coin

it's just annoying not be to be able to order melatonin from somewhere like iHerb for example, where it's $6 for 540mg (180 x 3mg capsules, NOW brand)

I don't find any difference between the tincture mentioned and tablets that I empty into my mouth and wash down with water. I also don't find any difference between holding the tincture in my mouth or putting it in a glass of water. But that is to say that the koda product is very effective. 1.5mg is enough for me, and usually all I use... or else the last phases of my sleep are filled with psychological dreams and it takes a lot of discipline to get up instead of sleeping for another 2 hours letting the dreams play out. When taking melatonin, "Sleep hygiene" is still absolutely necessary. Personal note: I've found that taking theanine with the melatonin helps me wake up a lot fresher if i take around 2-3mg [melatonin] without drowsiness...there's a spring/impulse to get up the first time I wake up. Spice-of-life - where were you actually buying it in Australia?? I don't think it's actual melatonin. The only thing available over the counter is imaginary energy-vibrations melatonin. I've ordered capsules online once from biovea and they came through ok. My usual online supplement store, iherb, won't let australian customers add melatonin products to their shopping cart. Also, not being judgy, but you say if melatonin doesn't work, you're off to a sleep specialist, but just before that you already identified a couple of potential problems...coffee and lack of sunlight. If you feel you desperately need coffee, maybe you could supplement with tyrosine in the morning & early afternoon (about a half hour before the usual coffee time, concurrently reducing caffeine dosage, possibly switching to tea at some point that feels right), tryptophan in the evening, melatonin a bit before bed, then once you're eventually sleeping soundly, cut down the melatonin, then see how things go. I've said this all in a very condensed way You're possibly trapping yourself in a bit of a dodgy/self-perpetuating cycle.

nothing Zen - start a youtube channel

I thought the majority of gallstones were cholesterol stones. I don't know if I'd call a fat free vegan diet a healthy diet. Surely the lack of fat (which is not a normal diet in my opinion) would not keep the bile flowing, regularly flushing out the "sludge/sand" .. A vegan diet can be very carb/grain heavy. etc but I see your point. The research I've read seems to say that hormonal factors play a big part - I thought that's why women are especially prone? also race, etc. I suppose I just make an assumption based on the people I have met who have symptomatic gallstones. What is the standard medical mnemonic? Forty/Fifty, Fat, Female/Fertile (multiple pregnancies), Flatulent...something like that. The people I've seen with this problem are exactly that...overweight women who love eating brie, cream, wine, meats, pasta, crusty white bread with butter, desserts ("all the good things in life"), major lack of whole foods, etc. (I always go with the C's: cookies, cake, coke, chocolate, chips, cheese). But I guess it's only a handful of people overall..I probably meet as many fitting that criteria who don't have symptomatic gallstone problems. I only met one guy who had gallstones and the persistent attacks he would have, caused him to ignore what doctors late told him was a pretty serious heart attack. Anyway, I don't want to drag my curiosity out any further when the topic is sceletium...I'll be sure to get some. You've convinced me to talk to my mum about this as an option while she's relatively healthy rather than the chance of some sort of complicated emergency surgery...though the topic raises all sorts of distrust with mainstream medicine.

thanks again t yeah, the flush sites are mental...though some of them do suggest strongly to ascertain size of stones interesting what you say about the stones rearranging...hadn't thought of that being able to just have the stones removed would be an ideal 'fresh start'...I'm not that optimistic about lifestyle/diet changes for a lot of people though to do what they can about minimising the chances of the whole situation recurring, and I guess a lot of surgeons feel that even more strongly. And no, I wasn't calling you fat ... was talking about my mum

