a little update here. today the same doctor from university of florida who rushed me out the door and told me "we dont do skin biopsies here" had his nurse call me. she left me a message saying "the doctor wants to let you know that we are now offering skin biopsy for small fiber neuropathy. call us and let us know if you want to have it done here". how nice of him to tell me that now after just a week ago he said hes never ordered one, they dont do it there, and also said theres no point in doing one because theres nothing you can do about small fiber neuropathy. not to mention i live 2 hours away. im awaiting heavy metal screening test results and PRAYING that it comes back abnormal. then i can at least put my mind at ease knowing exactly why my nerves are messed up. and also i can work on detoxing and getting those metals out of my body so the nerves can go back to normal healthy life. other than that im still taking my nerve support and the slow-mag and im considering going to university of florida and taking that doctor up on his skin biopsy offer since the other option is mayo clinic but thats a long waiting list

Hi and welcome.
I have very little good to say about traditional medicine. I went to the University of Miami, which is considered "world class." They made a great deal of money with all their testing, none of which did me any good.

I am now, finally getting better. A combination of living gluten free (critically important), finding the right supplements, and finally finding the right doctor. I travel over 200 miles to your area, Winter Park, to see Joya Schoen, who is an alternative physician. I think she's great, and recommend you consider that route.

I am not "normal" yet, but see slow and steady progress; at least, enough to start to remove all the fears.

Best of luck,
Steven

Alternative or Integrative MD's are the best for sure. I have several. I would still be in bed unable to sit up from Autonomic Neuropathy/Dysautonomia(POTS) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome if it were not for my Integrative Doctors. No other "reg" md had a clue.

To mrsD or anyone else that knows about this.

I have Cipro poisoning that of course has a lot to do with fluoride. I already stopped brushing my teeth with fluoride toothpaste and use an antiseptic mouthwash instead (this has helped me with gingivitis in particular.)

But I drink a lot of tap water, at least 8 full cups a day now. Here's my problem.

I live in Chicago and my city’s tap water contains 0.9 to 1.05 mg of fluoride per liter of water. The federal standard since 1962 has been a range of 0.7 to 1.2 mg.

My first question is if you have fluoroquinolone toxicity such as from the antibiotic Cipro, is it wise or unwise to avoid drinking tap water, since fluoride is added to it by the state?

I really need help with this one, since I think Chicago may be one of the cities that has the most fluoride added to its populations water supply that can in turn be harming people like me.

Please let me know what you think. Also, does bottled water such as PurAqua have fluoride added, too -I notice that I can't find it on their listings

I'm not sure if I should be avoiding fluoride to begin with -it just seems logical to me that if Cipro poisoning is in large part damaging due to its fluoride elements, it would be smart to avoid fluoride whenever I can. Is this right?
.

I am on the fence about fluoride.

I don't know what to tell you.

Of course, if you have a fluoride problem, you should avoid fluoride!

Mrs. D, I have all the respect in the world for you, and appreciate what you do for all of us. But, here I must strenuously disagree; I don't really think there's a fence. Fluoride is a poison. That's not just my opinion. 97% of European countries have already banned it.

It was not so long ago that all dentists claimed that mercury amalgams were safe to put in people's mouths. Now, 50% of all American dentists have discontinued it, and it is banned in all of Europe. Fluoride is another toxin that the American Dental Association is putting in our bodies.

Fluoride is a drug. Again, not just my opinion. Look at a tube of Crest, and see the drug warning on the label. Swallowing it is harmful. Yet we dump it into drinking water; pure insanity.

Here's a link to a video that should convince you:
http://www.fluoridealert.org/fan-tv/osmunson/

We are all working hard and spending money to rid ourselves of toxins while big corporations are looking to dump more in our food and water; often with the complicity of doctors and dentists. I know I'm starting to sound paranoid, but as the saying goes, just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get you!

Regards,
Steven

At least you can get filters for flouride if you want to. With medications, some doctors just don't want to learn.

We are building a new home and the city were we are moving stopped adding it to the water. Not many cities do that. It was just saving money, not for health, ha.

Many other countries do not add fluoride to water. There are some reasons, including water that is already high in fluoride, or mechanical reasons.
They use fluoridated SALT instead.
http://www.gaia-health.com/articles5...l#.UKhvN2egbAk

I do agree that this is a hot potato topic, and I have read a whole lot on the subject. I just don't care to get into the whole fluoride debate issue.

And as an aside, many drugs have fluoride in them too.
Prozac for one.
http://www.slweb.org/ftrcfluorinatedpharm.html

puraqua is what i drink. mainly cuz its $2.50 for a case of 24 bottles and also i go to aldi to buy other things so i get the water while im there. great water. dont know if it has fluoride. hope not though.

This is helpful. I researched PurAua it's what I've been drinking over the last 3 days. I'm not saying that I can't have a glass of tap water anymore, but more so -I have to either get a filter to rid most of the fluoride out, or simply drink bottled water. I learned that most "Puried" water does not have fluoride in it and that includes PurAqua, too. Though it does now have some trace sodium in it - nothing alarming from what I know.

I stumbled upon this since I have been feeling worse over the last week and noticed I was drinking lots of tap water to help with my prostate issues.

My issue is that like many others that have been "floxed" by fluoroquinolones antibiotics, ingesting ANYTHING with fluoride is probably not a smart thing. I hadn't known that Chicago was way up there among cities with the most fluoride added to tap water - if so, I would have started drinking purified water a long time ago.

It makes me think that the vast amount of water I drank since then might have slowed down my healing process. But this is probably just my Paranoia. Still, better safe than sorry.

I once thought that fluoride in our water was a good thing, but it hurts people in many ways, especially developing children. I learned that one of the biggest reasons the state is reducing fluoride is due to some condition that children have been recently getting where their teeth show blotch marks on them, due to drinking fluoride in water.

My daughter-in-law is going to give me a water filter, as she drinks mostly bottled water anyway (she has thyroid problems and for years prefers NOT to drink tap water) I don't know if a filter will take out the fluoride, but I figured it's better than NOT having it. Between drinking purified bottled water & the filter, I feel I should have made an improvement as far as my water consumption goes.

I'm not sure if drinking tap water is all that bad for us - certainly maybe not for NORMAL people. But for people with a Cipro or fluoroquinolone toxicity problem, I feel it's particular bad and should be avoided. What sucks is that fluoride is in the most essential things needed in life...water and we don't have a choice in it.

To mrsD:
I had a concern about the slowmag I'm taking: I'm now taking the pill a few hours after I take my B12 and other vitamins, because I was thinking that maybe the Magnesium might be canceling-out or nullifying some of the other vitamins if I take them together.

Does magnesium cancel-out other vitamins when taken together?