Hi, all,

According to a search through the forum, the last we heard from Dianne here was on December 22. She said she had some health issues to deal with, and I sure hope she is okay.

Maybe we could say a little prayer and send healing thoughts her way.

blue heron

That's a lovely idea blue heron. I'm adding my love and positive thoughts for her x

It is so heartwarming to be part of such a wonderful community.

I have been flat out with shingles which landed on my face and left eye so have been lying low, never been in such pain in my life. The Dr's are concerned about possibly going blind in my left eye so have been rarely online. When I get a bit better I will tell you the events in the way I found a natural cure. The eye dr. wanted me to go on Valtrex which I refused because Lysine is the way to go. It was a tough decision with them harping at me to take Valtrex which would have had some extra side effects, not to mention that Valtrex may work if it is caught in time but they kept harping at me to take it when it was in full blown stage. I swear the pain was so bad during the peak that I was honestly glad I didn't have a gun in the house or I would have shot my head off to escape the pain.

I miss all of you who are like family to me. Luckily I have someone who comes by everyday since I am on strict bed rest to make sure my eye heals okay.

It is all due to stress and a low immune system from all the years on medications. I will write about it later so if anyone gets the symptoms I can pass along what to do. I didn't know what hit me until it was too late. Had I known what I know now I could have headed off the worst part of the pain. It was tough to hold to the treatment that I found and ignore what the dr. was telling me to do. I changed eye Dr.'s on Friday and found a competent one so am relieved. I am a pretty tough cookie after all, by now the dr's could have killed me or go blind in my left eye if I didn't do my own research on what to do instead of following some very bad advise.

I miss all of you, the worst part is over but have a ways to go before I can see out of both eyes.

XOXO,

Di

Dianne,

I am so glad to hear that you are healing! I have heard of lysine being used to treat herpes viruses. You sparked my curiousity to see how it works with herpes zoster (shingles), and was interested to read that an alternative therapy includes lysine plus flax oil and calcium. Is that what you used or just the lysine. Whatever you did, I am glad that it seems to have relieved your pain. Happy, healthy, healing to you.

I will fill in more later about how my first eye dr. went ballistic when I refused Valtrex (it was too late anyways as I found out later), I had to get another eye dr., this dr and his nurse were on a crazy town bus over my refusal to take Valtrex. This is just the bottom line of my research and path, will fill in the rest of the story later, has been a wild ride. Not even close to being out of the woods, nerve pain is the worst, that is how the pain manifests when you get anything in this family, herpes, cold sores or shingles.

The nuts and bolts about immune system issues, when you read about them stress is a big indicator, also diet plays a HUGE factor. If you are eating foods high in Arginine (see food list below) you can create an imbalance in the immune system. There is a need to increase the Lysine. The bottom line is that too much L-Arginine (an amino acid) in your system, and it creates an imbalance of L-Lysine and may cause the immune system to produce a flare-up of shingles or cold sores (also known as herpes simplex).

L-Arginine: Food Sources HIGH in Arginine Amino Acid Content

It is also suspected that eating foods rich in L-Arginine might help the virus survive better.

When possible, cut back on foods high in Arginine. These include beer, grain cereals, chocolate, seeds, nuts and peas. So the best option is to eat foods high in Lysine and low in Arginine.

But keep in mind that research data suggests that high levels of Lysine is more important when it comes to stopping the virus from spreading.

Foods High in Lysine


Natural Cure Discussion Forum
I had to cut to the chase because reading is hard and scan this forum to figure out what to do, since they were all talking about the benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) I decided to try it. I applied ACV to the spots every hour that I was awake and by the next day they had all but gone away.


Valtrex is what many Dr's will rush to give you and it has may side effects, the response I got to my refusal to take Valtrex was, "well they all have side effects". I found out my decision to not take Valtrex was correct because frankly being at risk for blindness I certainly wouldn't want a single one on the list of side effects. I also discovered that the only chance Valtrex might have if taken really early on and I was already full blown shingles on the left side of my face, left eye and head.

Basic logic to me says that the answer is Lysine and ACV. There is no money in natural cures. Valtrex is also a fairly pricey drug (it does nothing. I would really have to question the wisdom to use it based on what I can figure out and my current experience. It seems pretty straight forward to me, Lysine will counter the overload of Arginine and thus be your best defense to not only take on a regular basis as part of your vitamin regiment to ward off and keep your immune system in balance. If we are taking in an overload of Arginine via the foods we are eating, diet plays a huge role along with stress.

I couldn't find any side effects from Lysine and ACV, however Valtrex looks problematic to me.


