I figured out why my flea-less dog got fleas all of a sudden. It is his dog food! Nutro has changed it formula and dogs all over the country are getting ill and some dying. Ill dogs attract fleas. Here are a few links about the sickness nutro is causing. http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/nutro.html http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/04/pet_food_recalls93.html http://www.rateitall.com/i-24984-nutro.aspx http://www.voy.com/211161/ Nutro was bought out by mars candy and iams (we are feeding our cat) was bought out by Purina. We are in the process of switching the dog to evo and the cat to merrick. Evo does not have fish flavors (that the cat prefers). Both are grain free formulas. The dog gets raw organ and beef 2 times a day, but nutro only in the morning. Hubby hates the thought of touching the raw stuff. Can't get the cat interested in the raw food at all Want to switch your animal to a better brand check out this link http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ They only rate the dog foods, but I would guess a good quality dog food brand might also make good cat foods. the deaths of dogs from poor quality dog foods saddens me greatly. the symptoms our dog has in common with the other ill dogs are peeing in the house diarrhea dark urine red itchy skin vomits up undigested food occasionally dry heaves Unfortunately, other's dogs have died from liver and or kidney failure, and some only after eating the new brand for only for 4 days. I would never post something bad about a company like this except I can see the same symptoms in my corgi. The vet assumes urinary tract infection but can't get urine from him to test. Antibiotics no helping. If someone wants to start a thread on a forum please do so. This info needs to get out! please post the link to the new post here. so I other's can find it easier.

Thanks for the well wishes, HU-536588320. Sorry to hear about your alternative doc. My wife had a scare years ago, while she was using Prempro (or Premarin - forgot which.) Doc said she had a non-atypical hyperplasia in one of her breasts. Scared the crap out of us both. She then discovered Dr. John Lee's books, and that's why she started using natural progesterone cream. We learned about terms like unopposed estrogen, etc. Quite a journey that launched us both onto. I think you're right about DHEA being like a building block. I think some of the books we read called it a precursor...so instead of a woman deciding that her body needs more estriol, or estrone, or estradiol, or progesterone...if she supplements with some DHEA...then the body will turn that into whatever it needs. That's why I was so eager for my wife to try it some time ago. So, I was bummed to find out that she didn't respond well to it. It's been a while, but I think it irritated her tissue. I did some research, and turned out the provider or manufacturer of this particular DHEA suppository used a base that contained glycol (maybe even ethelyne glycol - been too long ago.) Well duh - that's what's in antifreeze! So the questions I asked and reading I did seemed to suggest it wasn't the DHEA my wife had a reaction to - it was the base they used. Not long afterwards, my wife came across the bezwecken cubes. They didn't bother her. So I read up on it a bit, trying to understand why she reacted favorably to that, but not the DHEA suppositories. Well surprise, surprise - the base used by the hydration cubes was kinder or more gentle - didn't contain that crap glycol chemical, lol. I wondered if we kept looking, and just tried a different supplier or manufacturer of DHEA suppositories...that also used a kinder or more gentle base...how would she respond to it? But since the hydration cubes did the trick...I guess we never pursued it any further. Wow - thanks for passing on the tip that, the DHEA does exactly for you what my wife and I are looking for. :-) Maybe I should get that recipe from you for the DHEA after all! :-) You know, you can spend a lot of time studying and researching all this stuff...but the human body is so complex and interesting...it still surprises you. It remains to be seen what kind of approach this OB/GYN will come up with. The first step was for my wife to get an ultrasound. I think that's in like a couple of weeks.

I am so glad this discussion is on here! I am 52, and was just told to go off the combo pill in August, after being on it nearly continuously since 17 when I picked it up in college. My blood pressure had started to go up last year, so we figured this was the cause. I had never had high blood pressure before - usually the opposite. I tried reducing salt and increasing exercise for a bit, but it had little impact. So, I was recommended going off or switching to the mini-pill progesterone-only. The first two weeks were fine, then I had a couple of weeks of constant overheating(no 'flashes', just constant hot). I read about how sometimes when you go off the combo pill, your insulin levels can be weird as your other systems take over estrogen and general thermostat regulation, so I cut out all the high spiky insulin foods(think sugar and white rice along with the rest of the online lists of foods to avoid) and reduced some caffeine, and the heat problem turned off completely. Now it has been three months of progesterone only, and I can see my skin aging, and hair growth slowing. I had been having a lot of brain-fog issues the past few years, and those have not changed, sadly. It's very annoying, and I hope that part at least sorts itself out by 60. Bonus and unexpected - my internal base stress level has gone down. It's just easier to cope. I have added rice and sugar back with no problems, and overheating is completely gone. I am sleeping better, although now I have weird little dreams, when I have never been one to remember dreams much at all. I do not have more energy, and some of my hand strength is just gone. Also, mentally, I find I am more detached from things and people, but not in a depressed or destructive way. More the feeling of having a choice about being involved or not, rather than having an immediate reaction (like wanting to scream at the grocery clerk that eye-rolled when asking a valid question). Hoping I am just done, but it's too soon to tell. I get mild cramping with no period, and some spotting during the week I would have normally had one in the '4th week off' time. But it's too soon to write off periods altogether. I am hoping most of the worst of it was masked during the past 5 years. But...I do have female relatives that didn't hit menopause until 56-65. One would have thought with half the planet going through this in their lives that there would be more medical study and progress on this in the last 50 years, but apparently no. lol I think starting a better workout routine and nutrition plan is next on the agenda. Wondering how much of my personality and priority-setting is hormone related. Will be interesting to see who I become now. Maybe my ten year old self has a chance again. :) She was fun.

I will eat liver of almost any sort...but I would prefer not to be the one that cooks it. But that is as far as I will go with organ meats. But now that I have read the part about "the liver cleans everything in the system...I like to know what's coursed through my organ meat", I may never eat it again. And this statement also made me rethink how much I love Rocky Mountain Oysters. LOL I will not eat any wild game. I have tried many different game meats...deer, elk, raccoon, bear, possum, duck, rabbit, wild boar...the list goes on. I am just not crazy about that "wild" taste. And it doesn't matter if it's been soaked in milk or whatever else they try to de-wild it with. :) I will also not eat tripe or sea urchin (had one in our salt water aquarium and just can't feature that). *shudder* I won't touch tuna...from a can, raw or otherwise. Tuna from a can looks and smells just like cat food to me. And when we were little, my older sister was responsible for feeding us dinner. She made tuna noodle casserole over and over and over. She was 10 and no one taught her (or any of us) to cook, so she is forgiven. We were even known to have saltine crackers crushed up in a bowl with Kool Aid on them. And most other fish is not appealing to me. Shellfish, however, is another matter. And milk. I will not drink milk. I read once that humans are the only mammal on Earth that drinks milk past the weaning stage. Milk is the one thing that will make me gag should I consider raising a glass to my lips. And watching someone else drink it? Ewwww SHUDDER. However, I will cook with it. Weird...I know. Other than that, I will eat just about anything and will at least try just about anything...once. I am sure I will think of something later that I won't eat. And we were raised by a step dad that forced us to eat everything on our plates. Everything. I never, ever made my kids eat something they didn't want to...and they are great eaters now.