Hang in there! 32 months off - the windows are getting to be really awesome

.

Hi Parker,

 

I never view your posts as bragging but always as encouragement and hope.  Keep posting and I will be there continually reading them.  Your words give me courage and brighten my days.

 

My symptoms are improving at 3 1/2 months out but seem to vary all over the place.  And the way waves and windows present themselves changes and shifts.  The windows used to come on suddenly and be extreme, great feelings.  Now they come on more gradually and never quite reach a full 10 - more like an 8-9.5 and the waves don't make me feel like I'm dying anymore.

 

What's bad is that inner strange chemical anxiety that feels related to the nerve pain.  Do you recall when the edgy, chemical stuff went away?  I feel like when it goes away, so will the nerve pain and sleep issues from head pressure.

 

Thanks for any advice or time guidelines.  This does feel gradual to me.  But of course, not healing fast enough.  Sigh.

 

Lisa

Thanks Parker!

 

Lisa

Man, Parker, I don't see how I can wade through is crap for years...tomorrow will be the start of month 6-I can't believe how stupid I've gotton...I cannot for the life of me tease out complex ideas, like how thyroid interacts with benzos (thread I just cannot understand no matter how hard I try) other things have come up that I CANNOT wrap my mind around.  I used to be kinda intelligent HAH!

 

The insomnia is as bad as it ever was, if I don't get a good 4 hour chunk soon, I just don't know what will happen...as far as stress goes-how on earth can I live without stress, especially given the fact that I'm trying to make it on $875 a month and meet all my health care needs?  Nevermind about that pesky eating habit.

 

Congratulations, Parker, but damn...32 months....

Your not bragging just helping others.  As far as what you can do to help, well I think you have already done that with the post.

So you did heal in a linear way Parker!

 

They say it's never linear, but I feel I heal linearly too...

 

Upsy

This is such an encouragement! So happy for you!

Parker,we have printed out three things on benzo buddies. What is happening in your brain. Parker's supplements and your last update. I will now print this one!!! I read them when I can understand them a little. My Husband reads them when I can't. I have also been bedridden for a year. I now use a cane and a walker because of the dizziness and nausea. I have found a new doctor and we asked her to please read the copies that we brought. Whether she will or not we don't know; but we really emphasized that BB was our "new" guide line. She seemed open to at least hearing us out. We had to do some thing because I could no longer look at my Doctor who told us a year ago that the benzoes had been gone for six weeks and it was obviously physiological. If you have the time I would love to hear from you.

h2h&husband

 

Parker - thank you. Please keep posting when you can.

I still have bouts of fairly painful symptoms off and on  and some things that are with me most days but I am much more functional these days and subsequently have been spending less time on the forum. Also, out of the handful of people I have kept in touch with most of them are doing a lot better now and don't come around here much.

 

It helps when you start to see your own experience and the experiences of others who are going through the same thing validate the idea that healing does happen.

thanks for commenting too FG

 

I follow your posts and am happy to see you're feeling better too after your bad week a few weeks back.

 

Lisa

thanks for commenting too FG

 

I follow your posts and am happy to see you're feeling better too after your bad week a few weeks back.

 

Lisa

 

Thanks!

That's fantastic! Sooo genuinely happy for you. You deserve it.. Xx

hey parker,

 

thank you for always sharing your progress. it's really appreciated and helpful. i can't believe it but the last 2 weeks i have finally experienced a shift in my symptoms and i am doing much better than ever. i am going into my 22nd month. i still have the brain squeezing and vibrations which kept me totally bed ridden but they're subsiding a little bit and i can finally feel that i am healing and so much better lately. i am able to climb out of bed, eat and go for a little walk during the day now but still go back to rest after that.

 

i wanted to ask you about taking zinc. do you think it's good to take a zinc products just 2 weeks before a mentsrual period and does that help for the access copper in the brain to balance? and should i take my zinc only at bedtime?

