03Oct 2012 by Marjorie 1 Comment

TMJ: a total PIA

symptoms and conditions
I have never been officially diagnosed with TMJ. I'm just assuming that the term applies to the condition I experience every few years or so wherein sitting in one place longer than 20 minutes makes want to rip my jaw out and stomp on it. I keep moving it around, trying to get it to fit together in a way that will stop the dull pain that spreads into my cheeks and face. After the last miserable episode of this during a layover at the airport, which found me contemplating how one goes about locating strangers willing to share their prescription opiates, I looked TMJ up online. The TMJ page on Sandy Simmons' Connective Tissue Disorder site mentioned magnesium, so I added that to my daily regimen. I also began…
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21Jun 2012 by Marjorie 6 Comments

Conditions to consider if you’ve been mysteriously sub-par for a long time

diagnosis and testing, health reference and research tools
Updated August 14, 2017. Here's a list of conditions I've investigated over the years as I tried to solve my health problems. You've no doubt heard of some of them but might think the symptoms don't apply to you, or might have been given the wrong test or had your test results evaluated with the wrong lab ranges. All but two of the items listed (Lyme disease and mold / biotoxin poisoning) have the benefit of being easy (if not cheap) to test for or at least rule out. You cannot trust your doctor to know the right lab ranges, so if you do have tests taken, make sure you arrange to have copies of the test results sent to you. I can't be the only person who had a…
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29Mar 2012 by Marjorie 51 Comments

Hunting the mysterious origins of geographic tongue

symptoms and conditions
by guest blogger Kara My experiences with geographic tongue (GT) started about ten years ago. GT is an unpleasant condition where patches of papillae are missing from the surface of the tongue and appear as smooth, red areas with slightly raised borders. The patterns of the lesions can change daily or hourly. It’s considered benign, but it can be painful, especially when eating acidic or abrasive foods, and is very unattractive. Because my GT makes me feel like my mouth is dirty all the time and that I have bad breath, I generally open my mouth less, am always covering my mouth or restricting myself when I laugh, and feel embarrassed to kiss my husband. There seems to be no definitive understanding of what causes GT. When I ask doctors…
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19Nov 2011 by Marjorie 1 Comment

A list of supplements that don’t work very well in the versions sold in the US

nutritional therapy, supplements
Updated October 22, 2020. Originally posted November 19, 2011. Over the years I've learned that some of the nutrient supplements on the shelves in the US don't work very well, either because a significant part of the population can't process them, or because the version used is poorly absorbed by the body, or because they are so cheaply formulated that the filler would make you sick before you could get enough of the active ingredient to resolve your deficiency. Here's everything I know so far. Needless to say, the better versions are more expensive and harder to find. Folic acid Processing this synthetic vitamin into its active form requires methyl groups and those of us who are methyl-challenged (low methylators) need to use the methylfolate version. Some sources say that…
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13Jul 2011 by Marjorie 31 Comments

Niagarrhagia

symptoms and conditions, treatments
Update 9 July 2022: Here's a summary of what's happened since this I first wrote this post: Menorrhagia ended for me a month after I moved out of my moldy apartment, except for the following times: a four-week monster period (MP) a year later, when I started a new detox binder for mold. I think it was cholestyramine, which is a cholesterol prescription drug used for mold poisoning.another four-week MP when I started a detox binder for lead, in this case EDTA, which is basically a huge dose of sulfur.a five-week monster period when I hit menopause. But then again I was also eating unfermented soy and taking a lot of milk thistle supplements, and the MP stopped soon after I stopped those. So who knows. These experiences support the…
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30Jun 2011 by Marjorie 17 Comments

Headaches and migraines

symptoms and conditions
Updated 03/12/13: P5P, a form of vitamin B6, seems to have solved a lot of this. See related link below. My two migraine episodes were the usual tennis-ball-filled-almost-but-not-quite-to-bursting-with-boiling-oil-behind-your-right-eye kind of thing, caused by the old cliché MSG. The first culprit was a Chinese restaurant. The second, after I "got healthy," was a package of sunflower seeds. All I'm saying is that never happened to me with Oreos. Later I developed headaches, but not full-fledged migraines, from the amino acid L-glutamine, which I used to heal my celiac-ravaged lower intestine. Apparently this is a common reaction for people who also react to monosodium glutamate (MSG). The body can convert glutamine into the amino acid glutamate. It was still very helpful but I had to be careful how much I used. As…
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