My Passion 4 Health

Mold Illness and the BioToxin Pathways

2012-02-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

Mold Illness is perhaps better labeled as Chronic Inflammatory Disease. The problem that at least one quarter of the population has, those that have the mold gene haplotypes, is that their immune sytems cannot get rid of the biotoxins that the mold secretes. This sets up a chronic inflammatory reponse that causes most of the symptoms associated with mold. The following diagram elucidates these pathways. It is important to note that is the little known hormone MSH that causes much of the suffereing by lowering overall resistance and reducing endorphin and melatonin secretion, as well as causing chronic GI symptoms. This leads to severe insomnia, dehibilitating diarrhea, chronic pain and overall reduced ability to deal with life's stresses.

http://www.survivingmold.com/docs/biotoxinpathwayritchieshoemakermd.pdf

Coconut Oil and Alzheimer's

2012-02-04T10:55:00.000-08:00

Desert Winter

A neonatologist whose husband is suffering from very early onset Alzheimer's combed the medical literature in 2008 and found that ketones, a source of energy that the brain can easily use as fuel, might be helpful. She gave her husband coconut oil, which is a good source of ketones, and saw dramatic improvement. You can read more about their story here at
http://www.coconutketones.com/

People who have other neurodegenerative diseases that involve decreased glucose uptake in neurons may also benefit from taking coconut oil. Diseases which may be helped include Alzheimer’s and other dementias, Parkinson’s, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s), multiple sclerosis,Duchenne muscular dystrophy,autism, Down’s syndrome, and Huntington’s chorea. Ketones can also serve as an alternative fuel for other cells in the body that are insulin resistant or cannot transport glucose, and could potentially lessen the effects of diabetes I or II on the brain and other organs. For this reason coconut oil may help with weight loss.

The usual serving is 4 to 6 tablespoons a day. Potential side effects are diarrhea, which is solved by slowly working up to the recommended dosage. Medium chain triglyerides, a supplement used by bodybuilders can also be used or mixed with the coconut oil.

Ritalin Not Effective for LongTerm Use

2012-01-31T20:53:00.000-08:00

Here is a good article in the New York Times by a professor of psychology who has been working with ADD children since the 70's summarizing the research that shows Ritalin does not produce long term benefits in children and advocating the controversial position that not all ADHD is necessarily a "brain disease".

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/opinion/sunday/childrens-add-drugs-dont-work-long-term.html?_r=1

Here is a link to the Jensen study showing at 3 years children on Ritalin, who had originally done better for the first year, now showed increased symptomology as well as physical side effects such as short stature and decreased weight.

http://www.madinamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/3-year%20followup%20of%20the%20NIMH%20MTA%20Study.PDF (full article)

Here is a link to the original MTA study at 8 year followup showing that children treated with stimulants fared no better 8 years later than those who received no treatment at all.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19318991

ESTROGEN and ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

2012-01-14T19:59:00.000-08:00

A recent study has shown that a 3 month trial of estradiol (E2) significantly improved cognition in women with early Alzheimer's. Notice that synthetic progesterone (medroxyprogesterone) was used concurrently.

http://www.med.wisc.edu/news-events/news/natural-estrogen-may-improve-cognition-for-alzheimers-disease-patients/31756

Another recent study showed that women who took 1mg of estradiol (bioidentical E2) over three months developed more gray matter in the parietal, temporal and prefrontal areas of the brain, areas that are known to be involved in attention, decision-making and memory. The development of more gray matter may be linked to improved cognitive abilites.

http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2011/11/estrogen-increase-gray-matter/

Both of these studies are part of the growing evidence that bioidentical estrogen replacement should be considered for women who have a family history of Alzheimer's. In additon it is noted that in older people (age 67) who complain of memory slippage, 50 percent eventually go on to develop dementia. Therefore complaints of memory disturbances at the time of menopause whould be taken seriously.

Prescription Drug Use - 2011

2011-12-11T01:09:00.000-08:00

A recent number of academic studies, CDC statistics and journal reports have presented some sobering statistics about prescription drugs. In this compilation article, which has become widely distributed over the internet,18 facts from these resources are put together to present a chilling picture of the many dangers that prescription medicine presents to our society.

#1 According to the CDC, the percentage of Americans that say that they have taken a prescription drug within the last month has risen to almost 50 percent.

#2 The percentage of Americans that say that they have taken two or more prescription drugs within the last month has risen to 31 percent, and the percentage of Americans that say that they have taken five or more prescription drugs within the last month has risen to 11 percent.

#3 The CDC reports that approximately 9 out of every 10 Americans at least 60 years of age say that they have taken at least one prescription drug within the last month.

#4 According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 25 percent of all kids and teens in the United States take prescription drugs on a regular basis.

#5 One brand new study has found that more than 20 percent of all American adults are taking at least one drug for “psychiatric” or “behavioral” disorders.

#6 A recent Government Accountability Office report shockingly discovered that approximately one-third of all foster children in the United States are on at least one psychiatric drug.
In fact, the report found that many states seem to be doping up foster children as a matter of course. Just check out these stunning statistics….
In Texas, foster children were 53 times more likely to be prescribed five or more psychiatric medications at the same time than non-foster children. In Massachusetts, they were 19 times more likely. In Michigan, the number was 15 times. It was 13 times in Oregon. And in Florida, foster children were nearly four times as likely to be given five or more psychotropic medications at the same time compared to non-foster children.

#7 The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than in any other country in the world.

#8 Children in the United States are three times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants than children in Europe are.

#9 The total number of Americans taking antidepressants doubled between 1996 and 2005.

#10 According to the CDC, approximately three quarters of a million people a year are rushed to emergency rooms in the United States because of adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs.

#11 It has been reported that approximately 200,000 Americans a year are killed by prescription drugs.

#12 According to the Los Angeles Times, drug deaths (mostly caused by prescription drugs) are climbing at an astounding rate….
Drug fatalities more than doubled among teens and young adults between 2000 and 2008, years for which more detailed data are available. Deaths more than tripled among people aged 50 to 69, the Times analysis found. In terms of sheer numbers, the death toll is highest among people in their 40s.

#13 According to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 36 million Americans have abused prescription drugs at some point in their lives.

#14 A survey conducted for the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that more than 15 percent of all U.S. high school seniors abuse prescription drugs.

#15 The CDC says that spending on prescription drugs more than doubled between 1999 and 2008.

#16 Prescription drugs cost about 50% more in the United States than they do in other countries.

#17 Each year, tens of billions of dollars is spent on pharmaceutical marketing in the United States alone.

#18 There were more than two dozen pharmaceutical companies that made over a billion dollars in profits during 2008.

COMMENTARY: This purpose of publishing these statistics is not to suggest that allopathic medicines should never be used. They have a clear place in managing illness when they are prescribed correctly. However the indiscriminate use of prescription medications - something we often refer to here as the Pill of the Month Club – is not useful. Almost 750.000 people a year end up in emergency rooms because of interaction between prescribed medications, and over 200,000 deaths a year are attributed to prescription meds. The numbers may be higher because often the interactions are not reported.

In 27 years no deaths have ever been attributed to vitamin supplements (1). During that time 3,000,000 deaths were attributed to prescription drugs. In addition, despite the fact that as a nation we consume more medication than any other nation on the planet, we still are only number 23 in life expectancy. If meds really are so beneficial for our health it would seem the US should be a little higher on that life expectancy list,at least in the top 10 - in our opinion.

Supplements and herbs are usually not FDA approved, and therefore insurance companies consider them “experimental” and will not reimburse for them. However please note that all the medications causing emergency room visits and death are FDA approved, and paid for by insurance. This is a very important fact to remember when you read about the dangers of supplements and how regulation by the FDA will insure public safety.

1. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n05.shtml

Politics of Supplements

2011-10-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

How to Make People Believe Any Anti-Vitamin Scare. It Just Takes Lots of Pharmaceutical Industry Cash

by Andrew W. SaulEditor, Orthomolecular Medicine News Service
(OMNS, Oct 20, 2011)

Recent much trumpeted anti-vitamin news is the product of pharmaceutical company payouts. No, this is not one of "those" conspiracy theories. Here's how it's done:

1) Cash to study authors. Many of the authors of a recent negative vitamin E paper (1) have received substantial income from the pharmaceutical industry. The names are available in the last page of the paper (1556) in the "Conflict of Interest" section. You will not see them in the brief summary at the JAMA website. A number of the study authors have received money from pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, AstraZeneca, Abbott, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Amgen, Firmagon, and Novartis.

2) Advertising revenue. Many popular magazines and almost all major medical journals receive income from the pharmaceutical industry. The only question is, how much? Pick up a copy of the publication and count the pharmaceutical ads. The more space sold, the more revenue for the publication. If you try to find their advertisement revenue, you'll see that they don't disclose it. So, just count the Pharma ads. Look in them all: Readers Digest http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n11.shtml , JAMA, Newsweek, Time, AARP Today, NEJM, Archives of Pediatrics. Even Prevention magazine. Practically any major periodical.

3) Rigged trials. Yes, it is true and yes it is provable. In a recent editorial, we explained how trials of new drugs are often rigged at http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v04n20.shtml . Studies of the health benefits of vitamins and essential nutrients also appear to be rigged. This can be easily done by using low doses to guarantee a negative result, and by biasing the interpretation to show a statistical increase in risk.

4) Bias in what is published, or rejected for publication. The largest and most popular medical journals receive very large income from pharmaceutical advertising. Peer-reviewed research indicates that this influences what they print, and even what study authors conclude from their data. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v05n02.shtml .

5) Censorship of what is indexed and available to doctors and the public. Public tax money pays for censorship in the largest public medical library on the planet: the US National Library of Medicine (MEDLINE/PubMed). http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n03.shtml. See also: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n05.shtml.

Don't Believe It?

How well were these pro-vitamin, anti-drug studies covered in the mass media?

A Harvard study showed a 27% reduction in AIDS deaths among patients given vitamin supplements. (2)

There have been no deaths from vitamins in 27 years. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n05.shtml

Antibiotics cause 700,000 emergency room visits per year, just in the US. (3)

Modern drug-and-cut medicine is at least the third leading cause of death in the USA. Some estimates place medicine as the number one cause of death. (4)

Over 1.5 million Americans are injured every year by drug errors in hospitals, doctors' offices, and nursing homes. If in a hospital, a patient can expect at least one medication error every single day. (5)

More than 100,000 patients die every year, just in the US, from drugs properly prescribed and taken as directed. (6)

Double Standard

Countless comedians have made fun of the incompetent physician who, when called late at night during a life- threatening disease crisis, says, "take two aspirin and call me in the morning." It's no longer funny. One of the largest pharmaceutical conglomerates in the world ran prime- time national television commercials that declared: "Bayer aspirin may actually help stop you from dying if you take it during a heart attack." The company also promotes such use of its product on the Internet. http://www.wonderdrug.com/ , formerly http://www.bayeraspirin.com/news/heart_attack.htm

Daily Aspirin Use Linked With Pancreatic Cancer

Here's something you may have not seen. Research has shown that women who take just one aspirin a day, "which millions do to prevent heart attack and stroke as well as to treat headaches - may raise their risk of getting deadly pancreatic cancer. . . . Pancreatic cancer affects only 31,000 Americans a year, but it kills virtually all its victims within three years. The study of 88,000 nurses found that those who took two or more aspirins a week for 20 years or more had a 58 percent higher risk of pancreatic cancer." (7) Women who took two or more aspirin tablets per day had an alarming 86 percent greater risk of pancreatic cancer.

Study author Dr. Eva Schernhammer of Harvard Medical School was quoted as saying: "Apart from smoking, this is one of the few risk factors that have been identified for pancreatic cancer. Initially we expected that aspirin would protect against pancreatic cancer."

How about that? What if there was one, just one case of pancreatic cancer caused by a vitamin? What do you think the press would have said about that? The fact is, vitamins are known to be effective and safe. They are essential nutrients, and when taken at the proper doses over a lifetime, are capable of preventing a wide variety of diseases. Because drug companies can't make big profits developing essential nutrients, they have a vested interest in agitating for the use of drugs and disparaging the use of nutritional supplements.

(Orthomolecular Medicine News Service editor Andrew W. Saul taught nutrition, health science and cell biology at the college level, and has published over 100 reviews and editorials in peer-reviewed publications. He is author or coauthor of tent books and is featured in the documentary film Food Matters. His website is http://www.doctoryourself.com .)

References:
1. Klein EA, Thompson Jr, IM, Tangen CM et al. JAMA. 2011;306(14):1549-1556. http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/306/14/1549
2. Fawzi WW, Msamanga GI, Spiegelman D, Wei R, Kapiga S, Villamor E, Mwakagile D, Mugusi F, Hertzmark E, Essex M, Hunter DJ. A randomized trial of multivitamin supplements and HIV disease progression and mortality. N Engl J Med. 2004 Jul 1;351(1):23-32.
3. Associated Press, Oct 17, 2006. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15305033/
4. Null G, Dean C, Feldman M, Rasio D. Death by medicine. J Orthomolecular Med, 2005. 20: 1, 21-34. http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/2005/pdf/2005-v20n01-p021.pdf
5. The Associated Press. Drug errors injure more than 1.5 million a year. July 20, 2006. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13954142
6. Leape LL. Institute of Medicine medical error figures are not exaggerated. JAMA, 2000. Jul 5;284(1):95-7; Leape LL. Error in medicine. JAMA, 1994. Dec 21;272(23):1851-7; Lazarou J, Pomeranz BH, Corey PN. Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies. JAMA, 1998. Apr 15;279(15):1200-5.
7. Fox M. Daily aspirin use linked with pancreatic cancer. Reuters, Oct 27, 2003. http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/10/27/cancer.aspirin.reut/index.html

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine
Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org

Testosterone Mortality

2011-10-16T01:45:00.000-07:00

Two studies have shown that low testosterone is associated with increased mortality. In a 12 year studymen whose total testosterone levels were in the bottom quartile with testosterone less than 240 ng/dl were 40 percent more likely to die than those who were in the highest quartile. Low testosterone was associated with increasedcardiovascular and respiratory disease, but not cancer. Similar results were found in a study of male veterans, where testosterone levels less than 240 were associated with 35% mortality. Normal testosterone levels of greater than 450 showed a mortality rate over five years of 20 percent.

http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/166/15/1660
Low Serum Testosterone and Mortality in Male Veterans Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:1660-1665 Molly M. Shores, MD; Alvin M. Matsumoto, MD; Kevin L. Sloan, MD; Daniel R. Kivlahan, PhD .Conclusions Low testosterone levels were associated with increased mortality in male veterans.
http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/93/1/68
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2008 Jan;93(1):68-75.
Low Serum Testosterone and Mortality in Older Men. Gail A. Laughlin, Eliza2008 Jan;93(1):68-75.beth Barrett-Connor and Jaclyn Bergstrom. Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093

ASPARTAME and STROKE

2011-10-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

If you think that drinking diet soda is a healthy option for avoiding sugar think again.

In a new study presented at the American Stroke Assoication Conference involving 2,564 people in the large, multi-ethnic Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS), scientists said people who drank diet soda every day had a 61 percent higher risk of vascular events than those who reported no soda drinking.

