I have been diagnosed with Lyme disease and my doctor is telling me that I have had it for 25-30 years. The Dr is adament that treatment with high doses of antibiotics is the only successful treatment. Is this the only option out there? I am really concerned about taking long term antibiotics because of the risks involved.
Posted by david1097 (Member # 3662) on :
Your Dr is right. Abx are the only PROVEN way to get lyme under control. This has been proven in animal studies and in humans. The duration that is required is however very dependant on the induviduals condition. If you are lucky a few weeks of treatment will do it. If you are not so lucky, you might fall into the 5% that have refractory disease and very long term treatment may be needed.
There are risks but with care the risks can be minimal. You will have to ask yourself if you want to risk the drugs or risk further decline.
Good luck with what every route you choose.
Posted by Kayda (Member # 10565) on :
I thought that some people got better using herbs/tinctures and salt/c. It doesn't work for everyone, but some have found good success with it, so I've heard.
Kayda
Posted by groovy2 (Member # 6304) on :
Hi Bogi
No real reason to be scaired of ABX-- there is a reason to be scaired of Lyme-
The side effects of ABX are Nothing compaired to being sick--
I had Lyme 20 yrs before I figured out what was wrong with me--
Now after 30 months of treatment I am feeling perty good---
Proper treatment will make you sicker for awhile but its worth it--Jay--
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
Hi, Bogi -
And I understand that jumping into long-term antibiotic treatment is not something you want to do without careful consideration.
I disagree with what some of what Dave said. If you have had Lyme for 20-25 years, it would be a miracle if ``a few weeks of treatment'' make you feel well. On a Lyme conference DVD that I viewed recently, the shortest, effective antibiotic treatment period observed by the LLMDs at the conference was 8 months, with the average being about 18 months.
And a lot depends on what co-infections you have along with Lyme.
This website has a pretty good search feature, and you might try searching some of the words below.
Some specific antibiotic protocols are the Marshall Protocol and the Schart protocol.
Some of the common alternative treatments are the Cowden protocol, Harold Buhner protocol, Rife machines (or microcurrent devices), homeopathic remedies, other herbal treatments such as those practiced by Dr. Zang, the salt/Vitamin C protocol, to name but a few.
Most of the people I've noted on this board who got well used a combination of antibiotics/ drugs and alternative methods, together with general lifestyle changes. So, it would appear that with the exception of a very few, no one single thing is likely to bring you to wellness.
I think the best thing you can do for yourself is read and learn as much as you can about Lyme and the common co-infections, and what others have done that worked for them. And most of that information can be found right here at LymeNet.
Welcome to the board.
Tracy
[ 30. December 2006, 02:49 PM: Message edited by: Jenifer ]
Posted by Lisianthus (Member # 6631) on :
I have had LD for probably 40 years. I have been on abx for 2 years. I do feel alot better, but as soon as I go off my abx for a week or so my symptoms come right back. I would fight tooth & nail to keep myself on abx for as long as it takes.
My sister has been on abx for five years now and she wouldn't be where she is today without them!
BTW - Chemotherapy has VERY HARMFUL side effects. Long term abx isn't so bad, you get yeast and you have to stay on a strict diet, take lots of supplements. But it isn't as bad as some doctors may have you think it is.
Basically it just sucks more to be sick.
Good luck and welcome to the "Bug Club"
Lisi
Posted by Jennifer Geddie (Member # 9097) on :
Get a copy ( amazon) of Stephen Buhner's book "Healing Lyme" .
There are people who get well on ABX and others who DO NOT .
There are also some alternative treatments that have had some success with members ( real people) who post here . Most of them are using Buhner's protocol and frequently stste that a plant med called andrographis made a big difference for them.
MANY people combine botanical meds with ABX drugs.
Others here swear by rife machines with drugs or botanical meds.
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
Quite a bit of info on non-ABX treatment options on my web site as well. That said, I do use them as part of my program.
Posted by JimBoB (Member # 8454) on :
It is NOT true that ONLY abx will get you well. And certainly not short term, IF you have had Lyme for more than a few weeks.
I had some bouts with abx, and relapsed the first time and the second stint just made me sicker. So I have been on herbs, mostly Stephen Buhner's protocols, for over a year now. I would be dead or very close to it without them.
I don't post here much anymore as I am pretty busy these days making up for lost time when I was down and out with the disease.
I am 65 yeasrs old, so age is against me also. The abx also killed my stomach. And ONLY C-Salts from nutri.com cured my stomach. These C-Salts are a trade name and NOT to be confused with the Salt/C protocol. There is NO salt in C-Salts. Check it out online, or in Stephen Buhner's book Healing Lyme, Naturally.
About 95% of the people taking abx respond to them. However, about 35% of that 95% relapse. Some NEVER recover on abx. THAT is where the alternatives come in. Especially a GOOD herbal protocol, such as you will find in the Healing Lyme book. I take MUCH more than just the core protocol. And have had tremendous results. Check with JWF on this site also for HIS and his wife's esperience with herbs. They are not the same totally as Buhner's recommendations, but seems to have worked for them.
Jim. ###
Posted by Jennifer Geddie (Member # 9097) on :
Jim Bob, There are others here who agree with you, and say that they made significant improvement on alternatives ( rather than ABX ) .
Personally, my insurance will not cover lyme treatment , and I am not confident that I could tolerate massive doses of ABX longterm. I would be constantly nauseous .
I have pulsed ABX every other day , but have to stop due to yeast problems. I REALLY appreciate everything you have shared and hope you will not forget to come back and encourage those of us stuck in lyme HELL .
I have read Buhner's book and plan to try his core protocol after reading that some folks have had good results . The andrographis has been mentioned several times as an effective botanical for lyme by other members.
We need your input and welcome your experience , Jim Bob.
Posted by david1097 (Member # 3662) on :
Betty, That only tells me bogi has not responded WHICH WOULD BE ODD if someone was trying to cause an argument amoung responders.
Please let the moderators deal with this type of issue, they have far more details avialable about the origin of the messages and the author of those messages than anyone here.
They are also quite able and willing to cancel any accounts that are bogus and probamatic as has been proven in the past, time and again.
In this regard, there was a long and detailed thread about some being kicked off medhelp.org for mentioning Lyme multiple times.
There where MANY negative comments relating to how the people on medhelp.org are closed minded and only wanted to hear their own opinion at the exclusion of all others with the result that people asking for help where not given the whole story, to there disservice.
It appears that while not getting kicked off lymenet, worse occurs here where with a SINGLE valid QUESTION the person is burned on a cross of righteousness instead. I wonder what those people say about Lymenet and the people on it??????????? ?????????
Long standing forum members here should practice what they preach and not have to depend on the moderators to have to DELETE their posts due to their offensive nature.
If I was in this situation I would not bother to answer pubically either after such verbal attacks.
[ 31. December 2006, 08:35 AM: Message edited by: david1097 ]
Posted by david1097 (Member # 3662) on :
Now back the subject at hand.
I am not trying to cause an argument here, rather I am trying to obtain some clarity to the aggregate answer to the question.
My understsanding of the question is "Do you have to take abx to get better". It is not "will you get better with abx". There is a big difference.
Every single person that I know that has confirmed lyme has ALWAYS been given a prescription for ABX to start with. You may not get totally better with it and you may relapse but to my knowledge everyone always starts with it if they are under the care of a medical Dr.
If this is infact the case It would seem to me that there is a reason for this. Supliments are widely used by some of these same Dr's either along with the ABX or as a symtomatic treatment later on(sometimes to good effect) but this does not mean that supliments alone nor leaving the infection to run its course will result in a cure.
If I am incorrect in my understanding of standards of treatment for CONFIRMED lyme (ie not self diagnosed Lyme) someone please enlighten me but as I said, I believe that all start out with ABX due to necessity as the intial treatment and suppliments are sometimes used as an adjunct, not as a replacement treatment.
Posted by klutzo (Member # 5701) on :
David, I am probably a very rare exception, but by the time my Lyme dx was confirmed after 2 misdiagnoses, my immune system had been dysregulated to the point that I was, and still am, allergic to all ABX excepting the fluroquinolones, which do not kill Bb.
My allergies have been confirmed by testing with an allergist, and are not just herxes. So, I have never had any ABX that work against Bb.
During the course of 21 yrs. of illness, I have had Cipro twice, once for a suspected UTI, and once for a sinus infection, never long term.
I continue to go slowly downhill,losing more and more of my independence, despite herbal and supplemental treatments. The main problems which are getting worse are DDD of both the lumbar and cervical spine, and heart damage.
However, I have never been able to tolerate full treatment level doses of the herbals, and can't take some of the best herbs at all due to high blood pressure or allergies to the herbs. Also, many alternative tx that might help me are totally out of my price range.
However, in spite of that, I am in much better shape than many who post here who have had years of ABX, in terms of some of the things I can still do, like low impact aerobic exercise 6 days per week, for example.
I guess this just proves once again how we are all different.
Happy (and healthy) New Year, Klutzo
Posted by david1097 (Member # 3662) on :
Sorry to hear of your situation.
Has anyone suggested to try to build up tolerance to selected antibiotic agents. This technique is used with some diseases where only one antibiotic is known to counter the infection and the person has an allergic reaction to it.
It is apparently a multi week process where the dosage is increased gradually. I think this is used with the beta lactams with some sucess.
On the plus side, If you have not had any antibiotic before the bacteria may be exquisitly sensitive to them and might be able to help quite a lot. It might be worth investigating to arrest the decline.
Sorry I don't know where you where infected, but if it was in the southern states and the long term affect has been heart centric, you might check if you have ever been tested for Chagas (t. Cruzi) a protozoa that in the long term creates both GI and progressive heart problems (to the point of failure). I mention this even though is is very rate because it is still possible if you are in the risk area (CDC reports several documented cases in texas). It would not however account for the cervical degeneration you mentioned.
The above are just a couple of thoughts.
I will adjust my memory to remember your situation. Thank you for the insight into a differnt first person account of the manifestation of the diease and its treatment.
Would you mind posting a list of what you are taking that seems to help. I am sure others like myself would be interested.
Posted by klutzo (Member # 5701) on :
Hi David,
It's funny you should mention desensitization to ABX. My PCP brought this idea up recently, regarding my inability to have the radiofrequency ablation procedure that would fix my worst heart problem. I can't have it done, due to the fact that no surgeon will touch me when I can't take ABX for my leaking mitral valve, not even with a release drawn up by a lawyer.
I have already had two attempts at desensitization of my other allergies (I have become "allergic to everything"). Both went on for many months, and both failed.
I am so allergic that I could never get further than 1/4 of an effective dose without having a systemic reaction requiring cortisone (adrenaline is too dangerous for my heart).
After the third systemic reaction during the second set of desensitization attempts, despite a careful, slow build-up in the dosage, I gave up and so did the allergist. I do not want to risk this again for obvious reasons, ie. cortisone and Lyme do not mix. Also, having your lips swell and your throat and chest close up is no fun.
I have told my Cardiologist that I would rather die than continue to live this way, and begged for the procedure. No dice. So, I continue on medication that is only partly effective, and makes my legs swell up like throbbing sausages.
I am not very good at accepting my limitations, due to my having been brought up to believe that people who do not produce as much as they consume should be put to death.
Needless to say, this is an unfortunate background to have when one is disabled from Lyme! If I get desperate enough to seriously consider suicide, then I may try desensitization again. Mostly, I have had it with suffering on purpose. The unintentional stuff is bad enough, and I have zero emotional resilience left.
I am orginally from Wisconsin, and do not know if I was bitten there or in Florida. I had all sorts of minor problems that kept building up, and it was intractable pollen allergies that caused the move to Florida. As far as that rare illness you mention,I've not been tested for it. I did visit Texas for a short trip in 1980, but that is the only time I've ever been there.
The illness did not hit me until 6 years after I moved here, following a car accident with a head injury so serious that I was declared dead at the scene. Sx appearing after this were misdiagnosed as MS.
The acute illness actually started just as I was recovering from a cold, and was diagnosed as Fibromyalgia. It took a lot of stuff, one right after the other, to knock me out of the game!
I did not see an EM rash until I was into my third year of herbal tx. Then I had 3 EM rashes in the same spot within a 4 month period. One of the rashes was seen and confirmed by my PCP.
I have tried just about every herbal and supplemental tx out there, including one formula that put me in the ER with gallbladder distress and a dangerously high potassium level.
The one that made me sick is Monastery of Herbs Lyme Sets #173, prescribed by my former holistic doctor. I argued with him about taking it, since I knew it included chaparral which is a dangerous herb, but he insisted it would cure me, so I tried it.
It could have "cured" me permanently. Chaparral can cause liver failure, so I strongly advise against using it. Another herb to avoid is pokeweed, though it is used for cancer, not Lyme, so I offer this by way of general info.
The ER doc saw my lab results and immediately asked if I was taking herbal supplements. When I said, yes I had, and why did he ask, he told me that since they had become popular, he'd seen many people who had dangerously high potassium levels from them, and he told me that high potassium can cause fatal heart arrhythmias.
The treatment I had to have for the high potassium was not fun at all. I have been erring on the side of caution ever since, regarding my herb dosages.
I have also done the Zhang Protocol, except for Circulation P, which raised my blood pressure and Cordyceps, which I was allergic to.
I've done most of the herbs on the Buhner Protocol, but I could not tolerate Andrographis as it raised my blood pressure, so I can't really say I've done Buhner, since that is the main herb on the protocol.
The only herbs or supplements that ever made me herx are Samento and Cumanda aka The Cowden Protocol. After 3+ yrs. of herbal tx, I no longer herx on Cumanda, but Samento still causes unbearable herxing on only 1/2 of the usual effective dose.
However, just like I hear from many patients taking long term ABX, when I stop the herbs, I feel much better at first, and then the symptoms come back again. Samento and freeze-dried garlic are the only ones I have taken to try to kill Bb recently, and I am taking a break right now, since I am sick of herxing from Samento.
Before you ask, yes, I do detox with chlorella and a gallon of lemon water per day. Some alternative detox pocedures that are considered essential by many are out of my price range, like amalgam removal.
As far as other supps. that help me personally, I would rank the helpful ones as follows: 1. Digestive enzymes 2. Magnesium Citrate 3. D-Ribose 4. B Complex 5. Taurine
There are other supps. that I take on faith, though I don't feel any different on them, like COQ10 and Resveratrol, for example.
I hope this answers your questions. Klutzo
Posted by TNJanet (Member # 10031) on :
Dearest Klutso,
Your post brought tears to my eyes. I can read between the lines, although just reading your actual words one gets the sense of your incredible
struggle. Sounds as if you have tried "everything" with results either being ineffective or you becoming much more ill.
Amazingly frustrating to say the least.
One thing you didn't mention but probably have experience with is total body cleansing. I am at the point where I am considerig this type of
detox from all types of things lurking in my body, having been there for many years, including meds which have reeked havoc on my immune system.
While looking for the best detox system available, I came upon Enuvia. It is a three month cleanse, beginning with a 30 day cleanse of
the colon, followed by a 30 day cleanse of the liver, and finishing with a 30 day cleanse of the kidneys. The website suggests that 2 cycles of
this 90 day cleanse is probably necessary. I don't have the website URL but if you might be interested you can Google it. The herbal ingredients are listed for each cleanse on the site.
I have such a high bacterial and protozoan load that I have wondered if the ABX I would need to lower it would end up being toxic to my organs.
I am currently not on any ABX because my LLMD cannot prescribe them. Believing that there is a "reason" for most things, I have wondered if
I am meant to forego the ABX for now and just try to cleanse my body of built-up toxins. I did read where sensitivities to many things are actually the body telling us that we are too toxic
to introduce anything new to it. I may be reaching rather far here but thought I would just mention this and also tell you that I hope you
will continue to chime in here on the Net and tell your story. It is not a pretty picture but it does speak to your fortitude and not giving up
in the face of so many roadblocks. While your struggle is unique to you, I hope you will hear me when I say, in all honesty, that your pain is
our pain........your suffering is our suffering. People here will read your posts and will be touched in myriad ways. Thank you for all your sharing. Please keep it up!
Janet
Posted by jif (Member # 9215) on :
just a thought
even if this conversation was instigated by a troll--or not
it is a good one to continue, with civility, as has been done here (o.k. i did not read the last few posts but so far seems good...)
having one of those New Years eve moments...
all of us with lyme, taking abx, doing only alternatives, both, or nothing (me right now with strange abdominal pain!) need to stick together and also dialogue, and maybe even NOT understand each others views at times, but talk, and hold each others hands as we wade through this mess
so lets keep talking about all the tx methods, maybe there will be a time for a separate forum but maybe it is not now, and yes I've been guilty of eye rolling at times re: tx methods, i have to admit, but my goal this year is to have an open heart for all of us, for we truly need that from each other
cuz i'm not sure we can count on it elsewhee!
Posted by klutzo (Member # 5701) on :
Dear Janet,
Thank you for your kind words and for the info on Enuvia. I will check it out. I have done cleanses before, but it has been a long time ago, so it may be useful to me. I hope the cleansing proves helpful to you.
I am seeing a TCM doctor this week about my heart, and they may suggest some things like that....I don't know yet quite what to expect, though I do recognize from my Naturopathic studies that I have excess heart fire and a deficiency of heart yin. I have no idea what the TCM tx will be for that though.
Have you had HLA DR4 genetic tests? Some LLMD's use these to tell if you have genes that make it much harder for you to excrete toxins. They believe that is the difference between people who can recover and people who will need lifetime tx. They are expensive, but can give you an idea of how agressive your tx needs to be.
- - - - - - - - -- -
Dear JIF,
I agree with what you said. For example, there is one particular protocol which I think is horribly dangerous, moreso than Lyme itself, but I bite my tongue and count to ten when I see posts about it.
I have no right to tell others how to deal with this horrible illness, since I do not like it when they insist I must do something I consider to be insane, like the person who told me I must find a doctor to give me massive steroids along with the ABX, so I can take them without reacting,and then do that for the rest of my life with no breaks. She told me: "You will die if you do not do this". How would that make you feel?
I try to think how I would feel if what I am posting was directed at me, and edit accordingly. I also try to stay off the Board when I am having Lyme rages.
Happy and HEALTHY 2007 to all Klutzo
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
bogi, i owe you my heart-felt apology; so please forgive me for jumping the gun on you since you have not come back online here to post!
so please come back out of hiding and post publicly. we all have our lyme moments here, and i had mine. peace! Posted by secondtimearound (Member # 7249) on :
Hi,
Antibiotics are not the only way to get better, however, they can help if used correctly.
Do a lot of research and you will find plenty of alternatives to help you on your path to recovery. In my opinion and also my experience (I am 100% well on most days), you need to use many different treatments to beat lyme and co-infections. Also, DETOX is just as important as killing!
All My Best, Scott
Posted by JimBoB (Member # 8454) on :
I know of a few people who have not and will not use any abx, only herbs and other suppliments.
However, that is not the "norm" for this system. Since we are run by the drug companies and the insurance companies and the government. You can forget "freedom" for the most part. It is understandable that MOST who contract Lyme, TRY to get rid of it with abx, because that is all that MOST medical doctors in this country are trained in. They are educated that anything else is inferior. Whether it is or not.
But there are some FREE thinkers out here, who are trying superior things to abx. Things with less side effects. Things that DO work. Don't get me wrong. Abx do work, for SOME people. Especially for those who have just been bit recently. For some people they never work. And for some people like Klutzo, they are very detrimental to their very existence.
I don't believe anyone really believes you can let it take its course and be cured. I have yet to see THAT happen. We MUST do something. WHAT is the question. For some of us, all we can do at best, is to try to co-exist with the Spirochetes.
Jim Posted by oxygenbabe (Member # 5831) on :
klutzo, how about the gerson therapy--something to detoxify your body?
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
You know, it really IS nice to be able to discuss all kinds of alternative treatments on the board here without being hassled or called into question.
And if not for the medical community and our lovely government, I am convinced that we would have many more options to choose from.
I can't help but think about the unique alternative treatment used by former U.S. Congressman Berkley Bedell, who had to leave Congress after contracting Lyme Disease. The treatment he used put Congressman Bedell's Lyme into remission, but we don't know the final story because the person supplying this treatment was mercilessly prosecuted.
Here is the link to Congressman Bedell's speech where he talks about this treatment, if anyone here hasn't seen it. http://www.nfam.org/berkley.html
Apparently, there is a group of ladies up in Canada (or maybe North Dakota?) who are using a very similar treatment for their MS. But they refuse to give much information because of fear of persecution.
That is what we have come to in this county: We are only allowed to have conventional supplements so that we don't accidentally cure ourselves of something and rob some medical doctor or pharmaceutical company of their fair share from our illness.
Grrr. Sorry. Not sure where this is coming from right now, or why.
Anyway.... this has been a helpful discussion.
That was gracious of you to offer a genuine apology, Betty.
Nice to see you, JimBob. I was wondering about you. And I am taking the C-salts, also. Just getting started on them, though.
Tracy
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
A lot of interest has been in salt but I feel purified Seawater may be of more benefit. See [URL=http://www.originalquinton.com and www.ocean-water.com for various articles on this old therapy
"Biological Transmutation", 1972, Swan House Publishing Co., Binghamton, NY.
According to French chemist C. Louis Kervran of the Conseil d'Hygi�ne in Paris, seawater contains far too little calcium to account for the rapid production of a shell (the calcium content of sea water is about 0.042% and a crab can form a new shell in little more than one day). If the entire body of a crab is analyzed for calcium, it is found to contain only enough calcium to produce 3% of the shell (even taking into account the calcium carbonate stored in the hepato-pancreas just before molting).
Even in water completely devoid of calcium, shellfish can still create their calcium bearing shells as shown by an experiment performed at the Maritime Laboratory of Roscoff: "A crayfish was put in a sea water basin from which calcium carbonate had been removed by precipitation; the animal made its shell anyway." (Kervran 1972, p.58)
One of Carrel's experiments in tissue culture became the subject of a sensationalized news story and was viewed as a monstrosity by the public. In 1912, Carrel took tissue from the heart of a chicken embryo to demonstrate that warm-blooded cells could be kept alive in the lab. This tissue, which was inaccurately depicted as a growing, throbbing chicken heart by some newspapers, was kept alive for thirty-four years -- outliving Carrel himself -- before it was deliberately terminated.
The founder of the Society of Neo-Hematology says: (http://home.iae.nl/users/lightnet/world/transmutation3.htm)
"It is generally believed that modern sciences, especially biological and medical sciences have attained to the marvelously advanced state. But we must not overlook the contradiction between the modern medical sciences and diseases. That is to say, the more medical sciences advances, the more patients suffering from incurable chronic diseases such as cancer, heart diseases, apoplexy and so on increase in number.
This suggests that modern Occidental medicine probably has some defects IN its principles. According to my opinion, those defects may be attributed to the following two reasons; one is the inadequate thinking of life, that is formal logic, mechanism and materialism are taken. And another is the misunderstanding about blood, especially the origin and function of the red blood corpuscles."
Biological transmutation seems to be not only possible, it is a fact. How do we know that? Think about it - plants do it all the time! A German biologist named von Herzeele conducted several hundred experiments in his Berlin laboratory and, despite the vehement opposition of orthodox Science, was able to document abundant proof that transmutation is a fact. Other very eloquent scientists have also contributed to the exploration of the subject of transmutation and we show some of that material here.
For several years now, we, at Ocean Plasma, have explored the lives of people who, according to written accounts, have `lived on air'. Some are historical Breatharians and others, like Dr. Barbara Moore, Jasmuheen and Hira Ratan Manek are contemporaries.
There is also mounting evidence that biological transmutation is a fact - not only for plants but for humans as well. Kervran, often referred to in Christopher Bird's excellent book "The Secret Life of Plants", has done much to prove that plants have no trouble transmuting one element into another. If you look at the molecule of chlorophyll and that of hemoglobin, then you will see readily why the blood of plants (chlorophyll) is practically identical to human blood, with only one major difference - the nucleus. In plants it is magnesium and in humans it is iron. Is it really such an enormous stretch of an imagination to conclude that humans transmute chlorophyll into hemoglobin - practically instantly? And why is it that one can remove ALL the blood in an alley dog's body, fill it with diluted seawater and observe a healed, peppy, healthy dog just hours afterwards?
Click on the image to enlarge
Source: Survival into the 21st Century by Viktoras Kulvinskas - 1975
Now, let's come to the point... and this page was, after all, prompted by a very intelligent question asked by Dianne Thompson, an astute health researcher, artist and wonderful human being: "My brother brought up a question about Ocean Plasma used as a blood transfusion substitute that I figured I'd better ask about. I know in the dog trials they did an almost complete replacement, but what about red blood cells? When would whole blood products be used as opposed to blood plasma, and how much Ocean Plasma could be safely used in transfusion overall? I know human trials haven't been done, but you must have some idea."
It is more than evident, we think, that science in general and medical science (?) in particular know precious little about the ability of Nature to transmute elements. Some of the above references support this observation and others will be added here to illustrate why Ocean Water such as Ocean Plasma (diluted to isotonicity of course) can indeed be a potent and efficacious blood replacement.
We have to remember that Ocean Water is a conglomerate of many salts and elements that play a crucial role in the formation of blood. We have seen above that chlorophyll has a striking resemblance to hemoglobin and that in essence the only difference is essence of the centering nucleus. The human body transmutes magnesium into iron and, voil�, we have hemoglobin. Why would Ocean Water, with its rich magnesium content, not be able to at least trigger the formation of new blood via transmutation (biological fission)?
Ren� Quinton, in his book "L'eau de mer - milieu organique" (1904) - during his famous dog experiments that were successfully repeated some 60 years later), made painstaking measurements and performed exhaustive tests on:
a) Red blood cells count b) White blood cell count c) Hemoglobin d) Temperature e) Urine elimination f) Weight
The blood tests were also run post-operatively and proved beyond a measure of doubt that the "organism's" (dog) red blood cell count, despite the fact that ALL blood had been drained from its body, regenerated to half of normal counts by the second day after the procedure, and to just about normal blood counts by day 4. The dog lived happily for another five years thereafter.
We need to remember that not only are the factors of osmosis, diffusion and filtration responsible for the transfer of substances in the body to maintain the dynamic equilibrium of life (homeostasis) but that there must also be transfers of life force, of potential, of vitality from the seawater to the organism. Transmutation of seawater into blood is a certainty but the mechanisms are elusive to science as yet. And since scientists cannot explain the process, they deny its very existence.
Parallel and alternative studies have proven to the author that other factors are operative here, such as that of temperature reactions. Ren� Quinton compared on pages 179-180 of his above-named book the 'organism's' reaction to isotonic seawater and to physiological serum (saline solution). The former provoked a lowering (normalization) of temperature while the latter invoked a raising of body temperature, i.e. a mild fever. Elsewhere in this web site we show other documentation (de Lauture, Rodet) relating to the fundamental differences between seawater and saline solution.
The sun's energy (not necessarily its visible rays) seem to also have the ability to 'energize' and to literally sustain life. Numerous breatharians, heavily studied by Science, provide abundant proof that life, as we know it, is not derived by food or other substances taken INTO the body. To argue Ocean Water's ability to allow red blood cells to appear where there were none before, and in record time, seems to indicate that the bone marrow may not be the only place where blood is 'manufactured'. Prof. Kikuo Chisima (see above) seems to think that red blood cells derive from the villi in the intestinal tract.
Be this as it may, we would be extremely pleased if it could be proven that Ocean Water (isotonic) has the ability to create at least a favorable environment suitable and fertile for the rapid formation of healthy and vibrant blood in humans following a 'transfusion' with this life-giving and life-sustaining serum. We believe that Ocean Plasma is eminently suitable to do this and we are receptive to any serious exploration in this direction.
The following SIMPLIFIED approach seems logical and feasible but we would love to see it expanded into a serious professional proposal, prepared by a hematologist or qualified medical person.
Field trials:
A)The approach we would take is to do some heavy testing using Ocean Water in the form of an enema (colonics using only isotonic seawater).
B) Then we would remove one (1) liter of blood, dilute it with one tenth of a liter (100 ml) of Ocean Plasma (isotonic seawater) and re- introduce this mixture into the same body. This can then be increased until the ratio of blood vs. Ocean Plasma is 1:1 using different patients.
C) We would then add one tenth of a liter (100 ml) of Ocean Plasma (isotonic seawater) into a willing "organism". No blood would be added.
D) If all of the above was successful, we would proceed to introduce one (1) liter of isotonic ocean Plasma into several willing or needy subjects and document the results.
The result could be an acceptable, even preferable, blood replacement method that would find much favor throughout the world, especially those who either cannot afford whole blood or who are reluctant to use it for religious reasons or because it is suspected to be contaminated.
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
tracy, thank you for posting berkley bedell's speech; he's from iowa, and i'd never read that; so very touching!!
didn't know he established an ALTERNATIVE THERAPY OFFICE IN NIH EITHER! Posted by Boomerang (Member # 7979) on :
I rather resent the snide remark from JimBob, about "Freethinkers"..and the ABX route.
I think anyone who is reading this website day after day, trying to learn what is best to help their loved ones, or themselves, is thinking very clearly.
If ABX aren't the way you want to go, Jimbob...that is your choice. Please don't belittle those who choose ABX, and are seeing improvement.
I have read many good things on this website, and the cpn website, that show that ABX do help many people. To each their own.
Thanks and best wishes to you.
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
You are welcome Betty - wish we had more like Congressman Bedell around.
Cave, you said: ``Looked at another way----there ARE some valid reasons for those regulations; not the least of which is to save some people from themselves. ''
Thanks for clearing that up, Cave.
So, what you are saying is that the IDSA has valid reasons for preventing people from taking long-term antibiotics for Lyme, because they have to ``save some people from themselves''.
As if there was some altruistic motive behind these regulations!! I think we both know that ``public safety'' is not the concern here, in either the case of alternative treatments or antibiotic treatment. It's still all about the money and the power to control.
Every one of us who is ``game'' for trying an experimental treatment - and the IDSA considers long-term abx as just that - would be willing to sign off on the treatment as such, and take responsibility for our own actions.
Just like Berkley Bidell would have been willing to do.
But in NEITHER CASE are we given the opportunity to be responsible for our choices. Some God-player feels they have to make that decision for us.
Sorry, Cave. I don't need or want that much protection from myself. Along with freedom of choice comes responsibility, and I'm willing to be responsible rather than lose that freedom.
Tracy
Posted by brentb (Member # 6899) on :
good civil stuff going on. As for my situation I had to get off the abx for a variety of reasons. HMO not paying is a biggie.
So far so good with essential oils, herbs, detox/diet and colloidal silver. You may want to stock up...whether alternative treatments win out or FDA tyranny continues is still up in the air.
fyi for those interested...latest on the silver war.
EPA uses nanotech regulation ploy to target colloidal silver while ignoring all other nanotech particles NewsTarget Insider Alert (www.NewsTarget.com) HEALTH SOLUTIONS
(Please forward to others who may benefit) The powers that be have been trying for years to ban colloidal silver and remove it from the marketplace.
Why? Because it's the perfect natural antibiotic, and it makes virtually all drug-company manufactured antibiotics obsolete. (Shhh! It's an underground health secret. Don't tell anybody...)
Bacteria have no resistance to colloidal silver like they do with standard antibiotics, and colloidal silver is cheaper and incredibly safe compared to drugs (I've been saved from viral infections more than once by drinking an entire 2 oz. bottle of colloidal silver).
Now, the EPA has found a clever way to potentially regulate colloidal silver out of the market: they've announced they will classify the substance as a "nanotechnology pesticide" and force colloidal silver companies to prove it's safe if they want to keep selling it.
But where is the EPA's scrutiny of all other nanotech particles in foods, skin care products and drugs? Nowhere to be found, of course.
The EPA seems to be exclusively targeting colloidal silver as the only nanotech threat to U.S. consumers, and if they pull off this stunt, they will have finally achieved the government's longstanding goal of eliminating the competition to lucrative antibiotic drugs.
NewsTarget's exclusive feature story on colloidal silver is based on interviews with one of the top health freedom attorneys in the country -- a man who helped defend companies against the FDA's attempts to outlaw the substance a few years ago. Read the full investigative story at: http://www.newstarget.com/021231.html
Darn - I have to even ask this Brent - but could you break up that big block of text for others to read?
I'm having an awful time with my R eye lately - like my vertical hold is broken - and I can't read this.
I'll copy it and dump it into a document or something for myself, but others might have trouble with it, too.
Tracy
Posted by MariaA (Member # 9128) on :
If we're talking about 'The Medical System', the real problem isnt that herbs can be misused- remember, allopathic drugs can be misused, too, including over-the-counter ones- the problem instead is that we dont train doctors in using them, so people are often stuck being their own herbalist.
So we have lots of people self-diagnosing and self-treating who are not trained enough to do some of this. Luckily there are _generally_ fewer side effects to those herbs that are easy for non-professionals to purchase.
ALso, of course, we have a lot less money going into research studies involving whole herbs than we put into synthetic drugs or isolated constituents of herbs, so we're really missing out on a lot of useful medicine which in some instances can accomplish things that conventional allopathic medicine is very bad at (Buhner's book lists some examples (and studies proving this) useful to us, such as immune modulators which can affect the immune system in opposing ways depending on which way it's out of balance. There is no allopathic drug that works this way in humans, whereas there are several herbs that do so).
Luckily a lot more of this medical research on herbs has been done, very well, in other countries such as Germany and the Scandinavian countries.
I feel very lucky to have doctors who practice and are knowledgeable in both styles of medicine.
oh, and I"m having really good success with Buhner herbs. I went off my oral antibiotics (6 months) recently, tried a month of nothing, which brought back some of my symptoms pretty badly. I moved back to the Buhner herbs only, and within a few days felt back to 'normal' again, without the side effects of my antibiotics.
I expect to take these herbs for a year or so before I attempt to stop again.
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
Wallace, that was interesting information, but very confusing the way it was written. It was certainly new information to me.
Cave, I have no idea at this time what your cigar was.... er.... rather, what your point was. Sorry. It must be my Lyme brain.
Perhaps it would suffice to say that no matter what Lyme treatment road you choose to go down - alternative or mainstream medicine - you are likely to encounter the same demons. There will be some group or entity that wants to limit your choices under the auspices of ``protecting you''.
Thanks for breaking up that post, Brent, and thanks for posting it. I had heard rumors that there was a push to remove colloidal silver from the marketplace, but did not know the EPA was behind it and what their ``excuse'' was in calling for the ban. As you pointed out, it is utterly ridiculous.
I found some interesting info about silver and colloidal silver, why it works, why it is safe, etc.:
Some Silver History: Seventy years ago, Colloidal Silver was a proven germ fighter and widely used. It was the mainstay of antibiotic treatment. In 1914 the medical journal, "Lancet", reported phenomenal results from it's' use. Dr. Henry Crooks showed Colloidal Silver to be absolutely harmless, and non-toxic to humans, and highly germicidal.
Colloidal Silver has proven itself useful against all species of fungi, parasites, bacteria, protozoa, and certain viruses. For centuries we've known the properties of silver.
The ancients stored their water in silver vessels to prevent bacteria from growing. American settlers would put a silver dollar in their milk containers to hinder its spoilage. Australian Colonials would suspend a silver fork or spoon in their water containers to prevent contamination. Soldiers in the American Civil War swallowed whole silver dollars to ward off disease.
Communion goblets used in church were made of silver, because it was known that one couldn't catch any disease if the cup was made of silver. In certain European countries a silver teaspoon/fork was placed in the pot when cooking mussels.
Prior to 1940 articles regarding benefits of colloidal silver were frequently seen in medical journals. During the 1930s silver was used both externally and internally for a variety of medical conditions. Because of the price of silver, (then US$200.00 an ounce) and the inception of penicillin and other antibiotics, which was relatively inexpensive, use of Colloidal Silver fell by the wayside.
How Colloidal Silver Works: Colloidal Silver seems to only attack the unfriendly pathogens or anaerobic ones and does no harm to the friendly or aerobic ones. How does it differentiate?
For the most part, friendly bacteria are aerobic (needing oxygen) while unfriendly bacteria are anaerobic. The silver does not attack bacteria directly, but rather decomposes certain enzymes the anaerobic bacteria, viruses, yeast and molds require. The silver acts as a catalyst and is not consumed in the process.
The reason that microbes do not develop resistance to silver, as they do to antibiotics, is because silver does not attack them directly, but rather destroys the enzymes they depend on. Many forms of bacteria, fungi, and viruses utilize a specific enzyme for their metabolism.
The presence of colloidal silver near a virus, fungus, bacterium or any other single-celled pathogen disables its oxygen metabolism enzyme, its Chemical Lung, so to say. Within a few minutes, the pathogen suffocates and dies, and is cleared out of the body by the immune, lymphatic and elimination systems.
Unlike pharmaceutical antibiotics, which destroy beneficial enzymes, colloidal silver leaves these tissue-cell enzymes intact, as they are radically different from the enzymes of primitive single-celled life.
Argyria is the bluish - graying of the skin and is the result of ingesting high doses of CHEMICALLY produced colloidal silver. There has never been a case of Argyria caused by ELECTRICALLY produced colloidal silver.
- from Inorganic Medicinal Substances by Otto Leeser, PH D., MD (Translated from the German by Linn J. Boyd, MD)
This site has no financial affiliation with the company
Ocean Plasma
Ocean Plasma is a brand name, as is Quinton's Marine Plasma--both are seawater products harvested according to the findings and instructions of French physiologist/biologist Rene Quinton.
This substance represents one of the greatest medical innovations of the (20th) century. Harmless, simple and inexpensive, Quinton Plasma achieves today, as it did at the turn of the (last) century, therapeutic results that must be seen to be believed. And they can be seen on this website (refering to a past website--Ed.), thanks to the photos Quinton and his colleagues took in the hospitals where they worked.
Have you ever heard of Rene Quinton? Probably not. Yet this man saved several thousands of children's lives in France and in Egypt at the beginning of this century by using a serum which now bears his name.
Rene Quinton "was the first person to discern and to investigate the similarity between sea water and mammalian lymph and blood plasma systems. He endeavored to solve the mysteries of sea water and its compatibility with living organisms by proceeding to carry out several scientific experiments in hospitals. The results he obtained were dramatically unexpected, since several people who were dying regained their vigor. Rene Quinton worked in collaboration with Drs. Potocki, Mace and Jarricot, and for four years he labored at perfecting his techniques and adjusting dosages. In 1904, he released the results of his hospital experiments in a book entitled, 'L'eau de mer, milieu organique' (Sea Water: Organic Medium). The book was re-issued in 1995 because of the timeliness of its well- researched contents."
In 1921, Dr. Jarricot brought out "The Marine Dispensary" which contained the results of his therapeutic experiments in the treatment of childhood diseases using Quinton's formula.
Hospitals everywhere became aware of Rene Quinton's new therapy and were favorably disposed to its use. Twelve centers for the application of his methods were subsequently established in France, Belgium and Egypt. Unfortunately, the war in Europe put an end to his research and his theories were temporarily set aside. Exhausted by his work, Rene Quinton died in 1925. It was not until the 1980's that French doctors and therapists once again started to investigate his therapeutic approach.
This century-old approach is now widely used in France, Germany, Spain and Italy. A Study and Research Centre has also been established with the aim of making available earlier and current research carried out using Quinton products. Extensive studies are also being made, especially of injectable Quinton Plasma for use in the treatment of severe or advanced diseases, many of which are now on the rise.