Valtrex
Side Effects

Nausea, vomiting, fatigue, headache, dizziness, stomach pain, painful periods may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, notify your doctor or pharmacist promptly. Remember that your doctor has prescribed this medication because he or she has judged that the benefit to you is greater than the risk of side effects. Many people using this medication do not have serious side effects. Tell your doctor immediately if any of these unlikely but serious side effects occur: mental/mood changes (e.g., agitation, hallucinations), confusion, speech problems, shaky/unsteady movement, vision changes. Tell your doctor immediately if any of these rare but very serious side effects occur: seizures, loss of consciousness, signs of other infections (e.g., fever, persistent sore throat). This medication may rarely cause a blood disorder (thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura) or a severe kidney problem (hemolytic uremic syndrome). These problems are more likely to occur if you have HIV disease or if you have had a bone marrow transplant or an organ transplant. Tell your doctor immediately if any of these rare but very serious side effects occur: change in the amount of urine, easy bruising/bleeding, unusual fever. A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is unlikely, but seek immediate medical attention if it occurs. Symptoms of a serious allergic reaction may include: rash, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing. This is not a complete list of possible side effects. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist

Dianne, it was good to hear from you. Goodness, what you have been through! I have read about the benefits of L-Lysine for shingles as well. I'm with you on doing natural treatments; always have been.

Get better quick,
blue heron

Hi, just checking in. Still in a great deal of pain. The specialist said it would take 6 months to a year to escape the pain completely and am on bed rest for the next couple of months. It made me realize that I am stronger than I give myself credit for. I will beat this. I plan to open a section on the immune system when I can to share what I have learned. Stress is the main indicator for the virus. Clearly our community suffers from stress and I have done a lot of research to share so that no one else has to go through this. I keep my Lysine on my nightstand and take it often, you can't take too much. I have information on foods that are high in argine etc.

My friend who has been coming by to help me is a nurse and is amazed at how well my face is healing, now I just have the pain of the nerves. Because the shingles went all the way down the nose the specialist said that hits the nerve system the worst and takes the longest for recovery. I know that in time I will be okay. I am on Neurontin for the pain, it helps but I have a ways to go. At least I won't end up with scars on my face due to the natural remedies I found.

Modern medicine, imo has pushed away the old ways to heal and only push drugs. I have some fascinating information about Apple Cider Vinegar, Chia Seeds and a host of other discoveries. On the positive side doing the research I have done will keep me from going through this again.

I miss all of you and hope to return to posting in a month or sooner.

All my best and good thoughts to everyone in our community.

Di

Worry looks around
Sorry looks back
Faith looks up

Dianne,

I'm so sorry your going through this. It sure is interesting the wake of devastation Psychopaths leave behind. It seems that many of us here experience health issues related to stress.

My personal journey with my Psychopath was due to a couple autoimmune flareups. I finally connected the dots. The stress that my dealings with him and the tangled mess of family he controlled truly put me in harms way. This discovery and the resulting lifestyle changes I made ultimately saved me. My doctors certainly didn't. 20 years ago the connection between stress and health was pooo-poooed. Now they are coming around .. somewhat. It just did not make sense to me that suddenly I would get really ill. To add a myriad of drugs to the mix was counter to my logic. I knew it was something else. It had to be something I could change.

My first step was not answering his calls. It's been hard. Because my entire family is entwined with him and I'm out now. But I'm out (with my son) and basically healthy.

So you sound like you see the light.. just hang in there until it resolves itself. Always do what ever you can to get the rest you need. I know it's not totally in our control - but I do believe we have a certain amount of power to heal ourselves.

As we all feel here.. we are so grateful for your creation of this site. Now for the selfish part.. and we need you on here... you're our leader

Get rest and be well...

You are so kind daddysproblem, it is all of you that make our community what it is.

All of this has helped me enforce my boundaries. After a nut case eye Dr. and his crazy nurse I found a great eye clinic and wonderful Internal Medicine Dr, he actually sits down and listens to me. He actually asked if I would give him the information I had found that healed my face etc. When I saw him last week I took in the information and he said, he would read it that night, what a wonderful Dr. It was tough with the crazy one standing over me and harassing me over taking Lysine instead of Valtrex. He was so ignorant. I went to them when my eye turned pink, then a day or so later when my left side was swelling. By the next day my face was full blown and his nurse was such an idiot when I called, she kept insisting the eye drops would relieve the pain, I insisted on asking for their email address so I could send them photos, she brushed me off and said that wasn't important and I insisted. Then when I went in the next day they were very angry that I refused to take Valtrex and kept saying I might go blind if I didn't, hard time being so sick and saying no and leaving. I didn't know at the time that Valtrex has to be taken before you get to the stage I was at, my instincts told me no don't listen to them. Now what I know I would never take Valtrex in any case. The eye specialist I ended up seeing knew exactly the right questions to ask. It was a relief that he confirmed my instincts to not follow that whack job eye Dr. and take Valtrex.

