help! i am just trying to absorb all of this! i have had symptoms for a year and a half!

i have seen every dr under the sun , until my sister suggested a accupuncturist. i was in his office for 10 minutes and he said , do you have amalgam fllings? i thought what does this have to do with anything? and then i listened , and then i cried, and i cried ,and i cried. you mean to tell me the answer was right in my mouth the whole time?

15 emergency room visits, thousands of dollars in co pays, six mri's,5 ct scans and tons of bloodwork.It was hard to accept myself. but for the first time in almost two years i had an explanation!!!

on my first visit he treated me with accupuncture, i was scared to death, it was all so new,he also told me that i had a yeast infection in my gut. i said, how do you know that?he said trusut me. trust him? i have trusted every physician i have seen and gotten nothing but anti depressants, and phychiatric recommedation. but he seemed pretty sure of himself and was quite serious! he gave me a yeast controller and trace minerals to take, also a rx for diflucan to get me started.

when i got home i was exhausted.then i went on line . oh my!!! i never thought to consider myself an out of touch person, but i was floored !! is this really happening ? how can this be? i felt totally betrayed! i started to read side effects for diflucan,i always read them now. after trying 6 different anti depressants in 3 months(my dr thought the prozac i was on for 3 years was causing my symptoms)i have to read everthing now.come to find out ,i couldn"t take xanax with diflucan.I was rxed xanax because the prozac wasn"t helping with my panic attacks anymore.so i had to make a choice do i stay safe and just keep on doing the same thing that has gotten me nowhere with my illness? or, do i trust that something, or someone has led me to this place and trust that this is the beginning of change ?

it was a very hard decision, all of my life i had been treated by physicians, and was blind to the type of holistic medicine i was about to approach. still something told me this is good. so i jumped into the void and started taking all of the things my accupuncturist gave me.

my first dose of diflucan was a whopper.I felt like crap! he said i would. according to him when yeast is being killed off, it gives off toxins, just what i need, more toxins! but a funny thing happened 2 days after the first dose of diflucan, and two doses of yeast controller drops, i started to see my face, my face that had been swollen and red for almost two years was back!!! i didn"t want to get my hopes up but there was a differance!! i took those drops 3xs a day 4 drops under tongue religiously fortwo weeks,the trace minerals seemed to exasperate my symptoms so he said stop those.

i have been smoking for a while now,i know i have to quit, he gave me a needle in my ear to help w/ withdrawl.baby steps ,my mother always tells me.

my second visit was not so successful, he gave me an injection in my neck. i didn't see it coming cause i was laying on my stomach, i already had needles in my lower back. i tensed up when he gave me the injection, my lower back was in agony ,so he took them out. note to self (look both ways!) the next day i had severe pain in my kidney area, not good i have had 4 kidney stones in the past during, and after pregnancies. all i could think of was what did he do to me?amazingly enough i called him and actually got him on the phone !! i don"t know about anyone else but whens the last time you called your dr and actually got HIM on the phone?that was very reasurring !

i went home put some heat on it and went to bed.the next week was not so good, i had already dipped into the bill money to pay for the accupuncturist,things were getting tight,could i keep this up? i was starting to feel different, not to go as far and say better, but different.was that good or bad?i had missed alot of work due to sympyoms and the money just wasn"t ther . but will i compromise my health because of the cost? i'm sure i"m not alone in this situation.

so i called the accupuncturist and we agreed i could see him every 3 weeks.ok i could somehow swing that and still have a roof over our heads.the next thing i had to do was choose whether or not to keep my primary dr in the loop. i did see him after the accupuncturist and told him what was going on. he did order the blood merc test(this was before i knew that it wouldn't show up unless you were recently exposed) and he did a 24 hr urine non provoking.the accupuncturist did order a provoking test w 3 dmps pills,6 hr urine , but i was scared to take it. i called the cdc and talked to a dr who is in charge of merc poison issues. he said do not take a provoking test ,due to side effects. now how am i supposed to feel about the accupuncturist now?

anyway, the blood came back( none detected) and the 24 hr Which was tested twice, came back w/ two differnt results 1 said ( none detected, 1 said <4 so which is it? my primary didn't seemed impressed with either .he kept asking me if i had high, highs and low,lows. i didn't know what he was getting at . then he rxed seroquil, ever heard of it ? it is a drug used for bi- polar disorder!! the side effects on this drug gave me a panic attack!! literally !! diabetic coma ? that one was enough for me. i didn't take it and decided not to see my primary anymore. i'm in the process of find ing someone ore suitable.

i appologize if this is a long story , but i am new to this and maybe someone went through what i did ,or is going through it now and maybe they could feel better knowing they are not alone, or crazy, or thinking it's all in their head, as i have been told many times.

i went to see my dentist, i called and asked for my records as per accupuncturist,the receptionist asked me why i needed them. i explained that i have been sick and so on. when i went to pick them up,the oral surgeon was there whom i know fairlly well. when i asked for my records she said they were not ready. and , she added you didn't have any fillings put in ,in this office. like it's any of her business. then he came from around the corner yelling that accupuncturists are all quacks and tey just want my money . i was not prepared for that crap! he agreed to give me some xays but it would take a couple of days.

that conversation did it. i made an appt w/ a dentist who is mrec free, now just because they are merc free does not mean they will remove your merc fillings safely,so you could be worse off than before removal . im glad i asked if they use separate oxygen and a dam, and to my surprize, they said NO! so why are they advertising on a merc free website if they are exposing patient,staff and themselves?

i found one who follows protocal, i drove an houe and a half to see him.now he wants to know why i didn't take the provoking test. i don't know what to do !!who do i trust? this is where i am now if anyone could offer some advice,it would be greatly appreciated! god bless all of you,and don't give up!

(Russ added paragraphs to make your story more readable on 6/9/06 12:05 am)