METHOD OF PREPARATION
Sea water is extracted from a particular location which is situated between 10 meters from the bottom and 30 meters from the surface. This location is called the zone of solar penetration, and is known for its exceptional purity. Isothermic vehicles are used to transport the sea water to the laboratory for processing in less than 48 hours. The bottling in vials and packaging is completed in less than 24 hours under sterile conditions in the absence of any metallic contact or raised temperature in accordance with the original sampling techniques laid down by the physiologist and biologist Rene Quinton and in conformity with present day pharmacological standards as well as those of the G.M.P."
"Sea water tends to maintain its characteristic biodynamism and the molecular balance of a 'living medium'. The entirety of trace elements contained in sea water are to be found in the solution in their active states.
SOURCE AND AUTHENTICITY OF QUINTON PRODUCTS
After several years of research, Rene Quinton deduced and proved that sea water could not be extracted from random locations.
The composition of sea water varies as a ratio of its distance from the coastline, according to climate and presence or absence of specific marine vegetation.
He also proved satisfactorily that sea water, which is a colloidal solution, differed fundamentally in its therapeutic effects from the artificial saline solution (water plus salt) currently used.
In addition, he proved that the drying out or desiccation of sea water destroyed it permanently. He showed that it was experimentally impossible to reconstitute sea water out of its dried extract.
Another important factor which he brought to light was that the equilibrium of its pharmaco-dynamic action was totally destroyed in desalinized sea water, that desalinized sea water had no valid therapeutic action. The same goes for artificially isolated trace elements whether as single units, double units, or three at a time. Their action was noted to have minimal effect.
This part of the report relates to the first Quinton family seawater company. It was part of the original copyrighted article and so had to be left in the article. It relates to a name. The same process is followed by the Ocean Plasma company.--Ed.
RENE QUINTON'S PATENTED PROCESS
After several years of intensive research, Rene Quinton assembled his results and had them patented.
The patent designates the following: - The only area suitable for extracting the quality of sea water which is completely compatible with the mammalian organism.
- The methods and techniques for maintaining all the nutritive elements found in sea water in their active state without using chemical additives.
- Bottling and packaging methods.
Quinton International Laboratories SARL is the sole proprietor of this patented process. It is the only laboratory to obtain a permit from the French Ministry of Health for marketing sea water prepared according to Rene Quinton's formula. Only vials and bottles originating at these laboratories may bear the mark "QUINTON" on the glass containers.
QUINTON HYPERTONIC, QUINTON ISOTONIC
Quinton Hypertonic Solution is pure unadulterated sea water in its natural form with its oceanic components. It is extracted and stored under the strict conditions described earlier. Its mineral and trace-element concentration is thus superior to that of universal blood plasma, making it the most concentrated form of Quinton solutions, hence its name: Hypertonic Solution.
Quinton Hypertonic Solution may be taken orally with a little water.
Quinton Isotonic Solution, on the other hand, is produced from Quinton Hypertonic Solution. It contains exactly the same concentration of minerals and trace-elements as blood plasma but its sodium content matches that of blood, hence its alternative name: Quinton Plasma.
Quinton Hypertonic Solution is reduced to isotonicity with the addition of Aqua Fontana (Mont Roucous Spring Water) which has no mineral or medicinal content and is guaranteed to be naturally sterile and free of bacteria.
Quinton Isotonic Solution may be taken orally, injected or used in transfusion. Injections may be administered subcutaneously, intramuscularly or intravenously as required.
To recapitulate, Quinton Hypertonic Solution is the most concentrated form. Quinton Isotonic Solution or Quinton Plasma is equal to blood plasma in its mineral and trace-element concentration. Quinton Plasma can thus never be hypertonic.
PROPERTIES OF QUINTON HYPERTONIC SOLUTION
Quinton Hypertonic Solution promotes cellular nourishment to a noticeable degree. It is to be used as a regenerating and remineralizing factor, a life-giving essence when there is a need for a concentrated natural supply of all the minerals and trace-elements for the optimum functioning of any organism.
Quinton Hypertonic Solution is recommended for use in order to produce a therapeutic shock effect on the organism, and to induce an almost immediate reinvigoration of depleted organic systems. It is also recommended for use prior to an anticipated drain of energy whether physical, intellectual or emotional.
PROPERTIES OF QUINTON ISOTONIC SOLUTION
Research carried out by Rene Quinton and his successors has shown incontestably that, from a scientific and clinical standpoint, Quinton Plasma is identical with the indispensable fluid which sustains the development of life.
Rene Quinton's successors were: - Professor Alexis Carrel (Nobel Prize in Neurophysiology) - Professor A. Bogolometz (Cytotoxic Serum) - Doctor Jean Jarricot (Marine Method) - Doctor Alfred Pischinger (Basic Regulation System)
They all came to similar conclusions, that is to say, that sea water (as is contained in Quinton Plasma) is identical with the liquid inner environment of humans and mammals. This makes it possible, under certain optimum conditions, for isolated cells, tissue fragments and whole organs to survive in this medium.
Modern analytical techniques used by A. Pischinger in 1994 have confirmed what Rene Quinton could only intuit in 1904 in the absence of appropriate technology:
Quinton Plasma expedites the regeneration of the organism either by the speedy or by the gradual substitution of a depleted inner medium by replacing it with a natural and identical equivalent, thus promoting optimum cell development and activity. This Plasma is, par excellence, a physiological serum.
QUINTON PLASMA IN CASES OF CANCER, LEUKEMIA AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
Quinton Plasma may be considered as a valuable adjunct in the medical treatment of these diseases.
4 to 6 vials must be taken regularly every day over a period of many months.
In certain cases, the Plasma should be administered by injection for maximum efficiency. Injections of 30 to 60cc (3 to 6 vials) may be given every second day throughout the first two months. Advanced stages of the disease may require higher doses. Subsequent treatment, when appropriate, may be tapered off from a single injection twice a week to once a week."
"HYDROTHERAPY OF THE COLON USING QUINTON PLASMA
Modern advances in Physiology and Molecular Biochemistry" ...have proven the similarity in mineral content of the mammalian inner environment and sea water.
"This similarity makes it possible for any organism to select or reject what it needs in a natural way.
The assimilation or elimination of marine ions is made possible through cellular receptors with a high degree of accuracy by the identifying polarity derived from biocenosis.
Cold-sterilized Isotonic sea water is usually eliminated through the kidneys. This eliminated sea water tends to be twice as concentrated and twice as voluminous as artificial physiological serum.
TOTAL OSMOSIS OCCURS BETWEEN THE PLASMA AND THE INNER FLUID ENVIRONMENT
The advantages of Quinton Isotonic Solution in colonic hydrotherapy:
- Physiological irrigation and cleansing of the intestinal membranes. - Anti-anaphylactic action of sea water. - Reabsorption of micro-nutrients and minerals through the portal vein. - Physiological stabilization in case of insufficient potassium. - Anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic action as required in adjustable doses. - In cases of infection: optimum absorption results - Strengthens the immune system."
"Here is what two highly respected European researchers write about the Quinton Plasma:
From an 1991 article by Dr. Andre Passebecq, M.D., Ph.D., N.D. Dr. Jean-Marc Soulier, Ph. D., pharmacist
To maintain a healthy body, homeostasis must be kept constant. Thus a dynamic equilibrium is continuously reconstructed in the face of modifications due to the surrounding metabolism. A healthy organic terrain is the basis of health and conversely diseases develop on a depleted or congested terrain. Upstream of most diseases there is an unbalanced terrain."
"Mineral salts The four most abundant cations in the body are sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium from which phosphorus cannot be disassociated. Sodium is the monovalent cation characteristic of extracellular fluid (ECF) and, conversely, potassium is that of intracellular fluid (ICF). The composition of salts present in the ICF greatly differs from that of ECF but directly depends on the composition of the latter. Their relations are ensured by the ion pumps of the cell membrane.
Interaction and balance of mineral salts
Magnesium can only be used if a balanced calcium-phosphorus ratio exists. Magnesium acts as a regulator of the calcium fixation and serves as a phosphorus carrier. It is therefore an integral part of the calcium-phosphorus complex.
Any calcium-phosphorus imbalance reduces the resistance to illness and therefore enhances susceptibility to diseases, increases fatigue, weakens intellectual faculties and leads to premature ageing.
In addition, an abnormal potassium rate produces a magnesium and sodium imbalance. No salt is independent of the others as they all interact directly or indirectly with the other electrolytes.
Much more than an isolated salt, it is the general equilibrium of the saline matrix of the internal environment which will ensure proper functioning of the organism.
For example, the influence of the different salts on cardiac automaticity evidences their separate involvement: sodium through volemia and its relation to calcium, potassium regulating cardiac automaticity, calcium and magnesium governing muscular contraction, etc.
Seawater
Seawater is an extraordinarily rich and complex matrix that still possesses numerous unexplained features.
Note first that the structure of seawater remains incompletely known. Indeed, to this day, no model encompasses all its physico-chemical properties. In addition, the elements that compose the marine saline matrix also exhibit specific properties: for example the coefficient of dissociation of salts present in the seawater is higher than that observed in salts dissolved in distilled water, in spite of the simultaneous presence of other salts in seawater. A 33% solution of sea salts, redissolved in distilled water does not exhibit all the properties of natural seawater of the same salinity.
Additionally. most of the constituents dissolved in seawater (except for CaCO3) are far from saturated, irrespective of the importance of the external inputs or the availability of these elements in submerged rocks.
Dittmar's laws show that whatever the total saline concentration, the relative concentrations of the different ions present in the ocean waters with respect to that of chlorine can be regarded as constant. The complex mechanisms governing these concentrations have not been fully explained yet.
Also the issue of artificial seawater reconstitution remains highly complex: chemists have to introduce certain dosage modifications associated with the stability of the elements present at a very low concentration.
The wealth and diversity of mineral salts and trace elements present in seawater are exceptional. Gregory and Overberger have shown that the marine saline matrix contains the 92 trace elements of Mendelev's periodic table.
It includes all vital nutrient salts and trace elements at concentrations ranging from 1 mg/L and 10 mg/L.
It exhibits an important buffering capability, with a pH comprised between 7.9 and 8.3 and a mean saline concentration of 33/%.
Note in particular that all the minerals contained in seawater are at a concentration close to that at which they are usually found in man's internal environment.
The joint study of seawater and internal environment highlights the similarity between the mineral compositions of human plasma and seawater. In addition, the results of treatments involving correctly elaborated water preparations demonstrate the amazing therapeutic efficacy of seawater. How can this be explained ? What are the links between seawater and the vital internal environment ? As a result what is the influence of seawater on the ionic and mineral balance of the organism ?"
Rene Quinton addressed these questions with certain theories about the relationship between seawater and the internal environment of mammals, including man. He concluded that the human organism maintained this rich, life-giving internal environment so closely related to isotonic seawater for the full development of cells.
"He postulated that from the mineral point of view, human and marine plasmas are environments of the same nature. In other words, there is physical and physiological identity between seawater and the internal environment of the organism. Not only do they exhibit very similar mineral compositions, but the particular form, organization and synergy of trace elements and mineral salts that make up the saline matrix of seawater closely resemble those of the internal environment constituents."
After a documented body of scientific observations, Quinton surveyed the possible medical applications of his findings.
"Together with a medical team, Quinton developed for more than 25 years the so-called "marine method" based on "Quinton's Plasma," a marine plasma in the form of an injectable isotonic solution.
The works of physicians Jarricot, Robert Simon, Lacheze, Mace and Quinton rely on the principle of regeneration of the depleted internal environment, on which cells live, by means of purified seawater preparations exhibiting a balanced and complete composition, so as to allow the patient to globally reconstruct his terrain and the cells to find once again the elements they need.
Given the particular period in which these works were published, they mainly cover various types of cutaneous disorders, neurovegetative asthenias, anorexias, acute cachexias, infant diarrheas, deep dehydrations, gastroenteritis, pulmonary tuberculosis, cholera, typhus."
(Of course, in the early 1900's no AIDS existed, cancer was a rarity, auto-immune diseases were 50 years from discovery, and many other "modern day" maladies were unknown .--Ed.)
"Exceptional results were obtained and the findings of these precursors should now be supplemented by numerous other investigations. Their writings and the listed clinical cases demonstrate the great therapeutic attractiveness of Quinton's assumptions and the efficacy of his method.
Marine plasma is a living medium. It is worth pointing out that, basically, living matter differs from mineral matter in its organization and not in the nature of the atoms that compose it. A living cell is much more than the sum of its elements. The mere dosage of components does not suffice in itself to account for the therapeutic effect of marine plasma.
A good illustration of this can be found in the therapeutic mineral waters; except for the elements that are abundant in them, many waters develop their curative power essentially when drawn from the mineral water spring. Due to the preservation methods and conditions used, these waters lose their properties although the constitutive elements remain present.
Hence is there a specific state of these waters when they are drawn? Numerous theories could be devised, starting from the "homeopathic dynamization" whose most probable substratum would be a particular state of the solvent, in this case water.
As a result, how can we envisage the specific therapeutic gain that could result from the use of the trace elements present in marine plasma? The assumption of physiologic identity between human plasma and marine plasma supposes a form of availability particularly well-suited to the needs of the organism.
Resulting from the mineral balance, pH should be restored by marine plasma. German physician Ropffer thoroughly investigated the evolution of body pH in patients to whom he had prescribed hydromarine treatments. He concluded the following:
'For normal and alkaline organisms, an increase in acid values has unequivocally been established. Similarly for hyperacid organisms, a dramatic decrease in acid values has been recorded. No case has remained the same.
It can therefore be stated that in case a global inconstant acidity, a cure of drinkable seawater causes the normal acidity to be recovered. In particular for gastritis due to dietary errors or alcohol and nicotine abuse remarkable results have been obtained.'
Dr. Jarricot wrote:
'Marine plasma is not a serum against such and such illness, but it is designed for the living cell.'
In other words, it is a product which by its very nature primarily contributes to the restoration of health and the suppression of disease and its symptoms.' " ...........
The above text, aside from a small amount of summarized or edited material, came from an earlier seawater website. See oceanplasma.org for more current information.
The above information is presented, with kind permission, by Oc�an Plasma Inc. of Montreal, QC, Canada.
Inquiries pertaining to the use and supply of Oc�an Plasma products may be directed to:
Seawater--A Safe Blood Plasma Substitute? By Dianne Jacobs Thompson
Diluted ocean water is so similar to mammalian blood plasma that it has been used successfully in animal tests as a blood transfusion substitute. Historically, it could also remineralize the body, normalize pH levels, balance electrolytes and heal diseases.
My long-time fear of having a blood transfusion or anything else injected directly into my unprotected bloodstream has grown stronger over the years. It's not a religious issue, but rather an occupational hazard. Being a health researcher, terrible visions of what could go wrong haunt me, with good reason. I feel like the meat inspector who becomes a vegetarian. I know things that forever destroyed my innocent faith in all things medical. I no longer worship in "The Church of Modern Medicine" nor tithe to its pseudo-gods voluntarily.
"They," the health (read: disease) industry specialists, check blood better these days to catch unsafe blood supplies contaminated with HIV, Hepatitis, and other disease components, but blood products still aren't completely safe, even with modern technology. They can't sterilize blood any more than they can sterilize vaccines to kill all the unwanted "bugs" without destroying the nature of these products. They test blood and separate blood components through centrifugal action and other methods to purify it as much as possible, but it remains impossible to promise or deliver a completely safe blood-related product. Blood is 'alive'--it cannot be sterilized or rendered antiseptic.
There are countless transfusion horror stories dating back many decades, but we rarely ever hear about them. For example, a neighbor down the street lost her husband about four years ago. He had cancer, but became infected with viral hepatitis from a blood transfusion and died from liver failure, not the cancer. Many people know someone who suffered from the effects of a blood transfusion gone bad. That's just a fact of life and one of the known risks of surgery, no matter how minor.
Unfortunately, I've run across too many stories of this nature. I've spent most of my adult life doing research and writing in the field of alternative medicine (truthquest2.com) with an early focus on viral and bacterial diseases and problem vaccines, some of which are still made from pooled human blood products, or with "attenuated" vaccine viruses created by "serial passage" through contaminated animal cell cultures. That means they take human viruses and put them in layers of animal cells over and over again which forces them to adapt to the foreign cells to survive. This "adaptation" requires an exchange of genetic material between virus and host cells. When monkey kidney cells are used, the exchange of genetic material that takes place forces the human virus to become a little bit 'monkey-like', supposedly so it cannot initiate full-blown disease, which doesn't always work. In the process, native monkey viruses become a little bit 'human-like', giving them greater compatibility with human cells.
Such may be the case with the infamous Epstein-Barr virus which is referred to as "human" while many scientists believe it originated in monkeys, infected humans through contaminated vaccines in mutated form, and then became associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other maladies. But then, there is less of a species barrier with monkeys than with other animals, which gives us less protection from their pathogens. The bio-hazards of monkey viruses are well-known in certain scientific circles, but little-known by the general public.
In the course of my research I came to study the subject of recombinant virology--the combining of unlike viruses into new "tribes," usually with more dangerous characteristics than the "parent" viruses, by men in white coats playing God. Recombination events can also happen in nature under certain conditions, particularly when helped along by bad science. For example, a monkey virus called SV-40 (Simian Virus 40, after becoming the 40th virus found in monkey tissues) was found to have unique properties. This "naked virus" can penetrate any kind of cell without the problem of a "species barrier" and it allows unlike viruses to attach to it and ride piggyback into the genetic material of a cell where they can take over the "machinery" and replicate new recombined viruses on their own. The discovery of this virus gave rise to the field of recombinant virology with many dire consequences. SV-40 became a well-documented but unpublicized contaminant in polio vaccines, made with the use of monkey kidney cell cultures, when it was given in 1955-1963 to 95 million unsuspecting recipients.
The first official claim was that SV-40 viruses "do not have any significance in the safety or efficacy of polio vaccines", but when the virus was first tested on guinea pigs after its discovery, they developed salivary gland tumors and immune deficiency symptoms. The corresponding organ in humans is the pancreas. Deadly pancreatic cancer has since become epidemic in numbers. SV-40 is now associated with numerous cancers, including human mesotheliomas, osteosarcomas, brain tumors, epdnymomas, choroid plexus tumors and others. These same monkey cell cultures, used to make vaccines, contained other viruses such as SIV--Simian Immunodeficiency Virus--and that figures prominently in the makeup of another recombinant virus we know as HIV. There's no proof offered publicly whether HIV resulted from a naturally occurring recombination event, but the sophistication of this virus and some documented government requests for the creation of a similar biological weapon suggests otherwise, although a study generated at the request of the WHO, and then suppressed, linking African AIDS to the WHO vaccination campaign theorized that viral vaccines "activated" dormant viruses, so this is a possibility supporting natural recombination, unless HIV was intentionally added to certain vaccines.
The London Times printed this story on May 11, 1986, but the story was withheld from the American media. This kind of information seldom reaches the general public in my country, like one of the most horrific scientific "errors" ever made and hushed up involving "HeLa Cells," the most aggressive cancer cell culture ever known which made its way into science labs all over the world for research and then contaminated many cell cultures used for vaccines... by accident. Think about human vaccine viruses being grown in cancer cells and exchanging genetic information with the cancerous host cells before being injected into millions of unsuspecting victims.
That's just part of what a person potentially faces when receiving blood from another person or persons with undetected infection. Sam Bizer, a researcher in the field of alternative medicine, interviewed Dr. William Donald Kelly, D.D.S., M.S., who related a conversation with Drs. Friedman and Burton from the former Immunological Center in Great Neck, New York, that did cancer research. They maintained from their findings that a blood transfusion may destroy your resistance to cancer. Dr Burton believed, as many religious groups do, that blood transfusions can cause cancer. "'He says it works something like this... A tumor, in its natural drive to sustain its own life, secretes compounds called blocking factors which prevent the body's natural defense system from destroying it.' He believed that when you give a transfusion, you pass on the blood donor's blocking factors and that this can suppress the recipient's own immune system sufficiently to allow a tumor to develop. Then this new tumor in turn secretes its own blocking factor, which inhibits the immune system further. So, while cancer is not contagious, its blocking factors can be transmitted. In this way, a blood transfusion may increase your susceptibility to cancer." [4]
While possible "blocking factors" and contamination from human and animal microbes in blood supplies worry me somewhat, there are other factors that keep me awake at night... Someone I knew in college just happened to mention in passing that a blood transfusion changed his life. He described coming out of surgery after an accident and waking up with a changed personality. He blamed his condition on the blood transfusion he was given. Since I only knew him after this event, I can't say whether the change was good or bad, but who wants something like that to happen while under anesthesia?
But something far worse than a personality change affected my opinion in 1981. That year I gave birth to my only child in Alaska--a much anticipated arrival by me at age 34 and by the baby's godmother, Ceci Clark, an artist and gallery owner of some renown in Alaska. Ceci developed bone cancer which wasn't diagnosed immediately. Before they found it, she had surgery for something else and was given a blood transfusion. When she woke up, her "brains" were scrambled, so to speak. She recognized me, but thought I was her sister, and she grew confused trying to figure out where that newborn baby came from? They eventually found the cancer. She died soon after.
In recent years my research turned to alternative cancer treatments and remedies for chronic/degenerative disease, particularly after becoming desperately ill and having my health, and that of other family members, restored without drugs or surgery by an unusual naturopathic physician in Spokane, Washington, the late Dr Harold Dick, whose extraordinary diagnostic and healing skills were both passed on to and added to by his daughter who completed a 3 year residency with him, became his partner, and then took over his practice after his death, Dr Letitia Dick-Watrous, N.D. Dr Dick not only turned my health around with a little-known diagnostic "tool" and an updated treatment modality with roots in the old "water cure" of Germany's famous Father Sebastian Kneipp--the O.G. Carroll Food Intolerance Test and Constitutional Hydrotherapy--but mentored me and lit a research fire in my belly that won't go out, and Dr Watrous fanned the flames.
In the course of researching natural healing methods, I joined a membership website that featured little-known alternative treatments for cancer and infection and these included "The Marine Treatment" based on the work of French biologist/physiologist, Rene Quinton. He proved that seawater, properly formulated and under certain conditions, is virtually identical to mammal blood plasma. With the assistance of many eminent physicians, he successfully used seawater as a healing agent on thousands of patients in France and Egypt in the early 1900's. Cancer was almost unknown in those days, but many other disease conditions responded to injections of the diluted ocean water, a true "marine plasma", which could re-mineralize a sick body, normalize the pH (acid--alkaline) level and balance the electrolytes, thereby correcting the underlying cause of many disease conditions by regenerating the 'internal terrain', as Quinton called it. The report included before-and-after photos of patients. Like most people, I was drawn to the shocking 100-year-old photos first, and the science came in a distant second. Babies near death from cholera and other causes, cadaver-like bodies filled out to healthy plumpness, raw, weeping skin from eczema made smooth and lesion-free... many early 20th century scourges, such as tuberculosis, were shown-- healed by something as natural and plentiful as sunlight or the air we breathe.
How important is the mineral and trace mineral balance in the body? Many researchers, including Dr. Joel Wallach, author of the best-selling audio tape, "Dead Doctors Don't Lie", claim that the absence of one single mineral needed by the body can give rise to as many as ten different disease symptoms. Of course, much of modern medicine still blames germs and genetics for most human disease, so the "mineral deficiency" theory is generally ignored. But Dr Wallach believes that a common heart condition--cardiomyopathy--a condition that has killed countless victims, from professional athletes to heart specialists, or made them candidates for heart transplants--is caused by nothing more than a selenium (a trace mineral) deficiency and can be cured or prevented by a few cents worth of selenium supplements a day.
Enter seawater--the missing link to deficient elemental nutrition! It contains every mineral and trace mineral known, in organic form, in the proper ratios needed by human tissues, and it's been there all along as a healing and life-giving agent, hidden in plain sight. While the website where I first found "The Marine Treatment" information had a good report and impressive photos, a more complete website on the subject was under construction. There, I discovered Dr. Juergen Buche, N.D. was in the process of translating a large body of ocean water research and supporting documentation from the original French into English on his academic oceanplasma.org website.
What I found on that site hit so close to home that I'm still reeling! Besides curing many diseases of the day in the early 1900s, my eye caught something that resonated with my transfusion phobias. It turns out that trials were run on stray dogs to test the Ocean Plasma (diluted, cold-filtered ocean water) as a transfusion substitute. In one experiment, Quinton and his medical team drained a dog of all of its blood and replaced it with isotonic (diluted) seawater. The dog should have died immediately, one would think, but the dog lived. On day 2 after the transfusion, 50% of the blood components had reappeared. By day 4, almost 100% of the missing blood components were restored in what appeared to be proof of biological transmutation (change from one element to another). Not only did the blood completely regenerate, but soon after the procedure, the dog bounced around like a puppy with greater vitality than before the procedure and it lived for many years afterwards. Just think what a safe, effective, plentiful substitute for blood transfusion would mean to the world? No side effects, no blood type matching needed, no pathogen screening required, and it would be a true plasma with proven healing properties in itself!
So, what became of this wondrous marine treatment? World War I got in the way of medical research as well as drafting Quinton into the war. He died in 1925. These events somewhat interrupted the continuance of "Marine Treatment" hospitals and clinics, of which there were many. However, it was carried on by his medical co- workers and ardent followers and experienced a resurgence after World War II in several countries. Animal trials using seawater as a transfusion substitute were repeated with the same results in 1969; but as a therapeutic agent, "The Marine Treatment" has since then been used on people mostly as a foundational treatment for chronic/ degenerative disease. Also, it became known as a complete and readily-assimilated liquid mineral and trace mineral supplement for remineralization, for detoxification, for energy, and for anti-stress.
No human trials for transfusion have ever been attempted. As for the healing properties of seawater, in today's restrictive medical atmosphere, seawater can only be referred to as a "mineral drink". If the word "cure" was uttered or written in relation to a brand name, the "offense" would be legally actionable. Only a DRUG, toxic by its very nature, can be called "curative", and no FDA-sanctioned studies will be funded or reported on the efficacy of seawater treatment for disease, because a supplement can be studied only in relation to its disease "risk reduction" factor as defined by the government agency, and not as a treatment for actual disease.
Why haven't we heard of Rene Quinton and his marine treatment? This country, the North American continent in general and the USA in particular, has the worst national health of any industrialized country in the world--in spite of spending the most money on health research and health care. This country lags sadly behind in many areas of medical science, particularly when those who profit from bad science are called to arms for their own self-protection by safer, more effective and less expensive remedies and methods such as Quinton's modest but living ocean water. Look at the international pharmaceutical industry. It has such wealth and power that it controls not only the FDA but American health-related legislation and policies. Take for example the case of the "cholesterol" caper. In the past, the federal guidelines for managing cholesterol were this: Someone with 300 mg of dietary cholesterol per day, with an HDL (good cholesterol) level of 35 mg per deciliter (dL) in the blood was considered unacceptable and in need of treatment. However, under the "guidance" of the powerful pharmaceutical industry, those federal guidelines were recently changed. Now, less than 200 mg of dietary cholesterol per day is considered "acceptable" and an HDL (good cholesterol) level of anything less than 40 is now unacceptable. (JAMA 01; 285:2486-2487)
Translation: Under the old guidelines, 13 million people were pushed into using cholesterol-lowering drugs. Under the new guidelines, 36 million people are now buying those drugs, and that means billions of dollars of additional revenue to the pharmaceutical companies. At the same time, these same drug manufacturers have been particularly hesitant to publish the effects of drug-induced low cholesterol, which includes depression, violent behavior, suicide, aggression, increased risk of stroke and poor immune function, according to certain studies. It's looks like we're being brainwashed by some kind of drug mythology into believing that diseases are caused by a drug deficiency and that they can only be cured by increased and expensive drug consumption.
What would happen to these international drug cartels if an actual cure for cancer suddenly came on the market outside of their control? Since they exist financially only for "treatment of symptoms" (disease management) rather than curing anything, it is possible that our entire financial/medical infrastructure might collapse as a consequence. The stockholders of pharmaceutical companies want profits, not a cure to end human misery and stop the flow of profits.We hear similar stories about fossil fuel substitutes and other life-altering discoveries and inventions that never made it to the open market due to intervention by the competition.
Likewise, a safe blood transfusion substitute might threaten too many rich and powerful areas of the medical market to ever see the light of day...but one can visualize the possibilities. However, "Vision without action is only a dream." [7] Consider this article the start of action--maybe YOUR action?! Harvesting seawater for consumption (it can be ingested orally [by drinking] or be injected) is not easy and it requires knowledge, care, and the right equipment. First, the weather, tides, and other conditions need to be right. Secondly, ocean water is harvested far out to sea (35 miles or more) to ensure purity. Then, since nutrients are depleted in surface waters, where plants and algae grow, and are found in higher concentrations in deep waters, ocean water is pumped from 100 feet below the surface. During the entire processing operations, from ocean to bottle, the seawater cannot touch metal and must be kept cold. Heating kills the invigorating living properties of seawater. It has to be transported and kept in glass or food-grade plastic containers. Then it has to be tested and cold-purified in a manner that protects it from alteration and preserves its state as a living solution.
Seawater, in its original and primal state, once had only 1/3 the saline content it has now, and this fact is still mirrored in the saline content of blood and tears. The oceans became more concentrated through the ages, and are now far too salty to drink in large amounts. To use ocean water as blood plasma, it must be diluted with ultra-pure water to the same concentration as blood plasma, namely 9 grams of salts per liter. As the perfect mineral supplement, it can be consumed orally in dilute form or full strength by those with no sodium sensitivities--but only in small amounts, like an ounce at a time, several times a day if necessary. However, it's extremely important to dilute it with pure spring water for home use, because chlorinated water has the same kind of damaging effect on ocean water as it has on the human body, according to several studies. The French got it right. They ozonate their drinking water instead of adding cheaper bleach to it.
The exact properties of seawater remain a mystery to modern science. In spite of our great technical expertise, the complete nature of seawater defies analysis. It has some living quality beyond the sum of its parts. It can't be dried and reconstituted, or synthesized in a chemistry lab. The great French scientist Antoine B�champ looked at blood as a kind of flowing tissue rather than just a liquid. Seawater also has something about it that makes it more than "just water." It sustains life, as proven by Nobel Laureate Alexis Carroll, who kept a piece of chicken heart tissue alive in it for over 26 years, needing only to change it daily to dispose of metabolic wastes. In fact, one could factually say that we have internalized the ocean within ourselves, and in that rich nutrient medium is the source of life. Every cell in the body bathes and feeds in it. It picks up and carries away the waste products of cell metabolism. It has a life force, unlike the familiar bags of saline solution seen in every hospital, which is nothing more than table salt and plain water. Processed table salt bears little resemblance to the raw, unprocessed, mineral-rich sea salt we should be using, and our depleted bodies suffer the consequences.
If I have surgery, I want to see "Ocean Plasma" in a drip bag above my head before the lights go out. The world needs someone with courage and vision willing to initiate the first human trials; the world needs someone to extend Rene Quinton's dog trials and to make that leap into the future that signals true progress.
REFERENCES
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4.Bizer, Sam. Cancer Signs: An Interview With Dr. William Donald Kelly, D.D.S., M.S. (no longer available online) Sam Bizer has a new book out, "Resurrection: For Souls in Broken Bodies" that looks to be exceptionally good for those who have "slipped through the cracks" and found no help from either conventional or alternative medicine so far.
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PHOTOS
Posted by Marnie (Member # 773) on :
You asked, "Is antibiotics the only treatment option?"
No.
Some have used ozone saunas with success, Rife with success, far infrated saunas (new approach) and/or very specific nutrient supplements.
Some have followed other "protocols" (adapted!) which look to have worked.
While making a huge commitment to living a very healthy lifestyle.
No alcohol. No smoking. No junk foods/junk beverages. Get some exercise (increasing as tolerated)...fresh air, some sunshine, etc.
Most people are not willing to make those life style changes...understandable.
Those who have used "alternative" methods have posted here repeatedly.
But the mindset is abx. This is what we were "taught"...infection = antibiotics.
But Bb is UNIQUE. VERY.
Antibiotics DO rid co-infections and DO change our immune RESPONSE, but do not look to eliminate Bb. Control the symptoms or rid the infection completely?
It depends on your personal goal. Some simply want to be pain free. I understand.
I believe, in time, it IS possible to CURE this infection via "alternative" methods available today.
Keep an open mind. Learn. Evaluate. Weigh the risks. This is YOUR LIFE.
The Marshall protocol does NOT use a drug in the "antibiotic" class.
Abx. is a form of chemotherapy, IMO. Chemical therapy.
Every day our own NK (natural killer) cells kill off about 4 precancerous cells.They do this in an alkaline blood system by "squirting" the precancerous cells with a...get this...free radical! This is what is supposed to happen.
When we EXERCISE, our NK cells decrease because our system is already "acidic" as lactic acid builds up. No need for any more negative charges.
Yes, negative charges (acids, vitamins, frequencies, light therapy, radiation therapy, etc.) do destroy pathogens, but too many is harmful to HEALTHY cells.
The first step to destroy a gram negative pathogen is to damage the cell wall (poke holes in it) or PREVENT ITS FORMATION. Then other things kick in to "finish the job".
Ideally, we would stop it from locking on, but rarely do we catch it fast enough to prevent that from happening. Bb uses many fast defensive tactics.
Posted by lymeflox (Member # 10543) on :
Bogi: you are a bit scared of taking antibiotics, and many of us too.
Save exceptions we always talk about antibiotics, as if all would be similar. Antibiotics are so profoundly different and their side effects so specific and so dependent on the doses, repeated treatments, and duration of treatments, that just talking generically about the safety of antibiotics does not make any sense.
Some antibiotics do cause severe kidney damage after long treatments, or even during short-high dose treatments, that goes unnoticed for many years, and that normally only very detailed urine tests can detect.
Other antibiotics do cause irreversible hearing loss in most of people that take them for long.
Other are chemotherapeutic-purely chemically engineered compounds that are extremely toxic, like nitrofurantoin (macrobid).
Others like cipro and levaquin (fluoroquinolones) cause delayed injuries far more devastating than a common course of lyme, that normally are also irreversible. The problem is that their symptoms are so identical to those of lyme and we tend to blame the bug instead of the antibiotic. Have a look if you want to www.fqresearch.org and similar sites.
So the point should be what dose, how long and what antibiotic. And add to the formula your individual build, specially your liver metabolism, and your age, health status and weight.
Some antibiotics are quite safe long term for certain doses, given that your metabolism is OK. Some others, like the cited cipro and levaquin can have small side effects in doses of up to 750 mg/day of cipro or up to 375 mg/day of levaquin, but their toxicity is devastating, and mimicks and surpasses lymne symptoms, for doses of up to 1.500 mg/day of cipro or 750mg/day of levaquin (always talking of long term treatments).
So, before engaging in a long term program with antibiotics, it is recommended to set up a detailed plan adapted to your personal case.
Posted by brentb (Member # 6899) on :
quote:Originally posted by Truthfinder: Thanks for breaking up that post, Brent, and thanks for posting it. Tracy
No problem but you'll probably have to remind me again. Those who can't read (due to lyme) are constantly reminding those of us who can't remember a thing (due to lyme) to break up the post. funny in a god this life is hell kinda way.
As to the protecting us part the epa lost all credibility just as the fda.I've just read the following. The fluoride issue is a perfect example of our gov't attitude toward the american people.
I too, believe that LD can be cured. While I have not 'cured' myself yet, I did make a lot of progress before coming here, and now with help from lymenet, still much more good progress.
There is a wealth of information here so though we are ill, we are in a rich environment. Yes, the information is almost overwhelming. Yes, we have to sort out what is best for ourselves somehow, abx, non-abx, we have to experiment, work with professionals. But it may be worth the journey. We may become healthier than we ever imagined, perhaps more than before we became ill.
I once dealt with another unusual health obstacle that was life-threatening, and not only did I overcome it, my physical and emotional health improved. Working with LD is yet another challenge, and the things that I learn to help deal with lyme, like eating even more properly than before, exercise, etc., is still raising my health. When I do overcome LD, I will probably not change my diet too much.
I also believe that the cures will be unique to each of us, whether abx or non-abx. Someone said recently to me that it sounds like alchemy.
Alchemy? I had to think about it. Well, yes... it is alchemy, but alchemy mired in science. We follow certain protocols that have some research behind them for the most part, but how much to take, when to take, when to stop, when to add new things, other changes to make... that is alchemy. And this is especially true of lyme. It is anything but straightforward.
I do not know enough about abx cures, only because I cannot take abx due to sensitivities and so do not research abx. But, I think it is important to remain open to all possibilities on all sides and share information. And it is what is scientifically or officially accepted in this country.
Have been thinking for a long time about these issues. There is a lot to be hopeful for.
Thank you to everyone who posted here. Many good thoughts.
Claire
[ 10. January 2007, 06:41 AM: Message edited by: clairenotes ]
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
Get Q'ed Up ... when every seconds counts The great blue whale travels over 2,000 miles to Get Q'ed Up on Quinton Hypertonic. Whales Know Endurance. Are You Q'ed Up? Professional and high-level amateur athletes across all disciplines have discovered Quinton Marine Plasma as a safe, natural and healthy supplement to dramatically improve performance, endurance and recovery time.* Quinton Hypertonic is marine plasma that includes 83 minerals and marine co-factors that are ideal for high-performance athletes.
In a recent study, competitive cyclists reported up to a 36% increase in speed, a 60% improvement in recovery time, and a staggering 73% improvement in overall performance using four vials of Quinton Hypertonic per day.*
QUINTON HYPERTONIC HIGH PERFORMANCE MINERAL SUPPLEMENT WITH MARINE COFACTOR
``As a former Olympic Team doctor working with hundreds of sports supplements, I have never seen a product activate energy and enhance recovery like Quinton Hypertonic. It wins the gold medal for supplements.''
- Dr. Roy Dittman
Bob Burnquist, world famous skateboarder, four time winner of the X-Games�, and recipent of ESPN's skateboarding People's Choice Award (2002), executed the biggest stunt of his career on March 23, 2006, when he skateboarded and parachuted into the Grand Canyon. The next day, he had this to say about Quinton:``I just gotta say the last month and a half that I have been taking this stuff it has been absolutely amazing . . . I made sure every morning I had at least one Hypertonic. It has changed my whole approach, my energy, my workout, and my focus in my work. I can say this is a find of a life time.''
Why does Quinton Hypertonic deliver such a marked advantage to athletes? A complete spectrum of minerals is necessary to metabolize 100% of the amino acids we consume. When critical minerals are missing or represented in deficient amounts, our bodies fail to optimally metabolize and convert amino acids and enzymes into energy. The molecular mystery of Quinton Marine Plasma is that in its isotonic state, each of the minerals is represented in quantities that mirror, almost perfectly, those of human blood plasma and extra-cellular fluids.
Quinton Hypertonic is an ideal supplement for a high-level athlete's core regimen. Quinton Hypertonic is only available through trusted health professionals and elite sports trainers.
*This Statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Posted by dontlikeliver (Member # 4749) on :
Wallace,
I take it then that the Samento wasn't as good as you initially thought?
DLL
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
We need to change the internal millieu so that herbs like Samento can work better. The Ph level etc. The microbe is nothing the environment is everything even Pasteur at deaths door realised this!
On treating syphilis www.oceanplasma.org shows how purified injected seawater was used in the past to treat it successfully.
