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Archive for April, 2009
During the process of evolution we have developed ways of coping with difficulties. If we feel ill we go to bed. We do this as if by instinct. The rest and warmth give our body the best chance of dealing with the trouble. If we are tense, we rest and relax and soon we begin to feel less tense. These very simple measures have evolved over countless generations. They are part of us. They are our biological heritage. And in general they are very effective. The difficulty is that with advancing civilization and sophistication we have to a large extent lost our natural heritage. We have forgotten how to relax. Watch a cat relax, or a dog, or better still a South Sea Islander, and then we realize just how much we have forgotten.
Aim for Relaxed Activity-Remember that being relaxed does not mean living like a vegetable. On the contrary, it means a greater capacity to work, to do things easily and quickly and with a minimum of effort. Relaxation is an important aspect in the training of
middle-distance and long-distance athletes, both runners and swimmers. While all the power of the body is being used, there is a feeling of relaxation of both body and mind, of rhythm, of ease of movement.
At different times I have seen a number of business executives who have complained of tension and irritability. When I have advised relaxing treatment, these men have often said that they do not want to be relaxed, or they would lose their punch, which, they said, was the key to their success as business executives. I explained to each that if he were relaxed and easy in his mind he would be able to carry out his executive duties even more effectively because his ability to be decisive would no longer be impeded by his inner tension. These men who tried the exercises now run their business empires without their former tension and irritability, without their ulcers, and with a good deal more graciousness to those around them.
The housewife can do her chores and still have energy left for other things; the student absorbs his studies more easily; the man at work tolerates his daily frustrations without fatigue and irritability.
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As you have learned from previous chapters, faulty nutrition is singularly the most important causative factor in the development of arthritis. An unbalanced diet of devitalized, over-processed, overcooked, and overrefined denatured foods combined with toxic and foodless items such as tobacco, alcohol, coffee, sugar, salt, irritating spices, chocolate, soft drinks, sweets, pastries, pies, etc., together with other negative environmental factors, brings about a general deterioration of health, biochemical imbalance, and systemic disturbances. These deleterious factors eventually lead to a total metabolic disorder and consequent pathological changes in the joints and tissues of the body.
Therefore, the first step in an effective program of treatment for arthritis must be a complete change of nutritional patterns. Arthritis can be conquered only by rebuilding and restoring the general health of the patient. The functions of his vital organs must be strengthened; the glandular activity stimulated; the eliminative processes activated; and the digestion and assimilation improved. All this can be done only from within with vital nutritive elements needed for the repair and rebuilding processes within the body.
It should not be too difficult to see that proper nutrition is the most important factor in restoring health. The question is: What is proper nutrition?
You may say, “I have been health conscious for a long time, I eat plenty of meat and eggs and drink lots of milk for my protein. I eat cereal for breakfast and one or two vegetables with my meat each day. And I take a one-a-day vitamin tablet each day, too.” This description of a “health” diet would about sum up the average American concept of proper nutrition: lots of animal protein; devitalized, foodless cereals; canned vegetables and instant mashed potatoes; white bread; sugared desserts out of the can… It is a miracle that not more than 8 to 10 per cent of the American people develop arthritis on such a monstrous diet! And yet, most Americans actually believe that they are the best fed nation in the world. Perhaps they are the best fed quantitatively speaking, but certainly not the best nourished!
There is much disagreement and confusion, even among the prominent nutritionists, as to what constitutes a wholesome diet. Many theories exist and too many popular or pseudo-scientific books are written to further confuse the issues. No wonder the average man is puzzled and confused.
