To make an extremely long story only semi-long: I've had a slew of health problems since January and am basically gasping at straws now.

Before January - I was very healthy. Rarely got sick. Ate what I thought was healthy, although I did eat quite a bit and had weird foods every week (i.e. tripe, pork blood, etc.) But, I never ever touched artificial sweetners, rarely had sugary drinks, always favored brown rice over white, etc. I used (and still use) non-toxic all natural shampoo/toothpaste/cleaners/etc. Had the occasional coffee but not daily - I preferred green tea. But I did drink quite a bit of alcohol, especially last year - wine in particular. Also I was under constant stress. I had to get up at 6:30 AM for school and had to go to work right afterwards and was on the go non-stop - often times I was not in bed until midnight. This was multiple times a week.

I used to leave food out overnight and eat it the next morning (unless it was soup or something really weird, i.e. I wouldn't leave menudo out overnight) and never get the least bit sick.

In January I had a cup of week-old lobster bisque (Probably not a good idea, I know, but it was kept in the fridge and reheated to proper temps). I immediately felt like I was going to faint. Nothing like this has ever happened before.

I didn't think much of it, but the next week in class all the sudden I nearly fainted. I've had attacks like this ever since.

I immediately cut out all alcohol and coffee and tried to clean up my diet as much as possible.

Then, in early February, I decided to try to bring coffee back. I had half a cup of DECAF and all hell broke loose. I had difficulty breathing, I got hot flashes all over, my throat felt like it was going to eat itself alive, I couldn't think. I was incapacitated like this for seven hours and I'm not exaggerating. Halfway through I had a cup of orange juice - that seemed to help for about 20 min - and then all the sudden the symptoms came back with a vengeance.

Since this time, I've had a brain fog 24/7. I don't really have trouble thinking or concentrating but it's like I'm at an altered state of consciousness. I still have fainting attacks. I suddenly became intolerant to Sugar AND any sort of caffeine - it's like when I put something with any sort of Sugar in my mouth, my body lost the ability to swallow! Mono-Sodium-Glutamat (Natrium Glutamat) and carrageenan also messed me up. Also any caffeine would mess me up. If I had the slightest bit of green tea or chocolate even, my body would start to act like it did when I had the 1/2 cup of decaf.

Other symptoms come and go. Some days I have a lack of feeling in my hands. Some days I'm itchy all over. Some days I have a dull pain in my groin area. Some days I hav a numbness in my head...or in other parts of my body...or all over. All day, every day, I have a brain fog. And I'm finding that I get lightheaded when I eat any sort of protein...fish, chicken, tofu, you name it. This is a problem because if I DON'T have protein every two hours then my body goes haywire. I never feel full anymore, just lightheaded.

I tried to make as dramatic improvements as possible since then. These days I eat reasonable portions of extremely healthy meals, get moderate exercise, and enough sleep, and meditate at night. I cut out refined carbs and refined sugars COMPLETELY. Not that I had much of a choice - if I put so much of a spoonful of white rice into my mouth, I feel drunk. Any "weird foods" and all pork is gone too. I used to be a big seafood eater; now shellfish is all but gone and I only have fish once in awhile due to mercury concerns. When I have it it's deep cold water (i.e. Alaskan salmon.) 95+% of food I buy is now organic and most of my veggies are raw except for things like broccoli. I also started juicing daily.

I started taking a number of supplements - I honestly couldn't tell what worked and what didn't for the most part. By this point I'm just still taking magnesium, lithium (see below), fish oil, a food-derived multivitamin, digestive enzymes, and probiotics (the last 3 are made by Garden of Life.)

If I stray, even for just one meal, or if I get <9 hours of sleep one night, then I feel liked death for the next few days. If I miss a multivitamin for even one day, my body freaks out when I put any sort of food in my mouth and it feels like it's about to shut down. This should not be happening at age 26. :-(

The only improvements I've made is now I can tolerate chocolate, and green tea in VERY small doses. The 24/7 brain fog is still there.

I've gotten all the tests done. Thyroid, metabolic panel, diabetes (2 hour glucose tolerance), all normal. I went to a holistic doctor and had heavy metal and vitamin deficiency tests done - at least that one found something. I have elevated levels of mercury, uranium, and barium, and I am extremely deficient in lithium and B1 and moderately deficient in most other minerals (rubidium/sodium/potassium/sulfur). My doctor thinks it's mercury. He prescribed chlorella, which lasted for about a week and then suddenly I started getting awful reactions to that. So I stopped. Then he said the chlorella was pulling out too many toxins so he prescribed vitamin C - 1g 3x daily. Well, I started getting awful reactions to vitamin C too! I feel like my hands are "shorted out" when I take it. It's awful. I tried taking a separate B1 in the smallest dose I could find (50 mg) and it made me feel weird - I was recommended benfotiamine, and I took that in the smallest dose I could find too (80 mg) and it totally messed me up. I got hot flashes and lost feeling all over my skin.

I've lost 30 pounds since January. (180 down to 150, 5'11"). Part of this may be because I'm eating better, but I dunno, that seems like an awful lot to lose.

I feel as if I'm running out of options. I'm overwhelmed. I'm getting so many different pieces of advice, and I know everyone means well, but it's just so confusing. I don't even know that mercury or stress or whatever is causing my symptoms (everything started so suddenly and has not gotten better despite living an actively 100% healthy lifestyle. I used to have Amalgams but had them taken out about 2 yrs ago - the dentist used the proper procedures.) I'm trying so hard but nothing is helping. I have ok (not truly good) days and bad days - and the bad days are not getting any less. Just when I think that things are looking up, bam, I feel like hell the next day.

I am trying so hard to keep a good attitude. That's worked for the first 6 months but as I have no signs of getting better I'm starting to think that it's not going to happen ever. I loved my life, had everything going for me, and I had thought that I'd finally cleared up all the issues from my past. I used to be happy-go-lucky, I tried to be an inspiration to everyone I met, etc etc. I just can't anymore. I'm not my old self. These symptoms are very real and they're getting the better of me and I KNOW they're not psychological - I've had many people tell me "it's all in your head" and that cuts me down even more. Trust me, I would give ANYTHING for this to be all in my head! I've also had people ask me such stupid questions like "are you eating?" (rolls eyes.)

I had to quit my job because my symptoms are becoming too debilitating. I feel like I'm doing everything right and I'm barely "hanging in there".

I have fainting attacks quite often - there's been a dozen times where these have been so bad that I thought I was going to die. I've fought it vigorously every time and hung on. I don't really think I'm suicidal, but I'm starting to think that the next time one of these happens I'll just let it run its course. With all that I'm doing I should be on a collison course to total health, I should NOT be just "hanging in there." Because if that's all that's going to happen, it's not worth the effort. :-(