Sheila Schoonmaker

September 29, 2008

It Always Works For Me!

Filed under: My Aspieness, My Remedies — Sheila @ 2:19 pm
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How could I forget something so crucial?! I guess that’s what exhaustion does for a person.

Instead of rewording what I’ve already said in a comment I wrote from my post Sleeping With Insomnia, I’ll just copy and paste it here. I think the information is too vital to risk the chance that others may miss benefitting from it.

I see what I’ve neglected to add and am reminded of things I forgot about my childhood. My parents always had me go to bed in my own bedroom, but in spite of that, I didn’t end up staying there for the same reasons as your son’s. After having written this post, I asked how many other adults in my aspie group have to deal with nightmares. Surprisingly the answer was only a few do. This sleep disturbance seems to be more prominent among children. I think there are too many factors which could possibly be acting upon the way one sleeps as an adult for any ‘professional’ to be able to give a reliable answer.

I may have given the wrong impression, since I too get overstimulated by anything electronic. Having said that, it probably makes little sense as to why I sometimes use a CD player for help to sleep. On the nights I listen to my CD, my mind tends to be extraordinarily overstimulated all on its own. I have no idea what percentage of the time it works. All I know is that it has given me a break from my own inability to ‘ground’ my thoughts. It takes discernment and practice to know what things can be focused on without over-focusing on it (you probably already know that).

I heard the advice of eastern meditation (e.g., focusing on breathing to stay in the ‘present’). That doesn’t work for many aspies. A tip I failed to mention has a perfect success rate for me. I forgot to include it, because it had been a long while since I last experienced it before writing this post. I can remember to include it in this comment due to finally getting this ‘treatment’ last night. My parents would never have done it for me, but fortunately I must have intuitively known to give top priority to marry a man who is gifted with knowing how to give a massage. My husband never was taught any techniques. He just knows how to squeeze the anxiety out of me (he should, because for many years, he was the greatest contributor of stress in my life¹ and I thank God that’s over!). It isn’t often I get to receive his therapeutic strength, but when I do, it works 100% of the time!

I did have the same Alexandar Scourby’s CDs as yours, but gave them away because of the way he talks (like there is a fire in his mouth and the words are running out to escape for their lives!). It’s critical that I listen to a soothing voice speaking at a slower pace.

Thank you for praying I get a wonderful night’s sleep. That explains why I finally got what I needed last night! )

Angela’s comment is a wonderful example of the kind of feedback that ends up being quite helpful for us all. Thank you Angela and everyone else who has done the same!

¹He admits it and now sees what he couldn’t back then. Only the ignorant would claim this is an arrogant statement.

September 26, 2008

Sleeping With Insomnia

Filed under: My Aspieness, My Life, My Remedies — Sheila @ 3:00 am
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Insomnia doesn’t mean never being able to sleep. It means being unable to remain asleep for an adequate length of time.

Usually insomnia stems from anxiety and worry. Even though aspies are known for being anxious most of the time, research seems to indicate other factors as possibly being the cause for some aspies’ unusual sleeping patterns.¹

Because I’ve never known what ‘normal’ sleep is like, I’ve always wondered why my sleeping experiences are so different. I wasn’t the only one who wondered. A psychology professor I had who taught Psychology of the Conscious, was also baffled. My dream journal disturbed him so much that he highly suggested I find a therapist who might be able to makes some sense out of my vividly morbid nightmares. Contrary to what most people might think, nightmares do NOT always indicate an underlying psychopathology.

Even though I’ve had nightmares and night terrors all throughout my life (sometimes more often than others), I did not develop chronic insomnia until after I was married and raising children. The insomnia never left, but it has decreased since its acute 13 years.

I have a healthy method that both helps me to get back to sleep and curb the horrors my mind creates when dreaming. However, there are times when nothing works. It’s those nights when I know that the best thing I can do is find something quiet to do for the night—like writing this post for example.