Sunny thoughts, Wallace . GENERAL SYPHILIS
All by itself, and to the exclusion of any other treatment, the Marine Treatment can give first class results to the syphilitically challenged nursling. By means of its unique influence, ulcerations, if they exist, diminish rapidly; the drained appearance disappears, and right from the very first injection, the scarring process appears. With those specific nurslings that have weight retardation, as with those afflicted with commonplace hypotrophia due to undernourishment, the weight rises right away, in almost all cases. Weight improvement, however, does not always have the usual intensity. In 25% of syphilis cases, the weight increase is only 400 to 600 gr per month; at least the weight rises right away, even if it had been stagnant for a long time. At the same time as the weight picks up, we also see the height increase, as well as the frontal and parietal venous ectasia diminish. It is normal that the hydrocephalia continues its evolution during the first weeks of the Marine Treatment; but this too invariably moderates itself, as is proven by successive cranial measurements (total perimeter, biparietal diameter and antero-posterior).
The syphilitic nursling should be treated with the Marine Treatment for at least six months to a year. Conducted with regularity, this treatment progressively leads the child to a state of visceral perfection that is simply astonishing when later one looks for the taints and stigmata and when one sees how vast the extent of benefit this Marine Action really is. Infantile syphilis can be accommodated by ordinary doses of 30 to 50 grams of Marine Plasma, three times a week. Nevertheless, strong doses (100 grams of Plasma, three times a week) could be necessary. The weight increase remains the criterium of the posology.
It is possible to inspect numerous observations of specific nurslings with whom all the morbid phenomena have disappeared with one single use of seawater. But that does not mean that the Marine Method is oblivious to failure in the treatment of syphilis. In certain cases, we had only checkmates.
7. ECZEMA
The eczema lesions of children, as is the case with those of adults, respond very well to Marine Treatment. In the majority of cases (60%), the first injection of Plasma responds with an immediate but temporary aggravation of the lesion that suppurates and weeps abundantly for one or two days, sometimes three, only to dry up and diminish thereafter. The next injections follow the same pattern, a little less obviously in general, until complete disappearance of the weeping with following erythema. This definite disappearance of the morbid symptoms happens, in certain cases, at about the eighth or tenth injection, sometimes a little later; and there are some tenacious cases as well.
With nurslings, the six first injections should be practiced at a volume of 10 cubic centimeters. Stronger doses provoke sudden reactions that are too severe. These sudden reactions are without inconvenience if the eczema is located elsewhere than on the face. It is preferable to avoid these if the cheeks, the eyelids and frontal region are invaded by the lesions. The abundant weeping that can happen could reach the eyes and cause conjunctivitis. This is usually without consequence. It is better to avoid the reaction by using weak doses and by plenty of humid dressings. Keep the latter in place on forehead and cheeks.
In 40% of cases, the improvement comes right away, and without any reactional upsurge. One can see the erythema (redness) diminish, primitive weeping reduce, the lesions dry up and become like dry leaves, then pale and disappear. If, by contrast, the doses of 10 cc are not succeeded by neither an improvement nor a reaction, it would be best to proceed right away to doses of 30 cc and, if needed to 50 cc so as to promote a regression of the lesions without an acute reaction even though a reaction is always a sign of healing. In all cases, one should repeat the injection three times a week. The humid dressings should be done with boiled water and applied to the areas affected by the eczema. In every case it would be advantageous to replace the use of water by Ocean Plasma (Marine Plasma), especially on the raw lesions.
When children's eczema is accompanied by serious gastro-enteritis phenomena (i.e. choleriform enteritis or summer aqueous enteritis), one needs to hurry; one needs to ignore the eczema and apply the treatment, with massive doses to address the diarrhea and dehydration while simply dress the eczema lesions with humid dressings. One can see, in the majority of cases, that the eczema improves with astonishing rapidity. I insist on the point that the weak doses that are recommended by Quinton in the treatment of eczema have but one purpose, and that is to limit the reactional worsening of healing symptoms for facial eczema. Do not have any apprehension to apply stronger doses; their effect is more energetic and faster; one should employ these higher doses whenever there is slow improvement in acute cases or also when eczema is generally dry. The rule is to push the doses until the lesions weep under the influence of the Plasma injections; improvements can only happen under those circumstances. Quinton and Variot did just the same recommend 30 cc doses and more. Quinton only recommended the 10 cc doses later, in order to avoid the slight visual complication that can happen with children having facial eczema.
8. BRONCHO-PNEUMONIA
Broncho-pneumonia of the nursling is an affection for which the Marine Treatment seems fail; but seawater remains an interesting adjunctive remedy, particularly when the child is dehydrated by aqueous stools. I happen to have combined a special broncho-pneumonia- specific treatment to the Marine Treatment. This cannot be explained in these pages; but after one year of experience, I cannot remain silent on the remarkable success rate that the Marine Treatment has given me. Neither can one deny the fantastic effect that seawater has with children with broncho-pneumonia. When we see that the children continue feeding, even with fever, despite the most pessimistic clinical signs and finally heal without any significant loss of weight.
9. NERVOUS SYSTEM AFFLICTIONS
I think that, in the near future, it will be possible to show what immense services that seawater can provide to patients that are afflicted with diseases of the nervous system. Today, it would be premature to talk about definite assertions such as to define the limits of action that seawater might have in the vast domain of neuro- pathology. But it is possible to already state a few general facts, even if somewhat disconnected.
In all meningitis cases, seawater is certainly capable of favorable action. First of all, seawater upholds the patient's strength, his appetite, his general state. One assists, by injecting the tubercular meningitis patients with such unexpected results that, in general, happen where one would have predicted with certitude a continual and intense loss of weight. The child succumbs to the nervous debilitation, among the usual signs, but without losing any weight, without stopping to feed himself as long as swallowing is possible [this sentence is convoluted in French and possibly inadequately rendered in the English language by the translator - sorry]. One can image what kind of help can be provided for all the non-tubercular meningitis patients where one can add to a specific or general infection medication an adjunctive therapeutic agent with such power.
But there is more. The Marine Action is not limited to an eutrophic effect. Seawater has neurotrophic properties that are quite evident if one judges by the good effects that are obtained with adults in cases of neuralgia, neuritis and paralysis, as well as with sciatic neuralgia (Jarricot), with alcoholic neuritis (Plantiel), with children of all ages having enuresis [involuntary discharge of urine] (Plantier, Jarricot), and even with all those stubborn cases on which all kinds of other treatment had been tried.
In this way, we also see seawater proving itself with favorable action in cases of infantile paralysis where one can sometimes see a unilateral action, or at least a predominance that is attested by the circumferential measurement of the atrophied member and the return of mobility in those cases where function seems to be compromized forever. I can cite results of the same kind that were obtained with familiar amyotrophia, myatonia and chorea. I know of no contraindication that would prompt one to abstain [from using this treatment] due to scepticism.
And finally, how can one doubt the efficacy of this seawater action on the nervous system when one observes with one's own eyes, and in a relatively short time, the head of a nursling modify itself; hydrocephalia, for instance, to become more moderate; isocephalia cede to a shaping of the face; the entire head to stop swelling while the height continues to augment; or, by contrast, a microcephalia with a prognostic of death to improve; the brain to develop and, at the same time, the intelligence to awaken, speech to appear, and the whole psychic life to blossom
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
Wallace, why don't you let us know how you are doing on the Blasi protocol - didn't you say you were starting that in another post?
I thought the Blasi product was incredibly expensive for what you get. Not to mention the fact that it isn't easy to get in the first place. I would like to hear more on that front, instead of the seawater/marine stuff.
Speaking of which, if you are advocating the use of the products you've posted about, does that mean you are taking them or plan to?
Or do you just have some nice oceanfront property for sale?
Or perhaps you have a vested interest in these products?
Tracy
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
I am still taking the Blasi but to little effect so I have just added the Quintons Hypertonic 4 daily as well.
Alfred Blasi originally took 20 minerals he then took a maintenance dose of the 4 minerals that are in Recup. www.alfredblasi.net.
By taking the Quintons I aim to replicate the 20 minerals he took and more!
The proportions of REcup are very similar to Seawater in terms of the 4 main minerals. I have posted on this on the Blasi yahoo site.
Offline I have been asked but the sea is polluted! Quintons has been used safely since 1897 so.... It was in the French Physicains handbook til 1999 so I have no worries...personally speaking.
What is Quinton Ren� Quinton discovered that body cells are surrounded by a liquid, or plasma, which is very similar in its mineral content and degree of concentration to geologically primeval ocean water. After years of research, Quinton was able to pinpoint the ideal geographic locations from which to collect pristine ocean water, which he then used as a number of conclusive canine experiments, he demonstrated that his version of the plasma could be used to treat humans successfully, and he supported the thesis with numerous clinical trials. As a result, many clinics were opened where treatment with Quinton Plasma was provided for countless expectant and lactating mothers, their unweaned babies, and for children and adults of all ages, who were all suffering from some form of disease or disorder. This therapy was set aside during the First World War, but in the years that followed, Drs. Jarricot, Mac�, Potocki, and a number of other physicians continued to use this form of therapy, and they proceeded to carry out further research into the therapeutic benefits of with significant results.
The development of synthetic chemistry and the advent of the Secong World War caused a slowing down in research on marine plasmas. In the fifties, however, a number of German scientists became interested in the subject once again, and they subsequently developed a system of oral administration for the plasma. French scientific interest was revived in the sixties and seventies, while the Spanish, the Italians and the Americans soon followed suit. Today, Original Quinton formulas are being used as a dietary mineral supplement with excellent results in Europe, North America and Latin America, and their potential is being viewed with renewed attention.
The concentration of mineral salts in the seas and ocean of an earlier geological era was very different from that to be found in present-day. Consequently, Ren� Quinton was obliged to overcome several difficulties and setbacks related to this fact before producing, to his own satisfaction, a version of the plasma which was virtually identical with human blood plasma and which would meet his own standards.
Today, the manufacture of Original Quinton Plasma faithfully follows the rules established by Ren� Quinton in his original research. The process also involves making use of sophisticated production equipment and state-of-the-art methods of biological analysis, in addition to stringent quality controls.
The sea water to be harvested is monitored and analyzed periodically for its quality, prior to collection, in order to avoid any possibility of pollution. The processing, which includes several stages, is carried out in a sterile environment, while cold microfiltration techniques guarantee that the plasma retains all its vitality. Each production lot is sampled, analyzed, and quarantined, then only released to the market once all the quality standards have been met.
What is Quinton | Where Quinton comes from | How Quinton is produced | What it contains Quinton Nutritional Benefits Ionic form easily assimilable by the body cells.
No vitamins absorption without minerals.
Anti oxidant supplements - Prevents disease.
The perfect anti aging liquid solution.
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
I have no idea as to the worth of Mag cloride but its nice to see some appreciation of the work of Rene Quinton
Wallace
Medical Miracles from the Sea
International Medical Verities Association
The secrets of the sea are miracles waiting to be discovered by medical science. The world of tomorrow will see a different kind of medicine, one that uses sea water in any of its many forms. First there is pure sea water and the health benefits that can be derived from it. Seawater contains every mineral and trace mineral known in organic form and in the proper ratios needed by human tissues. Dr. Ren� Quinton, French biologist/physiologist, proved that pure seawater is virtually identical to mammalian blood plasma. With the assistance of many eminent physicians, he successfully used seawater as a healing agent on thousands of patients in France and Egypt in the early 1900s.[i] Navy doctors successfully used seawater during the Second World War when blood serum supplies ran out.
Many disease conditions responded to injections of the diluted ocean water -- a true "marine plasma" which could re-mineralize the sick body, normalize the pH (acid-alkaline) level and balance the electrolytes, thereby correcting the underlying cause of many disease conditions by regenerating the "internal terrain", as Quinton called it.
Then there is pure sea water with just the salt removed and the Japanese are pumping it up from thousands of feet from the waters surrounding Hawaii, removing the salt, and selling it in exponentially expanding quantities to their populations living half an ocean away. They seem to know something that their western counterparts have not even guessed at. A century ago doctors in France routinely used sea water to great effect. Babies were brought back from near death from cholera and other causes; cadaver-like bodies filled out to healthy plumpness; raw, weeping skin from eczema made smooth and lesion-free, all by the power of seawater.
We also have diluted sea water concentrations that are ideal for treating children and for use in transfusions instead of whole blood plasma.[ii] And then we have sea water concentrates where not only the salt has been removed but much of the water. When we concentrate sea water in this way we end up with a magnesium chloride solution that acts simultaneously as a super nutrient and a powerful medicine without equal.
Seawater can be taken orally, can be injected, or when concentrated can be applied topically.
To use ocean water as blood plasma, it must be diluted with ultra-pure water to the same concentration as blood plasma: namely, nine grams of salt per liter. ``Just think what a safe, effective, plentiful substitute for blood transfusion would mean to the world: no side effects, no blood-type matching needed, no pathogen screening required, and it would be a true plasma with proven healing properties in itself,'' writes Dianne Jacobs Thompson in Nexus Magazine. She continues, ``As the perfect mineral supplement, it can be consumed orally in dilute form or full strength by those with no sodium sensitivities--but only in small amounts, like an ounce [0.03 liters] at a time, several times a day if necessary.''
The Greatest Miracle from the Sea
65% of magnesium metal that is produced in the world comes from seawater evaporation. Almost every element, including gold and uranium, is found in traces in seawater.[iii]
Magnesium chloride solutions gained from sea water evaporation (or by industrial pharmaceutical fabrication) offers a medical miracle to humanity, one that many have sought but have not found. Nothing short of a miracle is to be expected with increases in the cellular levels of magnesium. There is no wonder drug that can claim, in the clear, what magnesium chloride can. Approximately nine out of ten people will show dramatic improvements in the state of their health when they replete their magnesium levels and the very best way to do that is with magnesium chloride gained from the sea. With such ``brine solutions'' the concentrate can simply be applied to the skin or poured into bath water, and in an instant we have a medical treatment without equal in the world of medicine.
Hidden in each cubic mile of ocean water is enough healing power to put the pharmaceutical companies out of business.
Medical science and the pharmaceutical companies will eventually have to deal with the fact that the most powerful and universal medicine on earth is a basic nutrient from the sea and can be purchased by anyone at low cost. Magnesium is nothing short of a miracle to a person deficient in this mineral, bearing in mind that a minimum of 68 percent of the general population is deficient in magnesium, according to MIT. Application through oral, intravenous or transdermal methods in sufficient quantities will deliver medical and health benefits unimaginable by most practicing physicians today.
In today's restrictive medical atmosphere seawater can be referred to only as a "mineral drink". If the word "cure" were uttered or written in relation to a brand name, the "offence" would be legally actionable.
I have used the word miracle repeatedly above because sea water products and naturally derived magnesium chloride solutions (and even the more toxic over-the-counter pharmaceutical grade type of magnesium chloride) produce dramatic changes in person after person. So clear and observable are the effects that there is no mistake, no mysticism, no false claim made. Emergency room personnel know of this and use either magnesium sulfate or chloride to save peoples lives during heart attacks or to diminish the damage from strokes. And new research suggests that MgSO4 infusions may have a role in cerebral vasospasm prophylaxis if therapy is initiated within 48 hours of aneurysm rupture.[iv]
Vast reservoirs of magnesium chloride have been with us all along as a healing and life-giving agent, hidden in plain sight.
Medicine today is more and more frequently described in terms of science. With the origin and development of drugs and surgical techniques, modern medicine has thought itself to be evermore exact and evermore resembling the hard sciences of chemistry and physics. Evidence-based medicine promises a clearer future even though the quality of the evidence used in modern allopathic medicine is highly suspect. There is no such cloud of doubt hanging over the scientific evidence that makes it clear why magnesium would be both potent and safe. Read The Magnesium Miracle by Dr. Carolyn Dean or my book Transdermal Magnesium Therapy and you will meet researchers from all over the globe who have weighed in on the subject.
Transdermal is the ultimate way to replenish cellular magnesium levels. Every cell in the body bathes and feeds in it and even DHEA levels are increased naturally, according to Dr. Norman Shealy
There is no denying the medical power and potential of magnesium yet the medical world continues with its obtuse arrogance, still content that millions are hurt by pharmaceutical drugs that were designed more to make money than to help people. When it comes to magnesium chloride and how easily it can be safely applied, we are presented with a sad crime as professionals in responsible positions turn their back on the medical breakthrough of the century. It seems clear that medical people who have sold their souls to the pharmaceutical paradigm are no more interested in helping people than the drug companies, which can trace their reign of terror back to the concentration camps where they had doctors torturing men, women and children on a routine basis.
Magnesium chloride will find a home not only in the medical world where some fine physicians have been using it for decades, but also in the sports world, where it will be used to improve athletic performance as well as prevent injuries, and heal injuries that have already occurred. Magnesium chloride will also find its place eventually in the beauty business because when used transdermally it has a positive effect on the skin.[v]
Beauty and health are in reality highly related subjects. Rarely do we see an unhealthy person who is beautiful or a beautiful person who is grossly unhealthy. As we lose our health our beauty is diminished by the diseases we fall victim to. In ancient China magnesium is called the beautiful metal and it will bring nothing but beauty to one's life, body and skin.
In a minimum of ninety percent of clinical situations, magnesium chloride is the first substance that should be applied. It is a foundational treatment that is only exceeded by the importance of water and full hydration of patients. Its use as the cornerstone in medical treatment will eliminate the need for tens of billions of dollars of other drugs that hold dangers that are not inherent in the use of a basic mineral from the sea. When combined with other natural substances we have a natural treatment approach to medicine that is safe, effective and highly affordable.
Whether for prevention, treatment or even emergency care, non-pharmaceuticals offer humanity hope and an escape from a terrible darkness strangling modern civilization. The greatest plagues confronting humanity are fermented by the chemical and pharmaceutical industries that represent the embodiment of unbridled evil; everything mean and ugly concentrated and organized in a way that speaks of terror and terrorism that kills and hurts more men, women and children than any war ever has. Packaged and marketed in white, never has the darkness been so dark. So look to the sea, look to Nature and thank goodness that God in the end is still more intelligent than the most intelligent man.
International Medical Veritas Association Copyright 2006 All rights reserved.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: The communication in this email is intended for informational purposes only. Nothing in this email is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice.
[i] Rene Quinton "was the first person to discern and to investigate the similarity between sea water and mammalian lymph and blood plasma systems. He endeavored to solve the mysteries of sea water and its compatibility with living organisms by proceeding to carry out several scientific experiments in hospitals. The results he obtained were dramatically unexpected, since several people who were dying regained their vigor. Rene Quinton worked in collaboration with Drs. Potocki, Mace and Jarricot, and for four years he labored at perfecting his techniques and adjusting dosages. In 1904, he released the results of his hospital experiments in a book entitled, 'L'eau de mer, milieu organique' (Sea Water: Organic Medium). The book was re-issued in 1995 because of the timeliness of its well- researched contents."
[ii] In one experiment, Ren� Quinton and his medical team drained a dog of all of its blood and replaced it with isotonic (diluted) seawater. The dog should have died immediately, one would think, but the dog lived. On day two after the transfusion, 50 per cent of the blood components had reappeared. By day four, almost 100 per cent of the missing blood components were restored in what appeared to be proof of biological transmutation (a change from one element to another). Not only did the blood completely regenerate, but soon after the procedure the dog bounced around like a puppy with greater vitality than before, and it lived for many years afterwards.
[iii] The major ions are conservative. This means that they have constant ratios, to one another and to salinity, in almost all ocean water. Sea salts have constant composition. They almost always consist of: 55% sodium ion, 31% chloride, 8% sulfate, 4% magnesium ion, 1% calcium ion, 1% potassium ion.
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
Thanks for the additional info on your personal treatment, Wallace. I hope you will let us know how it goes. I don't think very many people are familiar with the marine/seawater thing, and it always helps to hear from REAL PEOPLE how they fare with something like this.
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE THERAPEUTIC PROPERTIES OF SEAWATER PREPARATIONS
Andr� Passebecq
Ph. D, M.D, naturopath Jean-Marc Soulier
Ph. D, pharmacist
in collaboration with the Ocean Plasma team.
In this page... Introduction
I. Terrain
II. Internal Environment
III. Ocean Water Facts
IV. Ocean Water and the Human Organism
V. Uses of Ocean Plasma
VI. Applications
VII. Conclusion
Introduction
''The germ is nothing, terrain is everything``
Over the centuries, the medical notion of terrain* has been gaining ground and it is now considered as a key factor in the search for the primary causes of illness and the establishment of a treatment that is not only symptomatic or palliative but also truly curative.
The word "terrain" has been judiciously borrowed from agriculture. It is well known that the soil is not the inert support of vegetable matter, but that its mineral composition, microbial life, structure, pH, etc.... dramatically affect the health of crops growing on it. Similarly it is now increasingly recognized that the terrain of an individual may predispose him to a certain physiologic development, making him more susceptible to certain types of diseases.
From an anatomical viewpoint, biologist Ren� Quinton (1866-1925) who authored "Ocean Water, organic matrix" showed that the composition and structure of the organic terrain (the internal environment) presents major similarities with those of selected Ocean Waters, elaborated and packaged in a rigorous manner so as to obtain the so-called Marine Plasma (Ocean Plasma).
In this paper we intend to compare, on the one hand, the human terrain and the effects due to its imbalance and on the other, ocean plasma, its composition and vital potential. This will enable us to establish the links between human plasma and ocean plasma and to study the therapeutic effects of ocean water.
* The word terrain has been used in the French medical vocabulary to define the generic predispositions of an individual, be it from the genetic, physiological or psychic viewpoint, including his/her specific strengths and weaknesses. This concept, which has gained considerable respect in the past decades, places the emphasis on the individual rather than his/her environment in the search for the origin of his/her pathology.
I. Terrain
The word ``terrain", which is employed in various medical fields, may encompass genetic and physiologic predispositions as well as morphologic or psychic characteristics. In this paper, it is used in its physiologic sense, i.e. it is equated with the internal environment composed of various organic fluids, lymph, blood plasma, interstitial fluid, i.e. 25 to 30 percent body weight.
It is this internal environment that provides body cells with all the substances required for their survival and activity. It is also in this matrix that waste products are released. The internal environment is the focusing point of the regulatory mechanisms of the body. All these complex mechanisms interact to ensure homeostasis (equilibrium) of the internal environment: maintenance of osmotic pressure, acid/alkaline balance (pH), partial pressure of oxygen, carbon dioxide, temperature, glycemia...
To maintain a healthy body, homeostasis must be kept constant: thus a dynamic equilibrium is continuously reconstructed in the face of modifications due to the surrounding metabolism. A healthy organic terrain is the basis of health and conversely diseases develop in a depleted or congested terrain.
Upstream of most diseases there is an unbalanced terrain.
II. Internal Environment
From a strictly mineral viewpoint, the internal environment consists of an aqueous solution of electrolytes dosed at 9�. These elements are listed according to their concentration:
Mineral salts whose concentration is in excess of 1 mg/L Trace elements for which the concentration is less than 1 mg/L.
A. Mineral salts
The four most abundant cations in the body are sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium from which phosphorus cannot be dissociated. Sodium is the monovalent cation characteristic of the extra-cellular fluid (ECF) and, conversely, potassium is that of intra-cellular fluid (ICF). The composition of salts present in the ICF greatly differs from that of ECF but directly depends on the composition of the latter. The relations of the ICF and the ECF are ensured by the ion pumps of the cell membrane.
Sodium
Among the salts indispensable to life, sodium chloride is quantitatively the most important in the internal environment. Generally, it can be said that the sodium content governs the osmosis of the intercellular fluid. With potassium, sodium plays a major role in depolarizing the nervous and muscular fibre. With magnesium, sodium regulates the activity of acetyl-cholin and therefore influences intestinal peristalsis. The calcium-sodium ratio seems to have a preponderant influence on myocardial contractibility.
Potassium
Potassium directly influences the heart's actions, muscular activity and all endocrine glands. Any excess potassium or deficit thereof will cause heart disorders, insufficient or inhibited growth, a weakening of the nervous system, muscular fatigue, terrain weakening and a increased susceptibility to diseases such as rhinitis, bronchitis, joint pains, boils, caries etc. When the sodium-potassium balance is broken, intracellular potassium is replaced by sodium and hydrogen from the internal environment, resulting in ICF acidification and ECF alkalization.
Calcium
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body, accounting for 2 percent of total body weight (TBW) with 99 percent contained in the skeleton, the remainder being in the internal medium. It is primarily an ECF electrolyte, the ICF equivalent being magnesium. The calcium rate in blood is kept constant (calcemia) by the thyroid and para-thyroid hormones and only varies in diseases of the bone like chronic rheumatism or tetany. In case of deficiencies and excess internal terrain acidity, the bones yield their calcium to the blood to maintain homeostasis and thus indirectly causing osteoporosis. Calcium comes into play during cellular "breathing", the excitability of the nervous fibre and muscular contractions. It is also involved in blood coagulation. Like other bivalent cations, it stabilizes structures.
Phosphorus
Phosphorus cannot be dissociated from calcium. Any imbalance impairs proper assimilation and fixation of calcium, resulting in delayed growth in children and osteopathies in adults. Phosphorus is present in the body in a mineral and organic form. As a mineral, phosphorus serves as a phosphate buffer. Passports plays a major role in the acid-alkaline balance, it is one of the major constituents of the body's alkaline reserve. As an organic molecule component, phosphorus is a constituent of the nucleic and ribonucleic acids and energy transmitters (A.D.P. - A.F.P).
Magnesium
Like potassium, magnesium is essentially present in ICF and only slightly present in the external environment. Magnesium plays an important role in ossification and sugar metabolism. It governs muscular contraction and is indispensable to leukocyte activity: more than potassium or calcium, magnesium constitutes an anti-pathogenic agent. It is involved in cell permeability modifications and, in case of permeability disorders, the health of the cell and therefore that of the body are greatly compromised. Magnesium deficit causes certain neuromuscular disorders, as noted in spasmophilia. In middle age (60 years and over), manifestations like loss of strength, chronic fatigue and shivering are symptoms frequently attributed to a magnesium deficit.
Interactions and balance of mineral salts Magnesium can only be used by the body if a balanced calcium-phosphorus ratio exists. Magnesium acts as a regulator of calcium fixation and serves as a phosphorus carrier. It is therefore an integral part of the calcium-phosphorus complex. Any calcium-phosphorus imbalance reduces the resistance to illness and therefore enhances susceptibility to diseases, increases fatigue, weakens intellectual faculties and leads to premature ageing. In addition, an abnormal potassium rate produces a magnesium and sodium imbalance. No salt is independent of the others as they all interact directly or indirectly with the other electrolytes.
Much more than an isolated salt, Magnesium is the general equilibrium of the saline matrix of the internal environment which will ensure proper functioning of the organism. For example, the influence of the different salts on cardiac activity evidences their separate involvement: sodium through volemia (functions of the blood) and its relation to calcium, potassium regulating cardiac automation, calcium and magnesium governing muscular contraction, etc.
B. Trace elements
Trace elements are metals or metalloids that account for a minute percentage of the organic components. However, they fulfill a number of major functions: they are enzyme co-factors, vitamin constituents like cobalt in vitamin B12, electron carriers such as iron that also forms the nucleus of the hemoglobin molecule. They regulate hormonal mechanisms (iodine and thyroid), and play a key role in immunity mechanisms (copper, manganese, etc).
The in vivo study of trace elements is delicate: reactions involving trace elements are often reversible and require specific conditions that depend upon the environment's acidity, the oxidization of the elements present, temperature, the presence or absence of other trace elements, the chaining of previous reactions (action synergy), substrate concentration, and the form of the elements present (coefficient of dissociation of salts, level of activation of ions, etc). A full scientific comprehension of trace elemental interaction will take centuries of study. No element should be surveyed outside of its own its sphere of influence. Yet, a certain number of rules governing the use of trace elements can nonetheless be stated...
a multitude of interactions: Iron can only act if copper controls its absorption and use in the organism, not to mention the fact that the assimilation of iron and copper depends on the quantity of manganese available in the organism. A massive copper intake progressively produces a zinc deficiency, etc;
activity at minute doses: One billionth of a gram of metal contains 2.5 billion atoms; one to ten atoms suffice to reactivate a molecule from an enzyme (e.g. carboxypeptidase, human cytocuprein, the maximum activity of which ranges from 200 to 240 micro grams/mol. of copper and which decreases between 240 and 400 to disappear at 675. Its content is 2 atoms g/mol (27);
importance of the form under which the trace element is supplied to the organism: The form conditions the trace element's biologic activity;
diversity of the elements needed: Most, if not all, elements from Mendeleev's Table (metal and metalloids) are utilized by the organism. Their role is either known or presumed known but it will take much more time to put all that knowledge into its proper context.
major consequences result from their deficit: For example a copper deficiency produces aneurysms, anemia, white hair, sagging of tissues, thyroidal and pituitary conditions, and genital gland disorders, fragility of bone, autointoxication (owing to enzymatic dysfunction).
Trace elements account for approximately 3 percent of the electrolytes present in the internal environment where they form an extremely complex synergy. Any synergy disturbance causes a healthy terrain to become susceptible to a particular type of pathology, as shown in Menetrier's work.
C. The pH
The internal medium's pH homeostasis (acid/alkaline balance) is one of the key factors in the organic balance. pH variation margins are narrow: from 7.35 to 7.45. Outside this ideal range, the body's activity is no longer optimal and downgrades to 6.8 (hyperacidity) and 8.0 in acute alkalosis. Beyond these limits, metabolism is greatly impaired and the death of the organism may even occur. The body's pH is kept constant by buffers present in the internal environment, that is, primarily by carbonate-carbonic acid buffers, bi- and monobasic phosphate buffers and proteic buffers.
pH is influenced by:
Metabolic sub-products: lactic acid which results from muscular activity, carbonic acid produced during respiratory movements. Diet: pH is affected by the various categories of food according to their composition and the mechanisms involved: a food which is acid owing to its composition can become alkalinizing following metabolization (e.g. acid and sub-acid fruit).
Excess acidity causes numerous health problems. Among these are:
Weakening of the cutaneous tissue: skin, hair, nails, teeth; Deterioration in the digestive tract mucosa: intestinal micro-lesions promoting auto-intoxication, rectal burns, inflamed gingiva; Disturbance of the nervous system, sciatica, tendency to depressive illness; Muscular spasms and cramps; Enhanced susceptibility to infections; Chronic fatigue; loss or blockage of certain minerals which then become unavailable.
These considerations having been being stated, Ocean Water can now be studied.
III. Ocean Water Facts
Ocean water is an extraordinarily rich and complex matrix that still possesses numerous unexplained features. Therefore, let us remember that the structure of Ocean Water remains incompletely understood. Indeed, to this day, no model encompasses all of its physico-chemical properties. In addition, the elements that compose the marine saline matrix also exhibit specific properties: for example, the coefficient of dissociation of sea salts present in the ocean water is higher than that observed in salts dissolved in distilled water, in spite of the simultaneous presence of other salts in ocean water. A 33� solution of sea salts, re-dissolved in distilled water, does not exhibit all the properties of natural Ocean Water of the same salinity.
Coefficient of dissociation of salts in ocean water and in distilled water (according to Ivanoff)
Values of solubility products (in mol/L) of salts, in distilled water and ocean water of salinity 35� (at 20�C). Also furnished are the ionic products (in mol/L) corresponding to the same salts in ocean water with a chlorinicity of 19�, at 20�C and a pH of 8.2.
In addition, most of the constituents dissolved in ocean water (except for CaCO3) are far from saturated, irrespective of the importance of the external inputs or the availability of these elements in submerged rocks.
Whatever the total saline concentration, the relative concentrations of the different ions present in ocean water with respect to that of chlorine can be regarded as constant. The complex mechanisms governing these concentrations have yet to be fully explained by science. Also, the issue of artificial ocean water reconstitution remains highly complex: chemists have to introduce certain dosage modifications associated with the stability of the elements present in original Ocean Water at a very low concentration.
Phosphorus Cycle in the Ocean (according to Ivanoff)
Phosphorus undergoes a cycle in the ocean appears alternately as an organic or mineral form: the mineralization of organic phosphorus is due to bacterial action. Conversely, inorganic phosphorus is included in the organic matter following metabolization by plants and animals, in other words, Phosphorus is present in the Ocean Waters in the form of various organic compounds in suspension or, in solution, as inorganic phosphates either insoluble or adsorbed by particulates in suspension, and first and foremost as soluble inorganic phosphate ions constituting phosphate buffers: the phosphorus concentration in the ocean depends on the balance of this cycle.
The wealth and diversity of mineral salts and trace elements present in Ocean Water is exceptional. Gregory and Overberger have shown that the marine saline matrix contains the 92 trace elements of Mendeleev's periodic table. It includes all vital nutrient salts and trace elements at concentrations ranging from 1mg/L and 10-10 (to the minus 10) mg/L. It exhibits an important buffering capability, with a pH of between 7.9 and 8.3 and a mean saline concentration of 33�.
Note in particular that all the minerals contained in ocean water are at a concentration close to that which are usually found in man's internal environment.
Concentration of elements in ocean water and their environments (per Ivanoff (7))
Element Mass
Present in 600g of rocks in mg Concentration
In Ocean Water in mg/kg Percentage % dissolved and in Suspension
Si
Al Fe Ca
Na
K
Mg
Ti
Mn
P
S
C
Cl
Sr
Ba
Rb
F
Cr
Cu
V
Ni
W
Li
Ce
Zn
Sn
Co
Y
La
Pb
Mo
Cs
Br
As
Sc
B
U
Se
Cd
Hg
I
Ag
Au
Ra 165 000
53 000
31 000
22 000
17 000
15 000
13 000
3 800
560
470
300
300
290
250
230
190
160
120
60
60
60
41
39
26
24
24
24
19
11
10
9
4
3
3
3
2
2
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.2
0.06
0.003
6.10 to the -7 3
0.01
0.01
400
10 500
380
1 300
0.001
0.002
0.07
900
30
19 000
13
0.03
0.12
1.3
0.000 05
0.003
0.002
0.002
0.000 1
0.17
0.000 005
0.01
0.000 8
0.000 1
0.000 3
0.000 01
0.000 93
0.01
0.000 5
65
0.003
0.000 04
5
0.003
0.000 4
0.000 1
0.000 03
0.08
0.000 04
0.000 02
10 to the -10 0.002
0.000 02
0.000 03
1.8
62
2.6
10
0.000 03
0.000 4
0.015
300
10
6 550
5.2
0.015
0.06
0.08
0.000 04
0.005
0.003
0.003
0.000 25
0.4
0.000 02
0.04
0.003
0.000 4
0.001 5
0.000 1
0.000 3
0.1
0.01
2 170
0.1
0.001
250
0.15
0.1
0.03
0.01
30
0.06
0.7
0.015
Percentage of elements dissolved or in suspension in Ocean Water,
assuming each kg of the latter bleached 600 grams of rocks
as estimated by geologists.
IV. Ocean Water and the human organism
A Comparison of the same composition of ocean water and organic liquids (value of organic composition from Ganong)
Comparison of electrolyte compositions in isotonic ocean water, extra-cellular liquid, blood plasma and intra-cellular liquid. The height of each column represents the total electrolyte concentration
Legend (click)
The comparative study of ocean water and the internal environment highlights the similarity between the mineral composition of human plasma and ocean water.
In addition, the results of treatments using correctly formulated ocean water preparations demonstrate the amazing therapeutic efficacy of such ocean water. How can this be explained? What are the links between ocean water and the vital internal environment? As a final analysis, what is the influence of ocean water on the ionic and mineral balance of the organism?
In this study, we discuss the research and therapeutic applications of Ocean Plasma as published by Ren� Quinton. His findings can be briefly summarized as follows:
1. The precursors of the first human cells were undoubtedly unicellular organisms and thus they were the ancestors of human beings.
2. These unicellular cells lived in ocean water. Their needs in terms of trace elements and mineral salts were met by solely by the Ocean Water. Also, the buffering capability of the ocean environment provided the acid-base (acid-alkaline) balance.
3. Following a great many zoological observations that will not be discussed here, Quinton maintained that, in order to ensure complete cellular development, the human organism preserved as its internal environment a medium similar to that of the oceans at the time when cellular life began.
4. Quinton demonstrated that isotonic ocean water, that is the marine liquid medium reduced to the concentration of an organism's internal environment, has remained the preferred internal environment of human and animal cells.
5. He postulated that from the mineral point of view, human and Ocean Plasma are environments of the same nature. In other words, "there is physical and physiological identity between ocean water and the internal environment of the organism``. Not only do they exhibit very similar mineral compositions but the particular form, organization and synergy of trace elements and mineral salts that make up the saline matrix of ocean water closely resemble those of the body's internal environment constituents.
6. The different assumptions made by Rene Quinton involved a whole series of facts borne out by zoological observations and experiments. Then Quinton surveyed the possible medical applications of his findings.
7. Together with a medical team, for more than 25 years, Quinton developed the famous "marine method" based on "Quinton's Plasma" or "Ocean Plasma", as an injectible isotonic solution of ocean water.
The works of physicians Jarricot, Robert Simon, Lach�ze, Mac� and Quinton, all rely on the principle of regenerating the depleted internal environment by means of purified ocean water. This results in a balanced and complete composition, so as to allow the patient to systematically reconstruct the internal terrain, the cells, and thus establish homeostasis.
The work of Quinton and his collaborators dealt with various types of cutaneous disorders, neuro-vegetative asthenias, anorexia, acute cachexia, infant diarrhea, deep dehydrations, gastro-enteritis, pulmonary tuberculosis, cholera, and typhus.
The exceptional results which were obtained from the discoveries and work of these pioneers should now be supplemented by new research. Their writings and the listed clinical cases demonstrate the great therapeutic attractiveness of Quinton's research findings and the efficacy of his method.
V. Uses of Ocean Plasma
A. Form Ocean water can be employed in a variety of ways, namely:
1. Thalassotherapy: recommends the use of ocean water in its natural state outdoors at a temperature of more or less 36�C; also based on the benefits of sea climate;
2. By injection: Ocean Plasma used to be formulated as an injectible isotonic solution;
3. By mouth: Ocean Plasma can be ingested as a hypertonic solution. Its salt concentration is that of pure ocean water, namely 33�, and it is therefore hypertonic relative to man's internal environment, the saline concentration of which is 9�. This particular form will be discussed in this paper in greater detail.
4. Colonic Hydrotherapy (Irrigations):
Ocean Plasma is added in the final phase of colonic hydrotherapy where the mucosa of the large intestine absorbs the isotonic Ocean Water within 5 to 15 minutes. According to the writings of Dr. Jean-Claude Rodet, this method is very effective to restore the internal terrain. Dr. Rodet's monograph entitled "Possibilities, advantages and benefits of ocean water in HydroTherapy" is a fine document to refer to.
5. Vaginal douche: In cases of vaginal infections, hypertonic ocean water (10 ml) has historically been used as a vaginal douche, using suitable traditional douche equipment, from 1 to 3 times daily, according to the severity of the condition. The liquid can be retained for about 15 minutes while lying down.
The results obtained depend on the quality of the preparations. Ocean Plasma is a product solely obtained from ocean waters with balance, vitality and richness in trace elements and is prepared according to processes respecting the vital properties of ocean water. The form, composition and synergy of mineral salts and trace elements has to be maintained unaltered until they are assimilated by the organism.
B. Ocean Plasma is a living medium
It is worth pointing out that living matter differs from mineral matter in its organization and not in the nature of the atoms that compose it. A living cell is basically much more than the sum of its elements. The mere dosage of its chemical components does not suffice in itself to account for the therapeutic effect of Ocean Plasma.
