The kind of yeast infections I've been talking about are something that most doctors will just roll their eyes at and laugh at you when you suggest it.

Long story, short -- throughout my latter 20's I experienced recurrent respiratory infections over and over, mostly sinusitis and bronchitis. Each time, I was given a stronger and stronger antibiotic. The next thing I knew, the stuff coming out of my nose looked just like mushrooms -- grayish brown color with an almost solid texture. It took more than six months to get it all cleaned out by leaning over a hot steam humidifier while pounding on my face with a vibrating massager to knock the stuff loose since it had grown roots into my mucus membranes. At the same time, I collapsed with chronic fatigue, every digestive problem you can imagine, muscle and joint pains, and I literally felt like I was going to die.

> I had thought that such things were not possible,
> at least not without being in the ICU

Oh, believe me, I went to the hospital more than once, but each time, every test would come back fine (including those for HIV because only terminal AIDS patients ever get yeast that bad), so they would just send me home with a prescription for an antidepressant. ("It's all in your head.")

That was when I read in a book about what antibiotics can do to you, so I *finally* stopped wasting my time with doctors and began educating myself. That's when I realized that the yeast had surely spread beyond my digestive tract if it was coming out through my nose... Over the years since then, it has exited from my body through every open orifice possible that's lined with mucus membranes -- oral thrush, severe diarrhea, even huge white plugs of yeast that I had to have scraped out of both ears... Of course, each time it gets bad enough to have to see a doctor for it, they just scratch their heads and refuse to believe that any part of the body is connected to anything else...

> You seem to be in just about the worst shape of anyone here.

Gee, thanks... That's probably because I've been *stupid* enough to keep taking antibiotics to the point where it's virtually killed my entire immune system. I used to be this big crusader, trying to convince people of that kind of danger, but I gave up a long time ago since no one ever listens and it's apparently something each person has to learn for themselves. For example, how many people on this board are still taking antibiotics over and over, even though it's obviously not helping...?

> Were you forced to leave your job because the pain
> was so severe that any activity was impossible?

I left my job the morning after swallowing the last pill of a course of antibiotics because I could no longer keep any food down at all. I collapsed again and was in bed for a few weeks, during which the scrotal pain was so severe that I could barely even walk to the bathroom.

> I assume that job required walking around, lifting boxes and such.

My job as the manager of a small privately owned health food store entailed very little more than walking around the store all day (on a hard concrete floor that gave me continuous plantar fasciitis in both feet) helping customers to find things, and then unpacking a huge order every week containing things like 25# or 50# bags of bulk foods, heavy cases of liquid soy milk, etc. Even when my boss finally gave in and hired someone to help me, it was a little old lady who refused to lift anything over 5# and all she ever wanted to do was stand at the counter, ring the register, and talk to people. I also had to do all the banking for the store, usually off the clock since there was no time to do it when customers were always walking through the door. I ran myself in the ground like that (while also taking care of my dying mother at home)for over five years, and then the very first time I got sick, my boss told me not to bother calling when I felt any better...

> If you had a job where you basically sat in a chair
> and typed, could you do that?

I've been trying to find something I could do over the internet like that, but I haven't had much luck yet. People are always telling me I should have been a writer, so maybe this is my "big break"...! I still have to sit on a donut pillow to take the pressure off my balls, or the pain comes right back again, so I rarely spend more than 45 minutes or so at the computer at a time. The inflatable pillow I have to sit on feels like it cuts off the circulation in my legs after so long, so the last thing I need now is a deep vein thrombosis...

> Is the pain unbearable in the absence of other activity,
> or is it activity (certain activity) that makes it unbearable?

Well, for the first few weeks, the pain was so bad, all I could do was lie in bed and cry. Then it got to the point where I could start walking around the house with a cane, doubled over at the waist, just long enough to fix myself something to eat. Then it got to the point where I could start loading the dishwasher or put clothes in to wash. Then it got to the point where I could start leaving the house for short periods of time to go to the chiropractor. So it's been a very slow gradual improvement. Last week, I experienced a big setback when I went out of town all afternoon to an eye doctor appointment; I was back in bed again for a few days after that. So, yes, my pain definitely *is* related to activity, but it's not always immediate. Sometimes it's up to 12-24 hours later before it hits.

> my own pain comes and goes, but it doesn't appear related to
> activity and it doesn't seem to go past a certain threshhold.

You should definitely consider yourself lucky then. When my pain was at its worst, I was literally out of my head. It felt like my eyes felt were going crossed, I'd see stars sometimes, I was doubled up into a tight fetal position and couldn't move or walk; basically all I could do was just lie there and cry.

And then doctors try to tell me that all this is just in my head...??? Yeah right, hell of a way to get a "vacation," huh?