeast in my system, however. When the yeast has died off enough I should feel some relief, but it will continue to build again as long as I have the heavy metals so abundant in my system. I will be continuing with the above protocol, and hoping to soon add chlorophyll (cleanses the blood) and spirulina which will help with detoxing the metals out. Like I've said before, it will be a slower process than using DMPS, but I am just not comfortable with using any chemicals, and neither is my ND.

I recently bought the Body Ecology Diet book from Donna Gates. I have just finished reading it. It's got a lot of great information. I don't know how closely I can follow her suggestions, but I am very interested in a lot of the recipes, and am eating cultured veggies and bought the Coco-biotic already.

It makes me disgruntled to know how bad sugar and processed foods have really screwed up our digestive systems. For anyone looking for better alternatives to sugar, stevia, xylitol, and lakanto are great choices. I have used stevia and xylitol, but have not tried lakanto. Both stevia and xylitol have healthful benefits as well as being a great substitute...stevia helps with the blood and heart, and xylitol is great (and far better for you than the rat poison flouride!) for your teeth. If you are looking for a gum that doesn't contain sugar or the bad sweeteners like splenda or nutrasweet, I found Spry gum just recently (made with xylitol), and my whole family loves the flavors. You can possibly find it locally in the natural foods sections of your grocery store, but I found all flavors online by typing "Spry" into google.

Thank you for the advice!

Thank you to the anonymous person who commented on my last post! I got my act together and talked to my doctor, and we decided to treat me for candida and start working on natural chelation methods immediately. I started on the candida diet last week, and to keep me encouraged, I try to search for different things on candida every day just to keep me focused. Today I found this website and was encouraged again that I'm on the right track with the mercury issue. It is obvious by looking at the symptoms on this page that this is what I'm dealing with since I still struggle with about 90% of what's on this list.

Late last week I devised a recipe for soup containing chicken, celery, carrots, cilantro, and onion. When I warm it up I'm going to add miso to it, making it into more of an Asian type soup. The main part of this soup's chelation benefit for me is going to be the cilantro. Its ability to expel mercury from the tissues in the body has been found to be phenomenal. I read one person's experience with cilantro, and she claimed that she had made an extract out of cilantro and drank a small amount of it. Here is what she said:

"In 1995, I was bitten all up and down my leg by a lady spider. I was paralyzed for nearly a year by the bacterial neurotoxin and have since that time shown more of the classic symptoms of sensitivity to metal poisoning. I thus decided to try the first batch of cilantro on myself. The results were dramatic: my brain felt like it was "spewing." Sorry, I can't find a better word. On a purely physical level, I felt tingling sensations. In my dreams, I saw spurting, like an ink jet printer. My hair started to feel like it was coated with something awful and the smell was ghastly.

The tingling sensations lasted about five days and then subsided markedly. However, I had some muscle cramps so decided to add trace minerals and seaweed to my regime. I was also extremely careful to drink a lot of fluids, including my own delicious tea that I made to support lymphatic drainage. During the first two weeks, my skin felt like it was coated with slime. I took baths in Epsom salts and found an oil slick on the surface of the water and residue on the tub that looked like gray sand, exactly what yet another dentist told me to expect. He said his wife actually had little dots percolating up through her skin that looked like tiny beads."

I found it rather intriguing to hear her mention a "spewing" sensation, since I had the same feeling about nine months ago when I started drinking Fortune Delight again after taking a long break from it.

I am still not doing 'well', but I now have a different attitude about it again, and I'm not getting down on myself for not being better yet. I knew better, but I had forgotten all that I have learned about the detoxification period and the lows I should have been expecting to feel, so thanks again, anonymous person, for sharing a ray of sunshine!

Not going anywhere very fast...

