Chelation round 75. Back in the saddle again.

rw818ibs15_im_back_in_the_saddle_again_800After a long chelation break I’m back in the saddle. Sixteen months I’ve have had off chelation. It was an enforced absence. Too sick to chelate. Last year was very unpleasant health-wise, but I have regained enough of my strength and health to restart my mercury detoxification. Life is pretty normal again now. I work, I herb, and now I chelate again. I am well enough to support everything at last. I chelate using the Andrew Cutler Protocol.

My 75th chelation round was fine. Not the smoothest, not by a long way, but nothing bad, or even remotely bad happened. After such a long break it should be considered normal to have a few slightly rough rounds whilst my body gets back in the regular rhythm of chelation.

I had a little heartburn rumbling, but only a mild two on the Richter scale.

On the third day I had a moment of clarity. At lunch I looked up and everything was visually clear. Like switching TV channel to a high-definition channel. I could see clearly now. Colours were more focused and vivid. The pictures on my walls looked clear and vivid. Blue particularly sparkled at me.

I had periods of activity and periods of tiredness, but nothing extraordinary. Did a lot of work in the garden and got out of breath and my heart kicked into turbo. I just sat down on the wall and breathed deep. It passed within 90 seconds. Nothing serious.

I had the most incredible night-sweats. Holy cow it was intense. I have been getting night-sweats recently anyway, but on night two of the round I woke up completely drenched. I went to the loo and the sweat was running down my legs, my t-shirt was sodden, my hair wet through. Not sure what that means?

I smell too. I had forgotten about that. I smell ripe. In fact I smell musky and manly. Powerfully pungent! Funny how we like our own smell, but dislike others. I guess this is a man thing. I guess to everyone else I just smell strong and nasty. Oh, the joys of chelation!

Bowel movements went to light tan for 24 hours, as is usual when I chelation. It’s a liver stress signal.

In the previous 20 rounds I have had re-distribution side-effects for about 3 days after the round ended. And this was no exception. First day and a half was mild, but last day and a half I did feel a bit pikey. Nothing serious, but tired and a tad irritable. Like I got out the bed the wrong side. I was itchy-under-my-skin too. Not sure how else to describe that uncomfortable off-feeling after a round. Itchy-under-my-skin is the best I can come up with.

Also had on odd rash on my ankle appeared from nowhere, but overall it was a perfectly normal round.

I don’t really have a time line I am aiming at. I am a lower doser. I chelated at 5mgs ALA only. I am not sure how long my chelation will take, but I am mentally prepared for the long haul. 75 rounds under my belt, I’d estimate I have at least the same again to go. I think I will be a 190 round man, but that’s so far off as to be irrelevant. At my rate of chelation that’s another 5 years.


Ummmmm…
Not ideal…

But what can I do? I don’t believe I should burden myself with targets and time lines. I believe I should just get on with it and chelate when I can. And that’s what I’m doing.

That’s all folks!
Sunshine

When i die…

ripWent to my great uncle Charles’s funeral on Saturday.
What a sad day it was too.
Makes you think about death a little: funerals.
He died of cancer.
He fought cancer for 15 long years.
That’s a mighty battle.
He died aged 82.
He had a cool life.
He greatly influenced my life too.
I am what I am, in large part, because of him.

At the end he was told; “This is it. No coming back from this.”

I was told he replied, “Oh well, I gave it my best shot.”
Good man!

The day before he died his daughter came in to see him. He said to her:
“Mothers waiting.”
“No, Mum will be along shortly.”
And he said,
“No no, my mother is waiting for me. Just around the corner.”
Deep.
Spiritually deep that is.
When I die, I hope I see the light. That would be fun!

When I die I want to die peacefully. I don’t want to die being scared. Everyone dies. Everyone without exception dies. I will die. You will die too. That is inevitable. Normal. Nothing unnatural about dieing, so there should be no need to be scared.

I’m not talking about what happens after I die. Is there something after death? That’s irrelevant for this conversation. Today I’m just gonna talk about my state of mind when I die.

When I die I want to die peacefully, free of worry, and hassle, and guilt, and regret. But most of all I want to die without being scared.

