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	<title>Low Dose Naltrexone &#38; Diet for Multiple Sclerosis &#38; Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome</title>
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		<title>Doing ok on 4.5mg</title>
		<link>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/10/05/doing-ok-on-4-5mg/</link>
		<comments>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/10/05/doing-ok-on-4-5mg/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:16:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lowdosenaltrexone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/?p=44</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I am delighted to tell you all I&#8217;m now on the 4.5mg dose and I have no side effects yipeeeee. I had thought I might get stiff on the 4.5mg as I got terrible stiffness on 3mg in Autumn 2005.
All going well with that side of things. I can&#8217;t really see any other major changes [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I am delighted to tell you all I&#8217;m now on the 4.5mg dose and I have no side effects yipeeeee. I had thought I might get stiff on the 4.5mg as I got terrible stiffness on 3mg in Autumn 2005.</p>
<p>All going well with that side of things. I can&#8217;t really see any other major changes apart from fact my lower leg  and feet paranthesia has decreased alot. I spent alot of time this year wearing my runners as little else felt comfortable under my feet. The tingling creepy crawling and nervy pain in my lower legs and feet is far better too. This used be a nitemare when going to sleep at night but it&#8217;s far more tolerable now.</p>
<p>My moods are a nitemare though the last few months. They seem to have got worse since starting LDN. I&#8217;m not sure whether it&#8217;s LDN, the nature of my MS or the nature of my PCOS or a combination of all. I think I learned alot from psychotherapy counselling in the past that gets me through low moods now so thankfully I don&#8217;t get as low as I used. It comes on out of no where and I can be snappy, irritable, anxious. I just know at this stage all I can do when I feel like this is get extra sleep and take things easier and not to beat myself up about it. I am currently experimenting a bit with fish oils. I changed to capsules lately so i can stomach higher doses early in the day. I can have a weak stomach in the morning and the liquid oil i was taking was making me gag at times so thought best to get a good capsule so i&#8217;d stick to it better. It&#8217;s hard to a find a good fish oiil capsule with high EPA and DHA but i found a pretty good one made by Lamberts. There are 1100mg capsules containing a total of 600mg of EPA+DHA per capsule hich is a nice amount per 1100mg capsule so I was delighted. I usually take approx 2500mg of fish oils the lat few yearsas it&#8217;s approx the recommended dose for MS. However I have read so many articles  on PCOS and fish oils, anxiety and fish oils, depression and fish oils that sparked me to up dose now that i&#8217;ve fond a capsule i like and works out good value. I have upped my dose the last few days to 6 capsules each morning. The 6 capsules give me 3600mg of EPA+DHA (6 x 600mg)daily. I am going to keep upping every few days till I reach approx 5000mg and see how that goes.</p>
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		<title>Rx 1/12 Low Dose Naltrexone 2mg complete</title>
		<link>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/08/30/rx-112-low-dose-naltrexone-2mg-complete/</link>
		<comments>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/08/30/rx-112-low-dose-naltrexone-2mg-complete/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:08:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lowdosenaltrexone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/?p=39</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well I just started 3mg of Low Dose Naltrexone last night. I have completed one whole month on 2mg. I should have started the 3mg three nights ago but three times in the past month I forgot my dose. My current  mobile phone has no daily alarms to set which would be handy but going [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Well I just started 3mg of Low Dose Naltrexone last night. I have completed one whole month on 2mg. I should have started the 3mg three nights ago but three times in the past month I forgot my dose. My current  mobile phone has no daily alarms to set which would be handy but going to get my partner to add one to his mobile so I am less likely to miss doses in future.</p>
