Firstly, methinks 'we need to talk' (in a good way :) I don't think you're being any type of a "problem poster" (or 'problem child') for stating your opinion, what you think, what you feel and what you know (or disagreeing with me or 'the great doctors' or anybody else). I respect you, your intelligence, your knowledge and your experiences (along with every one elses). I am a teacher that strives to share with others the best information I have found regarding how to take responsibility for ones own health via 'tried & true' methods, empirical evidence and biological & physiological logic & common sense. So if I see someone possibly making a mistake in those aspects of the various 'healing concepts', it's my job to point out what I see as a possible mistake, and offer my reasoning. Remember, not only have I 'done the research', but Rocky & I have both done all the 'cleanses & herbs'; I helped dozens of people 'one on one' before the forum to do the same, plus I've also "experienced & learned" through every person on the forum. So I have a lot of experience with these things (and with my own and others' reactions). And :::playful wink::: since I'm pretty sure if you had it all figured out and knew exactly 'what was causing what' and how to heal yourself from it, you likely wouldn't be posting here about your health issues. So being a "calls 'em as I see's 'em" kinda gal that I've always been, please don't EVER think I'm disrespecting or criticizing in any way - I'm just sharing what I know & discern.
I need to either reduce my oral dose of cayenne or switch it to cayenne tincture. Alternate them? I was taking a very heaping 1/4 tsp of 90,000 HU cayenne and trying to slowly increase it. I had a feeling it would do that to me sooner or later.
Let's question & analyze this: you had a feeling "it would do that to me", means what exactly? I assume you mean "GI Distress" (from the subject/title), but I don't know "what" kind of GI distress, or how it would be directly or indirectly related to Cayenne (after all, whatever "it" is just started, but you've been taking Cayenne for quite a while without "it" happening!) Is it "GI Distress" that you know is caused from Cayenne, based on previous experiences in the past with 90,000 HU cayenne powder? Are the "GI distress" symptoms similar to something you've seen others reporting from Cayenne powder? Is it the same "GI distress caused by Cayenne" you reported before, that you ended up concluding was due to HC withdrawal?" Is it GI distress caused because the Cayenne (like it's supposed to do) has grumped-off a bunch of parasites? or the Cayenne (like it's supposed to do) has increased peristalsis, hence loosened up some mucoid plaque and/or putrefying mucous (hence causing toxins & gas)? or because you've been ingesting raw garlic and have gas from that (possibly along with stale bile being purged due to the known chologogue/choleretic action of the garlic...that typically causes GI distress)? or because you've been ingesting raw garlic (and cayenne), and both can cause die-off of unwanted gut microbiota & candida...which causes GI distress? Or are you experiencing GI distress that is uncomfortable (and/or scary/unknown) that may be some kind of UNdoing and healing response? Or are you experiencing a 'combination of the above'?
Cayenne (and garlic) do all these things and more; they don't damage or 'cause harm', they assist in the restoration and healing process...although they do make many people 'uncomfortable' in many ways until 1) we build up a tolerance and/or 2) get rid of whatever blockage or critter or compromise they're working on getting rid of.
And yes, that applies to every human being in the world that ingests them (unless one is experiencing a true allergic reaction).
I don't disagree with you about garlic in general, but I have to say that what my body experiences *may or may not be* the same as what many/most others experience with garlic or anything else. I'm willing and glad to take the natural route but I cannot promise how any one thing will affect me, and it may take some amount of trial and error with this program, so I hope you don't get impatient with me. Of course, your body will respond in a different way than other bodies - that's a "given" because your organs & systems are in a different state than anybody elses (and btw, it's just silly for you to think I require any "promises" about anything that you do with 'natural healing). If I "require" something, it's that when posting on this forum you do your best to ask questions and analyze your situation and reactions before posting statements (like,"I'm sure...", "I know...", etc.) that have the potential to mislead & scare other posters regarding natural foods & herbs. Once again, I am not the "healing police"...what you do with your body is your business.
Several years ago I remember garlic wiping out my entire good bacteria and I had gas for weeks until that resolved. I'm not saying this to be hard to get along with or anything like that. Lol, you really do qwack me up! :) Unless you had a compete & thorough GI analysis done before you ate garlic and then immediately afterward (and did not ingest or expose yourself to any of the thousands of foods, substances, emotions and EMFs that could compromise gut flora), you have zero way of knowing that garlic (or anything else specifically) ENTIRELY wiped out your good microbiota. The antimicrobial action of garlic doesn't kill good bacteria in some people and leave them alone in others! (no matter how much you seem to think it does).