Aspartame has previously been linked with brain tumors. Previous readers of this blog may remember “One Women’s Science Experiment” which graphically showed the effect on rats of consuming aspartame. You can review that experiment here:

http://mypassion4health.blogspot.com/#!/2008/12/aspartame-one-womans-experiment-or.html

(1) http://www.newsroom.heart.org/index.php?s=43&item=1249

(2) http://www.webmd.com/stroke/news/20110209/is-diet-soda-linked-to-heart-stroke-risk

(3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1392232/
Environ Health Perspect. 2006 March; 114(3): 379–385.
First Experimental Demonstration of the Multipotential Carcinogenic Effects of Aspartame Administered in the Feed to Sprague-Dawley Rats. Morando Soffritti, Fiorella Belpoggi, Davide Degli Esposti, Luca Lambertini, Eva Tibaldi, and Anna Rigano

(4) Direct_indirect_cellular_effects_aspartame_brain_Humphries_
European_Journal_Clinical_Nutrition_2008

Screening Mammography Has No Impact on Breast Cancer Mortality

2011-10-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Mammography, which is a 2.1 billion dollar industry in the US, has become quite controversial. The US Preventive Services Task Force now recommends biannual screening starting at age 50, instead of annual screening starting at age 40 .

Does Mammography Save Lives?

A July 2011 study by Autier published in the British Medical Journal showed that screening mammography had no impact on mortality from breast cancer in screened populations. (1) The authors found that breast cancer mortality was "comparable" in three pairs of similar European countries despite a 10-15 year difference in implementing screening mammography. The researchers conclude that the similarity in mortality reduction between the country pairs do not suggest that a large proportion of the mortality reduction after 1990 can be attributed to mammography screening. They believe that Improvements in treatment and in the efficiency of healthcare systems may be more plausible explanations.

“Our study adds further population data to the evidence of studies that have used various designs and found that mammography screening by itself has little detectable impact on mortality due to breast cancer.”

You can read more about the mammography debate, and information about the alternative, thermography here:

http://thenewsouthwest.com/2011/mammography-screenings-increase-risk-of-breast-cancer/

(1) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3145837/
Published online 2011 July 28.

WHAT's BUGGING YOU?

2011-09-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

Humans have about 100 trillion gut bacteria, or intestinal bacteria flora, living inside their digestive tracts. Astonishingly these tiny microorganisms outnumber human cells by 10 to 1. The gut bacteria are responsible for digestion, production of essential nutrients and vitamins, protecting the intestines against harmful microbes and carcinogens, and stimulating the body's natural immune system to fight against disease. In fact 70 percent of your immune system is related to gut health. The gut also produces all the same neurotransmitters as the brain. For this reason it is often called the second brain. This is intuitively understandable to anyone who has ever had GI distress before a stressful event, such as an exam, or had a strong “gut” feeling.

New research has shown that the bugs in your gut can affect your mood. A team in Ireland showed that mice fed probiotic broth rich in lactobacillus rhamnosus showed less anxiety – that is they were more willing to venture into wide open spaces or to walk across narrow walkways. They also produced less of the stress hormone cortisol in response to stressful events. Lactobacillus salivarus, however, showed no effect. Lactobacillus rhamnosus had no effect when the vagus nerve was severed which indicates that the parasympathetic nervous plays a major role in modulating the communication between the gut/brain axis.

(http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/08/26/1102999108.abstract?sid=3d370e65-37bd-45be-8887-f754b2fb84f1)

Gut bacteria alsoinfluence our weight. Bacterial proteins called the toll like receptor (TLR5) act like a traffic cop for controlling intestinal pathogens. Mice that lack this receptor eat 10 % more than control mice, and are about 15 % heavier. This may be due to the increased inflammation present from the pathogenic bacteria. The increased inflammation makes cells less sensitive to insulin which leads to all the symptoms of metabolic syndrome in the TLR5 deficient mice - weight gain, high cholesterol, high triglyceride levels and elevated blood pressure

(http://www.sciencemag.org/content/328/5975/228.abstract)

Other recent research has found that we all have an identifying gut bacteria enterotype that is as distinctive as our bloodtype. Researchers examined the feces of Europeans, Asians and Americans and found that there were three distinct clusters of gut bacteria that were not related to age, sex, gender, nationality or diet. This means that our bugs in our gut may be as identifying as our bloodtype.

(http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/08/26/1102999108.abstract?sid=3d370e65-37bd-45be-8887-f754b2fb84f1)

Since gut bacteria have been shown to relate to mood and weight, as well as to how we digest and absorb nutrients and medications, and also outnumber us by 10 to 1 , further research on enterotypes may provide new therapies for improving our health. In the meantime some ways to promote good gut health are to avoid excessive or trivial uses of antibiotics, to shun processed foods, to increase dietary fiber, to respect food sensitivities and to replenish gut bacteria through the use of probiotics.

MOLD ILLNESS

2011-07-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

Mold illness is a common but poorly recognized cause of many dehabilitating symptoms. As a holistic physician I commonly see many people with “a whole list” of symptoms . These patients have usually spent much money and time seeing many other physicians for a disparate group of symptoms including chronic fatigue, generalized pain, headaches, depression, sinusitis, rashes, anxiety. Allopathic medicine has been unable to medicate away the complaints, and investigations by alternative physicians into hormone deficiencies, heavy metals, food allergies and Lyme have also been unable to solve their problems. One environmental agent that can cause all of these problems, and more, that never seems to be considered in sunny Arizona, is mold.

Mold Symptoms Are Often Misdiagnosed

Mold biotoxins from black mold (Stachybotrys), Aspergillus and Fusarium can cause many disparate symptoms. Dr. Richie Shoemaker, a physician from the Eastern Shore in Maryland, has been researching mold and algae biotoxins for the last 15 years. He states the following symptoms can be consistent with mold illness:

• Breathing: Difficult, Tightness in chest, Asthma

• Diagnosis: Chronic Fatigue, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Fibromyalgia, Lyme Disease, Lupus, MS, Auto-Immune

• Emotions: irritable, anger

• Extremities: Tingling Hands and Feet

• Eyes: Blindness, Pains, Wear sunglasses, Light Sensitivity, Bloodshot eyes, loss of vision, Detached retina

• Fatigue: Chronic Fatigue (some estimate cause of up to 1/3 of chronic fatigue), postexertional fatigue

• Mental: Confusion, Absent mindedness, losing things, brain fog, ADD/ADHD, learning disabilities, anxiety, depression

• Mold sensitivity: Exposure to Damp house, Mold in air ducts, Red Tide, React to mold

• Nasal: Congestion, Nasal soreness, sinusitis. A study by the Mayo clinic found that 96 percent of all sinusitis is fungal!

• Pain: pain in temples, sudden headaches, sudden, sharp, icepick like

• Sensitivity: Car fumes, Smoke, Pets, Feathers, Detergents, Toothpaste, Chlorine, Plastic cups

• Skin: Rashes, Alopecia

• Stomach: Cramps, nausea, Diarrhea

• Taste: Metallic

• Thirst: Dryness, Excessive thirst, excessive urination

• Weight Gain: Sudden, inability to lose weight despite stringent dieting and exercise

From this list of symptoms it is not difficult to understand why mold is commonly misdiagnosed. The symptoms are vague and all over the place, since toxins can affect any body organ. Making matters worse is that only 25 percent of the population seems to be sensitive to mold biotoxins. These 25 percent seem to be unable to clear mold toxins easily and efficiently. Therefore while many people may be exposed to mold in water damaged home or office building, only 25 percent will actually get really ill. Frequently the ones who get ill are considered “head cases”, that is their symptoms are deemed psychological in nature. However Dr. Shoemaker has painstakingly documented that the symptoms are extremely real and damaging. In the most severe cases of exposure multiple sclerosis, blindness and even death can result. A groundbreaking public health study, based on data from 5,882 adults in 2,982 households, has found a solid connection between damp, moldy homes and depression (Stachybotrys chartarum, trichothecene mycotoxins, and damp building-related illness: new insights into a public health enigma.Pestka JJ, Yike I, Dearborn DG, Ward MD, Harkema JR Toxicol Sci. 2008;104(1):4).

To Diagnose Mold You Need to Suspect It

The first step to diagnosing mold illness is to suspect it. However most people often see one doctor for their skin issues, another for their sinusitis and a third for their anxiety. No one puts it together that all the symptoms are being caused by mold, and the patient receives at least three different prescriptions none of which solve the problem. Anyone living in a house with mold, who is suffering from some of the previously mentioned symptoms, should consider getting more testing. One easy way to screen for biotoxin illness is the visual contrast test, which can be taken online for 15 dollars at http://www.survivingmold.com/store1/online-screening-test. Positive results are not specific for mold illness – they can also be due to candida, Lyme, petroleum toxins, diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimers. However failing the test should prompt further investigation from a physician knowledgeable in the field. Urine testing can show the presence of mold toxins, and is done by http://www.realtimelab.com/ in Texas. Since mold toxins cause inflammation through activation of cytokines, there are also a number of lab tests which can show the effects of inflammation. However none of them are definitive by themselves for the presence of mycotoxins.

First Line treatment is removal of mold

The first line of treatment for mold illness is removal from the source. It is impossible to get completely well in a house or office building that is spewing mold toxins. Remediation by a specialist needs to be done in order to keep the problem from getting worse. Since the mold spores may be dispersed through the house like a fine mist it is sometimes necessary to get rid of clothing, linens, furniture and photos. Some people have left their houses and never returned.

The next step in treatment involves pulling the toxins from the body. About 75 percent of the population have immune systems that are much more efficient than others in doing this. Since the toxins are eliminated in bile drugs that are known as bile sequestrants, such as cholestyramine are used. Cholestyramine is a prescription medication. Natural substances that may also be useful are clay, activated charcoal, brown seaweed and zeolite. Antifungal meds may be used for chronic sinusitis. Many other supplements are also useful in improving the immune system, including glutathione and alpha lipoic acid.

Black Mold and Yellow Rain Biowarfare

Mold is an insidious, destructive toxic agent. It has been used in biowarfare. The “yellow rain” sprayed on Cambodians in the 70’s and causing seizures, blindness and bleeding, is suspected of having been made from Trichothecenes, a type of black mold. Mold toxins produce both mental and physical symptoms which can be lethal, yet rarely is recognized. One physician practicing in Florida believes that many cases of ADD and learning disability in children can be traced to mold exposure, often in their schools. It is a politically disruptive topic, because of the cost of mold remediation for office buildings, schools and homes. Toxic mold is believed to exist in over 35 percent of American homes. One study found 80 percent of Boston schools had mold. Although there are many cases in the court system of children and adults who have become severely sickened by mold, remediation and compensation is often denied. The first step in treatment is a high suspicion of the presence of mold, and that will come only from increasing awareness in both physicians and patients of the possibility of mold illness.

Problems of Abilify - A Patient Letter

2011-03-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

I want to share some information from my personal experience with those in the professional field to consider before engaging in decisions for future clients. I got myself off of twenty five years of Rx meds for depression and fifteen years for ADD/ADHD. The journey off them began in April of 2009. I was treated half my life with Rx's to solve not feeling good ... [about myself]. The effects of prescription meds may have looked good on the surface, but they did not work.

I would specifically like to address a medication that is dangerous to one's well being on many levels. They are now even finding it shrinks brain matter. The medication is extremely popular and being pumped like crazy by the pharmaceutical companies making billions. I am referring to Abilify. Abilify is a drug designed to treat schizophrenia so the schizophrenic could separate from their delusional and psychotic thoughts... yet is being dispensed like harmless candy to the general public. This prescription is not only being distributed to the adult population, but I am horrified to discover that a huge population of young children are being put on this drug as well. This drug should be off the market and not be taken lightly.

Very simply put, this is how Abilify detrimentally affected me and my life:

_It was magic, nothing bothered me... it was a miracle, I thought everyone should be on this stuff!

_Who needs therapy and what is everyone's problem, this stuff is Zen.

_I threw a life time of journals I had written into a dumpster, I threw my art from college away (I had been a fine arts graduate), I was embarrassed to look at who I was, and on Abilify I needed not to remember, or look back where I had been.

_I could hear people being unkind towards me and said nothing, because unkind words did not bother me. I heard my thoughts and internal comments to them, but had no need to speak my mind.

_Everything looked great from the outside. My family was happy with me because I no longer spoke my mind.

_My life over time was just dandy and fine. I was a very pleasant person and well liked, everyone thought I had no problems, and even never had any.

_I picked up my multiple prescriptions and had no need for talk therapy any more.

_Years into Abilify, I would start talking about how I was not happy with my supposed perfect life with no apparent problems. For me I was going in circles and going nowhere, and I felt like the "I" inside me was dying.

_Deep inside, I had no deep passion... and the passions in me had no spark... and lacked depth... and why bother anyway... and I really did not know what I wanted any more, or what I wanted didn't matter much to me.

_Where I once was capable of thinking and writing in depth, I lost that completely!

_I lost my sense of direction and purpose in life.

_I went through the motions of life, but lacked depth

_I experienced muscle stiffness and pain, and muscles tearing.

_Abilify destroyed my muscles, where I had always been athletic and flexible, I was getting muscle injuries from simple things in yoga that I had been quite competent in.

_Physical therapy and massage had no affect for changing the tightness and injuries my muscles were experiencing. I laid off yoga, exercising and body movement which had always been a joy in my life.

These side effects pertaining to muscle stiffness and motor skill impairment were not made public for years, and now we are discovering Abilify also shrinks brain matter. What else will we discover?

I graduated massage school in 1998, came to Tucson in 1999 to further my studies in shiatsu and eastern medicine and acupuncture school .... and did not pursue them because of some disappointments in the programs. I was supposed to be in Tucson for a year before returning to my four year home in Sedona (that I had left the east coast for), and awakened ten years later still living in Tucson and wondering what happened to my life?

My journey off meds and back into life has been quite awakening for certain. At first it was scary to feel again, and I had to question what was normal? I was not used to feeling in a broad multidimensional range after 25 years on meds. Let alone 6-7 on Abilify that set my life back. I no longer trusted my own feelings, judgments and emotions having been disconnected to their depth for so many years. I am still confused if there was ever really anything wrong with me that required pharmaceutical intervention ever. I battle with the thought of how years of my life were taken from me in false hopes and reliance on professionals to help me feel better about myself through popping pills to regulate symptoms... and this is certainly a national problem... I am merely one individual.

Going off meds, my problems resurfaced, they did not go away. I never learned to deal with them in a way that furthered my growth in a meaningful way for myself. Besides I was numbed out on prescription meds on a certain level, how was this possible to attain?

I am in therapy a year now, dealing with issues that were flattened with years of anti-depressants and eventually Abilify [the final blow] that slowly separated me from my heart and soul, and the well being of my body. Abilify is a silent evil drug that slowly extinguished access to the depth of my being! I may have faded permanently into a deceptive yet accepted pretty cloud, had the physical side affects not kicked in to awaken me to seek help. I never thought I could get off meds as I tried many times, but the depression would kick in when I tried. I have learned the reason is; the antidepressants in fact deplete the brain and I could not simply taper off without withdrawal. I sought help from a team that could get me off all these meds. Personally I did not think it was possible to get off, but the pain was bad in my muscles, I could no longer play guitar for more than ten minutes... and I could no longer do yoga and exercise that I loved... I had no choice but to try getting off and knew the worst result would be I'd have to go back on them.

Through MyPassion4Health here in Tucson I went through a homeopathic detox and specified supplement routine that I continue daily. Aside from dealing with stomach upset with some of the supplements (I have been on for almost two years now), I have absolutely no harmful side effects and only benefit from well being. I encourage any individual seeking assistance in their own well being and all practitioners to learn from what they offer. Mary Ackerly is a classically trained psychiatrist from Harvard and her husband Alex Casler has a more alternative non mainstream knowledge... their professions are an interesting mix in the forefront of change to approach well being. This approach has been life transforming for me. I encourage googling their website www.mypassion4health.com and exploring the articles and blogs especially.

