I was diagnosed with ADHD about about 10 years ago at the age of 25. I was undiagnosed until then but displayed all the standard symptoms (as do my father and grandfather)my whole life. At the time of diagnosis (10 years ago) I was put on Wellbutrin and found that it gave me about a 75% improvment. It worked pretty well. In fact, I was finally able to focus so I went back to college. Instead of the "C" grades I was used to receiving, I started getting straight A's. Things made sense finally! I went on to graduate school, got a PhD in chemical engineering, and went on to work at a fortune 500 company. Success story huh? Well, let me go on.....
4 years ago, I developed orthostatic intolerance, which is a condition where you get dizzy when you stand up. The docs put my on a beta blocker (Toprol). That worked for a few years, but then I started to develop digestive issues, major brain fog and fatigue. My doctors were clueless. They weren't open to any anecdotal findings, only to double blind studies that were peer reviewed. Since there aren't many of those out there for what I suffer, I found myself to be on my own. So I started my quest to understand and to heal myself. That was the biggest blessing in my life!
I have found that my problems stem from candida, which in turn is modulated by diet and stress level. When I eat foods that the yeast feed on my ADD goes wild. If I get too stressed, my immune function gets suppressed and the yeast go wild (and so does my ADD symptoms). So my plan has been twofold: 1. kill back the yeast 2. support the immune system and the cognitive funtions. I have been able to entirely eliminate the Wellbutrin and the Toprol by doing the following:
1. diet. strictly follwed the candida diet for the past 8 months. No sugar, no starches. Only recently even added in green apples as a treat. No alcohol period. I do use some apple cider vinegar on my salads. homemade yogurt with FOS-free inulin. 3L of spring water per day(hydration is very important for me).
2. rotate antifungals. Grapefruit Seed Extract (this kicks ass for me); Oil of Oregeno (also quite good), coconut oil, fungal defense (1 course)
3. liver flushes (4 in past 8 months and more to come), kidney cleanses (Andreas Moritiz) and bowel management ( coffee enemas once per month, occassional probiotic implants, P& B shakes on and off); parasite cleanse (it turns out I also had giardia).
4. supplements. vit C (4 g/day), grapeseed extract, vit E, evening primrose oil, flaxseed oil, daily energy enfusion w/ B complex, primal defense probiotics.
5. excercise. this really acts to clear my mind. I think it acts to clear the candida toxins from my body. When I started this 8 months ago I didn't have the energy to work-out so I would rebound on a minitrampoline for 15 minutes per day. I did that for about 5 months. More recently, as I have recovered I have been able to go to the gym and do some moderate cardio, weight lifting (followed up by a dry steam sauna on occassion).
6. spiritual. As a scientist, I feel wierd about sharing this, as it is personal and unscientific but I will anyways as I think it is playing an important role. Over the past 8 months, I began to question life, if there was an after life and why I was here. As some history, I was never very religious or spiritual. In fact, I delved into the drug subculture (meth)for several years. I spent a lot of time with really bad folks who didn't do nice things. In light of this, even married and living a normal life years later I always felt badly. I had read that one curezone member who had a chronic illness (candida) had said prayers to cast out demons (I know it sounds funny). This resonated with me so a few days later I said prayers to the effect of casting out any evil, the devil or demons. Then I went to sleep. That night I awoke suddenly with a start, I cramped forward and couldn't breathe (like losing your breathe when you get hit in the stomach). In my mind at that exact moment of waking was an image of a woman standing over me. I don't know how I knew, but I did know that she was evil. I didn't put the prayers and the waking experience together until sometime the next day. Interesting, my health has really been improving since then. May be coincidence, but my gut feel is that it isn't.
No matter what your faith or belief, I do feel that the spiritual portion of healing is just as important as any other. In my journey I am in the process of working through this and for me has involved discovering Jesus.
In summary, my cognitive function without the meds (and on my current protocol) is equivalent to that with the meds. In essence, by managing this through diet and excerise I have been able to eliminate the meds. It has been a lifestyle change but my take is that I am now in tune with what my body needs to operate optimally. In fact, my moods are more stable, I am more empathetic, have less anger and anxiety and in general am a much better person. I am becoming what I was intended to be. I don't feel restricted in my diet but instead feel a sense of freedom since I no longer require potentially harmful pharmaceudicals to live a productive life.
I wish you all luck in each of your quests for physical and spiritual health.
Thank you for sharing that. I believe my 22 year old son has candida too and he shares the same symptons that you had. I will relay this information to him. He was on Threelac for awhile (probiotics) and it helped, but his diet isn't great. But maybe it will help him knowing that someone else got better. He never was on any drugs for the ADHD and has struggled with school too, but it wasn't because he wasn't smart. He'd ace every test, but he never got assignments turned in one time.
Yeah, as I said, diet has made a world of difference. It's a big lifestyle change for a 22 yr old but it's never too early to start to educate. I sure wish I had been informed when I was younger!
