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Another possibility is that because she is so very sensitive, Nicole may be detoxing too quickly from the probiotics. Sometimes it is necessary to start on something like that extremely slowly - maybe half a pill or 1/16 tsp. for 4 or 5 days, then oh-so-slowly increase that dosage every few days. Just another possibility . . . I hope she is rid of that rash and doing much better very, very soon!

None of my 4 siblings (all brothers) appears to have any of the health problems I do. However, my mother was diagnosed with a heart murmur as a child and at around age 50 developed overactive thyroid and had to have that gland dissolved. I've often wondered if those were markers of weaknesses that I inherited. I am childless by choice, which has nothing at all to do with any health concerns - I had made that decision by the time I was about 20. However, once my health trouble really kicked in, I felt that God gave me that desire to be childless because my body would be unable to carry a full-term, healthy baby.

Happy birthday! And congrats on the adoption! I hope it's everything you've been hoping for and that you are always strong enough to do exactly what you want and need to do with a little one in your life!

Hot showers or baths used to be a nightmare for me - even a hot, humid day was a problem. Now I generally do ok with heat, but I do get sooooo cold way too easily.

Blackwolf, Sending many good thoughts your way. I hope you and your family will find closure, peace or whatever else you may need from the situation. Please take special care of yourself and let us know how you fare.

I'm generally low to mid 90s over mid 60s. I was very surprised when I took my BP a few days ago and it was 107 over 84, but I was feeling "adrenally" and had been on my feet for about 3 hours. Later, after sitting for a while, it was back to my normal low readings again. POTS itself is not a major problem for me, although I believe it was for a couple of years - I didn't have a BP cuff then. My dysautonomia trouble runs more along the mitral valve prolapse syndrome (MVPS) lines than POTS, but that's really kinda like splitting hairs, isn't it? "A rose by any other name . . . "

Many thanks, Michelle, for all your hard work keeping this forum running smoothly!

Gena, Thanks for sharing that info. I do believe very much that leaky gut is not only real, but misdiagnosed and mistreated more often than not. My problem is not knowing which products are good and which aren't. Who makes the IntestiNew product? Is it a pill or liquid, and how much/how often do you take it? Are you familiar with the NAET program? There is someone near me who does it and I recently heard some wonderful feedback from someone who had been to this person for help. I'm very interested in speaking with the practitioner, just haven't had the time to do so nor the money to pursue it if it does sound right for me.

Oh my - I'd never heard about a controlled breathing exercise for autonomic testing. So maybe the fact that I've never been able to do a controlled breathing exercise was a sign of my trouble way before I knew anything else was wrong? My whole life, if I had to breathe in and then out on a certain count, or even just "watch my breathing" I would almost immediately feel like I couldn't catch my breath or get enough air. This would cause my heart to start pounding and somewhat speed up. Is that kind of thing what is meant by the quote in the post above?

I think you will find that you will be proud of what you can do that you had temporarily been unable to do. It's like riding a bicycle - you never really forget, although it might be a little bumpy at first. I find myself actually excited about running the vacuum sweeper, because for 3 years I've been unable to do so. And I marvel at how I can go to the store alone and not even give it a second thought, although for the past 4+ years I've been petrified to even run in and grab one item without my husband or someone with me (in case I would have "an episode" while in there alone). Sometimes I find myself thinking that I can't do something, but that thought is only out of habit instead of reality. Once I recognize that and change my thought about it, it feels soooooo good to reclaim another bit of independence. Yes, you will pick up where you left off, and constantly congratulate yourself on every step forward - even the tiniest steps!

Hi, Gena! At that time, I took just the B6 along with 3 of Nature's Sunshine GTF Chromium each day. I don't do the doctor thing - those 2 things were suggested to me via an Amish natural health practitioner who used a combination of iridology and kinesiology. I'm sure a B complex would be quite good for most any of us here, but the B6 is what specifically came up for me - and it worked! Katherine, Inability to properly absorb foods due to digestive or intestinal conditions, the lack of nutrients in today's foods (due to poor soil, failure to rotate crops, chemical fertilizers & pesticides, etc.), eating a processed/junk food diet, prescriptions, interference from our highly chemical environment, over-exercising, stress . . . these and many more things can cause a vitamin and/or mineral deficiency of any kind at any point in our lives.

Yes, I actually blacked out. Not passed out, but everything closed in, went gray and then black, and then slowly reversed. During that process, my heart squeezed tighter and tighter and did stop beating entirely for probably about 5-8 seconds. Once it started beating again, I had a long bout of tachycardia, incredible trembling and some shortness of breath. For months before I blacked out, I had been having all kinds of weird heart-related symptoms. I do have mitral valve prolapse, but didn't know it until after that. What I learned (not from the doctors, of course) was that I had a severe deficiency of B vitamins, particularly B6. After something like 8-10 months on high doses of B6, no more skips, palps, gurgles, etc. I was told to take 9 Nature's Sunshine brand of B6, and I followed it religiously, 3 pills chewed 3 times a day. When I was finally told to stop taking it (started having numbness/tingling in my hand, which indicated the beginning of overdose), I went many months without it. That was many years ago. Since then, if I start having little palps, etc., I take 1 or 2 a day for just a few days and it disappears - but it's rare that it shows up at all anymore. I don't know what specifically is different between any of the brands I tried, but if I took something other than Nature's Sunshine brand, I got no results at all.