******************

There are alternative routes to mental health that are safe and beneficial in great strides for individuals and the communities we share our well being into. Perhaps together we could eliminate Abilify from the market, for it is a horrible silent evil drug spreading across our nation. The internet is loaded with negative experiences from individuals having taken Abilify. One can also find people commenting on their brand new beginning on this wonder drug Abilify, and it saddens me to know where this path of illusion will lead them. The veil of denial the drug produces enters the self immediately. You will also find, pharmaceutical reps exposing how they were trained to persuade the medical professionals to follow the pharmaceutical path (of invasion).

In a sense, the pharmaceutical companies have done a disservice to well meaning medical and psychology and mental health professionals. The pharmaceutical companies have invaded and dis-empowered the professionals in the field of psychiatry, who in turn have dis-empowered their clients full potentials.

Is psychiatry and psychology not involved on the basic notion of study into the soul and emotion? Is that not why we as clients came to seek assistance for insight into ourselves? The true purpose of this field must not be forgotten. We as clients and professionals together need to define and reinstate our purpose and stand up, to the multibillion dollar pharmaceutical companies massive invasion. If we do not, we have certainly lost our path, and our true soul's connection within will be silently extinguished and silenced in time. Abilify most certainly extinguishes the ability to experience true depth of emotion and proceeds to disconnect the individual from their soul connection.

Who exactly is in charge of our well being anyway? Who have we entrusted in leading us in this direction? If we as individuals continue to seek empowerment from others [ie; pharma companies] and truly believe the influence of their advertising, we will continue a cycle of looking outward for answers, rather than inward. When we stop looking inward, and stop believing in ourselves, we lose our self empowerment. Not only as individuals, but as the whole field we are working together in; and in turn the society we create with the process we choose to rely on.

******************

In April 2009, I began my journey off prescription drugs. After a year off meds and months into therapy, I began returning to my heart and soul; I returned to Massage School for review of my studies and skills and went for advanced training. I finally completed and passed my national massage certification exam that should have obtained ten years ago, and I'm now waiting to receive my license to practice massage/therapeutic bodywork. My goal is not only to do corrective body work, but to work with clients who are coming off antidepressants and help them empower themselves through their own bodies journey into well being for their new transition into life.

I hope to set an example and give hope and encourage others to empower themselves with the decisions they make for both them self and for others. Perhaps my own clients and the practitioners in the medical field would be interested in learning from my experience, and my process of recovery, into a full spectrum human being with internal spirit that I feel good about sharing.

I would like to see practitioners who are dispensing Rx meds for depression deeply question if their decisions are empowering their clients to blossom into their full potential; or disabling them into a semi acceptable level of satisfaction.

I do have one big question left:
What was the justification to be on meds half my life? A total of twenty five years.

My journey off meds has been a great powerful gift to me, more than words can say; I am at the beginning of a new journey and I am reaching for the stars.

_Cirsten's Commentary written 2. 21. 2011

Flu Vaccine Season

2010-09-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

It is flu vaccine season, and all around us are the signs exhorting you to get your FREE flu vaccine. Well how effective are they. Not very, according to Dr. Thomas Jefferson of the Cochranes Field Vaccines. The Cochrane Group is a highly respected not for profit organization that scours all the studies in a given field to determine the evidence based effectiveness of medical procedures. And now for the second year in a row Dr. Jefferson is stating that the benefits ascribed to the flu vaccine are not justified. Jefferson says “there’s evidence proving these vaccines have little or no effect on things such as hospital stay, time off work, or even death resulting from influenza and its complications — especially in elderly people”. You can read the full article here.

http://vran.org/about-vaccines/specific-vaccines/influenza-vaccine-flu-shot/flu-vaccines-not-worth-the-bother/

There may also be dangers associated with getting a flu vaccine. A new report from the National Coalition of Organized Women has presented data showing that the 2009 H1N1 (remember that epidemic :-)) contributed to at least 1588 and perhaps as much as 3587 miscarriages and stillbirths. You can read more about that here.

http://childhealthsafety.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/flu-vaccine-caused-3587-us-miscarriages-%20stillbirths/

In general our advice for the flu season is making sure your vitamin D level is above 60ng/ml and using ocsillococinum at the first sign of a cold. You may want to reread our August and October blogs from last year for more advice about homeopathic remedies for the flu.

Confessions of a Drug Sales Rep

2010-09-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a great video by a former pharmaceutical company sales representative who understand the economics behind Big Pharma. Here she details how the drug companies make 5 to 6 times more than any other Fortune 500 company, and why they regard you and your family as a "commodity". Her revelations about the widespread overuse of psychiatric medication despite lack of scientific evidence echo everything we have been saying. Our favorite line is when she explains why you are never going to see a TV ad that exhorts you to "Ask your doctor if getting your butt off the couch and exercising is right for you". She makes an excellent case for why nutritional and lifestyle changes should always be pursued first when faced with any physical or mental dis-ease.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqmeB6GB25Q

The Rise of the Psychopharmaceutical Industry 1987-2010

2010-07-18T00:08:00.000-07:00

Robert Whitakers brilliant book Anatomy of an Epidemic asks a simple question. Why , if psychiatric drug treatments are so efficacious, has the number of people on disability for mental illness more than tripled in the last 25 years?

Most doctors and researchers answer this question by stating that the numbers have increased simply because we are diagnosing more people with mental illness. In response to this stereotyped dismissal of his data, Robert began to do more research on the efficacy of known psychiatric treatments. And then, while poring through the psychiatric scientific literature on treatment effectiveness for the last fifty years he found an even darker question beginning to emerge. “Is it possible that psychiatric drugs are actually making people much worse?” Could it be that far from “fixing broken brains” the drugs being offered actually are worsening, and even causing, the very illnesses they claim to heal?

1987 can be considered ground zero for the new era of psychopharmacology. Prozac had just been introduced and was being widely advertised to the psychiatric profession, as well as to the general public, as a new safer antidepressant. Many people became aware that a chemical imbalance of serotonin might be causing their depression, and begged for the drugs. In one notable Newsweek article a woman stated that in case of nuclear war it would be the first thing she grabbed for.

As a young psychiatric resident I was proudly confident that the treatment of psychiatric illness was being revolutionized and that we could all look forward to a world where severe depression, anxiety and mania no longer crippled and ruined human lives. WRONG!!

It should be apparent to many that despite the incredible profiteering of the pharmaceutical industry off of psychiatric illness that depression and anxiety are still rampant in this country. If psychiatric medications work the way the are supposed to, and they way the drug companies and psychiatric industry tells us they do, why are so many people still severely depressed and anxious. At the start of the psychopharmacological “revolution” when it became popular to blame all illness on “imbalanced brain chemistry” the percentage of bipolar patients who could return to work was 85 percent. Now it is less than thirty percent.

Certainly the introduction of the SSRI’s (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) revolutionized the profitability of the pharmaceutical industry. In 1987 about half a billion dollars were spent on psychiatric medications, by 2010 the figure is closer to 40 billion!!! So if the number of adults diagnosed as mentally disabled has tripled its not because they weren’t exposed to the medication.

Actually in children the disability figures are far more frightening. In 1987 there were less than 20,000 severely mentally disabled children, now there are almost 600,000. That is a 30 fold increase. Part of that is due to the diagnosis of autism, while more is due to the even newer diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children which has increased 40 fold in the last 10 years!

Most frightening are the numbers of children under six receiving SSI which have tripled over the last ten years to more than 65,000. UNDER SIX!!! How can this possibly be . Were psychiatrists twenty years ago oblivious to the plight of these severely disabled children. I can assure you, from my experience that is not true.

Rather it seems that drug companies have discovered another very profitable market in young children and are busy pushing their drugs, in particular the atypical antipsychotics, onto children with the newly diagnosed pediatric bipolar disorder. However our leading psychiatrist assure us these drugs are safe and they are paid amply by the drug companies to certify this safety. How can anyone possibly predict the longterm impact of a major tranquilizer, used to subdue agitated and psychotic adults, on a five year old brain ? Those studies have not been done.

From these sobering statistics the author then goes on to answer the following questions about longterm results with psychiatric medicines.
Does antidepressant usage make it more likely that you will become disabled?
Are bipolar patients better off than they were 40 years ago?
When the National Institute of Health studies the long term outcome of children treated for ADHD did they find stimulants provided any benefit?
And most startlingly of all, to anyone who has been indoctrinated in the current medical thinking that psychiatric patients are always better off on medications, he asks an unthinkable question – are recovery rates for schizophrenics better with or without medication?

In addition Robert Whitaker chronicles the stories of many of the people who have been diagnosed and treated for depression and bipolar disorder and treated with many different types of psychiatric medication. In fact although some parts of the book where he examines scientific evidence may seem a bit heavy going he more than makes up for that by interweaving the stories of many psychiatric patients whom he has personally interviewed. My favorite was the story of a young women named Kate diagnosed with schizophrenia. Years on meds had left her partially disabled unable to work or have a relationship. After 10 years she began to decrease her meds and is now married and working a full time job. She has not had a relapse. She feels her time on antipsychotic medication kept her from learning skills on how to deal with emotions, emotions which she felt were completely numbed by psych meds. She says of herself now – I am a completely different person.

This story leads into one of the most interesting parts of the book for me. It seems that if you are schizophrenic and living in India or Nigeria you chances of a good outcome are far higher than if you live in the US where everyone is medicated. The fact seems astonishing, and World Health Organization repeated the study, but found the same thing – that living in an undeveloped country where meds are scarce but patients are cared for by the community assures a much better prognosis for schizophrenia.

However Whitaker also quotes several studies done in the US from the late seventies that also showed similar results, that young adults suffering a first episode of schizophrenia who were not medicated showed significantly better outcomes in terms of subsequent relapse. Later in the book he details the current treatment of schizophrenia in an experimental clinic where drugs are rarely prescribed. Again the findings are similar that patients there have much better long term outcomes than other Finnish schizophrenics who are routinely medicated.

I admit to being somewhat naïve as a young doctor. I thought that the fact that drugs companies paid psychiatric professors to do their research was not a big deal. Again WRONG!

The last chapters of Anatomy of Epidemic tallies up the enormous profits the drug companies, and certain psychiatrists, have made off the reinvention of psychiatry as biological psychopharmacology. He details how the growth of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual from DSM 2 to DSM 4 has fueled the growth of diagnosing more and more Americans as having a psychiatric illness which requires pharmacological treatment and suggests that this was a necessary preparation for “building the market” for the drug companies wares.

Now most scientists would absolutely bristle at the suggestion that their passion to finally make psychiatry a real science was actually a ploy to help the drug companies remarkably expand their profits. Yet there is no doubt that the expansion of the definitions of psychiatric illness, which now has one in every eight Americans taking a psychotropic medication , has been exceeding profitable.

Drug company sales of psychotropic medication went from about half a billion in 1987 to over 40 billion dollars in 2008. Atypical antipsychotics, once reserved for the most severely ill patients, are now the top revenue producer for drugs companies, helped by the psychiatric professions willingness to prescribe them to even two year olds. Dr. Biederman, the psychiatrist most associated with leading the way to using antipsychotics for children by popularizing pediatric bipolar illness, personally received 1.6 million dollars from 2000 to 2007, as well as procuring another 2 million for a pediatric pathology department at Mass Gen hospital. He is a designated KOL by the drug companies, which means a Key Opinion Leader. That means what he writes and says is usually followed by other psychiatrists.

In a recent deposition he was asked his rank at Harvard Medical School. Full professor he replied. What’s above that asked the attorney. GOD, replied Dr. Biederman. Truly that is a response worthy of a KOL.

This is not the book of a disgruntled patient who is angry at the system. It is the carefully researched and documented expose of a multibillion dollar industry that affects the lives of a least a quarter of the population. It is also an engrossing read, and an accurate depiction of the lives of people who are afflicted with these illnesses. I would recommend it to anyone who has ever used, or had a family member use, psychiatric services or been given psychiatric medication.

Depressing News About Antidepressants

2010-04-24T23:03:00.000-07:00

About two years ago a team of researchers took a closer look at all the studies done on anti-depressants. It required some serious digging because the drug companies had not published more than half the studies with negative results. Not surprisingly, they had published 37 out of the 38 studies with positive results while burying the negative studies.

This is a stunning finding since scientific research is based on an ethical code of objectivity. In order to insure that results are unbiased there are rigorous guidelines as to how a research study should be conducted. However it is not legally required that a drug company publish all their results. We might want to remember this the next time Big Pharma tries to convince us to buy their products.

So the drug companies didn’t publish the majority of their negative studies and guess what? Anti-depressants were presumed to be effective. What researchers found when they looked at all the studies, some of which they obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, is that antidepressants were only about 10 percent better than placebo, and mostly with severely depressed patients. These results were pretty much ignored by physicians as over the next year about 30 million prescriptions worth about 10 billion dollars were administered.

Last month the Journal of the American Medical Association published a follow up study and again confirmed that anti-depressants were no better than placebo for the greater majority of patients. They were effective for only the severely depressed. Many people have a hard time believing this research but it is not that surprising. On the clinical level it has been known for a long time that anti-depressants get about 50 percent of patients about 50 percent better.

Anti-depressants are presumed to increase neurotransmitter levels. However this is not true. They merely “recycle more efficiently” pre-existing neurotransmitter levels. This explains why a number of patients initially feel better, but then relapse. They may be switched to another anti-depressant which helps for a period of time, but then stops again. Often the patient tries to get off the antidepressant and feel worse than when they started. That is because their body has even less neurotransmitters now then at the onset of depression. The problem is that these drugs don’t feed the body what it needs to make more neurotransmitters, which leads to depletion.

Natural medicine is based on the premise that when the body is given the ingredients it needs, through food and natural supplements, it will produce health. In the case of depression the body needs the raw materials to produce neurotransmitter, which includes amino acids, vitamins, and mineral cofactors. This has been shown to be effective and seem to be a better approach for those who find their antidepressant is not working.

The other important part of this study is not to underestimate the power of the “placebo” effect. Placebo is Latin for “I please you”. It means that an inert substance was shown to treat depression. The placebo effect however is real. Patients weren’t depressed anymore, which is what they wanted, even though they weren’t given anything other than the information that they would get better. This might be shown to be one more corollary of natural healing. When people are fed positive expectations with positive, caring experiences, the body will also produce health. My suspicion is if the drug companies could patent love and caring that there would be a whole lot more research into the effectiveness of the “placebo” effect.

There are several caveats. Even by these rigorous studies it seems that antidepressants are appropriate for severe depression, which affects about 2 million people. This article does not mean everyone should stop their antidepressants. First is because the drug might actually be working for you and second is because suddenly stopping an antidepressant can leave you worse off than when you started the drug. Stopping an antidepressant should only be done under the supervision of the physician who prescribed it.

Reducing the Risk of Cardiovascular Events

2009-12-26T17:25:00.000-08:00

Statins ( Crestor, Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Mevacor, Lescol) are cholesterol lowering drugs that are widely prescribed in the US for stroke and heart attack prevention. A double blind placebo controlled study found that taking high doses of Crestor reduced your risk of a heart attack occurring by 1 percent. More precisely out of 120 individuals taking Crestor every day for two years one will be protected from a cardiovascular incident. Typical side effects include abdominal pain, muscle pain, serious muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis), renal disorders,impotence and liver disorders. There is an increased incidence of diabetes, depression, memory loss, accidents and suicide among statin users. Nonetheless overall statin sales in the US are 14.5 billion. (Interestingly enough they are losing their place at the top of the pharmaceutical sales chart to antipsychotic schizophrenia drugs such as Seroquel and Abilify but that is another blog piece :-))

One percent reduction of heart attack risk compared to a long list of very serious and also potentially lethal side effects does not sound very encouraging. Yet statins are some of the most widely prescribed drugs in the US and most patients are absolutely convinced that the lower their cholesterol the healthier they are. Cholesterol is one of the most important biochemicals in our bodies, especially for proper hormonal and central nervous system functioning. Very few understand that cholesterol is the precursor of all the body’s hormones, which means that you need cholesterol to make testosterone and estrogen. The brain also needs cholesterol to function properly. In one study it was found individuals with the lowest cholesterol scores were 80 percent more likely to perform poorly on a variety of cognitive tests. Researchers have also found that the men with rock-bottom cholesterol levels were twice as likely as those with higher ranges to commit suicide. They may also be more likely to hurt someone else. So using statins to lower your heart attack risk can have some unintended consequences.

