Summer is the time of cleansing at The Prudent Wife and this summer is no different! I have been considering one particular cleanse for about 5 months, as strange as it may seem. It is the “Master Cleanse” or the Lemonade Diet, also known by several other names. The article under the subscriber section of The Prudent Wife will expand daily, sharing the Adventures with the Master Cleanse, recipes, thoughts, realities, and the who, what, where, when and why of it, along with charts and more! I thought I would do the MC alone, but my whole family determined to do it with me, so you will have the man’s point of view, mine and our 13 year old daughter (yes, we checked with her doctor on juice fasting last summer and they are okay with it - but you check with yours)!!

  Mark Twain says “A little starvation can really do more for the average sick man than can the best medicines and the best doctors. I do not mean a restricted diet; I mean total abstinence from food for one or two days. I speak from experience; starvation has been my cold and fever doctor for 15 years, and has accomplished a cure in all instances.” 

Got one set of news from the GI doctor - the initial blood test says I am good on the gluten. While the test came back negative, for some reason, there is still an inner whisper and lack of ease with it. I don’t feel as good when I eat a lot of gluten, some is okay, but a lot really sends me into a carb coma. But at least don’t feel like I will kill any additional pregnancies by eating a sandwich. I mean that literally, which is a tremendous relief.

I do have H. pylori, this nasty bacteria in my stomach that cause ulcers and eventually causes lymphoma (cancer). So I have to do an industrial strength protocol of antibiotics etc, a triple threat (my doctor is so cool - he says - I know you HATE antibiotics and drugs - BUT - it may become cancer, so I would suggest you really consider this. I appreciate a brilliant doctor who really cares about the patient, and the fact that the patient does not like pharmaceuticals!

I may have to do it several times to eradicate it, from researching it is pretty nasty.

This explains why I have non stop morning sickness feelings - H. pylori make you feel sick all the time, which is why I always feel prego - every single two week wait (and actually have for years - it is just worse now!)

That said - I am in the TWW right now and cannot start the triple threat until I know for sure I am not prego. The PrevPac routine can damage a fetus, so it is not recommended during pregnancy. So much of my life is lived two weeks at a time.

And I am thoroughly grossed out to have BACTERIA in my stomach that are NASTINESS! Ugh. It is like filth - get it out NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! So I will do a natural protocol that is safe now (bentonite clay, Oil of O, etc this week - all of which are safe in the TWW)

And - that baby aspirin - well, according to some things I have read, that FEEDS the H. pylori and really harms the stomach situation (lets cut a pathway quicker to cancer??) You know the old adage, you take one pharmaceutical and it leads to a host of others to fix what it is destroying! I just can’t seem to win for losing, but hey - I can eat bread!

But God is so good, we were at the HFS and talking to my favorite person there and I told her about the blood clotting issue. She told me,the aspirin can eventually eat a hole through your stomach. While looking at natural remedies - I have to tapdance on possible pregnancy - I can’t not have something that thins my blood. Get this - if I get prego - the stuff they give me beyond aspirin is a rat and mice killer! Yes! And there were tainted batches in China - that killed folks outright. And I would have to INJECT it - oh sign me up for that.

So my choice – rat killer to save the baby – OR – herbs (which we all know can be toxic).

I ended up getting this BAC formula - that might be ideal for you (info below). I would have systematically dismissed it - I don’t have high cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. But I do have blood clots which can kill me and have killed 4 babies. I bought a booklet on it and read it as we were out and about. It made total sense - so I went back and got it and at $39.95 NOT a minor choice. That was Sunday, so Connie double checked with the mfg on Monday that it was okay prego/or TTC so we are good there.

The next day - the GI doctor diagnosed me with me H. pylori and that pretty much eliminates ANY desire to take aspirin - so the BAC formula is a blessing!

Well, miracle of all miracles, I am down 2 pounds! Don’t get too excited, I have a thyroid problem, and there are certain times in my life where I will shoot up 10 lbs in a month, or 17 pounds in a month, my hair goes dry and horrible and I need to cut off several inches, and it falls out in handfuls and I literally cannot feel warm to save my life –two pairs of pajamas with socks and a space heater at night & 68 degree spring day outside, I have a space heater cranked up on high next to me with a turtleneck and a sweater over it. This has happened about 4 or 5 times now and is just really strange and lasts a few weeks. I get fat, cold and half to cut half a year of growth of my hair. VERY FRUSTRATING. No one has been able to explain it to me. I just got through one of these stages and shot up 10 lbs, so now am only up 8 lbs, which seems glorious indeed! It can take months to undo the damage of one of these thyroid episodes (to grow hair back, to lose the weight)