<p>Well I don&#8217;t have alot to report. I got a pretty awful low of depression in my first week of LDN. May be LDN related. May also have been bad PMS. But I had never ever got a low so bad in PMS before. There was nothing else that sparked the depression but for me I am prone to depression and it often starts for no reason but it had got a whole lot better the last year so i suspect it may have been LDN. Not to worry though as I got through it and besides the vivid dreams the first two nights on LDN there was no other negative side effects.</p>
<p>My legs and feet overall have been less sore this month. Again not sure whether LDN related. I think it could be more to do with the fact I&#8217;ve got more rest when they get sore and I am living in my runners more. I went through all my shoes a few weeks back and have bagged shoes for my attic which seem no longer practical. I get sore feet easily. I get that soreness which just feels like you&#8217;re walking on a pile of stones and then when I rest the tingling sensation is there. I definitely will have to be more careful in future with shoes as it makes for less pain in long term. My Birkenstocks sandals and my runners have been best bet all summer. Both just give me the support and comfort to decrease pain as much as possible. I have two nice canvas pumps which I have barely worn as there is no support and i regret it always afterward.</p>
<p>I have been dying to start the 3mg the last week or so. I have tolerated the 2mg&#8217;s well so fingers crossed 3mg will go well. Last time I tried it in Autumn 2005 I got terribly stiffness on 3mg and stuck it out 8 weeks and then gave up. I just didn&#8217;t&#8217; have the patience to stick it out longer and had too much other stuff going on that i just gave up. I have more patience now and more motivation to stick out any side effects i may encounter. I just have more &#8220;me time&#8221; in general to even care about it all. Unfortunately when I was in pits of depression in past I just didn&#8217;t care and left myself slide in every way. It&#8217;s so easy to happen anyway when you have a child you are caring for and have responsibilities for.</p>
<p>Anyway fingers crossed this month on 3mgs goes well and then onto 4.5mgs <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>Brunch in bed</title>
		<link>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/08/02/brunch-in-bed/</link>
		<comments>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/08/02/brunch-in-bed/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:26:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lowdosenaltrexone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/?p=35</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had a sleep in and I&#8217;m resting in bed. I think it&#8217;s gonna be a pyjamas day! Yesterday I was terribly grumpy as the day went on. Fatigue was bad and I also have PMS as Aunt Flo is due soon! Feel low, anxious and my feet and legs are sore and hopping.
I had [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I had a sleep in and I&#8217;m resting in bed. I think it&#8217;s gonna be a pyjamas day! Yesterday I was terribly grumpy as the day went on. Fatigue was bad and I also have PMS as Aunt Flo is due soon! Feel low, anxious and my feet and legs are sore and hopping.</p>
<p>I had brunch in bed and I&#8217;m here browsing and looking at some positive hopeful stuff to keep myself in a positive frame of mind.</p>
<p>I was just looking at Dr. Pat Crowleys video on LDN. I haven&#8217;t seen it in quite a while and had forgotten how good it was. It gives me hope <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Gonna try embed it here. Still learning the functionality of all this blogging stuff. Quite impressed with it. I know a bit of HTML and web design from my computers degree but I am very rusty and these word press blogs really make it all easier <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Ok I can&#8217;t embed clip as far as I can see as I can&#8217;t find it on youtube only on vimeo.</p>
<p>Here is the link to it though <a href="http://vimeo.com/4547621">http://vimeo.com/4547621</a></p>
<p>I&#8217;m off to make some chamomile tea then i think i&#8217;ll have another nap in bed <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>Started LDN on Sat July 25th</title>
		<link>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/08/01/started-ldn-on-sat-july-25th/</link>
		<comments>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/08/01/started-ldn-on-sat-july-25th/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:44:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lowdosenaltrexone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/?p=32</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week I was in bed one evening exhausted with fatigue. There i was browsing my facebook page and noticed that Mary Boyle Bradley had a Radio show that evening interviewing with her brother Dr. Phil Boyle who&#8217;s a Fertility Specialist in The Galway Clinic here in Ireland.
