[charla]

Here's my story and I blame it mostly on sugar. I got sick on January 26 with influenza type A. I know that I suppressed my immune system so much with all the sugar that I ingested during the holiday season right before that. It made me suceptible to the most awful illness I've ever had. You think the flu - hey no big deal - a week or two down and then back to health right? No not me. I didn't recover for three months. THREE MONTHS! I not only had the influenza with all the sore throat, high fever (104-105), body aches, awful cough, but I had complications with diarrhea for one whole month, unrelenting vomitting, a ruptured eardrum, low sodium, low potassium, and all the other electrolytes messed up. I was in bed most of the time, in the ER at least three times, one ambulance ride, admitted to the hospital on Palm Sunday weekend (March) and countless doctor visits, prescriptions, supplements, vitamins etc. I didn't fully recover my strength until the end of April. I still have leftover side effects from that illness now a year later. My ears have never been the same and I'm slowly trying to build up my immune system because when I get too tired the sore throat and feverish feeling comes back. It was not only hard on me, it was difficult for my family and my children. I was unable to be a wife and mother at all. Believe me, I've learned my lesson. This holiday season I refused to budge on the sugar issue - I hardly had any at all. AND I'm sitting here at the computer WELL this year. Cake, icecream, pie, candy, etc are not worth the illness that I went through. Just my