Here’s yet another happy side effect of NOT taking fish oil: I no longer have dispepsia/acid reflux. For about a decade, I’ve been taking Pepcid AC, then Zantac, then Prilosec. All good, but I still took them whenever I needed them - which was every day. Only a few days after stopping the fish oil, I no longer had heartburn/reflux! I’m feeling better all the time…

FYI: read somewhere that up to 50 percent of all fish oil sold is rancid or contaminated. Can’t google that story right now, but maybe that has something to do with it. I’m sticking with just eating a lot of seafood and to hell with those supplements! - reeko

Yet not one of the many doctors suggested a link between my “off the chart” triglycerides (above 400) and these “panic” attacks.

Since my cholesterol levels are that of a teenager (I am in my 50s) and I don’t smoke or drink excessively, weight lift and workout regularly, I am still about 20 or 25 lbs overweight. Being overweight is a factor in high triglycerides, but no association with the panic or mock heart attacks. The only drug I’ve been given is Xanax, and that is what I’ve been taking when I feel those symptoms. Until now.

I have religiously taken a daily dose of 1000 mg of fish oil for almost 30 years. For about one year several years ago, I alternated between flax oil and fish oil every other day. That is probably a good reason my cholesterol is that of a teenagers. BUT nobody has made the connection between high triglycerides and fish oil. I’ve looked all over the internet - nothing. I also can’t find anything connecting high triglycerides and panic attacks…

On my own (and against my doctor’s opinion) I decided to stop taking the fish oil. Since high triglycerides are basically a high amount of soluble fats in the bloodstream, I figured it couldn’t hurt. I am glad I did.

If anybody knows of any info about “too much” fish oil or toxicity from it, and I don’t mean allergic reactions, please let me know ok?

I have to search for my own answers because doctors do not know how to help with severe RA except methotrexate and Orencia which only suppress some symptoms.

You still have your RA and when you stop the meds your RA is worse than it was before starting the medications.

The avoidance of soybean oil in America will be extremely hard because it is in just about every product in the grocery from bread and baked items to salad dressings.

That is interesting (about the chocolate). I’d love to be able to eat chocolate again.

I continue in my quest for the perfect oil — easy to swallow, high in O-3, easy to find.

My readings about Omega-6s and Omega-3s indicate that it is best to aim for a balance, because the two fats compete. The International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids recommends a Omega-6:Omega-3 ratio of 1:1 to 2:1.

And it is important to keep the overall Omega-6s down to the 4400 - 6670 milligram range; it’s not just a matter of increasing Omega-3s.

Another thing to consider is that the Omega-3s that improve the body are EPA and DHA: flaxseed oil contains ALA. One author says that ‘only a miniscule amount of ALA is converted into EPA and DHA in the body–(the conversion rate is less than half of one-percent, 0.03%)’.

As for fish oil capsules, physicians in one book that I’m currently reading say, ‘Researchers had pulled bottles of fish-oil capsules off the shelves of health food stores and checked them for rancidity. They found that in almost 50 percent of the cases some of the capsules in a given bottle were rancid. When fish oil becomes rancid it doesn’t go from being a good fat to being a neutral fat, it becomes a harmful fat . . . substances called lipid peroxides that cause all kinds of problems once they get inside us.’

Thank goodness for canned sardines and grilled salmon.

About a dozen years ago I luckily discovered by doing something random and unusual (consuming a large egg-salad sandwich for lunch) that an intolerance for eating eggs was the source of a long-standing, mysterious, seeming randomly occurring, disabling lethargy. When this lethargy hit me, simply walking to the end of the driveway was almost too much.

I now can eat items, such as baked goods, which include a small amount of egg without a problem. I haven’t (yet) tried eating a plain cooked egg since the possibility of the lethargy’s recurring seems just too unpleasant.

I don’t have any other food intolerances, don’t have asthma or other chronic problems, and don’t have any allergies (with the exception of mild allergies to juniper).

I have found that intermittent fasting (limiting eating to a short window during the day, typically 4-6 hours for me, meaning ‘fasting’ for 18-20 hours a day) has allowed me to become much more aware of the effects of different foods on me. For instance, I get really sleepy within an hour of eating bread — something I’ve never noticed previously, and it became obvious because the fasting period makes creates more contrast between periods with a food, and periods without. So observations are easier.

Incidentally, my energy levels are normal for me, or slightly better — I can exercise vigorously with nothing in my stomach and recover as quickly as I ever have. It does help many people with weight loss and/or muscle gain, if the O6-emailer wishes to keep experimenting