A good illustration of this can be found in therapeutic mineral waters; except for the elements that are abundant in it, these waters exhibit their curative properties essentially only at the time when they are drawn from the mineral water spring. These waters seem to lose their vitality quickly although all the constituent chemical elements remain unchanged.
How can we explain the specific therapeutic gain that results from the use of the trace elements present in Ocean Plasma? The assumption of "physiologic" identity between human plasma and Ocean Plasma pre-supposes a form of availability of all the elements needed by the body. This has been proven in practice.
C. Mineral salts and trace elements
The study of the internal environment highlights the interactions between the constituent salts. Their overall balance is a consideration of primary importance: each salt can only be correctly assimilated and metabolized if the internal environment is balanced. If, separately assimilated, it should be at the dose corresponding to the person's individual needs.
This shows the limitations, not to say the dangers, of a massive or excessive intake of each element. For example, according to Dr. F. Mirc�, the prolonged assimilation of magnesium salts would progressively lead to liver and pancreas disturbances. Ocean Plasma does not contain excessive quantities of unbalanced mineral salts and so is perfectly balanced and assimilable, which allows the body to regulate itself.
The assimilation of Ocean Plasma's mineral salts is excellent:
"Unintentionally, after drinking huge quantities of water from the Dead Sea, hospitalized patients demonstrated the efficacy of natural mineral salts. As we read the notes of Oren and Rapoport, we are struck by the rapid increase in the magnesium rate, the same thing being also noticed with all the salts present in the Ocean Water, Ca, Na, K. The patients assimilated Ocean Water passively but so great was its efficacy that the main problems encountered after these accidents were extreme hypermagnesia and hypercalcemia."
As in the case of re-mineralization during the intake of trace elements, the form used is of great importance. In addition, the choice of the elements to be prescribed, either alone or in combination, remains delicate. If a trace element is the main agent of treatment, it does not act on its own in the body, i.e. it needs the synergy of other elements.
These considerations highlight the particular value of Ocean Plasma in trace mineral (oligo) therapy: it is a perfectly assimilable natural synergistic substance, containing all the trace elements utilized by the body at doses corresponding to the balance of the internal environment.
These considerations highlight the particular value of Ocean Plasma in trace mineral (oligo) therapy: it is a perfectly assimilable natural synergistic substance, containing all the trace elements utilized by the body at doses corresponding to the balance of the internal environment.
D. Acid-alkaline balance
Resulting from its exquisite mineral balance, Ocean Plasma should be able to restore pH balance. The German physician R�pffer thoroughly investigated the evolution of the body's pH balance in patients to whom he had prescribed hydro-marine treatments. He concluded the following:
"For normal and alkaline organisms, an increase in acid values has been established unequivocally. Similarly for hyperacid organisms, a dramatic decrease in acid values has been recorded. No case has been remained the same. It can therefore be stated that in case of a systemic inconstant acidity, a cure of drinkable ocean water causes the normal acidity to be recovered. In particular for gastritis due to dietary errors or alcohol and nicotine abuse, remarkable results have been obtained."
In itself, pH is a basic factor of homeostasis. In addition, it should be considered in all treatments related to mineral salts and trace elements: the acidification of the internal environment causes body demineralization: once the electrolytes of the internal fluids are neutralized by excess acidity, the tissues lose their minerals. As a corollary, demineralization produces terrain acidification which in turn creates a vicious circle resulting in the degradation of the mineral balance.
VI. Application
Vital hygiene cure
Today, health care problems are legion: stress, jet lag, city life, pollution due to various causes and in found in many forms, ubiquitous refined foods deficient in most minerals, etc.
Twenty five years ago, the US Public Health Service listed an amazing number of medical services provided each year in the U.S: 50 million people were treated for allergies, 110 million patients had digestive disorders, 70 million Americans suffered from obesity, 10 million patients were seen for cutaneous diseases, 5 million patients suffered poisoning due to pharmaceutical prescriptions, 32 million individuals were complete edentates (having few or no teeth) etc. In conclusion, the report estimated that only 2 percent of the population enjoyed fairly good health. These statistics are now far greater and more serious. Most of the diseases of this 'civilized world' can be separated into two classes, according to the condition of the internal environment...
either the terrain is polluted and congested by toxins, or it is deficient or unbalanced, particularly in trace elements and mineral salts.
Ocean Plasma provides a remarkable input in mineral salts and trace elements. The entire electrolyte balance is contained in Ocean Plasma...
Ocean Plasma is complete: the 92 elements of the periodic table are present in their natural form; Ocean Plasma is balanced: mineral salts and trace elements are contained at ratios corresponding to their concentrations in the internal body fluids; Ocean Plasma is perfectly assimilable.
In addition, the effect of Ocean Plasma regarding the normalization of physiological pH has been observed many times over. This regeneration of the internal environment also greatly promotes the elimination of toxins. Given the general state of health and the impressive number of mineral deficiencies, Ocean Plasma turns out to be an essential complement to any terrain treatment. It corresponds to the mineral balance of the terrain in its physiological composition.
Asthenia and revitalization Also worthy of consideration is the action of Ocean Plasma on all types of physical and psychic fatigue related to mineral imbalance, either general physical fatigue, chronic muscular pain or fatigue due to exertion, particularly that of athletes, and nervous fatigue, concentration and memory disorders, irritability, anxiety, pessimism, sleep disturbances, stress, spasmophilia. Given these many characteristic disorders, Ocean Plasma should be the ideal 'support' for geriatric care giving.
Digestive disorders
pH disorders and excess blood toxins are generally due to an unbalanced diet and intestinal and digestive disorders: these in turn cause many disturbances like aerophagia, stomach aches, burns, cramps, colitic spasms, constipation, dyskinesia, acid reflux, diarrhea, digestive sleeplessness and hepatic problems. A symptomatic treatment is then often prescribed, using antacid drugs, laxatives, intestinal dressings, anti-migraine and various digestive drugs.
The treatments using ocean water has been effective for these conditions. K�hnau noted the improvement of the digestive system mucosa following Ocean Water therapy. Quinton and Jarricot treated numerous cases of enteritis, assimilation disorders, constipation or acute diarrhea.
It is also remarkable that Ocean Plasma regulates body fluids and therefore has an impact on dehydration problems and on the regulation of the large intestine.
Circulation problems
Because of the overall action of Ocean Plasma on the internal environment and on the digestive system, it can be employed as a balancing agent in the blood pH and a blood thinner in bloodstreams congested by toxins. In the case of hypertension requiring a salt-free diet, the balancing effect of Ocean Plasma on all salt minerals should be recommended rather than banned on account of its sodium chloride content. However, patients on a low sodium diet would still require special attention, namely Isotonic Ocean Plasma.
Cutaneous problems These problems are closely linked to the availability of trace elements and the regulation of blood and cutaneous acidity. Quinton et al., utilized it to successfully treat psoriasis, eczema, pruritus, mycosis, dermoskeletal problems and skin disorders.
Infectious disease prevention
In addition to the recognized anti-infectious power of ocean water, it is mainly the importance of organic terrain balance (B�champs: "...the germ is nothing, terrain is everything "), and the specific action of certain trace elements such as Cu, Mn, etc. on the immune system that must be considered. The medical files of the marine dispensaries clearly highlight enhanced immunity. Likewise, pregnancy and infant feeding are particularly interesting cases. Certain practitioners recommend a daily intake of Ocean Plasma during the first six months of pregnancy and subsequently during the whole feeding period. The results are often astounding!
Also, it is well-known that infants are particularly sensitive to salts and hydrous regulation. The results listed by Quinton's medical team were quite impressive.
The effect of drinking Ocean Plasma has been well established to be safe and effective and without side effects.
Behind the diversity of indications and the areas of research in Ocean Plasma lie not so much the aim to arrive at a thorough understanding of its influence but rather to observe and take advantage of the consistency of its mode of action. Dr. Jarricot wrote:
"Marine Plasma is not a serum against such and such illness but it is designed for the living cell!``
In other words, it is a product which, by its very nature, primarily contributes to the restoration of health and the suppression of disease and its symptoms. This is the meaning of the diversity and importance of its action relative to the general considerations on the internal environment.
Further points to be mentioned are the particular dosages: Historically, for doses of 10 ml of pure hypertonic Ocean Plasmas a drinkable solution, the following may be stated: the ideal dosage should be 10 ml per day over a year. Generally, if the treatment focuses on the effect of trace elements, the quantities required are not very important but regularity and the quality of intake should be carefully addressed:
As a seasonal maintenance cure, chronic fatigue syndrome, as a complement to another treatment, 2 to 4 doses of 10 ml per day for approximately one month - to be continued according to need;
Acid reflux is quickly remedied by frequent supplementation of Ocean Plasma, as needed;
For major pH and mineral salt imbalances, the dosages become more important; from 4 to 8 daily for a considerable time exceeding 3 months. It is best to consult this web site for more detailed references: http://oceanplasma.org.
VII. Conclusion
Ocean water is a living medium that offers a remarkable mineral balance relative to the internal environment of the organism: all its elements are naturally dosed in proportions close to those of the internal environment and form a highly active biologic synergy. From a therapeutic point of view, the influence of ocean water on the organism is of fundamental importance in terms of pH balance, mineral salts and trace elements.
Present studies have shown the efficacy of the method and the desirability of more research so as to better understand the interactions of Ocean Plasma and the human body. Further research should also be undertaken in order to better comprehend the organization, form and structure of mineral salts and trace elements and their interactions with the human organism.
The ocean is the birthplace of life and the medium of an infinitely rich and complex biological activity. Ocean water is also the natural mineral substitute for the internal environment and human plasma, thus opening the door to a major area of research which is particularly important in the face of the crises in public health.
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Posted by Jennifer Geddie (Member # 9097) on :
Wallace , this would find some credibility if there are ACTUAL people who can say that it has helped them get WELL .
There are sooooooooooooooooooo MANY supplements that are supposed to help us and frequently they make very little difference . Please let us know if there are folks who experience cure for this rather exotic sounding stuff that has nebulous claims ( at least to me) .
jen
Posted by clairenotes (Member # 10392) on :
July, 2003 -- At a health seminar, I met some naturopathic graduates students who had just come back from Hawaii. As part of their educational process they had to do a seawater cleanse or fast. The seawater used, had to be so many miles away from shore, and so many feet deep in the water. Some did well, from what I remember, some had difficulty.
Claire
Posted by ellenr (Member # 9333) on :
Certainly some people get better without antibiotics. I suggest you check out a list on which people discuss their experience using Stephen Buhner's protocol: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Lyme_Aid_Buhner/
Do the research and make up your own mind. Don't be scared into thinking there is only one way. IMO antibiotics cripple the body's immune system, thus leaving one defenseless.
ellen
Posted by JimBoB (Member # 8454) on :
You are right Ellen, there IS more than one way. Probably more than two ways.
AND each of us need some things different. It is like that with most things in life. Quality, in whatever venue we chose, usually cannot be met with cookie cutter mentality.
We need to think for ourselves and work it out best we can. Remember, even the best of the docs out there are floundering with this thing. They all keep hoping for new things that will work. And some do, on some.
Jim ###
Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
Has anyone noticed bogi hasnt even responded? As his/her name suggests?
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
Bogi may be back eventually.
But frankly, after the initial reception he/she got from Mr. Congeniality, I can't say as I blame her/him for seeking help and advice elsewhere.
Tracy
Posted by John292 (Member # 4628) on :
SILVER BIOTIC silver from the candia wellness center works.
DO NOT TAKE COLLODIAL SILVER
The colloidal silver is too big and will get stuck in the tiny tiny blood vessels.
You will herx from biotic silver. When I first started to take this I had to stay home for about 4 days. It was pretty rough after that going to work for several weeks.
There are other forms of the tiny silver available too.
Posted by MariaA (Member # 9128) on :
Mr (or ms) Congeniality (I can't remember who it was) deleted their initial snappy post, thank you for doing so.
Maria
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
My experience is that of ALL the people I know IN PERSON (not heard of online but never MET) who have gotten better, abx has been responsible for EVERY SINGLE one WITH the exception of supplemental artemisia being COMMON with this same group EXCEPT one guy who got better using only colostrum & cats claw. This doesn't mean that this will continue to be the case- and MANY of those people with abx used herbs or supplements as wELL. But I don't know *a single person* besides the one cats claw colostrum guy who did NOT have antibiotics that helped.
The people I see who don't get well are those who jump one hting to another- and then complain about all of them- usually the poor people with gut issues with abx- I am sorry for them, I am glad I have cast iron guts. But those same people tend to be the ones who don't like Herxes- who take any worsening as a sign to stop abx instead of to keep going to get the gains...
I *DO* believe that there WILL BE some herbal successes with the Buhner protocols because he actually knows herbs very well- and I am HOPING very much to change the above in what I know of what works. There are some locals on that and I am truly truly praying they get better with it. I hope they do. But as of now, I advise newbies to stick with what I see work- and what that is is the following:
a. get treated with abx and stay on until well b. get treated for all coinfections regardless of serology
that simple. That's the best odds!!!!!!!
And as far as antibiotics being dangerous???? For many people they aren't.
Saccharomyces Boulardii is important to take if you have antibiotic related diarrhea! You can die from antibiotic related diarrhea. We had a lovely local guy here die from that. That was an antibiotic treatment complication death. One thing I learned from doing the Lyme Memorial Page is that there are more than a couple treatment related deaths on the pages. One woman died in a heat box that was supposed to sauna her but prompted a heart attack. A few people died from infected Groshong catheters- you have to be careful with IV!! There ARE risks. One woman died from candida. Not the hot box but the others are related to antibiotics. Then again, peopple die from treatment complications with ALL illnesses and ALL medications. People die from Viagra and aspirin and cough syrup... ANyway, I fervently believe that 9 months of IV Rocephin saved my life and I would be more than willing to risk death were I in the same situation again than to endure that hell of physcial pain and grievance. But there ARE risks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are they worth it>? Heck yes*)*!)!*)! I think so.
Life is wonderful today for me. 7 years ago I didn't believe I would live anymore.
I am very grateful for IV Rocephin- it saved my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do believe some therapies are very HELPFUL with Lyme but not curative or restorative in a way that antibiotics are.
Posted by geniveve (Member # 8646) on :
what are we supposed to do if we can't take antibiotics? such as our livers which just can't tolerate them anymore.
i've been on antibiotics for over a year and every single time i'm put on something my ammonia levels, enzyme levels and everything go completely through the roof.
i had such hallunications on some meds i could not function, even at nominal levels.
i've even stayed on them when the doctor said i could not tolerate them anymore and that the danger to my system was becoming acute. if the doc says stop, i had to stop. i had NO CHOICE, either that or end up in the hospital with liver damage.
is there another choice for us???
Posted by John292 (Member # 4628) on :
quote:Originally posted by geniveve: what are we supposed to do if we can't take antibiotics? such as our livers which just can't tolerate them anymore.
i've been on antibiotics for over a year and every single time i'm put on something my ammonia levels, enzyme levels and everything go completely through the roof.
i had such hallunications on some meds i could not function, even at nominal levels.
i've even stayed on them when the doctor said i could not tolerate them anymore and that the danger to my system was becoming acute. if the doc says stop, i had to stop. i had NO CHOICE, either that or end up in the hospital with liver damage.
is there another choice for us???
Gee I really feel for you. That is rough and I know a person that is pretty bad too. He has gotten himself into the autoimmune problem and has a very aggravated time of it. He can't even drink water any more with getting a reaction.
I was IV rochpen for a month and it did not help. I tried cat's claw too and that was okay for a while. I just haven't been able to get back up. This LD stuff just grows and grows and is sneaky. I kept thinking I was better and then I realize I am not.
This lady I met swears by the d-Lenolate from East Park Research. She takes 3 a day now and isn't herxing. I tried it for a few days and brain fogged pretty heavy. She says that at 6 per day it kills the keets and everything else that doesn't belong. She has come a long way after 25 years of fighting LD.
Take care, John
Posted by JimBoB (Member # 8454) on :
Genivieve: Yes, there is another way. Herbs. USE Buhner's protocol. AND by ALL MEANS be SURE to take Milk THistle, Red Root tincture, and Sarsaparilla right from the start. Especially IF you have been on abx.
You certainly don't want to lose your liver. OR any of the rest of your Lymph system that gets the poisons out of your body.
Jim Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
I have found some good testimonials from France(in French unfortunately!) Its seems fairly popular with Naturopaths over there. Its new in the U.S so..there are a few at www.originalquintons.com or is it www.originalquinton.com.
This is rather long and rambling and is unaware of the 100 year history of Quintons obviously doesn't address the pollution problems in taking any old sea water but it makes a few good points.
The Essential Health Benefits of Sea Water A Study by John Claydon D. Hom. (first proof June 1998)
The case for regular drinking of small amounts of sea water. The Missing Link in Nutritional and Most Other Therapeutic Modalities
When I mention to people about drinking sea water a frequent response goes something like this 'I thought that drinking sea water drives you mad', to which I reply 'I was mad before I started drinking it, but now I'm sane!'.
As any homoeopath should know, and also some of the 'lay public', a small amount of a substance taken can have an opposite effect to a large amount. This principle is taken a step further in the principles and practice of homoeopathy; e.g. the effects of a poison, such as a snake bite may be ameliorated by a higher dilution of the same. An excess, or a problem dealing with common table salt, sodium chloride, will produce a whole range of symptoms, these often include a tendency to fly off the handle at the least provocation, mental and physical tension, and fluid retention, regular sleepiness in the day, often with depression and insomnia. (These symptoms can also be due to other mineral imbalances)
It should be noted that there are many more symptoms than the foregoing related to sodium chloride, and that different individuals demonstrate some symptoms and not others. It takes someone who is deeply familiar with the symptom picture of this salt to even make an educated guess that it is involved in the patient's health/disease picture.
Taking salt in dilute form, such as a sprinkle (50 milligrams is adequate) in a glass of water, can rapidly begin to resolve the imbalance. Adding the same amount onto food will not. There are at least two reasons for this. The first is that as a substance is dissolved in water the molecules are better able to express their charge: e.g. sodium chloride is made up of a positively charged sodium and a negatively charged chlorine The greater the dilution the further apart are the molecules (once dissolved all the molecules remain the same distance apart, by a mutually repulsive charge). This changes the way the charge is expressed, and explains why a more dilute solution can have a greater effect on the body's electrical system ( the electrical and magnetic 'system' that coexists with our body chemistry is, I believe, an integral core of what has been referred to as the 'vital body', or the 'life-force' as studied by homoeopathy and all long-standing systems of healing). This also explains somewhat how homoeopathic potency works. The higher the dilution, the higher the potency and the longer lasting effect of each dose. It should be noted however that the higher the dilution the more important it becomes to 'sucuss' i.e. shake vigorously (the practice being to strike the diluting bottle firmly on a medium firm object such as a thick book, to produce a jarring effect on the solution). This process strengthens the electrical information pattern of the substance, and therefore makes it have a stronger effect on the person. (It has been postulated that rapid accelerations and deceleration's of the water molecules along with the ions of the dissolved substance, within the earth's magnetic field generates a stronger stored charge or field within the water molecules, thereby reinforcing the energetic information pattern)
In the nineteenth century William Boericke M.D., highly regarded homoeopath and writer, in his book 'The Twelve Tissue Remedies of Schussler' made some interesting comments about common salt or 'Natrum Muriaticum', as it is referred to, in homeopathic potency. He commented how taking ounces of salt daily fails to provide any of the essential benefits of salt in the body (toxic at these amounts) but that taking very small amounts in 'potency' can relieve some of the symptoms of this excess consumption, but it would have been better not to have taken the excess in the first place. All that was required was to take the minute, homeopathic dose. He also observes that 'the importance of this cell salt cannot be too highly estimated, for it is one of the chief 'antidotes', seeing that whenever it, or any of the other cell-salts are thrown out of the blood, etc., owing to some irritating drug or other cause, the watery fluids of the body are called into play, and as Nat. Mur. is the regulator of the distribution of such fluids, a dose thereof will set matters right so far as the fluidic disturbance is concerned'. The 'other cause' he does not expand on will form one of the main themes of this article.
I have observed many times over the last few years, in myself, and others, that therapy becomes blocked , and often does not even begin, due to an imbalance or inadequacy of salts in the correct form, sodium chloride being one of a number of essential salts or ionic minerals as they are now sometimes referred to. The longer, or more broad acting, or potent is the therapy (or 'health regime') the more likely is this typical block to manifest itself. I myself, and others have observed it to occur with the following:- broad spectrum nutritional programmes, 'Celloid Mineral' therapy (tissue salt therapy, using larger doses, yet still relatively small doses, but excluding sodium chloride), herbal therapy, (especially if using potent broad acting herb's or combinations of herb's designed to give a balanced effect), various energy therapies such as 'orgone beam', 'chi lamp' (Dr.Johanna Budwigs 'biological electron'), crystal and gem therapies, bipolar magnetic and negative magnetic therapies, 'superfoods' such as pollen, spirulina and chlorella. In short any energy or nutritional/herbal substance that carries with it the potentiality of re-establishing a higher state of order and functioning within the human system is sooner or later blocked from completing its noble task by the original or engendered salts imbalance.
In practice this is the most common, most overlooked block to all methods of impro f all the required nutrients are delivered to the cells of the body, health will result (obviously provided there are no great ongoing stresses such as great overeating, drug use, extreme stressful circumstances, overwork, lack of exercise etc.) Supplying all the required nutrients has to be done in a form that is balanced, and in the form that nature has provided, as much as possible. To date, in my opinion, there is no synthesised nutritional product that fulfils this need. However, there are several naturally occurring 'super-foods' as they have been dubbed, chlorella and spirulina are examples of blue green algae that appear to have the potential to fulfil this role. Many people attest to the health benefits of these. Chlorella is well researched at the clinical level and taken by millions of people daily, world-wide*1. It contains so many complex nutritional factors, it has the potentiality to upgrade every cell, organ, gland and system of the body. Some people do well on it, it has literally saved lives, and repaired many, yet like its cousin spirulina I have seen the majority of people who take these products to begin to go 'into healing' for a few days or weeks and then to 'lose it'. (Thereafter, an extended period of use, e.g. many months failing to have any noticeable benefit, e.g. poor sleep, fatigue, poor digestion continuing unabated.) In some cases the length of time of therapy is extended by reducing the dose to a few hundred milligrams daily, but eventually the block arrives. (These products are food and can be taken in much higher doses than generally recommended, e.g. 50 grams a day. or in the case of my healthy kitten 30 x 250 mg tablets daily and pleading for more!)
So, when such potent foods are taken, I believe, it is the sheer richness, and the complexity, of the nutritional ingredients that engenders every cell in the body into a state of better functioning. Blocked metabolic pathways are opened up, and the process of moving towards a general state of better functioning occurs. The most obvious way to ascertain if the process is moving in the right direction is the quality of sleep. Sleep should be deeper, of a more healing nature, and possibly longer, as long as the therapeutic process continues. Overall one should feel better emotionally and mentally at an early stage, although for intermittent periods, there may be some mental aberrations and adjustments due to the detoxification process, these will generally be intermittent and relatively brief. The reason for the foregoing is that in order for the body to reach a higher level of general and total health, the nervous system must begin to heal first. So, if generally on a day by day or at least, a week by week basis these (foregoing) conditions are not met, if quality of sleep has deteriorated, if you are more stressed, or more obsessive, or more anxious, then you are not undergoing a therapeutic process. You are not benefiting from your nutritional or herbal programme in an overall way, that will progress your general health, though some specific imbalances may be improved .
Almost invariably such reactions are put down to a side effect of the therapy, such as a detoxification process, not realising, least of all understanding, that there is a fundamental block in the physiological process. Detoxification should occur without stress in a way that is not generally uncomfortable, and usually involves a freer movement of fluids, such as a productive head cold, or loose catarrh, more frequent urination and or bowel movements, and an increased need and desire for water, an essential aid to the healing process. Pains/neuragias may occur briefly during the healing process but unremitting pain, obstinate inflammation, are generally signs that the healing process has been blocked.
It has taken years of frustration with my own attempts to optimise my health and seeing the same blocks occurring with patients and friends alike, (using all the various therapeutic modalities mentioned earlier), that has lead to my understanding of the essential role of sea water. The first clue came a few years ago when I found that I prescribed Nat. Mur. or sodium chloride homoeopathically more frequently than any other remedy. I began to think it was my own bias until I read that this was the most frequently prescribed homoeopathic remedy. A further clue arrived when I spoke to a David Brownie of the Institute of Geopathic Stress. He had come across a form of energy therapy called 'orgone beam'. This device supplied a basic type of energy that the body requires to function, and the device had many enthusiastic followers, with some impressive anecdotal healings. Being very interested in the field of 'energy medicine' as it is now being called, I purchased one of these devices. Trying it on myself I found that this supposed balanced energy produced a state I labelled as over stimulation or trapped energy, rendering sleep of a poor quality. Since I had only a brief exposure to the device, and had not overused it, I felt the implied claims of it being a universal healing device had fallen flat. I rang David a told him its effect on me. He said this was quite common and that he felt my brain frequency had speeded up, rendering healing, consequently, out of reach. He had found that many patients, 'M.E.' (sometimes refereed to as chronic fatigue syndrome) patients in particular, responded in the same manner. He had found that a combination of sea salt and iodine would rectify the situation. He advised the method of rubbing a couple of drops of iodine solution (This used to be known as Lugols' Reagent) anywhere on the skin daily and taking a teaspoon of sea salt twice daily. Having studied mineral therapy and homoeopathy I did not feel right about the consumption of such a large amount of salt, if this had to be extended into a regular use, and I would not feel easy about recommending this to others since there is good evidence that the potassium to sodium balance must be kept in favour of potassium, especially as a possible preventive of high blood pressure, strokes and cancer to name a few. So, I dissolved about half a pea size of sea salt in a glass of water, and sipped a couple of these glasses a day over the next three days, along with the iodine application.
I became progressively more relaxed, less 'hyper' (a feeling of being hyperactive is usually related to a preponderance of the higher Beta brain frequencies or above) with better sleep each successive night. On day four I had my second 'Orgone Beam' session for about one hour. The distinct feeling of this energy was again experienced but this time it was well integrated with a good sleep and no feeling of mental over activity. According to David Brownie this scenario has been repeated many times , i.e. is quite reproducible. It is interesting to note that the addition of salts to water considerably reduces the electrical resistance. This effect is much more marked with iodine solution, just one drop to a glass of water considerably reducing the electrical resistance. The body is as much an electrical and magnetic creature as it is a chemical one. 'Natural energies' in the body referred to in the past as Chi or Prana etc. are now widely accepted to have an electrical and magnetic component. Direct current and low frequency pulsed direct currents are measurable in and on the surface of the body. It seems reasonable to assume that mineral salts in the body not only work in the chemical organisation but also are part and parcel of the electrical system and facilitate the conduction of electrons within the body fluids. This fact is implicitly recognised in the term 'electrolytic minerals'.
It is of further interest to note that the mineral composition of the extra cellular fluid, which in a typical adult is about 26 pints, or over 3 gallons, has a composition very similar to sea water. During world war two, due to shortage in blood plasma, the use of sea water as a substitute was authorised. Looking at the mineral composition of sea salt, a typical sample contained over 99 % (dry weight) of sodium chloride, with the next most abundant mineral at a measly 0.6% (calcium sulphate). Sea water contains much higher proportions of other minerals and trace elements, magnesium at around 3.7%. Other minerals found in relatively large amounts are sulphur potassium, lithium, bromine. Minerals and the trace minerals (or trace elements as they are also referred to, the words minerals and elements being interchangeable) have many roles, each capable of performing multiple functions within the body. For example, lithium deficiency is linked to manic depression, and bromine acts as a nervine, i.e. a natural tranquilliser. It is not surprising then that along with the general role of facilitating electrical flow, administration of sea minerals, just half a teaspoon in a glass or water, has been found to rapidly calm the mind and for example, render overactive and attention deficit youngsters sufficiently reordered, to be able to learn and concentrate when all previous educational intervention had failed. 2
Sea water has a history of therapeutic use. Its application to the body, warmed and usually combined with massage, is referred to as Thalassotherapy, originating from the Greek word thalassa. Both the Greeks and the Romans recognised the therapeutic effects of sea water. The immediate general effects of warm sea water application (it can penetrate the skin more easily when warm, and enter into the blood) is relaxing, regenerative and stimulating.
The American Indians who resided in the Utah area near the Great Salt Lake regularly drank small quantities of the inland sea water. They discovered that this practice enhanced the effect of their herbal remedies. It was based on this folk use that Hartly Anderson set up a company to extract the exceptionally pure and concentrated form of sea water and to market it for health purposes. That was over 30 years ago, and many people testify to the therapeutic properties of these mineral rich waters and the beneficial effects when combined with herb's and other nutrients. The famed Poznan School of medicine in Poland found after years of research that herb's acted synergistically with minerals and vitamins, providing a superior therapeutic modality, than when minerals are not included
Visual indication that something very important is happening, and rapidly, when a small amount of sea water is drunk, has been revealed by the latest high power microscope. The microscope is a Nikon Opithat with a Naessens condenser, working at 15,000 x's magnification. The results were filmed on video camera. A drop of blood from a test subject was thus filmed. It showed clumping and stacking of the red blood corpuscles, rendering the blood cells poor distributors and collectors of oxygen. It is a condition that occurs more in older people, i.e., part of a typical health deterioration process, and also more in sick and unhealthy individuals. The individual in question then drank a small quantity of the 'inland sea' water. One hour later a fresh drop of blood was examined exactly the same way as the first one. Each blood cell was now floating independently, so that they where no longer stacked together.3
It was later discovered, using this technique, that a diet with an abundance of fresh fruits, vegetables and juices could eliminate the clumping of the red blood cells. The benefit could usually be seen within several weeks along with an increase in feeling of vitality and well-being. I personally was impressed to note an improvement in vitality within a couple of hours of my first consumption of the sea minerals or 'ionic- minerals' as they are sometimes referred to. However, it would be another three years before I more fully understood how to use sea water and the potential scope for its use as a health supplement. The role of sea water in the conduction of the body's energies/electrons and chi has been discussed but of equal importance is to understand the role of sea water from a nutritional perspective. This generally falls outside the scope of the 'mainstream' nutritional doctrines, is ahead of it, as current nutritional knowledge is yet to catch up with the complexity of nature. I hope the following discussion will throw some light on these matters. I remember a period of a few years when I tried one mineral and or vitamin supplement after another. I had a few books on the subject, and as my vitality and general health was below par, I carefully studied these books and took note of my symptoms. But the result was always the same. Each mineral or vitamin I introduced led me from one particular imbalance to another. Since that time about ten years ago I have met several individuals who have travelled the same path. Later I was to learn about a Dr. Plasket4
who had done some pioneering work on nutrition. He had found the same thing, that you cannot in practice, based on symptoms, apply nutritional therapy successfully by supplying individual nutrients. He found they had to be given in a group, beginning with calcium and magnesium, the ratio of these two being crucial, and a few associated vitamins. Only after a period of time should the trace minerals of zinc, selenium, iron, chromium and manganese be introduced to the average patient. This system has had some moderate success, but I found I obtained better results with the 'Biochemic Tissue Salts'. This was probably the first nutritional therapy developed which was based around minerals. It was developed by a Dr. Schussler in Victorian times; today much of his work has been proved to be correct. It is based on analysis of the ash remains of the body after cremation. All that remains are the minerals. An analysis of these minerals led to the identification of the 12 tissue salts. This analysis showed that the bulk of the minerals in the body are in the form of salts, that is they occur in pairs e.g., potassium occurs in 3 main forms i.e. with sulphur and oxygen as the sulphate, with chlorine as the chloride and with phosphorus and oxygen as the phosphate. Potassium takes up a positive charge and is referred to as the cation and the other half of the salt such as the phosphate has a negative charge, referred to as the anion. It took Dr. Schussler many years to classify the 'symptom pictures' of each tissue salt, and much of his work has been proved this century by the work of an Australian, Dr. Blackmore, who improved on the system by supplying somewhat higher doses, since the tissue salts of Schussler were homeopathic potency, and delivered exceptionally small amounts, working probably more from the 'information' of potency than actually delivering meaningful quantities. This method of giving actual 'pharmacological' doses of the tissue salts is referred to as 'Celloid Mineral Therapy'5. This has been in clinical use for about 50 years , and has proved a consistent therapy, often giving results where other therapies have failed. It has been well established both scientifically and in clinical practice that the cation/anion pair are the physiologically preferred form of minerals. I can personally testify to this, both in my own, and my patients' reactions. By administering minerals that are in the incorrect form, i.e. magnesium without its phosphate partner, imbalances will be created. It has also been found that in any `celloid ' mineral prescription taken for any reasonable length of time magnesium and sodium (both as the phosphate) must be prescribed, otherwise imbalances will occur. The draw-back with the celloid mineral therapy is that it is based around a practitioner diagnosing the patient's need, and this will change as therapy proceeds. It has been found that one cannot just give all the celloids, as found in the body, and expect to get results The maximum number that have been found to be effective are 5, or in some cases, less. So this is not a self help method we can use to optimise our health. So, is nature so mean it will not supply us with a simple method of raising up our level of health towards our genetic potential, towards the 5 groups of peoples who live to typically 110-140 years? (i.e. those living adjacent to mineral rich mountain streams such as the Hunzas, Georgians and Villacambes of Ecuador) One thing 'mainstream' nutritional research has established in the last 20 or so years is that there are an increasing number of trace elements that 'need' has been established for. It has also been established that the minerals and trace minerals work in close relationship to each other, for example, just giving one, such as Zinc will create imbalances related to manganese and copper, since these need to be supplied and work together. The problem with all this research has been the seperative analytical approach, which can only result in partial solutions, and often creating new imbalances It is obvious the tissue salt or latterly the 'celloid' approach lacks the trace minerals, and the mainstream nutritional products available, 'over the counter' lack the correct form (anion/cation pair, and therefore exclude the sulphate, phosphate, chloride) Looking at food in its natural state, especially plant juices; are these not sufficient for our needs? The short answer is no. A plant can only extract what minerals are available in the soil. Virtually all agricultural soils are mineral deficient. One thing is agreed amongst nutritional researchers: mineral deficiency is the most fundamental cause of all chronic disease, including the degeneration that occurs with ageing. Dr.Linus Pauling, twice Nobel prize winner, said: 'You clue to this was revealed with animal growth and development studies. A trace mineral complex has been produced by growing a micro-organism on coal. This method enabled all the minerals from the earth's crust, over 80, showing up on analysis, to be integrated into a 'food state' supplement. Most of these are in minute amounts, micrograms and even picograms (a picogram is one thousand millionth of a gram). In terms of the current nutritional doctrines there was insufficient quantity of any one mineral in this supplement to render benefit as a nutritional supplement. Yet young rats, fed on a poor quality diet lacking in adequate amounts of the major minerals, when also given the trace mineral product grew and developed very well, even slightly better than the rats fed a 'high quality diet'. These studies were later borne out on mink, horses and cattle.
So, the conclusion that can be drawn is that a broad spectrum of over 80 minerals present in the earth's crust are required for the assimilation and utilisation of the major minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, potassium etc. These are the broad spectrum of minerals and trace elements that are ground into fine powder by mountain glaciers before mixing in the mountain streams that supply the soils of the healthiest, longest lived people on earth.
There are three types of broad spectrum trace mineral supplements which could potentially fulfil this role. The first is colloidal. There has been quite a lot of aggressive marketing, of colloidal broad spectrum mineral supplements in the last year or so. They are fossilised remains of ancient vegetation, but unlike coal all the carbon has been removed by unusual set of geological circumstances. They are mainly composed of sulphur and aluminium, but as colloids; apparently the aluminium does not bind with the tissues and is not toxic. Since the colloids have a history of use, and have been found to be safe they have an area of therapeutic application. However, they do not appear to resolve the problem of electrical flow in the body. This is hardly surprising since it is the soluble 'ionic' salts they serve this role. Also ionic minerals enter into the cell chemistry; they are as Dr. Schussler found in the last century, the main form minerals occur in the body. There is controversy concerning this subject, since much still is to be learnt. However, false information is being given out by proponents of the colloids, such as the fact they are organic, when in fact organic minerals are those that are bound to carbon, via the proteins (otherwise referred to as chelated) as found in food. The colloidal minerals have had all carbon, all protein removed by an unusual set of geological circumstances, and are very rare in this form in nature.
Foods do contain some colloidal minerals. Colloidal minerals are composed of single large molecules or groups of smaller molecules (very fine particles) in a solid, liquid or gaseous suspension. Colliods do not dissolve in true solutions and are not capable of passing through the cell wall as in dialysis. They do not take part in the main bioelectric processes of the body.6
The second form of broad spectrum minerals/trace elements is, as mentioned, the coal-derived variety. I spent about nine months taking these on an almost daily basis. They do seem to enhance the value of food, and a quite different effect depending on what food/juice they are taken with. They seem to be 'deep acting', in homeopathic terms, i.e. enter deeply in to the life force. I found that a course of a few months was enough, and did not provide long term benefits, did not normalise the bioelectric processes as does that most common commodity, sea water, the third of the broad spectrum mineral/trace element sources.
The analytical method of identifying particular remedies for particular disorders, is in some ways, a naive and isolated way of looking at symptoms of health disturbance. As an example: in an infective crisis the natural 'antibiotics' such as propolis and grapefruit seed extract have their role, but any chronic health problem, is merely a manifestation of nutritional imbalance in its various guises, and this includes toxicity, poor immune function, parasitic infestation and so on. I firmly believe higher success can be obtained with the broad acting measures discussed in this article than using individual herb's, homoeopathic remedies, or any other form of therapist based diagnosis. Get the whole right, and all the parts will respond; nature is not such an awkward fellow after all.
Alternative or complementary therapy has suffered, in a way, like conventional medicine from specialisation. Different schools of thought, and different healing modalities, while having value in their own right, do not, as a rule, provide for the optimum basis in restoring the person's own natural healing ability. This, I believe, can only occur when all the essential nutrients and healing energy (to be discussed in a later article,) are in place at the same time. In this situation any specific remedies that are given will stand the best chance of working. Prescribing specific remedies, no matter how natural, even a mixing of balanced herb's with pulse diagnosis, is always hit and miss, and increasingly so as the population becomes ever more minerally deficient and electomagnetically stressed. Giving a specific natural remedy is like taking one shot at goal. Supplying a totality of all the required nutrients, as discussed in this article, can be likened to rebuilding the team. Success, eventually, is almost guaranteed.
Prescribing drugs or other conventional medicines for a specific symptom is often merely a removal of a symptom. Symptoms of all kinds are part of the process of the body's attempt to restore correct functioning; merely knocking them out, in the long term is an assault to the self regulatory mechanisms of the body. Dr. Hannahmen (the 'founder' of homoeopathy) stated that the suppression of a symptom with a drug resulted in two 'diseases'; the original one, still there, residing below the surface, and the new one introduced by the drug. Rather like beating a disturbed child! In the last few weeks the press has announced that progress has been made in treating cancer, with far higher success than the previous suppressive methods, using the body's own immune system. Dr. Johanna Brandit and many other distinguished researchers into natural healing methods have known this for many years. Nature has the power to heal anything, blood, tissue and bone. After all, the body is completely rebuilt every few years, at least when we are younger; it is merely a failure in some of this natural rebuilding process that results in degenerative disease. Our bodies have their own unique history. We are all born with genetic weaknesses and taints to a greater or lesser degree, and the health, habits and diet of the parents greatly effect the outcome. Added to this are acquired assaults to our health, such as immunisations, although offering some protection to some acute infectious diseases can, many health care professionals believe, and as many observant mothers know, have long term damaging effects. The rate of 'cot-death' syndrome has dramatically reduced in Sweden since raising the age of immunisation by a few months
Added to these problems are processed foods, chemicals in the diet, lack of fresh fruits and vegetables, the suppression of the acute diseases of childhood with antibiotics. The natura paths of the past recognised the importance of allowing fever to proceed, since this clears away toxins, and builds the immune system.