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A person who has had two or three seizures does not necessarily need treatment. For example, an adult who has two or three generalized tonic-clonic seizures (grand mal fits) in a two-week period and who might lose his job if he had a seizure at work requires early treatment, whereas a child who has cerebral palsy and learning difficulties and who had had two partial seizures six months apart does not necessarily require treatment with anti-epileptic drugs. Remember also that there are people whose seizures can be clearly attributed in part to a non-recurring cause. For example, seizures may begin for the first time whilst the person is on an antidepressant drug, such as amitriptyline, which is known to induce seizures in some people. Clearly the drug is not the only factor. Thousands of people take amitriptyline without having seizures. In those who do, the drug presumably acts on those with a low seizure threshold. Nevertheless it would seem reasonable to see how such a person gets on without antidepressants, before prescribing anti-epileptic medication. Other precipitating factors, if specific, such as occur in epilepsy induced by television may be avoided, and make anti-epileptic medication unnecessary.
It is therefore important that each patient is considered as an individual. The choice of whether or not anti-epileptic medication should be used is made in equal partnership between patient (or parent) and doctor. For example, a woman may wish to avoid anti-epileptic medication if planning a pregnancy even though her chances of further seizures are high.
One common decision that has to be made is whether or not to start anti-epileptic medication after a single seizure in an adult, often for which no clearly defined precipitating factor can be identified. It used to be advised that ‘one seizure did not make a diagnosis of epilepsy’. Although true by definition, the risk of a second seizure is in adults as high as 78% over the next three years, the risk being its highest in the first few weeks. Recent trials have shown clearly that an anti-epileptic drug given after the first seizure does significantly reduce the chances of a second. Patients should be offered the choice of anti-epileptic medication at this stage, with a clear explanation of the risks of further seizures and the relative drawbacks of medication, even though a number will decide to take their chances.
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Multiple Sclerosis (MS) has long been one of the most difficult and challenging diseases for medical science. It is so frequently relentless in its degeneration of virtually all body functions, and is often stubbornly unresponsive to conventional treatment. Despite the fact that MS clearly is a chronic ailment with autoimmune components, we never expected that this degenerative disease would respond to CMO. Yet, in many cases it definitely has.
One of our most current reports concerns Mrs J.V., an emergency room nurse who recently decided to try adding CMO to her treatment protocol. In 1966 she experienced a numbing weakness in her left leg along with some trouble keeping her balance. Doctors diagnosed it as a mild stoke. She is now sure it was an early sign of MS. Within a few years the numbness below the waist became more generalized and was accompanied by tingling sensations. That’s when doctors began to suspect MS.
The disease gradually worsened over the years. Her left leg began to drag and the lower body numbness worsened. She had virtually no balance, suffered from constant dizziness and eye spasms. At best, she could walk only a dozen steps unaided and when fatigued, not at all. She lacked the strength and balance to pick things up from the floor. To manage a flight of stairs, she often had to crawl up the steps one by one.
After an MRI several years ago finally and clearly established that she had MS, the doctors prescribed medications with such serious side effects that she refused to take them. She chose a milder one and put herself on a healthy vitamin program instead. Then a friend told her about CMO. Taking an immunomodulator for an autoimmune disease like MS made great sense to her and she promptly added it to her therapy along with some colloidal minerals.
For a few days on CMO her energy levels varied. But after the fifth day they continued to rise and she now leads a perfectly normal life. Her business associates comment on the remarkable change. CMO has turned her life around. “It’s so wonderful,” she says, “just to walk through a mall again.”
Incidentally, the arthritis in her hands has disappeared as well. But that’s no surprise.
She has recommended CMO to several others also suffering from MS. Their responses have been excellent. One friend, who literally spent at least 20 hours a day in bed, returned to normal in just three days after adding CMO to her therapy.
We also have a report of another female, age 52, who was suffering with a slowly progressing MS for over ten years. Though she experienced occasional flare-ups, her main problem was muscular weakness, fatigue, lack of endurance, and depression. CMO cleared up these symptoms in less than a week. She can now walk twice as far for her morning exercise. She, too, is now able to do her housework again for the first time in years.