Don't know if "dilute urine" is the same as what I experienced, but my urine was clear and I was in the bathroom once or twice an hour during daytime, and usually about 3-5 times during the night. I took parlsey capsules for a few weeks and the nighttime problem went away. I dissolved 4 different cell salts in my water twice a day for a few months and the daytime trouble went away as well as the extreme dehydration. My understanding is that my specific gravity was too low, therefore the water had no holding power in my system - it was just flushed out immediately. The salts gave the water "weight" so that my body could absorb it. I am hypoglycemic, not diabetic. Many herbs backfire on me, and most prescriptions are too strong. But I haven't taken any prescriptions for years except a tiny dose of beta-blocker on a need-only basis (actually, fairly rare now) for adrenaline rushes. I do have much trouble with allergies to many things, although it's somewhat better since leaving my old job above a large printing business. My worst allergy: smoke.

Bump. Anybody have any more to add?

Ramakentesh, Mine is a terrible pain that has nothing at all pleasant, nor does it feel like it relieves anything. I wish it did! Stacey, The ear has more than 100 acupuncture/acupressure points, all correlating to specific parts of the body. I know there must be an ear chart somewhere on the web. See if you can find one, then identify the correlating point on your ear that is painful. It will tell you what part of the body is out of balance, then you can pur pressure on that point as often as you think about it to work toward restoring the balance. The taped needles is a great idea - never heard of anyone doing that, but I have had acupunture in my ears.

Thanks for posting that, JLM! I won't touch sweeteners - haven't for many years. The sweetener controversy is completely separate from the canned soft drinks trouble. But what a double whammy for those drinking canned soda while involved in the war! I have to laugh at the whole diet drink thing. The number of people I see with a diet drink to go along with their cheeseburger, fries and fried apple pie amazes me! In reality, the sweeteners spur the appetite, making people crave more food (especially carbs) instead of less. Such a racket, all under the phony auspices of health . . .

Although I've not really had much pain, I have often had trouble with what I refer to as my eyes not cooperating. It's like having wandering eyes or something. No matter how hard I would try, my eyes would not stay in one place. I learned that it was a mineral imbalance (now I don't remember which mineral - sorry!). I haven't had it more than a couple of times in the last 3 years or so, so my memory of it is a little hazy. I hope you are doing much better soon!

It's about time they quit trying to push that syndrome on "stress" or some kind of mental weakness or laziness! I've never believed it had anything to do with anything other than the chemicals they are exposed to there, the vaccinations they are forced to endure, and/or food they eat. Have any of you heard about the link between soft drinks and this Gulf War problem? There is a strong indication that the sodas are leaching things from the cans - the cans are transported and/or stored in high heat, which creates a chemical reaction which for some people creates a toxic reaction that their body can't fight off. (It can happen locally as well, so don't ever purchase soft drinks that have been sitting out in the heat.)

I can't have bananas - I can't handle the sugars in them. However, part of the Metabolic Typing tests involved ingesting a high-potassium solution. Oh man, was I weak from that! Couldn't even walk myself to the bathroom until it wore off. Turns out my potassium ratio to something else (can't remember offhand what it was) was sky-high. The reason I tell you this is that it's possible you may have an overabundance of potassium, and adding the banana pushes you over the edge. There is a delicate balance of potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium. If any of those is out of normal range, all kinds of weird symptoms can occur. My thought is that maybe your potassium to magnesium ratio is unsuitable, but that's just my barely educated rambling. It's just a guess, but might be worth considering.

What that person did to you is horrible, disgusting and many more words that I can't post here. I would pursue the legal angle, if for no other reasons than to get her removed so she can't treat others like that, and to make an example of her so others know this is not acceptable under any circumstances. I'm sure there are many, many things going through your mind right now and probably will be for a long time. But don't let it get the best of you - you have waaaaay too much to offer to believe a word of what she said. Whatever you do, don't give in to that. And for that creature to even suggest that ANYONE should rely on the successes of another person is outrageous!!! It's thinking like that that just keeps the whole cycle of welfare going for generations, and will eventually collapse our country's financial system! I can't believe somebody actually suggested to another person that they should be satisfied with being a freeloader! That kind of thing should only be considered for people who are UNABLE to fend for themselves, not UNWILLING! As long as you feel well enough to handle it and driven enough to pursue it, there is no reason you can't have as much independence as you want. (Gee, can you tell that moron's comments to you pushed a few of my buttons?) For whatever it's worth, you have my support all the way. Please let us know how you decide to handle it. But be very careful not to let it fester or create a setback in your progress - health and otherwise. By the way, do you know that Einstein was told he would never amount to anything? Ha!