The iris of the eye shows several kinds or marking and 'stainings' that display the condition of the organs, glands and tissues. As we go through life these features build up in the iris, coincident with the gradual degenerative processes taking place. Weak organs and tissues tend to act as a focus for the deposition of metabolic waste products and environmental toxins etc. It is in these areas that infection can take hold or actual disease conditions. Since the iris fibres are an actual 'map' of the body, a skilled iridologist can determine with a fair precision where the focus of a health problem is, or is liable to occur in the future. Iris diagnosis has been found to be generally far more reliable than signs and symptoms diagnosis. Of particular interest to the discussion in hand, is that a concerted health programme can reverse some of the iris markings. Cloudy and stained areas can be cleared and dissolved. Black areas, indicating where actual tissue destruction has occurred, fill in with fine white healing lines.
In short, our health is not a random process waiting to be cruelly attacked by the next virus or disease surfacing for no reason. Our bodies have a history, it can be traced in the iris of the eye, and through regenerative therapies we can 'turn the clock back' as our tissues and organs are gradually repaired and revitalised. Iridologists have noted that as this century has progressed, the typical iris is showing a greater degree of damage and toxic encumbrances. The good constitutions of the healthy 'peasant stock' are becoming rarer. Features that used to be typical in the elderly iris are now more common in the young. This coincides with, historically, a rapid increase and dramatic lowering of the ages that the killer 'chronic' diseases strike, especially cancer.
Many health care professionals feel that if this process continues along current trends the very survival of Homo-Sapiens is in doubt. Environmental pollution, both chemical and electromagnetic, food processing and latterly genetic modification of food, depletion of minerals and trace elements in the soil upon which our food is grown, are, many believe, the main threats.
I believe we can reverse these effects, both individually and collectively. From the therapeutic standpoint it seems to become increasingly more difficult to heal our patients, and ourselves, at least with single or isolated therapeutic modalities such as homeopathy or herbalism or nutritional therapy, as discussed earlier. However, I believe that if we use broad spectrum healing and regenerative methods, instead of prescribing isolated groups of nutrient, herb's, or any other remedies, if we really do take a holistic approach, and recognise the basic broad spectrum ingredients the body needs to restore itself, then the deleterious effects of our history and environment can be reversed. Hopefully then, and along with this process, we as individuals and as a race, realising how far we have been corrupted from our genetic potential, instead of wanting to manipulate and interfere with nature's bounty, will begin to help restore the planet, the flora and forna, the forests and the oceans to regain dynamic health, diversity and vibrancy.
To return to the theme of the role of sea water as a regenerative and healing substance, all, or almost all therapeutic agents supplied to try to engender the healing process, such as herb's, 'superfoods' e.g. algae, pollen, 'energy' therapies such as reakie, crystal or gem frequencies, orgone beam, magnetic therapies etc., are all to a greater or lesser extent biased toward the activating and catabolic processes of the body. This is, sooner or later, the end result. This is not necessarily the inherent nature of the applied agent. The herbal blend, or the algae, or negative magnetic energy in their essence supply a balanced package, to promote both energy, cleansing and activity (catabolic or 'yang') and on the other hand healing, repair and rest. But in practice, sooner or later, the repair side needs additional support.
In his own way Dr. Samuel Hahnamenn observed the same problem occurring. The therapeutic process would get stuck. Remedies that worked on a patient would no longer work. Often patients respond well to a remedy at first but then relapse. He identified constitutional reasons for this that he called the 'miasms'. He stated that disease, such as the venereal ones in previous generations caused a 'taint' within the life principle. (Nowadays we can understand these as genetic taints.) These taints pervert the very life processes, eventually dominating health, and in practice overcame any dedicated health measures or regimes the person would adopt. The three main miasma he identified pervert the 'life principle' thus: (1) Under functioning (The psoric miasm) (2) Destructive energy (The syphilitic miasm). (3) Tendency to overgrowth (gonorrhoeal miasm). He eventually established the 'anti-miasmistic' remedies, many of them being minerals, especially for the latter two. The psoric miasm is the easiest to treat, and is generally cleared, by stimulating remedies such as sulphur in homoeopathic potency, or more recently by superfoods such as the algae or pollen.
Many individuals are quickly, and easily activated out of any straight forward under functioning by any common therapeutic modality as listed above. But sooner or later the destructive energies manifest themselves and healing is lost. In this situation the person can spend years trying many approaches, often wondering from therapist to therapist trying to get well, usually to no avail. They react badly to everything that is tried. Even with pulse diagnosis before herb's are prescribed, or acupuncture is given, progress is still thwarted. The nervous system is usually weak, and sleeps are never sufficiently healing. This represents the typical, difficult M.E. case, but is by no means limited to this. I believe there are two main reasons for this, even when geopathic and electomagnetic stress are taken into account, as well as all the individual reasons one may analyse, such as bowel disbiosis, candida, parasitic infection. If the body is in possession of its own integrity it will infallibly resolve every symptom, factor or specific problem, that has, mistakenly been the target of our attention.
The first reason, or missing ingredient is, I believe, sea water (The major minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, sulphur also being high in priority, this much is well known.) Genetically, our basic structure is the same as fish. Life is thought to have originated in the sea, as single- celled creatures. Then as life became more complex, more individual cells grouped together forming teams with various specialised functions and structure. Each cell has a thin wall or membrane surrounding it. Inside the cell is a chemical environment rendered suitable for the survival of the cell. Outside the cell membrane is the sea, with a different chemical/mineral composition. 'I am me', says the cell, 'I am different to you, the sea ever surrounding me, but I owe my life to you, I will absorb some minerals from you and other substances as it suits me, and in return I will let you have some back, the substances I do not want.' This assertive relationship of the cell is what maintains it's life. It maintains homeostasis across its membrane, and is kept alive and nourished by its 'mother', the sea, all around it.The situation, as far as our body cells are concerned, is basically the same, billions of cells surrounded by a sea of extra cellular fluid, of a very similar composition to the original sea from whence we came. In terms of mineral balance this is easy to see. The sodium inside the cell is low and the potassium high. The situation is reversed in the surrounding fluid, as it is in the high sodium sea. We now have to manufacture our own internal sea, to manufacture our own nourishing 'mother,' and our separate cells. However the plants and other foods we eat, unless we eat at lot of blood, does not provide us with much sodium chloride, the most plentiful mineral salt in the sea/our sea i.e. the extra cellular fluid. Plants do provide us with sodium, mainly, as the phosphate. Chlorine is supplied mainly bound to potassium as potassium chloride. Dr. Leslie Fisher who has carried on the work of Dr Blackmore in his study and clinical use of the tissue salts, as given in celloid mineral therapy, states that the body combines sodium phosphate and potassium chloride to produce, in a abundance, sodium chloride. Taking in sodium chloride in large amounts is toxic to the body, and also toxic to most plants. So we have evolved to accommodate what plants provide us with. We have to do some of our own chemical manufacturing to reproduce our internal sea, which in the past was provided free of charge. So nutrients are supplied from plants to feed our cells' chemistry. We have to convert this, as described, to produce our extra cellular fluid.
There are many creatures, including us, that seem to need a little help, or reminder, with the salts, especially sodium chloride; For example elephants are known to seek out salt deposits, to satisfy an obvious need . And possibly the human desire for salt with food is actually based on a need, but as discussed earlier in this article, I believe, it should be as nature provides, with an abundance of trace elements, only adequately supplied by sea water. (Sea salt is not sufficient in this respect.) When therapies are applied they tend to encourage cellular activity. Even when no 'energy healing' is applied, it appears that all fresh cellular activity from remedies supplied such as herb's and superfoods also produces a corresponding electrical activity. This is hardly surprising since every chemical reaction involves electron exchange.
We cannot now separate the nutritional and energetic domains. (It is my experience to date that nutritional and herbal substances promote electrical exchange in the body, but do not supply chi or biologically available electricity any where near as much as do energy sources, a) frequencies. So a situation is encouraged of poorly processed electricity and associated cellular over activity, especially of the brain. Drinking a little sea water soon resolves this situation, in a few minutes or hours if the algae doses have only been for a day or so, or over a few days if the dosing has maintained the over stimulated situation for longer periods.
So, we can catoragrise the effects of herbal, superfood, and energy therapies (when unchecked by the soluble minerals and especially sea water) as:- promoting activity, catabolism (breaking down worn out cells and food, and releasing energy from them), dehydration. These actions may be classed as 'yang.' On the other hand supplying sea water promotes:- Relaxation, rest, sleep, anabolism, (growth, repair) rehydration, healthy thirst.
It is only by providing a balance of these two main aspects, that health can be optimised. Any therapy 'worth its salt' must encourage both these aspects. By understanding the dominance of either the catabolic (yang) or the anabolic (yin) we can realise the need for the counter - balancing effects of each. For in reality the two opposites support each other: yin supports the yang and visa versa . The body cannot maintain proper catabolic activities, we cannot experience vitality and energy in the day, if there has not been a sound anabolism at night. And conversely there cannot be a healing sleep if the yang energies of the body are insufficient. So a person who has excess cellular energy, excess 'trapped' electrical energies will end up feeling worn out. (Being 'worn out' even when there is insufficient activity or stress to promote it implicitly indicates a failure of repair.) Failure of the healing, anabolic side is a common reason for much human misery, as Dr. William Phillpott7 puts it. (Typically with the weak, M.E., neurasthenic and sensitive types; whereas the strong constitutions, more often presenting the more serious under functioning metabolic disorders such as cancer and diabetes to name but two conditions, respond better to stronger measures, as they are more yang or catabolic defecient)I feel most of us are in this position today. Each day, our bodies deteriorate a little faster than they repair, and our 'batteries' never sufficiently recharge.
Although I do not recommend the use of sodium chloride on its own, but included in balance as in sea water, there follows some interesting information about the benefits of increased sodium chloride consumption. Common salt has been given a bad press in recent years, but if we look more carefully at what is known, and has been discovered, it becomes obvious that low sodium chloride diets can do more harm than good.
Professor Vijay Kakkar has conducted studies on persons suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome (some of these cases could also be justifiably be labelled as suffering from 'M.E.') He found many of the symptoms are very similar to low blood pressure, i.e. fatigue, day time drowsiness, impairment of short term memory and concentration, light headedness, increased sensitivity to light and noise, stiffness and pain in joints, muscle pain which becomes worse after exertion or standing for a long period. Feelings of dizziness, or even fainting, and feeling worse in the morning, better lying down, can be confirmatory symptoms that the blood pressure is low. Increasing salt intake often dramatically eliminates these symptoms. The theory is that in a healthy individual salt loss via the kidney's into the urine is checked by a hormonal network involving the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands. If this regulatory system is not working (it has been postulated that this functional failure could have been caused by previous infections) then salt loss is excessive. One of the roles of common salt is to hold water, hence increasing blood volume, allowing blood to be pumped up to the brain and into the tissues in a sufficient volume to carry oxygen and nutrients to the cells. The most sensitive blood pressure test relevant to this issue is the 'tilt table blood pressure test'. The patient is strapped to a tilt table, blood pressure taken with the
patient lying down, and the suddenly the table is tilted upright and immediately another blood pressure reading is taken. If the second reading is significantly lower, then this could be an important issue to resolve. Personally if I had this problem I would find out through trial and error how many glasses of sea water a day I required, (and take a more holistic approach to bring all the regulatory systems into balance, supplying, along with the sea water, broad spectrum nutrition as discussed in this article.) The frequency of repetition, i.e. little and often is another approach, rather than larger quantities, and as discussed earlier, the use of solutions provides an electrical 'ionic' input that has a definite enhanced action than just adding to food and as discussed is more assailable. Quoting from a Mrs N. Aplleyar of Deal.. "A year ago my husband and I were feeling thoroughly unwell and exhausted. We decided to top up our salt intake. We start and finish each day with a saline drink. The effect of this has been quite miraculous. We now have much more energy and can easily walk at least two miles without pausing for a rest. We have been free of colds and flu this winter, for the first time". If you want to try this but do not have any clean sea water available, try about a pea-sized piece of sea salt dissolved in a glass of water one to three times daily.
Is sodium chloride addition to the diet only useful for those with low blood pressure and is there still a case for salt restriction for those with normal or high blood pressure? The short answer is that excessive addition of common salt to the diet should be avoided, but deliberately restricting sodium intake may be counter productive, even if you have high blood pressure. Dr. Robert Kark, chairman of the department of medicine at Rush St. Luke Medical centre in Chicago, points out that the relationship between sodium and high blood pressure is not as clear cut as "common knowledge" tries to make it. He explains that although there is a strong evidence of a link between sodium intake and high blood pressure in part of the population, it is not a direct cause and effect relationship. Another segment of the population reacts in the opposite way. A study by Dr. John Laragh, a cardiologist at Cornell university, of over 100 patients with high blood pressure produced some interesting results. He found that severe salt restriction reduced blood pressure in about one third of the patients. In about half the cases the low salt diet had no effect on blood pressure, and in about one in five the already high blood pressure actually rose higher. This was confirmed by Dr. Lawernce Krakoff, chief of the hypertension division of the Mount Sinai hospital in New York who stated that restricting salt intake can actually make blood pressure rise. As mentioned previously, potassium and sodium play mutually interdependent roles in mineral chemical and electrical processes. Potassium is the most water soluble of the major minerals, and since it is not added to food like sodium is, it tends to be relatively deficient. This is especially the case with processed foods, and incorrect cooking methods. Boiling vegetables, then discarding the water, will also discard much of the potassium. Potatoes contain most of there potassium in the first one eight of an inch under the skin, possibly why potato-peel soups are a folk remedy for arthritis and a general tonic. There is a real need to raise potassium levels in the diet, by adjusting our cooking methods, avoiding processed food and consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables. Drinking one or two glasses of grape juice daily is an elegant way of introducing more potassium and a wealth of other nutrients. There is more evidence linking some cases of high blood pressure to the balance of potassium to sodium .
Magnesium deficiency has been linked to high blood pressure, since magnesium allows for correct tension of the small involuntary muscles that line our blood vessels. Heart attacks, and other cardiac problems are often partly due to spasm of the arterial wall muscles and the heart caused simply by a lack of magnesium and other nutrients.
A few more facts about sodium chloride are worthy of note before widening out the discussion again. The adult body contains over 100 grams of sodium, about 30% in the bones, 10% in the cells and 57% in the extra cellular fluid (internal sea). The main roles are (1) maintaining osmotic equilibrium i.e. the difference in ionic concentration between the intra- cellular and extra cellular fluid (the battery effect). (2) Regulating extra cellular fluid volume. (3) Nerve impulse transmission (many other minerals such as potassium, magnesium, calcium etc. are also required for this) (4) Muscle tone. (5) Nutrient transport. Typical diets contain two to seven grams sodium daily. Some populations are known to consume up to 40 grams daily. Processed foods contain quite a lot of common salt, meat products typically about 2 grams, and baked goods 1.8 grams. It is surprising, for example that bread contains, typically, half a gram (500 mgs) per slice. I found that one glass of diluted sea water, made by adding half a teaspoon of the concentrated 'Inland Sea Water' from the great salt lake of Utah, contained the amount of sodium in two and a half slices of wholemeal bread. By taking, for example two glasses of the inland sea minerals a day, in the dilution's just described, we are only consuming a fraction of what we may obtain in processed food, e.g. a few slices of bread. So, I hope all of this helps to dissolve the prejudice against sodium chloride. It has its place, and a valuable one at that. It is unfortunate that the discovery of it's therapeutic role as part of the greater package of sea water has been downplayed by the very company that introduced Inland Sea water to the health supplement market. Marine minerals have gone along with the low sodium prejudice, and sell the bulk of the filtered inland sea water with the bulk of the sodium chloride removed. As discussed earlier all therapy, all supplemental regimes will block when sodium chloride exchange comes under stress, either by excess or deficiency. I hope, after reading this article that the founders of the otherwise excellent company will re-evaluate their stand, i.e. sea water with the sodium chloride removed is never as good as the real thing, as nature provides, from whence we evolved.
Towards a Truly Balanced Nutritional Regime Incorporating Sea Water.
As has been mentioned, the mineral composition of the fluid surrounding our cells (extra-cellular fluid) is similar to sea water, and of a complementary-opposite profile to the minerals inside the cell. Analysis reveals that this is a similar situation to sea water on one hand and the fluids of fruits and vegetables on the other hand. Fruits and vegetables contain potassium as the major mineral, and smaller amounts of sodium mainly in the form of the phosphate. Calcium is usually about twice the magnesium level. In short, fruits and vegetables contain much more phosphorus, potassium and calcium than sea water. The major 'cation' of minerals in sea water is chloride, as opposed to phosphorus in fruits and vegetables.
If we eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, this should logically provide a counterbalance to sea water. However, most of us do not eat sufficient fruit to achieve proper mineralisation. I have come across many individuals that are eating a so-called healthy diet, whilst still presenting health problems and associated symptoms of mineral deficiency. As mentioned earlier, this can be partly accounted for by lack of trace minerals in the diet, which would otherwise improve the major mineral uptake at cell level. However, I am forming the opinion that the main source of minerals that we have evolved to receive are raw plant juices. We are basically fruit and vegetable eaters, from an evolutionary standpoint (our ancestors resorting to meat when climatic and geographic conditions failed to provide enough fruits and vegetables. True carnivores have shorter gastrointestinal tracts, possibly to prevent auto-intoxication.) Minerals and other plant nutrients are most easily absorbed in liquid form. So, in practice, unless we consume a pound or more of fresh fruit daily we may not be obtaining the nutrition we need. Raw juice therapy has developed to cover this need. However, the most convenient method of consuming a sufficient quantity of juice daily is to drink one or more glasses of grape juice. The common type found in shops has been sterilised, to prevent spoiling, so is not raw. However, it can still be an exceptionally potent therapeutic substance!8 The grape is the most nutritionally balanced fruit, the red being a little more beneficial that the other varieties. A glass or two of grape juice a day, best taken on an empty stomach, best in the morning (it has been found that allowing it to mix with food in the gut, especially meat, detracts from some of its benefit) is the single best 'nutritional supplement' to complement sea water drinks. Pineapple juice is also recommended, but not as frequently. Of vegetables, the carrot (they should be organic due to the propensity of root vegetables to pick up relatively large amounts of pesticides) is the most nutritionally balanced and acceptable to the sensitive digestion. If your diet has been very low in fruits, and especially if you are frail or unwell you may need to introduce the juices slowly, e.g. just half a glass a day for the first week or so.
However beneficial pasteurised grape juice is, it must lack some factors available in the fresh raw juice. The extra 'vitality' in living plants can be revealed by sophisticated electronic measuring devices. Generally referred to as the 'aura' or bioplasmic field if you happen to be a Russian scientist, this field, interpenetrating living cells, and radiating out from them, contains some electrostatic and subtle magnetic characteristics. Does this 'vital energy' affect the efficiency of incorporation of nutrients into our cells?, and if so, can this energy be added to sterilised juices to render them more beneficial?
The author is currently investigating a simple device that improves the efficiency of nutrient absorption of, for example, grape juice. This information will form the basis of another article when and if these investigations prove valid.
Summary of a balanced Nutritional regime incorporating Sea Water
(1) One or two glasses of red grape juice daily, best on an empty stomach, and if practical before breakfast. Best sipped, and if taking more than two glasses to be consumed over a period of at least 2 hours.
(2) One glass of dilute sea water daily (a level shallow tea spoon, or two and a half mls. of sea water concentrate from the Great Salt Lake, equivalent to about 4 tea spoons of ordinary sea water, mixed with one glass of water.) This should be kept a least one hour apart from the grape juice or other fruit juices, since when mixed the effect is quite different and needs more research. If you have been taking regular herbal, nutritional or superfoods such as the algae or grasses, it is suggested you stop these for about 3 or 4 days and drink a couple of glasses of sea water daily to relive any stress (or dyscrasia as a homoeopath would say) built up by your regime. This may produce a variety of symptoms as 'decompression' takes place. Sea water relieves 'energetic' and physiological stress like taking the weight off a pressure cooker. The symptoms 'coming out' can be likened to the steam. Often there is a state of relaxation engendered by this release of 'pressure'. It is best to sip the glass of dilute sea water over a period of at least a few minutes.
(3) A superfood such as Chlorella or Hawiian Spirulina. (wheat grass, barley grass, pollen are examples of other superfoods.) These are best taken in divided doses e.g. two or three times a day. It is important to find the best dose level to suit you. If weak or frail start with minimal doses and increase gradually. If reactions are too strong, usually due to the detoxification process, stop for a day and resume possibly at about half the dose. Usually it is best to only take one superfood at a time. (Mixing superfoods with herbs will also produce powerful synergistic reactions; care and monitoring is suggested) This is because mixing superfoods often produces over stimulation and subsequent loss of benefits of all superfoods being taken. Whilst the algae may be mixed, even in this case, I feel, it is better to give the body the 'luxury' of a change. For example, if you wish to obtain the benefits of both Spirulina and Chlorella, a better result will generally be obtained by alternation e.g. one week on one and then a week on the other.
Pollen has been found to have a powerful amplifying effect on other superfoods. So when taking pollen it is best not to mix with other superfoods or broad spectrum herb's unless you are being closely monitored, or are very much in touch with your needs. In this situation the quantity of pollen and the other superfood that needs to be taken is far less than if either item were taken singly.
Propolis mixes well with other superfoods, but there will still be the amplifying effect to a certain degree. Even when separating superfoods e.g. in the morning and the evening, they will still mix in the body after a d tes sufficiently. However, there is a group of individuals that need an extra 'reminder' of the major minerals specifically attached to the phosphate radical. These include most neurasthenic (nerve and energy) types and chronic fatigue types (M.E.) Blackmores' Phosporus Compound provides an elegant intermediate solution. However, Blackstrap Molasses, will provide sufficient phosphate along with all the other major and trace elements required. (See my article The essential health benefits of the electrolyte minerals and trace element in a `food state' and in sea water)
(5) Vitamin D is relatively rare in common foods (Found in oily fish such as mackerel and kippers, cod liver oil, salmon and sardines, kelp) but is present in abundant amounts in algae, e.g. spirulina and chlorella, at higher levels than found in cod liver oil This vitamin is required to help the proper utilisation of calcium, and when deficient a person can suffer from many of the states associated with calcium deficiency even whilst taking supplemental calcium, in balance with the other minerals. Calcium has such a major role in the bodies functioning and restorative processes that without its adequate supply or utilisation the healing and regenerative process can be limited or blocked. Vitamin D is produced in the skin as a result of sunlight. Living in areas away from the equatorial zones, combined with lack of an outdoor life, especially over the winter period can therefore result in marked vitamin D deficiency. It is therefore advisable, in this situation, to supplement with a source of vitamin D. Ten micrograms daily i.e. 400 I.U. is a typical supplemental dose. It is best to stop taking a supplement e.g. in the summer or when receiving regular sunlight, as excess vitamin D can cause metabolic imbalances.
(6) Essential fatty acids. These are now recognised as being widely deficient in modern diets. The two main food sources are oily fish and nuts and seeds. Oils that are derived from seeds which are heat treated or processed during manufacture should be avoided since the essential fatty acids become damaged and tend to create free radical damage. This will increase the tendency to circulatory disorders and other diseases linked to free radical damage. This includes margarine, made popular by the false claims that it is better for you than animal fats. Any fat, animal or vegetable tends to be destructive once heated or processed (e.g. hydrogenated.) However, olive oil appears to suffer less damage when heated. It is advisable then, when frying, to use olive oil and cook at low temperatures. Use cold pressed raw oils daily and preferably eat moderate amounts of nuts and seeds daily. Personally I find, with the smaller seeds such as sunflower and linseed, it is better to grind them, e.g. with an electric 'coffee' grinder, and mix them raw with other foods, or add olive oil and use (within a day or so if covered and cool) as a nut spread or butter/margarine substitute. Essential fatty acids , as the name implies have a crucial role in well-being and cannot be obtained in quantity in the 'superfoods', although Hawiian spirulina does seem rich in many of them.
Summary of Reasons For Classifying Sea water as an Important Health Tonic
(1) It contains a wealth of minerals and trace minerals/elements, around 90, that as a group, even though many are in minute amounts, help the body to function more effectively. (2) The form of the minerals, i.e. soluble or ionic, is the form required to pass through the membrane of every one of the billions of bodily cells. In so doing the vitality and electrical processes are rapidly normalised. (3) The balance of minerals is as required to harmonise with the many gallons of extra cellular fluid, or inland sea. We evolved from the sea, our lymph fluid has an almost identical composition to sea water, and sea water was authorised as a substitute for blood plasma in World War Two. Sea water is therefore the most natural supplement, in small amounts, e.g. equivalent to 4 to 8 teaspoons a day as a rough guide. (4) The daily recommended dose of sea water provides the same amount of sodium as contained in a typical one and a quarter slices of wholemeal bread. Taking common salt in a glass of water, due to ionisation potential, or electrical charge at the molecular level, will have a different effect than taking the same amount in powder form on food. Taking small doses of daily sea water is more liable to reduce high blood pressure, tension, and depression than to raise it. Taking large amounts of crude sodium chloride on food can, with some persons be part of the cause of these aforementioned problems. Clinical studies have shown that low sodium diets can actually increase blood pressure in a proportion of individuals. There is more quality evidence to indicate that an insufficiency of magnesium and potassium are factors contributing to high blood pressure and related cardiovascular problems than the levels of sodium in the diet (at moderate levels of sodium chloride in the diet.)
(5) The use of herbal remedies, superfoods, 'energy medicine' and any therapy or new regime that opens up previously closed or sluggish metabolic pathways, nervous connections, or on the energy level, the meridians, will tend to place a demand on the processing and distribution of the minerals, especially the electrolyte minerals, i.e. the salts. Sodium chloride, being the major salt of the body is placed on demand, and sooner or later will need to be supplied, balanced, as sea water, in small amounts in solution. Failure to do this is , in my opinion one of the major reasons a therapy either blocks, or is in some cases unsuccessful from the beginning.
1. 'Chlorella Natural Medicinal Algae' by Dr. David Steenblock (ISBN 09618268-0-0) Pub. Aging Research Institute is recommended reading. It also lists 185 research references. 2. Ionic Minerals - Missing Link of A.D.D. and Other Bioelectric Dysfunctions. An audio tape by Dr. Robert Anderson. Pub. by Marine Minerals, Monroe, Utah, U.S.A. 3. From an article by Dr. Robert V. Pontius DVM, Pub. Marine Minerals. 4. Dr Plasket developed the Basic Formula range as supplied by G&G Food Supplies 5. Celloid Mineral (TM) therapy is the application of the 'tissue salts' in pharmacological doses as developed by Dr. Blackmore. 6. Dr. Alexander G. Schauss Ph.D. Cell Biologist U.S.A. Atape recording of a lecture, available from Marine Minerals, P.O. Box D. Monroe, Utah 84754. 7. Dr. William Philpott, Choctaw, OK. U.S.A. 8. Article on F. Wortmans method of using Grape Juice therapeutically available-Nutrition News.
Copyright �Grahame Whitehead
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
In many Spa's in France, part of the program is taking Quintons Hypertonique
Originally published in Massage & Bodywork magazine, October/November 2005. Copyright 2005. Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals. All rights reserved.
Humankind has always turned to the ocean for balance and well-being. Ancient Egyptians understood the power of long soaks in seawater. Greek philosophers Euripides, Hippocrates, Plato, and Herodotus praised its therapeutic value. The Greeks and Romans used seawater for general hygiene and physical care, and they even built temples in seawater where soldiers retreated to recover after battle or during celebrations to receive underwater massage. Today, we still desire this stress-free experience of relaxing at the seashore while our worries melt away.
But this widespread draw also holds a deeper meaning, which may be explained by the belief that life originated in the greatest depths of the sea. At the beginning of earth's existence, the only area that provided nourishment and protection from harsh UV rays was far under the surface of the ocean. Because of this nurturing environment, marine life began and flourished. Sea flora emitted oxygen that eventually led to the formation of a protective ozone layer, which allowed more advanced sea and land plants and animals to evolve. Some may say our natural attraction to the sea for healing and relaxation is a natural attraction to our origin.
In more recent history, scientific research explained this attraction by proving that seawater can indeed restore balance to the organism. At the turn of the 20th century, a French physiologist named Rene Quinton established that seawater contains all 104 indexed trace elements -- the only other naturally occurring fluid that contains all vital elements is our blood plasma. Seawater has an uncanny chemical similarity to our bodies' inter- and extra-cellular fluid, so it seems we have internally retained a portion of this compelling water. Seawater is so close to our bodies' internal environment that if white blood cells are removed from the body and placed in a sterile seawater solution, they are able to maintain normal cell function for up to five weeks, this is the only solvent that will accommodate cellular activity.
"The living organism is a sea aquarium in which a few billion cells are bathing." Quinton's quote and famous experiments exemplify the parallels between a marine environment and our internal sea.
Curative Serum As Quinton's research gained acclaim and was backed up with evidence, the medical community began to construct a defined program of marine healing. In 1899, the first thalassotherapy center was born in the Brittany region of France.
Thalassotherapy is defined as seawater healing in a medically supervised environment as a form of preventative or curative healthcare, utilizing seawater, seaweed, marine mud, sand, and all substances coming from the sea. Throughout the last century, thalassotherapy centers have gained popularity and credibility as the most natural source of alternative healthcare, so much so, the French healthcare system partially reimburses patients who have a prescription to attend a center. Today there are more than 40 thalassotherapy centers in France alone, visited by those seeking well-being or cures for certain health conditions.
True thalassotherapy centers have a spa with a doctor on staff and a hotel structure built right on the seacoast. A plumbing system pumps seawater into the facility and distributes it to all hydrotherapy equipment throughout the center. Most thalassotherapy centers also have a large central pool filled with heated seawater where patients are advised to immerse themselves between scheduled services so they can spend the maximum amount of time enveloped in this curative marine serum.
Upon arrival, guests of a thalassotherapy center visit with a physician who performs a physical evaluation to determine what the patient will be treated for. A series of treatments can help with a wide range of conditions, which encompass stress reduction, immune system health, pain management, accident rehabilitation, depression, anorexia, improvement of circulation, prenatal and postpartum programs, cellulite and weight reduction, rheumatism and arthritis, and preventive health. A series of treatments is then created for patients to follow for the duration of their stay, lasting from two days to two weeks. The guest is now free to enjoy a daily combination of seawater body treatments administered by professional curists.
How does this single resource positively affect so many different people with so many different ailments? Trace minerals (trace elements) are vital for every chemical and enzymatic reaction taking place within the body. All cellular functions occur because of specific enzymatic reactions, whether it is an adipocyte breaking down fat for energy, a red blood cell carrying oxygen, or a melanocyte producing melanin. For each of these biochemical reactions that occur, the enzyme responsible needs some sort of cue or catalyst to begin this specific activity. These trace elements found in seawater are the catalysts that provide energy to activate the enzymes.
Balancing the mineral levels in the body is vital for optimum cellular function. Those who lack trace minerals will have sluggish cellular activity, and these lazy cells cannot efficiently perform their duties. Nutrition that is ingested by a demineralized body cannot be completely absorbed by cells and used by the body. Cellular energy is also essential to expel metabolic waste to prevent raised levels of toxicity. Cellular stagnancy causes symptoms like fatigue, insomnia, edema, slowed metabolism, poor micro-circulation, a repressed immune system, and poor cellular exchange, which lead to greater health risks and skin conditions.
By introducing a perfect combination of minerals and trace elements, we are providing the body with critical nutrients to function efficiently and maintain proper balance. When the body is balanced, it can proficiently regulate its own systems. This is an important first step for any treatment program where long-term results are sought.
Replicating the Program Thalassotherapy is a wonderful remedy for those fortunate few who regularly travel abroad or reside in Europe where thalassotherapy is readily available. But what about the common spa-goer? These centers are nonexistent in the United States because the coastline is typically too polluted to pump seawater indoors. However, there is a way to give our clients this rich source for remineralization. The use of skin care lines revolving around ocean-derived ingredients can bring the sea and its natural therapy to the spa. Some companies have been bottling the powers of the sea for more than 30 years. The foundation of such a treatment line should provide necessary tools to focus on replicating a thalassotherapy program in a spa environment. Allow-ing your client to splash around in a sea recreated in the hydrotherapy bath will automatically alleviate feelings of mental and physical stress and fatigue, while physically improving skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, severe dehydration, and acne. Even if your clients' primary goals do not fall in these categories, remineralizing the body before starting any other program (i.e., contouring, cellulite, or antiaging) is imperative for optimal results.
Concentrates Processing can make or break a wonderful thing. It can determine the potency, freshness, and efficiency of the entire treatment. Seawater that has been freeze-dried is the best choice, because this processing technique preserves 99 percent of the biological actives present in fresh seawater. (Dehydrated ingredients only maintain 5 percent to 50 percent of the actives, depending on the processing temperatures.) Freeze-drying also proves to be the most effective way to ensure that stringent purity standards and shelf life are maintained, since 99 percent of the moisture content in seawater is removed. When moisture is left in a stored material, it creates a perfect breeding ground for contaminants. Aside from seeking a freeze-dried product, also look for seawater concentrates that are partially desalinated to promote true cellular balance and avoid dehydration. Once the ideal product is found, giving spa guests the sea is as simple as adding water.
Warm Treatments Using seawater in a heated skin or body treatment is ideal. When warmed to 96-102 degrees F, the minerals become ionized or negatively charged and are absorbed rapidly by positively charged skin. The body benefits from ionization during a warm bath treatment or body wrap, but the skin must be first immersed in seawater for 15-20 minutes. In order for the cells to completely absorb and utilize minerals that pass through the skin, the wrap or bath phase must be followed with a 15- to 20-minute relaxation period. For estheticians wishing to incorporate thalassotherapy into a facial treatment, vaporizing equipment can be used to heat and pulverize the minerals into a fine mist sprayed on the skin before applying a final mask. The minerals balance the skin and increase receptivity, while simultaneously administering an inhalation to remineralize the body via the lungs. This is also a great way to detoxify a smoker's upper respiratory system.
To truly follow the thalassotherapy philosophy, it is important to have a thorough client consultation to identify the program goals, client receptivity, and commitment level and to adapt a treatment series to the client's needs.
***
The French say, "One week at a thalassotherapy center will bring six months of good health." The concept of thalassotherapy has made a big splash lately and offering a treatment program that revolves around this unique philosophy will help to clarify the facts versus fads for all of your clients. After just one treatment, a difference will be noted physically, emotionally, and mentally. For long-term balance, a one-week program of seawater treatments is advisable, to be repeated twice a year or as necessary. With the availability of spa-replicated thalassotherapy, well-being is no longer a journey.
Edy Eliza is a New York-based public relations specialist.
Posted by brentb (Member # 6899) on :
quote:Originally posted by geniveve: what are we supposed to do if we can't take antibiotics? is there another choice for us???
My naturopath doc has been curing all types of diseases such as Fibro, CFS, even ALS. While he may use traditional abx it's as a last resort.
The main weapons he uses is IV colloidal silver, Cats claw, detoxing, chelations if needed, and vegan diet. I can only do vegan "light".
This imo is the only sane way to go about this. If after this treatment the patient is still sick he then throws traditional abx into the mix. His track record is very good. So yes...plenty of choices. good luck
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
John292, everybody seems to claim something different about silver. I don't know what to think anymore.
And I'm one of those weirdos who doesn't believe that a herx means that something is ``killing ketes''. I just can't find any real evidence to support the theory of what a herx is. It is certainly evidence that something is happening, but I'm just not sure WHAT.
Maria, the moderators deleted the post. They deleted part of my initial post, too, when I made reference to Mr. Congeniality's behavior. But they left all the appropriate conversation in tact, which I really appreciated. In this case, the moderators didn't allow one person to ruin the whole thread for everybody else. Good call, in my opinion.
Wallace, you've posted some very important information regarding tissue salts and `blocked therapies'. I believe this information is right on. I've been adding ionic minerals from Utah and a small amount of sea salt to my drinking water for over a year now, and I don't think I'm absorbing a thing. In fact, I feel that the ``imbalance'' is worse than ever.
I recently got a product that contains all of the tissue/cell salts - 'The Twelve Tissue Remedies of Schussler' - in a special formulation, and I should be starting that product soon. This formulation may not be something I need forever, but something that I need right now to open up some of the blocks I am encountering.
Also, I believe we are seeing more advanced ``miasmatic'' influences now than ever, and this was all becoming clear to Hahnemann and the early homeopaths over a hundred years ago.
If anyone has read some of the information over on the salt/C treatment website, they postulate that mankind has drastically reduced his intake of salt in the last 200 or 300 years. So many food items then were preserved with natural salt (before canning or refrigeration was possible) that most people consumed 10 to 20 grams of the stuff a day. When we stopped using natural salt as a preservative, did we open the door to all kinds of microbes to take up residence in our bodies? It makes you wonder.
Now, I'm not sure these seawater products are the only answer, but they certainly could be of benefit once we start to realize the real importance of the mineral/salt balance for optimum function of most body processes.
Wallace, speaking of ``blocks'', I cannot read some of what you post because it is in large blocks of text. Many of us here with Lyme cannot read posts like that, as I'm sure you know by now. When you post information, you might consider breaking up the larger paragraphs so that more people can read the text.
Tracy
Posted by John292 (Member # 4628) on :
Hey Truthfinder,
I used colloid silver for many years to treat sinus problems or at least what I thought was a sinus problem. Heck I haven't had sinus problems in years since I got LD.... but that is another issue.
Then when I got candida I started to use the silver er...a the "Biotic silver".
That is when I learned all silver is created equal some is smaller and will not get stuck in the really small blood vessels. That makes sense to me.
What do you take now? Why not give the d-lenolate a try? Don't mind me I just like to tell people what to do. Well serious I met this older lady a few weeks ago, she has had LD for 25 years or so and she swears by it. She has seen many people take it and knows the effect.
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
Tracy
I have to say I am sceptical that your tissue salt will work but I hope I'm wrong. We are too toxic.
I am thinking of leaving my homeopath and trying the Buhner protocol
I wont post any more(for now!!! unless I find something new!)on seawater but if interested you should carefully read www.originalquinton.com including the two articles published in Explore magazine which are on acrobat. This addresses the issue that marine plasma will address methylation issues common with chronic lyme/CFS. There is even a video for the cognitively challenged.
Klinghardt has his KM23 but I hate machines so I am looking for another way to change the terrain and I am a Francophile so...Quinton...
Salt works so why not seawater!
I agree with Klinghardt that long term continual use of Salt/C is a bad idea
I always appreciate your interest in my posts Cave!
Sunny thoughts, Wallace
BTW The best book on Seasalt by Jacques de langre extolls the benefits of Quintons marine plasma.
