Caroline Francis -
My name is Caroline Francis, I'm 42 years old and I've had MS for about 10years although I am one of the lucky ones and really my problems are limited to badly blurred vision in one eye, severe fatigue and the occasional dragging leg and wobbly arm. I had a couple of more serious attacks over the past few years, the first caused me to lose most of the use of my right arm for a few months -not ideal when you run a B&B in the Scottish Highlands and have to prepare both breakfasts and dinners for 12 people! It also left me with a frozen shoulder, probably through using my arm so awkwardly. I had physiotherapy for about 3months but she decided that she couldn't do any more for me and that I would need an operation to free the shoulder.
(That bad season was one of the reasons I was searching for something else to bring in some income - I answered an advert and joined Herbalife. I didn't work very hard at it and kept trying to keep the B&B going - mistake, my debts kept piling up and my health didn't really improve because I didn't take the products seriously. I still needed to sleep most afternoons.)
Having moved down south (well, to Durham!) in June 2000, in an attempt to hang onto my dream cottage by letting it out, I suffered a particularly nasty attack - mainly vertigo, which lasted for several weeks and put me in hospital for 4 days on a steroid drip - unable to stand up without crutches or sticks, let alone walk three dogs. Even after the worst of the dizziness went, I was still left with very weak legs. When I came out of hospital and finished the steroids, I decided to start doing anything I could to improve my health.
At the time I started taking F1 (1 x a day, I didn't really need to lose weight), F2 (2 x 3 day), F3 (1 x 3), Tang Kuei (1 x 2), Schizandra (1 x 2), Xtra-Cal(1 x 2) (if I'm going to make a habit of falling over I don't want broken bones too!), Herbalifeline (2 x 3 per day). I've since added Green & Beige, Cell Activator (as soon as it became available) NRG (when I feel I need an extra boost) and the Thermo tea as well. In the 18 months I've been taking the products I haven't had a single attack (having been used to one every 6 or 9months). I had also put on about a stone due to the steroids I had to take and last summer I managed to lose 12lbs in 3 weeks by upping the Formula 1 to 2 x a day.
Within a few weeks I was walking the dogs over an open fell for about 30minutes every morning (rough ground, up and down hills, slow at first but improving all the time) and now, since starting on the products I have so much more energy - I very rarely sleep during the day, walk the dogs at 6.30ish every morning and deliver my Herbalife leaflets for a couple of hours later on. Oh, and the frozen shoulder has 99% gone - no operation needed!
I'm not sure whether ALL the supplements are strictly necessary, but I know how much better I am, and I'm not about to risk another attack! I would certainly take F1, F2, Cell Activator, at least one of the antioxidants and Herbalifeline (maybe in even heftier doses?) and if fatigue is a problem G&B & Thermo with NRG as an additional energy boost. I still have the blurred vision and a lack of feeling in my right hand, but perhaps if I'd been on the products sooner, the damage would have been more limited. The only time I have to sleep during the day now is if I happen for some reason to have gone a day or two without the products - I can really feel the difference.
On 24th June last year, a few months after starting the products, I completed a 12 mile sponsored walk around Edinburgh – I did need to use my sticks (and lots of NRG!) and it did take me longer than most (but not all!) people, but considering that only 6 months earlier I couldn't walk at all I thought it was quite an achievement! I was very tired that evening, but fully recovered and out with my dogs again the following morning.
I will continue to take Herbalife products for the rest of my life and I would be very happy to talk to anyone who needs reassurance or more information. Just e-mail me on yourhealthmatter@aol.com.
Caroline
(updated March 2002)
Submitted indirectly
A good friend of ours that we met through Herbalife has MS and an incredible story I'd like to share with you. It will touch your heart if you ever get a chance to listen to her tell it personally. It's a bit long but well worth it to put in your testimonial files. This is her story...
Julie -
Since being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in May of 1988 at the age of21, my life and health have changed dramatically! My symptoms became so bad that I had to be hospitalized due to a loss of balance, severe visual impairments, extreme fatigue, and even to the point where I was bed-ridden. Once I was able to operate a manual wheel chair, that was my means of transportation, which was very difficult because I had lost the use and feeling of my entire left side. Add to the fact that I had no sense of balance and if I wasn't properly belted into my chair I would end up sliding out onto the floor. Also my vision was limited to black and white blurs, no distinction for color or depth perception and again no peripheral vision on the left. I had to really crank my head to the left in order to avoid running into things. I would even miss food that was on my tray!