However there are other shown scientific interventions that can greatly reduce your probability of having a heart attack, as well as lower your blood pressure. They even show a significant ability to reduce depression. Clearly these new agents will become the next pharmaceutical blockbuster. Unfortunately not. These striking agents of health improvement are CATS. Yes cats! Owning a cat has been shown to reduce your chance of having a heart attack by 40 percent. Researchers recently found that over a twenty year period those who had never owned a cat had a 40 percent greater risk of death due to heart attack and a thirty percent greater risk of death due to any sort of cardiovascular disease. No such protective effect was found for dog owners. Clearly owning a cat beats the 1 percent reduction of risk by Crestor. Other studies have shown that either a cat or dog will lower blood pressure spikes and pulse rates better than ACE inhibiting drugs. And men with AIDS who owned a pet were three times less likely to report symptoms of depression.

So as the year winds down and one’s thoughts turn to making New Year’s Resolutions to improve health, perhaps you might think about adopting a cat. Now we haven’t addressed the side effects of owning a cat but perhaps some of our readers, especially the one's who own dogs, can come up with a list. But please remember, however, that while statins are FDA approved cats are not. So own at your own risk!

Have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

All our best,
Dr. Mary and Alex

Homeopathy and the Flu

2009-10-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

Homeopathy has a good track record with treating the flu. Homeopathy developed its widespread popularity in the 19th century primarily because of the impressive successes it had in treating the deadly infectious epidemics of that time including typhoid, cholera, yellow fever, scarlet fever, and influenza. The 1918 Spanish flu represents the largest flu pandemic took an estimated 675,000 U.S. lives and killed 20 to 40 million people worldwide. At that time homeopathic hospitals still existed and also treated people. Dr. T.A. McCann from Dayton, Ohio at the American Institute of Homeopathy Annual Conference in 1921 reported that 24,000 cases of the flu were treated allopathically which had a mortality rate of 28.2 percent, while 26,000 cases of flu treated homeopathically had a mortality rate of only 1.05 percent. Other homeopathic doctors had similar reports.

Here is a basic first aid guide to the flu:

Immunization : Every year a new homeopathic remedy is made in France from the three most prominent strains of the flu from the year before. In effect it is the homeopathic version of the yearly flu vaccine. The usual protocol is to take 1 dose of the Influenzinum 9c once a week for 4 weeks, then one more dose a month later. We currently have this year’s Influenzinum 9c in stock

Symptomatic treatment. At the first sign of the onset of a cold or flu take one dose of oscillococcinum, which is widely available everywhere. In fact oscillococcinum, made from the liver of a duck, is the most popular homeopathic remedy worldwide which is a tribute to its effectiveness. Although some feel one dose is all that is needed we have found it more effective if taken twice a day throughout the illness.

The following remedies are also considered highly useful:

1. Aconite 30c This is usually prescribed when the onset is extremely sudden. Most useful in first 24 hours.

2. Gelsemium 30c (yellow jasmine) This was the most common remedy used in the 1918 pandemic.. It is most commonly prescribed when the symptom picture is that of great weakness s and fatigue. It can also be used after the flu when the patient feels that they haven’t returned to baseline.

3. Belladonna 30c is used when the symptom picture is that of a high fever and flushed red cheeks.

4. Arsenicum album 30c is most often used when there is severe vomiting and other GI symptoms.

5. Other useful remedies are Byronia (when the extremely irritable patient who feels any movement makes everything worse), Ferrum phosphicum (when there is no defining symptom), Ipecacuanha (vomiting), Rhus tox (feels better with movement) and Eupatorium perfoliatum (People with the flu who experience aches in the muscles and pains in the bones and/or in their eyes)

It is useful to have these remedies on hand for your own first aid kit, since no one wants to run out to the store when severe illness strikes. Give every other hour for the first two or three doses and then every six to eight hours until resolution of the condition. If significant improvement doesn't occur after 24 hours, consider another remedy. If nothing improves in 24 hours reassess the symptoms and give another remedy. It is quite common to use at least two remedies during the course of the illness. You may also want to give your homeopathic physician a call.

Homeopathic Remedies Listed by the Mexican Doctors and Which They Successfully Employed Against the 2009 Mexican Flu

Aconitum napellus, Actea racemosa, Allium cepa, Ammonium phosphoricum, Antimonium tartaricum, Arnica montana, Arsenicum album , Baptisia tinctoria, Belladonna atropa, Bryonia alba, Camphora, Carbo vegetabilis, Carbolic acid, Causticum, Chamomilla, China officinalis, Drosera rotundifolia, Eupatorium perfoliatum, Euphrasia, Ferrum phosphoricum, Gelsemium sempervirens, Glonoinum, Hepatica triloba, Hyosciamus niger, Influenzinum (corresponding to the epidemic), Ipecauanha, Lachesis trigonocephalus, Lycopodium clavatum, Mercurius vivus, Natrum sulphuricum, Nux vomica, Opium, Phosphorus, Phytolacca decandra, Pulsatilla, Pyrogenium, Rhus toxicodendron, Sticta pulmonaria, Sepia officinalis, Sulphur.

Resources
Sandra Perko, The Homeopathic Treatment of Influenza: Surviving Influenza Epidemics and Pandemics Past, Present and Future with Homeopathy, Special Bird Flu Edition, 1999, 2005)
Homeopathic Self Care: The Quick & Easy Guide for the Whole Family by Dana Ullman
Homeopathic Remedies by Asa Hershoff (our favorite)

( artwork by Mary )

Vitamin D and Swine Flu

2009-08-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

Currently the CDC is warning of an alarming scenario if swine flu mass vaccinations fail. However many people who are informed about natural health issues find the prospect of being forced to take a newly prepared untested vaccine even more alarming. Some remember what happened in 1976 with the last swine flu vaccine which permanently paralyzed and even killed hundreds of people. Others simply point to the absence of good studies that show that taking a flu vaccine prevents the flu. Vaccines are only useful against the specific virus that was available at the time of their manufacture. But flu viruses mutate quickly, and as the CDC points out, the real concern with H1N1 swine flu is that it will combine with seasonal flu in the fall, creating a new, deadly strain that will not have an available vaccine. Also most people who die from the flu die from pneumonia, and it has been shown that the flu vaccine is totally ineffective against pneumonia. Others feel that they prefer to not be used as a guinea pig for a vaccine production that was "rushed" and never tested on humans. And some simply prefer to not have the “adjuvants” mercury and aluminum forcibly injected into their bodies. On the other hand if Swine Flu turns into a lethal pandemic having the vaccine may be the better choice despite the risk of Guillan Barre paralysis.

There are however simple steps that you can take to decrease your risk of contracting swine flu without taken an unproven vaccine. Most important is Vitamin D which bolsters the immune system. Good research exists which shows that Vitamin D has antimicrobial properties – that is it can act like an antibiotic! Antimicrobial peptides are produced in numerous cells in the human body where they efficiently destroy the cell walls of viruses and bacteria, including tuberculosis. Furthermore, it was recently shown that adding vitamin D to serum dramatically increased production of these naturally occurring antibiotics. A study in the 1940s with a different strain of swine flu that showed that mice with low levels of vitamin D in their diet were much more susceptible to infection. Vitamin D also has an effect on mortality. In another current study all patients in an ICU with undetectable Vitamin D levels died, while only 16% of those with sufficient Vitamin D levels expired ( some have suggested that mandating Vitamin D supplementation would slash the number of patients requiring ICU care and help make Medicare more solvent). In another study done in a prison during a major flu outbreak no prisoners on a ward where everyone was given 2000 IU Vit D supplementation contracted the flu.

The best way to know how much Vitamin D to take is to have your levels measured by your doctor. Although “normal” is said to be between 20 and 100 ng/ml, healthy is 50ng/ml or above. It has recently been shown that 70 percent of children are deficient in Vitamin D (below 30 ng/ml) with the rates higher in darker skinned children. And of course swine flu is said to be more deadly for the young? Could there be a correlation? And why for heaven’s sake is the government not introducing a massive campaign to increase Vitamin D supplementation for the upcoming flu season? Could it be that there is no money for big pharma in Vitamin D supplementation. But I digress :_) Reasonable levels for supplementation of D3 (not synthetic D2) during the winter are 2000IU for children, 5000IU for adults and 10,000IU for adults over 300 pounds. The risks of Vitamin D toxicity at these levels are minimal. Of course getting sunlight for half an hour a day, without any sunblock, is free.

Colostrum, which is the immune rich pre milk that a mother makes for feeding her newly born infant, has been found in a recent published study to be three times more effective than receiving the flu vaccine in preventing flu!!! Colostrum was actually four times more effective than doing nothing during flu season. Colostrum, of course, has many other benefits and almost no side effects. Colostrum is not milk. It contains none of the major milk proteins or lactose and should not produce a milk allergy when ingested. A good dosage is 1000 to 2000 mg a day.

Sleep is one of your most important defenses against colds and flu. Getting fewer than six hours of sleep each night increases your risk of contracting colds (such as influenza) by a whopping 300 percent. During sleep your body repairs and detoxifies the day’s toxins. Without that downtime your body falls behind in its housekeeping and viruses are able to gain entry.

So the best preparation for this declared pandemic is enhancing your body’s own natural ability to heal and protect itself. That and being vigilant about hygiene should give you a leg up during the upcoming flu season.

The Inner Physician

2009-07-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

A journalist asked the Dalai Lama recently “Your Holiness you have seen so much sorrow and loss in your life. Your people have been killed and your country has been occupied. You have had to worry about the welfare of Tibet every day since you were four years old. How can you always remain so happy and smiling?”

To read his answer, and learn more about how true healing comes from within please click on this link
http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/the-doctor-is-within/

(Photo from Mary's trip to Tibet 1991)

New Articles on Web Site

2009-07-14T19:19:00.001-07:00

It has been awhile since we have had time to post but we wanted to bring you up to date on two new articles on the website. In the first Dr. Mary discusses the very common problem of insomnia and some natural approaches that you can try. We do want to remind everyone that we have recently found an amino acid supplement that is more effective than anything else we have ever tried. So if the insomnia article suggestions don’t work be sure to ask us about it.

The second article is about a mineral and amino acid supplement for bipolar illness. Bipolar mania and depression are serious illnesses that affect many people. Most commonly the treatments prescribed are Lithium and anti seizure meds, which have the potential, after long term use, for serious side effects. In this article published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry a natural mineral, vitamin and amino acid supplement was prescribed for bipolar patients and found to be highly effective. We are using this supplement and excited about its potential .

Here are the links to the two articles

http://www.mypassion4health.com/articles/insomnia.html

http://www.mypassion4health.com/articles/bipolar_illness.html

Colostrum 3X More Effective Than Flu Vaccine

2009-05-28T20:12:00.000-07:00

Colostrum, which is the immune rich pre milk that a mother makes for feeding her newly born infant, has been found in a recent published study to be three times more effective than receiving the flu vaccine in preventing flu!!! Colostrum was actually four times more effective than doing nothing during flu season. Colostrum, of course, has many other benefits and almost no side effects. Colostrum is not milk. It contains none of the major milk proteins or lactose and should not produce a milk allergy when ingested. The influenza vaccine has many side effects including paralysis and death. Many reading this blog probably remember the first swine flu vaccine in 1976 which produced Guillian Barre Syndrome consisting of progressive paralysis and death. It would seem prudent therefore, that the first defense against the new swine flu should be colostrum taken daily.

This study appeared in Clin Appl Thromb Hemost. 2007 Apr;13(2):130-6. The actual statistics were 13 episodes in the colostrum only group, 14 in the colostrum + vaccine (did the vaccine weaken the colostrum effect?), 41 episodes in the vaccinated group and 57 episodes in the control group. This is pretty striking evidence that taking colostrum during the flu season is highly effective.

Magnesium Memory Spritzer...

2009-03-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

One suggestion we are making to everyone these days is the inclusion of magnesium to our diet. Researchers know that it increases memory, alertness and energy. Besides supporting mental function (where it is shown to be effective with ADHD), magnesium also helps with asthma, colon cancer and blood sugar disorders, like metabolic syndrome and diabetes. It actually is required for the proper activity of many enzymes within the brain cells, and has been shown to be critical for memory, learning and depression as we age.

If that isn’t enough magnesium also helps prevent migraines and high blood pressure. So who wouldn’t want to try a little magnesium? Besides its easy to do and economical.

Tucson is in the middle of our lemon harvest so we suggest a simple drink that can boost energy and alertness, simply and quickly. We recommend a magnesium citrate powder. Here is the recipe. Juice half of a lemon, add a splash of maple syrup, add one teaspoon of dissolved magnesium citrate powder, a pinch or two of aluminum free baking soda and some water and ice. Now you have a deliciously effervescent, and healthy, lemonade spritzer!

The vitamin C from the lemon replenishes stressed out adrenal glands, the magnesium boosts energy and the mind, the maple syrup adds trace minerals and sweetener, and the baking soda supports bicarbonates and alkalinization while perking up the drink. It also tastes great!

Thumbs Up for Health Freedom

2009-02-25T18:59:00.000-08:00

This petition supporting natural health care came across our desk today and we thought it was important enough to pass on to all the readers of our blog . As many of you know the government does not directly support the use of natural supplements and herbs, except perhaps through some HSA accounts. This petition is asking the government to let any actions that a citizen takes to improve their health, including herbs and supplements, to become fully tax deductible. It is seeking a 350 per month health care credit to support natural remedies and health enhancing products and services. It is also asking to have genetically modified and irradiated food banned from the food supply, which is something we have written about. It has a number of other points including investing in disease prevention and consumer education about nutrition. You may not agree with all the points, but certainly it is refreshing to have a petition delivered to the government seeking health care reform that includes natural remedies and supplements. This is something that actually has the potential to reduce health care spending by getting people healthy. Imagine that.

If the provisions of this petition were enacted, it would:

End FDA tyranny and oppression of natural product companies
End the persecution of alternative medicine and healing arts practitioners
Ban GMOs in the food supply and require honest labeling of irradiated foods
Protect America from CODEX "harmonization"
Allow full income tax deductions for ALL health-related expenditures (herbs, supplements, gym memberships, etc.)
Provide $350 a month in health care credits to each U.S. resident, allowing them to spend it on the health-enhancing products and services of their choice
End mandatory vaccination policies across AmericaRestore honest science to the FDA's review of drugsRequire the open publication of all drug trials
End Big Pharma's bribery of doctorsHold drug company CEO's criminally liable for the harm caused by drugs they advertise to consumers
Restrict the advertising of junk foods and soda pop to childrenBan man-made, non-natural chemicals in personal care products
Invest in disease prevention and consumer education about nutrition
Protect the environment from dangerous drugs that pollute the water supply

If you believe in these things, please take a look at Sign the Health Revolution Petition now!