Obviously, it is important to have as comfortable of a place to sleep as possible. A waveless waterbed mattress made up of cylinder tubes with foam and water minimize the urge to toss and turn. Down feather pillows make the ideal complement. No headboard can beat an open window bringing in fresh country air! Those things take care of the body, but they’re not enough for a constantly hyper-active mind.

Since I rarely ever sleep through the night without waking up, the tricky part is to keep the times of being awake as short as possible. If I’m creating my own thoughts, it can take me hours before I’ll fall back asleep. However, if an external source leads my thoughts, then sleep may come back after a couple of minutes. I’ve found a way to get my mind back to sleep AND decrease my nightmares at the same time!

I wear comfortable earphones connected with an extended wire to a bedside stereo system that plays the bible on CD. Since it is recorded in an MP3 file format, the entire bible fits onto 2 CDs. That means I can leave one CD in all night without having to hear something being repeated many times over. What does often happen as I listen to this while sleeping is I end up having dreams with someone speaking scripture to me. I never had a nightmare yet while listening to the bible in my sleep. I’ve tried listening to music while sleeping, but that doesn’t help much since it doesn’t provide me with something to think about. Since I cannot turn off my thinking when going to sleep and too much thinking keeps me awake (and can also wake me up), hearing the bible provides the perfect balance!² For those who would call this brainwashing, my response would be, “Mankind needs his brain washed, since human nature is depraved.”

¹I’ve learned some interesting things about nightmares, night terrors, and the aspie mind from my past research. Unfortunately, I no longer have those sources for linking into posts. I’ve tried searching again, but have not been able to find them. I have found other insights into this subject and will write about it some other day.

²So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. — Romans 10:17

September 9, 2008

Weird Depression

Filed under: My Faith, My Life, My Remedies — Sheila @ 1:12 pm
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Even though it’s been a long time since I’ve been depressed, I can still remember this strange experience I had. It’s not the depression that was strange, but rather the ‘cure’. If I procrastinate any longer though to write about it, I might forget to.

There is nothing unusual about feeling down over knowing you can’t have what you’d like. That’s bad enough for most people, but on top of that, I felt worse over being in this condition because it was seeming like a private pity-party to me. I thought what I was going through was only because of not accepting something I could not change, at least without violating God’s will anyhow.  

It’s true, I was not totally accepting my lot in life at that time, but that wasn’t the cause of my depressed state. It was the symptom. It wasn’t until I read something I never thought of before, that I learned the true cause of my sad condition. Just as soon as that new consideration arrived, the depression lifted away. That had to be the evidence uncovering what was actually going on, since that remedied the depression.

It was when I was studying and meditating upon how a person can know if he is saved, that I stumbled upon surprising information. I had been away from my regular routine of daily bible study for an unusual length of time and was beginning to get back into it. Before this unexpected revelation, I was slipping into doubt about my own salvation. I knew that God’s children thrive on pleasing Him and I knew that my attitude wasn’t matching that description then. 

How more weird can self-deception be than to think that what you’re wanting isn’t what you really want? My escape from the pit of depression could not happen as long as I was doubting God.  Because of forgetting that I thrive best when I’m pleasing Him (that’s easy to do when nourishing temptation by giving it too much attention), I became tricked into believing I was wanting something I didn’t really want.  That tells me that if I did receive this desire which was actually an illusion (but probably would be a reality for a non-Christian), then I’d really be miserable!

If I had been examining myself better, I would have seen the pattern of when I am filled with joy.  How could it happen that I forgot I am in my best emotional state whenever I’m doing¹ what God wants instead of what I want?  

How can someone explain how pleasing God is more joyful than pleasing self unless he too has experienced it?  That would be like trying to explain life to someone who hasn’t even been conceived yet.

One thing is for certain, you’ll never read about this kind of weird depression in any psychology books.  This [remedy] is just another one of those unwelcome things to talk about in an aspie group meeting (and most other social gatherings too), but thank God I can tell about it here! :)
¹I had not ‘done’ this thing I was keeping in my mind, but thinking about it was just as harmful as if I had acted on it.

