Marshall Protocol, Benicar, Herxheimer, TH1 inflammation disease???

[Hityty]

I posted

[PlateletGal]

Hi --- are you still posting here ? I'm also on the Marshall Protocol for CFS and having success. I just recently took a break from the protocol and was able to see how much progess I've made.... healing is a wonderful thing !

[deecal]

Leslie: I'm thrilled if my post helped you. I keep running into so many people who have our symptoms in one degree or another and their doctors just don't know what the problem is. CF and Fibromyalgia I think is just synonomous (sp?) with "we don't really know what's wrong with you."  The idea of TH1 inflammatory disease caused by a cell wall bacteria just rang true for me. The MP website is extremely helpful and if you are going on the program then sign up and they will help you through it. I have posted many questions in the past 1.5 years and Trevor Marshall and his staff always get right back to me

It was overwhelming at first, now it's easy. The pill organizer is necessary and it's absolutely important to avoid the light.  I haven't been as good about that lately as I was and I am now noticing the  problems. Needless to say I'm back to covering up and closing the blinds, wearing the NOIRS and watching what I eat. I had just been so ill for so long, that when I actually started to feel normal again I sort of wanted to live normally. I realize I need to wait awhile before I can get away with that.

I am a member on the MP website, my name there is Jeanne. Always feel free to drop me a line or ask me any questions. IF I can be of any assistance to you I'll be happy to do so. Good luck to you and don't give up. If you feel a little more ill at the beginning of the protocol just keep reminding yourself that it's the storm before the calm, that you will be better, it takes about six months I think to wake up one day and think, wow, I am really feeling pretty darn good!

[Hityty]

Thank you SO MUCH for your response! I like how you put how all it meant to you was the doctors didn't know what was going on with your body for sure. I've felt like that for so long, like they're trying to name the symptoms, but not what's causing them. I decided to start the MP and am waiting for the Noirs to arrive (probably next weekend). I've been very nervous about the whole thing, but I joined the MP site & have got some good tips from them, do you use their site? Any ways, your encouragement has really made me feel so much more positive about it, I'm so glad you are feeling so much better! That's great! The more research I've done on it, the better it sounded, but it's still so complicated, but like you said, definitely worth trying it. It's so nice to hear from experienced MP'ers, I'm getting support from friends & family, but... well you know, needed to hear it from someone who really understands the whole thing.
I hope everything keeps working for you so well, you're story really did help so much!
Thank you again!!!

Leslie

[deecal]

I have been on the marshall protocol for over a year and have had significant, very significant improvement in my symptoms. I was diagnosed with crohns disease many years ago, then three years ago Sarcoid, ankylosing spondilitis, poly arthritis, chronic fatigue and Fibromyalgia. What all this meant to me is that the doctors really didn't know what was going on with my body for sure other than the sarcoid and crohns which could be diagnosed with tests. The herxing was not that bad, no worse than how I felt anyway. The secret from what I understand is to go at your own rate with the meds, don't try to hurry them along. The two times I took too strong a dose I felt pretty awful, but the benicar helps to regulate the herx.

So, in the even this is helpful, here is where I am now: last year at this time, I spent most of my time on the sofa other than when I absolutely had to do something. Taking a walk was a dream of a past life, I coughed constantly from the sarcoid in my lungs, my crohns was major and I lived with chronic diarrhea. I had major pain in my body and at night the pain in my legs made sleep almost impossible. I was foggy in my head and felt like I lived in a fog.

This summer I have taken walks, the pain has decreased significantly, I get up and do things many days, some days are not as good, but many are wonderful and I seldom cough. to me the MP has been a life saver as I had no life when I started on it.

It's a little complex, but really not that bad. I use a pill organizer so that makes it rather easy. If the herx bothers me, I step up the benicar.

If you think you have TH1, then I personally feel the MP is worth exploring. It's not invasive from my perspective. What some doctors were offering me was very invasive, this is just using benicar and antibiotics, avoiding light, wearing the noirs, being covered so you don't get sunlight and produce too much vit. D and avoiding foods with Vit. D. Not too bad considering I now take walks often, I actually meet friends for lunch sometimes (could not do that a year ago) and I can talk without coughing all the time, which I could not do.

I hope my story is helpful. MP probably isn't for everyone, but when one is so ill that they have no quality of life, then it's worth a try, or at least it was for me.