Bad news, the screw on the bottom of my Vita-Mix container seems to be totally jammed. It was pretty tight, but kept working and the blades spinning. Just now, as I made Flushy Slushy #2, put in the Vita-Mix to blend, while I went to grab ice, there was SMOKE coming out of the bottom. I turned it off and forgot about the ice! I drank it and it was actually very good - I can definitely handle it without the ice (and it is a little cold for me WITH the ice - I started freezing yesterday after drinking it, being in one of those weird thyroid episodes and all!)

So, waiting to hear from hubby on whether we have the tool to take the container apart or not! Wonder if I can do it in the dry container!

Begin gluten testing a week from today. Have metal amalgams out in 8 days - begin heavy metal cleanse then!

Spring! The calendar says it is here! God’s perfectly ordered world of seasons show it is breaking through. Birds dance merrily across my balcony, peering in my windows and twittering about. My roses have shoots, hydrangeas are beginning to brighten up, plants beginning to show leaves.

What else comes in spring? The 2nd annual series of SPRING CLEANSES! Yes, it is that time again at the Prudent Wife, to delve into the world of spring cleanses and detoxes. I am beginning this cycle gently, with the Flushy Slushy recipe that a friend shared with me near the end of the cleanses last year. The recipe is super simple, economical and uses fresh ingredients most of us have on hand already. It is a whole food juice cleanse whipped up in the Vita-Mix, very gentle. Tasty!

Infertility patients should consider a cleanse. After cleansing for a month last summer, I was miraculously pregnant. If you check with your physician first, the Flushy Slushy is something that can be done during the two week wait (please check). For women trying to conceive, it is a little harder to do a detox or cleanse, and caution must be used. You do not want to flood the baby with toxins! Since we are still trying to get pregnant, I do the whole juice during the luteal phase (ovulation to end, the infamous and never ending two week wait) using only gentle things that would be healthy to consume during pregnancy. When my cycle starts - I can pursue more aggressive things!

Bon appetit!

FERTILITY AND MENSTRUAL TRACKING CHART

We have lived a thousand years since last I blogged, a little over two short months ago.

Miracle Pregnancy

Miracle of miracles, we are pregnant with a post reversal miracle baby. We found out early, when I was just 2 weeks pregnant. Joy turned to sorrow at 7 1/2 weeks, on Sept 5, 2007, at our first ultrasound, as our precious baby was deemed a “blighted ovum” as the images flashed across the 3D/4D ultrasound machine. The ultrasound tech and our physician agreed, there is no heartbeat, there is no fetal pole, there is no yolk sac, therefore there is no baby. Hope came crashing down, we were given a clear death sentence with absolutely no hope, from our OB. I have blogged passionately on this on my Squidoo site http://www.squidoo.com/blightedovumhope/

Skillfully wrought in the fullness of God’s Time

Fearfully and wonderfully made

Today, Day 21 post diagnosis, our beloved Miracle Baby has been ushered into the gates of heaven.

For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me together in my mother’s womb
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You
When I was made in secret
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
Psalm 139:13-16

I love you with all of my heart….and I will never know you until the fullness of God’s time, when we will all see you.

Half of mercury contaminated dental amalgams are gone! YES! As much as I wanted to cancel my appointment to begin the process of removing my “silver” dental amalgams, I was brave and went in and did it. Last night, I had spent some more time researching and trying to figure out which protocol to ask for on removal. I also began loading up on Vitamin C and drinking EmergenC to prevent free radicals from having a grand time with the mercury. This morning, I took 5000 mg of Vitamin C over a few hours, another EmergenC, extra Vit E, a complex B, my normal vitamins and a shot of colloidal silver (I always take either colloidal silver or Oil of Oregano before ANY dental work or cleaning) and took extra doses of vitamins, especially C and E to take after the procedure. Breakfasted on scrambled eggs on cilantro covered toast.

According to Dr. Mercola at www.mercola.com

Dental fillings: Vapors from dental fillings, or amalgams, are continually released in your mouth and increased when you chew food or gum. Studies have found people with these fillings can have mercury vapor concentrations 10 times higher than those in people without them. Also, simple activities such as chewing gum, drinking hot liquids and brushing teeth can further increase the release of mercury.

