Educating Dr's 1 @ a time

[Bee]

I will be going to a new doctor Wed. a DO who specializes in Fungus and uses both traditional & homeopathic medicine. I am gonna lay in all out. I'm taking just one sample. I consider myself a fine specimen of a morgie because I have no other health complaints other then a few small lesions on my face.
I don't take any medicine, only supplements.
I must mention I do not Sweat.
I lost 20 -25 lbs a few years ago.
My ring fingernails are clubbing.
I still see parasites in stools sometimes.

I am hoping they give me antiparasite med, because my instinct tells me that's what wrong with me.

I dread going.I am a recluse except I go to the grocery store once a week.
Any advise ?

[gigi22]

Hi Bee. Lucky for you to have found a DO.
Maybe you can just focus on your symptoms first instead of mentioning M. Our bodies are broken down and we are compromised, likely in multiple ways. Let the DO determine what is wrong with you. There will be things that can be pinpointed. If you feel comfortable enough to mention it, you can, but you really don't want to sway your doc away from pinpointing the real things that are wrong with you. I mentioned it to my doc, but she didn't let it sway her treatment.

I didn't show my doc any samples until a later appt when I thought she would be receptive. She looked at a larva thing under the scope and told me I clearly was not delusional.. that it was an organism of some type.

I would write down a history of all your symptoms, so you don't leave anything out when you talk to the DO. Mention all of your symptoms - even if its just fatigue, etc. Some of my more insignificant symptoms were mild skin burning sensations that would come and go and my hair was falling out a little more than normal. This is important in that in me, this was likely related to some vitamin deficiencies. Do you have any reactions to foods you eat? Those things should be mentioned as well... Did you have any mold exposure earlier on? This would be worth mentioning as your DO is well-versed in this area and I feel that M has a large fungal component.

- Mention the parasites in the stool. Your doc should order a stool test. It may show parasites, but also will show any other infections going on in the gut. They found mold/fungal growth and pathogenic bacteria overgrowth in my test.

Other than the stool test, my doc did a lot of blood testing, along with a thorough thyroid panel. We did a detoxification test, food allergy test, and a heavy metal test. I would recommend highly that you be tested for heavy metals! A heavy metal challenge test is preferred over a hair test. The heavy metal test would also test for essential elements so some nutritional deficiencies can be identified this way as well.

- I would also ask if your doc could culture your lesions to see what you are dealing with (fungal, bacteria, etc/what type)?

Good luck! and please update us on your visit!

[Bee]

Thanks gigi, I don't have any symptoms other then I mentioned above. I don't have any stress either. I have a feeling she seen other morg patients before. I will take my one sample that looks like this ( l ) and keep it in my purse until the right time.
Did your doctor help your condition?

[gigi22]

Hi again, Bee !

Before I started seeing my current doc, I was going to a naturopathic doc and we were doing a lot of vitamins/supplements and natural antifungals for candida. I was so sick last year around this time and had great fatigue. After taking supplements for a number of months, my fatigue was so greatly improved and I thought I was doing so much better. My skin was doing better with all of the skin treatments I was doing, but I still had issues with my skin, like the black specks/threads and the white, larva things. Otherwise, I *seemed* to feel fine.

Well.. we did all types of testing that I previously mentioned: stool testing, blood testing w/ a thorough thyroid test, a detoxification test, food allergy testing, and heavy metal testing. Well, I was much sicker than I thought!

My detoxification test showed my liver pathways were imbalanced. My phase 1 pathway was detoxing too fast and my phase II was detoxing too slowly. This let toxins build up in my system. My food intolerance tests showed that I was intolerant to around 80 different foods. It was causing my skin lots of rashes and keeping my immune system busy. My thyroid was also not working properly. The stool testing showed the mold/fungus and pathogenic bacteria at moderate levels in my gut. It also showed low pancreatic enzyme output. My blood testing for the most part was ok, but my homocysteine levels were elevated and had continued to rise from my previous blood test. The heavy metal challenge test showed my body was loaded with metal, especially barium and lead! and it showed that vitamin B12 was non-existent in my body tissues, which explained the rising homocysteine levels... So.. yes! My doc is helping me TREMENDOUSLY!

I am taking lots of vitamins/supplements for my conditions which includes L-glutamine for gut repair, a probiotic, and megadoses of vitamin C. In addition, I am taking a natural antifungal (for candida and the gut infection). When I discovered the vitamin B12 deficiency, my doc started me on B12 shots. I am going through a healing crisis now since I started the B12 shots, when I started to get more itching, more brain fog, and I started purging more stuff out of my skin... but things are improving even more. My doc also prescribed me a drug to chelate out the metal so I'm on that as well.... I am supposed to be getting IV Vitamin C and I had two of these so far.

Good luck, Bee, and please update us on your visit!!!!!

[Enviro Girl]

Bee, I didn't know you stayed home a lot. Honey! That doc sounds like a great start/the right direction. You sound awesome, I think you need to get out and share yourself with the world!
Smart thinkin' w/keepin the ziploc in purse until the time is right! My mom kept wantin' me to go to more MSM (mainstream medicals), she wanted me to not say Morgellon's or talk to the doc about things coming out of my skin: I was like, what we have to trick the doc into helping me?! C'mon!
Keep us 'posted' this sounds great - glad to hear you have very few symptoms left, GO BEE!!!!!

