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60 year old woman
On guai protocol 1˝ years
I am a 60-year-old woman and I live in Green Valley Az. I have had a variety
of health problems all of my life and dealt with them the best I could. I
never thought of myself as a ‘sick person’ until 1997 when I came down with
debilitating fatigue. I had always had low energy but this was severe. I had
to spend all day in bed, three to five days a week. When I say “in bed” I
mean in bed. On some days, it took all of my energy just to get up and go to
the bathroom and to the kitchen to get something to eat. On “good” days I
was able to get up and run a couple of errands but only for several hours
and then I would be exhausted and have to go back to bed.
I couldn’t live like this but I could not find anything or anyone to help. I
saw a naturopath, a chiropractor and, of course, medical doctors. With
medical doctors, I could not get anybody to believe there was anything wrong
with me. No one was able to help me in spite of a variety of treatments,
drugs and supplements. I tried all kinds of things. You wouldn’t believe how
many different kinds of vitamins and supplements I tried…but nothing helped.
One doctor told me I had Epstein Barr but the treatment for that didn’t
help. The one thing that helped me slightly was eating a diet low in sugar
and starch, the hypoglycemia diet. If I was very strict with my diet I would
have just a little more energy.
Then I spoke to Susan Speers who told me about Dr. Penniston and how much
she was improving from chronic fatigue syndrome. She told me that I should
read What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Fibromyalgia by Dr. St. Amand.
After reading the book I was convinced that I had fibromyalgia and was
anxious to see Dr. Penniston. Reading the book helped me to realize that
many of my health problems throughout my life were most likely due to
fibromyalgia.
I finally had a day where I felt good enough to go to Dr. Penniston. I went
on the guaifenesin protocol, got mapped and got help in eliminating
cosmetics and other products with salicylates. I started on 400mgs of
guaifenesin per day on October19, 2001. Within several days I began to have
a better quality of sleep and would wake up with more energy. I hadn’t slept
well all of my life. I could hardly sleep at all and it was not restful at
all. I could only sleep for a couple of hours at a time, but on the
guaifenesin I began sleeping for much longer periods of time. It has made a
big difference for me, just being able to sleep better. I found that I was
still exhausted most days, however. I was encouraged with guaifenesin, but
after two months was discouraged that I was still having many of my
problems.
In January 2002 I raised my dose of guaifenesin to 600 mgs of the
non-prescription pills per day. Almost immediately I began to feel better
and have more energy. In the past two weeks (of January 2002) I have only
spent one half day in bed!!!!!! So many of my symptoms have become much
less. I used to have to get up four times a night to go to the bathroom; now
I only need to get up once or twice. My digestion—intermittent bouts of
diarrhea and constipation—is so much better and my vulvar pain has become
much less.
Being on the guaifenesin treatment has been the most encouraging thing
that’s happened to me since I got sick. It is the only thing that has really
helped me at all other than the hypoglycemic diet but that was only a small
improvement. It’s still really hard, going through the cycling and having
some very extreme fatigue on some days. I find that it’s an up and down
process…but I am encouraged by my progress with guaifenesin and it is
already making a big difference in my life. I am so thankful that Susan took
the time to let me know about guaifenesin and Dr. Penniston because I don’t know where I’d be without it
Sincerely,
Martha
P.
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