Therefore, if you are looking to have your amalgam fillings removed and want to avoid getting worse please follow the following rule: Only see a dentist who is properly trained in removing mercury fillings. If they don’t appreciate mercury toxicity they will not implement special precautions, like room air to you by nasal cannula, rubber dams and high-pressure suction to suck out the mercury vapors that are released by drilling.

I talked to Dr. Mefford first about my questions, fears of getting further contaminated and the thought that it felt like I was jumping out of a “perfectly good airplane.” I brought up my concerns of using a dental dam, etc. Dr. Mefford is great and spent a lot of time making sure I was completely okay with my elective procedure, before beginning. He did everything he could to assure that he met safe guidelines (which vary widely, like everything on the web!)

The silver amalgam removal was just like getting any other dental procedure. It began with the numbing gel, then the shot. Dr. Mefford highly recommended the nitrous oxide - and I thought it covered the “breathe pure oxygen” advice better than open air breathing as the mercury was drilled, possibly exposing my brain to mercury vapors (do I sound paranoid or what?) so opted for it. It was my first experience with nitrous and I found it strange, but not unpleasant. It made the 3 hour procedure go a lot faster as I tended to lose track of time. I have made it a point, since becoming a Christian, to pray for the dentist and assistants while I am getting work done, especially for their children. Praying redeems what can be an unpleasant time and makes it profitable in a kingdom way. I had the honor of quietly praying for Dr. Mefford’s baby girl, 11 month old Lily Grace (not sure that I spelled that right).

Toward the end of the procedure, waves of nausea began to sweep over me, so they gave me pure oxygen for awhile, then tried the nitrous back on. I felt sick again, so we dispensed of it. Dr. Mefford had planned to do 1/4 of my mouth at a time, but were able to do the upper & lower left side today! Although I was there a long time, it did not seem bad. I got up, with the fuzzy feeling mouth from the anesthetic, thanked them, paid my rather large copay as it was rather pricey to fill 4 teeth and went on my way.

For some reason, I was worried that I would be woozy when it was done. After the silver amalgam removal, I was okay to drive home, including a few errands on the way home. I emailed my ebay orders, gulped an Aleve down, ran by the grocery store for cilantro and to get stuff for my second cleanse and came home. When I got home, my mouth was very numb, so I lunched on plain yogurt (add a bit of vanilla and stevia) without fruit as I did not feel like chewing. I rubbed arnica gel into my gums to reduce pain and swelling and plan to do that for a few days. Had half a smooth pb sandwich around 3 as I felt really sick to my stomach. With all of the Vit C I am taking, that does not surprise me. Made a quick dinner of hamburgers topped with blue cheese, tomato and avocado, with canned green beans - the softest quickly prepared stuff I had that didn’t have seeds or some sort of odd texture that might bother my sore gums. I didn’t feel like juicing and I definitely did NOT feel like chewing a salad! We will have watermelon when someone else slices it! It has been 8 hours since leaving the dentist (who just called me - to make sure I am okay - can you believe that? WOW!) and I feel sore, tired, a little foggy, ready for bed - but thankfully the nausea is gone since eating dinner. Next appt, I will plan food choices a little better and have smooth stuff already prepared.

Now comes part one of chelation, or removing the mercury from my body. I have half a mouth of amalgam left, so am in the twilight zone and full mercury detox is not recommended until it is all gone. I did not do a mercury analysis, hair analysis, etc, so I will not know what my levels are or were. I may check further into this by calling my Dr and getting her advice. All in all, this was one of those long term health obediences that I have felt I was to do for a long time, about 5 years now. We currently have the insurance coverage for 80% of it, so now is as good a time as ever. My goal this summer is to regain my health and thoroughly detox my body, so now is as good a time as ever.

My main chelation protocol for right now, increase eating CILANTRO and keep up with the Vitamin C and vitamins and the whole foods lifestyle currently on. I am prepping for another gallbladder cleanse next week, so I have a month to figure out what else I need to do, as my next amalgam removal is August 15th.

Thought you might enjoy some more information on why I did this. Over the years, I have had many signs of mercury toxicity, including fibromyalgia, brain fog, exhaustion, thyroid issues, headaches, infertility and more. There are over 125 suspected signs of mercury toxicity - and I have a lot of them (and can’t find the list). More importantly, that still small voice has whispered that I am to do this for some time. Not really sure how the back end of this will all play out - but you can trust that I will be reporting amalgam removal issues on the prudent wife blog!