Another MS patient complained that after a year in a wheelchair he was stiffening up. It was taking longer and longer to get through his daily routine. He was amazed how CMO restored his physical strength. His sex drive also jumped from zero to well above normal. He seemed to be just as pleased with that as anything. Unfortunately, irreversible nerve damage still keeps him confined to the wheelchair.
We have also received a few reports where CMO provided only the minimal benefits of easing the pain of MS patients. One factor in MS is autoimmune destruction of the myelin sheathing that covers the nerves. It’s like a mouse chewing away the insulation of an electrical wire. The exposed nerves become very sensitive and painful. In this case, perhaps CMO is halting that particular process and allowing regeneration of the protective myelin sheathing. We suspect CMO is intervening in other destructive processes as well.
There remains the need for a great deal of exploration regarding CMO. A number of MS cases have required maintenance doses of CMO to sustain its effectiveness. There is also a need to explore the use of CMO in conjunction with other medications and nutritional supplements.
Substances that are likely to work well along with CMO are superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione as well as other antioxidants. Relatively high doses are probably appropriate during any flare-ups. Fish oils and flaxseed oils may also be helpful.
It is unwise to discontinue other therapies while using CMO for MS. CMO appears to be compatible with virtually all other therapies. Consult your physician!
The very latest findings reveal that the HHV-6 virus is the likely precipitating cause of MS. But defeating that virus is not likely to be the whole answer. The autoimmune processes that have been programmed into the Memory T-cells will probably have to be corrected as well. CMO is the best solution for that.
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Signs and symptoms
A child experiencing a terrifying dream may wake up screaming, frightened, and wild-eyed. The child may be confused or frantically active for several minutes, and may or may not immediately recall the details of the dream. Often the incident will be forgotten by the next morning. Nightmares may also cause the child to sleepwalk.
Home care
Immediate treatment involves holding and hugging the distraught child and speaking calmly and soothingly. Do not try to rouse the child to full consciousness too quickly. Sleepwalkers must be protected from falls or other injuries.
The basic home treatment is to identify and relieve the stress that is causing the child to have nightmares. Most nightmares are the result of a situation such as one of the following: school problems (fear of failure or teacher-student conflicts); peer relationships (playing with older children, being bullied, sexual experimentation); or family pressures (marital friction, alcoholism, physical or emotional abuse, divorce, hospitalization, death). Watching too much TV – or the wrong type of program – can also cause enough anxiety to give child nightmares.
• Be aware of school, social, and family pressures that can cause a child to have nightmares.
• Be sure you know how much TV the child is watching and what kinds of programs.
• Protect a sleepwalking child from injury.
Medical treatment
Your doctor will try to uncover the cause of your child’s anxieties by getting the child to talk about his or her daily relationships and experiences. The doctor may ask for assistance from school personnel in order to identify the reason for the child’s nightmares.
*162/84/5*
DIABETES AND ITS MANAGEMENT
Author: admin
Diabetes is a complex disorder involving many aspects of body function. One of the most striking and important features of diabetes is an impaired ability of the body to use glucose as a source of energy. It is a very common disorder in the community but it is unusual for it to start in childhood. We do not yet know the full explanation for diabetes or why it develops, and much of what is known is exceedingly complicated. The explanation that follows is naturally very much simplified, and provides only an outline of present knowledge of diabetes. Enormous research is going on and leading to new knowledge.
Carbohydrate foods are digested to form glucose
Food, when it is eaten, is digested in the stomach and intestines, and absorbed into the body. Much of the food, the carbohydrate, is digested and absorbed into the bloodstream as a simple sugar called glucose. Other common sugars in food are ordinary cane sugar (sucrose), and sugar of milk (lactose). Glucose is one of our main sources of fuel; it circulates in the bloodstream to all parts of the body, entering the body tissue cells, to be used there as energy for body functions, for activity and to provide warmth. Some body tissues can store energy if it is not immediately needed. This is the particular role of fat tissues, but the liver is also important as a store for glucose.