Posted by Mo (Member # 2863) on :
wallace said:
We need to change the internal millieu ...... The Ph level etc. The microbe is nothing the environment is everything even Pasteur at deaths door realised this!
i'm finding this point a very important part of continued recovery over the past year, among other things.
thanks for all the interesting posts on sea water. i love reading from the 'old MD's' work. pre-pharma.
i think there is a goldmine of info in how docs treated illness before medicine became industrialized.
i'm not saying antibiotics are not important, they are in many cases - but when it comes to healing the whole person - and staying well into the future, i believe firmly that many of these so called "alternative" focuses on wellness are critical. imperative. many of them were dropped and/or 'run outta town' by the big business side of medicine - NOT because they weren't effective.
the "need" for synthetic "medicine" whenever you are sick or in pain became blown way out of proportion, to the point of doing great harm -- and what used to be mainstream care became "alternative".
but when you really look at it, good "alternative" care is using the most simple and basic concepts in supporting/treating the human body.
it is nice to read discussion on these ideas.
i would say the reason why some folks have the idea that the ONLY way people get better from chronic Lyme is ABX (alone) -- is in part because most people practicing effective alternatives don't want to go through the hassle of posting their ideasd and experiences on the board, becuase the ideas are often challanged and even ridiculed.
i hope to see more discussions like this.
i also hope GiGi returns, because many of us lurking patients who are seeing results from changing body ecology and other "alternative" therepies counted on her information.
i also hope that more of us can come out of the closet and share the ways in which we are improving on these methods freely. it's our fault too, she should not have been standing out there alone, or should i say, there should be more of us making these topics 'mainstream' on this board.
i've never understood the line drawn in the sand between alternative and allopathis care when it comes to chronic Lyme disease.
no doubt it is a whole-body, full-system focus that is required to get well from these illnesses.
me personally, i went from antibiotics - which i believe i required at that time, and improved with .. to intense alternative nutritional/immune modulating/detox/organ cleanse/herbology/daily intake of natural foods and beverages to resore the body's healthy ecology - on to classical homeopathy.
i'd love to be able to talk about it - but am not near as strong as GiGi at that, plus i have allot of other things on my plate right now.
Thousands of people on the continent used to be treated this way across marine clinics throughout EUROPE
There are many ways to change the terrain - rife, sunshine, you name it. I am certainly not being dogmatic here.
Dr Klinghardt is a good example here of learning new things and taking up Buhners herbs.
We all need to keep learning and asking questions to live in this toxic planet that we have made for ourselves!
Sunny thoughts, Wallace
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
GiGi = Star - I agree Things here on Lymenet are much less bright now without her.
Posted by oxygenbabe (Member # 5831) on :
Where has Gigi gone?
Posted by susan2health (Member # 10446) on :
See her good bye on Jan. 10th in General Support.
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
She got tired of all the negative people that were constantly challenging the information she freely shared. In the end, we all lose.
Posted by D Bergy (Member # 9984) on :
I found the "terrain" discussion interesting. One thing I heard about terrain regarding growing bacteria was on a DVD on Royal Rife.
He was an excellent bacteriologist and the one thing that stuck in my mind was that he said he could grow bacteria in both an Alkaline medium and an Acidic medium. Different bacteria depending on the medium. But he never could grow anything in a neutral medium.
He grew bacteria 10,000 times or more but he never could grow anything in a neutral medium.
To me, that means keeping healthy is more of a matter of not allowing your body PH get either alkaline or acidic. Sounds easy enough but I do not know if your body easily changes its PH. Mine is darn near neutral but it does not seem to vary no matter what I do or eat.
Just a thought.
D Bergy
Posted by Jennifer Geddie (Member # 9097) on :
Wallace, Unless you know someone who has been turned around by this product , this is a big waste and very annoying to sift through. I fail to see the significance or value of this information .
Do you know hoy many millions of supplements are marketed to desperate sick people?
Personally ( she said kindly ) I would hesitate to tout any product unless I knew of someone who experienced REALLY favorable results .
Posted by Jennifer Geddie (Member # 9097) on :
Wallace, Unless you know someone who has been turned around by this product , this is a big waste and very annoying to sift through. I fail to see the significance or value of this information .
Do you know hoy many millions of supplements are marketed to desperate sick people?
Personally ( she said kindly ) I would hesitate to tout any product unless I knew of someone who experienced REALLY favorable results .
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
I have just ordered the sequel to this book but this book by Stepen buhner looks good and relates to some of our previous discussion.
Wallace
The Lost Language of Plants, by Stephen Harrod Buhner View Member Comments(0) Printer Friendly
HerbalGram. 2003;60:72-74 � American Botanical Council (Buy This Issue)
The Lost Language of Plants, by Stephen Harrod Buhner. Chelsea Green Publishing: White River Junction, Vermont; 2002. 325 pp., softcover, includes index, references, bibliography, resources. $19.95 ISBN 1-890132-88-8.
When I picked up this new book by Stephen Harrod Buhner, I was not sure if it would resemble The Secret Life of Plants (by Peter Tompkin and Christopher Bird: Harper & Row, 1973) or a 300-page account of one of my favorite documentaries The Private Life of Plants: A Natural History of Plant Behaviour (by David Attenborough: Princeton University Press, 1995). Not only was I mistaken on both accounts, but I found myself pleasantly surprised with the content of The Lost Language of Plants. I believe Buhner's book is more of a cross between the immortal Silent Spring (by Rachel Carson: originally published in 1962, 40th anniversary edition published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002) and learning first-hand about herbs from the likes of Dr. James Duke (author of The Green Pharmacy, Rodale Press, 1996).
Not one to mince words, Buhner gives the pharmaceutical industry both barrels from his shotgun, accusing them of fueling the current antibiotic resistance crisis and being one of the larger polluters of the environment. As a clinical pharmacist practicing natural pharmacy, I agree that antibiotic abuse and misuse is the main reason why bacteria resistance is a global issue. But we have to recognize that antibiotics have saved millions of lives and helped immensely with the longevity of the human species. The golden age of antibiotics may indeed be coming to an end, but most people would not want to abandon their use in the face of emerging disease from "the hot zone." Buhner may or may not agree.
Buhner stands on much firmer ground when attacking the pharmaceutical giants in the area of synthetic hormones. These female "xeno-estrogens," (mostly derived from forty years of birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy use) are negatively affecting the environment in a myriad of ways. He sites a Canadian study where white perch in the Great Lakes are becoming unisex after three weeks of direct exposure to estrogen. Estrogens such as Premarin, Prempro, and synthetic hormones from birth control pills are some of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the industrial world. The deluge of problems they are spawning include low sperm count in men living in industrialized nations, increased cancer risk among women due to estrogen dominance, an earlier onset of puberty in young girls, and environmental havoc regarding the sex organs of fish, reptiles, and amphibians. It is truly a disaster in the making. I wish Buhner would have written an entire chapter on environmental "xeno-estrogens," but he did an admirable job exposing the environmental toxicity caused by a cocktail of other drugs such as anti-depressants, chemo-agents, and even personal care products (non-prescription drugs).
In addition to being an environmental medicine book and a pharmaceutical-beware book, The Lost Language of Plants does a good job explaining the chemistry of plants and herbalism. Buhner states, "using herbs in the healing process means taking part in the ecological cycle." He proves this point with both compassion and scientific expertise. Drawing on traditional Native American wisdom and believable modern-day research, Buhner wants to reconnect the reader with the natural environment, even making a plea for children to feel the earthly impulse which he calls "biophilia."
As I finished reading this energized and heartfelt book, I was reminded of the many hours I sat with indigenous healers and shamans in the rainforests of Africa, and Central and South America. These remarkable men and women believe that the plants speak to them in a language that they can only hear when in a trance or dream-like state. When they encounter an illness or a disease in the village with which they are not familiar, they often wait until the specific herb, tree or vine that holds the cure "speaks" to them in a dream. Buhner says it well when he writes that plants are our teachers and healers and have a language that we have long known.
Filled with hundreds of exotic and fascinating quotes from masters such as Goethe to a litany of contemporary environmental and natural-healing authors, the book reads quickly like a suspense novel. It is not difficult to recognize that the ancient knowledge and wisdom of the few remaining indigenous healers with the ability to "speak" to the plants is at a dangerous precipice. One can only hope that our modern society can somehow garner this language skill, which is likely within each of us, and discover the plant medicines akin to healing diseases of humankind, and hopefully save the ecosystem in time. Stephen Harrod Buhner is an experienced writer who exemplifies impeccable research and knows how to keep the reader in suspense. His writing style is elegant and you sometimes get the feeling that you are reading poetry. Buhner best sums up the importance of his book for the generation of the new millennium by evoking a simple logic: "herbalism is based on a relationship between plants and humans, humans and planet."
- Daniel T. Wagner, PharmD, RPh, MBA
Nutri-farmacy
Wildwood, PA
[Note: The Lost Language of Plants received a 2003 Nautilus Award in the Ecology/Environment category from NAPRA, the Network of Alternatives for Publishers, Retailers & Artists, which honors books that contribute significantly to conscious living and positive social change. The NAPRA website notes, "Buhner's warnings about the truly frightening hidden ecological cost of the pharmaceutical industry are framed within a love song for medicinal flora. As he inspires his readers to a passionate appreciation for the wisdom and inestimable value of plants, he also demonstrates how to open one's heart to the great wound that is our separation from the natural world."
Further, ForeWord Magazine bestowed a silver Book of the Year Award to this book in the Environment category . This award was established to increase attention to the literary achievements of independent publishers and their authors, based on editorial excellence and professional production as well as the originality of the narrative and the value the book adds to its genre.]
American Botanical Council, 6200 Manor
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
Hey Wallace,
I do tend to think that the smallest silver particles are best, and I think the concentration of the silver is important, too. But there is one mfg. who claims that you have to have the BIG particles in order to kill anything. And both sides of the isle seem to have logical explanations for their claims. That's the problem. I'm not sure how far we can use our logic when it comes to stuff like this.
Right now, I'm working with a homeopath (NOT a Naturopath or herbalist or whatever else is out there), and I have to be careful about starting anything new, simply because it becomes very difficult to tell WHAT is having an effect on the body, which is a key element in homeopathic treatment. False feedback can really hinder the process.
As to the d-Lenolate, I've tried to find out some more info on it. For instance, WHY is it a patented product? What makes it different than other olive leaf extract products?
Now, hearing about your lady-friend's success with it is very helpful. I've read some testimonials, but those are a dime a dozen. I want real feedback from real people. I want to know the whole story: lifestyle changes; other products or treatments they are doing; treatments they have tried in the past; their worst symptoms when starting the product, etc. That's the only way to evaluate it, for me.
Well, I'm not sure the tissue salt therapy will work either, but it is something my homeopath agrees I should try. I also have the individual salts so I can ``tweak'' my own combination if I need to.
And it will fit well with the other homeopathic remedies I am taking.
I'm not sure your seawater therapy will work for you, either, but at least we are willing to try some different things to see what happens.
Whoa, you are seeing a homeopath? Are you sure that is the right word? Are you seeing a ``classical homeopath''? If so, name a couple of homeopathic remedies you have taken. There is SO much confusion about WHAT homeopathy is.
Mo, I agree with what you said.
And I'm real sad to hear about why GiGi left the board. I was hoping that she simply wanted to spend more time enjoying her life.
Tracy
Posted by Marnie (Member # 773) on :
Wallace,
If you have not yet seen the video, An Inconvenient Truth, please do so. Pay close attention to the CO2 - "new" pathogens part. That video will shock you.
Since we KNOW Bb alters its protein coat in response to temperature, pH and CO2 levels, I found the above quite DVD especially interesting!
Also, if you have not yet seen the video, First Do No Harm (with Meryl Streep), it is excellent too. A child with non stop seizures was cured using a diet...a very specific diet...ketogenic. It is based on a true story.
We HAVE all the nutrients in plants and animals to heal us. But the danger lies in not realizing the impact of "taking them apart" (searching for the "active ingredient" in them).
There are multiple nutrients in say, garlic. Selenium is one, but selenium does NOT work "ALONE". It is the massive COMBINATION of nutrients in garlic that is so vital.
The body is very complex and the interplay of the various nutrients...minerals, sugars, vitamins, amino acids, water, oxygen is mind boggling.
Whenever we talk about ONE specific nutrient, we have to stop and look at the "big picture"...how it will interact with OTHER nutrients as well as its impact on a PARTICULAR pathogen?
For example, if d-galactose (a sugar, positive charge) increases oxidative stress (free radicals which damage the mitochondria/DNA), it would theoretically be absolutely essential to replace the antioxidants AT THE SAME TIME. CoQ10 in enormous doses were given to Parkinson's patients, but not CoQ10 alone...vitamin E was given also...and selenium.
Yes, we need that sugar - d- galactose (and many more), but apparently Bb is capable of breaking it down (genetic proof). d-galactose needs Na to be carried into the cells and apparently Na also carries choline into the cells, which we KNOW Bb needs. This is disrupting the Na-K pump. With glycolysis speeded up as a sugar loving pathogen utilizes sugar = less ATP. Not good for us.
So now we have less ATP and Na is stuck IN the cells, when K, is supposed to be in there. The cellular pumps are broken.
A LONG time ago, a doctor named Pierre Delbet indeed found that Na combination can destroy a number of pathogens, but then he found Mg combinations work even better.
The acception to the above is HIV. That virus USES Mg, not Mn. There are always "acceptions". All of our gram negative pathogens are missing acids. Most of our worse pathogens are gram negative (multiple cell walls), but the exception is anthrax, which is gram positive.
Exceptions to "rules".
I believe we need to carefully watch the body's response to determine what is needed to fight.
We KNOW Mg levels drop as the stores of Mg look to come right from our muscle stores at the outset of this disease (% drop is identical). We KNOW the powerful antioxidant, vitamin E is depleted in lyme as it comes out of our fat stores. Logic would say, this is happening for good REASONS....likely the body needs those specific nutrients to put up battle.
I believe the body is trying hard to fight...to save us, and if necessary, it uses all sorts of complex back up routes to do so. If our OWN antibodies are damaged (fab portion), the body will find another way to decrease the infection while, at the same time, protect the vital organs. Up goes TNF alpha.
To maintain our pH (hydrogen) the body will use glycogen (from foods or fat storage) to react with acids or the minerals to react with the acids).
Little positive charge + lots of negative charges -> hydrogen.
The kidneys can be damaged if the system is too acidic. Those cells (kidney) maintain our pH. Ultimately, the body HAS to call for its biggest reserves of a mineral...calcium. It WILL come right out of the bones...which isn't good, so other things kick in to counter/react with the Ca - vitamin D goes up, estrogen levels, etc.
If I see any potential problems with a drug or a supplement or a treatment, my intention is to make you AWARE of them so that you all may make your OWN informed decisions.
If this is perceived as ``being negative or challenging anyone's information'' that is indeed unfortunate. I welcome debates (based on current knowledge from multiple sources). I think we can learn a LOT from SHARING INFORMATION even if it is something we don't want to hear.
I do not consider it a personal affront. I want all the information possible BEFORE I make a decision.
My goal is and has been and is to find a CURE, not merely relief of symptoms. But above all I pray to:
First do no harm.
I did not intentionally challenge Gi Gi personally, but did challenge the INFORMATION she posted. I see a potential problem with giving ONLY d-galactose. Not to mention the relative unavailability of this supplement (only available in Germany, only made by a company in Italy).
Genetic information we now have at hand to analyze the pathogens provides us with INCREDIBLE information. Now we know which paths they take, what they need to ``survive''. Bb's paths are very complex. VERY.
To suggest that ONE nutrient, a specific sugar, is capable of healing so many diseases is unlikely, IMO.
The way I see it, it is a COMBINATION of very specific nutrients. The Meyer's cocktail is a combination of nutrients. Valletta's patent, ``Magnesium for Autoimmune'' is a combination of nutrients. Our own body response to Bb was a combination of many nutrients, but especially Mg (which works with B vitamins) and vitamin E.
What this all boils down to is pH. The potential of hydrogen. Hydrogen does go right into the cells, but it must be carried along to reach the powerhouses...the mitochondria.
Cancer cells have very few mitochondria left -very few powerhouses. As new cells are made, they have FEWER mitochondria. They should have more, but as a defense...are they making fewer so that the infected cells will die SOONER?
This is aging, this is the result of disease (ongoing exposure to so many pathogens) or ongoing toxic exposure. Oxidative stress = too many free radicals (most are lone oxygen molecules) which do tremendous damage -> premature aging, early death.
While we must have oxygen to survive it also is leading to our demise. We need O2, but must have OH also. H2O + O (damaging)...so fast, really fast...send in more hydrogen!
Once again...this is about our pH.
We are most acidic at death. But yes, being too alkaline isn't good either, but we are supposed to be SLIGHTLY alkaline. It is only in an alkaline environment that our NK cells can work to directly target precancerous cells by ``squirting'' them with a ``negative charge''. Highly targeted.
Enough for now...
Ancora Imparo.
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
From a herbal school associated with Buhner
Wallace
THIS IS ANARCHO-HERBALISM Thoughts On Health and Healing For the Revolution
Laurel Luddite (used by permission of the author)
My medicine chest is a council of bioregions, with representatives gathered together as I make my way around the world west of the Rocky Mountains. The Coptis root was picked out of the churned-up scar left by an excavator, at the retreating edge of the Idaho wilderness. The tiny amount of Pipsissewa leaves came from an ancient grove above the Klamath River just feet away from where the District Ranger sat on a stump talking about his plans to cut it all down. I am drying Nettles from the California creek where salmon die in the silt left after a century of industrial logging.
Every jar holds a story (often a ghost story of dying ecosystems and places gone forever). I am honored to have known the plants in their home places and to have studied their uses as medicine. But for people not lucky enough to roam throughout the wilds, purchased herbal preparations such as tinctures may be the link back to this sort of healing.
Like so much in this consumerist society, it is easy to ignore the connections between a bottle on a shelf in some store and a living, growing plant out in the world somewhere. It can be hard to know if the plant grows a mile away or on another continent. There is much to be said for reconnecting, for educating ourselves about the herbs we use and gathering our own medicine when we can. That's how we will be able to build a whole new system of healing � one that can support our movement away from the corporate power structure that medicine has become.
The development of a new medical system, or the recovery of ancient models, will be another link in our safety net when industrialism fails. It will keep us alive and kicking out windows now in the system's last days when so many people have no access to industrial medicine. And it will reestablish our connection to the real medicine that is the Earth.
An alternative to "alternative medicine"
The sort of herbal medicine popular these days (presented to us by the media and so-called green capitalists as yet another exciting fad) has brought with it very little thought of a new way of healing. The plants, reduced to capsule form or, worse, to their "active ingredients", are just new tools to work with in the same body-machine that industrial medicine sees people as being. They become no different than pharmaceutical drugs or a scalpel blade: something to pry into the body-machine with and use to mess around with the parts. Except of course much less effective, because the herbs have been taken out of the system of healing in which they have their strength.
When the marketers of herbal products get their hands on a new "miracle cure", it can mean extinction for the plant. This is especially sad when so many living creatures go into useless products or are wasted on conditions that they don't treat. (Has anyone else seen that Echinacea shampoo?) The classic example of this is Goldenseal, Hydrastis canadensis, a plant close to extinction in the wild. It has a couple of amazing actions in the human body but has mostly been marketed as a cure for the common cold, which it will do almost nothing to help. By the way, the largest brokers of wild-harvested Goldenseal and many other big-name herbs are multinational pharmaceutical corporations. Given american society's obsession with herbal Viagra, weight loss pills, and stimulants, most of the herbs on the mass market are being sacrificed to these ridiculous causes.
There is an alternative to "alternative medicine". Southwestern herbalist, author, and teacher Michael Moore probably said it best in one of his recent digressions from a lecture: "In this country, the herb business mostly revolves around recently marketed substances with new research, and it comes from them to us. Whereas we're trying to establish as much as possible (in this "lower level" if you will) the fact that we need to create a practice and a model that's impervious to faddism. We're trying to practice in a way that derives from practice rather than from marketing. Not from above to below but from below around. Bioregionalism uber alles. Keep it local. No centralization because centralization kills everything."
Herbo-primitivism
So we need another way of looking at our bodies and the plant medicines. Seeing the two as interconnected and in balance is new to industrial culture, but in reality it is the most ancient healing model on earth. We knew it before we were people. Animals know how to use plants to medicate themselves. Their examples surround us, from dogs eating grass to bears digging Osha roots. Probably every human society has had some way of explaining how the body works and how plant medicines work in us.
One thing all herbalists know - dogs and bears included - is that a health problem is best treated before it begins. In more primitive societies where people have the luxury of listening to their own bodies it is easy to spot an imbalance before it turns into an acute disease state. This is where herbs are most effective. They work at this sub-clinical (and therefore invisible to industrial medicine) level of "imbalances" and "deficiency" and "excess".
This old/new healing system is subtle and requires a lot of self-knowledge, or at least self-awareness. It uses intuition as a diagnostic tool. Emotion, spirituality, and environment become medicines. The spirit and environment of the plants we gather affects their healing properties, and our relationship with those plants becomes very important.
Green Herbalogy
When we take herbal medicine we are taking in part of the plant's environment. Everything it ate and drank and experienced has formed the medicine you're depending on, so you better make sure it gets all the best. When we are healed by plants, we owe it to them to look out for their kind and the places where they live. Traditional plant-gatherers often have a prayer they recite before they take anything from the wild. I usually say something along the lines of "OK, plant. You heal me and I'll look out for you. I got your back. No one's gonna build over you, or log you, or pick too much while I'm around." So this true herbal healing system has at its heart a deep environmentalism and a commitment to the Earth.
The bioregional concept is important to this model of healing. Plants' actions in our bodies are really quite limited by the chemicals they can produce from sunlight and soil. For every big-name herb on the market cut from the rainforest or dug from the mountains, there is most likely a plant with a similar action growing in your watershed. Some of the best medicines to maintain good health grow in vacant lots and neglected gardens around the world.
Anarcho-herbalism
A society of people who are responsible for their own health and able to gather or grow their own medicines is a hard society to rule. These days we are dependent on the power structure of industrial health care - the secret society of the doctors, the white-male-dominated medical schools, the corporate decision makers with their toxic pharmaceuticals and heartless greed and labs full of tortured beings. That dependence is one more thing keeping us tied down to the State and unable to rebel with all our hearts or even envision a world without such oppression. With a new system of healing, based on self-knowledge and herbal wisdom, we will be that much more free.
Offering a real alternative health care system will help to calm some people's fears about returning to an anarchistic, Earth centered way of life. There is a false security in the men with the big machines, ready to put you back together again (if you have enough money). What is ignored is the fact that industrial society causes most of the dis-eases that people fear. Living free on a healing Earth while surrounded by true community and eating real food will prove to be a better medicine than anything you can buy.
What steps can we make now towards creating this new system of medicine? We all need to learn what we can about our own health. This can be through training in one or more of the surviving models of traditional healing and/or through self-observation. How do you feel when you're just starting to get a cold? What kinds of problems come up repeatedly, especially when you're stressed out? If you're a womyn, how long is your cycle and what does the blood look like? Understanding how our bodies act in times of health can help us recognize the very early stages of dis-ease when herbs are the most useful.
People who have some background in healing (in the traditional or industrial systems) can be a great help to those of us just learning. Healers who are working to form this new model, whether collectively or through their individual practices, should keep in mind that commitment to the Earth and a decentralized form are central to truly revolutionary medicine.
In these times of change, everything is being examined and either destroyed, rebuilt, or created from our hearts. Industrialism has affected every aspect of our lives - we are just starting to realize how much has been lost. Medicine is just one part of the machine that we have to take back and re-create into a form that works for the society we will become. Every herb, pill, and procedure should be judged on its sustainability and accessibility to small groups of people. We can start with ourselves, within our communities and circles, but should never stop expanding outwards until industrial medicine rusts in a forgotten grave, a victim of its own imbalances.
Posted by Mo (Member # 2863) on :
wonderful info (and thoughts) on this thread!
re: classical homeopathy: yes, i have learned as well that all my herbal stuff needs to be put aside while using the remedies. even things like ointments and herbal teas can interfere.
i'm also supposed to quit coffee, but that is something i have NEVER complied with on ANY therepy, no matter how strongly advised , and don't see myself doing so anytime soon. hope it doesn't interfere too much.
really interesting medicine. i wonder if cellular ecology work would compliment homeopathy. i'll have to ask the doc.
i know edgar cayce's work and ideas are said to be a good match - and one thing he emphasized was the importance of neutral PH.
mo
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
Tracey.
I love homeopathy, classical,complex,bioreasonance etc but I think the evidence of this board is that Buhner is on the right track. Have you read his book?
Sunny thoughts, Wallace
Posted by Mo (Member # 2863) on :
i only began homeopathic treatment after a long road of other, including abx and allot of cleansing and herbs.
who can say for sure, but my own intuation tells me my body may not have reacted as well to the remedies without the previous treatments -- but that is just my guess. i too think Buhner's understanding of the disease is excellent.
mo
Posted by clairenotes (Member # 10392) on :
Personally, I think there is something kind of magical about the possibility of ocean and sunlight (Blasti) having a strong impact on our health. Add plants to that and we have a spectrum of natural elements.
It is interesting to think about the possibility of being surrounded by healing agents.
Claire
[ 15. January 2007, 09:04 AM: Message edited by: clairenotes ]
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
I still have questions about how to safely unload neurotoxins/mercury with Buhner's protocol, but alot of his stuff is being effectively used by other docs/tx centers in combo with detox.
And some people (males, younger people, people who have been sick less time, better genetic detox capabilities) can more easily kill kooties without risking brain/organ damage from moving too quickly.
I'm learning slowly to listen to my body and believe it even if an expert tells me contrary info.
There's a verse in an old manuscript that says that the "leaves of the tree (of life) were for the healing of the nations".
I believe that natural herbs have more potential to heal and balance without the damage of synthetic drugs, though I use both when herbs/supplements aren't enough.
But no pill or herb will make up for a bad diet, a wounded heart, a lack of exercise (to tolerance), and clean air/water/thoughts as much as possible.
My opinion/experience.
Posted by Jellybelly (Member # 7142) on :
Hey Wallace Just a thought, instead of some of your posts that are literally 2 feet long, due to the article length, maybe you could just post the link and an important paragraph or two.
I'm not saying that your posts aren't worth reading, it's just that it makes for a really long scroll to get to the next post and it happens numerous times on each thread.
With a hyperlink, in a flash we are taken elsewhere, without stretching this thread out sooooooooooo loooooong.
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
Mo, I've read some HUGE discussions about coffee and homeopathic remedies. For the majority of people who use it in moderation, there just isn't a problem. In sensitive individuals, it can interfere. If your remedies are working, then don't worry about it. The same goes for herbs, teas, and essential oils. I quit using the oils on principal because they are so aromatic, and I have heard of cases where they blocked the remedies.
I've wondered about homeopathy and Rifing/microcurrent treatments, too. No one seems to know much about that. I think Hulda Clark talks some about using her zapper along with the h. remedies, but I would advise caution when using two distinctly different ``energy'' protocols. They may neutralize each other rather than compliment each other.
And I think you are probably right about the remedies working better because you did some cleansing and detoxing beforehand.
Even trying to do much detoxing while taking h. remedies can confuse a case, and exhaust the vital force. Some homeopaths agree with this, and some do not.
Wallace, I think Buhner is onto something, and there may be merit in the products you've mentioned. But if you are really seeing a homeopath - someone whose practice consists of at least 85% homeopathy - then just be sure that you and your homeopath are on the same page with this.
I have Buhner's book and haven't even opened it. It is important that I learn to work with the remedies and become familiar with my current reactions before even attempting to start anything more. I would be doing myself a disservice if I approach this otherwise.
The very first thing I need to do is clean up my diet and lifestyle some more. Get my pH in order (I haven't checked it for awhile). The bad habits creep back in and tend to stay there.
Tracy
Posted by D Bergy (Member # 9984) on :
I know a few things about Rife therapy. It is all we use for my wife's Lymes currently. Samento and Cumanda worked for a while but it lost its effectiveness just like most any other antibiotic.
When this happened we needed something else to kill the Lymes and Rife seemed logical, if it really worked, since it does not seem to push Lymes into dormancy.
The bottom line is we were going to rotate between Samento Cumanda and Rife to keep the Lymes guessing about what was coming next. We found that the Rife therapy was all that was needed. It works steadily without interfering with our lives. We use it about once a week and if she gets any joint pain. Only occasional joint pain is left now and it quickly goes away after treatment.
I understand the skepticism about this treatment as I am as skeptical as anyone. But we have used it for a couple of other ailments as well and it is hard to argue with the results we see.
I have never used a zapper as I am still skeptical about Hulda Clark. But, as with other things, there may be some truth to some of her ideas as well. I just have not done enough investigation to feel comfortable with it.
Anyone thinking about using Rife tratments really should read Bryan Rosner's book on Lyme Disease and Rife Machines. I just got it and I was surprised how well written and understandable it was. I learned a few new things also. There is quite a bit about antibiotics as well.
I have no interest in selling any Rife related products. But I hate to see people suffering and I think it is in any Lymes victim's interest to consider this option, especially if nothing else is working for you.
Best Regards
D Bergy
Posted by JimBoB (Member # 8454) on :
Bergy:
Just a helpful thought: There is NO S in Lyme D.
Jim ###
Posted by JimBoB (Member # 8454) on :
quote:Originally posted by Truthfinder:
Wallace, I think Buhner is onto something, and there may be merit in the products you've mentioned. But if you are really seeing a homeopath - someone whose practice consists of at least 85% homeopathy - then just be sure that you and your homeopath are on the same page with this.
I have Buhner's book and haven't even opened it. It is important that I learn to work with the remedies and become familiar with my current reactions before even attempting to start anything more. I would be doing myself a disservice if I approach this otherwise.
The very first thing I need to do is clean up my diet and lifestyle some more. Get my pH in order (I haven't checked it for awhile). The bad habits creep back in and tend to stay there.
Tracy
Tracy:
HAVING the book does you NO GOOD AT ALL. You NEED to read it, then act on it. AND I sure would not wait to do any cleanses. My system sure is NOT clean, by any means. I am a sugaraholic. I know this is not good for me, but IT is MY vice.
The herbs STILL help tremendously. ANd I DO mean tremendously. I would have been dead long ago without them, to be sure. I have been close to death several times in my life, and I KNOW when I am near it.
YOU won't get better until you practice what you know. AND knowledge is power. BUT ONLY IF you actually USE IT.
Jim Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
JimBob,
Thanks for the comments.
It IS helpful to know that you are a sugaraholic and the Buhner herbs still do wonders for you. Good to know. Any protocol that WON'T WORK at all if you have any vices probably isn't in my future. I'm never going to get it perfect or become a ``purist''.
Trying to combine homeopathy and any other protocol is similar to the problem of combining ``hot and cold herbs'' that you were kind enough to bring to our attention. Willy-nilly combining is not smart and usually not productive.
I bought Buhner's book with a lot of reservation. The reason is that I have NEVER tolerated herbs very well. Most of them constipate me, for starters, and to top it off, the caps/tablets usually stick in my throat and then my chest burns for 18 hours. And that's even when I eat FOOD to wash them down with.
You've mentioned that at one point, you were taking like 78 capsules a day. This was NOT encouraging. A few years ago, I was taking 48 pills a day - no herbs, just other supplements - and I felt like I was going to explode from the sheer volume.
I don't react to things like you do. I bought some Sarsaparilla tea awhile back thinking that was something I could perhaps work into my regimen. I drank a cup one morning and was totally nauseated until noon.
I ordered the C-Salts you speak so highly of because even Ester-C causes me constipation. The first thing that happened was a lot of GI pain and distress. The second thing that happened was that every time I took a dose of the C-Salts, I started sneezing and my nose started running. *sigh* So, I'm working with the C-Salts, trying to become accustomed to them. I've about eliminated the runny nose thing, but I still have adverse GI reactions, at times.
Why did the C-Salts eliminate your stomach pain, but cause me GI distress? Obviously, our systems are different.
I got some Devil's Claw (? I think that is the herb), something that worked well for you joint pain. Then I found out it can be constipating to some people, so it is just sitting there.
I herx (heart problems) on Samento, and can't even take Cumanda for the same reason. Will I react to the whole Cat's Claw herb? Probably.
I'll quit here, but there are a lot of people out there who do NOT tolerate herbs well, and I am one of them. So, I'm not discounting Buhner's protocol. It just may not be right for every person out there.
Interesting interview, interesting she was so positive about Salt/c. I missed more emphasis on dental problems contained in Dr k's other work.
I think Dr K is a genius but I do have one problem with him. I think ART is total baloney. My homeopath demonstrated to me that just by changing his conscious intention he could come up with any result he wanted to via muscle testing. Yeah I know ART is not any old muscle testing ....its whatever and the ART therapist is totally "clear". The only "clear" people I know are God and a couple of Angels. We are fallible human beings and ART is just the lastest attempt for the Doc to play God.
I know all ART therapists are angels and never would want to make money out of this "gift" but human nature being what it is.... well there is certainly a risk here.
Can ART be proved scientically to be 100% accurate? Have their been double blind trials to do precisely that????
No, and they never will happen. Until then I think I am entitled to remain a sceptic.
I saw Dr C of Texas practise this(I think he is ART trained) and it was just a party trick but its not serious medicine.
Thankfully Buhner doesn't indulge in this nonsense.
If I saw Dr K or his disciples I would say try using your intuition rather than ART. Would I be shown the door?
Dr K is a treasure but this is his achilles heel. And ART is a emperor that has no clothes and needs to be said loud and clear.
BTW I prefer Dr K being a flawed genius there are the best kind- more human!
Sunny thoughts, Wallace
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
Tracey et al
I have told my homeopaths assistant that I want now to combine Buhner herbs with homeopathy.
I have been told fine but I should bring the herbs to be "tested" for their usefullness. Testing involves puting them on a machine- even weirder than ART and no more reliable in my view.
So the fragile ego of my homeopath may not like it but it can be done if you make it clear that is what you want to do.
Sunny thoughts, Wallace
+
Posted by jmill2977 (Member # 10513) on :
I have not posted for a while - a lot going on.
In any event, we have been seeing some positive movement with my wife's treatment. She was really very sick about a year ago and, after a 2 month runaround, finally found a LLMD who put her on IV antibiotics. She responded pretty well, but it was really doing a job on her gall bladder. She decided to come of the IV after 3 months and, unfortunately, did not do much else for a couple of months.
Her symptoms got worse again and she started what is essentially Buhner's (sp?) protocol. This is helping her a lot. She is having more good days than bad and the bad days are not as bad as they were a while ago. The LLMD told us on the first visit that this is the way to measure progress.
Over the last year, I have come to the conclusion that: 1 - There is no "one size fits all treatment" 2 - IV antibiotics for as long as someone can tolerate them is a key to knocking the bacteria out of your system. 3 - Once off the IV, it is critical to continue building up your immune system through herbs, supplements, etc. Unfortunately, my wife did not do this immediately after coming off the IV...We both wish she did. 4 - Accupuncture once a week has been a real help with joint pain, etc. 5 - Just recently, I read somewhere on this Board about detox footpads. Interestingly enough, they seem to really work for my wife. She has used them for a week and then stopped. She felt worse after stopping and started using them again and is feeling much better. 6 - Finally, there is no magic bullet. This is a long term process and you need to be persistent.
Posted by 5dana8 (Member # 7935) on :
I did three years of traditional abx & other treatments. It got me in partical remmission for which I am grateful. My stomach did finally give out & I turned to rife aprox 7 months ago. And I still take handfuls of supps too.
The rife has been able to hold my progress. And each time now when I feel myself relapsing I rife and it does seem to help.
In the beginning months I did herx quite alot from rife. But now when I rife I have shorter herx's & do feel better.
Tincups detox tea recipe ha also helped most with the detox along the way.
Not sure rife only would have pulled me back from how ill I was, but it seems to be holding me now.
Can't say for sure weather its the 3 years of abx that brought my germ load down and or hitting some of the co's that did it. But never in 20 years have I been able to go this long without abx and not take a dive.
Knock on wood.
Posted by JimBoB (Member # 8454) on :
Hi Tracy, I will answer AFTER each of your paragraphs with ## after yours and ### after mine. Jim ###
quote:Originally posted by Truthfinder: JimBob,
Thanks for the comments.
It IS helpful to know that you are a sugaraholic and the Buhner herbs still do wonders for you. Good to know. Any protocol that WON'T WORK at all if you have any vices probably isn't in my future. I'm never going to get it perfect or become a ``purist''. ## How many can be a purist. WE are ALL imperfect, therefore NEED something that will work regardless. I KNOW I would do much better IF I could stop this sugar addiction. HOPEFULLY someday. I quit smoking way back in 1970. Quit drinking any amount a year before that. So I HOPE to be able to quit the sugar thing SOME day. ###
Trying to combine homeopathy and any other protocol is similar to the problem of combining ``hot and cold herbs'' that you were kind enough to bring to our attention. Willy-nilly combining is not smart and usually not productive. ##
One thing I have learned recently: That Buhner does NOT subscribe to that old chinese tradition of the hot and cold herbs. HE uses what HE feels works for the pathogens at hand. I agree Willy-Nilly is NOT the way to go. BUT, his Protocol+ are not that in any way. ###
I bought Buhner's book with a lot of reservation. The reason is that I have NEVER tolerated herbs very well. Most of them constipate me, for starters, and to top it off, the caps/tablets usually stick in my throat and then my chest burns for 18 hours. And that's even when I eat FOOD to wash them down with. ##
IF you have a constipation problem take Nettle ROOT it will help you in THAT department. The ROOT, not the Nettle Leaf. I just learned that yesterday. LIQUID is better for "washing down" than food. ###
You've mentioned that at one point, you were taking like 78 capsules a day. This was NOT encouraging. A few years ago, I was taking 48 pills a day - no herbs, just other supplements - and I felt like I was going to explode from the sheer volume. ##
At another point, I was up to 93 capsules a day. I was also taking Red Root and Periwinkle tincture, AND still do. Plus the C-Salts. The capsules at max only filled a little one ounce shot glass. So that volume is NOTHING compared to what food we take in in a day. ###
I don't react to things like you do. I bought some Sarsaparilla tea awhile back thinking that was something I could perhaps work into my regimen. I drank a cup one morning and was totally nauseated until noon. ##
WHY tea? It won't do you near the good of the Root Powder in Capsules. Take the "0" size if you have trouble swallowing, with LOTS of liquid, WITH your meal. ###
I ordered the C-Salts you speak so highly of because even Ester-C causes me constipation. The first thing that happened was a lot of GI pain and distress. The second thing that happened was that every time I took a dose of the C-Salts, I started sneezing and my nose started running. *sigh* So, I'm working with the C-Salts, trying to become accustomed to them. I've about eliminated the runny nose thing, but I still have adverse GI reactions, at times. ##
I HOPE you are taking the C-Salts WITH your meal also. As a matter of fact, I mix about one ounce of water with them, swirl the glass, then after about 20 seconds, I add more distilled water to make a half glass, then fill it the REST OF THE WAY with my favorite juice concoction. Oh, yes, before I put in the juice, I add a half dropper of Red Root tincture and a full dropper of Perwinkle tincture. THen add the juice. I use this concoction to take ALL my herbs with right after my MAIN MEAL and follow it with my "dessert". I did this three times a day for over 13 months. NOW, starting this past Sunday, I have cut it back to TWICE a day. Will see HOW this all goes. ###
Why did the C-Salts eliminate your stomach pain, but cause me GI distress? Obviously, our systems are different. ##
I am of the opinion that our "systems" are NOT so different as so many of you make them out to be. WE are ALL people and we come from ONE DESIGN. (Well, actually two, male and female, he made them). We all have the same organs, blood, and NEED food and liquid and air to survive. ALL the SAME systems. BUT it is HOW we have treated those systems most of our lives that makes us "react" different to some things. I personally believe that I had partially destroyed my stomach from Ascorbic acid AND soda pop for so many years. ABX made it WORSE. Herbs didn't seem to make much difference one way or the other. ###
I got some Devil's Claw (? I think that is the herb), something that worked well for you joint pain. Then I found out it can be constipating to some people, so it is just sitting there. ##
MANY of BUhner's herbs balance one another out. You MUST get on a GOOD REGIMEN of HIS. ONLY ADD what will be compatible with HIS. IF you still have constipation problems, use the NETTLE ROOT. ###
I herx (heart problems) on Samento, and can't even take Cumanda for the same reason. Will I react to the whole Cat's Claw herb? Probably. ##
PROBABLY, especially IF you keep thinking you WILL FOR SURE. Then you will. ONE word of caution on taking the Devil's Claw. It will probably make you feel a little nauseous for a day or too, along with a lot of gas. BUT that SHOULD subside after a few days. AND go REAL SLOW with it. I only take it in the morning and afternoon. I still take the maximum amount of that one. 4 pills, twice a day. On the Cat's Claw, only take the whole herb, powder, IN CAPSULES, NOT Samento TOA free. ###
I'll quit here, but there are a lot of people out there who do NOT tolerate herbs well, and I am one of them. So, I'm not discounting Buhner's protocol. It just may not be right for every person out there. ##
I am so sorry for you, that you can't take much to heal yourself. Hopefully you will find a way to get on some kind of protocol that will work for YOU. Just so most people out there realize that MOST people do very well on Buhner's Protocol. Also, maybe don't quit so easy. Forge AHEAD, not backwards. BUT go slow. I almost quit Devil's Claw after the first day I took it. Sure am glad I didn't. ###
Tracy
## JIM ###
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
Wallace,
Sorry that you did not find the dental issues to be covered. There is no doubt that those can be a major issue and hold-up to healing for many people. It was difficult to cover what we did and the article was already longer than the editor generally likes. That said, it is not intended to suggest that if one has dental issues that they can be ignored. Lyme infections themselves are attracted to the jaw area and often cause tremendous problems.