September 5, 2008

Printing B&W on a Mac

Filed under: My Remedies — Sheila @ 2:52 pm
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I don’t usually offer tech support on my blog, but since this advice is nowhere to be found online and/or through Apple’s employees, I’m offering it here for those who use the latest operating system for mac computers.

Obviously to print (from Safari for example), go to File > Print. To the furthest right of ‘Printer’, enable the drop-down menu features. Immediately below ‘Orientation’ and ‘Scale’, select ‘Paper Type/Quality’.

Since when does ‘Paper Type’ and/or ‘Quality’ have anything to do with choosing to print in black and white verses color?! (I already informed Apple of their need to add in the word ‘ink’ here.)

For paper, under the color option, select ‘grayscale’. You can choose the highest quality, if you also deselect the ‘plain paper’ default choice. For color options, chose ‘High Quality’ rather than ‘Black Print Cartridge Only’.

If you rarely print using color, create a preset called ‘Black & White’ by using the option right under ‘Printer’.

A lot of people think that mac computers no longer provide the option to print in black and white only. It’s still there, but help for knowing where apparently isn’t.

August 9, 2008

Google Giggle

Filed under: My Remedies — Sheila @ 9:22 am
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My remedy for avoiding google is using scroogle.org’s scraper instead, but that too might change after I try other alternatives.

Screen shot from scroogle.org

One might refer to some google avoiders as being paranoid. If you’re one of them, consider substituting paranoia with the word, ‘circumspection’. When Microsoft bans Scroogle, people should think about why they do. On the other hand, those who do wonder about such things, must also wonder why someone like Daniel Brandt would offer such a service for ‘free’. It’s only natural that Anonymous of Anonymous Living would write about this subject.

When will the decisions stop multiplying for those who are perpetually curious? It’s a small price to pay compared to the alternative.

May 21, 2008

Purposeful Boundaries

Filed under: My Aspieness, My Faith, My Life, My Remedies — Sheila @ 10:00 am
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Even though I’m not writing about Asperger’s syndrome today, the message can easily be applied to both AS and neurotypical syndrome people. My last activity yesterday, before retiring for sleep, happened to be caused by deciding where to relocate a dusty little red book on one of my shelves. I almost always go through such things whenever I’ve acquired a new book. It’s like defragging my hard drive so the Windows operating system can find files faster, since they’re more organized then. Excessive explanation? Not really. It’s to show God can work in strange ways even if they seem trivial.

The little red book (← a pun is there folks!) I’m referring to is titled The Book of Prayers: Compiled for Everyday Worship. It was published in 1981 by Avenel Books in New York and edited by Leon and Elfreda McCauley. Most people would glean through its pages and think it to be dull. Maybe I did too, since I never paid much attention to it during the quarter of a century that it’s been sitting on my shelf.

Anyhow, earlier last evening, I had been brought down in spirits because of being reminded of the harsh realities Aspies face in regards to employment due to how illogical (insane) the work force scene is. It came from the book Theory of Mind and the Triad of Perspectives on Autism and Asperger Syndrome: A View from the Bridge by Olga Bogdashina (more specifically from Temple Grandin’s statements repeated on page 158):

“Many people with autism expect all people to be good. It is a rude awakening to learn that some people are bad and might try to exploit them. AS people often cannot hold down jobs as they are unable (and often unwilling) to ‘play social games’. They are straightforward (not rude). They cannot accept that ‘know-who (to please)’ is more important than ‘know-how (to do the job)’.”

If all people lived to please God, then the work force scene would be logical and sane instead. Oh well, that’s for the new earth — for now, there is still work to be done in this present one. Even though I enjoy most of the work I do,¹ in spite of not getting paid and never receiving encouragement or praise for it, I don’t enjoy being constantly compared to and judged against the lifestyles of ‘normal’ women today.

