that would be hard to give up dairy, cheese, yogurt, milk....:(

Dear Bizi,
I stopped eating dairy, eggs, and all obvious animal products for about five weeks two summers ago. Around week two I felt a little yucky and went through sort of a detox.
Not eating animal products was liberating.
When the summer was over, I incorporated animal products back into my diet as I was dealing with work and other things.

M.

Dear Bizi

yes removing milk products would be very hard for me, because there isn't a single one i don't like! :o

Dear Mari

this is interesting.
i was thinking of removing dairy in the sense of milk products (not eggs) for two weeks as you suggested, as an allergy check. yuckiness at the two-week mark could be a little confusing because that is when i would be introducing them. it might be hard to tell if it were a latent "detox" effect or an allergic response to the reindroduction. so it might be better to remove them for longer.

but then, a few years back i was consuming WAY more milk products than in recent times. when i lived on my own i often drank close to a liter of milk a day, and i was not having these problems then. very recently i started having at most half a liter, i.e., more than the period immediately before, but not by any means the most i've had. so perhaps that is already a good indication that milk products aren't the problem.

perhaps if i work on building up my immune system, eg with the B vitamins, it will help reduce my allergies, regardless of the cause. i have to get labs drawn before i can restart supplements though. i forgot today! i think i have to fast, too, which sucks because i am up all night - and that's when i get most HUNGRY! :o i wonder if i can knock myself out cold somehow... somebody come whack me over the head with a 2 x 4? :confused:

~ waves ~

I can't remove dairy.

I need to eat it.

Hmmm, wondering why, it helps me stay sane.

Donna

i think i know what you mean. these are some of my favorite comfort foods, especially cheese...

and the other thing i should try eliminating is wheat/gluten, but i can't imagine that either...

life is dreary enough... if i have to take the cheese, pasta, and bread out of it, what's left???? :rolleyes::o

~ waves ~ trying to read up on what supplements are good for allergies/immune function

Waves,
Maybe probiotics?
http://nccam.nih.gov/health/probiotics/
I did not look hard for probiotics and allergies but that info might be easy to find.

M.

i do take those :)

wanting to increase Zoloft to 75mg
 

i am sorely tempted to go up to 75 mg Zoloft tomorrow. the activation is just about gone, and actually i have been sleeping about 7 hours and then taking naps and loading up on caffeine just to remain conscious. :o feeling really wiped out most of the time.

i've been on the stuff long enough now, that i ought to be seeing some improvement - i'm not - and i no longer even have the extra energy. a dear dear friend called today and it was nice... but normally i'd get a lot more excited to talk to her. i haven't been keeping up with my mails either. i don't know how i keep writing here, why i can. i just can. maybe it's that i don't have to.

i get my labs back on wednesday... technically i should wait. it's only 2 days. but it might a little activation 2 days sooner might make the difference for me between taking action in time to count, or not.

while there isn't a specific deadline, i have been thinking of looking into a new kind of job - one where they typically hire for september start dates. i'm cutting it fine as it is.

~ waves ~

Dear Waves,

On August 1 You posted that you upped your dose to 50.

That is three weeks at 50 (with the exception of a day or two that you went down / skipped a dose.)

Three weeks is either right at the cusp of feeling better or time to increase the dose. If I get a vote, I vote with you that going up now sounds good. How far up are you going? 75?

M.

hi Mari

yes, for now, i would increase to 75. if the tests are ok, and if i am ok, i might take it up to 100 but not before 6-8 days. i'm guessing i will see some activation again, so i would probably want to wait till that settles before going up again.

there is an additional complication. the first time i increased to 50, on the 4th and 5th days, i had that weird tightness/chest pain/breathing trouble, cause of which was never determined. those days also coincided with my cycle. i'm now wondering if i should wait, and get past this month, to avoid any possible similar coincidences.

heck heck heck heck heck. :o

~ waves ~