Hi, peteranac!

I'm so sorry to hear that you are unwell . You WILL conquer that giardia! Have you been doing a colon cleanse? I hear a quality colon cleanse can help with parasites.

I had all kinds of little tricks to deal with anxiety. Some days I coped better than others. Mostly, what I tried to do is cultivate a "safe" feeling environment for myself. Sometimes it was where I was living. Other times, when that was not possible, I'd choose a specific activity that was my safe haven (one of them used to be playing cards by myself - weird, I know ) and in times where I was too anxious to function, I would (as soon as was convenient) retreat to my safe place/activity, and sort of get lost in it. It helped me soothe myself. If I was somewhere where I couldn't do that, a lot of the time deep breathing/focusing on my breathing (unless I'm hyperventilating, in which case, I needed to NOT think about breathing, haha) and telling myself that I was 100% safe, that while anxiety was uncomfortable, it would NOT kill me, I would be okay, and there was nothing to be afraid of...that would often help me calm down. Sniffing a little bit of lavender essential oil helped, too. Snuggling into a cozy blanket and watching a comforting movie. Listening to soothing music. Basically, I gravitated toward anything that I found comforting, anything that made me feel safe. There are many herbal remedies out there for anxiety, too, which I have not tried, but have heard good things about. One of them is Rescue Remedy. I'm not sure if it's something you can have when you're doing the candida detox, but it's worth looking into. Chamomile and Valerian are very calming, so a tea made of the two may help you during a panic attack. If I think of anything else, I will let you know! It's sort of hard for me to remember all of the things that I did to cope - those were bad times for me, and I think my mind is blocking a lot of it out. I was prescribed anti-anxiety medication (lorazepam), but I hardly ever took it, and I eventually stopped taking it altogether because I found that if I took it for more than a day or two in a row, it actually made things worse. I would not recommend it, except sparingly, only during very extreme panic attacks.

I have now been on the detox diet for a bit over 2 weeks. I feel tired sometimes, like I need a bit more sleep than I should, but I also sometimes feel like I have way more energy than I used to. Today is definitely a tired day, but I bet I will perk up after I eat a nice kale salad. Overall, I'm loving this diet! I'm getting way better nutrition than I was before, and trying all kinds of new foods/recipes. The other day, I had celeriac for the first time! My digestion has improved a LOT. I can now eat beans and eggs! Still staying away from onions until I can get some allergy testing done. I have found that my bowels are rather slow, despite the fact that I'm drinking tons of water, and my diet is very high in fiber now. I was thinking that it may have something to do with having more fat in my diet now, which digests slower - or perhaps it's just my intestinal flora remodeling. Who knows! I hope this is a temporary thing. It's not uncomfortable, I would just prefer things to be more regular.
I have not developed any new food allergies. I think my body is starting to recover. Overall, I feel that I am getting much healthier. Practically everyone I know is or has recently been sick (including my roommate) and I am in perfect health! I love it.

I have to say, this diet would be excellent for anyone wanting to slim down. I was already rather slender, and this diet is just melting the remaining fat right off! It's almost unbelievable. I eat plenty, and every day, I wake up thinner than the last. If this continues to an unhealthy point, I'm going to have to just about double my food intake, hahaha. Can't say I'm unhappy about that, I do LOVE food...

My birthday is tomorrow, and I've got a lovely candida diet meal planned!

Everything is homemade, except the dressing, which is Annie's Green Garlic:
Vegetarian Chili
Kale and Artisan Lettuce Salad with Green Garlic Dressing
Low-Carb Pumpkin Cookies, sweetened with Stevia
Low-Carb Ginger Dairy-Free "Ice Cream," sweetened with Stevia

Very excited!