Chagas Disease, Kissing Bug, Parasites, Vegetables

I often hear “disease starts with inflammation”!   No it doesn’t.  Ask the question, “Why do I have inflammation?”  “Where does it come from?”  It is because there is a toxin of some type that the body cannot deal with or is in the process of dealing with.  In this world we have a lot of possible toxic voluntary and involuntary “choices”.

As an example, an individual may come in contact with a parasite that uses a living person or animal as a host.  A parasite consumes your resources and creates waste (a toxin) that your body must deal with.  The Triatome (kissing) bug recently came to my attention. Known as the insect “vector” for Chagas disease is a major killer in Latin America.  The Triatomine Beetle is the American version of trypanosomiasis, the carrier for the parasite trypanosomes.  This is similar to the disease carried by the tsetse fly in Africa causing sleeping sickness. 

The normal venue for these beetles is a secretive nocturnal life in the cracks and holes of substandard housing or in any outdoor/indoor environment including doghouses, chicken houses, woodpiles, etcetera.  They like to bite faces, suck blood, and defecate leaving the parasite.  The area itches, is scratched, and unknowingly rubbed into mucous membranes of the eyes, nose or mouth.   Other possible transmissions is thru blood transfusions, organ transplantation, and the ingestion of food contaminated with the parasite.  How much of our food comes from Central or South America?

With the world’s mobile population, you can disregard the old textbook world parasite prevalence maps.  There are currently hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Latin America living in the U.S. 

The worst possible impact is a massive enlargement of the heart causing sudden death (cardiomyopathy).  Have you ever heard of a dog suddenly dying in the kennel?  The scary part is that most are symptom free.  Mild symptoms include fatigue, fever, headache, diarrhea and vomiting.  There may also be a swollen eyelid on the side of the bite.

If you are at risk for parasites (blog), consider Verma Comp, Vermasode, and Verma HP.  A preventative for pets is diatomaceous earth(blog) dusted in the kennel.

Stay Well!

Arsenic, Victorian Lace, Draft Teams and Chicken

The old Belgium team survived on oats and arsenic.  Yes, arsenic was commonly fed to older horses to help them maintain their weight.  The old horse trader’s story was that one-month after buying a beautiful team the purchaser, who did not know about arsenic, witnessed his team turning to skin and bones. 

Arsenic is commercially used in insecticides, fungicides, and in treated lumber.  Victorian women consumed it to make their skin paler to show that they did not work outside. It is theorized that Napoleon Bonaparte’s death was due to arsenic poisoning.   I recently learned that it is or has been used as feed additive for poultry and swine production.  It improves weight gain and meat color.  What kind of twisted mind decided arsenic would be good to feed to chickens?  I guess chickens are made to sell and not to eat.

Chronic arsenic exposure is associated with lung, bladder and skin cancers.  It is also associated with heart disease, diabetes, and cognitive problems.  Less associated symptoms include burning pains, diarrhea, anxiety, and restlessness.  The mental impact may include obsessive-compulsive disorder.  These individuals also have a fear of poverty, death, disease, and “germs”.  This is another example of a toxicity having a mental impact.

Ironically, homeopathic arsenic, known as Arsenicum album is a premier remedy that is especially useful for food poisoning.  Remember that a homeopathic is highly diluted and does not contain the element arsenic.  Homeopathy is in the realm of physics.  Arsenicum album 30C is a remedy you should always have available.  I remember being in Phoenix the day before a 6AM flight back to Charlotte.  Unfortunately, about midnight, I discovered that I had made a poor choice of restaurants.  Without the Arsenicum, I would not have been able to leave the motel at 4AM.

Obesity as a Disease?

Last week the American Medical Association voted to classify obesity as a disease.  Obesity has been characterized as a major health concern, a complex disorder, and an urgent chronic condition.  It is reported that this move will add 78 million adults and 11 million children to the list of individuals needing treatment for a disease.  This will oblige physicians to offer treatment for an illness that requires no more than a visual assessment.   Is it really the physician’s responsibility?  I assume we all have a mirror. 

This begs the question, “what is disease”?  Perhaps obesity is just another symptom of a disease with a real underlying problem.  In a broad sense disease can be anything that impairs normal function.  The implications are huge.  Any new “disease” is worth big bucks to the pharmaceutical industry.  Add this to an overweight medical system with poor performance.  Will insurance companies be required to cover subsequent treatments?  It will more likely become a pre-existing condition for them to exclude coverage.  Some seek gastric bypass which generally results in them being uninsurable.  Will it open the door for individuals to get disability? 

In a world gone mad, the government food stamp program has contributed to the problem.  Covered items include soft drinks, candy, cookies, snack crackers, ice cream, bakery items, and energy drinks with a nutritional fact label.  The oversimplification is better food equals better health but not everyone has that luxury. 

The basic problem is too many calories of the wrong types of food verses the amount of calories burned.  Just for the record, obesity can include other factors such as food allergies, hormone balance, toxicity, addiction, and emotional considerations. 

Do we create our own disease?  Are we enabled to create our own disease?  Do we blame others for creating our disease?  Don’t think about this one too hard as it will be disruptive to your stress hormone system.

Stay Well!  It's your only chance!

The Pill Problem- Nutrition Depletion, Disease, and Decreased Libido

The advent of the oral contraceptive “pill” in the 1960’s certainly changed the female, how do you say it...uh...I will reframe from characterizing this from a male perspective.  From a woman's perspective, "The pill gave women an sense of control, or what we perceived as control."...."In the 1960's men were still telling their wives who to vote for in elections.  Freedom is so incredibly powerful when when you've never had it....to be in charge of our own bodies!"  While there were obvious benefits, there were also problems. 

Ross Pelton, Pharmacist/Certified Clinical Nutritionist, has written a book “The Pill Problem” as a means to educate women primarily in the area of nutrient depletion.  While the medical world is aware of some drug induced nutritional deficiencies the majority are never addressed.  Educated pharmacists have been talking about this for years.  Keep in mind the chemistry of the body requires nutrients to function properly.  It has always bothered me that a folic acid deficiency creates the birth defect of neural tube defects.  At the same time oral contraceptives create such a deficiency which is never addressed until one is pregnant.

“Oral contraceptives cause a depletion of a wide range of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants in women’s bodies.  These nutrient depletions increase the risk of depression, sleep disorders, anemia, low energy, migraine headaches, heart attacks, strokes, blood clots, diabetes, a weakened immune system, giving birth to an infant with birth defects, and cancers in the uterus, colon and breast.”          ALARMING!

The most common deficiencies include all the B vitamins, magnesium(calcium/magnesium blog), Co Q 10,Vitamin C, tyrosine and selenium.  Anyone taking these synthetic hormones found in oral contraceptives should consider supplementation. 

Oral contraceptives can also have an impact on overall hormone balance that ultimately results in decreased sex drive, arousal, and orgasm.  The drug that allowed women to have more sexual freedom ironically quelled what they desired.

“The Pill Problem” is an excellent educational tool for the woman that wants to be proactive with her health.  Utmost importance in this is this day and age!

Stay Well!