Today I'm in a funk. It is the 6 week mark since I had my amalgams removed, and I'm feeling a little down about the progress I've made. I was hoping I'd notice some big differences in how I've felt by now, but there has been pretty much next to nothing in either direction overall. I have been struggling with more fatigue as of late, more than I've had in quite a while. It's been tough. I tried spending time with my family this last weekend going to a classic car show about an hour from our home. I only lasted 4 1/2 hours, which sadly, in comparison to last year, was terrible. Last year we were there the entire three days and I was nowhere as fatigued as I was in the one day this year. It was frustrating and a bit mind-boggling. I expected this summer to be difficult, but I guess part of me was telling my brain that I was going to feel good instantaneously after the amalgams were gone...a thought that should have never crossed my mind.

I am trying to prepare myself mentally for stronger levels of detoxification now that the 6-week mark has passed, but I'm having trouble wrapping myself around the thoughts of feeling worse for a while. So far where we live it's been a cooler spring, but the days have been beautiful and enjoyable. To have to think of spending these days being more miserable after being miserable for over 3 years is hard to look forward to. The only thing that keeps me on track is the hope that I will be symptom free at the end of all of this. I'll be able to have fun with my family and go for walks and bike rides and even drive again. And feel good through all of it.

I know I've not talked about this before, but I wanted to share how my mind has been affected by this illness. I believe the mercury has caused my brain to do strange things, especially causing me to be an over-emotional wreck. I get worried about things I shouldn't have to be worried about. I especially worry that I will never drive again...something I enjoyed doing up until 2 years ago when the off-balance and dizzy feelings got worse. I get anxious for no reason - something that I never had problems with before. My brain sends signals to different parts of my body, and my nerve endings produce pains and aches I never used to have, nor signals anything wrong with me. My short term memory is absolutely terrible, and I have to go back and read what I've written several times just to remember what I was talking about. Sometimes all Sparky (my husband) has to do is walk in the door after a long day at work and look at me and I cry for no reason. My head gets migrating aches and pains and sometimes they get so bad I think the pain will shut my brain down and I'll pass out and not wake up. I occasionally get heart palpitations that feels like my heart doesn't know when to beat and causes me to feel anxiousness, too.

I've read enough personal stories of others who have suffered with mercury toxicity to know that I'm on the right track when I say I believe it's mercury, even though there is a part of me that worries it's something more. Mercury is poison enough to cause me to blame it for all of this, since I had so much available to my body for so long.

I'm hoping that I'll have more positive news the next time I check in. I would love some encouragement from anyone out there who's detoxing from mercury toxicity and who's felt symptoms like me, or for that matter, just plain encouragement from anyone!

Four weeks of metal free...

As of yesterday, it's been four weeks since my last amalgam (and metal crowns) were taken out. It's not been a cakewalk, but the side effects have been in the right direction. I am finding that some days are better than others, but overall I'm slowly making progress. I haven't done a whole lot in the way of detox yet, I have another two weeks to go before I really should start anything.

I have tried the detox foot pads two nights so far, but not two nights in a row yet. Both mornings the pads have been filled with a gooey dark substance and my feet have been dry, so I'm not sure what I think of it yet. I think the proof will be when I can wear them several nights in a row and if they start lightening in color with each day. I may have to be doing it for awhile though, if they do work, just because of the amount of toxins in my body.

My biggest symptoms that are still plaguing me are the off-balance and dizzy feelings I have. I can't even sit without feeling like I'm going to fall off a chair, and walking is a concentrated effort not to veer to the left. I know my equilibrium is off, but I don't know how the mercury has affected it and how to concentrate on getting rid of that issue. I'm hoping that once I start really detoxing I'll find some relief. It's really frustrating, because it is that problem that keeps me from doing a LOT of things, including driving. I also still feel a lot of fatigue most days. Some days of course are better, but I am still finding that I have to push myself to do even simple things most days.

I saw Dr. S last week and he concluded that the pain and achiness I was feeling in my legs was being caused by my pelvic muscles deteriorating and the pelvic bone starting to loosen up and open up outwards. He was hoping that strengthening the muscles in that area would pull the bone back in and also take care of the pain, and so far it has.

Even though this update doesn't sound too enthusiastic or positive, I feel optimistic that once I really start detoxing I should see continuing improvement at a faster rate.

