Thanks Art. And to you and Mary in Kentucky, I know what you're talking about. I get a lot of the same sort of thing. Both from advocates of alternative approaches as well as physicians advocating inapropriate allopathic approaches. I can't tell you how many times doctors have tried to tell me it's all in my head and have tried to put me on anti-depressants. I've tried many different things that were suggested to me by both groups of people with an open mind, and I've had mixed results.

I can safely say that anti-depressants don't work for people like me. In fact, every time I've tried them, they've made me much sicker than I already was. I have learned recently (this coming from an allopathic physician), that anti-depressants are usually a very bad idea for people who have multiple chemical sensitivities as I do.

There are some prescription medications that I take and have good results with. If they work for me, and if they don't make me sicker, I use them gladly. On the other hand, I saw what a huge difference ENADA was making in my sister's (Celtic Soul) ability to function, so I have recently started taking it to see if it would work for me. It's not curing me of all of my problems, but I can feel the difference.

For years, my legs and feet have not felt very alive to me. It's been like they were just these things stuck to my body. They worked somewhat adequately, but not particularly well. Since I started taking the ENADA, they actually feel alive. And they work much better these days. It's a small thing in the overall picture of my health, but I find it utterly delightful, and I love it.

Just in case anyone is unfamiliar with the difference between Chronic Fatigue Immune Disfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) as opposed to "Chronic Fatigue" (being chronically tired or fatigued), CFIDS is a very complicated disorder, closely related to Fibromyalgia. In fact, many people have both CFIDS and Fibromyalgia at the same time, along with multiple chemical sensitivities. (I have all three of these, as well as a ruptured disk in my neck that presses on my spinal cord.)

With CFIDS, there is a tendency to experience a disregulated immune system. In most cases, this means that the immune system is in a constant state of overdrive, but it doesn't work very effectively. So the CFIDS sufferer gets sick a lot with whatever germs are going around, as well as quite a few things that are difficult to find the origin of. People who have this state of disregulated immune system should stay away from Echinacea. Although it can be effective in suppressing viruses in most otherwise healthy people, it can cause problems for CFIDS sufferers.

I find that taking a product called "Cold-eeze" works quite effectively in suppressing most colds if I start taking it at the first sign of any symptoms. Where I used to get numerous colds every year, or sometimes just one long cold that wouldn't go away, I only experience one or two if I use the Cold-eeze in a timely manner.

Another virus that I experience a lot of problems with, in the herpes family of viruses (similar to shingles), lives in a mostly dormant state in my body pretty much all the time, and it periodically flares up in strange places, like certain muscle bundles, or in the area around my brain or brain stem, and other odd places. This cause all kinds of problems ranging from extreme vertigo, to migraine headaches, to intense pain in various parts of my body, as well as some cognitive problems and difficulty seeing. I find that if I take a tincture of an herb called Chaparral when symptoms first appear, the problem goes away pretty quickly, and never becomes full blown.

One of the allopathic approaches that I use wholeheartedly is flu shots. I get a flu shot every year, and I'm thankful for them. Influenza can be a very dangerous thing for people with compromised immune systems.