 

and if i wanted to take a copper mineral, does that affect how much of it is already in the brain when it shouldn't be as i've heard that too much copper in the brain can cause some nasty symptoms? i hope i made myself clear.

 

i don't want the excess copper in my brain but i am interested in the benefits that copper can provide and just want to take both copper and zinc in a healthy and balanced way without having too much copper in the brain. i've started my magnesium and i may start a little selenium only once every 3 days as i want it to possibly help the T4, T3 of thyroid as i read that somewhere about selenium.

 

thanks, pretty

Pretty,

 

How long have you been taking the Mg? Does it help the bound up legs feeling at all, or muscles? Do you have twitching muscles?

 

Are you taking the Glycinate? I am really thinking of trying Mg also for twitching muscles and sleep., but afraid of a possible reaction.

 

                Jade

Pretty,

 

How long have you been taking the Mg? Does it help the bound up legs feeling at all, or muscles? Do you have twitching muscles?

 

Are you taking the Glycinate? I am really thinking of trying Mg also for twitching muscles and sleep., but afraid of a possible reaction.

 

                Jade

 

Jade,

 

well, i am only taking mag citrate 3 times per week to help with constipation. but i am going to oder some mag glycinate from my favorite supplement place as soon as they get it in. for now, the citrate is helping with the constipation and i don't notice it helping with anything else.

 

pretty

Hello Parker

Thank you  for your letter .

I going to be 36 next month and sick like hell last night  again .

Super sensitive to all noise , food , cannot take ANY meds , to any little stress  and smell .

Last night took maybe 5 small chips  and slept hour and sick still now .

No belly mornings ,  by afternoon huge benzo belly .

I don't want to post because don't want to scared people , yes is truth .

I think will take me for sure more then two years  if not more .

Nausea almost daily , cannot watch any negative  things in TV , sensitive to everything .

Of course is not like first year , but  3 years off cannot see Dentist , eat any food or sick , cannot travel ,  cannot go group people because cannot get sick ,  because cannot take any meds .

I hate idiot Dr. who put me in this hell just to get rich.

 

Erika  :

hey parker,

 

thank you for always sharing your progress. it's really appreciated and helpful. i can't believe it but the last 2 weeks i have finally experienced a shift in my symptoms and i am doing much better than ever. i am going into my 22nd month. i still have the brain squeezing and vibrations which kept me totally bed ridden but they're subsiding a little bit and i can finally feel that i am healing and so much better lately. i am able to climb out of bed, eat and go for a little walk during the day now but still go back to rest after that.

 

i wanted to ask you about taking zinc. do you think it's good to take a zinc products just 2 weeks before a mentsrual period and does that help for the access copper in the brain to balance? and should i take my zinc only at bedtime?

 

and if i wanted to take a copper mineral, does that affect how much of it is already in the brain when it shouldn't be as i've heard that too much copper in the brain can cause some nasty symptoms? i hope i made myself clear.

 

i don't want the excess copper in my brain but i am interested in the benefits that copper can provide and just want to take both copper and zinc in a healthy and balanced way without having too much copper in the brain. i've started my magnesium and i may start a little selenium only once every 3 days as i want it to possibly help the T4, T3 of thyroid as i read that somewhere about selenium.

 

thanks, pretty

 

Hey Pretty,

 

Yours is a great question - and the real answer is - I dont' know. Nobody could know without doing a hair tissue mineral analysis to see your zinc-copper ratio. EVERYONE is different.  However- me personally - I would not take any copper. What I did that worked for me - is that I took a LITTLE zinc at night to see how I did.