I listened to the show with great interest. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last week I was in bed one evening exhausted with fatigue. There i was browsing my facebook page and noticed that Mary Boyle Bradley had a Radio show that evening interviewing with her brother Dr. Phil Boyle who&#8217;s a Fertility Specialist in The Galway Clinic here in Ireland.</p>
<p>I listened to the show with great interest. Dr. Boyle talked about how LDN was helping many women with hormonal problems like PCOS. He talked so much sense and science. Check out the show here on Mary&#8217;s Blog Talk Radio<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Mary-Boyle-Bradley/2009/07/21/The-Mary-Bradley-Show">http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Mary-Boyle-Bradley/2009/07/21/The-Mary-Bradley-Show</a></p>
<p>I liked the fact that Dr. Boyle had evidence it was helping women in his clinic and that also he wasn&#8217;t marketing it as a wonder drug and took a balanced view that diet was important too. I lost faith in LDN four years ago when it made me terribly stiff. I also was getting it from a doctor outside of the country and really i needed to see someone face to face to get the dose right at the time. Diet has worked wonders for me for years. Counselling has been helpful. Supplements very helpful. And last January i joined a gym class through a program run by our MS Society called &#8220;Getting the Balance Right&#8221; and this too has been another positive healthy step for me. I believe there&#8217;s many ways to better health and I hope LDN will help this time round aswell as all the other things. I am not expecting miracles but i will be damn happy if it slows the progession like it has for many others i&#8217;ve talked to. Also it would be fantastic if it balanced my hormonal system a bit better. Dr. Boyle finds that people with low endorphins experience a list a symptoms nearly all of which i have. He says paients who beneift from LDN therapy have many of the following<span style="line-height: 17px">:</span></p>
<ul style="margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-left: 10px;padding-top: 0px;padding-right: 0px;padding-bottom: 6px;padding-left: 0px;line-height: 16px">
<li>premenstrual symptoms lasting for 4 or more days each cycle ( √ PMS gets pretty bad for me most cycles!)</li>
<li>endometriosis or polycystic ovarian disease ( √ i have PCOS symptoms since i was 16)</li>
<li>persistent brown menstrual bleeding ( i rarely get this but it has happened occasioanlly)</li>
<li>persistent fatigue or sleep disturbances( √ sleep disturbance was more an issue for me a few years ago. The last five years it&#8217;s rare i have problems falling asleep and infact sleep deeper however fatigue is a symptom i deal with ongoing. It varies alot. I get different forms of fatigue mentally and physically, it&#8217;s the physical one from MS is most debilitating for me when at worst. Cognitive fatigue can be a big issue for me too. It&#8217;s like my brain shut downs.)</li>
<li>low mood or excessive anxiety( √ I got through bouts of anxiety. They can come on for no apparant reason. Sometimes i think it&#8217;s an MS thing, other times it seems to coincide with PMS. I have gone through some rough cycles where anxiety has stayed for a period and developed into depressionI have tried a few SSRI&#8217;s but they they make fatigue worse and make me put on weight which makes my PCOS worse. Counselling as helped this side of things better and supplements once i keep taking them. There&#8217;s a herbal remedy called Avena Sativa I was recommended for anxiety and it definately helps. Also when I continually take my B complex it helps. )</li>
<li>a personal or family history of autoimmune disease,MS, Rheumatoid Arthritis, autoimmune infertility.( I have MS. No other history of auto-immune i know of)</li>
</ul>
<p>I was very very happy talking to Dr. Boyle. I felt that all my health problems were someway connected and I got a wave of  hope that his help with LDN and diet may help me. It is the track i want to pursue as I had bad experience with CRAB&#8217;s injections in the past for MS and from my own research and talking to others and some doctors it just doesn&#8217;t sit comfortably with me to suppress my immune system.</p>
<p>I started LDN last Saturday night the 25th. So far all going fine. I started on 2mg and sticking to that for a month. Usually most people start on 3mg but because I had stiffness last time i was on LDN. Dr. Boyle advised that 2mg would be better dose to start.</p>
<p>Night 1I had a bit of disturbed sleep and a few vivid dreams. It was funny. I dreamt my partner brought home a gorgeous little puppy. I hate waking up from those nice dreams <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Night 2 i didn&#8217;t notice the disturbed sleep as much but very vivid dreams again and i had a nitemare but didn&#8217;t remember <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />  I was making funny noises in my sleep that woke everyone up except me <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Since Night 3 I have noticed nothing. No disturbed sleep, no vivd dreams , no other side effects. I haven&#8217;t noticed any positive effects from it yet but because i am only on 2mg to start i will have to be patient. Dr. Boyle has warned me it could take some time and this is understandable when only on 2mg for a month and i won&#8217;t be on the 4.5 till month three.</p>
