D is a 41-year-old woman who has been taking m-state from a rock source and the trap water since the first week of January 2001. She has been on a natural diet for 20 years but has been under a lot of stress since 1998. With the onset of this stress she got shingles on her back, across her shoulders and under her breasts. The shingles presented as open, oozing, itchy sores that became worse at the time of menstruation. Here is a picture of this condition taken on January 13, 2001:

The preceeding photo was taken after taking m-state for a week and she had already noticed significant improvement. She also was putting m-state mixed with olive oil on her back. The sores were not as itchy and some of the open sores had closed. Another picture was taken on February 5, 2001:

Notice that most of the sores have gone but there is a small patch of new sores on the lower left.

Prior to taking the m-state she said that she tried a number of different herbal applications and vitamins without any significant improvement. She said that previously she got the greatest pain relief after she "put cayenne pepper right in it"  but it did not close them. She said that "they were still oozy when I started using the m-state oil, [I was] thinking that the oil would not help the oozing, but I was wrong." She said that within the first week "the itching and the irritability of it kinda just faded away."

"Right after I applied the oil," she said, "for at least the first three hours, I did not notice any pain or itching. Every few hours I just applied more because it was such a relief." She continued these frequent applications of the m-state oil for about five days when she "noticed it starting to scab off and flake and dry." She said, "then I got excited!"

Now she says that it "just looks like red marks on my back; there's no weeping, there's no open sores." And as the sores heal there is no scaring evident.

While she has been using the m-state from rock and trap water, she has also been using progesterone cream on her belly. Her menstrual cycle “went from a week long difficulty to a few days of hardly even knowing it was there”. Now she says she is “able to move” and even has “endurance for the day”. On the second day of her last period she even went skiing. She has had cramping and pain for a week out of every cycle for the entire time since the onset of menses. She says that it has never been this easy before in her entire adult life.

Her first period after starting the m-state was somewhat easier than normal but she still felt it coming on. The second period (which coincided with the full moon) came almost without warning and it was a bit shorter cycle than usual. It “just came and within three days it was done and [there was] no real pain”.

She usually got some small relief from the pain of her period by using a hot water bottle or heating pad for the cramping but she didn’t feel like doing much of anything during her period. For the week prior to her period she would get sore lumps associated with the glands between her armpits and breasts. She said that for the week preceding her period she was also uncomfortable with PMS symptoms like grumpiness and irritability.

She says that since she has been taking the m-state her mood has gotten "a lot better; a little more positive, a little more hopeful." She also noticed that it "took away the dark circles under [her] eyes".

On February 5th after the fourth massage with the m-state oil she noticed that all of the areas, where she had previously had broken bones, were starting to ache. This aching continued for about a week. These breaks included a broken wrist, broken jaw and broken rib. The broken jaw area ached for the longest period of time.

Since she put the oil in her hair she says that her “hair has more body” and that it does not tangle as easily. She also has noticed that her skin is softer. She says that the trap water tastes sweeter and colder.

"Overall" she says, "I've been real effected for a positive outlook; a little hope and a little results in the things that [I] thought were kinda hopeless." "It picks you up a little. It does not let you sit there and dwell on the drums of depression; it makes you want to get up and dance, sorta."