Ben:
<<...... look at the big noise about Phen-Fen..... I think they need to
realize that they were the ones who took the responsibility when they decided
to take those pills.  Does that seem completely harsh, or does that make
sense?  >>

I guess it seems a little harsh to me. I actually get a whole lot of people
referred to me for obesity problems, and quite a number have been on Phen-Fen.
I've seen some horrible things.

One sweet little girl, who had actually already had severe asthma problems
(severe asthma is a common side effect of P-F) was told by a friend about a
doctor that would sell her P-F, and so she just went and picked up the drug
without any kind of physical, no questions asked, no history, nothing. (There
are loads of MDs in DC here that do this sort of thing). This guy sells lots
of P-F.

Anyway, she came to me after she had been on the stuff for a while, and she
already was having serious serious problems. She had had no idea that Phen-Fen
was something bad or dangerous. All she knew was that her friend had lost 150
pounds on it, so she thought it was great and she wanted to lose weight too. I
had not been seeing her for very long, and was working with her to gradually
(gradual is important with PF) get her off the stuff and slowly improve her
diet, when she was rushed unconscious to the emergency room one night with a
violent asthma attack and anaphylactic shock. She died that night.

She was 19, had run away from a violently abusive mother five years before,
and had lots of hopes of getting herself to college one day to help other
abused children. She was sweet, and had been an inspiration to me.

Just a little story from real life, that makes it hard for me to blame people
for what they simply do not know when it comes to health, drugs, diet, etc. As
they say, "its rough out there." We are deliberately misled by some evil
forces.

So, your role as someone who speaks out on health issues is a serious one, as
far as I'm comcerned. And on the www you have such a vast audience - you never
know who may be making choices based on what you say.

Do you really know for sure that raspberry mold is detoxifying something? Or
are people just getting dead sick on the stuff for six months? Furthermore,
each person is compleetely unique. Something which might make one person only
sick for six months might provoke a life-threatening allergic immune response
in someone else - that's the way human immune systems are.

My two cents.

Love, Liza

[log in to unmask] (Liza May)