<p>In the meantime I am ordering two tests from a UK nutritional company for diet purposes. They are tests I&#8217;ve wanted to do for years and put off many times. I am getting an IGg food intolerence test and a candida one. Food intolerences are quite common with MS aswell as PCOS and because I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome spasms the last few years i think this is all gonna help. Since my daugther has been 6 months old I started getting spasms in my bowel. For months i thought it was coming from my womb and it was through that pain that I was actually diagnosed with PCOS! I used get pain in my ovaries at the time too so thought it was the cycsts causing all this pain.I suspect I have PCOS since I was 16 though when weight, acne and excess body and facial hair all started to become a problem.</p>
<p>My bowel spasms can be quite nasty. Luckily i don&#8217;t get constipation or diarrheoa which most do with IBS. My diet while it has lapsed since my daughter was born, it is still very healthy compared to the average person. We eat only wholegrain. No white bread, pasta, rice etc. Lots of veg and fruit. Very little processed food and try and avoid sugar as much as possible. Lots of lean meat, mainly white and fish. I stuck to the Best Bet Diet for MS for a few years prior to giving birth to my daughter and I wonder whether going back on dairy and gluten started my bowel spasms. Also there is another factor though. In times of stress and lack of sleep my spasms always start and once they start they are there a few days. They wake me at night and I explain them like labour contractions as they flare up getting stronger till they peak then gradually back down. It&#8217;s about a 20 minute process and quite painful at times. I compare them to mid stage labour. I had a natural birth with my daughter and I often laugh about my cramps since because i feel i could have given birth hundreds of times more since with the pain from those spasms.</p>
<p>I hope to get my candida and intolerence tests in post soon and do them at home and then wait for results. The last month I&#8217;ve been adjusting my diet a bit more. Getting rid of junk i eat at times but i&#8217;m not going to rid the gluten or dairy till after the intolerence test in case it affects test. Regardless of test results I will probably try eliminate gluten and dairy again anyway as had great success this way before and Ashton Embry&#8217;s Research on this area makes sense so it would probably be for the best.</p>
<p>There is a home candida test. It&#8217;s called a Spit test and i&#8217;ve done it at home at times before and it&#8217;s showed up candida. I&#8217;ve treated with grapefruit seed extract but I suspect i may have candida again so definately a good idea to get proper blood test for it. Dr. Boyle will help me treat it with medication if it shows up positive.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s been an eventful week. Lots of positives. My daughter is starting school in September and I&#8217;ve been trying to keep up some positives of this year and start some more the last few weeks. I&#8217;d like to get back to study or work part times when my daughter is in school. I have not worked since 2001 as my health and becoming a mum has got in the way. Now I feel I need some more to my life and it is beciming more possible. Parenting has been very challenging with health problems. I&#8217;ve been a Stay at home mum the last 4.5 years and looking back i don&#8217;t know how it did it. My health was never that bad i had to put my daughter into childccare but at the same time i struggled to do the job. I am stubborn ! I also didn&#8217;t want to miss out on all those milestones along the way.</p>
<p>I hope to keep updating regularly. I am really fatigued tonight. It was a busy day. I did 20 mins of resistance and cardio workout this morning. Then in afternoon we went on train to city for a meall and then had friends over tonight for tea. I usually manage quite alot in the day but i wither away come 6pm and end up on couch or bed for the night feeling brain dead and sore. I have terribly sore feet the last while. That reminds me that for my next post I&#8217;m going to describe all my health symptoms here. I want to keep track of them to see whether there are improvements or not.</p>
<p>Until tomorrow&#8230;</p>
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		<title>My Symptoms,treatments &amp; life since 2000</title>
		<link>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/08/01/my-symptomstreatments-life-since-2000/</link>
		<comments>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/08/01/my-symptomstreatments-life-since-2000/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:42:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lowdosenaltrexone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/?p=30</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This post could be a long one! I think for my own benefit and those reading here it&#8217;s important i explain my symptoms so progress can be tracked.
To start I think it&#8217;s best to describe what Multiple Sclerosis is for anyone reading here who isn&#8217;t aware.
