Update: 1/10/10

Nov. 16 I started taking low dose naltrexone, an old drug with a somewhat new use. It was originally developed in large doses to help get/ keep addicts off narcotics. In the process of using it on patients, as is often the case, they found it therapeutic for other things it was not intended for originally; especially it helps reverse autoimmunity when used in small doses, by fixing the shortages of endorphins, as best as I can explain it (for better more thorough explanations, go to www.lowdosenaltrexone.org).

I was successful at reversing my autoimmunity last year by going gluten-free, quitting nutrasweet, and doing chi gung every day. It lasted a month or 2, then I had an exposure to a lot of mold and stress and it all went back downhill. I stayed gluten free, and asparatame (nutrasweet)-free, and now I'm back to the chi gung and trying to take on less work. Plus, I have the LDN now (low dose naltrexone).

I've been faithfully doing chi gung every day since the new year, sometimes twice a day. Now that I have the routine down, it takes less than 10 minutes. I was somewhere warm for a few days, so I swam some and stretched a lot as well. All that really seems to help my shoulder pain, which is not fixed, but better. Because I do not know the cause of the shoulder pain, it makes it hard for me to know if my illness is improving, because of the constant pain (which may or may not be connected to the overall state of my health). But I get blood tests done tomorrow, and see the doctor Friday, so I'll know soon whether my 2 months of LDN have made any difference.

A couple weeks after beginning LDN, I developed yeast problems. This is not uncommon. It doesn't cause yeast problems; it brings existing ones to the surface. And if you don't deal with the yeast, the LDN is not effective. So, for a month now I've been taking oil of oregano (P.U. it stinks and tastes gross- so it must be good for me, right?). I take it when i get up and before bed, and now I'm staying off sugar, in hopes of killing off the yeast (candida). There are some tasty non-nutrasweet chocolates out there, thanks to the diabetic association, though if you eat more than a mouthful, you'll be farting up a storm.

and of course I'm still taking the LDN every night around 12:45am. The discussion groups I found via lowdosenaltrexone.org have been really helpful in guiding me along the dos and don'ts of taking LDN. Blood tests tomorrow- here's hoping for some good news!