To be used properly glucose needs insulin
Although glucose circulates readily in the bloodstream, it cannot easily enter all cells without active assistance. This assistance is provided by a vital chemical substance. This substance, which is made in the body, is called insulin.
Insulin is therefore an essential part of the chemical system which allows the body to work efficiently. Without it, the sugar cannot properly enter cells, and be used as fuel. Without insulin, glucose builds up in the bloodstream and rises to excessive levels there. Most of the body cells can use fat as an alternative form of fuel, but excessive burning up of fat in the absence of adequate usable glucose can itself be harmful.
Insulin is made in the pancreas
Insulin is produced by a gland in the body called the pancreas. When food is eaten, and glucose starts to enter the bloodstream, the pancreas manufactures sufficient insulin to circulate with this sugar, to enable it to enter cells and be used at once or stored until required.
The pancreas is situated in the abdomen, and in animals it is called the ‘sweetbread’.
In diabetes, the pancreas makes insufficient insulin
In diabetes in young people, the pancreas gradually fails to produce enough insulin to meet the needs of the body.
This happens because the cells in the pancreas that make insulin are being damaged, and gradually, as more and more insulin cells are damaged and lost, the pancreas loses its ability to make enough insulin. The result is that glucose produced from food and released from body stores builds up in the bloodstream and cannot be used.
Unused glucose is excreted in the urine
This excess of glucose in the blood ‘overflows’ into the urine, because the kidneys have the function of excreting any substance that is in excess in the body. To wash out this excess sugar, more and more urine must be produced; so the diabetic, before he is treated, passes large amounts of urine. Some children at this stage may wet the bed at night because of this excessive production of urine.
*5/54/5*
There are many ways of testing nutritional status – using samples of blood or sweat, for instance. But one of the most cost-effective and convenient ways is through a hair sample. Hair has been shown to reflect a good long-term record of our mineral and nutritional experience.
Eventually hair samples could be used to screen for potential diabetes or breast cancer. Work is being undertaken in Australia by Professor Veronica James at the University of New South Wales where hair is being analyzed with a technique called X-ray diffraction. As X-rays are fired through the hair they form a pattern on photographic film. From this pattern the researchers are able to pick up different information. For instance, with hair from a diabetic patient, sugar binds onto the hair filaments. It will therefore look different from a strand of hair taken from a person without diabetes.
Hair samples can also be used to test for drug use, such as cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis. This is helpful in forensic medicine and pathology, for example to determine whether somebody was under the influence of drugs in an accident.
Because your hair cells are some of the fastest-growing cells in your body, they can ‘lock in’ information about your exposure to certain nutrients as they grow. In this way, your hair forms a permanent record of your exposure to beneficial and toxic elements. Analyzing hair is therefore also an excellent way to test for heavy toxic metals and is used in many medical studies to assess exposure to metals like mercury.
Other ways of testing, with blood or urine for instance, can be less reliable, because the results are influenced by what you may have eaten. Also your body tries to keep everything in balance. To do this, it tops up the levels of nutrients in your blood by taking them from elsewhere. For instance, if your blood calcium levels fall your body will pinch calcium from your bones to keep the level constant. A blood test may then suggest that your calcium levels are fine. But a hair analysis showing high levels of calcium would help identify the leeching of calcium from your bones.
However, like any testing method, hair analysis has its limitations. For instance, when testing for nutrients it is important that your hair is not contaminated by tints, highlights or perms. Certain minerals (iron, for instance) are best tested by blood samples. But levels of trace elements can be higher in hair, which make them easier to analyze. Also, because hair doesn’t need specialized sampling equipment or storage, this form of testing is accessible for couples who don’t live near a qualified practitioner.
Hair can be used to analyze your levels of calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, copper, manganese, chromium and also the toxic metals mercury, aluminum and cadmium.
The minerals are usually analyzed, together with a detailed questionnaire.
Then a personalized programme of supplements is recommended for you and your partner. This programme should be followed for a minimum of four months and then the hair should be re-tested.