Multiple Sclerosis is a illness of the central nervous system. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This post could be a long one! I think for my own benefit and those reading here it&#8217;s important i explain my symptoms so progress can be tracked.</p>
<p>To start I think it&#8217;s best to describe what Multiple Sclerosis is for anyone reading here who isn&#8217;t aware.</p>
<p>Multiple Sclerosis is a illness of the central nervous system. The central nervous system comprises of our brain and spinal cord. Multiple Sclerosis is classed as an auto-immune illness. An auto-immune illness is an illness where your own immune system attacks a part of your body. In Crohn&#8217;s disease for example the immune system attacks the gut. In MS the immune system attacks the myelin sheath. The myelin sheath is that protective sheath on the nerve pathways of our body. When the disease is active the myelin sheath becomes damaged in a nerve pathway and affects the body with varying symptoms. The first symptom of MS I got was optic neuritis. I had pain behind my eyeball and quite bad blurring in my right eye for six months.It was like looking through net curtains for siz months. Colour was totally washed out and everything was distorted.  I was put on a course of oral steroids which didn&#8217;t make any difference apart from making me gain weight and get terribly moody. When you have optic neuritis it is the optic nerve that becomes damaged and inflamed. For most sight returns but for some it doesn&#8217;t and the disease becomes progressive with more symptoms that don&#8217;t get better but just slowly get worse. I am one of the luckier ones I guess as my MS seems to be of a  Remitting / Relapsing nature with slow progression.</p>
<p>The conventional treatment for treating MS and many auto- immune diseases is to suppress the immune system to stop it attacking itself. Steroids are routinely given to suppress the immune system when you have a relapse. And in the last 10 years plus there have been varying drugs developed which treat the illness by suppressing / modulating the immune system. I was on avonex and copaxone at different times and they didn&#8217;t agree with me. I got awful side effects and overall i just felt so unhealthy. When I got a flu i got it terrible and frequent and ended up on antibiotics for a few different infections. I slowly felt that my health overall was just getting worse and I ended up looking for alternatives. I stumbled across the MSRC uk website, the DIRECT-MS diet website (both these are in my links section) and they interested me and so i changed my diet and dropped the injections on my own initiative after much reading and talking to others. After a few weeks I felt so different. This was in 2003. That heavy foggy feeling in my head lifted. My energy improved and alot of symptoms improved. I began to read and keep up to date on other alternatives online and then got an email from Mary Boyle Bradley in early 2004 about Low Dose Naltrexone. I spent quite a while reading about LDN because at first i thought it sounded like quackery. There is alot of quackery on the net and I needed to talk to quite a few people and read some facts before i was convinced LDN could possibly be of any benefit and have no harm to my health. I was eventually convinced and talked to Dr. Bob Lawrence ( a UK GP who has MS himself). Dr. Lawrence helped many people get LDN at the time and dedicated much time to helping those of us trying to get it. Dr. Bob posted me some LDN (imported from Skips Pharmacy in the US) and I started in April. At the time i still struggled with fatigue (although diet had improved it alot ) and i was prone to eye flares when overheating. I also had terrible muscle spasms in my upper back at times and was dealing with depression and anxiety on and off. I had paranthesia (mainly tingling and horrible feeling in my legs), this mainly affected me at night in bed. I also got terrible itching (Pruitis) in my legs  when I overheated. I used got for weeks with my partner on the beach and after 5 mins of walking i used get terribly hot in my legs and itchy. As for my eyes they&#8217;d go cracked too after exercise/heat. This is known as Utthoff&#8217;s syndrome in MS. I noticed in a very short time on LDN ( about a week) that my fatigue definately got better. I felt good in general, just a good feeling and energetic. I was on holidays with my boyfriend in Cuba in May and tolerated 30 degree heat pretty well. We were on a beach resort with lots of breeze but i still tolerated the heat far better than i would prior to LDN. In June though when we got back from holidays and back to normality we got a huge shock of a surprise when we discovered i was pregnant. It was most definately not planned and was quite frightening when we saw the pregnancy result. To cut a long story short ( well a bit shorter <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' />  )I stopped  LDN at the time as i was afraid to take it in pregnancy as i couldn&#8217;t find a definate answer to whether it would be safe. Our daughter was born in Jan 2005 five weeks premature. Again another fright. All this pregnancy and impending parenting stuff was just frightening but it was probably far more frightening for our daughter ha <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>I breastfed Ava from birth for two reasons. Firstly for her nutritional benefit. I was a very colicky baby and my partner didn&#8217;t tolerate cows milk too well so felt breastmilk would be best option. Also I had read some research about MS mums doing better