Hello all. I am looking for some encouragement. I am a 34/F. I weigh 127 pounds (including my huge protruding gut). I have never been overweight in my life other than my extra gut I have been carrying around for maybe 2 years now. My holistic journey started when I began having the most terrible heartburn ever. It was so awful that I would have to throw up my food to make it stop. Of course conventional doctors wanted me to have all these invasive tests done. One nurse practitioner actually told me to reevaluate my diet (ie stop drinking coffee and red wine) and I did so, to no avail. So then I began my own research and realized it could be all the steak and red meat I was eating! So after a few more weeks of research and documentary viewing, I stopped meat altogether. I have been vegetarian for a little over a year now. My heart burn has almost completely gone away. But this gut is still here! I don't eat very unhealthy at all. But I have this protruding belly, a history of depression/anxiety, OCD, sleeplessness, waking up throughout the night, irregular bowel movements, bloating, constipation, dark circles and ugly bags under my eyes, feeling tired and lazy often, dizzy spells, the list could go on. I am almost certain I have parasites and candida. I have started the Dr. Schulze 5-day Bowel Detox. I took formula one on and off for about a month. I was not successfully sticking to the regimen and I drank coffee, so I never got to taking IF#2. So this time I started taking IF#1 with no coffee and was having 1 BM (at least) a day in the AM. I moved onto IF#2 and now I am constipated and having tons of diarrhea and watery stool with a few liver flukes and a bit of black grimy looking stuff (could be mucoid plaque). I think I may have started on IF#2 before my time, so I am going to stop. I am currently up to 5 IF#1 pills. I am planning to take 6 tonight and probiotic in the AM and start focusing on getting my bowels moving properly. Also, at the end of the month I took a few days off of work and I am going to do a parasite cleanse (using a tincture I found recommended on OrganicOlivia dot com) while doing a 5-day juice fast cleanse. I also have a coffee enema kit to use during that time. I also have DE and I am going to start adding a tiny amount to my cat's food and I was going to begin taking 1/2 tsp and build up to a higher dosage. I have adjusted my diet in the last week to mostly all whole foods/raw foods restricting dairy to a bare minimum so I can prepare for detox symptoms during my cleanse. I JUST WANT TO GET BETTER! I know I need to be patient and I would love to hear some encouraging words from people who have had similar experiences. My husband got upset with me that I was doing this detox and that it made me kind of sick. He thinks alt med is basically quack med and he told me to go to a doctor...which I have and it has solved nothing. I refuse to take RX. I know that this could take years of healing, but I am feeling like nothing is ever going to work and I am just going to be "skinny fat" and feel like crap forever.