I am looking forward to opening up an auto immune system section for natural healing, please know that I am not a Dr. or playing one online but as a society we have gotten away from the old fashion remedies and replaced them with drugs that won't help anywhere close to what the old way was.

I have photo documented my face and the healing process. I learned it is important to see what kind of equipment your Dr. has. The first one only had equipment to test your eye site. My new eye Dr. has all the best equipment to really see what is going on. Same with my new Internal Medicine Dr. If you look around at your Dr's and they have old equipment and not computers etc. get a new Dr. The new eye Dr., the nurse walks in with a computer and the Dr. has one in the room. When I saw the expert he had good notes and came in the room knowing what my history was.

Stress triggers our auto immune system and who can have more stress than dealing with a Psychopath, major stress. I was really a sitting duck for this deal, after 13 or 14 years of being medicated for major depression (who wouldn't be depressed when a Psychopath had knocked you to the ground and lose everything), my good reputation and not to mention every penny I had. I finally escaped that so it did a number on a lot of things. I could have gotten over the major depression from being whacked to the cement by a Corporate Psychopath but the drugs kept coming until I was unable to function or really think what was the reason I could never get on my feet. Looking back I can see how crazy it all was. It ended up being a tale of two people, my partner went through the same major depression and it was so bad he actually bought a gun, I was put on medication. He recovered, found a great job, got married to a wonderful woman and I was a basket case on meds for years. The good news is we are back working together again so I am anxious to get well and back to work. Without my mind being clogged with every med the shrinks threw at me I know I can survive anything. This is the last kink and I will survive it. I think all of our community are survivors. My friend who is a nurse for over 30 years and taking care of me is also amazed, she has never seen anyone survive shingles scar free.

I think of all of you as family, even though we have never met in person I love all of you and think you are the best there are. Together we can survive.

Apple Cider Vinegar has a ton of uses, it cleans your vegetables to remove toxins, I use it as a conditioner for my hair and not a snag in my hair after using it. I didn't want to use regular conditioner since the shingles were all over my head as well as the left side of my face. It has cured them and my hair is snarl free. I was reading that there are over 400 chemicals in products we use on our hair and skin that are banned in Europe and we only ban 9 of them here in the US. I tossed out all my commercial products, even the ones who claim they are natural if you look at what is in them you will see. I am now using only Vitamin E oil to heal the spots which are healing great and as a skin conditioner. I went through my face creams etc. and tossed them all out.

I check in because I miss all of you and will start posting soon. I was thinking it would take longer to join our community again but I do want to be here for anyone who enters our community seeking help.

I first started getting the auto immune system connection years ago when members would post about it, now I really get it, now we need a section because I think it is critical for our community. Please know that I would never judge anyone who chooses medication. I only want to share what I have discovered.

It is all of you that make our community what it is. There are so many people who only read so know that your words are reaching many that we will never get to know.

Di

blue heron, I can feel your prayers and am thankful for them.

Hi Diane,

I also want to say that I miss you and I'm glad you're on the road to recovery. I am looking forward to your information on natural remedies. Take care.

Concerned

Thanks concerned and I forgot to thank Starry, I read your posts and am amazed at your progress, you are truly an inspiration.

I will get the information up in the next couple of weeks, you will be pretty amazed. I found a great natural site that when you look at a product you can see the ingredients. I went through all the lotions etc. that called themselves natural (including Jason's and Burt's Bee) which is clearly a marketing trend. Even in pet food they say natural but they really aren't. They are only "natural" if you avoid reading the first several items they have in them. They always list in order of the highest concentration and frankly the first part of the ingredients are enough to make me say no. All these years I spent so much on all these products to figure out what I was ingesting or putting on my skin.

Check out this database Database to check what you are using I have another database I found I will post when I find it. I donated $5 because I believe in supporting good causes. I can't imagine what shape my face would be in if I continued to use the "natural" lotions etc. I was using. Like someone told me years ago, watch your face and hands because you can't hide them, lol.

I bought my Organic Apple Cider Vinegar at this site (Braggs is the recommended one) as I was unable to go out and besides living in the middle of no where we only have a small health store and at this site the products have the list of ingredients, just scroll down and you will see a tab for it

Lucky Vitamins

On the positive side, my medicine cabinet is not cluttered with all the things I was using, Vitamin E takes up little space

Being out of my mind (to put it mildly I was quite frantic to figure out what to do) and doing research my bookmarks are a mess, lol. Here is another site that has all the items, food etc. You can also log in and scan things when you shop Good Guide.com

You keep working on getting well, Dianne. Glad to hear from you.

Hugs