The group is gathering 100,000 signatures, then delivering this petition to every member of Congress (both House and Senate), plus President Obama and members of his administration. The costs for all this are being funded by the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center.
Posted by Alex at 6:43 PM

I'll Have A Little Mercury with My Honey Yogurt and Fresh Fruit Snapple

2009-02-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

Lover’s of junk food (which is most of us at some time or other in our lives:_)) now have something new to worry about. While you were consuming that wonderful Hershey’s chocolate bar or Frappuccino or even sweetened yogurt you were also unwittingly consuming mercury. That’s right the potent neurotoxin which causes Mad Hatter’s Disease and is implicated in autism but is allowed to be placed in our mouths with “silver” fillings or in our body with vaccines has also been allowed in our food supply. Scientists found recently that nearly 50 percent of tested commercial samples of high fructose corn syrup contains mercury. The highest level of mercury found was .57 micrograms per gram of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup). On average, Americans consume about 12 teaspoons per day of HFCS. Consumption by teenagers and other high consumers can be up to 80 percent above that. The EPA says the upper limit of safety is 5.5 micrograms per day so the average American eating processed food is getting 5 times the upper limit of safe exposure to mercury with teenagers getting much more. Mercury can result in hair loss, muscle weakness with paralysis, depression, dramatic mood swings and memory loss. Methyl mercury is also easily passed through the placenta, and a study found that the mercury levels in maternal blood and umbilical cord blood were essentially the same. That means that women expecting to get pregnant need to avoid junk food as well as seafood in order to not pass mercury on to their children.

Actually the FDA had evidence as long as four years ago that commercial HFCS was contaminated by mercury but did not feel that they needed to notify the public or change industry practice. Mercury enters HFCS through caustic soda that is contaminated by being produced in industrial chorine plants that use mercury cells to produce the caustic soda. While most chlorine plants around the world have switched to a newer technologies, many still rely on the use of mercury cells. Four U.S. chlor-alkali plants still rely on mercury cell technology. In 2007, then-Senator Barack Obama introduced legislation to force the remaining chlor-alkali plants to phase out mercury cell technology by 2012.

The good news is that mercury free HFCS does exist, the bad news is that nobody knows which products contain it. Of course the really bad news for many of us is that we have been consuming HFCS all of our lives without a clue from our “regulatory “ agencies that it contains mercury. We have seen several people at our clinic who have high mercury levels but have never had a filling or consumed much seafood. Where they got the mercury has been a mystery which perhaps now is finding an answer. Since high fructose corn syrup has also been implicated in the obesity epidemic as well as in chronic inflammation it is a good idea to avoid all of it, which is easier said than done since it is hidden in many common foods, like ketchup. If you wish to avoid all high fructose corn syrup here are links to lists of foods and fast foods which contain it.

http://www.foodfacts.info/high-fructose-corn-syrup.shtml

http://www.accidentalhedonist.com/index.php/2005/06/09/foods_and_products_containing_high_fruct

Who Me, Gluten Free?

2009-01-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

Often people are looking for a silver bullet, a special herb or remedy, that will magically save them from their tiredness, depression or aches and pains. They want to know about the latest B vitamins or therapy that can help pull them out of their funk. They may want to exercise but simply don’t have the energy. They want to laugh and enjoy life but cannot find the right answer.

Now here is something novel. Sometimes what you STOP doing or what you eliminate from your routine can have greater value than anything you are actively adding into your health regime.

Many years ago I decided to find out what my friends meant about the harmful effects of gluten foods. I had heard about adverse reactions to gluten by people with Celiac disease and this was fairly well understood. But what I did not know was that many more of us were allergic to this substance even without the extreme disturbances experienced by those suffering with Celiac.

Refined wheat is a glycemic food which means it causes a sudden rise in blood glucose levels. This stresses the pancreas into producing an excessive amount of insulin to balance out the suddenly elevated sugar levels. Since the pancreas overreacts with too much insulin, we actually become depleted in sugar, and we end up with a net loss of glucose or energy. So the consequence is that glycemic food drains our energy, making us feel fatigued.

Besides being a glycemic food, which can lead to hypoglycemia, insulin resistance and diabetes, wheat is also made up of a protein called gluten. Many of us have a silent allergic response to gluten which can go undetected our whole lifetime. This has a devastating affect because it can translate into an auto-immune response, an overreaction to gluten that causes tissue damage.

We are experiencing an epidemic of auto-immune conditions ranging from Lupus and Fibromyalgia to Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteopenia and Thyroid conditions. Auto-immune is characterized by an inflammation located in a particular part of the body-either bones, glands, or tissues etc. It’s incredibly distressing to be plagued by an auto-immune condition and equally difficult to settle it down. By comparison its incredibly simple to cut out gluten, especially when a simple saliva test can detect gluten sensitivity.

We realize it can be a challenge to our thinking when asked about our daily consumption of wheat products. Most us have been blithely eating it our whole lives as it is ‘engrained’ in our culture. To suggest that our dietary habits might be contributing to our low energy or auto-immune conditions may be difficult to accept since our social fabric and lifestyle is wrapped around eating pizza, pasta, pancakes etc.

To be questioned about our habitual wheat consumption can be seen as a blow below the belt. The very mention of it as a source of our problems can come as a surprise and generate shock waves. “What? No more English muffins? or crackers and cheese? Yikes!” What a devastating thought. Some would rather die than part ways with their favorite bran muffins or bagels, and life isn’t worth living for them.

But maybe life hasn’t been a whole lot of fun while we have been ‘enjoying’ our wheat. Maybe the impact of gluten on our inability to lose weight, our hormone and serotonin levels, and the damage done to our immune system, could use a little review? Just a thought.

(To learn more on this subject Dr Mary has put together a technical review at this link… http://www.mypassion4health.com/articles/gluten_sensitivity.html

Jaw Dropping News

2009-01-10T16:34:00.000-08:00

One of last things I would want for myself is to be standing in line as a victim in a class action lawsuit against the makers of a drug called Fosamax. On the market for 10 years and used by millions of people it has some truly scary side effects. Besides being linked to heart irregularities it is now shown to cause osteonecrosis of the jaw which is an irreversible crumbling and disintegrtion of the lower jaw. It also can cause severe joint pain that isn’t cured by stopping the drug. I don’t know about you but these are risks I would put on my avoid list and at least do some homework to seek an alternative approach for treatment. In fact does it make any sense that a drug that causes the jaw bone to crumble would be used to strengthen bones? Not to anyone who thinks holistically it wouldn’t.

Fosamax with its cousins Boniva and Actonel make weak bones harder, which does not equate to a stronger bone. That seems like an oxymoron but a harder bone is also a more brittle bone. Bones are made of three primary substances-water, protein and minerals. For bones to stay healthy they need to be strong AND flexible not just harder. They need accompanying muscle and tissue to maintain their function as well. Fosamax repairs bone strength in a very nonorganic way. Normally bones are in a constant of homeostasis where old bone cells are destroyed and new bone then added. This beautifully organized process is called remodeling. What Fosamax does is simply destroy the destroyers. The calcium is therefore glued onto the bone in an abnormal way that has been described as nailing ply board over holes in the wall. As you might expect bone biopsies show that Fosamax laid bone is actually chaotically disorganized, swollen and weaker than healthy bone.

Osteoporosis is a serious disease that needs to be attended to. Because it is such a dehibilitating disease woman get scared into taking the drug even though longterm studies have not shown clear and consistent benefits. Luckily there are very simple ways to enhance your bone metabolism. Make sure you are ingesting bone friendly cofactors like calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, Vit K , fish oils and trace minerals. Have your Vit D level checked and adjusted if needed. Many people think this is the most important factor in bone health (and it has a lot of other benefits as well). Do weight bearing exercise. Optimize your hormone status. Be sure to eat and properly digest protein every day. Stay away from acidic foods like coffee and sugar and refined carbs. Increase alkalinity with exercise and adequate fluid intake. Make sure you have no hidden infections which acidify the body. The body sacrifices its bones to neutralize acidity. Check to see if you have heavy metals that may interfere with bone health- especially lead which lodges in the bones and also makes mercury toxicity levels 100 times more lethal. Decrease your stress levels with yoga and relaxation breathing.

Treating a condition with a non organic toxic chemical solution like Fosamax with multiple side effects does not answer anything and completely bypasses the body as a self intelligent organism If you or someone you know is about to consider using a drug for osteoporosis Google Fosamax lawsuits. Then buy yourself some bone health supplements and a couple of three pound weights, and take a long walk. It really is a better solution.

Aspartame, One Woman’s Experiment or Science Made Graphic

2008-12-13T11:50:00.000-08:00

Most people have heard of the dangers of aspartame, also known as NutraSweet. Yet for many the promise of calorie reduction by drinking Diet Coke still remains alluring. Victoria Inness-Brown, MA, desperate to get her own family to stop drinking diet sodas ran her own science fair project with dramatic results. She fed rats obtained from Petco 80mg of Nutrasweet a day, the equivalent of 2/3’s of one can of Diet Coke a day. The results, portrayed in pictures, are dramatic. Thirty seven percent of the female rats , and one of the male rats, developed tumors. The picture you see in our blog is of a female rate who’s tumor became so large she used it as a pillow! Most of the tumors developed in the last third of life, showing a cumulative effect. None of the control rats developed a tumor. If that wasn’t damming enough Victoria Innes-Brown also catalogues the other symptoms the rats developed - eye infections, neurological disorders including torticollis which is a condition that causes the neck to twist to one side, genetic mutations in offspring, thinning hair and, in perhaps the unkindest cut of all, obesity.

I love the independent nature of this woman’s research. Her photos speak volumes, far more than dry listing of possible side effects by the FDA. Please remember that the FDA, despite much evidence to the contrary over the last twenty five years, continues to classify aspartame as safe. Please take the time to read through her own account of the fate of her rats on NutraSweet. After reading her piece I would find it hard to continue drinking Diet Coke or consume NutraSweet, let alone believe that the FDA is an infallible source of impartial scientific judgment.

http://myaspartameexperiment.com/

Autoimmune Disease, A New Epidemic for the 21st century?

2008-11-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

Hashimoto’s Syndrome, or autoimmune thyroiditis, is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the US, yet most people with hypothyroidism don’t have a clue that lurking behind this condition is an autoimmune element. Others may be unaware of what ‘autoimmune’ actually means.

So what exactly is Autoimmune Thyroiditis?
Residing behind the breastbone is the thymus gland, a component of the immune system. It produces T-cells which are designed to protect us from infection. There are two types of protective cells - TH1 and TH2 cells (T Helper cells, type 1 and 2). The TH1 cells work directly against pathogens. They are like foot soldiers on the front line grappling with the enemy.

The TH2 cells work differently by stimulating other cells to produce antibodies, as if working behind the scenes, and sending supplies to the front line. The TH2 antibodies generated are also needed to defend against invaders. It's when these two systems are in harmony that all is well, and the immune system functions as it should.

A problematical autoimmune response results when toxic elements interfere with the equation causing disequilibrium. The immune system becomes misaligned, and the delicate interplay between TH1 and TH2 cells becomes skewed. Toxins, such as heavy metals like mercury or lead, overstimulate the TH2 system, causing too many antibodies to be produced. Allergies are an example of antibodies gone wild. The overactive antibodies confront substances that don’t need to be attacked such as wheat, milk and eggs, causing allergic discomfort.

Eventually, an overheated immune system leads to chronic inflammation, and other challenges too. While the TH2 system goes haywire, the body itself is seen as the enemy, and ends up being attacked. In Hashimoto’s thyroiditis that means the immune response is trying to destroy thyroid tissue by producing antibodies against the thyroid itself. Obviously this is not a good situation.

The key is to calm down the hyperactive immune response and to begin supporting stressed out glands, organs and tissues. In the case of allergies it helps to avoid or remove offending triggers such as foods or toxins. This settles the agitated immune response and allows for cell damage to be addressed.

There are several ways to start on the journey of recovery. One is to implement a detoxification program to remove offending toxins. For many with hypothyroidism this can make a significant difference. The other piece of the puzzle is to begin to sooth the TH2 overreaction through diet and nutritional supplements. The most successful diet for supporting thyroiditis, and which affects the largest number of people, is one that eliminates both gluten and casein products. A gluten free diet has many benefits, and has been shown to bring about a significant reduction in the number of circulating thyroid antibodies. Results can take up to six months. That is dramatic proof that going off wheat is very helpful for anyone with Hashimoto’s.

Supplements that can help are probiotics, which help regulate the immune response on the TH1 side. Fish liver oil and turmeric derivatives have anti inflammatory actions. Licorice has many regulating effects. Transfer Factor, a purified component of bovine colostrum, can also be useful in rebalancing the TH1 and TH2 immune response. Allicin (high power garlic), hyssop, oregano oil, olive leaf extract, nano silver and zeolite can also support the reduction in the total body burden of pathogens and heavy metals. There are gentle homeopathic drainage remedies and herbal products specifically formulated for an over active immune response.

Besides Hashimoto’s disease or autoimmune thyroiditis, there are other types or autoimmune disorders, including Lupus, Sjogren’s Syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis. Allergies and asthma have become increasingly common in children, and also show TH2 divergences. Explanations for this are varied. Some attribute it to increased environmental toxins saturating everyone on a daily basis, while others feel that vaccines play a role.

A recent study examined the cord blood of pregnant women and found it to contain over 200 known toxins, 7 of which had been banned over thirty years ago. Clearly children are being birthed with toxic loads from the outset. More vaccinations are given to children now as well. Some surmise that vaccines may cause us to overdevelop antibodies and skew the TH2 response to substances which may include pollen, wheat and milk. There is evidence that children who are allowed to develop measles naturally have a 50% lower rate of asthma and allergies, suggesting that childhood conditions like measles can be beneficial because they strengthen the immune system.

Solving the autoimmune puzzle is complex. The answer for all these various “epidemics” of the 21st century leans towards cellular detoxification, maintaining health by choosing organic foods and supporting our selves with natural supplements, thus helping our body regain its balance. If you have an autoimmune condition it is best to consult a qualified integrative physician trained in this area.

HORMONE BALANCING

2008-11-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

Like many things in life, you don’t really know how good you have it until you start to lose it. For many women in their late forties that knowledge begins about three years before their periods actually end. In this perimenopausal time they may begin to experience aches and pains in their joints. Their sleep quality worsens, and they notice their memory doesn’t work as well. Some are just more irritable, while others begin to experience crying jags and anxiety. For some it slides into full blown depression. Since the onset is usually insidious, most don’t associate it with their hormones until menopause actually hits.

It doesn’t have to be that way. I recommend salivary hormone testing which is accurate, inexpensive and fairly easily to do. It can give a wealth of information about many different components of the hormone system all of which are needed to act together in order to form a harmonious whole. While most people know that falling estrogen levels are responsible for hot flashes, the symptoms are worse in those who already have stressed adrenal systems. And for many, progesterone is actually the key to increasing comfort, losing weight and priming cells to become more receptive to the other hormones the body is producing, such as from the thyroid.

Most prescriptions written today (like Premarin-which is derived from horses) are clearly not bio-identical. They do not come close to matching the chemical structure of human hormones and are known to cause side effects. Self treatment with progesterone cream can also have unintended consequences. Transdermal applications of these gels and creams causes an excess buildup of hormones in the subcutaneous fat cells. They begin to spill back out into the blood stream resulting in overdosing of the free hormone level. This can cause an increase in free cortisol levels resulting in more depression, severe anxiety, weight gain, and insulin resistance.

My goal is to prevent these reactions by using sublingual progesterone, monitoring free hormone levels with saliva testing, and remaining alert and aware to the various problems that can arise. Additionally, I may include nutritional enhancement of liver and gallbladder function. This helps to maximize the body’s ability to metabolize and eliminate excessive hormones.

With our individual uniqueness, I have learned that each of us have different preferences and needs. Some of us will lean toward herbal or homeopathic remedies, while others prefer bio-identical solutions. The main thing is to offer as many natural options as I can to help my patients in recovering their health. It’s important for me to match the patient with their individual needs, philosophies, and bio-chemistry, thus helping to contribute toward a successful outcome.

