Here I am on day 3 of pulse 28.  It is going okay although somewhat harder then in the past.  Since I stopped taking curcumin, inflammationi [3] has increased and  so has difficulty when taking flagyli [4].  However, it thankfully hasn't reached the point where it was in August with pulse 26 although it is a bit harder then pulse 27.  This may be because I haven't taken any pyruvate today whereas I did take it before, on pulse 26.  My bad!

What I have been doing the same so far is ramping up my vitamin C intake.  I have taken something on the order of 1500 mg today and I'm about to take another 1000 mg.  I am also using Lutimax, generally after eating, to reduce inflammation.  I also am taking Naproxen Sodium in the middle of the day.

I just thought I would write something here, to share and/or express some thoughts about things in general.  I know that people here may be looking for me to say something or complain about something, or something.  Lots of something, lol!  Ok, all joking aside, I'm doing fine between pulses.  Pulse 27 was NOT as rought as pulse 26 was by any stretch of the imagination, far from it.

I began pulse 27 this morning with some nervousness since I still haven't fully recovered from pulse 26 back in August. I  decided that 60 days was enough time to recover, that any longer would increase the risk of making the pulse even worse then it may be.  So, here I am toda, pulsing away.

My doc and I agreed back in June to increae the dosage of Flagyli [4] from the prevous 3x375mg/day x 5 days to 3x500mg/day x 5 days.  I suspect that had something to do with making pulse 26 that much harder although I pulsed in July with much less negative impact.  Pulse 26 just picked me up and cast me down, no other way to describe it.  Still haven't recoverd entirely from it.

I just thought I would put down a few thoughts about pulse 27, which is set to begin on Saturday morning.  I have to admit, I'm not at all looking forward to it since pulse 26 was a major shock and I have still not recovered entirely from it.  I am still using a walker, sometimes very precariously.  Usually, I have the worst of it after lunch and later in the day I do better.  Sound familiar?  It should, that was exactly the pattern I was having before pulse 26 and I've always had except the level of difficulty for everything has been ratched up a level or two.

Here today on October 6 and I look ahead to October 18 when I will be embarking on pulse 27.  That sounds so calm when I'm anything but calm about it.  Pulse 26 took me from being ambulatory to having to use a wheelchair and/or walker.  It wasn't something I was expecting to happen, it was pulse 26.  I had pulsed for over 2 years and yes, I had a little bit of heat and heaviness in my legs but by and large was able to get around and be fully functional through pulses.  Pulse 26 was far different.

I just thought I would jot down something while I sit in my home this afternoon for lack of other ways to spend the time.  I'm here alone, wishing I could get out, wishing I could spend time with friends but lacking the ability to do that at the moment.  Many of us travel a lonely path going through this process and I'm no exception to that at all.

Today, I spend the  tenth day since pulse 26 still unable to do the basic things that I still took for granted before pulse 26.  Well, maybe I knew not to take them for granted but I didn't dwell on how fortunate I was at the time.  It's easy to overlook what you have before you don't have it.

I thought I would jot down some things about this pulse and where I am on the second day after the pulse; how I'm doing.  Quite frankly, this is the worst I've ever been on the CAPi [17] or  in general.  It might be a good thing because I've gotten through the initial phase of things; however, only time will tell.

This has been my second pulse on the higher dose of Flagyli [4]:  1500 mg / day.  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  The first two days I noticed more difficulty walking after taking it, more heaviness.  On the morning of day three, it was a little worse and by lunch time I was dragging both feet and barely able to walk 10 feet unaided by holding on to a wall or a railing, or something.

On the eve of pulse 26, I can't help but reflect on some things that people here as well as in my day-to-day life have suggested to me.  The suggestions have been good, considerate ones, and I recognize that; however, I have decided not to take the suggestions, at least not yet.

What suggestions am I referring to?  I'm referring to the suggestion that I get a cane or a walker.  I refuse, outright, until I have no other choice.  And despite the hell I put myself through, I have a choice, and I choose to fight.

