hi, shelley

gosh i'm sorry you are having all these issues. i'm glad the rheumy visit went well; i always like it when a doc is willing to be open-minded like that and explore and talk things through with you like it sounds like she is doing.

elavil is the same thing as amitriptyline and came up on that recent meds thread which you might want to go back and have a look at, shelley. it's an old drug, a tricyclic a/d i believe. lots of CP'ers swear by it b/c while it's been surpassed by the newer a/d's for tx'ing depression per se, it does seem to work well for them in terms of breaking the vicious insomnia/fatigue cycle. it's a serotonin producer to put it in the simplest of terms.

the problem CAN be, however, that if you are taking anything else (esp. another SSRI, or even a supplement like 5-HTP or triptophan [sp]) which produces serotonin in your brain there can be a dangerous overproduction of the stuff at the CNS level, causing a rage reaction in some people. this happened to me personally and it was such not the pretty sight! maybe why it is usually titrated up from a very low dose although i do not know that for certain. be careful, is all i am saying, shelley. if you are sensitive to meds like prozac or anything like that elavil could backfire on you, just be aware...don't shoot your parents or anything...

somewhere i have some notes about the fact that TOS inflammation is different and does not tend to respond to the "normal" antinflammatories like tylenol or the other NSAID's, etc. i'll try to find those for you. sent you an email earlier today with the toll-free # for ordering the edgelow TOS mini-kit, which does contain the pinky ball for rib mobilization but not that seat-belt thingie which is around $20. that could be useful here if your top ribs are riding high. also, remember in addition to phrenic nerve irritation if you're having the sensation of breathing problems the scalenes are respiratory muscles. i'm thinking maybe those pesky scalenes are in spasm, shell - i know for me, that can get bad enough to cause breathing issues or the perception of same at any rate. so UNinspiring, isn't it?

lastly, and this is just a hunch, shelley, but could it be possible that the candida thing is related to all of this? ...a sort of custer's last stand, if you will. you do say the yeast med makes you sad as it kills off all the yeast and i am wondering if that might not be b/c it is rapidly depleting your system of serotonin and/or noreprenephrine or something along those lines... how about some blue/green algae for you - do people still take that stuff (i have a friend in ojai who used to sell it and swore up and down, down and up by it, shelley - key to life, she said!!!).

what does superjoyce say about your sx?

did you find sorehand

OK, i lied about the lastly

lastly
alison