Enough said about what brought me down; now to what elevated me! Page 28, of the prayer book, contained one called For a Purposeful Life. These are the words which blessed me with the same peace that children acquire from knowing their boundaries given to them from loving parents for their protection:

“When we have found life good, O Lord, we have asked for longer days; when we have found it heavy, we have asked for a lighter load. Teach us to accept whatever comes to us as useful cargo freighted with possible blessing. Help us to wrest a blessing from circumstance, to work with thee in making all things work together for good because we will to live according to thy purpose. Amen.”

Living according to God’s purpose, rather than according to what I want God’s purpose to be for me, is a comfort zone that no prescribed medication can offer. I should know that by now. It must go to show that knowing is not the same thing as humbly abiding in that knowledge.

I don’t know what other blessings lay ahead from the prayers in this book, but I’m eager to find out. The introduction The Strength of Personal Prayer by Harry Emerson Fosdick is loaded with profound statements. I shall summarize this post with a portion from page 4:

“There are two aspects to every strong life—rootage and fruitage, receptivity and activity, relaxation and tension, resting back and working hard. A man who cannot do the former can never do the latter well, never! He who cannot rest, cannot work; he who cannot let go, cannot hold on; he who cannot find footing, cannot go forward. The offices of psychiatrists are littered with folk who have mastered the techniques of activity and aggressiveness and now are going all to pieces because they have failed to master that other technique: they have nothing to rest back upon.”

¹It’s the household engineering duties that can be a drag, but then when I feel that way, I know what’s in need of readjustment (me). Being thankful is the cure for most everything → the greatest is being spared from eternal annihilation!

May 20, 2008

Up, Up, and Away!

Filed under: My Aspieness, My Humor, My Life, My Remedies, My Thoughts — Sheila @ 10:07 am
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I’m unavailable at this time to write more about Asperger’s syndrome traits until my passion shifts back towards AS itself. The euphoria I’m being gratified by from my currently increased dopamine level (due to my other interests besides blogging) is greater than the “high” that my serotonin level can compete with. Of course, there is the option for me to exercise more and increase my endorphin level by doing so. However, if I did that, then I wouldn’t have the drive to learn as much as I am. For now, I like taking advantage of my obsessive/compulsive educational methods.

In my humble opinion, Aspies were created to be passionate over whatever captivates their interest most. After all, if they weren’t . . . who would be?¹ It takes extraordinary fuel to to escape gravity and travel where most others do not normally go.

Neurotypical folks can maintain ’socially acceptable’ patterns of interest due to their naturally higher levels of serotonin. This is why we Aspies get wrongly judged because of our flakiness. It’s also one of the reasons why we get drugs pushed on us to conform. Those who must fit into the mainstream and swim with the other salmon have no choice. As for myself, menopause has retired me from spawning duties. I’m one salmon who is going to make the most of what life I have left and that cannot be done according to someone else’s agenda of what s/he would think is best for me.

Daily mediation on scripture from the bible does boost my serotonin level, so it’s not like there is no source of counter-balance. Heck, if I threw in heavy-duty exercise with my spiritual menu, I might even start behaving more like a normal person in regards to how I divide up my day! Plus, I might get the added bonus of being less skeptical about people, thanks to also increasing my oxytocin level — but, given the way society is going, I’m not so sure I want to be so trusting. Aspies already tend to be too trusting by nature.

¹This is not to say that NTs don’t accomplish exceptional feats. They do. The difference is that Aspies pursue them in unusual ways, most often by the highest standards. Combine the last two ingredients with unconventional thinking, the result can be something unheard of before.

February 27, 2008

Adhesive Capsulitis

Filed under: My Remedies — Sheila @ 10:50 am
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Adhesive Capsulitis (Frozen Shoulder) presents a good reason why one should not always let pain dictate the level of activity done. Usually it’s good to allow body parts complete rest (after the necessary repair work if needed) to heal on their own after an injury, but sometimes it’s bad. I learned the hard way (through ignorance) how that can be.