Hey, Jessica! Sounds like you may be looking at a keeper of a doctor! I really hope that he turns out to be as good as he sounds from this one visit. Who knows - he may be the doctor so many here are looking for! I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that he works out well for you and can get to the bottom of your trouble, and I'm looking forward to your updates on this guy and your progress.

I don't know if this would stop or reverse the muscle wasting, but it sounds like there may be some worth to considering and trying virgin, unprocessed coconut oil. See the following for a page of informational links: http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com/st...th_benefits.htm At 5'3 1/2" I was 94 lbs. last time I weighed myself (about 2 months ago). I've always been quite thin, but I was strong for my size and I worked out regularly. However, I have no strength any more. After being out of our house for the past 2 months and temporarily living in a ground-floor, ranch-style condo, I have gotten even worse. I didn't realize how much those stairs meant to my overall conditioning. It's really sad that at 43 I have the strength of someone more typically about 83. Even taking a long or somewhat brisk walk can backfire on me if I'm not careful.

Stacey, Ugh. I've been in the depths of despair where you are, agonizing over losing 2 very promising careers plus my ability to sing, and riddled with guilt over what my husband and others have had to deal with. We must allow ourselves a chance to grieve over our losses, but then work through and past that in order to move on with our lives. As you mentioned, you have hope ("as soon as I come out of this . . ."). That's sooo important! Hang on to that!!! Herdswoman had many very wise thoughts to share, and I know you will take those to heart. If I might add something from a different direction: Take your health into your OWN hands instead of relying on the medical world. For 17 years I've been working on my health - at first in conjunction with doctors, but after 20+ doctors and getting nowhere (and in some cases getting worse!), I went off on my own. I have tried many, many, many different things - some very helpful, others not at all. But getting involved with the Metabolic Typing Program just a couple of years ago gave me back my life. I was just this side of bedridden when I learned of this program, and it has been WELL worth every bit of sometimes difficult effort and every penny spent. You are dealt with as an individual rather than whatever category the doctors arbitrarily put us into. Your individual body chemistry is of prime importance in setting up the beginning stages of your program. From there, retests, personal feedback and counselors from the program help you fine tune to your particular needs. Taking control of my situation, even when I didn't get the results I had hoped for, has been extremely important to my mental well-being. I know you will find the same. I would think that your background in chemistry would give you a huge advantage over someone like me who knows nothing about chemistry and also has to fight severe brain fog most of the time. We live a life of hope and setbacks and then more hope. That may never change, but the severity of the setbacks can be greatly lessened. Trust, hope, faith, gratitude . . . I think we have more of each of those because of what we live with. I hope you will very soon be feeling those positive vibes and rediscover the fighter within you. Until then, we're here for you and with you.

My understanding is that any types of lines or pock marks in the fingernails are related to body chemistry problems - something is too high or too low (vitamin, mineral, toxicity, etc.). Sudden sleepiness for me can almost always be traced to a sudden and drastic drop in blood sugar. When that hits me (it's truly debilitating!), I will put about 2 swallows of coffee in a mug and fill it the rest of the way with hot water. I am incredibly intolerant of caffeine, but when used like this (used "medicinally") it almost always is a great help to me. Sore or painful ears - can you be more specific? I have trouble, too, but don't know if it's the same as yours. It's hard to explain, but it's not constant like an ear ache and it's not the ear skin. But if I pull on my ear or try to relieve an itch just inside it, or sometimes even just dry my ears after a shower, it can result in horrible, sudden pain. I've not come across anybody yet who seems to understand what I mean or who has experienced it. Maybe somebody here will know . . .

It is difficult to accept that your illness could be holding back friendships. It's unfortunately a very common problem for people with chronic illness or those who lose the use of limbs or senses. It does change the way you used to interact with someone because you are no longer the person you used to be according to the outside world. I had a similar situation with a friend this year, though for non-illness reasons. I hadn't heard from her for 7 months after a particular situation developed, and she was the ONLY friend I hadn't heard from during that time. Out of the blue, she called me on my birthday and wanted to take me to lunch a couple of days later. I told her I couldn't then but how about the following Friday, and she said she would call me that morning to set the time. Well, she never called that Friday (and I had to scramble to get some food, since I thought I was going out and therefore hadn't taken anything to work). And I have not heard another word from her since then, which was nearly 4 months ago. I was upset and disappointed that she just completely dumped our friendship, but somehow I had come to realize that whatever was going on was about her, not me. Once I could really understand and accept that, I was able to forgive her and not worry about it. And I no longer dread the possibility of running into her somewhere, because I'm cool with where I am today without her friendship. There is an e-mail floating around the waves that says something like "Some people come into your life for a short time to teach you something, some people come into your life for a short time to learn something from you, and some people stay in your life forever to share. No matter which one you are, I cherish the times we have enjoyed each other's company." I hope that you will be able to reach that point with your friend. I can't tell you how much easier it is once you embrace the idea that it's not about you. We all have our demons to deal with - we don't need to take on somebody else's as well. But we can always hold dear the memories of what was shared and be glad for the interaction.