Everything seems to be flowing normally for me, so to speak!  On the Colonix your system is definitely hyper-stimulated by the herbs (probably that stevia!) so you end up going to the bathroom a couple of times a day, but not in a "God I need to run to the bathroom!" kind of way.  You just go in the morning and the evening or whatever and continue on about your business.

When I stopped the program last week, everything seemed to go back to normal for me.  I remember what you wrote about how you craved/needed fiber post-cleanse, and with that in mind I am trying to "up" my fiber intake, but only in a half-assed way, really   I'm glad that my system didn't seem to come to a complete stop post-cleanse like some people experience.  I don't know why I didn't have that, unless it has to do with just doing the cleanse for six weeks and listening to my body when it told me "That's enough!"  ?  Oh, and throughout the cleanse, I definitely DIDN'T drink as much water as you're really supposed to do.  They recommend six to eight glasses of water a day, and I didn't drink anywhere near that.  Could that have made a difference? You'd think that would make things worse, not easier!  So I dunno. I have been taking probiotics throughout - to replace the bad critters with good ones - and maybe that helped me? 

LipstickMystic aka Jennifer

Oh, and that is so true about parasites creating sugar cravings.  From what I've learned they do have a mind of their own and create these overwhelming urges for sugar so that we cave in and feed them....

I did the main Colonix program (the colon cleanse which includes parasite killing herbs and psillium, plus the Kleritea) for about six weeks total. During the first few weeks I felt a definite detox process going on, plus evacuated some interesting things that I'm glad to say goodbye to!

I didn't lose much weight during the program itself -- I have that classic extra ten pounds that I'm always hoping to get rid of.  But I just stopped the program, and what I notice now is that I have a baseline clarity (mental and emotional) that's really nice and different that wasn't there pre-cleanse.

And the other REALLY cool thing is that my sugar cravings are TOTALLY gone.  And that's a major thing for me.  The reason why I've had this extra ten pounds is that, while I don't overdo sugar, I do tend to like to munch on cookies or pastry as an afternoon snack.  And with that tendency, which I've realized was truly an ongoing addiction for me, the ten pounds just kept hanging out.  I haven't been working out much in recent months, but even when I was working out, that extra tend pounds (not muscle mass, either just hung there and wouldn't budge.

Well, I remember there have been some articles in women's mags lately about "How parasites are making you fat!" and I think that this info may be partially correct!  Parasites definitely have their own "appetites," some respond to sugar and carbs. 

I'm not an addictive type otherwise -- I've thankfully never fought a smoking or alcohol addiction.  I do enjoy caffeine though and probably will not be giving that up at any point in the near future, although I do find myself cutting back now after the colon cleanse.

So what I want to share is that by killing off the parasites to the point where you no longer have this inner "chorus" of impulses urging you to overindulge in sugar, it's really amazing...I lost about seven pounds really fast.  But this was AFTER I ended the cleanse.

And I'm eating less, have better metabolism and energy overall, and can definitely say that for me the Colonix program was an excellent program to be on.  The psillium is really high grade and not as obnoxious tasting as so many of the other psilliums out there. Plus it's blended with other herbs that all add to the colon cleansing process.  I don't think I'd feel right going on the cleanse for more than six weeks at a time, though, and they recommend an initial three month cleanse if you've never done one before. My body very clearly "told" me that six weeks was enough. And then I will do another one in six months, I think, as half-year maintenance.

We ended up buying "his and hers" Colonix and ended up with a lot of extra, too. So I think you can probably safely just buy the smallest amount, like a six week amount, and have good effects.

Anyway, I'm thinking now that parasites DO make you fat in that they keep that sugar craving raging in the background (carbs too) to the point where you simply can't stick to a diet of any kind. I just was completely unable to get rid of this extra weight in recent years through dieting because this "noise" (loud parasites, perhaps!) was always going on in the background, demanding cookies!

I really feel for people dealing with much more severe weight problems, because it can feel like you'll never lose the weight. Well, now I personally recommend doing a parasite cleansing program (and perhaps the colon cleanse, too) because you might end up really "curing" yourself of the underlying addiction that is making it hard for you to eat healthily.

Now I'm craving healthy foods, too, and I'm hyper-aware of what I'm eating, not in a crazy/paranoid/anorexic way, but more in the sense of evaluating food to see if it is clean, well-prepared, and highly nutritious to my body. 

I always WANTED to be the type of hippie new age chick who craved healthy foods and never even got close.    I like this reality !  I think the colon cleanse and the parasite program in combination really helped my metabolism and blood sugar/insulin system readjust itself nicely.

So let's hope I can maintain it!

I look forward to hearing other reports here from people doing their own cleansing.  Details, details!