I had some panic attacks in 2012. Horrible things. I had these wild feelings that I was doomed, that I was going to die imminently. It was horrific, absolutely terrifying. And I had no idea why I was so petrified, panicked and scared $hitless… but it was not fun at all: Fear.

When I die I want to die with a smile on my face. I would like my friends to come round and say goodbye too. Shed a tear or two, but come around and re-live some of the fun things we did. Hold my hand. Feel the energy.

If I am scared $hitless, meeting other people would not be possible.

Not sure how I am gonna go peacefully, but I will give it my best shot. I have 57 years to go until I’m 100 years old. Plenty of time to prepare.
And if I die earlier than that, well, I gave it my best shot.

Sorry for the morbid thoughts, but I’m just thinking aloud. Funerals. No death-wish here, more a life-wish.

My chelation round went fine. I will update you that soon enough.

That’s all folks!
Sunshine

My chelation re-starts

images i'm backOk, I need to start planning things out. Life is getting full again and I need to arrange a plan for the coming months. So many things to do!

Important considerations:

1) My liver and gallbladder are still congested. Muscle testing confirmed this. My symptoms confirm this. I need more HW Liver herbs.

2) Because of the liver and gallbladder situation I might, repeat might, do a liver flush. Maybe. I have been thinking about it. These are the heavy-duty things with epsom salts, olive oil and grapefruit juice. Not recommended for us mercury toxic dudes and dudettes because they are so hardcore. Cutler furiously frowns on them! But I am feeling a lot better now. I have been working on the liver and gallbladder for months. All the herbs have certainly all helped, but I do get the feeling we have a log-jam situation in there. I am seeing a muscle tester soon. We will see what a professional thinks my body should do. A liver flush will take out one whole weekend. I have done them before, when I was ultra sick and they were heavy-duty. Again, this is just a possibility.

3) My kidneys are still congested. Need some kidney herbs. I have not done any kidney herbs for nine months and they need doing.

4) I need to experiment with increasing my milk thistle intake. Need a free week to attempt that. I am currently on one cap a day. Without that cap I feel worse. It is essential liver support for me. But when I take two caps I get a real splitter of a headache that will not shift: or it did the last time I tried a couple of years ago. Now I need to test it out again: see if I can handle two caps after all the liver herbs.

5) And I need to restart chelation. I will not chelate weekly. I have never really been able to safely chelate weekly. Bi-weekly was always better for me: twice a month.

So yeah, as you can see, plenty of things to get my teeth stuck into. Never a dull moment.

I know some of you have been wondering when I’d pull my finger out and re-start chelation, but in my defence I have been busy. My healing schedule/plan has been full-on and constant for the last 6 years; it’s just that chelation had to stop with the heart problemo. In fact, let me list out exactly what I did last year:

January 2012: Humaworm parasite cleanse.

February & March: 45 days kidney herbs. Also started a six month herbal bowel cleanse.

April: 30 days Chinese heart herbs.

May: After the Chinese herbs screwed me up, I focused on bowel cleaning herbs and had six colonics.

June: Another 30 days HW parasite cleanse. Mega diet change. Switched to über healthy, no wheat, no dairy, nor any refined foods.

July: Tried some liver herbs but side-effects made life impossible and had to stop after a week.

August: Humaworm Candida herbs. The most difficult set of herbs I have ever done, but felt much better afterwards.

September: High dosages campaign of pro-biotics, then Essiac herbs for 18 days, then on to SHS liver herbs.

October: Specific Carbohydrate diet. Still on the bowel cleanse and added some P&B shakes for fun.

End October: Another round of Humaworm Candida herbs.

November: Sets of castor oil packs weekly for my liver.

December: Essiac tea for my liver

January 2013: Humaworm parasite cleanse, plus juice fast.

February: Humaworm Liver herbs and started Aloe Vera drinking.

So yeah, I took a break from chelation because I was so sick – but I was still full-on action hero for my health. It’s not like I was sitting around twiddling my thumbs wishing myself better. All that stuff has got me back to being in a position to re-start my chelation now.

GAD-VL8SL-BKMonday I wore my special chelation vibration watch. It has an alarm that vibrates on your wrist as is ideal for me when I chelate in the office: Vibralite-8. It still works – so no excuses now!