I didn't read that link, but I assume it's the debunking of the olive oil flush....that the supposed passed stone products are basically solidified olive oil. But still, surely intentionally taking muscle relaxants and stimulating strong contractions of the gallbladder will cause it to expel stones that are small enough to pass through the duct. There do seem to be a number of people that acknowledge the 'fake stones' product but after doing the flush report far fewer or no further episodes. I assume these people have much smaller stones. I never would recommend it to anyone because I always thought it would be quite likely that a large stone would just lodge in the duct and they'd be straight off for surgery which is usually exactly what people are trying to avoid. I'm sure I've seen pics of much smaller, harder/different looking stones 'recovered' from the flush method that looked very different to the typical green blobby fake stones. But yeah, the whole washing your feces in a colander and the thrill of finding the evil gallstones is very much like the fad/scam of the psyllium/bentonite colon cleanses where people excitedly post photos online of their flushed so-called mucoid-plaques....the same purging thrill that drives the detox industry. I've been looking into TCM formulas (specifically "li dan pai shi") ... the thing that worries me is that they all contain cholagogue herbs and I'm worried it would just precipitate an attack. It's that balance between keeping the bile flowing but not triggering forceful contractions that seems tricky. I'd be much more likely to experiment on myself (if I had this problem) but the pain looks so crippling & intense that it makes me a bit nervous when dealing with others. I suppose you could start really low & slow with dosage. One other thing I come across a fair bit is the use of Phyllanthus niruri (chanca de piedra?)... best effect on kidney stones, but there seem to be a lot of anecdotal claims for also treating biliary colic/cholecystitis The ultrasound is a good idea...it's been done years ago but would be good to see how things are going now. I'm not sure how accurate/easy the imaging would be with a lot of abdominal fat. It seems like no surgeon wants to just remove the stones because it's such a short time before they see the patient back again & full of stones once more...but is it possible to insist on that? I got the impression that the meds (CDCA/UDCA) and lithotripsy are pretty useless. It's very interesting to me that you have very little worry about cholecystectomy ... that's reassuring...I assume you'd want to supplement with bile acids/enzymes, etc?

My mum gets killer attacks where I assume stones get expelled from the gallbladder and lodge in the duct/neck/Hartmann's pouch...I think the neck/duct keeps spasming on the stone, trapping it...the longer this goes on for, the longer the recovery time (irritation/inflammation). A strong tea made from fennel and cardamom gives an almost instant & massive relief from the actual attack but in the following days ibuprofen is all that really helps. I get her to take a fair bit of magnesium as well. I don't know if the stone falls back into the gallbladder or eventually passes through...I guess sometimes one sometimes the other. She keeps saying that she doesn't want surgery but I'm thinking eventually the entire gallbladder will be filled with stones and it will hardly be able to contract at all, or every time it moves will trigger another attack. Thanks for the tip about the sceletium

GA's target demo is partly gays? How do you figure that? I don't know many older gay gentlemen....they like cultivating roses or something? or they enjoy landscaping? (when they're not manscaping.....sorry, bad joke)

I have 1 copy of this book to give away "Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom" by Andy Letcher http://www.amazon.com/Shroom-Cultural-History-Magic-Mushroom/dp/0060828285 (it's paperback but the cover art is nicer than the edition depicted there) You can see from the link, there are some scathing reviews & some seem to like it....I haven't actually read it. I bought it as a SAB Xmas gift but I got busy and forgot about it. So it's free to someone who wants it - but please only if you like books, will actually read it and have an interest in the topic...PM me.

more "saffron" thrown in the bin...another brand...having looked up common ways of faking it, my best guess is that it's made from gelatin...it looks like plastic pressed into a vaguely familiar shape...funny thing is the yellow styles thrown in for a bit of an authentic look. once it gets wet if you press it between your fingers it just disappears another product to now buy online

was that not established four years ago?

was hoping to get some feedback from people who have experience with health care / candida

what are the definitive diagnostic tests - for intestinal only, in a guy, for example? stool test? I've seen some of those instant home blood candida antibodies finger stick tests (CanDia5) ... I'm not sure how this proves you have worrying level of overgrowth except that it correlates with other significant symptoms? any thoughts? any opinions of these products designed to break down the biofilm or is this just the latest line of paranoia/marketing?