Reality Check

2008-08-14T20:02:00.000-07:00

Some friends of ours have been raving about the health benefits of drinking ionized water with an alkaline pH. We did a little pH test on our own reverse osmosis filtered drinking water. Lo and behold we found that the pH tested at an acidic level of 6.09! The tap water fared much better coming in at a more acceptable 7.8- just above neutral levels of acidity. The lesson to be learned is that we can never be too sure of what steps we are taking to enhance our health nor can we be too healthy.

Here is an interesting little tidbit. Russian researchers conducting tests on the effects of water consumption and health did a comparison study between highly charged ionized water and regular tap water. First they exposed some test subjects (mice) to high levels of radiation. Following the radiation exposure 96% of the mice that drank the tap water died. On the other hand 90% of the mice served the charged alkaline water lived. What a difference a little healthier water can make!

We often hear messages to stay hydrated and drink plenty of water but it’s not necessarily enough to just drink more water. The pH and mineral quality of the water needs to be considered too. Although slightly controversial there is a fast and simple way to increase water alkalinity. Simply add a ¼ teaspoon of baking soda to a quart of your regular drinking water. This simple act raised our reverse osmosis drinking water from a pH of 6.09 to 8.20. Not bad for such a low tech method.

We use Bob’s Red Mill Baking Soda which is available in our local natural food store mainly because it is aluminum free. For those concerned about sodium it has 270mgs per 1/4 teaspoon which is 11% of the RDA. The amount of sodium is negligible unless one is on a sodium restrictive diet. The bicarbonates on the other hand are beneficial for digestion. Bicarbonates are made by the pancreas to facilitate digestion and are often depleted by poor diet and aging. The baking soda may be reducing the burden on the pancreas.

Drinking acidic water is certainly not health promoting. Here are some of the advantages from ionized and alkaline water that we have experienced in a short period of time and is why we would consider including it in any detoxification or weight loss program: Diminished cravings. More restful sleep. Improved digestion. Better focus and drive. More flexibility and less muscle soreness. The diminished craving for sugar is quite noticeable. In fact there are a few successful weight loss programs based simply on alkalizing the body.

We recently purchased a digital pH meter from Hannah Instruments and find it to be helpful in measuring pH levels in a variety of different liquids and food products. For simple ways to alkalize drinking water there are two products we like - pHion and OxyPure. With a few drops both products quickly raise pH values to well over 9.0 which is highly alkalizing. pHion also adds minerals and improves ORP values (Oxidative Reductive Potential) which structures water and allows more energy to be transported. Using pHion requires two bottles of drops.

For traveling one bottle is more convenient so we also recommend OxyPure. This increases oxygen levels since an alkaline pH allows more oxygen to be released from the blood. The increase in oxygen levels is pleasantly detectable too. It’s a great pick-me-up or just a good way to start the day. We feel if businesses could use these simple tools they would benefit from a gain in productivity and overall feeling of well being. In the future we plan to report on a few more pH discoveries using the new digital meter.

Savory Summer Coleslaw

2008-07-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

Venturing off to our local Sunday farmers market is always an adventure.

It has been a delightful surprise to find so many organically produced fresh natural foods there. One of our kitchen creations this summer is an organic Savory Coleslaw.

One ingredient in the coleslaw is an ancient grain called Amaranth which is usually more commonly found as a flour for making bread. We had not realized it is also an edible salad green. It’s mildly pungent flavor is similar to fresh watercress but much less intense. The texture is firm to the tooth and makes a good fit for a summer coleslaw.

This simple dish uses entirely organic ingredients. Green cabbage, ripe avocado, Maine coast hand harvested Purple Dulse and fresh Amaranth greens. The dressing uses a delicious nutty commercial oil blend made with olive, flax and borage oils, apple cider vinegar and agave nectar. The dressing is a little bit sweet and sour. Because of the apple cider vinegar and agave nectar it creates an intensely savory flavor profile when combined with the Dulse. There can be a tendency for some to shy away from eating raw seaweed which is understandable. Others are not familiar with it either, but the dressing together with the Dulse creates an idiosyncratic taste experience that masks the marine nature of the seaweed and creates a delightful marriage of flavor.

Purple Dulse provides a complete protein. It is full of minerals, vitamins B6 and B12, and much needed iodine. The gelatinous nature of seaweed has the additional benefit of drawing out heavy metals.

Amaranth is a good source of vitamins including vitamins A, C, B6 and folate. It also has a number of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese. In East Africa it is sometimes recommended for those with low red blood cell count. It is also said to lower cholesterol through the action of its plant stanols and squalene.

The avocado is a fruit that contains high amounts of potassium, fiber, and monounsaturated fat. It is rich in B vitamins as well as vitamins E and K.

Preparation: Clean the cabbage. Individually separate the leaves. Roll the cabbage leaves into tight coils. Thinly slice them. Add the whole Amaranth leaves and small pieces of purple Dulse. (Equal parts of cabbage and Amaranth leaves, a large pinch or two of Dulse). Toss with the apple cider dressing. (2 parts oil, 1 part vinegar, agave nectar to taste). Cut the avocado into bite sized cubes and add to the coleslaw. Voila!

When determining portions and measurements we just use common sense. If we make too much it keeps well enough as a leftover. :-)

Uniquely Human...

2008-07-24T19:42:00.000-07:00

Today is a Beautiful Day” Little things that happen in life can help us appreciate our lives a little more and bring our own individual journeys into sharper focus. Here are a couple of links to short films that can help us reflect and review where we are, where we are going, and what makes us so uniquely human…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiGKWoJi5qM (Christian the Lion)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyGEEamz7ZM&feature=related ("Historia de un Letrero", "The Story of a Sign")

(The photo was taken early this morning. It's a Mexican Bird of Paradise...and thanks to Nano Nancy for sending the Lion video link).

2008-07-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

We have been fairly busy lately and spending a fair amount of time away from home. As you may know we have been traveling and attending a few seminars and conferences on health and gaining new insights along the way.

Recently Pookie, the youngest feline member of our family, started to show signs of distress - possibly related to our departures. She developed oversensitivity to simple things like slight movements which would make her jumpy. She viewed the fringes on the edge of rugs and bedspreads as threatening and approached them with unusual caution. The change in her behavior was odd since these were the same things she has been around for years. Because of the timing we were assuming it was related to our recent travel. Sensing her feelings of dislocation, anxiety and unease we decided to look for an appropriate homeopathic remedy for these indications.

Mary felt that the homeopathic remedy Chamomilla would be a good match for her symptoms because she was irritable, whining, and didn’t want to be touched. Next we pondered-What would be a suitable way to put the little milk sugar pellet into her tiny mouth? At first we gave her some space. Then Mary telepathed a message to her, and placed a single pellet out on the couch. Pookie then came strutting over and began to sniff and lick at the pellet. It was quite a sight! At that point the remedy took hold and she relaxed. She no longer exhibits apprehension at the sight of rugs and bedding and her demeanor is much calmer now.

We have also been giving the remedy Rhus Tox to our older cat Ka. She can be seen hobbling about with hip stiffness. The Rhus Tox is helpful and brings her relief. Shortly after receiving a dose she allows her hips to be touched and walks without her usual limp. The results usually last several days. Repeating it is effective and certainly easier than a trip to the vet for a shot.

Homeopathic remedies often act very quickly. This spring, Mary’s cousin Claire came to visit with her young ones in tow. As they departed the smallest member, Thomas, was determined to become the family driver and tried to commandeer the van. Upset that he could not be honored with this duty he erupted into a tearful rage.

I immediately jumped into action, ran back into the house, and gathered up my trusty Rescue Remedy flower essence. I had Claire spray a small amount of the remedy on the back of her hand and then gently wipe it under Thomas' little chin. The shift was dramatic. He stopped wailing and crying and looked around as if he could not remember the reason for his fit. Of course Claire was happy to have the resulting peace of mind too.

Homeopathy is particularly effective for animals and children, and is not toxic. No harm is done in acute situations if the remedy or dosage is the wrong match. We feel there is a valuable place for homeopathy in the home for anyone that gravitates toward energy medicine and natural healing.

Conference of the Knights

2008-07-14T14:54:00.000-07:00

Mary and I just returned from a conference on healing sponsored by the Sovereign Medical Order of the Knights Hospitallers which is an international healing order. This is a sovereign ecclesiastical and medical nation dedicated to the availability of natural medicine for the poor and recognized by the United Nations. Attending the conference and giving presentations were medical pioneers known as Knights Hospitallars.

We witnessed a dramatic presentation by Dr Pinto from Ecuador on the use of Impletol in radical healing. Impletol is injected into injury sites and creates rapid spontaneous healing. A conference attendee had severely damaged her shoulder in a car accident. She had three operations but was barely able to raise her arm and was considering a fourth operation. Barely ten minutes after injecting the Impletol she regained much more freedom and functionality in the shoulder. The next day she told me she had the best sleep in years, was pain free, and could now raise her arm straight up over her head!

Another speaker, Dr Simoncini from Italy, is pioneering the use of sodium bicarbonate in the treatment of cancer. The problem with conventional treatment is that cutting out tumors enables the microscopic roots of the cancer to remain in the tissues and chemotherapy destroys the immune system. This he explained is why cancer may ultimately return. Dr Simoncini injects sodium bicarbonate into the tumor and neutralizes the harmful cancer envelope which is highly acidic. Alkalization is what destroys the cancer cells.

More than one doctor presenting at the conference brought awareness to conventional medicine’s lack of attention to the thyroid gland as a source of various ailments. Using extensive research data, Dr Mark Starr of Scottsdale showed that many problems we face today including obesity, heart conditions, diabetes, and mood disorders, can be treated by simply paying more attention to the thyroid gland and supporting it with nutrition.

Another medical Knight, Dr Jerry Tennant, gave a presentation on the application of micro volts to the body in healing - known as electrotherapy. He showed that salamanders can rebuild themselves after losing limbs. First the salamander creates stem cells over the wound. Dr. Tennant demonstrated that stem cell growth is initiated by increases in microvoltage. This stimulates the mitochondria, cell growth and the healing process.

Dr Tennant correlated tissue voltage with body pH levels. If our tissue is lacking sufficient voltage it has an acidic pH. This promotes disease. A higher voltage (or pH) in the body indicates health. Dr Tennant is a bit of a wizard. Using a device he patented called a Biomodulator he is able to raise the voltage in the body. He helped a child who drowned in a pool and suffered global brain damage. The boy remained in a vegetative state and was known as the ‘gingerbread man’ because his body was so stiff. Dr Tennant showed that the child had dropped his total body voltage causing his low level of functionality and brain damaged state. Dr Tennant boosted the boy’s voltage and brought him back onto the road of recovery.

He used the same electrotherapy on another near-drowned patient with equally dramatic results. (please see http://prayersforjordan.blogspot.com/ )

He also demonstrated a technique to realign the sphenoid bone in the skull. The sphenoid is the central keystone of the skull and runs behind the eyes in the temple region. Moving the sphenoid moves all other parts of the head, affecting the central nervous system, cranial sacral fluid and more importantly the generation of micro current. Movement by expansion and contraction of the cranial sutures is what generates electricity in the body. This is the key to maintaining proper alkalinity that supports all bodily functions.

The sphenoid bone can get jammed from accidents. TMJ is directly related to a stuck sphenoid bone. A locked up cranial suture prevents the necessary expansion and contraction cycle thus decreasing the production of micro current which is so essential to our health. Similarly, incorrect body posture and alignment, back pain, shoulder and knee pain are directly influenced by the correct positioning of the sphenoid bone and its ability to 'breathe'. Dr Tennant demonstrated that by creating a small electrical impulse on each side of the neck the sphenoid bone can be moved back into correct position by releasing the tension that locks it down. This is truly a great discovery.

What we learned was that we can heal the body in a variety of ways - some less conventional than others. We were exposed to a capable body of physicians dedicated to natural healing who are reaching out to share their wisdom and new discoveries. This is for the benefit of fellow practitioners, assisting the poor, and making the world a better place for all of us to enjoy. We gained so much by listening and meeting with the speakers and sharing with fellow healers. Meeting Dr Tennant was a special highlight of the conference. He is a humanitarian and progressive scientist and exemplifies the spirit of brotherhood.

Autism in the Real World

2008-07-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we attended a conference on the subject of Lyme Induced Autism. Sponsoring the conference were mothers of children with autism who have been heroically trying their best to help their kids. Many have spent their savings and some have had to sell their homes to cover the medical bills.

We discovered that there is a direct link between Lyme and Autism as revealed by Dietrich Klinghardt who is one of the foremost doctors in this field. He says that 72% of his autistic patients have also tested positive for Lyme Disease. Other researchers have found a 30% prevalence of Lyme in their patient populations. Shockingly Klinghardt notes that the exponential rise in autism over the last 30 years indicates that many more children born in the USA by the year 2020 will have autism or Lyme Disease.

Lyme is difficult to manage for many reasons. The Lyme micro-organism is very stealthy because it changes form by mutating and combining with molds and viruses making it difficult to treat. Lyme Disease is no longer just transmitted by ticks- it is transmitted by the mother too, and that is turning out to be a important etiological factor. Often entire families test positive for Lyme. Many people are infected with Lyme and but will not show any symptoms. And testing for Lyme is not straightforward. A positive test means you have it but a negative test does not rule it out. The best lab to use is Igenix.

New information shows that EMF's from cell towers and WiFi signals irritate the Lyme and other microbes and drive them to form thicker defensive envelopes called biofilms. This makes them far more difficult to eradicate. Besides helping the toxic bugs to reinforce themselves, molds in the air mutate with the pathogens and exacerbate the problem by increasing the total body burden of pathogens-thus creating far more stress on the immune system.

Since Lyme and autism are really a confluence of events in a toxic storm there are other factors that make this such an insidious condition. A key piece of information in Lyme induced autism is the use of biotech pesticides. Autism first appeared in the population in 1942 just after the introduction of the Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) spores as a pesticide in Europe. This spore was sprayed on plants-then eaten by insects. A special amino acid generated by the BT spore, called a crystalline protein (CRY Protein), chews up the digestive tract of the pest and kills it. Well guess what? That same CRY protein has gotten into the digestive systems of people too! The biggest problem that many autistic kids have is with their digestive tracts which is the command center for the immune system. This doesn't help them fight Lyme or other microbes, nor are they able to assimilate nutrients needed to sustain their bodies.

The mother of a child with autism discovered the BT spore connection and is South American. She decided to research the effects of genetically modified (GMO) foods on SA populations. Medical records for autism are not kept in SA but the use of drugs is well recorded. She found that the use of Ritalin was prevalent in the two countries that had introduced GMO foods in their diet. Argentina and Brazil had substantially higher usage of Ritalin. (GMO crops are now shown to be death food and banned in Europe. Laboratory rats refuse to eat GMO tomatoes. So they are injected with the tomato juice and die from it. Offspring from GMO foods fed to rodent parents are malformed and stunted-and this is in the first generation. GMO foods actually twist our genes).

The next hurdle is the prevalence in our body tissues of heavy metals like mercury, lead and cadmium. A few weeks ago the NY Times had a front page story about the showering of mercury from the skies on the USA generated from coal burning energy plants in China. We are living under a mercury rain. A couple of months ago 12 condors were treated for heavy metal poisoning in California. They are at the top of the food chain. White blood cells will not approach heavy metals in our bodies. Pathogens understand this so they will take up residence wherever the heavy metals are found. This is why treating an infection is difficult unless the heavy metal load is also addressed. The pathogens use heavy metals as a shield and easily avoid the immune system response.