Do you know about the connection between mercury Amalgam fillings and candida?
The reason why I ask is because I have found for me that my candida literally could not be controlled until I got my mercury fillings out. It's a wonderful blessing to be able to eat anything I want....FINALLY.
I didn't have ADHD, but I had acne that couldn't be cured by anything, m.s. symptoms, blood sugar issues, chemical sensitivites, etc....I am cured of all of it. But one thing I had to do was detox all the heavy metals from my system. My mercury silver amalgam fillings really did me in. I could never fully get control of my candida until I got them out.
I am thrilled beyond belief with your progress, but I didn't know if you felt that you had to stay on a very strict diet indefinately. That can very frustrating and restricting if you want a slice of bread sometimes! LOL!!
Anyway......I am so glad to hear that you were able to get off meds, and as a Christian believer, I am thrilled to hear about your faith as well. That's wonderful. I grew up an agnostic hedonist but am thankful for my faith in Christ as well. Matter of fact, I knew something was very seriously wrong with me and a very simple prayer was answered when I woke up with the words: "liver flush" in my head. I did a google search and that lead me here to Curezone. My health is 100% improved after following a few of the protocols here, and I'm thankful. I had followed alternative medicine for years and had detoxed, done candida cleanses, parasite cleanses, fasts, etc...but I had never liverflushed. I am so thankful for Curezone. I learned also about the link between mercury silver amalgam fillings and candida. I'm thankful for your wonderful testimony too. Thanks for sharing.
Hey, thanks for your thoughts on mercury. I have been fortunate enough not to have fillings but still have my concerns with heavy metals. Something about that really resonates with me so I am considering my next options on that front. I will probably get some heavy metal testing done, but in the mean time I have purchased a few lbs. of pascalite clay (from relfe.com that andreas recommends) and will try a couple of clay baths. The hardest part for me is slowing down and tying only one new thing at a time. Otherwise, you can't be sure what caused what. :)
And your are right, at times the restricted diet seems like a burden but I try to look at it as part of my healing journey (I believe I will get healthy when it is time). These diet restrictions and related health crisis in my life gave me the opportunity to take a hard and honest look at who I was. To be honest I didn't like what I saw. I had become a results focused, hard-driving, unempathetic manager with little concern for other people. My childhood was pretty unpleasant and I carried those buried feelings into adulthood. I suppose I knew deep down inside that I wasn't fulfilling what I was intended to be, but I was successful by societie's standards so I guess didn't have a large enough motivation to stop, take a look at myself and actually change. I was fortunate to get that opportunity before it was too late. Well, that's how I try to keep it all in perspective but yeah, some days the diet is a real pain in my ASS! Alas, my journey continues, and for today I will take it easy and peruse Curezone (I am very, very thankful for this site too!). I am on a kidney cleanse currently and am finding it pretty hard to stay totally hydrated (I think the kidney cleanse herbs may be a bit dehydrating for me). I am learning that a day of rest and peaceful thought is golden. Something new for me as I am a "doer" (which is a strong commonality for us candida folks I think).
-Craig
I am using the BodyPure footpads. You can go to: www.bodypurenow.com to read about them. They are amazing! Very simple, easy, convenient, etc....they are an extraordinary product.
Dr. Daniel Vinograd is a practicing, board certified dentist who has a forum here and he answers questions about the footpads if you have any.
Giardia is sure a nasty one to beat, especially if you don;t catch it right away and it gets itself a good foothold. I had it for the first time when I was 12 and I had it for 2 years undiagnosed. They treated it I beleive with Flagyl and it got better but I'm not convinced it was totally eradicated. I have two dogs and they were both diagnosed with it about 6 months ago. They drink out of my toilet when I forget to close the lid (nasty I know, I know) so that got me thinking. I went to my GI and he scoped both ends and found 'evidence' in my small intestine that giardia may be present. Giardia also inhibits carbo metabolism in the small intestine. My theory and the GI agreed it was possible, it that with Giardia in the small intestine more carbs might reach the colon undigested and viola you feed the yeast.
So to your question....
1. flagyl. I struggled over this one for two weeks before deciding whether to take it. I prayed over it and finally came to peace with the idea. I did take massive doeses of primal defense during the 10 day course. The flagyl did kill something off. I got massive edemas under both of my eyes (indicative of lymph congestion)which subsided after day 5. Immediately following the flagyl course, I jumped into the GSE (nutribiotic brand) which is really killing something too. I can only take about 5 drops/day and still feel decent.
2. Clark parasite cleanse: I started this one (prior to going to the GI and the flagyl) for 3 days and got massive edemas. This scared me quite a bit and forced my hand in going to the GI. I still may take the full Clark parasite cleanse, but will probably wait and use it as a last resort since it can be hard on your body.
I'd be interested in what is working for Giardia for other folks.
