Exactly this could also be something to check,maybe its something genetic

We get that toxic blue green algae here too. I had to keep my last dog (Blue Heeler) out of the water especially during early spring. I'm lucky that the current dog hates water and goes so far as to step around puddles when on walks. He is a herding dog and apparently he didn't read the Australian Shepherd manual that says he is supposed to like water.

Wow Mrs D.


I just did a quick search on cyanobacteria. We go swimming every summer in lakes. I am very overwhelmed.
The only thing is that if we were all exposed at the same lake one year, it wouldn't match up with the symptoms starting with me in 2013 and the kids more recently. It makes me suspect a more chronic exposure.

It's making me think about the poland spring water cooler we have though. If we had one tainted 5 gallon jug it could have contaminated the cooler and we just keep drinking it??? No one would ever know. There could be many people affected and the link just hasn't been found because PN is so often idiopathic.
I am the one in this house who definitely drinks the most water. But.....when we go away for a week I don't get better? Just brainstorming out loud.

Maybe a gentic component, but there has to be a trigger for it to be happening to all of us at the same time.

Speaking of excavation sites; we built an addition onto our house 5 years ago. I wonder if it could have to do with that.

Also, we live in one of the lowest spots in the neighborhood. I often think it could be run off from everyone else's pesticides.

One has to CLEAN those dispenser coolers for the jugs ...

http://www.drinkmorewater.com/techno...n-water-cooler

I worked at a place once that never did (but I didn't know that until after I got sick and asked). I only had one drink from that cooler and was sick within 2 hrs with a massive headache! (and I rarely if ever get headaches so I listen to myself when I do). If your dispenser is in sunlight for part of the day, the algae will grow in it.

I put bottled water in the cats dispenser upNorth (which I clean out with bleach each season) and algae grows in it anyway. I think it is coming from the bottled water.

Take a clean dish and put some of your water in it on a window sill and see if algae grows in it. That would tell you not to use that water even if new.

The algae blooms vary from year to year...some heavy and some light. They are stimulated by phosphate run off from agriculture and lawns and gardening. If you delve deeply into the online sites about this subject you will find brain damage and other horrible things besides skin reactions. The blooms upNorth where we are start in late July and August, when the northern cold/cool water warms up.

Some of the local UPers upNorth, rinse off with a very dilute bleach solution after going swimming in the lake.

Boiling does not help... it actually bursts the algae and forces a larger dump of the toxin, than would be present if the cells remained intact.

whoa! ok. I just filled up a dish and put it on the window sill. I am the one who boils this stuff for tea all day, so that could account for how much worse I am. Could it be this simple? How miraculous that would be for my hurting life.

I am very interested in this for my yard as well. As I said in one of the posts above; we live in one of the lowest houses on the neighborhood. There is actually a drain at the back of my yard that was built by the town in the 70's to have somewhere for the water to go. The kids and I don't wear shoes for 5-6 months of the year outside.
SO, I'm thinking about the possibility of pesticide ridden bacteria that could be thriving in my backyard. Possibly? And because we are the wild non shoe wearing people on the street, it might make sense that others aren't sick? I am caught in a whirlwind of thoughts. Could you imagine if this crisis is solved on Neurotalk?

I am not sure what "pesticide ridden bacteria" could be.
Pesticides are chemicals designed to kill insects and some plant diseases. Pesticides themselves are mostly poisons to animals. But pesticides are not alive.

But molds, and algae yes. These simple organisms may infect people and cause illness. Molds actually can live in people. The algae tend to dump toxins into the bodies of mammals, and these toxins are byproducts of their metabolisms.

I have seen algae mats upNorth where water is shallow. You might have those. They are dark green and sometimes look even black. They cover the bottom of the pool as a rule, but when thinner they float around and may wash up with waves.

I think you might reconsider so much barefoot activity and opt for water shoes, crocs etc.

Pesticides kill insects. And bacteria are everywhere. Algae are neither.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae
Algae can be considered to be primative plants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteria
Bacteria are considered to be primative animals.
If pathogenic they can live inside people and cause infections.

cyanobacteria: These are bacteria with photosynthetic ability. Often considered the first forms of life on the evolving earth in the beginning of this planet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria
It is these toxins the cyanobacteria produce that are toxic to animals and people.

I think I read somewhere that the pesticides cause certain toxic bacterias to thrive. That's what I meant. I have to find that article again.

I think you asked if anyone had heavy metals testing. I did. A 24 hour urine is preferred over a blood test. I was within normal limits. I did another 24 hour and got the specifics from Nutreval. It was their heavy metal and mineral. I had lead, mercury, and others. It revealed even the tin which I was using to cook and strain vegetables. Not large enough levels to cause concern to doctors. Anyways, its a very sensitive test. That's another thing oxalates do is store heavy metals in your tissue. Mercury has a 20 year half life. There are no safe levels for mercury. I've been doing saunas because I want it out of me. There are heavy metals in some fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides. Especially farms. So while no one believes, including me, it's the source of my acute relapsing neuropathy, I have gained improvements with low oxalate diet and saunas. Also important, while on the subject is to correct mineral deficiencies because your body will pull the toxic ones if it has to from food , like seafood, because the body needs minerals.