As you can tell I have been mentally pumping myself up for a chelation round…and and and, and I started my 75th round last night. Happy dayz!! The heart problem I had caused me to pause my chelation regime for 16 long months. My last round was October 2011. Yes, the heart problem was a serious pothole along my road. But that’s behind me now and I look forwards and don’t dwell on the past.

My only concern in re-starting my chelation is screwing it up, LOL. As a rule my rounds are pretty easy and manageable. The only problems I get are when I make a mistake during a round and end early. I mean like missing a dose. If I end rounds early they always hurt. Always. I have been reminding myself to stay focused and on point. On that note I now have triple alarms in the night for each of my three wake-ups for taking the caps. Main alarm, plus double back up. Nice!

5mg ALA every 2.5 hours during the day and 3 hours at night.
Round 75 here we come!!!!

I feel like part of the gang again now.

That’s all folks!
Sunshine

A day in the life…

IMG_0147Sunday: I had a lie-in this morning. I got out of bed at eight am. I worked in the garden yesterday and I was knackered at day’s end. Exercise takes it out me.

First thing I drank my morning dose of Aloe Vera. It’s going very well and that stuff really is agreeing with me in a big way. Today I upped the dose to the top level I have been aiming at: 60ml. I started on 10ml per dose 4 weeks ago. As ever I am careful and taking things nice ‘n’ slow. I will hold at 60ml morning and evening now. That’s more than enough.

Next I drank my usual morning pint of water. I have done that daily for 6 years now. Then I made a pot of herbal tea and settled in my room, opened the curtains to let the sun stream in, and put on a new CD: DJ_Kicks, Maya Jane Coles. Quality house music. If you like a bit of house…I highly recommend it.

Once settled down on my dark brown leather sofa and got stuck into the book I’m reading at the moment: ‘Caliban’s War’ by James S.A.Corey. This is the second book in a trilogy. A ‘kickass space opera’ as they market this things. Very good too. Very kickass! I read for about an hour.

I made breakfast: bacon and eggs, sourdough bread with butter and honey. Everything is of course organic. So far my ideal Sunday morning.

I shower and shave and I’m ready to get in the garden at 11am. The sky is clear and the sun is shining. We had a frost last night but by the time I’m out it’s the warmest day of the year so far and all the sparkly frost has gone. In the sun it feels lovely and warm, although my iphone tells me it’s only 11 degs.

I have my work cut out. I have ordered in two tons of well rotted horse $hit. Now I have to spread it all around my garden. I have two big bags that got craned on to the front drive last week. I have to wheelbarrow the whole lot from the front garden to the back and then spread it all around the beds.

Why? Why spread horse $hit all around my lovely garden? Because that’s the secret to amazingly beautiful and bountiful gardens is: $hit! Serious too. Plants need lots of organic matter to thrive on. Well rotten horse $hit is like a turbo boost for all the plants; just my style: – )

It’s hard work shovelling all that crap; brings on a lovely sweat on this beautiful winters morning. Feels like spring. It’s coming soon too; all the bulbs are pushing their heads up. Because the work is hard, I alternate between shovelling and chopping last years dead plants back. The wife joins me chopping. The kids too have a quick hack, but quickly get sidetracked into hide-and-seek and football.

I’m outside in the sun, sweating, pottering around the garden for two wonderful hours. Nice to get out. I have missed the sunshine this winter. Seems to have been bleaker than usual this year.

For lunch my 4.5 year old son helps me make a quick fresh juice: one orange, half a lime, six carrots, four sticks of celery, an apple and half a cucumber. I was gonna have some bread too, but I juiced too much, about 1.5 pints, so it’s just juice at lunch today.

After juice: I am in charge of dinner tonight, so I quickly put everything together; slow cooked lamb stew with carrots, onions, home-grown garlic and one little turnip. Will have it with brown rice, so I set that to soak in water with a dash of apple cider vinegar. I got some asparagus from the market yesterday; looks lovely and will no doubt taste divine with butter melted on it.