I had extensive physical occupational and recreational therapy during my 6week stay and was released only after I passed an independent living skills test. I was able to leave the wheel chair behind and had graduated up to a walker and a cane.
My symptoms were being treated with some very scary medications which in turn had nasty side effects on me. The I-V steroids caused me to break out from head to toe ( I looked like one big zit) and also bloated me up like a puffer fish. One of the last medications prescribed to help combat the fatigue was anti-depressants. I tried several different types with little or no benefit at all. Again, the side effects seemed worse then the original symptoms. Instead of waking up with more energy, as anticipated, I had a"drug-hangover" with absolutely no energy. Fatigue is quite common with MS and I really didn't need any outside sources compounding the problem. After going the drug route for over a year and a half I became even more discouraged when my doctor told me that if I hear of any medications that other MS'ers are using, that to let him know and we would discuss it. (Now that's a scary thought-me asking my doctor if I can try a medication that I hear about) Not long after that, I knew that there had to be a better way to help my condition. If I could only get my fatigue under control, I knew that everything else would start to follow. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired! I couldn't imagine having to live the rest of my life this way. In my eyes I wasn't living but only existing from day to day. It's difficult to have a lot of hope for your future when you can't see past the day you're struggling to get through.
I got started on Herbalife products through my brother, which was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Within three days I had more energy and was able to stand up at the sink and actually finish my dishes all in one shot instead of doing a few and lying down, doing a few and lying down, etc. My original intent was just to have more energy but 12 pounds and12 and a half inches kind of melted off in about three weeks without changing any types of foods I was used to eating. I'm now living a normal life which consists of regular exercise. In August I received my driver's permit and I'm practicing to get my driver's license real soon. I haven't driven in 3 and a half years and I'm ready to have my freedom back.
My health has improved 200% over what it was since December of 1989 when I first started on the products. I have more energy now then I ever had before and I'm able to take on any task that confronts me with ease. Thanks to Herbalife's Cellular Nutrition products I have my health in order and I'm controlling the disease drug free!
Julie is now working as a cashier in a grocery store here in WA, something she was told she could never do again. After hearing stories like this, who could ever doubt Herbalife products?
Magdalena Zoltner
leni_zoltner@hotmail.com
Hi, my name is
I was born in 1950; in 1984 I was diagnosed to have MS in a mixed form (one part becoming steadily worse and one part with inflammatory attacks),and that since my age of 15. This was the explanation of many first "unexplainable" illnesses I had all the time. It wasn't easy at all to manage my family (we have 3 children of our own + one adopted) - my husband did a very great and good job in helping me and caring for me - because sometimes it changed from as good as possible to very worse: dizziness, falling, numbness, hearing- and speaking problems, problems with my eyes (distance), walking, moving at all, depressions, very little strength. All the time I got gammaglobuline-infusions and enzymtabletts, only in the first years after the diagnosis I got Cortisone in case of inflammatory attacks.
From 1993 on it became constantly bad, I had to move with an electric wheelchair for outside for 3 years.
When it became worse and I stood on the verge to need a wheelchair also for inside - I prayed to God - I know that he is able to heal me within no time, but if it's not his will I'll bear this, but then I need much more strength, because all this mess is unbearable for my family and me any longer .
Sometimes later He let me find Herbalife.
First I got the Shake, but I did not believe that it can help me; sometimes later I got the Thermojetics Tea. At that time the Aloe-drink was not available in
Since some years I have stopped all the medication for MS because I felt, I don't need it any longer.
Last year (2001) I wanted to have my MS controlled, with the result, that they couldn't find anything which points to MS any longer. They told me that they take away their diagnosis and that they want to see me NEVER AGAIN !!!
Praise the all mighty God, the father of my Lord and savoir Jesus Christ, creator of heaven and earth and all people, who healed me and let me find Herbalife!
Dr. Katzin on MS (5/1/2002)
Dr. Katzin
QUESTION: Which products and which dosages would you suggest that an MS patient could use to help alleviate the symptoms?
DR. KATZIN: Multiple Sclerosis, again, this is a condition which is not completely understood. What we do know is the nervous system spontaneously develops inflammation and these points of inflammation eventually become hardened or sclerotic. It happens multiple places in the body and hence it's called multiple sclerosis. Some people it's a very mild disease. You can have one bad attack, often in the eyes is how it begins, and you rarely get another one and you kind of notice some things throughout your life. Usually it burns out. Sometimes it's much more fast track.