FINALLY! FDA Admits Mercury fillings are bad!

Mercury Fillings May Harm Some: U.S. FDA

Yes, folks, the FDA is finally admitting that amalgam (mercury) fillings are bad...for some groups. Okay, so if they're bad for these groups, why not for everyone? We'll get to that later. Right now I want to share that I knew this was coming a year ago. Dr. C told me that the FDA was going to be putting this warning out...A YEAR AGO. It took them this long to get it into dentist's offices. A year of letting people from these age groups and genders continue using these terrible poisonous fillings.

So now what?

Why is it not safe for pregnant women, children, and unborn babies, but yet safe for the rest of us? For those of you who have been following my blog, you should know the answer to that. If you don't know the answer, I request that you go back and read all of my entries. Then if you still don't know, please do some research for yourself. Go to a search engine and type in "dental amalgam toxicity". You'll find tons of information. If that's not enough, email me (th.happycamper@gmail.com), and we'll talk. I can guarantee that after all of this, you WILL know the answer, and you'll be livid, because your dentist did not warn you of the dangers of putting amalgams in your teeth. I don't think I can stress enough that it's a terrible, terrible poison, and it's destroying our bodies!

A little bit of detox goes a long way...

Last night I decided I was going to take a hot bath (sweat therapy) to help release some of the toxins in my body, and hopefully mostly my head since it was feeling very bogged down. After a good dry brushing, I hopped into the tub and spent a few minutes adjusting to the heat. Within about ten minutes, I could feel the perspiration start. I laid a washcloth across my forehead and settled in. After an hour and a half and three washcloth changes on my forehead later as well as several others to dry the rest of my face, the water cooled enough that I wasn't sweating anymore. I got out and went directly to the shower to wash the sweat out of my hair. I felt a little energized, weak, but energized, and my face was smooth and soft. Within an hour, however, I had a sharp pain begin in my left temple area that pretty much wiped me out for the rest of the night. I still have the head pain this morning, just not as intense. Otherwise, I do have short bits of feeling some energy as I sit here, almost like a rush, but only lasts for a minute or so and then my head starts hurting again. I imagine I'll be going back and forth between the two for awhile.

I can definitely tell you the head pain is NOT comfortable by any means, but it IS comforting to know that the bath was doing its job. I don't even want to think about how many toxins I left in that water or landed in the washcloths, but I'm thankful it means there's less in my body.

Yesterday I decided that I am going to try the detox foot patches. I read up on them and saw both pros and cons. The pros were from people who actually tried them, and the cons were from those who pretty much just wanted to give their opinion even though they have never put them on their feet. I figured I would just try it for myself since it's not something I ingest and it's all herbal ingredients. I purchased some Kinoki brand from ebay, and they should be here next week. I can't wait to try them just to see what happens and if I notice any difference. I don't expect them to be the only answer to my detox by any means, and I think the people who have dissed them (from what I've read) are people who expected them to do it all. For me it will only be a part of what I do, and if I get positive results it will just be one more thing in my arsenal that helped. If not, I got them for under $10, so I won't be out much and can say I tried them.

I just realized that I never mentioned again the cultured veggies I ordered awhile back. They did come in, a couple weeks later than anticipated, but I did get to try them. I have only tried them once to see if I like the taste, but since then my family has been a little busy and I actually haven't eaten them with a meal like I'm supposed to. So, the verdict is still out on it. As for the taste, they were okay. I still have a strong dislike of bitter-tasting foods, so it will take me a bit to get used to them, but I think overall they weren't bad. I imagine eating them with other foods will help a lot. I'll try to remember to post again about them after I've had them a few times.

An Encouraging Story...

I decided to do a little more reading this evening on more stories of people with mercury toxicity. This is Carol's story, one that is very encouraging. Do you have a story about your own struggle with being mercury poisoned? I would love to know about it, and how you are doing. Please share!

I also may have shared this website before, but it doesn't hurt to repeat because it's got great info.