A few years ago, I hurt my left arm when trying to force a window open. I didn’t realize I was unconsciously favoring that arm since I spend so much time at my computer. When I was away from the computer doing other things, I must have been developing alternative methods of moving around that gradually changed the way I did things.

For about five months or more, I didn’t pay attention to the fact that I was losing mobility in my left arm. Because of my habit of injuring myself often by accident, I developed a way of ignoring pain and waiting patiently for it to go away. It’s not that I learned to become numb towards pain, because I can know when it’s there. I learned to trust my body to heal itself. It always did before, so I thought when my shoulder kept hurting more at night over the months, I was just losing my skill at it.

However, in this case with my arm, it was quite a strange experience to be losing my ability to move it. My first thought was that I’d try getting a professional massage. I knew I wanted something resembling Shiatsu; something like maybe deep-tissue therapy. Fortunately I did find someone skilled at this profession. He was amazed over my high tolerance to pain¹ when he tried to get my arm to move. But, try as he did, he couldn’t get it unstuck. So, I went to visit his friend who is a chiropractor. The chiropractor couldn’t get it to move either. He suggested I go for an MRI. As soon as I walked out of his office, I thought “Forget that! I’ll figure something else out (but I would give in if God insisted, but He never did).”

Convenience would have it that a deer tick bit me again and I got another lyme rash. That gave me a good excuse to ask a doctor his opinion of my arm while I went in to ask him his thoughts about my rash (that I already knew what to do about — Hi, Ho . . . Colloidal Silver to the rescue!). By that point in time, my arm was almost completely immobile. It was like having a 2 by 4 board nailed (with two nails, not one) to your shoulder with the arm strapped tight to it. He knew I didn’t have insurance, so he wasn’t so quick to make the same suggestions right away as the chiropractor did. Instead he wrote me a prescription to try physical therapy. He told me he had the same thing happen to his arm. He also said that he couldn’t endure the pain that physical therapy brought, so he opted for for surgery instead. He also claimed to have seen some people suffer permanent immobility because of not seeking treatment for such severe cases of frozen shoulder as what I had. After I left his office, I went straight to the nearest physical therapy office. I knew I could at least ask what it would cost. That was enough to say, “Forget that!” again.

So, back to my computer I went; this time to see what physical therapists do in cases like this. I read about people having success with acupuncture. Fortunately my sister-in-law (a chiropractor) was coming to visit and she was into doing acupuncture. Plus, she didn’t charge anything for giving it a try! We only had a few days to see what acupuncture could do. It did manage to get my arm to move about ½ of an inch or so. At least my son learned then I wasn’t faking it to get attention. He tried to move my arm with all his strength but got nowhere. Anyone for a little arm wrestling?

My husband didn’t believe anything was going to work (other than surgery). I told him he wasn’t going to cop out that easily from helping me. I had an idea. He only had to agree to help me out for a 40-day trial period involving 10-15 minutes of his time in the morning and the evening. I rigged up a rope and pulley system where I could sit in a chair and greater force on my arm could be used by having it tied and pulled on.

For the first week, hardly any noticeable improvement could be seen. I knew I could see tiny bits of change, but hubs kept insisting it was futile. It was when we were into the second week of my do-it-yourself at home torture chamber that progress was becoming obvious. Darn, now I wish I could have made videos of this and put it on youtube.com (but I didn’t have a camera back then)! You’d have to cut the volume down though if I did that because that’s when I did some daily screaming. Even Oliver tried to console me during these moments by gently placing his paw on my leg while hubs pulled and pushed on my arm. Master mister isn’t no weakling. He’s a carpenter who is built like a rock, so if anyone could get my arm to move, it had to be him. I told him to tap into that part of his brain where the memories were that held his desire to inflict pain on me and put it to good use. It must have worked — because in 40 days time, I got back about 95% of my arm movement! The other 5% was easy for me to get back on my own even though that part took another month or so before it happened.