Many of us are aware of the questionable contents found in vaccinations, but it bears mentioning again. They are a source of heavy metals, chemicals like formaldehyde, and harmful mycoplasma. Often the onset of autism is precipitated shortly following a vaccination. Although many believe that mercury directly causes autism it seems more accurate to say, from the data presented at this conference, that vaccines are "the straw that breaks the camel's back". There are children with autism that have not been vaccinated. However some of them still show toxic mercury loads (together with hidden infections) that are often passed through by the mother.

Needless to say treating Lyme and Autism is complicated. There are many different approaches. Pioneers like Dr Klinghardt advocate eradication of the bugs and removal of the heavy metal burden as a first line of treatment. The total body burden needs to be lowered by removing mold spores from the house and clearing out the electrosmog. He recommends the use of a bed canopy Faraday cage made from silver mesh to protect children from EMF's, and for parents who are trying to conceive. He advocates the ingestion of clay to remove the BT crystalline proteins from the gut lining and adsorb the toxic byproducts of the infection. He examines the child for parasites and chelates the heavy metals. He also likes ozonated castor oil and eating organic foods. The kids with autism have compromised digestion and cannot assimilate nutrients. Even prematurely providing them with glutathione, vitamin A and C (to help repair the digestive tract) should be handled carefully until the microbial infection is addressed first, because the pathogens are able to use glutathione and vitamins to strengthen their own shields. So it is complex.

Trying to compress a four day conference into a single blog piece is a bit daunting . We think this information serves us all to know that these environmental forces are very real and will adversely affect our loved ones if we do not educate ourselves and take appropriate measures to protect our health. It is comforting to know that many of the things we value for maintaining health have been confirmed by the eminent Dr Klinghardt.

Americans are not getting healthier–in fact it is just the opposite. We can reduce our total body burden of heavy metals and toxic residue by using natural safe remedies. We believe that there are simple ways to clear heavy metals and eradicate pathogens-the two main things affecting the total body burden. Two things we can do to stop the infections and remove the metals are using a zeolite detoxifier and nano silver for eradicating pathogens.

ACZ micronized Zeolites are small tetrahedral cage like minerals that grab chemicals, free radicals and heavy metals through a magnetic cationic process. These are rendered harmless in the zeolite cage and removed from the body in 5-7 hours. ACS nano Silver kills many pathogens including staph, fungus, molds and viruses. Both of these products are tested and proven safe by the FDA and address the two primary concerns of our times-the total body burden of microbial infections and the free radical damage from heavy metals and environmental toxins. The Zeolite and Silver come in sprays that are convenient and easy to use. We are now recommending these to our patients.

At the conference there was a hyperbaric chamber being sold to increase oxygen in the tissues. It was expensive, bulky and cumbersome. We believe that the Bemer 3000 we advocate is the most economical and effective way to increase oxygen in the body. It is small, light weight, and portable. It is a fully tested and certified medical device in Europe and currently under FDA review in the US. A simple eight minute treatment increases blood oxygen levels by 17%-or the same amount gained by a 20 minute walk. This short convenient treatment provides more oxygen than 2 hours stuffed into a hyperbaric chamber at a fraction of the cost.

Lastly we have been offering our patients a small EMF protector that can be used on cell phones and electronic equipment in the home such as computers, wireless phones, TV's and WiFi Routers . Using our quantum system of bio-field testing we have shown that these devices not only block the harmful radiation but also make the human energy field stronger. Not all EMF protectors are the same. We recently tested a person who was wearing a $300 EMF protector pendant and we found it actually made her biofield weaker! Needless to say she was not happy about that.

Sorry about the length of our blog piece but we feel it important enough to say as much as we can about this information and to get it out there. There is much more that can be said about Lyme and Autism. To learn more please visit www.lymeinducedautism.com/ and http://www.reversingautism.org/.

PS: Another tidbit provided by Dr Klinghardt is that there is quite a bit of clinical evidence conducted in Germany that one cause of schizophrenia, bi-polar depression and anxiety attacks is directly linked to the Borna Virus. This virus, originally found in horses, is transmitted to humans and has been found in the serum of bipolar manic patients. The Germans have had great success when eradicating the virus and supplementing the patient with methyl B-vitamins (something we covered last month) and some other things. Here again the Nano Silver microbial/viral killer and the micronized Zeolite detoxifier might be considered.

2008-05-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

The methylation cycle is a biochemical reaction in the body that transfers small bundle of atoms from one molecule to another.

Methylation is much like a spark plug. It drives biological processes such as aging, memory, mood and heart health.

B vitamins and folates play an important role in the methylation cycle. One important function is helping to convert the amino acid homocysteine into less harmful methionine. If folate levels are insufficient then homocysteine levels may rise and increase the risk of heart disease, depression and Alzheimer’s.

Fortunately, blood levels of the harmful homocysteine can be reduced by increasing folic acid (folates) and vitamins B6 and B12. N0 less an authority than the National Institute of Health has recommended that if you have a family history of Alzheimer’s, depression or cardiovascular disease, it makes a lot of sense to increase your intake of folate, B6 and B12.

This certainly is good news, but it may not be that simple, since many of us have a genetic defect in the folate pathway. This defect disrupts our ability to assimilate these nutrients thus increasing the risk of depression, heart disease and Alzheimer’s which may explain why these diseases tend to run in families. Luckily it is possible now to ingest folate, B6 and B12 in forms that can bypass genetic defects and complete the methylation cycle. We recommend several products that are easy to use. This includes an enhanced whey protein powder for daily health shakes or some specially formulated B vitamin capsules. These products contain the more easily assimilated forms of B6, B12 and folate. We are seeing that many feel a significant boost in energy and mood when they start including these in their diet.

There is quite a bit more that can be said about the methylation cycle. In fact, we have a much longer article written which explains in greater detail, for the really curious, all the biochemical details of the cycle and how they relate to autism, depression, Alzheimer’s and depression. This article was deemed too “eye glazing” for a simple blog piece. However if you email us at marymd@mypassion4health.com we will be glad to send you the full article. Our website is currently getting a much needed makeover (yes!) but eventually the article will find a permanent place at the new site.

A New Post is Coming!

2008-05-05T20:35:00.001-07:00

Incredible Healing Properties of Clay Recently Validated by Science

2008-04-08T12:12:00.001-07:00

We have spent a lot of time talking about the healing importance of clay, used both internally and externally-and now science is finally beginning to validate some of its incredible properties! This study documents the ability of clay to kill methicillin resistant staph, the infection ordinary people are picking up in schools and day care centers and dying from. Wow!! So if you are taking the Luvos clay internally here is some hot off the press evidence that shows it really does kill bad bacteria in the gut.

Clay May Help Fight Drug-Resistant Germs, Researchers Find

By Nicole Ostrow

April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Mud clay, used as a folk remedy to heal wounds, soothe indigestion and beautify the complexion, may help doctors fight drug-resistant infections.

In tests of more than 30 clay samples from around the world, researchers found clays from Oregon and Nevada that killed almost all the cells of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus auereus, a staph infection that can be fatal, according to Arizona State University researchers. The results are being presented today at the American Chemical Society meeting in New Orleans.

While clay today is mostly associated with the mud baths of health spas, people have used it for thousands of years to treat ailments, by eating it or applying it to the skin. If the study findings hold up in human tests, doctors may have new ways to combat infections, the researchers said. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is the first to look at the antibacterial activity of natural clay.

``Since people existed, they have used clays for medicinal purposes,'' said Lynda Williams, a research professor at Arizona State University, in Tempe, in an telephone interview on April 2. ``If we can understand its antibacterial mechanism, then I expect clays will be more prevalent in people's lives.''

The Oregon and Nevada samples also killed almost all cells of E. coli, which causes food poisoning, and destroyed pseudomonas aeruginosa, which causes urinary tract and gastrointestinal infections, as well as deadly infections in people hospitalized with cancer and burns.

A French clay was also effective against MRSA, pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. coli, said researcher Shelley Haydel, an assistant professor of life sciences at Arizona State.

Clay for MRSA

More than 94,000 invasive MRSA infections occurred in the U.S. in 2005, resulting in 18,650 deaths, according to the latest estimates by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Healing clay might be turned into rub-on creams or ointments to keep MRSA infections from spreading, researchers said.

The scientists theorize that chemicals in the clay may kill bacteria by poking holes in the cells.

``We believe right now it's the chemistries of the clays themselves,'' Haydel said in a telephone interview on April 2. ``We don't have a definitive answer.''

The researchers are planning to study the clay as a topical remedy for wound infections. Until those tests are done, people should be cautious because natural clay also contains toxic minerals such as mercury and arsenic, Williams said.

Whether doctors will embrace clay as a treatment for infections remains to be seen, the researchers said.

``This is a natural, alternative type of treatment approach,'' Haydel said. ``I don't know how traditional medicine will respond to that.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Ostrow in New York at nostrow1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 6, 2008 15:30 EDT ( many thanks to my brother Bob Ackerley for passing on this story)

Quantum Reflex Analysis and the Family Pet

2008-03-18T19:34:00.001-07:00

Over the last few months we noticed a steady deterioration of our elder feline Kitty-Kha. She was losing weight, vomiting occasionally and spending more time hidden away during the day. We attributed this to aging and the winter blues.

Last week she suddenly stopped eating and grooming herself. Her decline was so rapid and dramatic that we put her name in a prayer group and carted her off to the vet. Thankfully we were told she would live. She is hyperthyroid, a condition we learned is on the rise. The vet suggested giving her drugs but cautioned they might cause some reactions.

We decided to do some Quantum Reflex surrogate testing which showed Kha needed supplementation. Prolamine is iodine bound to amino acids and Thytrophin is protomorphogenic thyroid extract with thyroxin removed. (Medical thinking today says a hyperthyroid candidate should avoid iodine but there is new understanding that re-evaluates this theory).

Wow! The improvement she experienced was just short of miraculous. She started the supplements on a Friday and by Monday she was up and about, asking for second helpings of food, and grooming herself normally again.

This is a positive step toward integrating natural and conventional medicine. The blood test guided us with diagnosis, QRA surrogate testing matched the nutrients with her needs, and natural products offered a good alternative to the drug treatment. (We also believe the prayer group helped).

This is an example of how Quantum Reflex Analysis can be applied as a helper in our daily lives. Surrogate testing for animals and quantum healing is part of what we offer in our workshops and is something that benefits family, friends, and our pets too. 

The Myth of Antidepressants

2008-03-10T17:44:00.001-07:00

You may have noticed over the last few weeks that news headlines have been blaring the disturbing fact that most approved prescription anti-depressants are only slightly better than placebo. The figures come in at about 8-13% better. What that means in numbers is that for every 100 people given Zoloft we can expect 10 to improve because of the drug. Yikes!

Some knowledge of neurochemistry explains this. Depression, as well as Attention Deficit Disorder, migraines, anxiety, Parkinson's disease, and increased appetite are caused by deficiencies of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine or norepinephrine. Antidepressants recycle and block the reuptake of neurotransmitters that the brain has available, which tricks it into thinking it has more. People may initially feel better. However, drugs don't create any more neurotransmitter but deplete the amount the brain has available. That's right. Drugs used to treat depression are actually making the problem worse!

Some patients may gain 15 to 20 lbs, most likely from neurotransmitter depletion stimulating the appetite. They may try to get off their anti-depressants and find they feel as depressed as when they first started treatment. Why can't they get off the drugs? Because they have even less neurochemicals available than when treatment started and they feel depressed again. This scares most people right back into the drugs. Depression is a painful experience and most people would rather do anything than feel that bad again.

A more sensible way to treat Neurotransmitter Depletion Syndrome (NDS) is to feed the body what it needs by simply provide the amino acid precursors tyrosine, 5-hydroxytryptophan and L-dopa. In hindsight it seems to be an obvious approach, and one that would be much more widely accepted if it weren't for the fact that drug companies don't make any money from promoting amino acids. And prescription antidepressants are very profitable so perhaps it's not surprising that the nutrient based approach is relatively unknown.

Marty Hinz, MD, at University of Minnesota Medical School, has been studying amino acid therapy for 10 years in a scientifically rigorous way. His database of over 1 million patient hours shows that by using a combination of tyrosine, dopamine and 5 HTTP they can get 100 percent of patients free of depression and 90 percent free of migraines. ADD in adults and children can also treated in this way. And by the way- amino acid therapy also helps people lose significant amounts of weight, enough to remediate type II diabetes. This work is extremely exciting and we plan to talk a lot more about it here on our blog.

The Importance of Digestion

2008-02-01T20:48:00.000-08:00

Poor digestion is one of the most common and least understood precursors to disease. Feelings of tiredness or discomfort after a meal often signals impaired digestion. Other signs are avoiding or reacting to certain foods, acid reflux, or bloating and gas.

Why does this matter? Slowly over time the body is being deprived of nutrients from excluding needed foods or from insufficient absorption. Shortfalls in nutrition and incomplete assimilation can contribute to a broad spectrum of ailments. A simple remedy for this and a key foundation of health is to maintain a balance of friendly bacteria. The inclusion of probiotics can restore balance to the intestinal flora and remediate our health.

After listening to a presentation by a gastroenterologist who treats ulcers, diverticulitis, candida overgrowth and other intestinal issues, we were impressed by his research. He considers skin conditions, including acne, eruptions around the stomach, eczema, and toenail fungus as related to disturbances of the intestinal flora which creates a weakened immune system.

By administering a specific type of probiotic called Lactobacillus Sporogenes to 450 patients he remedied all the symptoms of half this group in just 30 days, while 40 percent had at least partial restoration. He had tested this particular strain against other types of probiotics and felt it served him the best. He found the Sporogenes lactobacilli proliferated readily, survived stomach acid, and required no refrigeration. Best of all they gave measurable results in a cost effective and timely manner. We have found good results using this product too, and recommend it when needed.

[In the future we will reveal how traumas and scars can sedate the stomach, or other organs, making digestion and absorption difficult. The Germans have been studying this phenomenom for over 80 years. Quantum Reflex Analysis can determine whether these traumas are affecting an organ or adversely impacting its functionality. Fortunately there is an effective way to remediate traumatic reflex arcs using clay packs and the results can have a dramatic effect leading to a greatly decreased need for nutritional remedies]

Healthy Pumpkin Seed Spread

2008-02-01T19:01:00.001-08:00

A great way to create a tasty treat that has several health benefits is to make a pumpkin seed butter that can be used as a spread or a snack. The recipe is simple and the result is delicious and nutritious.

1 c. Pumpkin Seeds

2 c. Coconut flakes

2 Tbs Raisins

1 Tbs Premier Research Coconut Oil

Place the ingredients into a Cuisinart and process until smooth. Pumpkin seeds are a good source of zinc, Omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids, and are anthelmintic.

Delicious Lemon Detox

2008-01-13T18:26:00.000-08:00

Generally we think of lemonade as a refreshing beverage that satisfies our thirst on a hot day. A healthier variation for lemonade is to use the white rind in the drink. By using the pectin fiber the drink becomes richer and creamier and greatly increases the health benefits.

Citrus pectin significantly lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, and reduces plaque from arterial walls. These findings were confirmed by the Journal of Clinical Cardiology. In fact the power to lower the ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol levels is as powerful as statin drugs without the harmful side effects.

Besides the clinically proven benefits to the liver and cardio-vascular system, pectin also binds and removes toxic chemicals from the body. The World Health Organization has implicated environmental toxins in over 60% of all cancer cases. These toxins are also thought to be related to allergies, aches and pains, chronic fatigue, cancer, arthritis and diabetes. Studies have shown that heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic are removed by using citrus pectin.