LipstickMystic aka Jennifer

PS NBC's very funny show Scrubs, set in a hospital, had on a silly episode last week where the whole episode was staged as a musical. The premise was that a woman patient was admitted to the hospital for examination because she would always hear everyone around her singing all the time, so she needed a brain scan. This set up an excuse for the entire show to occur in song.

Being a musical theater veteran, I LOVED this episode and thought it was hilarious. One of the early numbers in the show took place when the doctors came around to do their initial check up with her. Of course, as part of this, they ordered a stool sample. This led into an all-out showstopping number called "Everything Comes Down to Poo," which celebrated stool sampling as a diagnostic tool for everything that ails you - from shotgun injuries to pregnancy to being poked in the eye with a screwdriver.  Always, the one eternal constant, is that doctors will order a stool sample. It doesn't matter what's wrong with you.  Everything does come down to poo.

Just ordered yesterday for $37 + $18 ship to Canada.  It comes with:
1) Green Black Walnut Hull - Extra Strength, 2 fl. oz.
2) Super W Blend, 365 mg, 100 count
3) Cloves 500 mg, 100 ct

I'll post if anything exciting happens... but I promise I won't be too graphic.

If Ya haven’t already been there, CureZone is a good place for tons of info. and shared experiences.

Personally did MC a few times a number of years back, longest was 28 days.

Master Cleanser Support Forum
http://curezone.com/forums/f.asp?f=478

General
http://www.curezone.com/forums/?v=0&o=0

Have anyone here tried "the master cleanse" (drinking cayenne/lemon juice/maple syrup in water)?  i was reading about it through amazon, and it sounds dreadful... not eating for 10 days?  I think I may try it this year, but with a light diet of whole foods.  Thanks again.

In a few of the testimonials that I read, satisfied customers tried to make a cheaper homemade version by purchasing the ingredients from health food stores, but were unable to create a blend that gave positive results matching Colonix.  The Colonix fiber is not just straight psyllium fiber.  It contains about a dozen herbs.

After completing the initial cleanse, I’ll be looking for less expensive options to use such as those recommended by Lyra.

Re the dangers of senna

I’m not ready to write off senna, even though I can see the need for caution.  I will be doing some more research on the "lazy bowel syndrome" referred to above.

I took a look at the above links regarding senna as a source of liver damage.

The first link is to a site by Dr. Melissa Palmer.  She wrote:

Herbs that have been associated with liver disease include the following:

Black Cohosh, Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica), Callilepsis laureola ( Impila), Cascara  Sagrada, Celandine ( also known as greater celandine) (Chelidonium majus), Chaparral (also known as creosote bush or greasewood) (Larrea taridentata), Comfrey and other herbs containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids (heliotropium, senecio, crotalaria, symphytum),   Doxidan ( Danthron 1,8-hydroxyanthroquinone and dioctyl calcium sulfosuccinate), Germander (Teucrium chamaedrys), Green tea leaf, Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris),  Impila root, Jin Bu Huan, Kava ( also known as kava kava or Piper methysticum),  Kombucha, Lobelia (Lobelia inflata), Ma huang (ephedra), Mate (also known as paraquay tea) (Ilex paraguariensis), Mistletoe (Viscum album), Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), Pau d’arco (La pachol), Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium), Poke root (Phytolacca americana), Ragwort (Senecio jacoboea), Sarsparilla (Smilax species), Sassafras (Sassafras albidum), Saw palmetto – the main ingredient of the herbal preparation known as “Prostata” , Senna (Casio acutifolia), Skullcap (Scutellaria laterifolia), Soy phytoestrogen, Sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis), Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), T’u-san-chi, Valerian (Valeriana offinalis), Woodruff (Galium odorata), Certain Chinese herbal formulas–typically a complex mixture of a variety of different herbs, Herbal preparations containing the recreational drug “ecstasy”  (3,4-Methylenedioxymetamphetamine).

That’s an awfully long list.  I suppose any herb can be harmful if excessively used.  Do you get the feeling that Melissa doesn’t like herbs?  She’s an MD.  Maybe her years in medical school biased her against herbal remedies.

Another liver/senna link was to a case where a woman damaged her liver through more than 3 years of continuous use:

‘A 52-year-old woman who had ingested, for >3 years, one liter of an herbal tea each day made from a bag containing 70 g of dry senna fruits, developed acute hepatic failure and renal impairment requiring intensive care therapy.’

The company marketing Colonix does not recommend long-term continuous use of their senna tea. (I guess that depends on what you consider 'long-term' to mean.)