I am sorry that you have concerns over Dr. K. I can tell you from my perspective that ART is far from baloney. In fact, I would likely trade every conventional lab test I have done for the information I have gotten from ART.
I am not suggesting that ART is 100% accurate. I think even Dr. K puts it at about 80% if I recall. That said, what conventional lab work that you do for Lyme disease is 80% accurate? The answer is likely none.
Certainly intent can play a role, but I myself have been trained in ART and have tested nearly 70 people and I can tell you that even when I thought a result would be one thing, it was often not the case. So my intent did not appear to negatively impact the result.
I disagree with your comment that ART is another way for Dr. K to play God. If you have ever been to an ART conference, the science behind it is explained and the technique has been validated and can be explained with physics. I do not understand the physics at the level that Dr. K does, but I can tell you that there is an explanation that is able to be validated. As an aside, I also think though that science explains only a very small percentage of what exists in reality.
I don't think you can suggest that people doing ART are doing it just for money. Do you pay your conventional medical doctor for their services? Does that mean that their "gift" is somehow less because you pay for it?
You can certainly remain a skeptic, but I suspect you have not seen ART done by someone that knows what they are doing and have never been to a conference or discussion on it. Thus, your opinion though your opinion is not based on any background or knowledge of the technique.
If you find ART to be a "party trick", I recommend against your using it. I do however find it interesting that someone would be so willing to discount an approach that is potentially useful. My experience with it has been profound.
I wish you the best in finding solutions that work for you. ART has been one that is working for me.
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
Wallace, it isn't the fragile ego of your homeopath that I'm concerned about. But, hey, go for it and see what happens. Would love to hear the results, but it will be really hard to tell what is working for you since you will be doing the marine stuff, the Blasi stuff, homeopathy (we assume), AND now Buhner.
Unfortunately, I can't comment on ART because I've never experienced it.
But I can tell you that I am interested in any modality that can help determine imbalances, disease states, or various microbial infections in the body. Because the only other option is to spend thousands of $$ on medical tests, which aren't very accurate either.
Kinesiology (muscle testing) has not worked out for me - something about my ``polarity being reversed'' - but even after they figured that out and compensated for it, I didn't do well on the supplements that tested well for me. But I still think muscle testing has some merit, even if it can be subject to the ``will'' of the person doing the testing.
JimBob, apparently, you subscribe to the same theory as my sister-in-law. Whatever illness happens to her or her family is a result of some direct cause - a supplement, chemical, drug, doctor, or accident, etc. But if ill health or a bad reaction happens to anybody else, it is because they have the wrong attitude. I see. Best of luck to you, JimBob.
I'm just glad we can discuss this stuff here, and express our personal experiences, questions, skepticisms, and hopes. There aren't any winners or losers here; just Lyme Warriors.
Tracy
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
Well said Tracey, we are all lyme warriors whatever our different opinions.
I hope I will only need to do the core protocol of Buhner because of everything else I am doing!
Scott you were more restrained than I deserved! Don't tell Gigi!
80 per cent accurate, thats not good enough for me personally.
We learn from our mistakes, thats part of the fun of life and ART removes that learning through trial and error(BTW I dont think ART therapists are any more corrupt than everyone else and I apologise as I didn't want to give that impression that they were any different in that respect)
But Scott you seem to admit that your intention may influence the result you obtain. Therein lies the problem as I see it.
Sunny thoughts, Wallace Wallace
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
Claire mentioned heliotherapy. The book called Healing Sun is great on this.
Sunny! thoughts, Wallace
Here comes the Sun - get out in it! - the benefits far outweigh the hazards Part 1 In the first of a two-part article editor Simon Best explores possible alternative explanations to UV radiation for the rise in skin cancer and presents some of the growing evidence for the overwhelming health benefits of sensible exposure to sunshine.
TIME was when one's immediate impulse on the first sunny spring day was to get outside and enjoy it. Today, however, grim warnings from medical mandarins and cancer specialists, wholeheartedly endorsed by the suncream industry, make people almost fear for their lives should they venture forth into the `dangerous' sun at the wrong time of day or unless covered head to toe with sun factor 60!
This view, however, is only relatively recent and contrasts sharply with the very positive medical view of the benefits of sunshine earlier in the 20th century, when sunbathing and sea bathing were championed. Growing evidence now strongly shows that the earlier view was correct and that the total benefits of sunlight far outweigh any hazards.
The medical practice of heliotherapy - exposing patients to controlled amounts of sunlight to cure or alleviate various illnesses - was accepted practice in many countries from the late 19th to mid-20th century.
Dr Auguste Rollier, probably the most famous heliotherapist of his day, at his peak had 36 clinics with over 1,000 beds in Leysin, Switzerland. He used sunlight to treat diseases such as TB, rickets, smallpox, lupus vulgaris (skin tuberculosis) and wounds, a practice that had been pioneered by Danish physician Dr Niels Finsen at the turn of the 19th century, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1903 for his treatment of TB using ultraviolet. Rollier found that sunbathing early in the morning, in conjunction with a nutritious diet, produced the best effects.
Britain's leading practitioner was Sir Henry Gauvain, who pioneered sunbathing at a clinic on the south coast and established Lord Mayor Treloar hospital in Alton, Hampshire, as a leading centre for heliotherapy.
But with the deaths of Gauvain in 1945 and Rollier in 1954, and the growing power of the pharmaceutical industry, heliotherapy fell into disuse. Since the `60s the public has been increasingly bombarded with warnings about sunbathing and the risks of skin cancer, to the almost complete exclusion of facts about the benefits of sunlight.
Dr Richard Hobday www.healingsun.com has charted the development and decline of heliotherapy, and the modern evidence for the benefits of sunshine on a range of illnesses, with its implications for building and hospital design, in his highly recommended book, The Healing Sun (Findhorn Press, 1999 - see Reviews).
Skin cancer mortality
There is no doubt that the incidence of skin cancers (see Types of skin cancer ) has increased over the past few decades and that over-exposure to the sun can cause premature ageing of the skin. However, almost all non-melanomas are curable and the number of deaths in 2001 in the whole of the UK was only 257 and 226 for men and women, respectively, against over 59,000 new cases that year out of a total population of perhaps 30 million sunbathers!
For the far more dangerous malignant melanoma, the totals were only 856 for men and 792 for women. Set against total deaths for all cancers for 2001 of 80,035 and 74,422 respectively (Cancer Research UK), the annual death rates for non-melanomas and melanoma combined represent a very low percentage indeed, especially when compared with the major cancers (eg. prostate, colon, lung, breast) - at just 1.39 and 1.36 percent!!
To judge by the Cancer Research UK's website, the impression given is that the sun is the overwhelming, direct cause of both types. But growing evidence about factors such as chlorine in water, artificial lighting and diet - the word `diet' or `vitamin D' is not even mentioned on the website - tells a different story. Why, for example, is the incidence of melanoma on the Orkney and Shetland Isles, north of Scotland, 10 times that on Mediterranean islands (Science 1991;254:114-5)?
It is time to focus on alternative causes and contributing risk factors for skin cancer to put the hazards - and benefits for many other illnesses - from solar radiation into a balanced perspective. First, let us consider the actual risk from ultraviolet radiation (UV), the main alleged threat from sunshine.
Effects of ultraviolet radiation
Ultraviolet is divided into three main frequency ranges, A, B and C (see Ultraviolet radiation). Of the sunlight reaching the Earth, approximately 37 per cent is visible, 60 per cent infrared and a mere 3 per cent UV. Virtually all UVC is shielded from reaching the Earth by the ozone layer. Both UVA and UVB promote tanning and can burn but UVB, specifically, is essential for the photosynthesis of vitamin D, which critically determines the uptake of calcium and other minerals, as well as many other processes.
Contrary to general belief, there is no evidence that reduction in the ozone layer, observed at the poles, has caused any increase in melanomas (Br J Can 1992; 65: 916-21). Even a study of Punta Arenas, the largest South American city close to the Antartic ozone hole, showed no increase in health problems related to depleted ozone. In fact, UV measures were too small to have any noticeable effect (Am J Pub Health 1995;85(4):546-50).
Eye hazard
Indeed, even the idea that UV causes cataracts, which evidence (below) shows to be shaky, has lead to sunglasses that block UVA and B, when in fact exposure to these frequencies may be necessary for the eye. The eye may require the full spectrum of sunlight to stimulate pathways and organs in the brain to maintain the immune system and other functions.
The pioneering American photobiologist, Dr John Ott, offers evidence on these benefits and argues that sunglasses significantly upset and negate the eyes' natural accommodation reflex in his classic work Health and Light (Ariel Press, Columbus, 1973). Ott reported that in research with the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia he studied the pigment epithelium cells in a rabbit's eye through different-coloured filters and observed that the colours of the filters significantly affected the biological responses within the cells themselves. Crucially, he found that these cells would divide only if low levels of UV were projected onto them. It was from this and other work that, except in conditions of high glare (water, snow or desert), he strongly recommended wearing a hat, rather than sunglasses.
American optometrist and light pioneer, Dr Jacob Liberman, in his book Light: Medicine of the Future (Bear & Co, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1991), supports Ott's view, suggesting that our indoor lifestyle, `coupled with our excessive use of sunglasses, may be blocking out the UV radiation necessary for normal cell division, thus resulting in certain degenerative eye diseases, such as macular degeneration' (p.150).
He points out that it was research reported in the American Journal of Opthalmology in March 1982 by WT Ham and his colleagues that led a generation of eye specialists to conclude that any amount of UV is harmful to the eye. Using monkeys tied down and their eyelids pried open with lid clamps, their fully dilated pupils were exposed to beams from a 2,500-watt xenon lamp for 16 minutes. The intense light contained high levels of UV which, quite naturally under the circumstances, caused some retinal damage. But, as Liberman points out (p.147), this was highly abnormal exposure that would never happen in real life since animals' and humans' pupils and eyelids would naturally adjust and close to protect their eyes.
Evidence indicates that the increase in cataracts in sunny parts of the world may be due to other factors, including malnutrition (diarrhoea can lead to severe demineralisation), smoking, pollution and poor diet.
For example, a diet rich in unsaturated fats and their oxidised products (Can Res 1985;45:6254-9) has been linked to the risk of UVB triggering increased cataract formation, whereas those who eat a more balanced diet, supplemented with vitamins C and E, appear not to get cataracts, even with prolonged exposure to the sun (Ophthalmol 1998;105:1836; Am J Clin Nutr 1997;66:911-16).
However, both Ott and Liberman condemn the use of sunlamps, which produce UVA and can cause skin cancer, including melanoma (Am J Epid 1994;140:691-9)).
Occupational exposure
A further argument against the idea that simple exposure to UV rays causes cancer is observation of people constantly exposed to them. Melanomas seldom occur in outdoor workers. A study of the risk in US Navy personnel between 1974 and 1984 found a higher incidence among sailors who had indoor jobs than those working outside (Arch Env Health 1990;45(5):261-7). Those working both indoors and outdoors showed most protection, with a rate 24 percent below the US national average.
Findings like these support other studies that indicate that while severe sunburn may trigger melanoma, regular sunbathing may actually prevent it (Lancet 1982;2:290-3). Indeed, evidence indicates that regular, moderate sunbathing can actually reduce its risk. The fact that melanomas can occur on the palms and soles of the feet indicate that UV is only one of a number of possible causes and possibly not even the most significant. Although melanoma has been rising among pale-skinned populations worldwide, there has been no corresponding rise among dark-skinned people, who have only one-tenth to one-third the incidence. Their skin's much-increased melanin level does protect them but they also tend to spend much more time outdoors in much higher levels of UV.
Dr Damien Downing (Day Light Robbery, Arrow Books, 1981, out of print) points out that melanin, the pigment that helps protect the deeper layers of the skin, also protects against free radical damage from sunlight. The skin also uses sunlight to kill bacteria. `It seems that even without ultraviolet light, skin lipids will take up some oxygen from the air and use it to kill bacteria. However, this effect is much more intense under UV.'
It seems that ultraviolet may not be the total scourge so many `authorities' portray it to be and that we need to look at other risk factors, not least the substances they urge us to rub all over ourselves for protection.
Sunscreens - help or hazard?
Some commercial sunscreens, which are meant to protect the skin, have certainly been suspected of promoting skin cancers (see Sunscreens - their benefits and hazards).
Researchers have found that high levels of oxybenzone, used extensively in high-factor creams, can be absorbed into the body (Lancet 1997;350:863-4). As this particular chemical has had few studies on its possible toxic effects, what this is doing to your body is anyone's guess, the Lancet article recommended that sun creams should not be applied on large areas of the body repeatedly over an extended period of time.
Other research has found that children who use a lot of cream and oil are more likely to get freckles and thus may be at higher risk of developing melanoma (J Nat Can Inst 1998;90:1873-80).
There are now some 1,140 drugs that are known to cause photosensitization, with the possibility of interacting with other sunscreen chemicals rubbed into the skin.
Finally, a poor diet laden with fats and processing may be crucial in predisposing a person to sunburn or worse. American nutritionist Dr Zane Kime, his book Sunlight Could Save Your Life (World Health Publications, Penryn, Calif, 1980), stated: `... sunbathing is dangerous for those who are on a standard, high-fat American diet or do not get an abundance of vegetables, whole grains and fresh fruits.'
Indeed, the heliotherapists of the last century placed great emphasis on diet to maximise the sun's benefits. Rollier insisted that nourishing meals were an integral part of treatment, suggesting that well-nourished skin responds better to sunlight than skin deficient in minerals. It is noteworthy that the rise in incidence of skin cancer over the past few decades has paralleled the increase in a degraded, high fat, low vegetable/fruit diet among a large proportion of the Western population.
Beneficial effects of sunlight
Countering the ill-balanced warnings and scaremongering of vested interests, there is evidence that a number of other factors are important in causing or predisposing someone to skin cancer besides exposure to the sun.
In part two these will be investigated further, together with the mass of evidence supporting the sun's beneficial effects in promoting health and reducing disease, including many cancers, especially breast, colon, ovary and prostate, as well as reducing or combating diabetes; MS; heart disease and high blood pressure; osteoporosis; psoriasis; SAD and even tooth decay.
The early heliotherapists found that gradual, daily exposure to the sun, coupled with a nutritious diet, could cure many illnesses and promote robust health. Research is now proving them correct and, rejecting the unbalanced negative propaganda, leading us back to the appreciation that sunshine is an essential nutrient and that sensible sunbathing is overwhelmingly good for you.
YOU put up this post, and then you follow it with ANOTHER super long post, or copy paste, I guess. I didn't read it so don't know for sure. I don't read any of those copy/pastes, UNLESS they are super short. Takes up way too much of MY time.
Jim Posted by JimBoB (Member # 8454) on :
quote:Originally posted by Truthfinder:
JimBob, apparently, you subscribe to the same theory as my sister-in-law. Whatever illness happens to her or her family is a result of some direct cause - a supplement, chemical, drug, doctor, or accident, etc. But if ill health or a bad reaction happens to anybody else, it is because they have the wrong attitude. I see. Best of luck to you, JimBob.
Tracy
Okay "truthfinder"; WHAT is THAT about. I don't think I follow you. ALL I did was answer any questions or statements you had/made to the best of MY ability. I never insinuated one way or the other as you say. I ONLY tell it like it is in my case and know what helps me and others I have talked to. I think I said at one time, I feel sorry for you that you can't take things as most normal people do and see results.
We all have something we can't take. AND the main point I am getting at is Buhner's protocols are designed to work as a TOTAL unit. ONE compliments the other. If one thing makes you constipated, another will relieve that problem. Same with thinning or thickening of blood, etc., etc..
That's all.
Jim Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
JimBob,
I apologize. I over-reacted. One of your statements just hit me DEAD WRONG.
Suffice it to say that I don't herx on something because I BELIEVE I will herx, and never have.
Your statement made it sound as if there are a lot of people out there sabotaging their own treatments with some kind of negative mindset.
Maybe in rare cases, that happens.
Most people take the "listen to your body" approach and see where a treatment takes them. Being advised of the possible reactions just helps us know to go slowly at first.
Both the Samento and the Cumanda reactions took me totally by surprise. I thought theynegative effects would resolve themselves with continued use, and I was wrong. They didn't.
In fact, the Cumanda heart issues were still giving me problems 2 weeks after I had STOPPED taking it, much like what Polar Blast experienced with the Artemisinin (maybe you missed all that with Ploar Blast).
Fortunately, I was able to nullify the negative effects with a trick I learned from homeopathy, which by the way, I DIDN'T BELIEVE would work, but it did.
So, if believing or not believing dictates what happens, then there would never be any skeptic who became a believer - of ANYTHING.
I get this kind of baloney from my sister-in-law all the time, and I'm just flat fed up with it. She never applies her principles to herself, mind you, only to others.
Now do you understand?
Anyway, sorry I was such a grouch to you. Didn't mean to be.
Tracy
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
Wallace,
If 80% is not good enough for you personally, then every single test you have ever likely done for Lyme disease is not good enough for you either. I don't know of any of them that are accurate in 80% or more of the people that do them. So that leaves you sadly....with nothing to use as a tool for diagnosis and without knowing with certainty, as you apparently must have, you cannot really know what you are treating so your chances of treating the right things to actually get well might be less than average. I am not suggesting that you will not get well if you simply choose not to use ART, but if you apply such restrictions to the options you can pursue, then there is really not much left. Do you also require every person in your life to be perfect 100% of the time?
Actually, what I said about intent was in fact different. I said that intent can play a role but then I gave you an example where I "intended" for the result to be one thing and in fact it was not. So I do not believe that the fact that intent might play a role is an argument in favor of it being fallible.
Good luck finding those perfect solutions.
Posted by clairenotes (Member # 10392) on :
I remember when a relative told me that my illness was all in my head. And not long after that, a doctor proclaimed CFS to be 'the illness du jour.' Implication... just doing it for attention, maybe? To avoid work? To be fashionable???!! Certainly don't want to be ordinary.
No... we can't kill LD bugs with positive thoughts. Trying will only bring more exhaustion and fatigue (and disappointment). Though I have heard some interesting stories about chi gung masters in China...
Okay, Wallace. That does not give you permission to flood us with energy studies from China now, kay?
About heliotherapy... a term which I have never heard of until now... I thought it was called Blasi therapy (after some guy in Italy)? Anyway, I know there are warnings, and sun-screen is advised, but I just know that I always feel better in the sun and my health increases. This is not scientific. This is not medical advice. This is just my own experience after years of time spent outside. And, thankfully, spring is not too far off.
Claire
[ 02. February 2007, 11:40 AM: Message edited by: clairenotes ]
Posted by brentb (Member # 6899) on :
quote:Originally posted by clairenotes: This is not scientific. Claire
Au contrair claire.
Dr Michael Holick,
"Vitamin D prevents osteoporosis, depression, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and even affects diabetes and obesity. Vitamin D is perhaps the single most underrated nutrient in the world of nutrition."
Check out the link for some more facts concerning the "sunshine vitamin".
Brent -- thanks for providing more 'science behind the sunlight.' It helps keep everything more respectable. And with the climate here lately... with regard to what constitutes 'real science,' etc., we definitely need that.
Yes... I have heard that it is perhaps one of the most under-rated, and even the most needed vitamin, that is best provided through sunlight. Without my own research at hand, I just didn't want to present myself as an expert.
Hope everyone sees the link for the sunshine vitamin and the article on heliotherapy.
Claire
[ 19. January 2007, 07:06 AM: Message edited by: clairenotes ]
Posted by TNJanet (Member # 10031) on :
Wallace,
I managed to get through your very LONG post because I was curious about the topic of sun exposure and its benefits (Vitamin D) and general health.
Unfortunately I have a personal problem. Over the years I have developed a TOTAL allergy to the sun. I mean 15 minutes of driving in my car will cause a horrible rash on my hands from holding
on to the steering wheel. I LOVE the sun and the warmth to the bone feeling it gives. But I have had to be extremely careful when outdoors for any reason now.
I love to swim, but must use total sunblock and have to reapply it often. If I miss a spot, the pimply and very itchy rash appears.
BTW, I also have early onset cataracts and I follow a good (not perfect) diet and take vitamin supplements. My PCP thinks I have must have lupus but no tests totally confirm that DX.
I have a friend from my days on fibromyalgia support boards who must cover herself up from head to toe even while INSIDE. Any kind of light is toxic to her.
I realize I am the exception and not the rule, but then, there ARE exceptions, right?
Wishing you and everyone sunny dispositions, Janet
Posted by oxygenbabe (Member # 5831) on :
The problem is from October to March in places like New England etc, you don't get enough sun even if you're outdoors, and most of us aren't outdoors enough. I've been thinking about this and investigating full specturm light. Its UV shielded. Meanwhile, tanning lights, mostly have UVA. So I was looking at reptile lights (for iguanas, bearded dragons etc). You can't raise them without proper bulbs that give UVA and UVB. They emulate sunlight. These reptiles have to sun bask. So I'm thinking of getting one of those. Other options are to supplement Vitamin D but its a bit dicey imo as how do you know how much you really need for your body? You could take 1000 units a day. Another is to take cod liver oil. It tastes pretty yucky. I have some in the fridge but I rarely use it because I dislike the taste. It has Vitamin A and D, which are both good for you. I think I am going to try the light, although, judiciously. Fifteen minutes 3 or 4 times a week.
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
Though I have heard some interesting stories about chi gung masters in China...
Okay, Wallace. That does not give you permission to flood us with energy studies from China now, kay?
Dont give me ideas Claire!...
Hi Jill Holick recommends tanning salons, buy his book for full details. He talks about the problem of absorbing D3 supplements hence maybe the need for tanning machines.
Chi gung masters have noted the importance of early morning sun. If you are allergic to the sun try exposing yourself to the ealy morning sun 6-9am. Great way to get a tan as well I have noticed.
I never use sunscreen just get up early!
That also was what happened at the heliotherapy clinics(See Healing Sun book) exposing patients to early moring sun.
Sunny thoughts, Wallace
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
The Lost Language of Plants The Ecological Importance of Plant Medicines to Life on Earth by Stephen Harrod Buhner
Chapter Two: The Two Wounds
Chapter Five: The Environmental Impacts of Technological Medicine
Chapter Seven: ``Plants Are All Chemists''
These Excerpts printed courtesy of Chelsea Green Publishing Co.
Stephen Harrod Buhner is an award-winning author of seven books on nature, indigenous cultures, the environment, and herbal medicine (including Sacred Plant Medicine).
Chapter Two The Two Wounds
The exterior and interior wounds that have come from no longer sharing soul essence with the world around us are pervasive, though the interior one is more difficult to see. The exterior wound, however, is easily perceived. . . . By now it has widened, deepened, become so severe that most people routinely acknowledge its existence. This wound is the logging of the rainforest, the pollution and destruction of rivers . . . all the desecration of our exterior world. It has been talked about so much, and we have become so inured, that it is easy to forget that there is a feeling to this exterior wound. A feeling before words, before thinking. A simple, deep response from somewhere inside us recognizing damage to the fabric of life. We can shut these feelings off. But to understand the impact of the exterior and interior wounds it is important to feel them--even if only briefly--even if it hurts.
I had been invited to New York to give a talk on . . . the process whereby historical indigenous people developed their knowledge of plant medicines and, to some extent, how, in this present time, we could explore that process for ourselves. . . .
I asked the students if they knew anything about herbalism or plant medicines. None of them did. . . . So I asked them, ``Why are you here?''
And they told me the truth. . . .
I turned to the next woman. . . . She looked up shyly, nervously conscious of the women on either side.
``Well,'' she said, ``lately, I have been thinking of becoming a naturopath. So not too long ago I flew out to Portland to the naturopathic college there to see if it was something I wanted to do.'' She paused and moistened her lips, her head tilted slightly down. ``Well, there were ten or fifteen of us on a tour and we were stopped in the middle of this hallway. I wasn't paying attention to what the guide was saying, my mind was wandering, thinking about something else, when out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse as she opened a door to my right. I turned and looked and it was the room where they keep all the plants, all the herbs they use for medicine. And I could hear each one of the plants crying out to me, talking as clearly as I am talking to you now. And there were hundreds of them.'' She paused for a moment, then went on. ``I came today because I thought, that perhaps, something in your talk could help me understand what had happened. I have been thinking, you know,'' and here she moistened her lips again and looked nervously around, ``that maybe I'm crazy.''
Our disconnection from nature and our disavowal of interior depth--of soul--from animals, plants, and landscapes occurs all the time in all of us. But there is more depth in the world than we have come to believe, than we have been taught. Connection with the interior world of nature has been a part of our species' experience for millennia. Contact with it still occurs when we least expect it: In the glance in a loved one's eyes, the shadowed green in an old-growth forest, the primal power in the majestic walk of a bear. Or, unexpectedly, in dreams of our grandmothers or our daily interactions with plants. Since the words to describe this kind of depth are atrophied or no longer present in our language, the experience, when it does extrude itself, is often difficult for people to deal with; they sometimes think they are crazy--crazy and alone, the only intelligent life form on Earth.
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Chapter Five: The Environmental Impacts of Technological Medicine
In their drive to conquer disease, the supporters of technological medicine have created a great many industrial products: pharmaceuticals; personal care products (things like sunscreens and antibiotic soaps); radiopharmaceuticals and chemotherapy; and pharmaceutical delivery and medical practice products (things like hypodermic needles, latex gloves, thermometers). All of them end up in the environment. All of them have significant impacts.
Pharmaceutical Drugs The vast majority of pharmaceutical drugs do not heal diseases--they control symptoms by introducing chemical mediators, at specific levels, into the body. People with high blood pressure, for example, are not cured when they take medication, which is why they have to take it regularly, often for the rest of their life.
Unlike plants, blood pressure medications, and nearly all pharmaceuticals, are not a normal part of the diet nor a food previously encountered in our evolution. So, the human body excretes them throughout the day in urine and feces: 50-95 percent of each drug taken is excreted chemically unchanged or unmetabolized.1 As blood pressure medication is excreted blood pressure begins to rise and more of the drug must be taken. Drugs used for acute conditions, such as antibiotics, are usually taken short term; those used for chronic conditions like high blood pressure are usually taken for years or an entire lifetime. In consequence, enormous quantities of pharmaceuticals are going through people's bodies into the environment, where they are proving to have powerfully negative impacts in ecosystems. And the quantity of drugs and other biologically active medical products that are flowing into the environment is increasing every day.
A recent New York Times article observed that: ``Prescription drugs are now the fastest-growing part of the nation's health care bill. That is not so much because manufacturers are raising prices for existing drugs, but because patients are switching to newly approved medicines that cost more, and more prescriptions are being written than ever before.''2 Retail prescription sales for pharmaceuticals were $42.7 billion in 1991. In 1999, a mere eight years later, sales were $111.3 billion.3 In the next decade, as the knowledge from the unraveling of the human genome makes even more drugs possible, this figure is expected to increase substantially. At present there are some 500 known chemical receptor sites in the human body affected by drugs. With information from the human genome project this number is expected to soar to between 3,000 and 10,000 sites. As Dr. Gillian Woolett of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association excitedly proclaimed, ``The rate of change is absolutely incredible.''4 The two scientists who have done the most research on pharmaceuticals in the environment, Christian Daughton (of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency--EPA) and Thomas Ternes (of the Institute of Water Research and Water Technology in Weisbaden, Germany), comment that ``[This] escalating introduction to the marketplace of new pharmaceuticals is adding exponentially to the already large array of chemical classes, each with distinct modes of biochemical action, many of which are poorly understood.''5
Many excreted pharmaceuticals and their metabolites are not biodegradable and go on producing chemical effects forever. Most that do biodegrade are regularly replenished by the need for continual dosing or by new prescriptions for new people. As pharmaceuticals are excreted in pure and metabolized forms they also intermix in the waste streams that flow into the environment in ways that cannot be predicted, with effects that are not understood. Researchers have found that metabolites, chemicals produced as byproducts of pharmaceutical interaction with the body, tend to be more persistent in the environment, and are sometimes more powerful in their actions, than the drugs from which they are derived.6
In 1999 Americans filled 2.8 billion prescriptions covering roughly sixty-six classes of pharmaceuticals. These include: antidepressants, tranquilizers and psychiatric drugs; cancer (chemotherapy) drugs; pain killers; anti-inflammatories; antihypertensives; antiseptics; fungicides; anti-epileptics; bronchodilators; lipid regulators (e.g., high-cholesterol medication); muscle relaxants; oral contraceptives; anorectics (diet medication); synthetic hormones; and antibiotics.7
These pharmaceutical drugs and the personal care products also manufactured by many pharmaceutical companies (such as sunscreen lotions, lipsticks, deodorants, perfumes, and shampoos) are produced in staggeringly huge quantities; often equaling or surpassing agrochemicals in tonnage. The number of pharmaceuticals Americans consume is simply astounding. All of these go into the ecosystem, most of them through excretion into waste treatment systems.
Chapter Five Notes 1. Christian Daughton and Thomas Ternes, ``Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment: Agents of subtle change?'' Environmental Health Perspectives 107, Supplement 6 (December 1999). 2. Sheryl Gay Stolberg, ``A Drug Plan Sounds Great, but Who Gets to Set Prices?'' New York Times, July, 9, 2000, section 4, 1. 3. Andrew Sullivan, ``Pro pharma,'' New York Times Magazine, October 29, 2000, 21; Kathy O'Connell, ``Pill Poppin' Nation,'' The Inlander, July 22, 1998; Milt Freudenheim, ``Consumers across the Nation Are Facing Sharp Increases in Health Care Costs in 2001,'' New York Times, December 10, 2000, section 1, 40; Sonya Ross, Associated Press ``Clinton: GOP Drug Plant Is `Baloney,''' July 31, 2000--on America On Line (AOL); Eli Ginzberg and Panos Minogiannis, ``Medical care in the U.S.--Who is paying for it?'' Journal of Practice Management, 15, no. 5 (2000); ``Because of the costs many poor Americans and most people in poorer nations are simply out of luck,'' Donald McNeil, ``Do the Poor Have a Right to Cheap Medicine?'' New York Times, June 25, 2000, 18. 4. Peter Montague, ``Headlines: Pay Dirt from the Human Genome,'' Rachel's Environment and Health Weekly, #702, July 6, 2000, online at www.rachel.org. (Hereafter Rachel's). 5. Quoted in ibid. 6. Daughton and Ternes, ``Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment.'' 7. Rx List: The Internet Drug Index (February 24, 2000), online at www.rxlist.com.
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Chapter Seven ``Plants Are All Chemists''
In 1803 Frederich Seturner isolated the first individual plant constituents from opium and named them alkaloids, some 140 million years after complex land plants created them for reasons of their own. Plant chemistry has not been studied very long in the scheme of things; it is still not very well understood.
Consider: Each of the estimated 275,000 different species of plants on Earth contains several hundred to several thousand unique chemicals. The majority of these species manifest as millions of different individuals, all of them generating different variations, sometimes significantly, on their species' chemical theme. A plant with one thousand different chemical constituents can literally combine them in millions of different ways. To compound the complexity, these combinations, added to those of other plants or of other organisms, produce synergistic results that are not predictable. Even a tiny change in dosage or combination can produce significantly different outcomes. Basically, the little that people currently know about plant chemistry is not very much. This ignorance is magnified by our tendency (because of our upbringing) to think of plants as insentient salads or building materials engaging in chemical production processes that just happened by accident and, in consequence, have no purpose or meaning. Phytoexistentialism.
Still, here we are.
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The Dance of Plant Chemistry The carbon atoms that become available from the breakdown of CO2 during photosynthesis form the backbone of all plant chemistry. Plants use this carbon (along with hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen) to make their physical structure (whether a huge redwood or a tiny violet growing along a mountain path); primary compounds such as sugar, starch, and chlorophyll; and hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of other, complex, secondary compounds: ``acids, aldehydes, cyanogenic glycosides, thiocyanates, lactones, coumarins, quinones, flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, terpenoids, steroids'' and more.2 Adding to the complexity, all these compounds can be made using different metabolic pathways--different construction techniques, as it were--and each family of secondary metabolites can contain incredible numbers of substances. Simply altering the relationship between four sugar molecules, for instance, can create over 35,000 different compounds. Over 10,000 alkaloids, 20,000 terpenes, and 8,000 polyphenols are known. About one new alkaloid is identified each day.3
Even though many of these compounds are present only in parts per million or even parts per billion or trillion, they exert significant bioactivity. Their bioactivity can increase substantially, sometimes by several orders of magnitude, when they are combined.4 Through complex feedback loops, plants constantly sense what is happening in the world around them and, in response, vary the numbers, combinations, and amounts of the phytochemicals they make.
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Plant Compounds as Medicines for the Plant Itself As plants grow, they produce a complex assortment of compounds to maintain and restore health. These include: tannins; antibiotic, antimicrobial, and antifungal compounds; mucilages, gums, and resins; anti-inflammatory compounds; analgesics; and so on. They are stored in different parts of the plant, being released in varying combinations and strengths as needed. Often these compounds are highly reactive when combined or exposed to air and so are kept isolated in holding cells located throughout the plant. The plant can increase the quantity of any of these compounds at the point of need or translocate them extremely rapidly through its tissues.29
Antifungal, antibiotic, or antimicrobial (preinfectious) compounds protect the plant from invading pathogenic organisms. For example: The tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipfera) produces a number of strongly antimicrobial alkaloids (dehydroglaucine and liriodenine) that it stores in its heartwood to protect it from invasion by microorganisms. Chicory (Cichorium intybus) produces a number of strongly antifungal compounds to protect its leaves and roots from pathogenic fungi. The compounds are so potent that even when chicory roots are kept moist on a plate for lengthy periods they will not mold. Other chicory compounds strongly protect against damage or infection from nematodes and other small organisms.30 Plant antimicrobial compounds such as those in chicory are active against microorganisms in exceptionally minute concentrations, ranging from one part per thousand to one part per million.31 During infection other kinds of compounds can be brought into play. Aromatic coumarins in such plants as potatoes increase rapidly at the site in response to any pathogenic organism.32 Cyanogenic compounds are also commonly present in at least a thousand plants where they are released as hydrogen cyanide gas to kill invading organisms.
In many instances invading pathogens release their own compounds that are toxic to the plant. Plants immediately begin to identify these compounds and create chemistries designed to counter them. At the same time, the plant will begin to generate unique compounds--phytoalexins--at the site of infection that are never present in the plant until an infection occurs. When fungal spores take hold on a leaf surface, for instance, and begin inserting growth tubes into the leaf, a plant may begin to synthesize a phytoalexin specific for that fungus. The synthesis begins immediately, can be detected after an hour or two, and reaches its highest concentration in 48 to 72 hours. The phytoalexin is concentrated in leaf cells and pushed out onto the surface of the leaf where the fungus has taken hold.33
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Plants, and their chemistries, do even more, of course. They are intimately interwoven into the lives of all organisms on Earth. And the roles of plants are still more complex. They exist not for themselves alone; they create and maintain the community of life on Earth, they produce the chemistries all life needs to live, and they heal other living organisms that are ill.
Chapter Seven Notes 2. Alan Putnam and Chung-shih Tang, ``Allelopathy: The State of the Science,'' The Science of Allelopathy, ed. Alan Putnam and Chung-shih Tang (N.Y.: John Wiley and Sons, 1986), 4. 3. David Hoffmann, Phytochemistry: Molecular Veriditas, work in progress, 31. 4. Frank Einhellig, ``Mechanisms and Modes of Action of Allelochemicals,'' and Putnam and Tang, ``Allelopathy,'' both in The Science of Allelopathy. 29. J. B. Harborne, Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry (London: Academic Press, 1982), see especially chapter 9, 227-259. 30. Hiroyuki Nishimura, et al., ``Ecochemicals from Chicory Rhizome,'' in Biodiversity and Allelopathy. 31. Harborne, Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry, see 227-259. 32. Ibid, 235. 33. Ibid, 242; Shigeru Tamogami and Osamu Kodamal, ``Jasmonic acid elicits momilactone A production: Physiology and chemistry of jasmonic acid in rice phytoalexin production,'' in Biodiversity and Allelopathy.
Excerpt from The Lost Language of Plants The Ecological Importance of Plant Medicines to Life on Earth by Stephen Harrod Buhner
Posted by cmichaelo (Member # 5873) on :
To give my answer to the question, "Is abx the only treatment option?".
My short answer is, "No, but it's probably a good start...if you're ready for it."
You have to be ready for the abx. "ready" meaning that your body needs to be prepared to utilize the abx.
If you have other conditions in your body at the time you start taking the abx, then its effect will be deminished, possibly to the point where you're taking it in vain, which I did.
If you have conditions such as Babesia, heavy metals, hormone imbalances, stress, poor liver function, poor adrenal system and poor physical condition then you need to address all those things first.
...and people with chronic Lyme typically have several of the above.
Most of the above you can't diagnose by yourself, but you can safely impirically treat every one of them...to some extent. Babesia and hormone imbalance you probably need prx to treat effectively. Thus you need the aid of your LLMD. But there's still some you can do on your own.
So once you have addressed all of the above, then it would be a good time to do a 2-3month course of a high-dose abx plus cyst buster and simultaneously do the Buhner protocol.