After that I head back out into the sun. After more chopping we have filled the last compost bin. So now I have to empty another bin and spend the next hour or so shovelling compost on to the veggie beds.  Again hard work, but satisfying to be out, active and in the sun. In the pic above the beds that are dark are covered in $hit, and at the end you can see the veggie beds covered in compost.

IMG_0150At 4pm I am tired but happy, and it’s time for a snack.

We have amazing organic dark rye sourdough bread from the market, to be dipped in organic olive oil. Raw cheese called ‘Lancashire bomb’. Cashew nuts and pumpkin seeds: pre-soaked and rehydrated to neutralise the phytic acid. A pot of herbal tea and some of awesome homemade raw chocolate.

I made the chocolate last weekend after an old friend read my book and wanted some of it!! (Hi Femke) Raw cacao, raw maca power, cashew nuts (pre-soaked and whatnot), honey and all mixed up with coconut oil. Now this coconut oil is no ordinary coconut oil: no, this is personally hand delivered by my bro all the way from Goa beach in India. Thanks man!!

Tastes wonderful. I am eating some right now as I type this up. I limit myself to three chunks per sitting. At the moment it’s all gummed up in my teeth…yummmmmmmmy! Food of the gods this stuff.

Anyway, that’s about all for today. As you can see I have regained some strength. I could not shovel anything last year because I was too sick. The aloe vera is doing some seriously good things to me. I will write another separate post all about aloe vera when I’m further along down the line. It takes two to three months to get the full effects…but I can say the first month has been really cool. I feel much better.  And I’m regaining weight as my body comes back to like again. 4kg since the juice fast. A very good sign.

And it is now inevitable – I am definitely feeling much better these days and chelation will have to restart soon. I can’t put it off now I’m feeling better. That is inevitable, although I’m a tad apprehensive; I don’t like side-effects. But, if I am to get proper and permanently better, chelation is inevitable.

Oh yeah, I also finished the second round of Humaworm Liver herbs last week. I am still struggling with a congested gallbladder. Muscle testing confirms this. The herbs are good and I feel better on them than off them. I will start the third round of HW liver herbs a week on Monday.

That’s all folks!
Sunshine

The Aloe Vera Experiment: Part 1. Three weeks in

Treating-Bleeding-Hemorrhoids-with-Aloe-VeraSomething odd is happening. I’m feeling a bit better. Ever since I did that juice fast three weeks ago things have been getting gradually a bit better. It is a slow, creeping up thing. It’s been at the back of my mind all week. I didn’t want to say, or even think anything earlier, because it has only been a small change; at first. But, it is worthy of a mention now, but because it is unavoidable: something’s changed, my body is waking up – I feel a bit better.

Tonight I watched a movie at home. Unknown, with Liam Neeson. (It was alright, but now where near as good as Django Unchanged. Whoaza! That new Quentin Tarantino film was A-MA-ZING. Saw that Friday night at the Cinema. Real full-on power entertainment that film. Splendid. I can highly recommend that one. Got the same German bloke from Inglorious Bastards. Another cracker from Tarantino.)

Anyway, sorry where was I? Oh yeah, I watched the Neeson film this evening. I had a snack attack. I had some raw cheese, nuts, fresh rye bread that I got at the market this morning, olive oil to dip the bread, one date, eight prunes, an apple cut into slithers, and a banana. A TV snack attack, all laid out neat and tidy on a wooden board to make it look posh like in a Jamie Oliver restaurant. And, I also had a beer!

Warm beer as the Americans would say. Only a mild bitter, but this is extremely unusual. I rarely drink anything at home. And when I do, I only ever drink, on my own that is, when I’m feeling fine. It’s a signal. When I feel like beer, it means I am most certainly feeling better, funky even. No matter what aches and pains I still have, craving a beer is always a good sign. Well, for me it is anyway.

But it’s not the juice fast. That helped. Maybe it kick-started things? But I think this is the aloe vera doing this.

And I don’t think this is the liver herbs either. Yes, I started round two of the liver Humaworm herbs 12 days ago. Only a couple of days left until I finish this round, then I break for two weeks again. That’s been ok. That’s helping. But this getting better doesn’t feel like the liver herbs either. It definitely feels like the aloe vera is the driving force behind this upturn. Let me explain:

I have been on the aloe vera gel for three weeks now. I have been drinking the stuff. I never even knew you could drink it! I thought it was something you rubbed in to your skin? Odd eh! Apparently drinking it is normal. Apparently.

