Health Forum Books Foreword

Foreword by Sondra K. Lewis

Author of Allergy & Candida Cooking Made Easy

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Have you consulted with one doctor after another without getting better? Did a doctor ever imply that you are just depressed or in need of some serious psychological counseling? Many of us have faced these same frustrations. However, there is hope. At the heart of many illnesses is an altered/weakened immune system and a digestive system that is not delivering the nutrients that the body needs. Correct these issues and progress will be made.

When the immune system is not functioning properly, there is often an overgrowth of yeast or the wrong bacteria in the intestines. Harmful viruses or parasites may also be present. This situation is associated with fatigue, food allergies, poor resistance to colds or flu, and many other symptoms. Many people find that their diet plays a key role in keeping these symptoms at bay. This symptom complex has been named the “yeast syndrome” because an overgrowth of yeast is often present. Sometimes people refer to the yeast syndrome as “Candida,” a common type of yeast. Unfortunately, some doctors feel that this yeast overgrowth is inconsequential because it has not been proven to cause disease. Other doctors feel that the increased yeast level is a strong marker of altered immunity and poor digestion and that the yeast itself contributes to the illness. The patient is left wondering whom to believe.

Many people are struggling to find answers to this yeast syndrome. Some of these people have joined a chat forum on the Internet where treatments are discussed and information is exchanged. Polly Hattemer has painstakingly organized these “chats” into The Health Forum. Perhaps the best aspect of The Health Forum is that the conversations shared are the real struggles and experiences of people like yourself. The forum participants are caring people who share from their hearts and feel your pain. They know how hard it is to heal when you are too tired to do the research, cook the right food, and/or even find the right doctor.

The Health Forum presents and organizes the “chats” in a form where you can highlight information to be easily located and reread. There is no need to search through years of messages on the Forum website. Reading these conversations supports self-discovery and thoughtful reflection on the factors influencing your health. The Health Forum offers ideas, solutions, treatment options, information resources, product resources, and more. After reading this book, search for more information or ask questions at the Forum. Or look through the articles listed in this book. Formulate intelligent questions for your health-care practitioner. Get the care you desire and deserve.

As a person “who has been there” myself, I offer you a few parting words of encouragement. You will be making many changes in your life. This will require effort, energy, time, knowledge, money, hope, prayer, faith and friends. Often the learning process is long and challenging, yet rewarding. Never give up. Continue to try different solutions, ideas, and treatment options. Go slow, making one change or adding one new supplement at a time. Yet realize that often separate changes work together synergistically. Most of all, know that “Being Positive” goes a LONG way in healing any illness. I wish you the best.

About The Editor

Polly Hattemer’s formal education is a doctorate in System Science Engineering from UCLA. She has spent over 20 years working in the aerospace industry. This background perhaps explains the way she looks at health. Because of her systems engineering background, she is always looking for the interactions between different “systems” in the body. However, her perspective is just one of many that will be found in the Health Forum books.

Polly Hattemer used to have intestinal yeast overgrowth with the accompanying symptoms of migraines, food sensitivities, fatigue, brain-fog, and of course, intestinal upsets. Over many years, she accumulated information on how to get rid of these ailments and how to heal the damage left in its wake. Several years ago, she started chatting with others on the Internet about this problem. She discovered that the Internet was a vast resource of technical information and an interesting source of personal experiences. With the permission of her Internet friends, she recorded their personal experiences and organized them into the Health Forum books. She also added references to tutorial and technical articles.

Preface

The true power of the Internet is the people who are on it. Rather than being a huge impersonal library, the Internet is filled with live people from all over the world who contribute their thoughts, perspectives and experiences. At one particular site in this vast sea of exchanges, people have gathered to discuss health concerns related to the yeast syndrome and dysbiosis. The people at this Internet site/forum have learned and gained so much from their cyberspace meetings that they decided to create this book to let others share in the ideas and information exchanged. This book is a gift from our hearts to you. No one was paid for his or her contributions, and all net royalties will be donated to charity. May our efforts bear fruit, and may you, the reader, enjoy this book, and learn as much from the people at the healthy awareness forum as they have from each other.

Acknowledgement

This work would not have been possible without the support of my husband, Dale Goudey, PhD. Thank you for your patience and for your generosity. A special acknowledgement is due Raymond Peat, PhD. Without his 1985 lecture on “The Endocrine System and Candidiasis,” I would have surely lost my health. More than anyone else, his books and newsletters have influenced the way I think about nutrition. Thank you Andy Cutler, PhD, for teaching me about mercury poisoning, and thank you Willis Langford for teaching me about autism. I owe much to the Candida and Dysbiosis Information Foundation, as they were my only link with reliable information for many years. Thank you to all my friends on the Internet who participated in this endeavor. Special thanks to Susan Rodriquez, Shelley Thorstensen, Kippy Noble, Thone Ritch, Billie Jo Secrist, Marilyn in Seattle, Jeanne Jackson, and Taylor Vance for their suggested improvements to the book. Also, Huy Hoang, MD was kind enough to review the book for me. Thank you Brent James for the formatting suggestions. Rosalind James, Shari Ostapiuk and Sondra Lewis have my sincere gratitude for proofreading the manuscript. And of course, last but not least, thank you to Kelly Nowicki for bringing so many of us together at the healthy awareness Internet site. This book would not exist if it weren’t for the help of so many.

Disclaimer

This book contains the opinions, anecdotes, and speculations of lay people. Anecdotes are for pondering. They are not necessarily representative of the majority of people. However, anecdotes do serve to illustrate possibilities as well as how different we are. The contents of this book should in no way be considered professional advice nor should it be interpreted as prescribing treatment. Use your own judgement. If you do not understand the risks involved with a particular treatment or supplement discussed in the book, please consult a knowledgeable professional. We have tried to present the well-known dangers of treatments and supplements in this book. However, never treat this or any other information as the whole truth. There is always more to be learned. Nothing is absolutely safe. Accordingly, the publisher and the contributors to this book do not assume any liability in connection with any of the supplements or treatments mentioned in this book. Although all contributors have tried their best to provide reliable information, this book is not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. Readers are encouraged to consult other sources.

Please note that the principal editor, who gathered these posts, does not have any financial interest in any of the supplements or laboratories mentioned. If only one brand or one distributor is mentioned, it is not necessarily an endorsement. It has just been included to give the reader at least one place to readily obtain a remedy. There is no guarantee that the website addresses in this book will be valid or correct. Website addresses go stale and sometimes they are taken over by other businesses. There are also many phone numbers in the last index of this book. There is no guarantee that they will remain valid. Prices of supplements are as of the writing of this book. Again, there is absolutely no way that we can guarantee that these will remain the same. Listed prices may just give you an approximate idea of the cost of products.

About The Editor