You can go to your local health food store and buy pectin powder in capsules. Some companies sell a months supply of citrus pectin for $100.

You can also make a nutritious healthy drink from whole lemons simply and conveniently at home using our beloved Vitamix. The cornucopia of fruits in the bowl seen in the picture above is a collection from our citrus orchard that we use to make a daily lemon drink. The recipe is quite simple.

1 Large Lemon
4-6 Tbs Blue Agave Nectar (or sweeten to taste)
3 cups ice water

Peel only the outer yellow zest of the lemon leaving the inner white rind intact. Chop the lemon coarsely. Add all the ingredients to your blender or Vitamix. Blend at high speed until liquefied. Adjust sweetness to taste. It will get smoother and creamier the next day. Yum!

Do No Harm

2008-01-13T14:58:00.000-08:00

Recently I saw a patient who was concerned about a viral infection. She wanted to learn if there were any treatments available for her condition. Another physician she had seen informed her that there was absolutely nothing that could be done to treat the virus. Of course this statement was creating some anxiety and worry because of its finality and may have been making her even more ill.

Unfortunately at times we say and do things which are the result of our limitations. However one of the oldest axioms at the core of medicine is that above all, physicians “do no harm”.

When a doctor makes a statement it carries greater responsibility and weight than almost any other source. People can be deeply affected by their opinions. In this case it might have been more helpful to say “to my knowledge I have not encountered a treatment for this particular virus”. Then he could have added, “I am unaware of any effective protocols at this time but certainly would remain open to the possibility that a new remedy may have recently emerged that might even be beneficial in the treatment of your condition”. This would leave open the possibility of a new discovery and entertain other options, while providing a small window of hope. It would serve to dispel the sense of futility generated by his words and ease the mind of the patient.

Life is a process of flux and change. It is open ended. It is not a dead end. I believe that medicine, like life, continues to evolve and change its form every day. There are new discoveries for remedies and healing approaches all the time. Healing is an art. It is helpful to remain flexible by keeping an open mind and by being receptive to new directions in healing.

In contrast to the doctor's opinion, there actually are a number of useful natural remedies that can mitigate viral conditions. Herbs are effective in boosting the immune system, which is the ultimate healing force in the body. They have traditionally been used for thousands of years as the only form of medicine we know. Modern pharmaceutical companies have derived many of their drugs from extracts of herbs. Herbs are in fact the original form of medicine, not the 'alternative '.

Our existence in this world is symbiotic. Every one of us has an effect on the other. Hopefully by serving others in a useful capacity, I can respond in my own way with words that “"do no harm”.

Mary Ackerley MD (& Alex)

Along the Way...

2007-12-22T21:47:00.000-08:00

As we reflect on the past we might look back and ask ourselves where we have been and what it was we realized.

Were we spinning our wheels, marking time, staying in the present, gazing into the future? Perhaps we are in a lucid dream. It certainly is a journey.

Hopefully we will all continue to grow from the process we call Life and be in the position to share what we have gained with others along the way.

Wishing everyone Wellness for the New Year…

Cheers! Mary and Alex

Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids ( or why wouldn't you take fish oil every day?)

2007-12-21T09:35:00.000-08:00

Putting people on the right track through nutrition is one of the goals of My Passion 4 Health. Of utmost value to just about everyone is the daily need for Omega-3 fatty acids. Although this information has been known for some time we still find people who are unaware of the necessity of this supplement. Since the Omega 3's are essential fatty acids it is something we need on a daily basis.

Research shows that Omega-3 has a number of valuable benefits.

Inflammation Anytime we suffer from any condition that ends in “itis” such as cystitis or arthritis this oil will help to regulate and reduce the inflammation cycle. The use of fish oil can have a significant impact on the pain of inflammation. And here are some other benefits.

Cardiovascular Health Omega-3 fatty acids are proven to lower cholesterol and protect the arteries and veins. These fatty acids also prevent strokes and heart attacks by breaking up blood clots before they can do any damage.

Brain Function is enhanced by improving memory, recall, thought process and mental focus. There is a direct affect on depression and mood including the extremes of bipolar conditions. Studies have shown that attention deficit symptoms in children and adults are greatly improved. Omega-3's are especially beneficial to pregnant mothers and have an impact on the baby’s intelligence and happiness.

Cancer Prevention Finally Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to prevent three of the most common types of cancer, namely breast, colon and prostate. Science has shown these fatty acids are able to inhibit unwanted cellular growth. The really important thing is your body cannot make these fatty acids on its own.

Fish, fish oil, flax seeds and pumpkin seed oil are all good sources of fatty acids. Cod liver oil is a convenient source and contains Vitamin D as well as the Omega-3 fatty acids EFA and DHA. Vitamin D is required for proper calcium utilization. We prefer to use the fresh ground flax seed meal as a source over the flax seed oil. The flax oil is unstable and easily becomes rancid. Also the ground flax is a good source of fiber. Given the remarkable benefits of Omega-3’s, if you are not taking them daily, the only question is why not?

Some More on Parasites

2007-12-15T16:36:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of quotes we came across this week on parasites. Others agree that it is a hidden epidemic...

"Most individuals would be truly amazed if they knew the extraordinarily high number of Americans who are unknowingly infected by parasites."
- Dr. Hermann R. Bueno, Specialist in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

"In terms of numbers there are more parasitic infections acquired in this country than in Africa."
- Dr. Frank Nova, Chief of the Laboratory for Parasitic Diseases of the National Institute of Health.

Recently we recommended that a client, after QRA testing, go on a parasite cleanse. Seven days after starting an herbal combination for parasites she passed a stool “unlike anything she had seen before”. Then her menses, after two years of excessive bleeding, completely returned to normal. She also has noticed that she is much less hungry after awakening and has begun to lose weight.

Really you do not want to be eating for two! And many chronic health conditions, including some that you would never suspect like depression and eating disorders, can clear after a successful parasite cleanse.

Mary

Almond Milk Recipe

2007-12-15T12:47:00.001-08:00

Alex started making our own almond milk regularly this year after California began irradiating most of its almonds. It tastes much better than what you can buy in the store as well as having more nutritious value. One ounce of almonds (about 20 -25 nuts) contain as much calcium as 1/4 cup of milk and also contains 12 percent of the daily allowance of protein, as well as 35 percent of your daily allowance of vitamin E, a valuable antioxidant with many cancer-fighting qualities.

The almond is also loaded with minerals like magnesium, phosphorus and zinc, as well as folic acid and lots of healthy fiber. Almond milk contains no cholesterol or lactose and has no detrimental effect on the thyroid as does soy milk. Some have experienced a calming effect and drink the nut milk it in the evenings to help with sleep. The minerals may be the reason for this.

Walnuts, which are also in the recipe, are a high source of essential unsaturated fatty acids such as alpha-linoleic acid. Their content in proteins and vitamins is high, especially in vitamins of the B group and E, and in the minerals potassium and magnesium. Walnut also contains the amino acids arginine, leucine and glutamic acid, as well as taurine. Taurine is especially important because it is involved in homeostatic regulation, thermoregulation, nervous conduction and protection against oxidative stress.

Wow almond milk is healthy! And it also tastes great.

Almond Milk Recipe

1 cup pre-soaked almonds
¼ cup walnuts
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lecithin granules (optional)
1 quart water and ice.

For best results we recommend using a Vitamix processor to blend all the ingredients. Refrigerate and enjoy.
*This recipe assumes that all ingredients are organic, non-GMO , Free Trade and non irradiated (cold pasteurized).

This nut milk blends well with a tablespoon of Gold 360 herbal formula, known as Chyavanprash.This is a potent ancient botanical tonic containing over 40 different Ayurvedic herbs. It is a rejuvenative formula for maintaining and enhancing health.

[Please feel free to post any comments or questions. Click on the ‘comments’ link located just below this article to leave your message. We know some of you have wanted to leave a comment but it was not clear how to do this].

My Passion 4 Parsley

2007-12-09T12:58:00.000-08:00

2007-12-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

A few years ago Mary’s sister gave us a Vitamix food processor for Christmas. We use it every day to make nutritious and delicious drinks. Lately our passion is for a parsley green drink that in our opinion surpasses the almighty wheat grass juice. It tastes better, is highly nutritious, and is easy and economical to make.

Parsley is convenient to grow in a home garden or to buy at the local health food store. Growing wheat grass is not as simple a task. It is labor intensive and a number of little things can go wrong. Also parsley is a bargain whereas a small shot of wheat grass juice can go for as much as $4. Taste is a subjective matter. But to me the taste of wheat grass is sickly sweet with an overhanging pungent tang. It isn’t something I look forward too. Wheat grass also requires specialized equipment to produce and lacks a fundamental ingredient, which is the fiber.

Many health enthusiasts tout the purity and benefits of drinking pure juice extracts but I disagree. Fiber is the active principle in the detoxification of tissues-not the juice. Juice by itself does act to stir up toxins in the body, but then it merely redistributes them to be deposited elsewhere. The phytonutrients in fiber are what bind toxins so they can no longer be harmful and are the key to detoxification. Studies show that fiber is connected to preventing cancer.

The beauty of the Vitamix blender is that it ‘juices’ fresh foods without isolating and removing the fibrous substances that are needed to enhance health. The fiber is reduced to tiny particles. Even though parsley’s stalk and leaves are included, a smooth drink is produced that supplies the added health benefit of the fiber.

Green drinks are well known for promoting health. They have had miraculous benefits for reversing serious ailments. Currently health bars are serving a ‘manna’ elixir that boosts energy and has a reputation for enhancing longevity and vitality. However a one ounce shot can be pricey. It’s basically a liquefied form of green chlorella.

Our Vitamix parsley drink is a blend somewhere between liquid manna and wheat grass juice. It can be made at a fraction of the cost, with greater convenience, and with a nice texture and flavor. Here is the recipe.

Put in Vitamix blender:
One large handful fresh Parsley
Two dozen Chlorella tablets
½ tsp. pure organic olive oil
Small pinch of Hawaiian Pink Salt

Add one cup of cool water and one cup of ice. Blend at high speed until liquefied. [Note-The ice is needed to keep the ingredients at a cool temperature since the Vitamix is a two horsepower motor that runs at high speed]. This powerful blending action allows for the fiber to be reduced to small particles.

Parsley is very high in Iron and Vitamin C and a rich source of many minerals. It can help with the urinary tract, gallstones, enlarged spleen and liver conditions. It is great for rejuvenation and detoxification. [Caution should be used when there is a kidney condition as it is aggressive in moving toxins]. It is said to benefit the pancreas in conditions such as diabetes.

The Vitamix is a pricey appliance but they last for years and are indispensable for the health enthusiast. Recently we purchased a second one being offered through our local health food store. It was never used and the price greatly reduced. So look around. Often they can be found at bargain prices. In the future other useful ways to use the Vitamix will be shared including a nutritious almond milk drink, a simple citrus detox recipe, and a tasty mini flush.

All of these drinks are a step toward becoming liquifarian. They are energizers and detoxifiers, delivering minerals easily and in tasty ways. At some point it would be nice if we could find additional ways to energize our bodies with simple nutritious foods and using fewer supplements. We believe this a move in that direction.

The Hidden Epidemic...

2007-12-01T19:04:00.000-08:00

2007-12-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

Mary and I both believe that parasites are a hidden epidemic of massive proportions. The medical establishment has a turned a blind eye. Dr Marshall has found that often parasites directly contribute to killer diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart conditions, MS, and others. Parasites are linked to irregular menstrual cycles, dysbiosis (stomach bloating, indigestion), liver/gall bladder congestion, fatigue, cysts etc.

Parasites excrete in our bodies. Their toxins give us aches and pains, headaches, inflammation, inability to gain or lose weight. They rob us of nutrition and damage organs. They are found in raw fish products like sushi and are transmitted by pets and between humans. Thinning hair and persistent coughs are other symptoms. Just as the human body is a host, parasites also host harmful microbes such as bacteria, fungus and viruses.

There are natural ways to defend against them but stronger measures are needed once they have gained a foothold. In the body they can hide and lay eggs in biofilm sacs which go undetected by the immune system. Biofilms are particularly difficult to eradicate. This is why a single parasite cleanse is often ineffective.

Parasites that inhabit the small intestine may be responsible for persistent diarrhea and symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. A highly effective herb to eradicate this condition is Holarrhena Antidysenterica. Another milder but effective way to help regulate intestinal discomfort is by using activated charcoal and clay internally. Clay will heal the colon of leaky gut perforations as well as counter discomfort. Clay and activated charcoal are limited in their scope as they only manage symptoms but do not address the cause.

An unsettling piece of information that has recently come to our attention is that the FDA may be planning to label parasites as a disease by the end of 2008. This would change the landscape for the entire naturopathic health field since it would mean that only licensed medical doctors would be able to treat for parasites.

Even worse it would mean that certain herbs that are currently available in the free market would be restricted for distribution and administered only by AMA approved doctors. This could have drastic consequences and would make it illegal to possess or distribute herbs that are effective anti-parasitics! Purely medicinal herbs such as Hyssop, Pau D’Arco, Gentian, and Milk Thistle could potentially be on the hit list. This is why we need to educate ourselves to natural methods of healing.

Before treating for any suspected parasite condition it is recommended to follow a sequential protocol that ensures proper testing and analysis beforehand. This includes balancing and strengthening organs of elimination prior to administering any paracidal remedies. It also requires removing hidden cysts and biofilms in order to prevent re-infection. Since the overall scope of parasite infections is much larger than this article, we plan to provide additional natural methods for dealing with parasites.

Helio Hugs, Mary & Alexander

http://www.mypassion4health.com/

Our Passion For Health...

2007-12-01T18:20:00.000-08:00

2007-12-01T15:02:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Mary and Alex in Tucson!

Nice to meet everyone yesterday at Cielo and Wietse's Thanksgiving gathering. Our personal thanks to them for a lovely time. We all agree we have a common interest in learning about health and sharing that knowledge with friends and family. This was evident by the intense focus we generated yesterday.

Our interest in natural health stems from experiencing a variety of different illnesses of our own over the years, and the desire to be of assistance. We decided to educate ourselves so we could lead a more fulfilling life, preferring a natural and self-empowering path of healing.

Mary and I subscribe to the idea that in order for us to be of service to others we want to energize ourselves. This involves a commitment to exploring different methods of healing and rejuvenation, including detoxification and nutritional support of the body.

Our goal is providing information that allows us to make sensible choices. Defining the operating system of the body in clear language is one of the first steps. If we have a nagging health concern it is good to address the symptoms and then find ways towards wellness. We are all unique and our individual needs vary. We realize that each of us will make our own decisions about the path we choose to take.

We prefer a natural organic foundation for taking health into our own hands, which includes things like nutrition and pH balancing. We'd like to offer information and guidance for those striving to regain vitality and rejuvenation, together with wholesome products at reasonable prices. Our goal is for all of us to achieve the health and vigor we desire to accomplish our purpose here at this time.

With methods like the clay packs, we have found useful approaches for unlocking unresolved health issues. It is a compromise living on Earth, and must learn to make the best of what is here. Like you we are on a journey. While not pretending to have all the answers, we intend to bring through what we can.

We will expand on the technique we presented in Phoenix, and would like to share this with others in small group settings. The clay packs allow for the unblocking of energy meridians in the hands and feet (also know as the download sites). Eventually more of this information will be available at the website so that everyone can benefit.

Should anyone have questions please feel free to ask. The purpose of this small group of friends is sharing our thoughts and experiences, and regaining optimum health. None of these suggestions are set in stone. We encourage everyone to have an open mind, approaching the information in the spirit of self experimentation, and the joy of personal growth and learning!

Helio Hugs,

Mary MD & Alexander
http://www.mypassion4health.com/