Hey,
I haven't posted here much, but I think it's about time that I got back into it because I need the support and to tap a few other like-minded people's brains...

I work at the Creative Health Institute in Michigan and love it, but am dismayed that after 5 1/2 months, when most have dropped sixty lbs, etc, that I am STILL heavy, having lost NOT MUCH AT ALL, and although I've made SOME health improvements, it is mild, and that I am still clearly suffering from candida (which I've even been told is in MY BRAIN) and now I find out I am suffering from LOW HCL as well (candida's evil counterpart).

These symptoms---the brain fuzz, the fugue state, the lethargy---have totally ruined my life and I am at my wits end, having quit my job to come here. I preach the lifestyle great and am very passionate, but am still totally suffering. The frustration causes me to still SMOKE on and off, which is just so shameful and demoralizing at this point: I am so much smarter than that.

This has been going on forever. I am less alarmed and more exhausted at this point in life, though, thanks to enlightenment and understanding. My early 20's (I'm 30 now) were a nightmare---I was diagnosed with ADD, depression, anxiety, body dysmorphic disorder, manic depression....put on a million pills, from depakote - a stabilizer - to dexedrine - PURE SPEED! - to everything in-between. Nothing worked, so they kept upping the doses. My self-esteem was so low I thought I couldn't even be mentally ill "right", since I reacted adversely or not at all to so many of the meds. It's amazing I managed to have any fun at all back then, but I did. But the misery...I want it gone. And I'm still suffering.

I disagree that just raw foods can end candida. Because I'm living proof. We use apple, we have bananas, we use some raisins....I don't know what else would aid Candida that we eat but my candida is still there. Granted, though, I had it AWFUL. So it's gonna take a serious cleanse. I've water-fasted before, but gone back to eating cooked processed crap afterwards. Not anymore, since going raw.

Okay, I'm researching good candida-fighting herbs and have a good source for them. Plus I have my coconut oil and apple cider vinegar and will have a good probiotic AND will be doing a BioRay Rife Machine for Candida for a few sessions, at least, in Chicago, soon enough. (Yay!) But what ELSE can I do to fight candida? Am I a total freak because my body has not just bounced back into shape and health from being raw this long? I hate that I'm still fat and have no energy. I've improved, but not much. I see people come through here and miracles occur. And yet here's my stubborn old body....UGGH!

I'm thinking about having bloodwork come January, plus having my B12 checked. And possibly getting a good oxygen supplement. And this water fast should really kick it into high gear. But if anyone has any other idea how to help me, or knows any good advice, trust me, I am ALL EARS. I normally don't post that often, but need to get back into it. And Alissa's site is the only one where I will do that.....the people here are respectable and kind, unlike on Nature's First Law's board, sorry to say.

I have so many great opportunities coming up to help open other raw institutes---my passion is so strong, for people AND health. I just can't handle being in my own private hell like this. It stifles my opportunities and prevents me from living my dream, which makes me not want to live at all, I hate to say. This is getting ridiculous! I feel so STUPID all the time---my brain doesn't even work. And all I keep thinking is how there is FUNGUS living in my brain. Oy!

Your kindness is much appreciated. Wish me luck on this fast. I am an experienced faster; getting started is never fun. And how cold and weak you get is not enviable, but the purification and healing is so ideal...I looked into the Master Cleanse a bit--maybe in Jan I'll experiment with that a bit. Either way, if you read through this post, you are golden. I think I am just at my wits end...

Erica