I have read Dr. Mercola’s site for years and find he has a lot of good information (As always, when reading someone with a beating heart, we must read with a discerning spirit, compare to scripture, pray through the information and toss out the bad!)

Dr. Mercola’s Mercury Toxicity and Systemic Elimination Agents http://www.mercola.com/article/mercury/mercury_elimination.htm

Dr. Mercola’s Mercury Detoxification Protocol http://www.mercola.com/article/mercury/detox_protocol.htm has helpful hints on foods, supplements and more.

Is Toxic Mercury Exposure Ruining Your Life? http://www.mercola.com/2005/mar/9/mercury_exposure.htm

Another batch of interesting articles can be found at

Biological and Mercury Free Dentistry http://www.med-library.net/content/view/35/40/

Dental Amalgam Mercury Poisoning http://www.med-library.net/content/view/235/41/

Mercury Toxicity, Gut Wall Infection, and Fatigue http://www.med-library.net/content/view/149/41/

Yes, carrying on my natural path, tomorrow I begin the removal of dental amalgams from my teeth. Unfortunately, as a child, my parents did not instruct our dental health as much as they could. I had 6 cavities filled at the age of 7, and have had more through the years. I am not sure how many I have now, but they are all over my mouth! When I open my mouth, a sea of silver glints at you.

Royal mouth? No. Decidely not. My metal amalgam fillings are filled with mercury. Mercury is toxic. We have a fit about putting mercury in pet vaccinations - so why do we put it in humans’ mouths? Somebody figure this out.

I am not advocating the whole world do it, but am personally trying it. Once again, the Prudent Wife is a guinea pig, in a quest for health!

Here are some interesting sites on mercury poisoning and amalgam removal.

Dr. McGuire’s site — http://dentalwellness4u.com/freeservices/amalremov.html

Mercury Amalgam Fillings Removal and Detoxification http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Dentist/crawford76.htm

How to get mercury fillings removed without exposing yourself to toxic mercury vaporhttp://www.newstarget.com/007851.html

As ever, I will report tomorrow on this wonderful new process.

Wow - haven’t you waited your WHOLE life for this? I will update this when I have more time…..

Lisa Baughn

I have been AM whole juicing with my VITA-MIX for 15 days now consuming 9-12 fruits and veggies daily, did a juicing kidney cleanse, am 2 weeks into a 3-4 week intestinal cleanse, drinking my bentonite clay and psyllium husk shakes, walking 5x a week, doing Oxycise 5-6x week and am taking the leftovers of an herbal cleanse while drinking the apple juice in preparation for THURSDAY - which is gallbladder/liver cleanse day and I FINALLY get my bowl of whipped cream and berries - after downing the Epsom salts! Something to LOOK FORWARD TO! But then I am chasing that with olive oil and lemon juice, so what is really not to love about this whole protocol! Haha.Results - skin looks great, eyes bright (and virtually NO eye strain/feeling I need glasses) but NO real weight loss (boo hoo hoo) although I feel more energetic, I am not taking over the universe YET. I feel immediate energy when I drink my whacky beet/parsley/greens/celery/carrot/apple/ginger/etc mix each AM and feel great when I have more of it later. I am mixing the clay and psyllium with the apple juice, as the apple juice makes me want to throw up - too much sugar! Not an apple juice girl - and that is a hard one to take for me. Not that whipping clay into it makes it more palatable - but alas - we do what we have to do. The term “hard core” comes to mind (that is what we called the Civil War reenactors who lived in tents who take NO modern conveniences or cheats - and hand stitched clothing, etc - they were SERIOUS about it)

Tomorrow is our block party on the 4th, a hot dog roast of all things. I have some lovely halibut in the freezer (which I will take) and am bringing fruit, and probably a veggie something, so I can do alright, or so I hope. I may just come home for part of it, if the food is too much to bear, as I have worked HARD for this gallbladder liver cleanse and I have to do it Thurs or wait another week. I am ready to do it.

I will report more on Thursday or Friday. Wish I could say I magically lost 10 pounds OR that I had 10 inches melt off my nether region from all my hard work - and my thighs no longer rubbed together, but alas, it is not so. Lost two inches with almost an hour a day of exercise - but I see things shifting UPWARD. Which is good, but it almost makes me look bigger….. Figures! I do think my legs look trimmer, after hubby pointed it out…..although I remain suspicious and wonder if it possible for me to lose weight!! LOL!

LisaB! — who is absolutely DETERMINED and will not give up! And who would like to lose SOFT gallstones and a couple of pounds on Thurs/Friday!