Posts • Page 2 of 18 • Avoiding Rx

18Mar 2019 by Marjorie No Comments

Iron-induced cystic acne

side effects, supplements, symptoms and conditions

(This is an update of a 2011 post.) Except for several regrettable weeks in 1995 when I was drinking seven cans of Pepsi a day, I have rarely been bothered by anything but the occasional pimple despite heavy chocolate abuse, which I'm guessing is offset by my heavy water drinking. But then ten years ago, in a desperate attempt to get some energy, I started taking about 100 mg of iron a day. I had taken iron off and on, sometimes for years at a time, sometimes at 150 mgs at a time, but had never been able to get my ferritin levels past 26. Conventional doctors feel this number is fine, but... don't get me started on how stupid lab ranges are. Even though iron had done nothing for…

08Feb 2019 by Marjorie No Comments

My very first nutritional therapy success: carpal tunnel syndrome

supplements, symptoms and conditions

(This is a repeat of a 2011 post.) This was straightforward enough: vitamin B6. Carpal tunnel syndrome was endemic among my fellow data entry workers in XYZ insurance company's workers' comp processing department. About every tenth woman there (we were 98% women) wore a wrist brace. I escaped their fate until a few years later at another typing-intensive job, by which time I had already heard about the connection with vitamin B6. I don't remember how much I used, but it wasn't crazy -- maybe 100 mg a day? I might also have been taking B-complex, which would be another 50 mg of B6. It didn't take long to work -- a month at most. I continued to take it long after the pain disappeared, as I was nervous about…

17Jan 2019 by Marjorie No Comments

Successes and failures treating chemical sensitivities

nutritional therapy, supplements, symptoms and conditions

(Last updated July 2022.) I first noticed that I was reacting to some chemical substances around 2002, when I developed splitting headaches from paint used in my apartment, even the low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) stuff. Around the same time, wearing mascara and lipstick became unbearable. My eyes would become blurry and my lips cracked. My lips were pretty much blue from low iron so the no-lipstick look did not suit me. Vitamin B6 a brief success Several months of taking vitamin B6 got rid of the reaction to paint, and eventually I could wear my usual drugstore mascara and lipstick again ... for a few months. Luckily I was able to find health-food store versions that I continue to tolerate. (The reaction to paint never returned, actually.) In 2014, toward…

15Dec 2018 by Marjorie No Comments

Fun with lymph cleansers

self-experiment, side effects, symptoms and conditions, treatments

Except for a few half-hearted liver flushes, I did not bother with detox treatments in any of my health self-experiments until I suddenly switched my entire focus to mold avoidance. I immediately started taking two binders (bentonite clay and psyllium) and a lot of water, as well as sweating for hours in the sun, and quickly discovered that anything more than this, detox-treatment-wise, was too much for my digestion (full stop) or my skin (my heels would split open) or my noggin (jitteriness and listlessness would worsen). So I rolled with the binders-and-sweating approach for a few weeks until I started feeling, every once in a while, for a few minutes at a time, fantastically frickin awesome. As in, just this side of a religious experience. I mentioned this…

30Oct 2018 by Marjorie 2 Comments

Revisiting the gluten thing

diets, self-experiment, symptoms and conditions

I've been gluten-free since April of 1998, when I discovered that my decades-long crushing depression lifted considerably 12 hours after I stopped it. I now believe my quick recovery was due to a major reduction in brain inflammation due to the elimination of gluten *** IN ADDITION TO *** the accidental, inadvertent, and very strict mold avoidance I'd been practicing for five months, the latter of which I will cover in a later post. Why gluten can be unhealthy In terms of the dangers of gluten itself, I have concluded that its already-inflammatory nature is magnified 3.62 gazillion times by being coated in glyphosate like no other food staple in the US. The combination is a disaster when added to the dozens of inflammagens we've all been ingesting and…

05Sep 2018 by Marjorie 12 Comments

I tried to detox lead and all I got was this stupid vertigo

interactions, nutritional therapy, self-experiment, side effects, symptoms and conditions, treatments

I developed vertigo after my second dose of DMSA treatment for lead chelation. For the next four weeks I had trouble moving quickly, standing up, going down stairs, etc., with no signs of it abating. Eventually I happened upon a comment on a heavy metal detox forum (on Yahoo, where untold gazillabytes of valuable information are inaccessible due to craptastic design) indicating that some people can't process sulfur due to insufficient body stores of molybdenum. Most approaches to lead detox involve sulfur, and DMSA is a walloping dose of sulfur. In fact, one study I found says that eating a whole lotta garlic can chelate lead. So I took 2,000 mcgs (2 mgs) of Mo the next day and the vertigo was gone the following evening. More notes on molybdenum:…