About 7 years ago I lifted some heavy boxes up about 3 flights of stairs and unbeknowest to me I developed a hiatial hernia. I let some time pass and did not know what was wrong with me. Had a lot of sleep less nights and devoloped digestive problems.

I tryed all kinds of over the counter non perscription medicines for acid indegestion and heartburn and nothing worked and eventually acid reflux started happening and wouldnt quit. So as much as I didnt want to I went to the doctor and they began to run all kinds of tests on me. At first they said I probably had ulcers.

I thought how can that be I wasnt worried about anything until I started going weeks and weeks and not getting proper sleep. Then it got to a point that I couldnt eat and would avoid eating because I felt so bloated and crappy after I would eat even the lightest foods.

I sank into a deep depression and started to think it was my time to go be with the Lord. There were nights were all I could do was weep in my wifes arms, it got that bad. She prayred and prayed for me! God bless her. It was a very tough time for me. I was so used to excellent health I just couldnt believe it was happening to ME!

I would go into the kitchen and see all the good food my wife would buy specifically for me in the fridge and Id just look at it and get depressed. Well when I went to Parkland hospital where they had some of the best doctors in Texas at that time, they ran kinds of tests and determined I had a hiatial hernia and prescribed a medication for it that has now been taken off the shelves as it has caused at least one death and people are bringing law suits against the doctors who precribed it.

I took it for two days and the first day it helped but the second day it started making me feel weird and I started getting panic attacks so I stopped taking it. A friend suggested going to the health food store and see if they might have something that would help.

I did and right away found Georges aloe vera which is fantastic as it is the only aloe vera that has no bitter taste that I have tryed plus no citric acid which most have that irritated my escophagas. Then I a few years later discovered melatoin which I found out for every ten years we age our body produces that much less melatoni in our brain which is the natural hormone which helps us to sleep.

I take melatoin every night now and it really helps. A beer or two once in a while helps too ha!!! I dont know about you but I got stressed out just knowing something was wrong in my body. Just stess itself will wear a person down.

I now have seen many benifits from visits to the health food store and trying different products. Prayer helps too in choosing which products will work for each individual. Not everything works for everyone. I dont know if this helps but thought I would post it. God bless

> I went through 10 years of psychological
> problems trying to come to terms with having
> to face the fact that I was now out on my
> own without any group support whatsoever. I
> wasn't emotionally ready to leave the group
> badk then. And my wife wasn't either! And we
> were broke! And had six kids! I was so
> anxious that I got an ulcer within a month.
> Then I developed all kinds of back trouble,
> all somotized - anger turned inward.
> Depression set in and with it came those
> long cold winter months of 4:00 am wake ups.
> (If your body has something wrong with it,
> that can wake you up too, deprssion or no.)
> Tinges of arthritis started to attack me
> too. I forget where now - fingers moreso
> than anywhere, I think.

> I pretty much numbed what I was going
> through with food, over eating (lucky me I
> don't gain weight easily), cause I couldn't
> do drugs and drink anymore. I had burnt
> myself out on those pain killers before
> joining the Fam. When I came to the boards
> here and saw just what it was I was having
> to say goodbye to, I did (say goodbye), and
> all my troubles up and dissapeared. I
> mounted up with the wings of an eagle after
> that.

> After cutting the apron string, the reality
> of what that whole experience had cost me
> began to sink in and phew, it had cost a
> lot, but in a way it was good. It was the
> goodness side of grief, the kind that works
> itself through and then goes away all by
> itself, once the grieving is done.

> The bad eating habits I picked up during
> those ten grieviously stressful years were
> hard to shake though, and will take a toll
> still, if I allow myself to do them. I'm
> very prone to caffeine poisoning for
> example, cause I've poisoned myself too many
> times. So I have to really watch it. If I
> pig out, I'll sometimes get intestinal pain,
> so I try not to pig out. But then again, I
> still do at times -just a bad habit. There's
> nothing troubling me really, emotionally
> anymore. I could die in peace now, like I
> said before.

> But the fear and the tension, the bitterness
> and the hatred, and the mismanaged emotion
> of it all for those ten years, did get the
> best of me for a long while, and what was
> going on in the psyche, did come out in the
> body.

> Being a type 0 blood type, I find that my
> body can easily handle red meat and lots of
> it - lucky me! It can handle the very
> occasion beer, (about 1 every couple of
> months - ha) but doesn't do good on wine. It
> does great on lemons and grapefruit. If I
> have any kind of stomach trouble and need an
> anti-acid, or if I'm hurting anywhere
> internally, water and lemons and grapefruits
> do it for me. They say they turn alcaline in
> digestion. Well glory be! I love em too!

> Fats will give me pains that radiate out my
> back. I prayed desparately one night, a long
> long time ago, asking God to show me what
> was wrong when that sarted happening and
> what I needed to do, and I got it was fat,
> that I needed to cut out the fat. So I did
> and that trouble went away.

> I do great on Rommaine lettuce, figs,
> prunes, olive oil in moderation, broccoli.
> These are all highly beneficial for me. Rice
> and potatoes are ok, but not bread (wheat),
> corn or and dairy products. Well, I eat my
> heavenly hash icecream treats throughout the
> summer, regardless.

> Clearing up what drove me into the Family,
> and clearing up what drove me out of the
> Family, cleared up what was killing me, both
> in and out of the Family.