I think you mean wiped, not whiped ..... lol - what a thread It just sounds like a scene that should have taken place in a shower (I wish there was a supergrin emoticon)

when you say "no one knows what it is" -- what are you wanting to know? you want a physiological explanation? because like ThunderIdeal said, it's really nothing strange...i get exactly what I think you're describing except that my eyes well with tears, which you didn't mention. (this is not uncommon when entering the first jhana the first few times). don't most people just call that inspiration, or a moving/touching experience?? the word inspiration, after all, means to be filled with spirit, as well as to draw in breath - which historically is related to spiritual life force (chi/prana).... and there's a second distinct sensation I get that is a whole-body feeling of humility/gratitude. either people will say it's being "touched by/filled with the spirit", "it's a movement of chi/prana", or it's a mind/body phenomena facilitated by dopamine/serotonin/endorphin/neuropeptide surge if it's the physiological that you're interested in -- there have been some studies done about the brain states correlated with jhana, and there are some new studies going on that are a lot more detailed and related with specific jhanas. i'm not sure why you think it's unusual that recalling a past experience that re-triggers the phenomena is somehow unusual.....of course mentally reliving an experience revives the related sensations ... otherwise nostalgia wouldn't be such a popular pastime ?

What do you mean by "if I concentrate real hard" ? explain how you'd do that, if you want You could use such sensation as an object of concentration to enter jhana states. it creates a feedback loop - strong concentration on pleasant sensation generates more pleasant sensation, etc. you possibly have a sort of gift for it (karma/genetics/whatever) This sort of sensation, often explained in the intense goosebumps/"hairs on the back of the neck" way, is one the 5 jhana factors (it's called 'piti' [from Pali] & often translated as rapture/bliss/delight, etc.)...given that we're talking about the same thing. may not be jhanic concentration however (beyond first jhana) could not be attained unless the body and mind are still, with eyes closed, etc. it's not necessarily kundalini activation though ... these sort of energy movements are common in people who've crossed the "arising & passing away" (from buddhist maps/stages of insight) & often don't even know it...so many people who've used psychedelics (even once) will have wandered into this territory.

don't get confused.... a lot of people when they say "do a vipassana course" are referring to those run at worldwide centers whose head teacher/founder is S.N. Goenka. They run 10 day courses at no charge. If Entheogenic mentioned a vipassana retreat at a buddhist monastery, then this isn't a Goenka course. But vipassana isn't the name of a movement, an organisation or even a specific technique. Vipassana is the *aim* of the technique - and there are many techniques to achieve this aim. Vipassana is commonly translated as "insight" (hence the synonym "insight meditation") but then people get confused, thinking the aim is psychological insights into one's own personality/being, etc. which is also incorrect. Not that this won't happen but it is pretty much beside the point. The techniques can be practiced by anyone of any religious persuasion. It amazes me that some people can do a handful of Goenka courses over years and still have no broader scope of Buddhism/vipassana than these courses and are still confused about these points. You can certainly start learning/practicing without having to do a 10 day retreat.

I use iherb.com for all the supps I buy for myself & others. Using DHL shipping (usually $12 but sometimes discounted to $8 and every now and then, $4), my packages arrive in 3-5 days. The package goes into transit within hours and shipping runs over the weekend/public holidays. International air mail is $4 and apparently the average time for Australia is 10 days (? I recall) but I've always used DHL because they'll continue to attempt to deliver it to your door to sign for it, or you can give them permission/instructions to leave it on your property. iherb seem to be trusted by customs because I've never had a package inspected. (they won't ship anything that is considered problematic in your country) they sometimes have major discounts and the high turnover means fresh stock. for common supps I use Now brand, Jarrow, Doctor's Best etc and they can be 1/3 price of local suppliers. (you can check for yourself if you compare a few prices between iherb and the ebay link above...I just compared 5 random products and all were 50-70% cheaper on iherb) the high number of product ratings/reviews can be helpful too in terms of feedback re efficacy but it's also interesting to see for what purpose people are using the products

nothing like a 10-day Goenka course to give a first impression of buddhism/buddhist practice