After this is done, start living healthy. Drop coffee, sugary food, carb foods, diet sodas, dairy products, etc.
Start eating plenty of raw foods instead, particularly leafy greens, fruits (don't worry too much about the sugar in them), nuts, seeds, whole grains, berries.
Start drinking purposeful herbal teas such as ginger, sage, st. johns wort, valarian, licorice.
Start exercising at least 30min 3 times every week. The more you can do the better. Good stress relief too.
Keep detoxing on a daily basis. Take chlorella, cilantro leaf, red root, milk thistle, sauna, hot baths.
Always dress warmly. Your body temp is probably low. LD likes it cool. Do everything you can to elevate your temp.
Get adequate quality sleep. This is paramount. Take B6 and drink calming tea ~2hrs before sleep time. Use ear plugs and shades if necessary to avoid being disturbed.
Do the things that make you happy. It's time you come first. You need to, if you wanna get well.
And finally, read, read, read about Lyme, mercury, hormones, abx, tests, meditation, and so on.
You must keep your eyes on the ball. Constantly. Don't let your guard down. Lyme can be dormant. Lyme disease is a mighty opponent. Your job is to give Bb an unhappy home. Make it wanna jump out of your skin. And never stop.
It's a lifestyle to fight Lyme...at least that's what I've found.
I'm doing very well following the above protocol...and I'm happier than ever doing it.
My 2c. I'm not a doctor. The above is IMO.
Michael
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
Master herbalist Stephen Buhner putting lyme within a context of healing- we want to live well rather than live forever
SML: Gary Snyder said, ``We're all natives here''. We all belong to the Earth. I feel it in my own relationship with plants and using them for healing.
SB: That's absolutely right. Our first religious articulation was Earth spirituality. When people talk about the great world religions they never talk about that, they talk about Hinduism or Christianity or Islam or Buddhism or the Jewish faith but they are a recent overlay on this deep spirituality that goes back to the emergence of our species. We are all very definitely Earth people, and there's a unique Earth spirituality that informs the people who are born and raised on this particular continent.
SML: Because we're here in North America as opposed to somewhere else?
SB: Yes. I believe that the Earth tends to shape the spirituality of people based on where they live. For instance, Native peoples call the North American continent Turtle Island and the North American tribes are different from Central and South American tribes, and the Western hemisphere is different from Africa. Yes, all the Earth's religions overlap to a certain extent, but they're unique, too. We're one thread of Earth spirituality that's shaped by the land here.
SML: In The Lost Language of Plants, you write about the ``taste of wild water''. This really got me because it's something I remember from my own childhood here in the White Mountains. It's something people don't have any more -- you can't drink the wild water.
SB: Yeah, but you see my mother said that even back then. I lived most of my life in the Colorado mountains and I drank the water all the time. People say you can get Giardia and I thought, what's the big deal? If you get it you take some herbs and it goes away. Today people are terrified to walk in the forest because of Lyme disease. There's always some reason for being terrified of the wild, for not letting it inside you. Every generation has its excuse for not letting the wild inside their bodies. Our mothers intuitively knew a great truth -- if you let the wild inside of you it changes you. You start to become uncivilized.
SML: It seems to me that would be a good thing.
SB: That's our prejudice. It's what we believe, but you can be sure George Bush doesn't believe it. The word civilized means ``of the cities'' and cities are a relatively recent invention. Our culture places great importance on taming, getting rid of, or controlling the wild so that we can have a very ordered existence. I think people are intuitively terrified of the wild because once you let it inside, whether it's inside your organization or your marriage or your body or psyche it begins to change you. Of course, to me that's what being human is all about -- letting the wild in.
SML: In the first chapter of Lost Language, you talk about recognition and give the example of a puppy coming over and knowing it's you. I have that feeling when I go in the woods. Sometimes it's a place I've been before, but not always. It's like, ``Oh, there you are.'' And it's mutual. It's not just me. I feel it coming from the tree or whatever it is. And I'm not creating it, I'm a part of it.
SB: That's true. This is participatory awareness. The thing that's so difficult for civilized people to understand is that we're just like trees and ticks and bears. We are a life form that emerged out of the ecosystem of the planet for a specific ecological reason just like everything else. But because we're so carefully indoctrinated to believe that we're unique and separate from nature and superior because we can think, we've come to believe that we're exempt from the ecological consequences of our behavior. Another thing that happens is our natural capacity to experience participatory sharing with nature becomes so deadened that the majority of the people no longer sense it. And when someone does have an experience of it, they feel like they have to apologize for it. You sort of did that yourself when you said, ``It's not just coming from me . . .''. We all have that problem. It's part of what I refer to as the internal wound.
SML: Can you talk about that a bit?
SB: There are two kinds of wounds I write about in Lost Language. They come from no longer sharing soul essence with the world around us. The external wound is easy to see. It's what environmentalists focus their attention on -- the desecration of the Earth. We've talked about it so much it's easy to forget that there's a feeling to it. A feeling before words, a deep response from somewhere inside us that recognizes the damage to the fabric of life. This is the interior wound, and it occurs in the landscape of the human psyche and heart. It's a natural consequence of what we're taught about being human. And it starts as soon as you begin to believe that there's a separation between you and everything else, as soon as you begin to believe that somehow the human intellect is superior to the mind that is present in nature.
SML: What is sacred plant medicine?
SB: Human beings have always had a strong and deeply interdependent relationship with plants. In many ways we are the byproduct of plants' habitation of Earth because they created the atmosphere that allowed for the evolution of oxygen-breathing beings. To understand sacred plant medicine is to understand certain attitudes and perspectives toward the Earth and all things on it. Plants are an expression of Spirit; and the human being, through the developed capacity to travel in sacred territory, makes an alliance with plants in order to gather knowledge and develop the ability to heal. Plants are both medicines and sacred beings. Once upon a time the two were not separate. My work with plants comes out of the western (rather than the Eastern or Asian) model of healing and plant relationship. It's an approach that has roots in Greek, western European, Celtic, and Native American traditions, as well as 18th and 19th century American eclectic folk practice. People tend to forget that there's an approach to herbalism that is uniquely American. It's a blend of ancient western traditions and Native American traditions. What I've been doing is rearticulating that approach in a community-based, folk practice that has been developing, for me, over the last 30 or 40 years.
SML: What are your thoughts on the current trend towards licensing and standardization?
SB: The herbal renaissance that started in the 60s was really a folk-based, intuitive herbalism. People were finding their own way. The whole alternative healing movement -- midwifery, psychotherapy, bodywork, and all -- came out of people with very little formal education. They dove into the material to find what was true for them and created a massive body of wonderful work. But now the dominant system is co-opting it. And the hippies of the 60s and 70s have grown more conservative. Instead of going to the folk herbalist people want standards to supposedly protect the public. But one model or approach to life shouldn't become dominant. We're losing our respect for different cultural perspectives. And the folk-based approach is, in fact, another cultural perspective, as effective, or perhaps more effective, than the perspective encoded in standardization.
SML: It's the same thing with the herbs themselves. People have a tendency to chose the standardized, encapsulated version over the tincture made from the whole herb. Sure, hypericin has been identified as the active ingredient in St. John's Wort, but what about the other constituents? In your book you wrote about yarrow having up to 2,000 different chemicals. They all work together. You can't just separate a couple of those and think you're taking yarrow.
SB: Human beings have been taking these plants for something like a million years. And today we assume that after three or four years of study we've got the whole thing figured out. It's remarkably arrogant.
SML: What about pharmaceutical medicine? For years I've been looking at how we're abusing the Earth but I didn't think much about the consequences of pharmaceutical medicine in the sense of what goes into the waste stream. When I read Lost Language, I was shocked. And of course so many people are on prescription drugs for everything, even normal feelings.
SB: The thing is, no one wants to suffer. Wanting people to feel okay is very seductive, but going down that path can be dangerous. Just because we're doing something to alleviate suffering doesn't mean we're exempt from the ecological consequences of doing it. Everybody assumes that the alleviation of disease is a noble goal, but I'm not so sure. Since the 1920s, basically since the discovery of penicillin, we've been indoctrinated into a technological perspective on healing and disease. But when it comes right down to it there's still going to be a leading cause of death. The most important thing is how we live, not that we live forever.
SML: It's ironic that the things we're doing to cure diseases and make people feel better are actually polluting the environment and causing the diseases in the first place.
SB: So now we have this horrendous problem no one is willing to look at. We're struggling with an unintegrated value system. People who are extremely upset about agricultural pollution and only eat organic food will wholeheartedly support the use of pharmaceuticals to cure or control disease or other maladies. It's like people who eat meat but won't kill an animal and also denigrate the butcher. And of course the pharmaceutical companies are never going to support the widespread dissemination of this information about pharmaceutical pollution.
SML: And they're doing everything they can to get herbs in the same boxes as their drugs.
SB: They're doing the same thing to herbs that the hospital system did to midwives. They're incorporating it into the system so they can control it. They're standardizing as much of it as they can, then they'll have manufacturing requirements for the rest of it which will put most of the mom and pop operations out of business. They won't be able to afford to go through the processes necessary to meet the requirements. The same kind of bureaucratization is happening to organic agriculture now that the USDA has passed its standards.
SML: One thing I've come to believe over the years is that herbs grown where I live are more effective for my healing than herbs from totally different bioregions. Not that something from China or California wouldn't work, it's just that there's a resonance . . .
SB: In general I believe that's so. There are so many plants we know very little or nothing about. For instance, milk thistle, which is excellent for liver disease, doesn't grow everywhere. But as it turns out many thistles are good for liver disease, and other herbs are too. The herbal tradition has become so impoverished, despite the fact that it's getting more and more sophisticated, that we don't have a deep awareness of the full spectrum of herbal medicine. For example, it turns out that pine pollen contains testosterone. Now who knew? So one of the best ways for natural testosterone enhancement during male menopause, that transition in middle age, is for men to take pine pollen tincture. Our knowledge of herbal medicine is so limited and our thinking is so narrow that perhaps the best plants to use do grow around us but we just don't know it.
SML: What's really cool is I've had plants I need just show up in my yard or garden . . . motherwort, red clover, mullein, St. John's Wort. We need to pay attention to plants that call to us -- or that just show up.
SB: That's absolutely true. In my experience, there are three different types of plants we should pay special attention to. The first is the plant you're drawn to, that you just can't resist. There's something about it that compels you. Then there's the plant that, for some reason, you just don't like. If it grows in your garden, you want to get rid of it. But that's just another way of getting your attention. And the third is the kind of coyote medicine that gets hold of you through your enhanced sensitivity and messes with your psychic reality. You don't meet these very often. Another thing that plays into this, that I write about in Lost Language, is the tremendous movement of plant populations across the world over time. On an intellectual level people get the idea and think it's pretty cool. But when they experience it happening, it totally freaks them out. Here in Vermont there's a plant called wild chervil, some people call it raven's wing. It's considered to be an invasive, alien species and people think it should be destroyed because of its impact on native species. Gout weed, which is an amazingly good medicinal herb, is another one. But what I want to know why is the plant moving into a particular area in the first place, and what its medicinal qualities are.
SML: What about purple loosestrife?
SB: (Laughs) Everybody has their ``what about?''. Of everything that I've ever said in public, this has caused the most trouble. It's like going to a nutrition conference and saying there's no such thing as a bad food. But to really understand these plants you have to learn to think from the position of the purple loosestrife. That's what my next book is about -- developing the state of biognosis and perceiving the world through that orientation.
SML: What's biognosis?
SB: It's a process where you move into literally knowing what the purple loosestrife is doing and why -- what its medicine is, and its ecological function. Most people see it from outside rather than relaxing and going into the world perspective of the purple loosestrife. It's difficult for people to stop and ask, ``What's with this plant? What's it about?'', to become the student of the plant. Biognosis is how indigenous peoples got their knowledge of plants. They were literally able to understand the plant's point of view. By that I don't mean opinions but rather the world perspective of the organism itself. Some who have taken ayahuasca have a direct experience of this. They can literally see the molecular structure of the drug that they're taking. But you don't have to take a hallucinogen, everybody has the capacity to experience that depth of meaning. It's what the indigenous relationship to nature was based on -- dropping into that depth of field. For me these things become a meditation that I work with to understand over time.
SML: That reminds me of Barbara McClintock and her studies on genetic transposition of corn plants. She won the Nobel Prize for basically listening to the plants and then translating what she learned into scientific language. I have a sense that, rather than using the violent methods of genetic engineering, that plants evolve naturally as we evolve, and that if we ``need'' a medicine for something, over time the plant itself evolves and provides that need. And it seems to me that you're saying something similar about the movement of plants.
SB: Plants are extremely adept at changing their genetic structure, or even enhancing a particular medicinal component, if they perceive an ecosystem need for a particular chemical. But even beyond that, if they sense an ecosystem need that is of such a form that it requires them to alter their genetic structure, they can do it in a single generation. Barbara McClintock discovered that in the 1950s. This has tremendous implications for everything we do. She was completely ostracized for her work for a long time because it attacked the underpinnings of Darwinian evolutionary theory. For years she wasn't invited to speak or write papers. But her work was too well researched and documented to be ignored. Still, 99 % of the public still believe DNA is a fixed software program. Scientists talk about unlocking the human genome. So what if they unlock it? It can change at any time. It's not a software program that you can play around with to produce different physical forms that have any meaning whatsoever.
SML: How do you feel about genetic engineering?
SB: The concept of GE anything is bad enough, but the area that gets to me the most is agriculture. Corporations getting away with patenting seeds, and life forms, angers me. Indigenous agricultural practices and perspectives are being destroyed to get control for money. And I hate that they're playing politics with hunger. That's how I tend to respond to it. In the long run, though, scientists understand very little about the strength of life on Earth, and I have tremendous respect for the power of the Gaian ecosystem to come to balance when things get out of hand.
SML: It seems as though things are out of hand as we speak.
SB: We're on a one way ticket to nowhere. There is no way technological culture can be made sustainable. Every time we take a piece of nature and transform it to support technology, the thing that we've taken is dead. And we don't have the power to create more. We've already exceeded the restoration capacity of the Earth. We're using up the wild ``capital'' produced by thousands of generations of life for a short-term burst of technological civilization. Then we're basically screwed. The civilization will collapse, which can happen extremely rapidly -- history shows that it's not usually a slow decline. One year is great and then two years later the thing is gone.
SML: It's pretty depressing.
SB: If you totally believe in Gaia, if you truly understand what Gaia does and totally believe and have faith in her, then any short-term blip is just a short-term blip. My life isn't really that important, my culture isn't either. It's the whole Gaian intelligence that's important. Gaia is not endangered, the human species in danger. But the thing is, every single life form on Earth expressed out of Gaia to fulfill an ecological function -- including the human species. And what is that function? If you assume that Gaia doesn't make mistakes, and I assume that, then I have to ask, what if everything the human species is doing right now is in fact fulfilling its ecological function?
SML: In what way?
SB: People say human beings are like a cancer or a virus. . . well there's one other thing that has the exact same growth curve and that's mushroom spores. And if you look at the space probes we send out, they look exactly like bacterial spores or mushroom spores. And there's no way those probes are sterile. Think about it -- the bacterial spores from which all life on Earth originally evolved are being taken into space and dropped everywhere. One of the early critics of James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, Richard Dawkins, argued that Gaia wasn't alive because Gaia doesn't reproduce. But how could a man with an 80 year life span know what a 4.5 billion year old organism is capable of? Gaia learns over time and is always innovating. What if Gaia is reproducing? It took about a billion years for the bacterial membrane to form around the Earth and for Gaia to come into being. That's a long time. Now we humans have used a huge amount of the Earth's resources to get where we are. But think about a plant in the fall when it's setting seed, it begins to look kind of ragged and straggly, right? That's because it's using up all of its resources to set seed. What if Gaia is setting seed? What if we had to use Gaia's stored resources to build the kind of technology (but it's not new so don't think it is, it's all based on patterns already present in the Gaian ecosystem) to launch Earth's bacteria into space, to other planets so it can germinate there? And think about it, all the time we want to go ``up and out''. Even the ancients were fascinated with the solar system. And the whole Christian thing: ``It's out there! That's where we have to go.'' Why are we driven to go up and out? Because it's part of our ecological function to do so. People think that this means some sort of Star Trek future. I'm not so sure. We are, as Bucky Fuller said, only throw away. It's the bacteria we carry within us and from which we come that is important, from that all things are possible, new planetary life is possible.
And so then what happens? After the plant sets seed, winter comes and the plant regenerates itself. We're right on the edge of another ice age, which is winter for the planet so it can regenerate. It's an incredibly elegant pattern. I think one of the reasons we believe we're so special is we have a sense that we're the pollinators for the planet in this period. This concept is not new, it's just that you have to think outside of the box to see it. Bucky Fuller said, and I thought it was a metaphor at the time, ``We're like bees, you see. Bees who go out looking for honey without realizing that they're also performing cross-pollination''. That's what we're doing. Part of the function of people like you and me and the Gaian work we've been given to do is to help maintain the balance while we go through this.
SML: Whoa! I never thought of it that way! Even so, I take what's happening to the Earth personally. How do those of us who feel this loss and sadness on a daily basis live with it?
SB: This is something I've struggled with for a long time myself because I too feel the loss very deeply. A few things come to mind that have helped me deal with this over the years. The first is to keep working, to keep doing the work I have been given to do. The second is to know where my allegiance lies, which is with Gaia. I trust what I know about Gaia and I know that I've been given just one part of the work to do, Gaia is dealing with the rest of it, you see. Gaia deals with the big picture, we deal with our little part. Coming to this understanding was crucial. There is a place for faith in all of this. And beyond this, I had to really allow myself to grieve, to relax to the inevitability of suffering. This was an extremely difficult process because I had to allow myself to feel the pain of the world as long as it took to get to the other side of the experience. I literally sat in devotion to the reality of the experience until I was done with it. At that point I realized that suffering is not optional -- suffering is, suffering has been, suffering shall be, and into every life suffering comes. And so if you can eat that particular meal, what starts to happen is you gain a balance with the suffering human beings experience, of which the pain we feel from the depredations to the Earth is a big part. Then you can respond from a more measured perspective because you know no matter what happens there's still going to be suffering. So you don't try to end all suffering. You just do what is there for you to do now. And I think the final thing is to recognize that the impulses we're given are there for a reason. They're part of our personal ecological function. Everybody is given a different kind of ecological work to do. Mine is to write these books, to teach in this way, to be in this deep relationship with plants. People who feel the presence of Gaia and the sorrow, that's part of their ecological function. It motivates them to stand up and speak on behalf of the Earth which helps bring balance into the world. You begin to realize that you are Gaia speaking on behalf of herself. You're no longer coming from a human-centered perspective and you're also not attached to the outcome because no matter what you do, suffering shall be after you're gone. Together these things lead to a balance of perspective and emotion so that you can experience joy in spite of the sorrow and grief. It's a paradox to feel both so deeply and at the same time, to not mind. But then life itself is an odd proposition to begin with.
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Posted by Bogi (Member # 10858) on :
Hello everyone who responded to my december post. I've sent this respone to a few privately until realized the multitude of responses. WOW! thanks. Anyway to ensure I reach all of you I am resending as a group rsvp. I want all of you to know I really would have gotten back to ALL of you sooner but actually the day after my post i was rushed to the ER with some kind of cardiac event thing. I was hospitalized. Seems might be lyme carditis and quite possibly the lyme has damaged my heart. Tests are still being performed. I read on a medical site that lyme carditis may be difficult to truly diagnose soley on echocardiogram because the 'vegetation' as they call it might be too small to be picked up yet still be there. While I apprecaite all the informative insights, I am still weak and do not have the 'mindfullness' or the strength to check emails or the forum daily but will do what i can. In light of so many negative some even cynical repsonses to my inability to respond in a timely manner I don't think I will be posting much.
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
Oh, Bogi - so sorry to hear about what happened to you! I do hope you find some additional answers, but at least you found out about the whole Lyme thing before this event occurred. Otherwise, you might think it was ``just a heart problem'' and not be aware of the probable connection to Lyme.
Hey, just for the record, I KNEW you would come back!!
quote:In light of so many negative some even cynical responses to my inability to respond in a timely manner I don't think I will be posting much.
Yeah, but what about those of us who weren't cynical and gave you the benefit of the doubt? Don't we count, too?
Just bear in mind that there are a lot of people on this board who don't feel well most of the time, and sometimes that means that emotions can run high and some negative thinking creeps in.
We don't claim to be perfect here at LymeNet, so I can't promise you anything close to that. We are just a bunch of folks with Lyme Disease trying to find some answers.
When you are feeling some better, I do hope you'll come back and feel comfortable enough to post.
Besides, look what a great topic you started, and all the discussion that followed.
Hope you feel better and stronger real soon -
Tracy
Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
**up**
Posted by Wallace (Member # 4771) on :
Scott/all
Rather than ART I feel much more comfortable with Buhners approach.
wallace
DEPTH DIAGNOSIS IN THE PRACTICE OF SACRED PLANT MEDICINE
By Stephen Harrod Buhner
Copyright � 2003 Stephen Harrod Buhner
As herbalists, all of us have learned great deal during the past decades: about plants, our herbal history, and the use of plant medicines in healing. One of our great weaknesses, however, has been the lack of a comprehensive system of diagnosis. As our knowledge has matured, our practices have grown, this lack has become more demanding of recognition, the hunger for a rigorous system of diagnosis more insistent. Yet many of us want such a system of diagnosis to be grounded in the kind of plant medicine we have come to practice. It needs to be a system that holds within it the deep empathy for all life that so many of us feel, a deep and living connection to the plants and people who come to us for help, a system that is rooted in our peculiar American history, a system that is infused with the indigenous and historical wisdom from so many cultures that continually expresses itself through us and our work. Many of us have attempted to fill this diagnostic vacuum by turning to western allopathic diagnosis or traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). But western allopathic approaches are exceptionally reductionistic, depend more each decade on machines, and, studies show, tend to be right only some fifty percent of the time. Inherent in that model, as well, are attitudes and perspectives that are not only in contrast to the essence of the plant work that so many of us do, but are in fact antagonistic to it. For many of us, using allopathic diagnosis feels distinctly wrong. TCM, while it works for a number of people, is a foreign system to many of us and we find no easy emotional response to it. The language is odd, the concepts alien, the orientation skewed obliquely to the one we naturally possess and in consequence many of those who turn to it as a kind of final resort simply end up with another reductionistic model, albeit an eastern one. Many herbalists use one or both of these forms, sometimes filling in with muscle testing or other approaches found to be of use, but they are often default systems, used because nothing else that feels right is available. So, instead of adopting either of these models, for the past 30 years I have been working on the rediscovery of such a system of diagnosis - for our ancestors through the millennia must have been using something other than TCM or transformed Hippocratic/allopathic reductionism. The ancient approach that underlies the Hippocratic, TCM, and Ayurvedic models is itself preceded by a much older and more deeply personal approach to healing - an approach concerned less with theoretical models than it is with a more immediate and personal understanding of disease, plants, and people. For over 15 years I used a variety of this older system very successfully in a full time psychotherapy practice. For the past decade I have been applying it in the depth-diagnosis of physical illness and healing with plant medicines. It fulfills all the expectations I had for another kind of approach and the results are often exceptional. This article outlines the essential processes of this kind of depth diagnosis. Depth Diagnosis Depth diagnosis depends on shifting the personal mode of cognition from VIA to HID. The process is fairly simple, but mastering it, like any new skill, takes much practice. The steps are as follows: 1. Intending to know With depth diagnosis, you must intend to know - in the deepest sense of that word - about the living, complex phenomenon that is in front of you and what is wrong, what is diseased, how healthy functioning has been interrupted, and what to do about it. While temporary breaks from the process are important, it is important to not waiver in this intention until you actually do know what you have set out to know. It is the focus of your will that will carry the process through. 2. Focusing attention on sensory impressions This shift of consciousness from the VIA mode begins by first focusing on the sensory impressions of any particular phenomenon. With plants or with something highly accessible such as the skin, this occurs through the use of touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound of the thing itself. This simple focusing of attention is the beginning of the shift in modes, for consciousness is shifted away from verbal linguistics to direct perception through the senses. This shift to the senses grounds the person in their body, shifting awareness away from the verbal/analytical mind to the flow of information that is continually coming from the environment to the body through the senses. Our bodies emerged out of this Earth, our senses are meant to perceive it and were in fact shaped by the environment from which we emerged in order to perceive it in particular and meaningful ways. Our bodies possess highly sophisticated mechanisms for processing the communications and information coming to us through our senses and recognizing the patterns embedded within what we are sensing. Because the entire surface of the body comes alive in this process, sensitive to what is touching it, quality of life is enhanced as well. 3. Becoming aware of the primary emotional impression the thing makes upon you. All phenomena, when focused upon, generate an intimation of a particular mood or quality within the perceiver. This is most often experienced as an emotion or feeling. Emotions and feelings in this sense mean much more than the basic psychological feelings of mad, sad, glad or scared - though these have their importance in this process. Emotions in this sense are analogous to smells. There are thousands, perhaps millions, of different smells. This can be easily experienced through smelling a wide range of essential oils or perfumes. Few of these smells have particular names, yet they still exist and possess tremendous impact. We are daily touched by the world within which we are embedded, we feel the touch upon us in the thousands of nameless feelings we experience each day. They flit over the surface of our consciousness like shadows across a grassy meadow. In paying attention to them, they come forward into consciousness and begin to reveal their secrets, for each emotion registers the impact of a particular meaning that has touched us. They are, in fact, transforms of information from the world around us. These transforms contain extremely condensed and elegant communications about what we are encountering. While focusing attention on the sensory surface of a thing begins to shift the mode of cognition, the perception of the emotional flavor emitted by any particular phenomenon anchors it into personal experience. This allows the person to begin to drop below the surface of the thing being studied. Some essential questions to ask yourself that will help this process are:
a. how does this thing you are perceiving feel to you? b. do you like it or not? c. what primary emotional feeling do you have about it/ mad, sad, glad, or scared?
This initial intimation, impression, or mood of the phenomenon is the beginning of your connection to its being. It should be firmly anchored into experience and not forgotten. For it is this initial intimation that is the key to unlocking understanding of the phenomenon itself and it is to this initial impression that you will return over and over as you refine the emerging knowledge of that which you are studying. During this process the human being is establishing a living rapport with the phenomenon itself. We have an innate capacity to entrain ourselves, to establish a harmony of patterning, a rapport, with anything upon which our attention is focused. When you emotionally hook yourself to a living thing, you anchor yourself to the nonlinear flow of its life. As your connection is deepened, you begin to flow with its life patterns, absorb its meanings, its intelligence, and its particular point of view. This includes, of course, its interconnectedness with the life or environment within which it is embedded. Opening up the self to this form of perception and allowing the world in through the senses is, of course, sometimes uncomfortable. Some things simply do not feel good when experienced. Still, it is important to understand that irrespective of your immediate response to any phenomenon, to go further, to complete any depth diagnosis, you must be able to come, eventually, to love whatever you have focused your attention upon. All of nature responds to this primary act of caring, diseased organ systems or ill people not the least. So, loving is critically important but it is often difficult because disease can be so tremendously frightening. This process cannot work unless the caring is genuine - a false niceness will not do. In the deepest sense, to succeed, you must come to truly love what you are perceiving, for nothing will give up its secrets without being loved. (Well, one caveat: nature - or any part of nature - will give up some of its secrets if tortured, which, from this perspective is what many scientific experiments are. Still, the secrets revealed are affected by the manner in which they are obtained and never in the process will the heart of nature be found.) 4. Make conscious the moment of first contact. Continual experiential contemplation of the moment of first contact raises the process - and the thing studied - to a high level of conscious awareness. Experiential contemplation here means sitting with the phenomenon you are developing relationship with, allowing your sensory perceptions and the feelings that occurred from the moment of first contact to increase in intensity until they are all that you feel. The mood generated by the phenomenon, its emotional tone, and, more importantly, the meanings that these reflect, are allowed to deepen until the experience of the phenomenon becomes all encompassing within you. This mode of perception, of cognition, requires total immersion in the experience of the thing being perceived. During this deepening, you, as a participatory consciousness, begin to weave through the phenomenon in an active beholding. In so doing the phenomenon will come alive within you. 5. Oscillation Oscillation means the slight disengagement with the phenomenon, a slight stepping away from immediate experience in order to allow the pattern of meaning within the phenomenon to arise within you in a form that you can consciously understand. Each emotional tone, intimation, or mood that is felt in response to a phenomena is an expression of meaning. And it is this meaning, or series of meanings, that you are working to turn into usable knowledge. To pin it down, to put salt on its tail, means understanding these meanings and their patterns, then capturing them in a verbal, analytical expression in language. This is not a forced process, rather the analytical capacities of the brain are allowed to generate - of themselves - linguistic descriptions that capture the essence of the thing, the meanings of the mood that has been felt. The verbal/analytical mode of consciousness does not invent the linguistic phrases to describe the meaning of the phenomenon, rather the linguistic descriptions of the phenomenon emerge of their own accord out of the store of memories, information, and experiences that the human being has accumulated during his or her lifetime. The emotional tone is felt and held within, you slightly disengage from the phenomenon, and allow the mind to generate linguistic phrases to capture the meanings that give rise to these particular emotional tones, and then you reengage with the thing and emotionally compare that which has been generated to the living phenomenon itself. And so on, back and forth, until the phenomenon stands forth and is understood, the descriptions entirely congruent with the phenomenon you are experiencing. (With practice this process becomes extremely rapid.) This mode of cognition is, as a result, exceptionally personal. It involves, or rather is, a participatory consciousness. This requires a great deal of internal flexibility, for you are allowing concrete knowledge of the thing being studied to naturally emerge within you. Depth knowledge of the phenomenon will express itself through a unique mode of representation, comprised as I have said from everything that is already within you. It is crucial, as the German poet and natural philosopher Goethe comments, "to cultivate as many modes of representation as possible or better, to cultivate the mode of representation that the phenomena themselves demand." You must remain as open as possible and let your seeing be shaped by the phenomenon itself. This requires such a flexibility in your internal world, in order to develop elegance in this ability, that it initiates an unavoidable encounter with personal psychological unclarities. Through this back and forth process, psychological unclarities in the perceiver come forward into conscious experience. If you are doing this kind of depth diagnosis, for example, on someone who rather unpleasantly reminds you of the energy or mood commonly possessed by your alcoholic father, you will be unable to see this new person in their own light. Your analytical mind will generate a mode of representation similar to that possessed by your father and while this is informative, it is the unfinished emotional baggage that accompanies this mode of representation that will interfere with being able to clearly see the person in front of you. All human beings possess these unclarities. It is an inevitable aspect of the human predicament. A dedication to this mode of perception, however, forces personal transformation in order for the process to be mastered. Undifferentiated application of these old memories and unmet needs is what is often referred to as projection (seeing the world exclusively through the VIA mode is another form of projection - mechanomorphism). There must be a drive to see with transparent eye, to have no judgments about or emotional aversions to the mode of representation that arises within you. This calls for tremendous personal awareness. Additionally, because the phenomena upon which we focus our attention penetrate so deeply within us in this process, we are deeply touched by the meanings that they embody. These meanings themselves have tremendous impact on how we perceive ourselves and the living world within which we are embedded. Because of these two aspects of this mode of cognition, perception in this way initiates a soul making process that in and of itself is tremendously moving. During this part of the depth diagnosis process it is no longer necessary to actually be in the presence of the phenomenon being studied. It is carried daily within you in the imagination. This is also why the first moment of contact is so important. That initial perceiving and the moods that it generated remain with a sparkling clarity within the participatory heart. The emergence of the demanded mode of representation takes time. Depth diagnosis, for me, can take from fifteen minutes to a month or more, depending on the person and the problem. (The average is about two weeks.) Because organ systems, in general, are not immediately visible to the external eye, their diagnosis begins first with the sensory impact of the person being diagnosed rather than the organ system itself. The process thereafter is the same. How do you feel upon seeing them? How does their skin feel? How does their breath smell? Do you like them? What is the mood, the emotional tone that they generate? But more. . . what part of their body is your eye, your attention, most powerfully drawn to? Focus on this part of them initially, to the exclusion of all else. Fix the moment of first contact strongly in your experience, then let your consciousness be drawn deeper, to the organ system underlying the place your attention has been drawn. Sit with this in contemplation, allow the organ to emerge in your mind's eye, and follow the process outlined here until the system itself emerges in its own light. To be diagnostically comprehensive the process usually needs to be repeated with the next thing that forces itself upon your attention and so on until the whole person has been diagnosed and understood. 6. The emergence of the phenomenon in its own light. The culmination of this process is the emergence into a unique moment of perception where the phenomenon, in a gesture of acquiescence, unconceals itself. With consistent meditative focus, the forces involved - the will of the perceiver and the life force of the phenomenon - converge; the force of the student's energy matches that of the thing being studied. When this occurs, there is a point of stasis where movement forward is difficult. The force of personal will, the intention to see the phenomenon revealed in its own light, is what carries the perceiver through. If this directed focus is maintained, the will and intention consistently focused, there is a moment of breakthrough where one emerges into a center of understanding. This moment of breakthrough, called the pregnant moment by Goethe, is when, as the philosopher Hegel noted, "the spiritual eye stands immediately at the center of nature." Because of the deep empathy involved, at this moment of breakthrough, the student, in a sense, merges with the thing studied. Perceiver and perceived become linked, unified as an organic whole. The phenomenon then expresses within us the essence of itself. This moment is saturated with empiric content, filled with meaning, possessed of tremendously dynamic tension and is a moment of highly engaged knowing, a moment of unconcealing, a gesture of acquiescence from the phenomenon itself, which allows an entity to come forth and show itself in light of its own truth, to show itself from itself. All previous interactions with the phenomenon, up to this point, were only preliminary. At this moment there is an instantaneous, living dialectic that joins all parts of the phenomenon to the student in a dynamic, interpenetrating whole. The flow of energy from observer to observed and back again becomes a living language in which nothing remains unconcealed. From this vantage point any and all aspects of a phenomenon can be perceived and developed in the mind. From this central point there is no necessity for exhaustive engagement in the minutiae of the phenomenon (e.g. plant chemistry or cellular structure) to understand it. There is only understanding itself, from which all aspects of the thing can be understood if the you only direct your awareness in that direction. If the breakthrough moment eludes you, you become distracted or confused, then you must take yourself back to the initial moment of contact and allow the mood and emotional tones of the thing to once again emerge within you in all their freshness. Your intention to know, the directed focus of your will, and your depth immersion within the feelings that the thing generates within you are what leads eventually to this moment of breakthrough. As Goethe comments, "Individual phenomena must never be torn out of context. Stay with the phenomena, think within them, accede with your intentionality to their patterns, which will gradually open your thinking to an intuition of their structure." The focus of this work upon individual plants reveals, among other things, their medicinal qualities and healing attributes. Over time you create within you an experientially generated data base of knowledge of plants as living medicines. Each plant remains fresh within you, for the moment of first contact is stored away and can be recalled at any time. The knowledge of their power as medicines emerges out of the deep, living dialectic that you and the plant have created together. All indigenous people gathered their knowledge of plant medicines in this way, directly from the heart of the world, from the soul of the plants. All said they could talk to plants, that plants could talk to them, that they were told by the plants their uses as medicines. This manner of perception, of diagnosis and healing, is the most ancient humans have ever known. The knowledge you gather, you will find, will overlap tremendously with that to be found in the plant guides you might later study, but you will also find healing uses for plants that are unique to you and your relationship with them. The plants always know their uses as medicines, and these uses are far more complex than even a thousand years of human use can reveal - there are always more healing attributes to discover when this kind of living dialectic is experienced. The focus on organ systems allows each one of them to emerge out of the living system in which it is embedded. A living dialectic is developed, much like that which occurs with plants, and the organ system will speak to you in its own mode of representation, standing forth unconcealed. From this mode of cognition you will know what is wrong with any particular organ system, you will not think it. That you know so deeply what is wrong will itself be communicated to the person you are working with and plays no small part in their healing. Further, the elegance of understanding that comes from this mode of cognition far surpasses any generated by the verbal/intellectual/analytical mode. From the VIA mode elements stand out, relationships become only a shadowy background, barely perceived. From the HID mode, relationships, intercommunications and interdependencies are vivid. The psychological and spiritual elements to disease stand out sharply, along with the physical. Once the pregnant point is achieved with any disease or organ system and it has given you its gesture of acquiescence, revealing itself to you, the request for a plant or series of plants to help is sent up out of the self. In that moment the database of living plant knowledge within you offers up the one or ones that will help. You, acting as facilitator, bring the living plant, as medicine, together with the living intelligence of the organ system and the living being of the person before you. In that moment, the eyes that you have developed through this mode of cognition can see clearly the restructuring of the body, and the alleviation of suffering takes place. Closing Remarks This form of diagnosis and healing is exceptionally elegant, very deep, and extremely thorough. It offers a living alternative to the reductionistic, dead diagnosis that has been developed within the western allopathic traditions. No particular training in anatomy and physiology is needed, there is no need to break down the body into a collection of parts, nor the person into body, mind, and spirit. For they are perceived as a whole and the mode of expression to understand them emerges from within the practitioner and his or her own life experience. It is a living diagnosis, constantly in flux and movement, like the living systems it is used to understand and heal. As such it is much more realistic and can perceive nuances that a dead reductionism cannot. With this type of depth diagnosis, it is possible to not only see the living reality of Type 3 cervical dysplasia, but see, and experience emotionally, the impact of an unloving husband's ejaculate upon it, in response to which it is malforming. It is possible, once the living dialectic is established, to understand that what the cervix needs is a particular kind of touch. To notice that it has a particular kind of color in the imagination and to find that the plant root that comes when called possesses that exact same color and to suddenly realize that within this woman, the cervix is indeed a special and holy kind of soil. Not one in which a man's seed is to be planted (a metaphor I despise for its inaccuracy - men's ejaculate is more chemically akin to pollen. It is NOT a seed.) but holy Earth from which this woman is intended to flower. The call goes out from the self and the plant needed responds. Powdered and placed against the cervix, it lays the groundwork and heals, teaching the cellular structure of the cervix how to be whole again, bringing into it some of its nature, to feed the lack, to fill the need. And then it is no surprise to see that there is need for light in the darkness and so a plant that holds within it this particular kind of light is used to flow up against the cervix and the mature woman begins to flower, takes root, and finds within herself a strength she did not know she possessed. The story is much longer and more detailed of course, like all stories it goes on and on in all directions, both forward and back. One part of that story is a physician's surprised insistence that the new test results are impossible and they had better be taken again. This kind of depth diagnosis comes from deep within our heritage as human beings and as herbalists. It is a living expression of the plant and human world, a tradition a million years old. Unlike allopathic reductionism it is a living diagnosis, unlike TCM it comes from our own ground of being. It emerges out of the soil of this continent, the heritage we possess, the plants that have healed us and brought us to gladly kneel before them.
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Posted by Truthfinder (Member # 8512) on :
Although this thread is nearly a year old now, I wanted to refer to it for some information, so I thought I would bump it up for the newcomers....
While there are some very long posts here, is it a pretty good discussion about some of alternative approaches to Lyme & Co., so the thread still has a lot of value.
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????????? ![[group hug]](graemlins/grouphug.gif)
Janet
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, and don't see myself doing so anytime soon.![[hi]](graemlins/hi.gif)
Just a thought, instead of some of your posts that are literally 2 feet long, due to the article length, maybe you could just post the link and an important paragraph or two.