Thursday, February 11, 2010

Amped on Ampligen

Treatment #6

I promised I would tell the good, the bad and the ugly of this journey so today's post will have two out of the three Let me get the bad out of the way first,  because the most amazing thing happened to me after my last treatment I'm bursting to tell you about it.

First, let me set the stage. 

As my prior post indicated, I was expecting to feel the "bad" side effects of the full 400ml of Ampligen after my treatment on Monday, and as predicted, I did. By Monday night by glutes and legs were aching so much, I had to take three hot baths in the evening just to distract me from the extreme flu-like body-aching symptoms. Additionally, my left thigh muscle was twitching like it was hard wired to the electrical outlet for about 36 hours. It didn't keep from sleeping, but it was, quite frankly, a little weird. It seemed to be shaking my thigh at about 100 beats per minute, but not in rhythm or good timing, sort of like a bad 60's song like Inna Gadda da Vida. But knowing that Ampligen is an immune-modulator, and that most research shows a connection to the body's nervous system, I just decided to ignore it. By Tuesday afternoon it had pretty much subsided.

But the greatest news was what happened on Wednesday. Now two days after the Ampligen had been in my system, I woke up normally, did my usual 20 minutes of light exercise, and decided at exactly 11:00AM that I had enough energy to get a haircut. The haircut took way longer than I would have liked, but incredibly, I was neither impatient about the delay, nor in any pain after sitting in that chair from hell main of imported Danish wood! It was 1:00PM, I had no headache, I had no muscle aches, and I still had energy. Now THIS was something! Very rare for me.

So I decided to push it- to test the waters so to speak. "Let's see if this Ampligen stuff is really making a difference" I said to myself. So I called a car dealer with whom I had spoken earlier in the week about "maybe coming out to test drive a used car" and told her "I'm coming."

Now here's the amazing part. For me,over the past many years,  just the thought of buying a used car would have been too much to even process mentally. Knowing that it would involve not only the decision about the car itself, but also endless paperwork and brain-energy to get it licensed, titled, insured, inspected, etc. would have sent me over the edge. But yesterday, as I drove to the car lot, I found myself feeling something strange; something I hadn't felt in a very long time... peace.

Exactly ninety minutes after I had arrived, I kid you not, I was driving my "new" used car off the lot! Complete with plates, title, registration, and car insurance! This was even more astounding to me because I have not lived in the USA for 7 years and had NO car insurance in this country. But I have to give kudos to CARMAX, they really make it easy for the neophyte to get through this paperwork easily.

What I really had to say to my friends and family after I got home was, I have to give credit to the Ampligen.  I could actually feel my "old self" returning for a few hours yesterday- cognitively, physically, emotionally, and even in the humor department. It was as if this drug was restoring my personality as it restored my body. One of my business partners of over 20 years actually commented and said, "you sound like the medicine is working!"

Now as I write this laying on my bed with my laptop warming my thighs, I'm getting ready for the side-effects of the treatment I just had this morning. But I'm smiling, thinking about my new car, glad I'm not paying for taxi fare to and from the clinic, and almost looking forward to Inna Gadda da Vida playing on my leg.

I am now "amped on Ampligen," and I like it.

2 comments:

  1. This all sounds great! That twitching does sound very weird. It must have looked like there was an alien in your leg... I'm really happy for you that you got to experience a good dose of normality. I hope it keeps getting better from here on in.

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  2. What an encouraging and uplifting update! It sounds like the benefits are starting to outweigh the ill affects. Keep your eyes fixed on the results and the even better future results! Have a great weekend!

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