post partum because the hormones don&#8217;t drop so fast and mums who breastfed seemed to have better chance of not relapsing because of this. also I thought about all the bottles, steriliser etc and thought surely making bottles , washing them and heating them etc would be so much work so breastfeeding it was! Our daughter spent her first week in neo-natal in the maternity hospital due to being premature and having some jaundice. She took to breastfeeding well. We got good support in neo-natal which really helped being a new mum. By the time she came home I was getting more confident feeding her and the jaundice had improved. I forgot to say that my MS symtpoms went completely in my third trimester of pregnancy. This can be quite common for many with MS. No symptoms returned till about 4 months post partum at which stage we were trying to get our daughter to take a little goats milk formula as i was getting quite exhausted and she wasn&#8217;t a good sleeper so we wanted to adjust the plan a little so that my partner could do some night feeds with formula. She took to the formula but I continued to breastfeed till she was 8 months. We slowly introduced a bottle for each day feed from six months and it worked nicely for both me and my daughter. i think also it slowly adjusted my hormones too but i think at the six month mark they really began to go potty <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />  I began to get anxious, depressed and looking back I think my PCOS began to go crazy at this point. The ugly side effect of excess body and facial hair began to get worse and I began to pile on the weight. I also began to get bowel spasms which were quite frightening. Also the fatigue was back and I trulily had forgotten how hard it is to cope and manage with MS fatigue. It&#8217;s one of those symptoms which is so hard to explain to those without MS. I remember before I had MS getting tired but with MS Fatigue it is totally different. My brain goes numb, cognitively it&#8217;s difficult to function and concentrate and physically with fatigue my body gets very heavy. It&#8217;s like you are carrying extra weight.</p>
<p>From this point in autumn 2005 till now summer 2009 I have dealt with what i describe as a slow progression of all my health. I have dealt with some difficult depression at times too which has made it impossible to deal with all the others stuff. I was on SSRI&#8217;s twice since my daughter  was born as i had got so low i knew i needed them. I have become quite aware of my body the last 10 years so it was one of those points i knew what i had to do. Both times on SSRI&#8217;s i hated the feeling. Firstly they made me more anxious and depressed the first few weeks and then i got a worse fatigue that i already had and then i started piling on weight. Not really a good solution as i still ended up going to counselling which at the end of the day got to the bottom of my thoughts and emotions better. There was no magic solution though. I reckon with already having PCOS, a history of depression and with exhaustion from parenting it just took time to become more mentally stronger. My daughter went to preschool last September and I think gradually since then things have improved alot. Since early this year i started a gym class I have been looking for, for quite sometime. Our MS Society started a great program called &#8221; Getting the Balance right&#8221;! I will admit to being annoyed with the MS Society in the past as always felt they could be doing more and I think when I discovered Low Dose Naltrexone in 2004 it really frustrated me that the MS Society would not help to give information out or to help get trials. I discovered they were funded alot by the pharma companies and this may be the reason. But now I realise LDN or not they still do a good job and many of the people working behind the scenes do quite alot to help people with MS on a daily basis. There was big fundraising done here last year at Tesco food store. Tesco fundraises for a charity a year and last year they raised alot for the MS Society. It was this money which was used for the Exercise program. There was a physio class, a yoga one and a gym one. I did the Physio class sessions in 2008 and this year the gym ones. Both have been beneifical and I think the MS Society did a super job organising all this. I think there are many people out there who can help us with MS. I&#8217;m not sure who really can help get LDN into the health system better now though but i think alot has been conquered the last few years since the word started getting around.</p>
<p>My anxiety and depression is so much better now. The anxiety is there the last few weeks but not as bad as before. I find once i&#8217;m stricter with coffee and diet it is not as bad and often disappears. MS wise fatigue is the big one i have to deal with daily. Some days i have good energy but on average it&#8217;s probably a 5 out of 10. Some days i am so heavy with fatigue everything is an effort and it&#8217;s hard not to get grumpy and frustrated with it but i think now that i&#8217;m dealing with it nine years i&#8217;ve found ways around it better. On bad days i just have to reserve it better as i go through the day. I often go back to bed when my daughter is in preschool in the mornings and then i am more functional when she gets home. On good days though i can manage to do things in the morning as well as all afternoon with my daughter till my partner gets home from work. On these good days I tend to get wired with excitement because of feeling good energy wise. Sometimes I can stupidly over do it as I love to catch up on things when I have the energy. I usually wither away then in the evenings  by 6 o clock and just need to put my feet up. Much time has been spent online in the evenings as i don&#8217;t have energy for much else. I am trying to get rid of this habit now and do other things or at least find other things when i&#8217;m really tired or even just to go to bed and sleep! I come from a family of night owls and It&#8217;s been terribly hard disciplinging myself to actually go to bed when I need it <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />   When I am online I think that blogging will hopefully be a new therapeutic treatment for me when I am instead of spending pointless time facebooking and the like.</p>
