Don Anomino

Be careful with raw milk and raw milk cheeses like queso fresco. Salmonella can happen anywhere, even in the States:

Twenty-five Salmonella illnesses now linked to homemade unpasteurized fresh cheese

http://www.health.state.mn.us/news/pressrel/2013/salmonella052013.html

Also, know your sources for raw milk! There's currently a brucellosis outbreak in an urban setting (a fairly rare occurrence) in the State of Guanajuato not far from San Miguel de Allende:

Alertan por brucelosis (in Spanish):

http://www.periodico.am/celaya/local/alertan-por-brucelosis-16271.html

FWIW,

-- Don

Thank you MyHomeSweetHome. I will follow up with Dra. Beatrice Gallagher.

if you wanted a saliva test...I'm sure she'll order it from the states for you. The saliva tests aren't available yet in Mexico.

I can order the 24-hour cortisol test kit myself from the States. It is hardly anything: four empty test tubes in a box. The problem is getting the 24-hour saliva samples back to the laboratory in the States for analysis.

Because all ordinary mail from Mexico to the States is trucked overland through Laredo, it takes forever, far too long for the cortisol samples to still be valid upon arrival at the lab. The courier companies (DHL, FedEx, UPS) consider saliva samples to be a potentially hazardous biological material, and either won't accept them at all, or demand a certificate from the Secretariat of Health (Secretaria de Salud), not to mention the staggering cost these services charge.

This is why I'm searching for a lab in Mexico that can do the 24-hour cortisol test.

Thanks again,

-- Don

If you find a lab that can do a 24-hour saliva cortisol test, please share it with the group.

I've been looking for the last two years and have yet to find one, even in Mexico City.

Blood serum tests for cortisol are available, but the results are not considered as meaningful.

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/saliva-cortisol/

Many thanks,

-- Don