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!

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! i wonder if i can knock myself out cold somehow... somebody come whack me over the head with a 2 x 4?

~ 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????

~ 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

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. 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.

~ waves ~