I started low, 10mls morning and night. I’m up at 25mls per dose at the moment. Need to take things slow (as usual!). Heading towards 60ml per dose, but we will see how it goes. The book says to take it easy and go slow.

In that time I have had the following changes:

My BM’s are easier. Definitely easier, and more frequent too. Moved to twice a day and today was the optimum: three times. Rock ‘n’ roll!

My food intolerances have gone. Wheat was ok only in small doses before, but now seems totally fine. Nice!

I can eat fruit no problem now too. I used to give me blood sugar issues before. But seems that’s no longer a problem.

And the big one: I am hungry all the time. Even after meals. I have experienced this before, and it always meant I was getting better. Remember I am underweight, under or mal-nourished because my digestion got screwed up when I had the heart problem last year. I am eating tons of food at the moment. I am hungry all the time. I am trying to slow things down so I am supplementing my diet with regular fresh juices. Two big veggies juices today for example.

This hungry thing is important. Always a good sign for me. Means my body to coming back to life. Up-taking vitamins and minerals. I have gained 3kg since I lost 2kg doing the juice fast.

Anyway, its early days. This could just be an upwards-lull?? Who knows? Full effects of the aloe vera take 2-3 months to kick in. It is a gradual thing. But the early signs are good. And that’s important. It could be the juice fast, it could be the liver herbs, it could be all three things…in fact it probably is all three things working together…but I’m pretty sure it’s the aloe vera. I don’t actually care what is doing it, so I will continue doing everything I’m doing now, but the aloe vera is looking very promising.

This is part 1 of the Aloe Vera Experiment. I will report on any further gains.

Oh yes, and I’m happier these days too:-)

That’s all folks!
Sunshine

Live The Dream

IMG_01411988: Twenty five years ago I was 18 years old. Picture this: I wore white plimsolls, blue drainpipe jeans, a white T-shirt, a purple waist coat and a denim jacket littered with badges of daggers, skulls and the names of my favourite rock stars: AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Metallica. I had blond hair to my shoulders and an earring. I had a dream: I wanted to be a rock star. Heavy metal was my thang. I loved it. I lived it. I had all the albums. And I looked great!

I decided I was gonna play lead guitar. Yeah, cool baby! But in order to do that I need to 1) purchase a guitar and 2) learn to play said guitar.

I had no money, so I got a job down the local sports club behind the bar pulling pints. I also got a job as a porter at the local department store: BHS. Cash is king!

I worked hard and saved every penny until finally I had enough. Hooray! I rushed into the guitar shop and with massive excitement bought the above pictured Axe! Perfect! The same shape as the lead singer of AC/DC, Angus Young. I also got myself a 100watt amp to power my way into fame with mega decibels of sound.

My parents were overjoyed. Not.

However my dream did not come to pass. I failed miserably to learn how to actually play the damn thing. Sure I could make mega-loud-thrashing-sounds that echoed around the entire neighbourhood. I had great fun doing that, but I never bothered to have any lessons, not even one to get me going.
I was not a natural.
The self teach books failed me.
I was rubbish.

After a while reality kicked in, I realised I was not gonna be a rock star, and I got a job in the city and stored my guitar in the loft.

****************

Six years ago life as I know it collapsed. Mercury poisoning kicked me firmly in the balls, my health crumbled and my future looked bleak. In amongst all my troubles and battles to reclaim my life I longed quit the city job, retire and go live somewhere calm and hassle free.

Sadly a massive lack of funds stopped this dream. Oh yes, we all gotta earn our bread somehow and no way did I, nor do I, have enough to retire on in my thirty’s or forty’s. But with my health so poor, with so much time dedicated to looking after myself, to educating myself, I had little time to do the fun things in life. Most of them I was not physically well enough to do anyway, other things I had not the time, nor the energy.