Once your mineral and toxic levels are back to normal, you will be given a maintenance programme to follow until you become pregnant.
In the twelfth week of pregnancy, you will be tested again. Your nutrient needs during pregnancy are different and your programme will be adjusted accordingly. You should then continue with the amended programme until you have your baby.
If your starting levels of nutrients were very deficient or your toxic metal levels extremely high, then you should stay on the programme for longer.
If you are planning to have fertility treatment, you should follow the programme for four months beforehand. This will ensure that the egg and sperm are as healthy as they can be before treatment starts, to give the procedure the best possible chance of working.
Mineral analysis can also identify substances that reduce your and your partner’s fertility. For example, if you have used the pill or an IUD (coil) you may have high levels of copper. This can also be due to fertility treatment, where the drugs used increase copper levels. High levels of copper are a concern, as they are often matched by low zinc levels which can dramatically affect levels of fertility and may also give an increased rate of miscarriage.
You and your partner may turn out to have high levels of copper and other toxic metals and this may well explain your fertility problems.
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PREVENTABLE CAUSES OF INFERTILITY
Author: admin
• Gross obesity.
• Smoking, drinking and hard drugs all reduce sperm counts.
• Stress can inhibit ovulation in a woman and sperm formation in a man.
• Ovulation problems are the most common cause of infertility in women. Usually the cause is unknown but the post-Pill syndrome has been mentioned above.
• Endometriosis is a common cause of female infertility. Some of the lining tissue of the womb finds its way into the pelvic cavity and embeds there to produce pain and bleeding every month with a period.
• Varicocele is the name given to a vein that supplies a testis (usually the left one) when that vein is varicose. About 30 per cent of male infertility is thought to be caused by this.
• Zinc deficiency. Zinc is known to be necessary for many parts of the male genital system and is found in greater concentration in the male prostate gland than in any other part of the body. Zinc deficiency definitely reduces sperm quality.
• Low sperm volume is an uncommon cause of male infertility.
• Some women become allergic to their partner’s sperms and so never conceive.
• Certain drug allergies cause a temporary shutdown of sperm production if the drug is taken.
• Really poor nutrition undoubtedly reduces sperm production. Vitamins À, Â and Ñ have been found to be vital in human sperm formation and function and vitamin E is vital in rats at least.
• Drugs can affect fertility in two ways. First, they may affect a man’s sex drive so that he wants to have sex only very infrequently (alcohol, sleeping tablets, tranquillizers, anti-depressants and some anti-blood-pressure drugs are examples). Second, several drugs actually affect sperm production. (Examples of these are sex hormones, anti-malarial drugs, certain anti-cancer drugs and Depo Provera.)
• Impatience. Some couples are not really infertile but expect to conceive almost immediately and worry when they do not.
*182/72/5*
Dr. Salvador Minuchin and his co-workers list five characteristics that describe the interactions of families with an anorexic member. These characteristics are:
• Enmeshment
• Over-protectiveness
• Rigidity
• Lack of conflict resolution
• Involvement of the sick child in unresolved parental conflict.
Enmeshment: One patient described her family as a “monster with six heads but only two feet -we each have an opinion, but we can’t get anywhere until we all agree on the direction.” She was describing enmeshment, the restricting web that binds family members to each other. Members are overly attuned to each other, and seldom offer any overt criticism. They infer one another’s feelings or opinions, and act accordingly. This gets to be such a habit that members expect others to know what they are thinking.
There may be little privacy, physical or emotional, in an enmeshed family. Such closeness blurs the normal family boundaries. Often, in a family therapy session, a conversation with one member is interrupted by another: “What she means is . . .” or, “No, let me tell you what really happened.” Such interruptions can reveal the enmeshment of family members with each other.
Over-protectiveness: By over-protectiveness, we mean an attempt to save someone from pain or suffering that prevents the person from developing a normal sense of autonomy. Over-protectiveness arises when members of a family feel highly vulnerable to the terrors of the outside world.