What we find is that dietary fish oil and antioxidants have been shown to have a beneficial effect on the nervous system, particularly the nervous system and some of the damage that may occur in MS. So the program beginning with just basic cellular nutrition, 1 2 and Cell Activator ought to have a high component of dietary fish oil, up to 9 Herbalifeline a day, a component of antioxidants, 6 Schizandra and 2 RoseOx™ a day. And then I would add just to make sure that the digestive system functions well and can absorb all this, I would add a little Aloe to each meal. And I think you'll find that with that balance of proteins and micro nutrients and these particular dietary fish oils, as well as the antioxidants you see the effect that you want.
This is one of these interesting things where all dietary fish oils are not the same. In terms of the nervous system, the dietary fish oil that's important is DHA, just a complicated name for a very highly unsaturated fatty acid. Where the cardiovascular system is concerned is EPA. And you'll see fish oils in the store called max EPA or any of these things which seems to have huge amounts of this EPA, much more than we would put in any tablet of ours, almost bordering on medicinal, and these may be very beneficial for your heart but they will not effect the nervous system in the same way. This is where Herbalifeline becomes a very interesting product that it works on multiple parts of the body because it is a full component, a full spectrum dietary fish oil.
Angela Knutson
angw2boys@netscape.net
Hi everyone, Angela Knutson here from
I’m here to tell you Herbalife’s products have literally changed my life.
Here is little background about me. I am a registered nurse here in
Immune, what does it mean? Well it’s an immune defense that actually fights off disease, sickness, and any other health threat that your body may encounter. Autoimmune is just that but for some reason my immune system thinks my body is the disease, so it attacks.
Many things can happen with multiple sclerosis and what was happening to me was low energy, numbness and tingling to my extremities, weakness, and overall feeling of helplessness. Most devastating was the MRI of my brain which shows MS progression or deterioration of activity. In August 2003, my MRI showed that my MS was in high gear and my neurologist switched my medication. We crossed our fingers.
Being the nurse that I am I researched the disease and talked with several neurologists to figure out how to slow things down and manage my disease progression. Again and again I was told there is no cure but managing your symptoms is the key to this disease. “How?” I asked. “Well, increase your immunity, reduce the stress in your life, and get lots of rest”, they responded. How feasible is that when you are raising a family??
I have always made health and nutrition a primary goal in my life but with the way the world is turning to processed foods and fast food restaurants on every corner I knew that I had to find nutritional supplements that would do what my doctors told me. I have tried numerous products over the years from varying nutritional stores such as GNC, but their products either did not provide my body with the nutrition that I was seeking or they tasted horrible.
Then Herbalife came into my life.
I started using the Herbalife products a year and a half ago now. Immediately I felt a surge of energy like never before, I wasn’t tired like I used to be, I didn’t feel worn down and really felt like I could conquer the world, or at least my family if I had too! Another appealing benefit that happened in my first 3 weeks of using the products I lost 12 lbs, 20lbs 2months and have kept it off even through the Christmas
The real proof came from my neurologist. I knew how I felt, but I needed my doctor to tell me that I was doing better. On June 14, 2004 I had my doctor visit. 9 months after I started these outstanding products my neurologist hugged me and said this is the best neurological exam you have had in over a year, whatever you are doing keep it up. August of 2004, 1 year after I started supplementing my diet with Herbalife’s products I had a repeat of my MRI, NO ACTIVITY through out the year!!!!!!! Of course being the emotional women that I am, I cried, called everyone in my phone book and celebrated with my family.
Thank you Herbalife, not only do your products taste fabulous but they provided my body with the nutrition I was seeking, increased my immunity and have aided me in managing my disease.
Here is what I took during that year:
Formula 1 shake (all the flavours) 1 to 2 shakes a day
Formula 2 multivitamin 1tablet 3xday
Formula 3 Cell activator 2 tablets 3x day
Aminogen 1 tablet 3xday
Total Control 1 tablet 1 to 2x day
X-CAL 1tablet 3xday
Herbalifeline 2-3 tablets 3xday
Women’s Advantage 1 tablet 1xday
Cell-u-loss 1 to 2 tablets 3xday
Meta-balance 1 to 2 tablets 1xday
**Adding to my program after my first year**
RoseOx
Schizandra
Get on these products you will not be disappointed because everyone needs to have proper nutrition regardless.
To your HEALTH
Angela Knutson