[Enviro Girl]

Bee - I think everybody on here is sending Goooood Thoughts your way tonight w/Good Luck for tomorrow!
You know your STATS, we ran though them - I admired that about you!
You sound like you have A Symptom List already, hookworm and prior, back to lactose intolerance, dizzzzzying flu @ The Tree or whatever your own first 'oddities' were.
Or go back and copy and paste what we just ran through and add to it...
Later: it's good to see your symptom list turn into a Reverse Healing Symptom List - you'll be sooo excited!
(maybe homeopathy healing will work different, I dunno: sounds like you're gonna find out!)
I'd show anybody the nmo, morgellons.org, all the support and research sites I could find typed (so many - show the mass #'s!), linked @ the end of my symptom list. I'd take that and also send these in an email so they can have the links. There's a list of articles that gave me the gist of things w/us, back in the day, posted to Jane Doe, if you want to copy and paste those.
There are sooo many people trying to help us, now.
We lit a fire under these folks recently/something's in the air...
THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU ACTIVISTS AND RESEARCHERS AND SUPPORTERS!!!!
This all was NOT going to go on forever. People have been asking for help and an explanation for 30 yrs...It's OUR time now!
AND Anyone who focuses in Fungus has GOTS to BEE Awesome
Kritters is gonna LOVE this!
Bee: Your dad's smilin' down on ya: If they aren't your regional Morgellon's expert already - your stats and facts are going to make them that, tomorrow! You'll beeeee the one to help show this COOL doc how to help other victims in your area heal! Once you get better, you'll find the others, start a support group. Tomorrow's going to be the start you taking your life back, I can feel it!
P.S. If any doc would even dare say DOP to you after all these citizen-funded studies & yrs of victims having to buy microscopes, trying unknown things to help ourselves...holla @ your girl

"The combat boots are by the door!" Enviro Girl

[tcmgpt13]

Hi Bee,

Well, I wish you good luck on your trip to the doctor tomorrow. I hope everything will work out to your expectations and that the doctor will be nice. It sounds promising if she practices more than just conventional medicine.

I am concerned about the clubbed nails though. I know what my TCM practitioner has taught me about that so I hope you do have your doctor look into that thoroughly. That combined with the no sweat symptom needs diagnosis. It is not normal to not sweat when either you are hot or it is hot outside.

Here is an article I found which discusses different problems with nails, including clubbed nails and what that can mean in Western medicine.

Nail Abnormalities: Clues to Systemic Disease - March 15, 2004 - American Family Physician (other nail problems are also discussed, but I just highlighted the clubbed nail discussion)



FIGURE 3
Clubbing. This condition may accompany neoplastic and other lung diseases, atrioventricular malformations, congenital heart disease, celiac disease, and inflammatory bowel disease.



CLUBBING
Clubbing of the nails (Figure 3) is a thickening of the soft tissue beneath the proximal nail plate that results in sponginess of the proximal plate and thickening in that area of the digit.1 The cause of clubbing is poorly understood; the condition may result from megakaryocytes and platelet clumps that have escaped filtration in the pulmonary bed and have entered the systemic circulation. Platelets then may release platelet-derived growth factor at the nail bed, causing periosteal changes.10 The angle between the finger proximal to the nail and the proximal nail plate is straightened, creating the “Schamroth sign,” which is an obliteration of the normally diamond-shaped space formed when dorsal sides of the distal phalanges of corresponding right and left digits are opposed (Figure 4).


FIGURE 4
Schamroth sign. This finding, which defines clubbing, is the obliteration of the normal diamond-shaped space at the proximal end of the nail when the distal phalanges are opposed.



Clubbing occurs in patients with neoplastic diseases, particularly those of the lung and pleura. It also may accompany other pulmonary diseases, including bronchiectasis, lung abscess, empyema, pulmonary fibrosis, and cystic fibrosis. Arteriovenous malformations or fistulas have been associated with clubbing, as have celiac disease, cirrhosis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Clubbing also may occur in patients with congenital heart disease and endocarditis. The finding of clubbing without an obvious associated disease should prompt a search for bronchogenic carcinoma or another occult reason for the finding.

[Bee]

Yeah the fingernail clubbing and nonsweating could be brain or lung related, or it could be I'm dehydrated.I have been putting off finding out, but I'm ready now.My appt is at 3:00 this afternoon. I think I picked a dr most likely to understand what I'm talking about when I say I get granuals,black specks,white fuzz and "thin threads " gonna try not to say Fibers.
I hope whatever I find out, it will help shed some light for Everyone.
It's like we're all going to the dr whenever one of us goes.

Don't worry about me being a recluse. I'm good company for myself. Sometimes I crack myself up and sometimes I dance with horses in the barn before 8 am.

[Enviro Girl]

We're collectively helping ourselves in all sorts o ways now, it's awesome to witness! We all have worked hard enough to come up with a variety of good, safe options vs. before, feeling like no one's going to help us!
I feel like we are 80% of the way through this battle. We're learning, from each other, how to help ourselves - that's what's most important!
This site rocks! We'll BEEEE waiting to hear the Good News!

[Enviro Girl]