The test you mention below showed you had 'zero bifidus longum' (and from what you've posted, I'm guessing you think the garlic caused this?), so here's a couple of 'tidbits for thought':
--Here they mixed bifidobacteria with several different herbs to see their combined efficacy against e coli (compared to bifidus alone). Garlic & bifidus came in #2 (oregano & bifidus were #1). Dontchathinkmaybe that if garlic had killed the bifidus bacteria, they would have noted that? Antimicrobial Activity of Bifidobacteria as
--The knowledge to bring healing and prevent disease by maintaining intestinal health is thousands of years old. Greek and Roman writings 2,000 years old, describe fermented milk (lactobacillus), garlic and onion (which feed Bifidobacteria) as standard practices for physicians treating intestinal disorders and preventing sickness and disease.
In a perfect world, I, as well as everyone else, would respond perfectly to garlic and all herbs but I have to deal with the way my own body responds. There is no "perfect" response to garlic. Garlic has known actions and when you ingest it, it does those actions...the individual variance in response is simply due to difference in the state of each persons body. Yes, you do have to deal with the way your body responds, but I would suggest you must do so with knowledge and sound logic.
For my own good, I *should* remember what garlic once did to me because it may do it to me again at some point. With all due respect to you and your body (and I believe you are due a lot of respect, Joe), I think what you *should* remember (and realize) that you obviously have a propensity for making extremely broad assumptions that are very limiting (hence anti-healing). Your body (and everyone elses) is in a CONSTANT STATE OF CHANGE...what affects us 'one way' 2 weeks ago, will not necessarily affect us the same way tomorrow. And what affected us 2 years ago in 'one way' almost certainly cannot have the same effect today.
I saw the exchange you and DQ had about garlic and CS and I have to agree with him, not to take sides, but from personal experience. I seldom disagree with anything you say any other time. That was a very long thread (if it's the same one I'm thinking of) so I don't have any idea what aspects of the exchange you're speaking of...and it really doesn't matter, because I am sure (from my research & experience like many others) that CS is unnatural and kills off valuable microorganisms, and garlic does not. You can disagree me whenever you want to (you're not the first and you certainly won't be the last! lol); it doesn't offend me at all when people disagree with me...IF they state clearly what they are disagreeing with and provide strong evidence & data to support their disagreement. Debates are for learning (and I welcome learning debates, when I have the time to enter into them). However, saying someone is right or wrong without providing evidence of 'why that is' is not only a waste of time, it's a hotbed for anger, negativity and hurt feelings. And besides, this is a support forum, not a debate forum...we learn, utilize and support each other using the methodologies upon which this forum is based, and ask questions if we don't understand or doubt how the foods, herbs, & protocol work together to create a healthy body.
Oral cayenne is causing the GI distress, I'm sure of it. I need to take less of it, at least right now, or swap to tincture. I'm not sure if I should make my own cayenne tincture or buy some. I hope I'm not being a *problem patient*. As I've said before, I want everyone to do what they feel comfortable doing (I'm only responsible for my body!) But I always (strongly) suggest that when making decisions and learning to listen to one's doctor within, that everybody research & LEARN how to interpret what is happening before making decisions. You may have a reason to lessen or discontinue the cayenne powder, but it's far more likely that you're experiencing some type of healing or decongesting of something...and if that's the case, then stopping the cayenne powder would prevent the healing or decongesting from completing.
What the great healers all most likely acknowledge is that we are all different, and there isn't any two people the same or respond tthe same to garlic or other herbs. I was found, from a $650 test, to have ZERO Bifidus Longum, and I've been this way for *many* years. Maybe that's why I reacted to garlic the way I did. I'm not knocking the program, I'm saying that my body reacts to things in it's own way, which *may or may not* be the way you or the general public react to it..
Well, what you know is that IF the laboratory analysis was correct (and that's a huge "if", btw), then your gut flora on the day of the test showed zero b. longum...but you have no IDEA if that was the case the next day, the next week, the next month, the next year or today.
Joe, I have advice and information I need to share with you that I feel is essential for you to "grasp" if you're going to understand how cleansing & rebuilding your health via natural healing comes about so you'll have some idea of what to expect. You can consider it, utilize it, or throw it out.
From what you've posted so far, this methodology is nothing like what you've experienced with alternative medicine, NMDs/NDs and supplements. The goal here is to get to the root of the cause of all disease...and that means ensuring adequate flow (emotional, physical & spiritual/energy) throughout every part of your body (from the tiniest cell to the largest organ) while providing ample fuel for the body to utilize while undertaking such a gargantuan task. This is especially true in a body/machine that hasn't been properly maintained since the day it was born. It's highly unlikely that any of us can undo all of the damage that's been done and live to be a 120-150 years old, but the reason for that is that most of us don't even believe it can be done (and wouldn't likely do it even if someone told us how).
