Thursday, September 13, 2007

Six months and counting

Six months now (or little over a week ago, but anyway). Still no worsening in my condition. Normally I'd have deteriorated quite a bit in the span of six months. I've been sleeping quite poorly lately, but I'm trying to fix that. Had a sleep study a few days ago, slept a few hours at most. My doctor wants to send me for an even more complete sleep study to measure transcutaneous CO2, he has some theory related to that. It seems like the combination of taurine and valerian works well for my sleep, but I have to investigate it further. Could be just a coincidence.

I tried ranitidine (one of Goldstein's trusty meds) and it seemed to help a bit, but I've sworn off things that "may help a bit" unless they're extremely cheap, safe and stuff. And this stuff costs about 30 euros a month so it definitely isn't cheap. Still haven't got my nimodipine. I'm kind of hoping the public sector neuros would rewrite the Rx so that I'd get the med for free, but it's not very likely, as they don't want anyone to actually get better.

I've been gluten-free for a month now, since so many patients and doctors recommend it. Haven't noticed any changes, but I'll stick with it for two more weeks, as Sarah MyHill says it could take up to six weeks to notice a change. I had a UTI a few weeks ago, the first(?) infection I've had on LDN, which is quite impressive. Though since it's been three years since my last one, I strongly suspect it was somehow connected to the diet change (pH?).

I'm working on the English version of my book now and it's progressing at a decent rate. And I'm trying to get articles about LDN on some big illness-related websites (eg. ImmuneSupport and ButYouDon'tLookSick), but no replies yet.

Next trials:

* inositol
* pentoxifylline
* nimodipine?
* DMAE?
* pregnenolone?
* pyridostigmine?
* melatonin?

Speaking of trials, the HIV/AIDS trial is finally starting in Mali! This is the best news for HIV+ folks for like 20 years.