look for a recipe that has semolina (suji) in the dough - it makes it more crispy/improve texture. and perhaps a bit more oil. yes, it will taste much better if you use ghee, and the mouth-feel is better. however, that's not the key to good restaurant/street samosas...mostly they'd use veg oil because it's cheaper. I'm guessing the main issue: rub the oil/fat into the flour to resemble fine bread crumbs before adding water. coating the glycoproteins (gliadin & glutelin)/starch in each little particle of the flour, with fat, prevents too much gluten development (which would cause a dense/rubber pastry). maybe you're also over kneading. only knead enough for ingredients to come together & become homogenous (1-2 mins hand kneading) and then rest the dough for proper hydration. this is standard technique - "cutting in the fat [shortening]" for short-crust pastry. larger chunks of the chilled fat creates a flakier pastry, and thoroughly combining the flour and fat will create a tender, mealy-er pastry. when creating a flaky pastry generally all the ingredients should be cold (including ice cold water, and chilled flour/fat) to prevent the fat from melting too much (maintaining chunks). but you probably want to go with the tender type dough for samosas. samosa pastry dough should be stiff, like when making puris, not wetter like chapati dough. you can't just follow a recipe to achieve that - different brands of flour have different water content. (dough for flat bread is made with hot water because after the bread is cooked it can be cooled and stored away and will remain fairly soft) raising agents can also make a lighter pastry. you might find it interesting to look up recipes for malay/thai curry puffs that use both a fat dough & a water dough. these are combined in a way that creates many layers similar to the technique behind puff pastry. to me, you gotta have ajwain seeds in the pastry put as many tips as i can think of

it's not an uncommon product...you could probably ask your store to order it or find it somewhere else.... maybe perth is not like melbourne...but being in melbourne means there are hundreds of asian grocers nearby

Maybe you're specifically looking for an alternative. But here in Vic you can buy "fresh" banana leaves that are vacuum packed at a lot of Asian grocers. Maybe you can find those?

oh dear...I never meant to criticise him...I just never met him & so I never had any dealings with him aside from the interaction I mentioned. I intended my comments earlier just as a raw account with the bottom line being that I never really could get a good sense of who he was (in terms of personality). And that he sent me nude photos, etc - I thought was funny/cute..he was very proud of them/that time of his life. I told him that I showed my friends those old round-cornered prints & he liked that. I think we put them as a hidden link on the website. You could interpret me saying that he never said thanks as being a criticism but it really wasn't. I guess I should have mentioned that when I did site updates, etc, he would offer me plants if he had something new. (75% of the time I bought stuff). He wasn't rude/demanding to me - but he did expect it to get done. I had a sentiment when I posted above, but I didn't express it very well...I'm sorry I said it so matter-of-fact'ly. Jeez, if I didn't like him somehow - why would I have spent hours spell-correcting and paragraphing (and reading) his stories? Not because it made me feel special ... I thought he was offering something really cool & I loved it when he decided to get creative and start putting stories on his website The link to his site above - (ha ha woof woof woof "now after seeing that link I understand why Coin!" ) no, that's not the site I did. I think that is one he did himself. The one I did for him had a lot of tables in the html for layout and he got quite annoyed with me that I wouldn't teach him/allow him to edit the site himself (I tried). I did try to help him figure out how to use a html editor, I made templates for him, etc, but he got irritated that it was needlessly complicated, couldn't figure out how to install the software. I don't remember the sequence of events after that to him moving on to his own site...I seem to recall that at some stage he changed the login password on SAB and then forgot it. ? (edit: I thought it was lost for all time but it's still here for some reason: http://www.australianethnobotany.com/gomaos/ parts of the site are broken...also, browsers rendered sites a bit differently 7 years ago, and screen resolutions were somewhat lower!) Anyway, I'm glad that many people who knew him, remember him fondly

Very sad for his young children...it's also very sad that he was so down on himself. He had such low self esteem. I didn't know him really....many years ago when he joined SAB, I offered to put up a website for him ("Gomaos' Garden") - he had said that he didn't know how to create a site offering his plants, etc. so I offered. I spent hours re-sizing pics & working up the website graphics (I did code, but was never a designer). Once I actually put up an initial site - he never once said thanks & he acted like it was some sort of deserved community service (?) ... when we corresponded - he didn't even seem to get that it was me that did the site? he didn't demand anything, but he made requests and never said thanks...he sent me packets of envelopes of old photos, upon his request, that I scanned (included nude pics of himself from the 70's) and uploaded to the website... he sent me emails to correct any errors on the site. I could never understand him

maybe one clue would be if there was solid stool passed when the diarrhea started. if there were some formed stool to begin with, then that probably says that the previous meal/foods were digested ok and then the takeaway was the culprit, otherwise if all that was evacuated was liquidy, then possibly whatever had gotten that far down already (eaten hours earlier), caused the problem. of course the allergy-like symptoms sort of point to the most recent meal though.