 

Here's the deal with zinc. As you know - zinc and copper balance each other out. They also compete for absorption, etc.  High copper in the brain can make us squirrely.  But copper is still necessary.  So you never want to take so much zinc that you throw off the copper.  For women, copper rises when estrogen rises. So this means that from ovulation through to menstruation (day 14-28 in a textbook cycle), copper is highest, because this is when estrogen is active.  I personally take my zinc then.  I take a LITTLE bit from day 14-20 or so (3-5mg by eyeballing a dry cut of zinc gluconate). And I take 5-10mg as needed from day 20-28 right up until I bleed. And then I take NO zinc until ovulation again because zinc during the first half of your cycle can prolong bleeding by then lowering the rising copper - and you don't want that. So taking the zinc during the luteal phase (last half the cycle) can help by lowering copper a bit and making us feel better - but it's also dependent on the person to a degree - and your "perfect dose" is something you have to discover.  I always start small with anything.  I'm very sensitive to everything. Some people take a lot more zinc but I only need a little.  I notice it helped right away with memory and smell!  That is part of how I knew I needed it. It helped tremendously with mood and sleep.

 

Zinc also lowers cortisol so the best time to take it as at bedtime because it has the benefit of helping us sleep. But DON"T take more zinc than you need just to get extra help with that, because too much zinc WILL throw off copper and iron.  I started having deeper sleep with great dreams once starting the zinc. 

 

It's easy to follow your zinc status by purchasing a product that measures your zinc via a taste test. I have used the same bottle of this stuff for 8 months and it's helpful.  It's called Zinc Challenge and you can buy it on amazon, but the company that makes it only sells usually to practitioners.  You can read how the product works here:  http://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/zinc-deficiency-and-using-the-zinc-taste-test/

I know the lady that runs this website and have spoken to her personally on the phone. She's an author and I have her book. :)This is NOT her product - it's just the one she uses and I like the write up.

 

:)Parker

 

 

thanks Parker!

 

your explanation is great and understood! at some point i would like to have a hair analysis done to see the copper - zinc levels and also any heavy metals.

 

i did get some zinc from the Quality Natural Health place that i gave you a link to in a PM awhile back. it's a liquid zinc sulfate heptahydrate and it says on the bottle that to test to see how one's zinc levels are put it in your mouth and if if you have immediate taste then you have adequate zinc levels and if you cannot taste anything then you are low in zinc levels. i haven't tried it yet but i will in the next few weeks to do it in that luteal phase.

 

i am still waiting for the magnesium glycintate to come in for now just taking the citrate. but i will try the sunbathing while taking the magnesium too. that sounds good. i am still kinda wary of taking Vitamin D since a member on here showed me this link to how Vit D causes overdose's and toxicity but i have some from that same place and it doesn't have any toxic taglongs so i've been putting the oil on my skin topically. it is mixed with a solvent of Olive Oil and Vitamin E and this scientist says that is the best solvent for Vitamin D to be in.

 

i will check out that link you gave. thanks for all your knowledge with this!

 

Pretty

What is the difference between magnesium glycinate and citrate? I'm taking citrate, but wondering if the other would be more beneficial. Just curious what the benefit is from each and which is better. Thanks, jenny

jenny,

 

here is some basic differences of all the magnesiums.

 

Magnesium citrate is magnesium with citric acid, which has laxative properties.

 

Magnesium carbonate, which has antacid properties, contains 45 percent magnesium.

 

Magnesium chloride / Magnesium lactate contain only 12 percent magnesium, but has better absorption than others, such as magnesium oxide, which contains five times more magnesium.

 

Magnesium glycinate is a chelated form of magnesium that tends to provide the highest levels of absorption and bioavailability and is typically considered ideal for those who are trying to correct a deficiency.

 

it's important to maintain the proper balance between magnesium, calcium, vitamin K2, and vitamin D. Lack of balance between these nutrients is why calcium supplements have become associated with increased risk of heart attacks and stroke, and why some people experience vitamin D toxicity.

Pretty,

Thank you so much for all the info, I never realized there were so many different kinds. Maybe I will try the glycinate after I'm done with the citrate. Thanks again pretty, and so glad to hear about your windows! Jenny

Bump! Great post for those of us who've been at this a long time.