Let me give you an example. One anorexic patient, fourteen-year-old Neva, told her mother she was afraid no one would ask her to dance at an upcoming school party. The next day her mother called the other parents, begging them to “be sure and tell your son to ask Neva to dance. It’ll make her so happy” When Neva found out all of her dances at the party were setups, she felt worse than if she hadn’t danced at all.
Rigidity: Rigidity means that the family can’t adapt to new circumstances. Parents continue to treat their teenagers by the same rules as when they were much younger. In a rigid family, a child’s natural independence threatens to disrupt the balance. Sometimes rigidity shows up as an attitude about the roles each person must play. “My father says I shouldn’t get a job,” one seventeen-year-old girl told me. “He says my mother never worked, his mother never worked. I told him things change. He said, ‘Not in this family they don’t.’”
Lack of conflict resolution: Sometimes families bury their problems rather than confront them and resolve them. In an eating-disordered family, this is one of the most ingrained characteristics and one of the hardest to change. Through therapy, the family learns that an emotional disagreement is a normal part of living, not something that has to be avoided. On the contrary, it should be confronted and resolved. Therapy gives family members a safe forum in which they can express their disagreements – and not just those related to food. Then, under the guidance of the therapist, they learn and practice ways of resolving them.
Involvement of the child in parental conflict: In some families, a child allies herself with one parent against the other. Such alliances are unhealthy. They undermine the parents’ ability to exert authority jointly. They create factions that sap the family’s ability to function. Therapy helps the family recognize these patterns.
Some recent work has extended these observations to make them more useful to a family with a bulimic member. Dr. Richard Schwartz, a psychologist at the University of Illinois, has found that in addition to the characteristics identified by Minuchin, there are several other features typical of bulimic families: family isolation, excessive consciousness of physical appearance, and “special” meanings placed on food and eating. He has also outlined a number of possible ways that a bulimic’s symptoms function within a family. These include an excuse for not performing well enough, a passive form of rebellion, a way of getting nurturing attention, and a way to protect the parents’ marriage.
Although each family is different, here are some helpful “do’s and don’ts” for parents in bulimic families.
Do:
• Allow family members to decide what they eat
• Hold the patient responsible for the effects of her behaviors – for example, she should replace food after a binge or clean the bathroom after a purge
• Hold the patient responsible for her chores; however, it’s okay to substitute other household chores for kitchen chores
Don’t:
• Excessively monitor behavior
• Comment on her weight or appearance
• Fight at meals
• “Mind-read” – it’s better to ask
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Natural Antioxidant Muesli
1 green apple
1 teaspoon pecans
1 teaspoon almonds
4 tablespoons oatmeal
1 tablespoon LSA mix
4 chopped apricots
1 tablespoon honey or brown rice syrup
4 tablespoons raisins
125 ml natural acidophilus yogurt
Wash the apple, leave the skin on and cut into fine strips. Place in a bowl with the oatmeal, LSA mix, raisins, apricots, honey and nuts. Add the yogurt to the muesli mixture and leave for 5 minutes. Serve.
Porridge
300 ml water
1 teaspoon manuka honey
1 dessert spoon ground flaxseeds and pumpkin seeds
Put the water in a saucepan and sprinkle in the oats. Bring to the boil for 5 minutes and keep stirring. When the porridge thickens and is soft, serve with skim milk or soy milk, or fresh juice, seeds and a little honey.
Tofu Omelette
200 grams tofu
2 egg whites1/4 to 1/2 cup water
1 tomato, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 spring onions
80 grams mushrooms, chopped
Blend tofu, water and egg whites in a blender. Put olive oil in saucepan and place blended mixture into the saucepan. Then cook over a gentle heat. As the tofu begins to cook, add chopped tomato, garlic, onion, mushrooms and spring onions. Cook until slightly browned. Flavour with sea salt, if desired.
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