Now when I look back about what’s written and said about the length of time people have to endure such crap with a frozen shoulder, why can’t I go into some record book for getting rid of something like this as fast as I did? I guess I’ll just need to remain content with what I did get and not complain.

One last note about my left arm: That was the same arm I recently injured again. This time I’m not going to baby it! Maybe that’s why I felt like I had to write today about my frozen shoulder experience that happened a few years ago. I needed the reminder.

¹Some aspies, such as myself, can be both hyper and/or hypo sensitive to pain. Read about Asperger’s Syndrome and Unequal Reaction to Pain.

February 13, 2008

Snow, ice, slush, and rain . . .

Filed under: My Remedies — Sheila @ 10:14 pm
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How does this winter affect my brain? I’ve always had SAD (seasonal affective disorder).

Basically today the weather got about as wet as it can get. Typically February used to be difficult for me to endure without my moods turning as dreary as the sky, for as long as the long nights of winter lasted. This is about the first time in my life I can remember not falling prey to depression that could last all day! Decades ago, it could last constantly for weeks and sometimes even months. I wouldn’t go so far as to say moments never occur when cheeriness fades and being crabby takes over, but then who can honestly say they’re never cranky?!

I know winter isn’t over yet, but I have heard birds singing lately and that’s a good sign for spring being close by! I might not be sure of exactly what the reason(s?) may be for my coming as far as I have in getting away from the long bouts of major depression I struggled with many years ago, but I do know I’ve prayed for its end and I knew God would eventually remove those dark emotional clouds in His way, at His time. After all the prayers He has answered in my life?! . . . how could I doubt Him?!

My brain has re-learned how to sleep again. I already mentioned I began taking 5-HTP (5-Hydroxytryptophan) last summer to see if it would help me to overcome my lingering (but reduced) insomnia problem. What I didn’t express though was the evidence of this amino acid supplement eliminating depression for me. I also boosted its positive impact by recently placing a tall-standing Ott-lite over my desk and chair; plus, another tall-standing Ott-lite over my bed. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s lighting technology to produce natural light for better health (physically for improving vision and mentally for improving moods negatively impacted by lack of daylight).

A family relative of mine (who is also a chiropractor) wanted to join in with my theory of blaming serotonin imbalances as being the cause of my sleep disorder. I permitted her to try some muscle testing (applied kinesiology) on me with our focus being on the 5-HTP. Since what she said agreed with what I suspected for the dosage levels that would work best to accomplish my goal, I gladly proceeded to experiment on myself.

Now that the experiment is over, I’m glad!

January 28, 2008

Feline Urinary Tract Infections

Filed under: My Remedies — Sheila @ 5:07 am
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I’ve had pets all throughout my life. As of 2008, I now have two cats and two dogs. In order to possibly spare others from needless suffering when dealing with urinary tract infections, please permit me to share my experiences (there are two; one in 2006 and the other in 2007):

On Saturday, July 29th 2006 in the early afternoon, my male Ragdoll cat “Oliver” began showing symptoms of a urinary illness. Naturally this had to begin as the nearby veterinary offices were closing for the weekend. Upon taking the advice of my regular vet’s answering service to call an animal emergency clinic, Oliver was promptly brought in to be checked for a possible blockage.

The vet on call could not find anything wrong with him. He did admit that Oliver’s behavior could be early signs of trouble, so he prescribed Cefa-Drops (Cefadroxil). From that Saturday to the next, the medicine was administered faithfully; using up every last drop. The Sunday after beginning his “medicine,” he continued to show the same signs of urinary tract infection up until Wednesday. From Wednesday to Saturday morning the symptoms gradually disappeared. The Saturday afternoon of August 5th however became an instant replay of last Saturday’s symptoms of suffering. I knew by close observation his urinary tract was not becoming blocked so I refrained from involuntarily donating another $130 to the emergency clinic. Sunday I prayed in earnest for God’s guidance.

