An update on my testimonial (written March 2001)

After nearly a year and a half, I have continued to do extremely 
well using this treatment, living a normal healthy life.  If I stop 
taking the lozenges, my symptoms begin returning within days but then 
go back away as quickly as they came as soon as I start taking the 
lozenges again.  I still slightly moderate my diet to eliminate the 
foods I am the most allergic to (yeast, pecans, walnuts, and corn 
syrup in high concentrations) and I usually try to not overload my 
system with a multitude of allergenic foods at one time.  For 
example, since I am allergic to just about everything in pizza, I 
don't eat it very often and when I do I don't eat very much of it.  
Also, since foods with corn syrup and other corn derivatives 
(dextrose, multidextrine, sorbitol, fructose from corn, etc.) used to 
trigger flares, I limit the number of those kinds of foods by not 
eating them every single day although I can now eat a couple of 
Oreos every night without any reactions! :-)

X-rays taken one year after the start of my treatment showed that 
my lungs and my joint degeneration had not progressed during the 
year and inflammation surrounding the previous damage was reduced.  
My retinal bleeds have not returned.  All of my blood tests 
throughout the year demonstrated results within normal ranges.  My 
lungs remain free of fluid; I do not have any more asthma attacks.  
My fatigue has not returned.  My joints and muscles do not hurt.  My 
brain fog, depression, and other neuro type symptoms have not 
returned.  My gastrointestinal tract has recovered and I no longer 
show signs of malnutrition (pitted fingernails, breaking hair, etc.). 
Those horrendous BD headaches that felt like two sided migraines that 
also involved a stiff neck and pain throughout my back and shoulders 
have not returned.  In short - I am still in my medicine induced and 
held remission.

I just returned from a week long vacation in Florida, USA (March 2001)
and stayed in normal hotels (chemicals, musty molds, and all) without 
asthma, ate restaurant foods without getting oral ulcers, spent two 
days walking around Disney (no wheelchair!!!), and toasted myself in 
the sun on the beach without getting big red blotches all over my skin.

I no longer carry a breathing filter mask, an inhaler, or an emergency 
kit containing epinephrine for anaphylactic shock (severe allergic 
reaction) in my purse like I used to.  In the past, I was terrified to 
ever be without them.  Now I don't even bother to carry them at all.  
I did pack them in a suitcase for our vacation but I didn't even 
bother to take them with me to Disney World.  That shows how far I 
have come.

Although I am not nearly as sensitive as before, strong exposures to 
chemicals or molds can still give me a headache although not that 
blinding kind that cause the stiff neck, vision distortions, etc. that 
BD patients are so used to.  Still, I am enjoying my freedom from 
pain and to prevent even mild headaches, I reduce my exposures to 
chemicals and molds by using cleaning products and such that are 
designed for people with allergies.  I will give one of my favorite 
companies that distributes these kinds of products some free 
advertisement here because I think they can help a lot of Behcet's 
patients: 
 
The Allergy Relief Shop
865/494-4100 (consultation line)
800/626-2810 (U.S. toll free phone number for sales only)
www.allergyreliefshop.com (website)
allergy@allergyreliefshop.com (email)
They have a retail store located near Knoxville, Tennessee, USA and 
also have a mail order catalog, microbiology lab, consulting service, 
and construction/consulting services for those that must avoid 
exposures to allergens, chemicals, and other such bodily assaults.  
They do deal with sales internationally and you can order products 
directly via their website.  Their paper catalog contains more 
products than their website.  They offer products like water/air 
filtration products, organic all cotton bedding products, non-toxic 
cleaning products, health and beauty aids, non-toxic paints, 
solvents, and sealers.
 
I still buy their all-purpose cleaner and mold inhibitors.  At this 
point I could probably tolerate most products bought at a regular 
store but I have learned so much about how toxic our man-made 
environment is that I would still use these safer products even if I 
no longer reacted at all to anything.  My husband and I made a 
conscious decision to continue to use only non-toxic products to 
protect ourselves, our friends and family, our employees and visitors,
and the environment.  Besides, we love our multitude of pets
(It boggles my mind that a company with a natural treatment with as 
few side effects as the low dose oral interferon lozenges must spend 
many millions of dollars and many years to fight for approval from so 
many governments in order to drastically improve the quality of life 
or even save the lives of thousands upon thousands of people - yet 
the same governments allow toxic products to be bought in any market 
for use in the normal household!  What is wrong with this picture?????)