Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Life as Miracle



I saw this graphic on the web and just wanted to share it with you.

Take a deep breath,

Dr. Ron

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Fibromyalgia and the Adrenals

These are just my personal thoughts after having studied fibro for a while.

I think fibro is a systemic poisoning the symptoms of which are aggravated by the stress on the other body systems that the fibro itself creates. Of course, if it is a systemic poisoning, it would be really smart to find out what is poisoning you. You could start with diet, plastics and environmental poisons like bug sprays or cleaning products.

The adrenal system produces many of the hormones that people need for a healthy and happy life, estrogen and testosterone for example. It also produces adrenalin and cortisol when the person is under stress. But if the body is under constant stress (like when you have a debilitating illness like fibro) the stress hormones produced will cause even more stress in a further debilitating spiral of dis-ease and more stress.

I think this is why it is so hard for doctors to find a simple cure for fibro--so many of the body systems are involved and are functioning below par as the body reacts to the stress of the disease. Depression from the constant stress can further disrupt the immune system and weaken the body's resistant to other, seemingly unrelated, health problems.

Here's a link to an article that discusses the role of the adrenals and an approach to dealing with it that begins with talking to an endocrinologist about adrenal function. Here's another article.

I'm not saying that this is THE ANSWER; I'm just saying it's possibly a tool to manage fibro and reduce the effects to a tolerable level.

I just found a webpage by a fibro sufferer who has worked out what looks like a reasonable approach to managing symptoms. Check it out.

BTW, DHEA supplements are a good idea for almost everyone over 35, but you should get your blood level checked periodically because you don't want too much either. Your endocrinologist can check your DHEA levels for you.

Take a deep breath,

Dr. Ron

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

More on Environmental Poisons

I heard a touching poem this morning about a woman who died of cancer even though she ate organic fruits and vegetables and lived as natural a life as possible. I don't know why this woman died but I'm thinking more and more about environmental poisons these days.

If you broke out in a rash after using a cleaning product or a pesticide, you would conclude that you had some sensitivity to the product. But if you die of cancer five years later, you don't make the connection. You don't know which of the thousands of chemicals that you're exposed to led to your death.

The long time between exposure and death is the problem with environmental poisons. Let's say that you're a scientist and you're testing a new bug spray. You spray it around some people and six months later you issue your report that there were absolutely no harmful effects from the exposure. Several other scientists repeat your tests and confirm your claim. If many of the exposed people develop fibromyalgia, lupus or cancer years later, their doctors will never connect the disease with the cause.

If a researcher in the future explores the diseases caused by the bug spray you tested and sees the pattern that all the sick people were exposed to the bug spray and publishes a paper, the chemical industry will drag out the old studies that "proved" that the bug spray was harmless.

We need a new methodology for bringing new chemicals into our environment. Maybe the chemical industry needs to prove that a chemical is safe before they are authorized to use it. That would be expensive and slow progress but lives would be saved. The way it is now someone has to prove that the chemical does harm; that's a really hard thing to prove even when you "know" it's true.

Take a deep breath,

Dr. Ron

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

MSG, Disease and You

OK, now I'm really pissed! I just found out that we (North-Americans) are eating 95,000 metric tons of MSG! Haven't we got the message? We've known for 30 years that there's a problem with this stuff. It's what's known as an exitotoxin. It excites our nervous system too much.

Now I know you think that you don't eat MSG because you either don't eat at Chinese restaurants or you make sure to always ask if your favorite Chinese restaurant uses MSG. Well it's the American food industry that using the 95,000 tons of this toxin--not the Chinese restaurants!

Look at your food labels and see if you see Glutamic Acid or Hydrolyzed Protein--that's MSG. Even if you don't see it, it may still be there because companies don't have to show all the ingredients.

There's evidence connecting MSG to fibromyalgia, diabetes, Alzheimers and many other diseases that have been increasing lately. Don't expect the FDA to protect you from a chemical that is selling as well as MSG. The MSG industry will make sure that it stays on the store shelves and in your favorite American restaurants.

Here's just a few studies about the effects of MSG to give you an idea; there's plenty more where these came from:

THE ROLE OF GLUTAMATE IN CHRONIC INFLAMMATORY PAIN AND PAINFUL PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHIES
Gary J. Bennett, Ph.D., Allegheny University of the Health Sciences

MANIPULATING GLUTAMATERGIC NEUROTRANSMISSION FOR THERAPEUTIC GAIN: THE EXAMPLE OF BRAIN ISCHEMIA
Dennis W. Choi, M.D., Ph.D., Washington University School of Medicine

GLUTAMATERGIC MECHANISMS IN THE CAUSE AND TREATMENT OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE
J. Timothy Greenamyre, M.D., Ph.D., Emory University

ROLE OF GLUTAMATE RECEPTOR MATURATION IN PERINATAL BRAIN INJURY
Frances E. Jensen, M.D., Children's Hospital (Boston) and Harvard Medical School

EFFECT OF GLUTAMATE BLOCKERS ON HUMAN PAIN
Mitchell B. Max, M.D., National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health

GLUTAMATE RECEPTOR PLASTICITY IN THE HIPPOCAMPUS: IMPLICATIONS FOR AGING
John H. Morrison, Ph.D., Fishberg Research Center for Neurobiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

GLUTAMATE NEUROTRANSMISSION IN EPILEPSY: NEW TREATMENT STRATEGIES
Michael A. Rogawski, M.D., Ph.D., National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health

SCHIZOPHRENIA: A GLUTAMATERGIC PERSPECTIVE
Stephen R. Zukin, M.D., National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health

Folks, please avoid MSG. Eat natural foods, not processed.

Take a deep breath,

Dr. Ron

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Emotional Fitness

This is an excellent video from LightBridge media. It contains an enlightening interview with Dr. Joan Borysenko who explains the process of change.

Emotional Fitness is fundamental to our physical health; sad people get sick and happy people get sick less often and have milder illnesses. Emotional fitness can't be induced chemically; if you're sad it isn't because you have a Prozac deficiency.  Pharmaceuticals remove your ability to feel the problem without solving it.  If you're sad, learn to change your response to life.  It can be done.

See this and other videos that I've collected on the subject of natural health and wellness at www.LesTout.com.

Take a deep breath,

Dr. Ron