I was reflecting on my morning and decided to put something down.  This is a typical  morning in terms of what can and often happens to me.  The CAPi [17] I've been following for 25 months has impacted it somewhat, albeit in subtle ways. 

Most recently, I have thought that I _may_ have greater heat tolerance then last year (last summer) but it's hard to tell when the ambient temperature jumps so much, so fast.  If my imagining are correct, I've inched up to about 90 degrees F before the heat really starts to slow me down and impact my mobility.  Last year, it was 87 degrees F.  The year before, 81 degrees F.  I'm not sure about it though, just seem to be tolerating the heat a little better.

Day 3 of pulse 25 is well underway.  Over the weekend, I had two days of taking the higher dose of Metronidazolei [4] and it continues today with 3 x 500mg, this time in pill form as opposed to the capsule form.  I can now say from first hand experience, there is a major difference between taking the capsule form and taking the pill form.  The pill form is NASTY.  Horrid, horrid taste!

I've started attempting to toss the pill back in my mouth to my throat in hopes of missing my tongue entirely and washing the bugger down.  Uggh!!  I had it easy with the capsule form!  Unfortunately, when my doc increased my dosage, he also increased the amount of pill prescribed so that I get a 4  month supply at a time.  Now, all in pill form....yuck!

This post is to record the minor changes in my protocol that I'll be enacting, beginning with pulse 25 which is a little over a week from now.  I saw my doctor on June 30 and discussed things.  He is supportive of everything I'm doing despite the fact that I'm the only patient he has treated like this, using any CAPi [17] version.  He's as dumbfounded as I am at the lack of neurology to recognize the research and proof of the involvement of CPni [23] with neurological diseasesi [24].

In any case, he agreed with me that using INHi [25] daily, continuously, along with every thing else I'm taking, is hitting things pretty hard.  He agreed with me that if I want to continue to use it, maybe moderation is the better course of action, pulsing it with Metronidazolei [4], if at all. 

Day 2 of pulse 24.  Nothing remarkable to report, the pulse is going much the same as most of  my prior pulses have gone.  I have a bit of heaviness and burning in my legs but otherwise feel about the same as I did before the pulse.  This being the second day, that could easily change come Monday when the work week begins again, as does my work schedule.

I stopped INHi [25] about three weeks ago and have been having less inflammationi [3].  What I had before made it really difficult to function on some days, I just wasn't able to get around the way I was before INH and since getting off of it.  I think the combination of abxi [32] was just too much.  I even did two pulses while on continuous INH.  Better to scale back a bit.

I've read about a supplement that others here have taken in the past.  I decided to give it a try, thinking that if nothing else, it will help clean up endotoxini [35] in my system.

The supplement is GliSODin.  From what I've read, it seams to be an antioxidanti [27] enhancer, possibly in the way Alpha Lipoic Acid seems to be.  I'm unsure about how beneficial it will be but I decided it's worth trying.

I'm interested in any experience you may have with it, thanks.you may have with it, thanks.

I had been thinking about things and realized I had some unresolved, unanswered questions that I hadn't asked. I could post this in the forums but there are several questions and it makes sense that I blog about it since they may not all be of interest to everyone.

Okay, now that the prefacing is over, my first question is about timing of things and how it affects me.  More specifically, each morning I wake up and take a few things before I do anything else.  I have what seems like a porphyric reaction to it although I don't know or understand why I would, it isn't food.

One of those days already.  I got up, very unsteady but thought it would improve as I woke up.  Nope, it didn't.  I kept going anway.  I knew that I best hold onto things if I'm going to get around and so I did, as much as possible.

Well, that had limited success as you might imagine.  I have a small set of stairs walking out of the building where I live, concrete stairs.  I managed to trip and fall from the top to the bottom in one fell swoop, ending the event by cracking my skull on the concrete ground at the bottom.  Fortunately, it wasn't too bad as I was trying to minimize the fall as it went.  No blood that I can feel or see, so I may get out of it with just a bump.