What you can be assured of is that there's a good possibility with each and every cleanse, decongesting herb or protocol and nutrient rich fuel you use, each and every day...that your body WILL be in a totally different state than it was the day before (and many times that state will be just as unsettling as the way a 50 year ole engine responds if you throw in a few bottles of 'fuel line cleaner' when the lines are full of crap without doing anything else...kind of like you're doing with cayenne & garlic without having the IF#2 and charcoal/bentonite in there to soak up the toxins, or no CE's to help purge out the stale/toxic bile). What we're looking for is a slow, steady upward trend; and just like on any line graph, that 'steady upward trend' IS likely to show quite a few 'dips' on it's way up the graph.
What gets us all through this is knowledge (studying and reading and learning how effective these protocols have consistently been in the past) knowing what to expect, and knowing that our body WILL respond just like the tens of thousands of other bodies have responded. Sure there's a difference between a VW & a Maserati...but they all need fuel & fluids, they all have oil filters, exhaust systems, electrical systems, transmissions, etc., that are fundamentally the same! (And you can't unclog an exhaust system or a carburetor by changing the brand/type of gasoline or oil any more than you can decongest a colon or liver by ER4YT).
I understand your doubts; I understand that you've likely thrown tens of thousands of dollars away (not to mention precious years of your life) believing, chasing and trying all the various 'scientific ways' to force various healing & cleansing actions in your body. I understand that you're likely hoping (beyond hope) and wanting this to work, and I understand that you're likely scared it won't (and that you're going to do something or take something that will harm you, set you back, and make your body even weaker and more diseased than it already is). I understand, I really do.
But fear IS the opposite of healing (it's the opposite of ANY victory, in any arena). In fact, fear is worse than "not victory", it can be very harmful. I used to be a gymnast - I practiced and practiced with a spotter or safety belt or 'crash pad', but there always came a time I had to do it 'on my own'. The best way to ensure a disaster is to try to do a back flip when you don't have any confidence in your ability to do a backflip! (btdt - well, actually it was a backhandspring and I came very close to literally breaking my neck).
If you don't have confidence in this, you need to get confidence BEFORE YOU START! And you're not going to get that confidence from debating & discussing with me. It needs to come from within YOU...and that requires YOUR knowledge & understanding. I feel (very strongly!) that you need to take the time to read and learn more before making any decisions (or making any more changes, or doing anything else). There's all kinds of Schulze & Christopher videos & audios under 'Media' in our Storefront (it took me YEARS to amass the originals) that you can order Dr. Christopher's book 'School of Natural Healing' is available many places on the 'net. Gerson's books & videos are all over the place, as well. I really believe (from what I'm discerning from your posts), that if you don't 'waste some money & time' getting some good information and getting it assimilated, that you're going to waste a LOT more money & time on various products and getting back on your feet after 'unconfident backflips'. Joe, continuing to believe that your body is "fundamentally different" and that you'll have to 'test & try' all the solid foundational aspects of natural healing to determine if it's right for your blood/body/metabolism type is only going to get you as far as it's gotten you in the past. If you're happy with that, fine & dandy (then I'm happy for you). But I know and believe that when the fundamentals are addressed & restored, you can tweak your "fuels & fluids" any way you'd like...but thinking that you can tweak them to produce decongestion & restoration of your clogged and diseased organs is just bass-ackwards to me (and the concepts of this forum), plain & simple.
I'm not mad or angry 'at you', but I've been helping people far too long to not know a fundamental problem when I see it. Maybe you don't have a fundamental problem to/for/with yourself, but you're definitely expressing a fundamental problem with this methodology...and I really (really!) think you need to get over that BEFORE proceeding (and especially before posting more doubts & assumptions that no one or no thing can 'cure' other than gaining knowledge & confidence).
Also, it's possible that you already DO have enough knowledge to make a decision that is right for you, but you don't have enough confidence in your own discernment and decision making. If that's the case, then go back to the long post I made and get started a.s.a.p. on the EFT. EFT is something that is a part of the full Incurables Program for every body, so it's something you'll need to learn to utilize anyway. Start with simple, basic 'set up phrases' (possible examples: even though I'm scared to do this... even though I don't feel completely confident with this decision... even though I can see how this works, I can't trust myself... even though I want to do this, I'm scared of 'xyz'... you get the drift). The secret to EFT is to say exactly what you're really feeling (no matter how simple or basic), and then continue determining how you feel after each round...always being sure to say exactly what you feel in every 'set up phrase'.
One last "ask"? please accept my truest apology if I'm discerning incorrectly about anything. Discerning through a computer monitor is similar to going to bat with a blindfold over my eyes. I do my best, but there's always going to be times I 'swing & miss'. "The Force" is strong in me (lol), but I've got a ways to go before I can do the Jedi Mind Trick consistently over DSL :)
http://www.relfe.com/health_benefits_of_garlic.html I appreciate your taking the time to share this, but I'm guessing you don't realize this 'article' has been debunked so many times that I'm surprised you could find still online anywhere.