It was a prayer from my heart based on something I had previously read. It went something like:
"I cast out The Devil and any demons or spirits in the name of Jesus Christ."
I tried to channel my energy into this prayer and repeated it, or some variant of it, for a few minutes. I tried not to think any thoughts other than focus on this prayer and what Christ did for me.
Thanks for the post, many of the things you said are resonating with me and that wouldn't have been the case a few months ago. I don't want to come across as religious either and find sharing this kind of stuff a little awkward. I have always known that 'good' and 'evil' exists but have struggled with religion (Man's interpretation of God's word). I have always have a spiritual side and am only now really starting to explore it (took this illness to get me searching!).
I do feel that developing a relationship with God is playing a LARGE role in my recovery. For me, I am findng that I have to heal the body and the mind and the soul. Gotta have all 3 to get it done right I think.
-Craig
By the way, most of us engineers are weird birds to start with. Now, with this vision of a woman, I'm off the chart! ;) I joke, but I tell you it was real!
Sounds like due to your interest and hunger to know about spiritual things, that God himself reached out for you as you reached out to him. (I picture a father holding his arms out for his little boy) You had an actual revelation that God is real and it sounds like, also of what he can do. He heals the broken in heart (spiritually/emotionally broken and needy people)and hears their cries. He also heals and makes us whole, since he sent Jesus to die for the healing of the whole person - whole spiritually(through forgiveness of sin, as you mentioned with the drug culture experience), mentally, and physically. When you study about Jesus, He was the perfect revelation of God's nature - on earth. He will lead you on into whatever he has for you. I loved your whole story, it was very encouraging to hear that God in his love met with you in this way. Hope I haven't sounded too "religious", as I really hate that, and want only to be real and know the truth and hang out with other like-minded people. Being very curious, I wonder who or what the lady was. Oh yeah, I once went to a church where a dozen or more of the guys were electrical engineers of some sort, or chemical engineers. An admirable and cool profession - wish I were that smart!
C.
Thanks for the post, many of the things you said are resonating with me and that wouldn't have been the case a few months ago. I don't want to come across as religious either and find sharing this kind of stuff a little awkward. I have always known that 'good' and 'evil' exists but have struggled with religion (Man's interpretation of God's word). I have always have a spiritual side and am only now really starting to explore it (took this illness to get me searching!).
I do feel that developing a relationship with God is playing a LARGE role in my recovery. For me, I am findng that I have to heal the body and the mind and the soul. Gotta have all 3 to get it done right I think.
-Craig
By the way, most of us engineers are weird birds to start with. Now, with this vision of a woman, I'm off the chart! ;) I joke, but I tell you it was real!
Glad you are exploring. Just think - many people go their whole lives just taking care of business and never getting around to knowing God. And, many know him impersonally as a force, or "mother nature" or whatever, though he's there for anyone and everyone.
I think a lot of the physical stuff I'm dealing with is related to things God wants me to learn about also. For example I think the holding in of unforgiveness for years is holding back my relationwhip with him and also my physical healing, so I am working on becoming more yielded to giving up whatever bad ideas or attitudes that don't please him and hindering my life/healing. So, I'm hoping to see fruit from this soon.
About the "lady". I still remember when I saw the movie "The Exorcist" a long time ago. I was SOOO scared, I couldn't sleep at night. It basically scared me into seeking when I was in college. I guess maybe that was how God drew my attention, among other things. Another strange thing that happened is I would often do yoga exercises late at night alone in my apartment and kept getting the impression that I was not "alone", along with a really creepy feeling. (insert Twilight Zone music..) And, I would keep looking around, but seeing nothing in the room, and would continue to feel very uncomfortable until I quit doing the yoga. Turns out, I believe I was inviting bad things into my apartment by doing the yoga, and by a general interest in the occult side of the spiritual. So, maybe you were just allowed to see into the spiritual realm and see what was really there. She could have been a bad spirit, (since thats what you sensed), like a spirit of infirmity that had been in charge of making you sick or oppressing you in some way (a complete guess). I've known 3 or 4 people who have these types of gifts of seeing into the spritual realm, and they probably would have a better idea of what to say. Some of them say they've seen good things, like angels, representing the other side of the good/evil spectrum. :)So, stuff like this is not all that uncommon, if it makes you feel any better. You can be shown whatever God wants you to know. Most of us have been raised based on scientific thought, to think that we are alone, or that there is no unseen realm. Since I don't know your background, in case you don't already know, these spiritual gifts from God are mentioned in I Corinthians 12 verse 8 and 10, etc. Take care now.
I am quite interested in the article you posted. I was diagnosed with ADHD about 5 years ago(I'm 44) and it explained a lot of my behaviors for me.
What brand of vitamins did you use? How difficult was it to go on the diet? I struggle with controlling my sugar intake and weight management.
I am also curious about what Candida is ( It's related to yeast somehow isn't it?) and how do you know if you have it?
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ADHD, candida and my successful journey to get off meds. 