<p>My PCOS has been hard to keep tabs on especially since my daughter was born. Weight is harder to manage now but i am just 2 pounds more than prior to pregnancy a few years back but that&#8217;s with constant work watching things. I am hoping to loose quite alot of weight as from my own research it should stop the PCOS progression and it&#8217;s so important i do that to avoid cancer, heart disease and diabetes which many PCOS women end up getting. The excess hair is the worse symptom I find hard to deal with. I have got stronger though and try not leave it bother me as much. It takes quie alot of maintenance but am doing all i can to deal with it. Sometimes people can be cruel and sometimes I can be far too sensitive!</p>
<p>I have had awful tingling legs last few months. I think i flared a bit in January and i think i&#8217;m flaring a bit again the last few weeks as same symptoms. These are anxiety out of no where, fatigue, tingling in legs and feet and a horrible pain in my heels of feet which makes it feel like I&#8217;m walking on pebbles at times. I am continously changing my shoes and end up putting on my runners for comfort and even they don&#8217;t feel as comfortable at times lately. I had horrible spasms in my hands a few months back but I&#8217;ve found a cure! Well at least i think so anyway. The gym has fixed it! When I used lift things at times(regardlessof the weight) i used get a shooting pain across the fore of my hands. It was a feeling like the muscles would tighten and stay in pain ! I used get it a few times a day and nearly scream with it. I haven&#8217;t had it in weeks and really feel building up strength or just general exercise improved it slowly and got rid of it. The exercise i learned in the gym also gives me an increase in energy too. At first though it made me so tired. It was really really tough. I&#8217;d have the class on Thursday mornings while my daughter was in preschool. The class was an hour long. When i&#8217;d get home i&#8217;d shower and eat something healthy. Then about another hour later i could feel the tiredness come on. It was like the gym used all my energy and for the rest of the day it was so difficult!! Within a few weeks it got easier and then it got to the stage after a few months that I didn&#8217;t have that tiredness at all the same day after the gym. I&#8217;d get a good sleep that night and the following day i&#8217;d have a good day energy wise. So after a few months i saw that it slowly increased my energy. Research studies have shown this with MS and Fatigue too but it made much more sense and gave me much more motivation when I actually experienced it.</p>
<p>Besides all that Life is good <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />  You all probably think I&#8217;m geriatric but honestly I&#8217;m not. Actually I&#8217;m one of many people with MS who you&#8217;d look at going down the street and not think there were anything wrong with me. While this is good that i&#8217;m fully mobile it can be frustrating as people have little empathy. Alof of people in my life really don&#8217;t understand it and I find it best to keep things to myself as people get uncomfortable and think you are just moaning. Also there comes a point you just feel you don&#8217;t want to talk about it and live a normal life. So for the most part i try desperately to try forget about it and get on with things. I am hoping LDN and back to diet better may improve things more so that I really can forget about my health problems more. I would like to work outside the home a little bit again and i know many of us with MS struggle with keeping emplyment but I know it&#8217;s possible and I aim to get there. I&#8217;m not sure yet what I will get back to studying or working at. I have a few interests and then there are many sides of me that has changed since i got diagnosed with health problems that has made me feel like a complete change. I am not career driven or very ambitious. I think MS alone changed my view on all that. I am more a person who works to pay the bills then to live to work sort of way. Anyway i&#8217;ve lots of dreaming to do&#8230;no actually I had enough of that earlier in the week with my LDN vivid dreams haha <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />  anyway who knows. If I get healthy and make a fortune I will fund the LDN trial. I wonder which is more possible. I think they are all possible. I hope so anyway <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>Off now to put my little maggot to bed. I&#8217;ve promised her two long stories tonight. She loves reading and she&#8217;s now getting cute trying to get more stories out of us so she can stay awake longer <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>Ordered my tests at last!</title>