But one day I will retire from the city job, and one day I will do all the things I missed due to my ill health and lack of time and energy. So I started a list. I kept a list of all the cool and funky things I would do when I finally jacked the job, reclaimed my health and had the time and energy to pursue my dreams! Cool! And here they are, in no particular order:

Do an intensive yoga course somewhere hot: Crete? India?
Buy a boat and learn how to sail.
Study herbal medicine at college.
Study personal finance.
Learn to play golf.
Learn how to draw. (I was very good as a kid: straight A’s in art!)
Do Vipassanan 10 day meditation course.
Build my own kit car.
Go inter-railing around Europe, retracing the steps of when I was a teenager.
Learn to play my guitar.

Yes, the same guitar that has sat in my loft all these twenty five years.
After a while the list started to really annoy me. $hit, all the things I missed doing! All the things I couldn’t do. All the things deprived of me. All the things I wanted to do but could not. It made me sad, depressed and annoyed. It bothered and frustrated me.
Denied!

But one day the realisation dawned on me. I smacked my forehead and said “Doh!” as the lightening strike of wisdom struck me right between the eyes. I realised I didn’t have to wait 15-20 years to do these things. What a dick I was being! What a massive and total dick!

I didn’t have to wait.
I didn’t have to wait.
I didn’t have to wait.
I could, if I chose, do some of those things now!
I could live the dream if I really wanted to.

I was still busy with life. My job, my family and I wrote my book too which took bloody ages. Everything took up loads of time, but I realised I could fit in other things too, if I chose. I have a couple of hours free time most evenings!

That twang of insight, that change in how I thought; that happened about 2 years ago. First thing I did, I started up learning to play golf. I like golf. I just need the time to have lessons. I am not a natural! LOL. That was cool, but then I got a bit sick last year and golf is on hold because I am not physically capable to all that practice and all that 3-4 hours walking aboout. Ce pas possible!

****************

IMG_0011I think it would be really cool if my son Felix played the guitar. What a proud Dad that would make me! He’s only 4.5, but he’s keen, so I bought him a little ukulele for Christmas. He liked it, but he didn’t really grab it, grasp it, get it. I asked the wife:

“What can I do to get him excited about the guitar? It would be awesome if he chose the guitar as his instrument to learn and play at school. How can I help? What can I do?”

“That’s easy,” she said quick-as-a-flash, “get your guitar down and play it together.”

I love my wife. She is good at her job!

So that’s what I did. I got my lovely guitar down from the loft. She is still as good as new, even after 25 years up there. I dusted her down, tuned her up and fired her away and got my little chap involved too.

And it worked a treat. I still can’t play it and he is not a natural either! But he is interested and that’s key!

But another switch flicked in my brain after that. This was last Tuesday. I had been mucking about on the guitar for about an hour. My fingers were burning. I yearned to play the thing, even one song would be nice. Nursery rhymes to get my kid involved would be perfect. Suddenly I realised I could play the thing if I put my mind to it. I could get a few lessons. I could buy another self-teach book. I could if I tried, if I wanted, if I made the effort.

It was like a switch in my head being flicked.
Click!
I can live the dream if I so choose.

And so can you.
All those dreams you have.

You can live your dream if you choose. I know mercury makes life a misery but you can do some of your goals if you put your mind to it. Don’t let the mercury bugger everything up. I am sure you can find the time. It’s all a matter of flicking that switch in your head from ‘Pause’ to ‘Go.’

I promise you it feels absolutely wonderful to live the dream.

That’s all folks!
Sunshine

Ps. Typed this up at 37,000ft on a flight to Dubai!!

Pps. Started the 2nd round of the Liver herbs on Monday. Reduced to half dose because I am on a business trip. Need to minimise any hassles whilst travelling. (Edit now I’m back from Dubai and back on a full dose: Nothing exciting to report yet except I have a headache that will not shift no matter how much water I drink. The same headache as when I take too much Milk Thistle. Means my liver is detoxing. Anyway, I’ve only had one day of headache, and it’s not a blinder. I will reduce the herbs to half in the morning if i awake with the headache.)

Ppps. Since the four day juice fast finished I have regained the 2kg I lost, but also put on another 1kg. Hooray! That is good news. I’m skinny and extra weight is a good thang.