April 2007 - I began having severe neck and shoulder pain. Throughout the next 8 weeks I took high doses of narcotic pain killers (darvocet & vicodin) while the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with me. At the end of May it was determined I had a neck injury and needed physical therapy. After two visits with the physical therapist, I was able to stop taking the medications. However, after a life full of antibiotics, painkillers and cold and flu treatments, this three months of medications pushed my body over the top. About three days after I stopped the medications, I began to break out in debilitating hives on a regular basis.
The attacks were severe enough that I had to go to the doctor and the emergency room to be medicated further to alleviate the symptoms just to allow me to function--barely. At one point, every lymph node in my head and neck swelled up hard while the rest of me was covered in horrible whelps (more photos at the end of the article). I had to go the emergency room to get pumped full of something that made me feel like I'd drank about 47 pots of coffee in about 5 minutes—I think it was epinephrine.
After several rounds of prednisone and other steroids given by my regular doctor with no promising results, I was sent to an allergist. This allergist told me that I had something called dermographism—the worst case he’d seen in 45 years of practicing medicine.
Dermographism, by definition, is the ability to write on one's skin (dermo--meaning--skin and graph--meaning--write). The cause is supposedly unknown, but it's a reaction by the histamine cells in the skin (dermal layer) that is triggered by blunt trauma (scratching and abrasion). In the simplest of terms, this condition appears to be an allergy to scratching.
So, now it had a name. This means I could find a cure, right? Wrong! The doctor said that my only recourse was to take antihistamines until the condition healed on it's own or until I died--whichever came first. What a great thing to look forward to.
Over the next two and half years I took the dreaded antihistamines. Meanwhile, I developed Candidasis along with several other problems that are often associated with long term use of pharmaceuticals (insomnia, fatigue, moodiness, hormonal problems, lack of energy, chemical sensitivity, etc.). I had searched around and I found several who shared my symptoms and all said there was no cure—only treatment for symptoms.
After much prayer and way too much time, a friend told me about a cleanse she was doing that was helping her severe digestive and allergenic issues. I did some research on the formulas she was using and decided to give them a try.
I did a 10-day intestinal cleanse and much to my surprise, after 2.5 long years, I was able to quit taking the antihistamines. Over the next couple of months the symptoms were nearly gone but I decided to another ten days on this cleanse. I followed up with strong probiotics to recolonize my poor (but clean) gut. I felt better than I had in months.
A friend also did the cleanse with me the first time and was cured of his life long eczema. He is 34 years old and has never been "itch free". He was also very happy with this cleanse.
After this second cleanse, I was feeling great but still not quite there. I still got hives occasionally and usually as a reaction to some food or another, but the cause was never pinpointed.
I called the boss at Bulk Herb Store and told him about this cleanse. He and the Mrs. were also working on some cleansing, so they came up with a formula that closely matched the one I had used twice previously and called it Detox +.
I still had some straggling symptoms and we needed a good test for this new formula so I did ten days on this one as well. That was it! Apparently, the third time really IS the charm. I’ve been symptom free for months. The really nice thing about it, is the price! Detox + cost 1/2 the price of the original formula I used in my first two cleanses.
Now, the only time I get hives is when I go to the chiropractor and she explained this is probably due to toxins built up that are being released from the muscle as they relax from the adjustment. So after the adjustment she recommended I do a single day of detox. After the last adjustment, I came home and took one dose of Detox + (I had some left over) and a fruit/vegetable smoothie and the next day I felt pretty good. No hives.
After several years of illness, it feels so great to feel great!
After a bit more research on the individual ingredients, I found that this is probably the best thing anyone could do to get started on the road to recovery from just about any illness. The clay and the charcoal in Detox + will cling to and remove so many different metals, pharmaceuticals and environmental toxins from the body. For more information on environmental toxins, see this blog entry.
CAUTION: It should be noted that following the first cleanse, I quit taking my prescription medications and as a result suffered some severe withdrawal. I did this without the supervision of a physician, but would not necessarily recommend that anyone else do this. It was a difficult time for me because the withdrawal from this particular medication caused me to itch, so it was very difficult for me to determine the difference between the original symptoms of my illness and the symptoms of withdrawal.
To help make this determination, I began to take magnesium-rich herbal teas on the recommendation of a friend (see this blog entry for more info). I believe the magnesium helped to calm and heal the nerve endings allowing the withdrawal to pass and to allow my body to heal from the trauma and the cleanse. If you take any types of medications, please consult with your physician before you quit taking them and be aware that this formula will interfere with medications if you take them together. It is recommended that all supplements and medications be taken at least three hours prior to ingestion of the Detox + formula.
Shoshanna has done the Detox+ and has her recommended procedures listed on the Bulk Herb Store product page for doing so. I did mine a little different because I was doing a direct product comparison. So for any that are interested, here are the steps I took.
I used a strong laxative herbal supplement called Intestinal Formula 1 by Dr. Schulze in place of a fiber supplement. I took one of these a day after supper for three days to make sure my bowels were moving. I took approximately a heaping teaspoon of the Detox + every three hours a total of five times each day for ten days. I drank 16 oz of water with each dose (this is very important). Each day, if the bowels were not moving 2-3 times easily, then I took one more of the laxative capsules each day until they were moving again. By the peak of the cleanse, I was taking 10 of these laxative capsules. I continued to take 1-2 laxative capsules per day after I stopped the Detox + to make sure I got everything moved out. I made no changes to my eating habits, except to say that, I ate less because my belly felt full more often with all the bulk and the water.
Between the three cleanses, I tried capsules and powder mixed in juice. Both were equally effective and the juice concoction didn’t taste awful; however, sugar promotes candida, so for the Detox + (round three), I decided to capsulize it myself to help keep so that I could take it with water and avoid the sugar in the juice. You could mix the powder in water, but it was less tasty and I wasn’t willing to drink it this way. If you decide to use capsules, you’ll need 500 of the larger capsules. You’ll take 10 for each dose, 5 times a day for 10 days. It really just depends on what you’re more comfortable with.
(click to enlarge)
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