		<link>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/07/31/ordered-my-tests-at-last/</link>
		<comments>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/07/31/ordered-my-tests-at-last/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:18:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lowdosenaltrexone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/?p=27</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had to wait a few days to order my IGg and candida tests as was waiting on a reply from Cambridge Nutritionals Ltd. Anyway they are now ordered and I should receive them late next week  
I am going to do them at home with my partners help. Should be possible as so [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I had to wait a few days to order my IGg and candida tests as was waiting on a reply from Cambridge Nutritionals Ltd. Anyway they are now ordered and I should receive them late next week <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>I am going to do them at home with my partners help. Should be possible as so it says on site.</p>
<p>Until then I know that i have some time to play with without getting too strict on diet. Even then I think that i will never go back so strict on BBD as it&#8217;s just too much when you have a family and other things in life. However i will have to get stricter but hopefully in a way that is easy to manage and without being too awkward in others company. I would hate to be at a friend&#8217;s house and refuse food because of my belief it may help my health. Unless I have a true allergy I can&#8217;t see myself deleting food completely.</p>
<p>However the food intolerence test should be beneficial. If a food turns up as being intolerent you can avoud for 3 months as far as i know then slowly reintroduce and it be ok with your system again. This is far more tolerable than complete avoidance and at same time may do my body alot of good.</p>
<p>I am sitting here blogging with a glass of red wine and I had a little chocolate. I ordered dark but none in shop so cadbury dairy milk will have to do. I like  a little treat on a weekend night like most <img src='http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />  My partner was running tonight in a race. He did well! Did it in a minute less than last time. He loves running! And I&#8217;ve seen lately how motivational it is for both me and our daughter. I was down on our green on our estate the other day and Ava just wanted to run like mad. She kept saying she was going faster and running like Daddy. It got me thinking so much how that my partner&#8217;s running is not only good for him but also me and Ava as it&#8217;s such a good influence! Himself is training for the Dublin marathon this October! He did it two years ago and loved the buzz and wants to do it again. It was an amazing buzz even for me the last time watching him come through the finish line. I was very proud of him!</p>
<p>Time to get some sleep. I hope the weather is better tomorrow as we&#8217;ve had a terribly wintry summers day today!</p>
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		<title>Fáilte!!</title>
		<link>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/07/28/hello-world/</link>
		<comments>http://lowdosenaltrexone.healthblogs.org/2009/07/28/hello-world/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:17:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>lowdosenaltrexone</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Welcome to my Health Blog.
The title may be a bit misleading at times as I not only have Multiple Sclerosis but also Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Anxiety and the depression. The last two thankfully aren&#8217;t as big an issue as much now.
I follow a holistic approach when dealing with my health.
I have found [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome to my Health Blog.</p>
<p>The title may be a bit misleading at times as I not only have Multiple Sclerosis but also Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Anxiety and the depression. The last two thankfully aren&#8217;t as big an issue as much now.</p>
<p>I follow a holistic approach when dealing with my health.</p>
<p>I have found diet and supplements successful and LDN in the past however these went down drain when I gave birth to my daughter in early 2005. I was so exhausted and at times depressed that i didn&#8217;t care anymore. Looking after a newborn put my needs second best. In hindsight i should have dealt with things better but it&#8217;s easier said now when i&#8217;ve come through so much.</p>
<p>Thankfully things are getting better and i have more energy mentally and physically now to take things into my own hands again and to get on with things.</p>
<p>The title of this blog comes from the fact that I saw a doctor last week who I am highly impressed with. He gave me some advice on the supplement and diet route and I got a prescription for Low Dose Naltrexone and advice and help with that.</p>
<p>I will be taking an IGg food intolerence test and candida test shortly and i will be sharing the info here.</p>
<p>Hoping this blog will motivate me to stay on right track this time and i&#8217;m hoping that anyone who reads my blog may get something from it.</p>
<p>This is an MS clip below from the MSRC which I Like.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAaVcaDDAsE&amp;eurl=http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm%3FCFID%3D1356882%26CFTOKEN%3D75416794&amp;feature=player_embedded">Life is for Living &#8211; MSRC film 2009</a></p>
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