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Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
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Kelvin Lord
- Author Kelvin Lord
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The patient didn’t know it, but she was just 60 seconds away from relief. Standing at the doorway to Dr. Goldstein’s office with some PLO-gel glistening from her forearm, she looked disappointed. Marie had been without significant sleep for days, her fibromyalgia and M.E. pain flaring to the...
The timing of the blindness couldn’t have been worse. It was 5:30AM. I was driving in a new town, on a frozen highway, in the cold pre-dawn morning darkness, when it secretly crept up on me.
I had just left the all night pharmacy having picked up a few items on special my wife said wereally...
I've been sitting on this story for a couple months now at the personal request of a couple physicians who were "on the fence" but I can now share with those who are interested in getting Ampligen, the future might be a little brighter.
As you read this currently there are a number of the...
I did it! The year on Ampligen is over, and I'm about to burst at the seams. Would you join me now in celebrating my victory?
If you watched the NFL playoffs this past weekend you saw the New York Jets doing on the field what I have felt like doing all week - literally doing backflips for...
I get so frustrated with some of the nonsense of the medical community, that instead of screaming I watch my favorite comedian Brian Regan and laugh. Here's his classic routine on going to the Hospital. "" Enjoy!
There was a prison breakout in the USA this past weekend of historic proportion. And like most escapes that require patience and tenacity, this one took 10 long months of preparation. But when the time came, the escapee acted almost without thinking, and ran with freedom in his eyes, and hope...
To give you an idea how long Chuck Lapp has been serving the CFS/ME community, think about this - Before Steve Jobs invented the Macintosh Computer, Dr. Charles Lapp was contacting the CDS about a mysterious new illness. Dr. Lapp has been treating and specializing in CFS patients for over 25...
I absolutely hated gym class in Junior High. I was a skinny kid growing faster than my Mom could sew, and I had no arm muscles whatsoever. So when the dreaded "physical exam" days came around, I usually got physically sick. Trust me, vomiting cereal before you have to do pull-ups does not help...
I admit it.
I really blew it, big time. Two weeks ago, after my last "glowing" report about how good I was feeling at the 6-month mark, I took it too far, and overdid it. I moved from the reality of my health, to a fantasy world of my own making, which convinced me I was almost healed. It was...
I have waited 6 full months to be able to say this, and the day has finally arrived. So here it is: I know without a shadow of a doubt that Ampligen works. As I finish my 24th week of Ampligen, I can say with confidence that this amazing drug has performed "as advertised," and then some.
I...
With my nose completely shut due to allergies, out of desperation the other day I took an OTC antihistamine. It was Italian day at lunch and I had grown weary of not tasting any of my food, so ignoring the instruction panel I ripped open the package where the headline read "Daytime Safe Formula"...
It was worse than just being ignored. The problem was this arrogant nurse was trying to make me feel invisible - As if I didn't exist - And that I just couldn't permit.
It happened at the clinic. This nurse was a freelance RN hired exclusively by another patient to do her infusions at my...
My favorite line in the "Bourne" trilogy is given by The Professor. He appears briefly in the first installment, but it is in the second film, the Bourne Conspiracy, that Clive Owen utters the quintessential phrase of the movie. After dueling with fellow agent Jason Bourne in the countryside...
"My mild-mannered, sweet, school-teacher wife just lit into me with some language that would make a sailor blush!" R.S. said, shaking his head in dismay. He was referring to his wife Leona, a fellow patient here at the clinic getting Ampligen, and he was beside himself, still stinging from the...
I never liked report cards as a student, but since today marks the completion of 14 weeks on Ampligen, signifying that I've just passed the quarter-mile mark, I thought I'd give you an update on my progress, by way of some mid-term grades. After having 28 infusions of this amazing...
We've all heard the question in one form or another.
It usually comes at a time when you look better than usual, or feel worse than usual. But either way, it makes you feel the same as usual.
"What exactly is wrong with you?" they ask, innocently...not knowing that their "casual" remark...
I never heard the phrase "allergic cascade" until 10 days ago, when I woke up with a nose so swollen with mucous that I literally could not blow it out. Seeing my distorted face in the bathroom mirror, all I could think of was that classic scene in the movie "Hitch" where Will Smith's head...
I admit it. I now have a pot-belly. And it bothered me.
After being underweight for the past 2+ years, struggling with a lack of appetite and the associated difficulties in maintaining weight, since being on Ampligen for 2 1/2 months, hunger has returned! But with it came a whole new set of...
Yes, I'm going to talk about sex in this post, because one of our challenges is that this hideous virus not only diminishes our libido, but sometimes completely wipes it out. But I'm also going to discuss what I've found to be one of the best remedies for that part of our symptoms list, which...
I overdid it this past weekend, and paid for it on Sunday. Nothing about this disease is predictable, except the unpredictability of it I guess, but I was feeling so good after Treatment #18 I actually got suckered into thinking I was "normal" last week. Big mistake. Talk about a roller coaster...