I seriously reconsidered Colloidal Silver as the remedy. Sunday morning, after having tried antibiotics for one week, Oliver got his first dose of Colloidal Silver. Three per day seemed to be appropriate. Monday showed no signs of improvement, but I wouldn’t panic since he was no worse either. Tuesday seemed to be another day for testing faith. On Wednesday, he seemed to be more at ease! Also that morning I awoke with the suspicion of cat litter as being the cause of this infection. After quickly coming across this article warning on the dangers of clay based clumping cat litter, I was convinced where the source of Oliver’s trouble was coming from. I threw out every trace of that cursed litter and its box after having immediately purchased World’s Best Cat Litter (corn based) from my nearest supplier (along with a brand new litter box).

Thursday—the day after this litter change over—Oliver was feeling better than I’d ever seen him be before! Even though he seemed to be over his UTI, I still kept giving him Colloidal Silver three times a day on up until Monday, August 14th. Statistics show that Colloidal Silver carries no risk from slight overdose that a few weeks could cause.

The Cefa-Drops did begin to suppress the toxoplasmosis that is caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. However, Cefa-Drops progress to conquer the infection was ultimately defeated by this obligate intracellular protozoan. That only demonstrated to me exactly what is meant by pharmaceutical antibiotics weakening the immune system. This would result in a veterinarian being compelled to either increase the strength of the next prescription or turn to another type of anti-biotic. Either way the result decreases the long-term health of the cat at the cost of getting rid of the symptoms. In fact, I’ve even read that antibiotics do not work against toxoplasmosis. Reading Testimonial 6’s healing report on UTI and Colloidal Silver further convinces me of this.

Colloidal Silver eliminates the symptoms of UTI too, but it does not diminish the immune system. If you want to read How It Works, go down to the forth section.

It’s also obvious that the truth was said on the dangers of using clay based clumping cat litter. Corn based litter is not inexpensive, but when comparing it against the cost of ill-health that cheap litter brings, it’s worth every penny! Plus, corn litter makes a room smell sweet and clean. It also is easier to maintain since there is less mess.

Now jumping ahead to the year 2007:

This was during the time when some commercially canned cat and dog food brands were making animals sick and dying. Oliver was my only pet who unfortunately consumed some of this toxic food. I was trying to find some brand of canned cat food he would eat, but since he is so particular about his food, he ended up sampling many different brands.

I took Oliver to the vet. He was more sick this time than he was in 2006. I tried the same remedy, however on this occasion something was different. The vet insisted upon many expensive tests for Oliver, which I could not afford.

Back online I went; this time determined to dig deeper for information that would hopefully help me to understand what could be going on in his body. I remember being impressed by a herbal product called Stone Free. I set out to use this kidney and gallbladder medication immediately, along with using Colloidal Silver. I also gave him an herbal supplement that promotes bladder and urinary tract health in dogs and cats called UTI-Free. Within 24 hours, he passed a substantial amount of urine. After 48 hours, he was back to his playful self! I was so relieved and happy, but the vet wasn’t. She also wasn’t too happy over my not telling her what I gave Oliver for his recovery. Oh well, that’s life!

I’ve been able to enjoy watching my pets be healthy for about one year now. I’ve learned how important fluids and the proper pH level is for their health. My cats and dogs get feed only Felidae and Canidae foods (both dry and canned). Their products seem to be the best value, but now they’re having a tough time keeping up with the increased market demand for their brand since the pet food scare of 2007. You won’t find their foods in the grocery store. Only the feed stores sell them.

Now that I’ve said what I’ve said, human government, along with lawsuit addicts, demand I must include this statement in order to protect myself:

The material in this post is provided for educational and informational purposes only, and is not intended to be a substitute for consultation by a “legally permitted” health-care provider. Please consult your own “appropriately licensed” veterinarian about the applicability of any opinions or recommendations with respect to your own pets’ symptoms or medical conditions.

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