The online instructions recommend that after completing 30 days on the Colonix cleanse, if you want to continue with another month of cleansing take a 5-day break from the senna tea and parasite killing capsules before continuing the cleansing program.  Here’s how they put it:

‘We recommend that before you begin your second month of cleansing, you take a five-day break from the Paranil capsules and the KleriTea, and continue taking the Colonix fiber only. On the sixth day start taking 4 Paranil capsules and resume drinking the tea each night. The reason for this break is to give your body a rest and to ‘shock’ the parasites making their elimination easier, if they’re still present, as you resume taking the 4 Paranil capsules.’

and

‘ . . . the entire Colonix & Toxinout programs are not recommended for long-term use.’ (from page 11 of the instruction booklet)

Toxinout is a separate companion program that I do not use.  One of its functions is the development of healthy intestinal flora.  Instead of using it, one thing I do is drink organic kefir daily.  There are other probiotics products at health food stores I may try later.

Another source of information on Colonix:

A lengthy forum discussion (50+ pages) titled  'Colonix & Colon Cleansing Stories'
http://forum.t-tapp.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=40837

On page 29 Vida posted a long, informative reply she received from the Colonix customer service department.

Thanks for the warnings about senna, Lyra, I will keep that in mind. I haven't been sure whether or not to stay on the program the fully recommended two to three months just this first time since I've never done a colon cleanse before -- I'll definitely be thinking about this more!

For me there have been definite energetic things clearing out as well as the physical stuff. And for me that has all been good. My partner in crime has also been having good results so far.  So we'll report back with more info! 

(Is it a bad sign that he and I share daily poo reports and are often gleeful about what comes out?

For the record, in the past we have done two to three times a year some brief taking of wormwood/black walnut tincture as a seasonal cleanse, and I've also used the Don Croft zapper once in a while -- usually only when I felt like my body was trying to fight off a cold or food poisoning. Seems that if I zap soon enough, I don't get sick. 

Recently purchased a Clark zapper too but haven't been using it much.

It's good to have different tools.

Jennifer aka LipstickMystic

http://thedoctorwitin.com

I can say this after almost 10 years of Physical Anthropology studies and evolution of nutrition and disease studies.

It goes without saying that you should also incorporate plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables (organically grown and local are best) into your diet, and AVOID processed foods at all costs. 

Support local farmers and organic growers as much as possible, and get away from the toxic, pesticide laden, nutrition-poor foods of agribusiness that line the shelves of supermarkets.

plasticportal, did you take the tincture liquid stuff, or the pack with capsules of wormwood and cloves (like the one seen here: http://www.nutridirect.co.uk/parasite-c … 1009.html) ? 

I'm still lookin for where I can buy this stuff in Canada.  Paying the import duty and int'l shipping is not a favorite pasttime...

I took the wormwood and cloves in capsule form with the BWH in liquid/tincture form.  And yeah, I ordered it from a US shop, so I'm probably not much help there.  I recall as long as the herbs are fresh and the tincture is "green" it should be ok for the parasite cleanse. 

Good luck finding a local supplier.  If I run across a shop in Canada that sells this stuff I'll let you know.

I'm still lookin for where I can buy this stuff in Canada.  Paying the import duty and int'l shipping is not a favorite pasttime...

- For parasites - take cayenne pepper, liquid or capsules.  I once read a quote from the actor Billy Bob Thornton who said his doctor was amazed at his lack of parasites.  Most people have them, he apparently didn't.  He said it must be the dropperful of cayenne liquid he takes everyday.  He's totally addicted to the stuff (in a good way ) and it apparently works wonders.   May not be the end-all be-all cure all, but it certainly helps, apparently!  Green hull black walnut is also supposed to be effective.

http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/he … epper.html
Anyway, my 2 cents.  Although I think this post is long enough to be worth 10. 

I just tried a parasite cleanse a couple weeks ago.  I didn't think it would do much.  Interestingly it did.  After the first couple days I could tell something was different or "off" with my body.  I was getting headaches more often, especially in the evening.  My tummy was rumbling when I would lay down too.  I also had a lot of ups and downs throughout the day as well.  I'm not sure if this was due to killing the parasites or the herbs themselves. 

The cleanse seemed to be effective though.  I feel much more relaxed throughout the day now.  Bowel movements have normalized, usually 2-3 per day whereas before I would usually be going once per day or not at all. 

I didn't try cayanne, although I've heard it's good for the ridding of parasites and some viruses as well.  This cleanse was the standard Clark cleanse with 2-3 gram doses of black walnut hull tincture, wormwood and cloves all at once.  I'm sure it worked as advertised because I kept seeing little red wormy things in the toilet which couldn't have corresponded to anything I ate recently.  Sorry to gross you out!   I later read that these were most likely liver flukes and the red color was because they were sucking on my b12.  Interestingly, I had a holistic doctor tell me that I was deficient in b12 a couple months ago.

I've read that megadoses of co-enzyme Q10, L-cysteine, ozonated olive oil, oregano oil, chili pepper seeds are also effective against parasites.  I might try these at a later date or just for maintenance in the future. 

God, those things looked nasty!  I'm glad they're out.